With the battle ending, the Grandmasters found a place to sit, their seemingly impenetrable gaits nowhere to be seen.

Deneris' armor had rusted in a few places, its black sheen now brown.

Reminiscing about the fight, he wiped imaginary sweat off his face.

Mervida had withering affinity, a variant affinity of the element of nature.

With it, Deneris was kept on his toes through the whole battle.

Of course, he didn't go easy on her either, but she had the advantage by attacking the same places on his armor, each strike increasing the rust.

'If only I could get better metal..'

The thing was, his armor was made by combining metals from the top thirty.

Finding even better metals would be a daunting task.

With a sigh, his brain went to work.

--------------------------------

Getrahan had his chests heaving, yet his face held beads of sweat and a wide grin.

His grip tightened on his double hammer staff.

Opponents capable of causing him to overexert himself weren't many.

The feeling, for him at least, was exhilarating.

'Ah! Why did the fight end so quickly?'

Away from him, Raven lay with his back to the ground and his staff by his side.

His surrounding held the most damage, with smoke constantly erupting from burning stone.

Holding Gaga alone had been unbelievably hard. Even using his trump card, Gaga showed his prowess by matching him.

With his body soaked in sweat, he stared at the air.

'Let's be like this for a bit'

Jebas was back on his feet, along with the few troops strong or luckily enough to survive with little injuries.

The Emperor gave his orders.

"Have the Experts thrown in the makeshift cells. The Masters should be treated well"

People shook their heads, wondering if they heard it right.

"No harm shall befall them. Give them just enough water, but the rest will be up to those guarding them. Let's hope your monarchs can cough up the price for their lives"

He then turned to the Grandmasters.

"Our plan worked out. All Grandmasters should return, except you, Jebas"

Jebas had his mouth agape.

"Stay here and have them scrap these corpses for all their worth"

"Then what?"

"Have them burned-"

The Emperor stopped.

'Should I send these bodies for a fee?'

But he shook his head. Being too greedy will stain his image.

So he says..

"Have those burned thrown into the earth"historical

"NOO!" one of the Masters in captivity screamed.

These were his long-time comrades. How could he stand aside while their remains were sullied?

The Emperor turned to him with a dull gaze.

The Emperor expected the Master to burst into a fit of rage, yet the opposite happened.

As if afraid of not being heard, the man screamed, his eyes stern and determined.

"YOUR MAJESTY!-"

He bowed, hitting his head against the floor.

"-LET ME GRANT MY COMRADES AN HONORABLE BURIAL! I'LL PAY FOR THEIR BODIES! PLEASE! PLEASE, YOUR MAJESTY!"

The surrounding descended into silence as the Emperor stared at this man, who kept hitting his head on the floor.

Such an act was usually disgusting, but the sight of a man lowering himself just to make sure his comrades could rest easy drove an inexplicable emotion into the hearts of all those watching.

The Emperor spoke..

"How do I know you're not plotting against the Empire?"

"I SWEAR ON THE BLOOD OF RAIKAN!"

With that, he sighed and landed. Such an oath was enough to shut out all doubts.

As with the two wives, he always had a soft spot for people capable of such sincere courage in the face of despair.

"Which kingdom do you hail from?"

"Russell"

"Ah! Gaga has some fine men. I'm jealous"

Then, he says to his people..

"Have those underneath take all dead Russellins, after having gathered those of the Empire of course, and have them sent to Russell"

He turned to speak to the man, but..

"THANK YOU FOR SUCH MERCY, YOUR HIGHNESS!"

The man was hitting his head on the floor once more.

Of course, not everyone was okay with such actions.

His 'comrades' had slaughtered multiple of theirs. Such an outcome was too good for them, they thought.

"Your majesty, this cannot be allowed-"

"It seems you've forgotten your place, interrupting me like this"

No interjection was allowed with the Emperor's aura shutting up all protests.

The men gritted their teeth as the Emperor spoke.

"We won the battle. Go tend to the wounded"

They could only listen to the orders given and swallow their discontent.

The Emperor wasn't done yet though and turned back to the bowing Master.

"To grant your request, a price is in order"

The Master merely nodded.

"I demand from you..your allegiance"

The man let out a light smile, and spoke..

"My honor as a warrior is all I have left, and being an opportunist is not for me"

The Emperor nodded.

"Truly..I am truly jealous"

With a sigh, he asked..

"I guess you know what happens now?"

The man nodded.

"Do I get to be buried honorably?"

With a nod from the Emperor, he continued..

"Then do as you wish"

At the end of that sentence, the Emperor was already in front of him.

Placing his palm on the man's chest, he muttered regretfully..

"What a waste"

Those nearby quickly retreated.

With that, the Emperor's palm lit up with lightning, and then..

*SPARK!*

Lightning erupted with a loud crackle, bringing momentary brightness to those beside it.

It faded moments later, revealing a hole in the man's chest.

To all this, the man said..

"Thank you"

His eyes dimmed and his body fell to the floor soon after.

The Emperor's expression did not change as he said..

"Treat his body with the utmost care"

With that, the Emperor walked away.

As something that happened far more times than he'd rather recall, he didn't ask for their names anymore.

He also made sure to kill such people the moment he had them as enemies and couldn't have them as subordinates.

Such people moved at the order of their lords, so they would kill Nitonians without doubt.

That, he couldn't have.

The Grandmasters gathered at the foot of the manite mountain, which was but a step away from total destruction.

The mana crystals had formed because the mountain was enclosed, locking all mana particles within, which would then coagulate into crystals.

With the mountain cut in two, countless mana particles were being lost to the wind.

This phenomenon meant the mana crystals would continue to lose mana purity, and would become normal crystals after losing it all.

One thing was sure, any mana crystals left had lost a lot of their purity compared to the day Fredrick had come by.

Of course, these Grandmasters didn't know that, but with war on the way, the Emperor wasn't dumb enough to leave the crystals like that.

That said, they also had to make sure their enemies were fooled. The Emperor knew from the start that they would come for the manite mountain rather than Avilla.

So he and the other Grandmasters plundered as much as they could within thirty minutes and left the rest.

The time limit was because, if they set limit by number, they would've ended up plundering the whole mountain.

Even now, the Grandmasters released sighs at such wastage.

But they weren't regretful.

Having the manite mountain around meant all Nitonians would want it.

They'll get stronger, but so will their enemies, and that was not the aim.

In any case, they had stashed large shares, the rest would be for others to fight over.

A new wave of chaos would wash over the Empire.

"It's necessary to reduce our troublesome numbers, and there's no better way than this"

With the population saturated, but the majority being weak, this would allow those weak to die while the survivors grew stronger, killing two birds with a stone.

The Emperor spoke to the others..

"After this, call off your forces and disappear for a while"

They nodded, it was already planned.

With that, time passed swiftly as the Avillians came to the surface.

They were previously underneath the earth, in a makeshift place made by a master of earth the night before.

Still, not everyone survived. Some died due to unique circumstances, while others were crushed by tremors from above.

Collection of bounty went swiftly as well.

The Grandmasters finally went back to their abodes.

Deneris and Raven gave each other death glares the whole time.

Cabrera and the boys had covered more than half the original distance to Kingsmere.

Cabrera was itching to get his memories back.

Before long, night struck.

With it, the news of a manite mountain spread to both commoners and nobles.

The implications of this would go far.

Elsewhere, in the deep of night, a man opened his eyes to a dark space lit up with a torch as he found himself strapped to a metal chair, or rather..impaled into it?

Ilyon felt like crying. Where did things go wrong?