"The Enemy doesn't feel like one single being," Chancellor of Science Sythara continues his explanation as if there was no interruption. "That's why we came to believe that the Enemy is 'they' rather than 'it'. We think they are a conglomerate of their whole race which merged, creating not only one monstrous body but also a uniform super consciousness."
"Which is both an advantage and a disadvantage," Nyx points out. "Sure, the Enemy is extremely powerful in this state, but they make a single target. We take that colossus down and the remaining monsters will lose their coordination and revert to the autonomous creatures they used to be, much easier to kill."
"What's the plan then?" I ask. I'm still shaken, but I can think rationally again.
"Our problem was that Draconian races, in their hubris, refused to cooperate which was foolish of us," Nyx sighs. "When we finally realised our mistake, it was too late. We won't make the same mistake twice, though. Thanks to the ingame training and meticulous conditioning, we made sure that the transformed players would be more than eager to cooperate."
"You want to combine the forces of all five races and take that thing head-on?" Gotrid frowns, trying to imagine that.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," my father shakes his head. "The Enemy might be a single target, but there are many obstacles in between. First of all, we don't know their current location so we'll have to send secret recon missions to learn about their hideout. Secondly, the Enemy is protected by countless monsters that plague Draconia and must have multiplied even more during our absence. We can't avoid fighting on multiple fronts."
"The Enemy doesn't have unlimited brain power, it's still a living organism," Nyx says optimistically. "The plan is to keep the Enemy occupied enough to make it distracted. While part of our forces will be battling monsters, other squadrons will attack it head-on to distract it further. The Divementis will then use the commotion and try to fry its brain telepathically."
"How do we stay protected from its telepathic influence?" Liana asks. "Our Emperor has been in contact with the Enemy for just a minute or so and suffered a telepathic concussion."
"Non-telepathic races are actually safe," Sythara admits reluctantly. "The Enemy can't control sentient races, only animals and monsters. The Divementis are extremely vulnerable to the Enemy's telepathic influence because we function on the same mental wavelength, but our single minds are much weaker than their united super consciousness."
"How do we protect our Emperor if he's supposed to be an essential part of your battle plan then?" Liana frowns.
"As we hinted already, we've been working on a shielding device," Sythara reminds us. "When attached to one's temples, it should protect its bearer from the Enemy's telepathic influence."
"Should?" Liana doesn't miss the uncertainty in the chancellor's voice.
"We need a much stronger power source than we currently have," the Divementis chancellor admits. "Our technology would normally be enough, but we escaped with just one cruiser, a few smaller vessels and a handful of scientists. We hope that the device could be powered by Celestial mana crystals."
"We send for our research team," I propose. "I might be the embodiment of magic and do spells intuitively, but I'm no scientist. How secretive do we still need to be?"
"We've sent the former dungeon masters to their race rulers and they are allowed to tell them everything," my father says. "We're also considering telling the whole truth to the Japanese government and possibly even the European Union. As for involving common Draconians, we want to do so very soon, but not yet. We can't afford global panic."
"The Royal research team is fine then," I conclude. "Can you accommodate twelve more Celestials?"
"We can, we have allocated extra capacity," my father nods. "I told you that forty is the limit for your entourage because we needed to save space for other races and we also counted on you bringing more of your subjects eventually. Besides, you're absolutely safe here. There is no need for your protectors to be so wary."
None of my protectors show any signs of easing. They don't trust the Divementis.
"You said that you were trying to prevent the invasion of Earth before," Liana coughs to change the subject.
"We still are," Sythara sets the record straight. "The Earth is not flooded with monsters because we've been blocking the rifts from opening. However, it was only a temporary solution. Once the Enemy started to truly push because they discovered that we hid in this dimension, we couldn't always block all rifts. That's when monsters started appearing randomly around the world."
"Was it really random?" Gotrid doubts. "Monsters appeared three times in our close vicinityâfor the first time in New York during the conference, then when we returned to Prague and last time when we arrived in Japan. Most Draconians either haven't had a chance to fight at all or they participated in only one battle so far."
"We think the Enemy can sometimes successfully detect where's the densest accumulation of Draconians and sends their forces there," Sythara presents a hypothesis. "Since our Prince has always many Celestials accompanying him and he alone possesses very strong magic, the Enemy primarily targets that. Until recently, the Enemy had no idea that we resurrected the extinct Draconian races so they must have thought it was only the Divementis."
"I thought that the Enemy can't telepathically enter this world?" I ask, scared by that.
"Not, not directly," Sythara assures me. "They can reckon through the monsters under their control, though."
"Our powers are different," my father takes the word again. "The Enemy can control less developed minds like those of animals and monsters. We can't do that. However, the Divementis can store the knowledge of our entire race in our consciousness while staying individual beings. The Enemy can't, they had to merge into one."
"What about illusions?" Erik is curious.
"Right, we're very proficient at that," my father smiles proudly. "The Enemy is capable of casting illusions as well, but, fortunately, they can influence only other telepaths. It seems they have evolved in a world where they were the only sentient race. They didn't have to adapt to non-telepaths so they lack in this aspect."
"So, Celestials and other races are relatively safe?" Liana summarises.
"Relatively," my father emphasises that word. "The Enemy will throw all kinds of monsters at you, but, at the very least, they can't hack your minds."
"What about me?" I ask and a shiver goes down my spine. I might be the embodiment of magic and the Divementis Prince, but as I got the strongest powers of both races, I also got their weaknesses doubled.
"We don't know yet," he admits honestly. "You're certainly vulnerable towards the Enemy as any other Divementis or you wouldn't have suffered that telepathic concussion. At the same time, you defended yourself against the Enemy for much longer than even the previous Divementis Empress could. If anyone can oppose the Enemy's direct telepathic attack, it's you, my son."
"Not right away, of course, with training," Nyx adds quickly when she notices my sceptical expression. "Now then, I believe it's time for lunch, let's take a break."