Chapter 214: Chapter 214: Insult Me

September 4th, 625

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I love you more.”

“No you don’t.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

I chuckled when Umara pulled away from a kiss and bit my nose.

I took that as the opportunity to separate and give a hug to Feiden.

I whispered, “Don’t tell Umara but I actually love you more.”

“...I don’t know how to respond to that.”

“It’ll be our little secret.”

I went to pinch him but he suddenly zipped away, my fingers grasping air. I laughed before hugging Tana.

“See ya, girl. Study that stuff with Umara.”

“That stuff is complicated.”

“Yeah... Good luck.”

“Pfft. Thanks.”

She chuckled, her blonde hair sliding off my arm as I walked over to Jasmine.

I had discussed things with all three of my friends, focusing primarily on their Aura techniques. I gave as much advice as I could that might help them, but it was ultimately up to them to turn it into something they could use.

After hearing about how Feiden could bend space though, I started to question what the hell Aura actually was. It seemed to be able to do anything, and anyone could acquire any kind of power with it. It was still true that it was only capable of following a singular path, but the fact that a knight like Feiden could compress and expand space itself was mind boggling. That was something only warlocks should be able to do, and even then they should have great difficulty despite knowing how to make teleporters.

I still had no idea what Aura actually was, or why it could do the things it did.

Those were questions I’d have to ask somebody at the height of power.

For now, it was time to go back. I met with Jasmine, who was standing beside Gurns and General Kisa.

I shook the General’s hand before getting a word from Gurns.

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you, John. Your friends have insisted on your killing power and from the few reports I’ve gotten on your combat records, it’s as impressive as they say. Still, I want you at Authority 7 before anything happens. Do that, and we’ll talk.”

“Yes, sir. I look forward to it.”

We shook hands, Jasmine and I stepping up to the ladder to climb into the XR-11.

I waved goodbye to everyone before slipping inside and shutting the hatch, locking it down and climbing into the pilot seat.

Not long after that we were in the air and on our way back to the Treehouse. I was already overdue to return to the Capital, but at this point I didn’t really care.

Since I worked a bit of overtime, maybe they’d bump my return out.

……

…

“Making our approach.”

My eyes opened up, my body dragging itself out of the bed after a handful of seconds.

I let out a long sigh while sitting myself back down in the pilot seat, my eyes glancing out the window and seeing the warzone in the distance.

My eyes narrowed, “Did they break past one of the FOBs?”

“Seems like it. They wouldn’t be halfway to our walls if they didn’t.”

“That’s not good. Boot us up. We’re heading down.”

Jasmine silently followed my command, turning on most of our systems while I flicked on the two standby engines and picked up speed.

We sped up toward the Treehouse, and on the way we got a glimpse of the furthermost line of the battlefield.

We could see massive fireballs exploding into towering plumes dotting the enemy lines. My brows raised, my eyes zooming to see the bomber planes overhead.

“Those are the bombs. Sawn managed to get them and the bombers fielded.”

“That’s good, right?”

“Yes, very. Let’s hurry down.”

“Aerial is up.”

I nodded and tuned the Aerial to the Tower, getting clearance for landing.

“Runway 5 is clear, Dreamboat.”

“Roger. Landing.”

We flew down, touching down and braking to a halt. I kept the engines running, giving me a little more speed to roll up to a hangar.

It was occupied so I parked just outside of it among a few other planes. Once I turned everything off, Jasmine and I hurried out.

As soon as the hatch opened we heard a series of distance explosions. Those bombs were hitting hard, which made me excited.

I got a message from Polly not long after, Jasmine and I making haste toward Headquarters.

We arrived in the war room, seeing the busy summoners moving about. Polly was in there, and we joined her side.

She gave us a side eye.

“So you two finally decided to return. Have fun at Stronghold Beta?”

“No ma’am, it was a horrible time.”

“Don’t patronize me. The Scourge has breached one of our forward bases and they used that opportunity to attempt a siege.” She explained, “There are approximately 120 thousand monsters in this army, but we’re holding them back. John.”

“Yes?”

I looked up from the virtual map that showed red dots and arrows everywhere, visualizing the oncoming Scourge hordes. It was being updated in real time by two scout planes, allowing these Generals unprecedented control of the battlefield. They were able to coordinate forces in the surrounding forward bases as well as those being sent out into the field actively. Thus, the Scourge was not just being held back, but surrounded and exterminated systematically.

Polly looked me in the eye, “Your bombs and planes are doing amazing work. It’s the only reason we’ve been able to prevent more forward bases from falling. Our casualty rates have dropped substantially and we’re slaughtering them by the thousand like it's easy. The numbers have never been this good. For that I have you to thank.”

“Don’t mention it. So long as it helps us hold this line, I’m happy.”

“It will. That’s why you have my approval to head back to the Capital. We’ve got this fight, so don’t worry about it and go catch the next plane. Go cook up another weapon. Maybe the next one will help wipe out the Scourge altogether.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Are you sure? I can go join the Snow Doves right now. I don’t mind fighting. Might be able to kill a few thousand more that way.”

She shook her head, “Not necessary. And God forbid you risk getting hurt. At this point, I’m close to pushing you to retire from the military and do full time enchanting work. Your inventions are turning this war around. We need more, so go make us more.”

“Roger that.”

I gave a salute, Polly returning it before nodding her head.

“Next plane leaves in a few hours. Be on it. I’ll get your leave extended too. General Viskar is ready to give approval.”

“Thanks. Keep the Doves safe while I’m gone.”

“Always.”

With that goodbye I left the war room. If Polly said that they had this fight, then I’d believe her. More than that, I trusted how much damage my weapons could do. If she was given not only perfect intel on the entire battlefield, but untouchable aerial weapons, then with her competence she would surround and drown these monsters like insects.

I’d entrust this place to her while I did what I could in the rear. As for all the intel we gathered, Jasmine would handle it. I was perfectly fine with giving her all the credit for the discoveries we made because I wanted her to get promoted too. I wanted my allies to be powerful. Besides, she collected most of it anyway.

Like that I found the passenger plane that was set to head back to the Capital. I was one of the few on it, and once it was recharged, I was back in the air.

About 10 hours later, we landed on the Sawn Industries Airfield. Another Airfield had been built in another place around the Capital but this one was designated for the military while the other was for civilian craft.

Sawn had gotten word of my return, and I was greeted with a chopper to take me to the Spire.

I didn’t even have to fly. I felt like a VIP, getting carted around everywhere on expensive vehicles.

From the airfield we landed on the helipad on the side of the Spire, and from there I went to my Office. Sawn was there when I entered.

He was standing by my desk, turning when the door opened.

“Cooper. How was your flight in the XR-11?”

“As good as I designed it. A few things could be improved but that’s not my concern right now. I’ve got some designs I need to get out.”

“What kind of designs?”

“More weapons,” I went over to my desk, booting it up and projecting a few screens, “Since you got the bombs working I need to adapt that technology to other modes of delivery. You remember the Bombardos, right? Well I’m about to make something that can do the exact same thing they do. It’s time to introduce the concept of indirect fire to the battlefield.”

“I see…”

He muttered, going silent. That’s when I turned to him with narrowed eyes.

His mood was low. He seemed concerned, which wasn’t a good thing. He had been as joyous as a child with all the money coming in recently.

I asked directly, “What happened?”

“...The bombs.”

“Don’t tell me it got leaked.”

“It got leaked.”

“Fuck…”

I looked down at the desk, pondering what this would mean before asking.

“Who?”

“One of the prime enchanters. I didn’t realize…”

“Of course. When?”

“9 days ago.”

“Right before I left. Who got the information?”

“The Royal Family. I knew they knew something when they started asking questions but I didn’t think they had someone who could steal the Magnitude Frequency. I was careful with who I gave it to.”

“So now the Crown has the ability to make bombs.”

“For the most part, but we discovered a few other things with more testing,” Sawn tapped my workstation and brought up some screens, “We found out that White Crystals are naturally the best for making Elemental Crystals, and that while imperfectly purified Gray Crystals can be used as well, their overall power is diminished. More than that though, when Gray Elemental Crystals are blown, they release some of the poison inherent to the Gray Crystal used in the making. This makes it toxic for humans, and some of the released power is much less harmful to Scourge. They still do plenty of damage, just not as much.”

I turned to him, thinking for a couple of seconds and drawing conclusions.

“So, access to the White Crystals of the Church is the only way the Kingdom can make perfect bombs. They can still make bombs though. Is the Royal Family going to take away business from you?”

“Well, yes and no. We were forced to renegotiate our contract for the supply of bombs. They threatened to pass the recipe to Gearworks if we didn’t. Our profit margins were massively diminished because of it. After all, it only takes two Crystals and a trio of Magi to carry out the transformation. After that, the cost comes down to encasing the Crystal in a way that a bomber can drop them en masse.”

I silently listened. It was pretty simple, what the Kingdom did. They forced Sawn Industries to make the bombs for far cheaper. In principle I wasn’t totally opposed. I wanted more bombs to be fielded, plain and simple. I had even told Sawn to not overcharge. My concern was with destroying the Scourge.

The issue was that the Kingdom knew how to make these bombs at all. From the Royal Family it would likely disseminate to other noble families, which would give the noble class far more power than they had before.

Going even farther, the Kingdom was currently the only governing power that knew how to make these bombs. Knowing that this power was akin to arming a country with nuclear weapons, I was afraid of how that would change the balance between them and the Church.

The Church helped keep the Kingdom in check. I didn’t want that to disappear.

That only left one thing for me to do.

I glanced at Sawn and sighed, “Well, they have the tech. There’s nothing we can do about it now. I’m going to focus on designing more weapons. I’ll be pulling the blueprints for the bomb designs you have right now.”

“Of course. By the way, I wanted to promote you. I want to make you an executive officer of the company. It’ll come with a higher salary and the position will be in charge of managing our weapons industry. You told me about changes you wanted to make to the security of the company, as well as the team you wanted to put together for development, and I am willing to put you in charge of making those changes.”

“...Alright.”

I nodded. I had no reason to turn that down. It would come with a bit more responsibility but that’s what Boris was there to help me with.

Sawn nodded and started walking out.

“Good. I’ll draft a contract.”

“Thanks.”

I gave him a nod as he left. He probably felt bad about the leak but I wasn’t about to cry over spilt milk.

I simply needed to do damage control. Thinking that, I spent a few hours drafting up some concepts for a few new weapon lines before leaving. It was already night when I had arrived in the Capital, so it was just past midnight now.

I stepped out of the Spire, heading in the way of the Black Spider Hotel. I had an easy line to the Church there, which I intended to pull on right now.

Unfortunately the Kingdom had other plans. It wasn’t long after I stepped out that I felt a not-unfamiliar feeling.

There were some dangerous people nearby, and I was being watched.

I stopped in my tracks. Nobody was out and about. Only the black markets were busy at night. Every other normal person was sleeping, so the streets were empty.

I took a deep breath, feeling some people getting closer. Nobody I couldn’t handle.

After some seconds though I suddenly felt an Authority 9. That’s when I suddenly bolted, activating my boots, my stealth, and flying across the ground.

I barreled down a street when another Authority 9 appeared in front of me completely unprompted.

I realized they had to be masking their Aura somehow when I got within a certain range and felt their power. It only seemed to work until a certain distance but it was enough to get in range of someone.

I frowned and tightened up my coat while dodging and shooting up a building. Once up top I started hopping across them, the Authority 9 close behind. I realized they were seeing through my own Aura.

Then another appeared in the direction I was going, making me curse.

“Really pulling out all the stops, huh!”

“You have no idea.”

I spun around at the voice. Another Authority 9. That was four.

I went silent again and shot off, plummeting down into the street once more, heading in the general direction of the warlock of the group. I had a better chance against a warlock than a knight.

That’s when a wall shot up in front of me. I jumped toward it without hesitation, lifting my legs and slamming my boots against it, activating one of their special functions.

A shockwave shot out of my soles, shattering the wall. I went through it, tumbling a bit on the ground before flying off once more.

Then another Authority 9 appeared. It was a speedster type, and the knight zipped in front of me along with a dozen Authority 7s and 8s.

I was incredulous. There was no way this was someone trying to assassinate me. These people were unmarked but they were too good and there were too many to be bounty hunters.

At that point though, it clicked for me.

These weren’t assassins. These were agents of the Kingdom.

That which nobody knew about. Those who operated in the dark, engaging in espionage and subterfuge.

The Kingdom’s own intelligence agency, not to be used against the Scourge, but against other groups of humanity that might threaten their power.

I stopped where I was and let go of my Aura, standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by those I couldn’t hope to kill.

They closed the circle, and I faced the speedster in front of me leading other troops.

“So, what should I call you? I didn’t realize the Kingdom had counterespionage.”

“There are many things you don’t realize. Perhaps if you had accepted the offer to become a noble, you’d be more privy to certain things, more protected.”

His masked face spoke, his words making me narrow my eyes. He was implying that to be a noble was to be protected.

Probably from them.

I was a loose end, but I knew my value. They wouldn’t do anything to me. I may have pissed off some nobles but I hadn’t shown myself to be a threat to the Crown.

They just wanted to make sure it would remain that way.

I glanced around as a few people approached me, “So, here for a friendly greeting?”

“Something like that.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve such a warm welcome.”

“Yes, you do,” He rebutted, “I don’t believe in your stupidity, John Cooper. You’re smart, and that’s exactly why I’m here.”

I was silent as three people got close. Once within reach, two drew their swords and placed them next to my neck while the third grabbed my arms. He was a knight, so my life was now out of my own hands.

There was no point in resisting here, though. I looked forward again, and I watched as one of the masked soldiers walked forward instead of the speedster knight.

I narrowed my eyes when he got close. He was a summoner, and he was actually Authority 9 as well. I realized the speedster wasn’t the one speaking. This summoner was able to evade my scrutiny.

He was extremely dangerous.

He approached and tilted his head at me before sending out a fist, metal knuckles digging into my stomach. I coughed as the air was knocked out of me, baffled by his strength.

I caught my breath and smiled, “Tempered by Vigor. Seems the Kingdom knows how to raise summoners.”

“Intelligence is the greatest blade,” He leaned down and spoke into my ear, “And you, John Cooper, happen to be one of the sharpest. Unfortunately, the perfect ally is also the worst enemy.”

“It is insulting to insinuate that I am your enemy.”

“And you insult me by pretending to be my ally.”

He sent another punch into my face, blood being drawn. That would leave a mark.

Then he grabbed my neck and raised my head.

“You’re smart Cooper, and smart people have to be educated. Otherwise they get ideas.”

He turned, the knights hoisting my body up and cuffing my limbs.

“I’m here to educate you, Cooper. Not about why you shouldn’t betray the Kingdom, but why you should thoroughly fear doing so. The silver lining in this situation is that I’m the best teacher there is. If you act as smart as I know you are, then this won’t take long.”

With those words my head was bagged. The bag was magical, blocking out all my senses as well as most of my Aura. It was like the bag formed a labyrinth my Aura had to pierce through to see beyond.

I was dragged off blind, my face neutral, my mind running through all the different endings to this situation.

In the end, I concluded that eventually, I’d need to kill this summoner.