72.1. The Viceroy - Part 1

Liana has no idea what's happening, but everyone in the Royal Office is suddenly standing up and pointing outside. She hurries to the window and sees hundreds of transfiguration symbols materialising in the space around the skyscraper.

"W-what?" the Viceroy gasps, both terrified and astonished.

She doesn't understand a thing, but it's obvious that it must be the Emperor's doing. The shield is pulsating with beautiful rainbow colours and the transfiguration symbols interweaved into each section are made with the precision only Aefener is capable of.

She wants to call the Royal Guards, who are currently on duty, to ask what the hell is going on, but a deafening explosion roars, startling everyone. There's a flash of ominous light and then it's quiet again. Whatever that thing was, the shield stopped it. Their Emperor stopped it. Their embodiment of magic did something amazing again. Something miraculous.

"The guards aren't picking up," Ingri says all panicky. She didn't need the Viceroy to tell her what to do, she isn't her assistant for nothing.

Liana hurries to the nearest balcony, her own guards following her. She takes off immediately, even though her ceremonial robe isn't exactly made for flying.

"Gotrid!" she sees the Royal Consort taking off from a balcony a few floors below and shouts after him.

"I can't feel his consciousness, Viceroy!" Gotrid is scared shitless, but the adrenaline is pumping him. He won't rest until his partner is found.

Fortunately, it's never hard to pinpoint Aefener's location. All Celestials feel in which general direction their embodiment of magic is all the time. They fly a bit higher and spot their Emperor almost immediately because he's hovering just a few metres above the building.

Hovering...? Is that the right word? It's the strangest sight. Their Emperor is levitating and looks like a huge feathery cocoon. The air around him is sparkling with residual mana, keeping his unconscious body afloat. His guards are circling around him, unsure what to do because the sparkles are making their feathers stand.

"My love!" Gotrid is on the verge of tears.

He quickly conjures a levitation platform, folds his wings close to his body and, ignoring the tingles, approaches the floating Emperor. Liana follows him.

"It looks like Aefener fainted, but his residual mana is serving as a cushion," she comments, amazed. She never heard of such a phenomenon.

"The air itself loves him," Gotrid vehemently presents his own theory. "Our racial element would never let him fall."

With extreme caution, they untangle the feathered cocoon. Aefener doesn't look hurt, at least something, but they can tell that his mind is closed completely. Their Emperor is deeply unconscious and his mana level is dangerously low. He gave his everything to create this shield.

Gotrid gently takes Aefener into his arms and the residual mana dissolves completely. It seems it was holding Aefener for as long was necessary for him to be retrieved safely. Was it his doing? Or does the air truly love its ruler?

They land on the balcony closest to the Royal Office and his second Royal Consort Erik is impatiently awaiting their return.

"Ryuu," Erik bursts into tears when he sees his partner unconscious.

He kisses Aefener's forehead, trying to wake him up, but nothing happens. The Emperor doesn't open his eyes even for a few seconds. Gotrid won't let him carry Aefener, clutching the Emperor to his chest, so Erik carries his wings instead. Celestials are extremely light, but hard to carry at the same time. When they can't fold their wings, feathers are suddenly everywhere.

As expected, they are met with frightened and panicking Celestials. Royal Guards are a bit calmer than the rest because they received training for emergency situations, but they aren't immune towards panic. Every Celestial loses their mind when something's wrong with their embodiment of magic. And, right now, all Celestials feel their Emperor isn't okay, even if he isn't physically hurt.

Transporting Aefener to the infirmary isn't easy because concerned Celestials are plugging the halls, but the guards manage to make them a clear passage. Doctors Julia and Noage are waiting for them, even more confused than the Celestials. Gotrid carefully puts the Emperor on the special hospital bed adjusted for Celestials while Erik and Liana help adjust his wings so that he's comfortable.

"No pupil reaction, but his breath is steady," Julia says after quickly checking his vitals. "I suspect His Majesty is in a coma."

Noage rolls up his right sleeve and connects his rooty tentacles to Aefener's arm. He stays like that for a few moments during which the spectators almost forget to breathe.

"Total exhaustion," Noage confirms. "His Majesty must have used almost all his mana which doesn't surprise me, just look outside."

"How come the shield is still standing, though?" Liana doesn't understand. "Spells naturally dissolve when the caster isn't focusing on them anymore."

"You tell me, Viceroy, I can't feel Celestial mana," Noage retorts a little, his voice full of anxiety. He didn't mean to be rude, but his Earthborn powers aren't of much help right now.

Liana frowns and gently takes Aefener's left hand into hers. She can't connect to him the way Earthborn do and she isn't a telepath, but she should be able to feel his mana at least. She closes her eyes to concentrate better and she feels it immediately—a small amount of mana is pouring out of Aefener's wings.

"He's still powering the shield," she says, opening her eyes only to widen them in horror. "What do we do? Can we somehow end the spell ourselves? It's draining him!"

"I don't think we can," Gotrid shakes his head and starts petting Aefener's wings with trembling hands. "Whatever that attack was, we can't be sure it's over. Aefener's shield is the only thing keeping us safe. I think he linked the shield to himself permanently on purpose."

"But it's draining him!" Liana repeats frantically. "Not even our embodiment of magic can keep a spell of such magnitude for long."

"Ryuu, wake up," Erik is desperately calling his unconscious partner, no doubt trying to shout also in his mind to reach him telepathically.

"I don't think His Majesty will wake up by himself unless you cut the shield off him," Julia chews her lip. "Once he uses all the mana stored in his feathers, it'll start taking a toll on the rest of his body. You need to find a way to power up the shield yourself. If you take over, he might subconsciously let go."

"Stay with him, I'll do something about it," Liana orders the Consorts.

"There's no force on the planet that could make us leave our beloved," Erik rolls his eyes because what she said was redundant. "Do your part while we do ours."

The Viceroy nods gratefully and runs out of the infirmary, telling Luviael who's been following her like a shadow to call for the research team immediately. They get to the lab in under five minutes and since nobody left, the whole team is gathered.

"Your Excellency, what happened?!" the Minister of Magic Research Rina is worried sick. Everyone is. That attack must have frightened all Draconians in the skyscraper.

"No time for lengthy introductions, we need to find a way how to keep that shield running without our Emperor powering it," Liana blurts out, panting from the run. "His Majesty is in a coma and won't wake up unless we cut him off."

Rina and her team members gasp for breath. Nobody expected they would be tested on a life-and-death assignment right from the start. Is the Viceroy trying to say that the life of their Emperor depends on them?

"We could take over for His Majesty until we develop some long-term solution?" Rina's assistant Nestelle starts to come up with ideas right away. "It would take a lot of casters, but we can try?"

"There are thousands of shields, how many transfiguration symbols can you keep up?" Rina opposes. "Besides, have you mastered the Shield spell yet? I surely didn't."

"They were already created by His Majesty, we just need mana to sustain them," Nestelle argues.

"We can test those crystals that you ordered for experiments?" Haldis suggests shyly because spells are exclusively Celestial domain, but they are determined to express their idea. "They won't work for the Dragonkin, but surely Celestials could try to imbue them with mana?"

"Hmm, if we imbue crystals, we wouldn't have to focus on maintaining the spell," Rina gets thinking. "We'd need a lot of them, though. Moreover, it's something we haven't tested before, it might not work the same way as in the game."

"I'll ask Rien to send the Clawfangs to all esoteric shops in Prague and buy their entire stock," Liana waves her hand. "In the meanwhile, start experimenting with what you got already. I want a working prototype ready when they return."

"How much time do we have, Your Excellency?" Rina gulps.

"I don't know," Liana admits, sighing. "Even in his weakened state, His Majesty still has a tremendous amount of mana, but his minimum is very different to ours. The sooner we get it done, the faster his recovery will be."