Notes : A Cassissa Lore File pertaining to Alexandra's golems has been written and added to the queue !
Well, yesterday SUCKED in every way imaginable. Was able to write a lore file at least, my longest one in fact.
For those wondering, here is a brief summary of what happened yesterday with the relative I had to house :
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I will not elaborate upon that, as I have already done a small snapshot of that on discord and I am going to proceed to bury everything because I want not to think of it again.
Two chapters remain until the end of book 11 ! See you friday, which is a day that will be filled with medical appointments in crippling heat for me.
P.S : Sorry for the late chapter upload, but I spent the whole day sleeping after what happened yesterday.
Chapter 438
Plains of Reclaiming, Duchy of Asaria.
City of Asaria, Capital of the Asarian Kingdom.
Joachim leaned against the crenellations, gazing at the assembled army out in the plains. And, more particularly, the figure with striking white hair at the head of it, talking to two shapes in adamantium armor.
For the first time in months, he felt his shoulders relax. Even now, he trusted Lesly. She had, after all, managed to keep the plan running despite some monumental derailments.
Unfortunately, this was as close as he could afford to get to her until this was all over. Perhaps ever, since he certainly didn't expect to survive long past the end of this conflict.
Even being this close was a risk. They weren't entirely sure what means the Church used to keep an eye on the dungeon cores, but they were impossibly thorough. There was a reason why, despite having the ability to sway the UDC's votes and cause it to collapse into a civil war, they had to make their own, artificial dungeon core.
They'd tried to subborn or recruit existing ones, and failed spectacularly. Somehow, the Church always knew, though thankfully all attempts had been made via proxies, who had taken the fall for it.
The fallout of that had been part of the reason the guild had been so terrified of people feeding dungeons equipment and resources. Given the retaliation the church had visited upon the regions involved...It was understandable. Though, of course, the guild itself wasn't keen on explaining it, which had made discrediting it easier.
Joachim wondered if anyone had ever realized just how much the adventurers guild had known. In many ways, it had been their deadliest weapon, and why the Order had carefully recruited, subborned or excised members of the guild after it started being dismantled.
They couldn't afford certain things getting out. Like the fact that a sagitarian planetary defense railgun, or the wreckage of one, had found its way from the guild's vaults to the Order's.
If the Church knew...
They would burn an entire continent again to make sure to take it down.
After all, these guns had been made to shoot down 'Divine' warships.
"Quite the sight, eh?" Said the guard captain. The imposing man leaned against the battlement next to Joachim, and smiled. "They'll have the Sapphirians on the run in no time."
There was a chorus of assent from the others up on the wall. That section had remained remarkably intact, and technically the entirety of the city's defenses were supposed to be kept on alert in case of attack, but...
Well, it was the Imperial army out there. And predictably, the remnants of the ramparts had quickly become prime spots to watch the historic event.
Many a guard's purse had gotten fatter today for letting people view the event. No one had raised an eyebrow. The purpose was innocent enough, and it was just how things were done in the capital.
Lesly ran things differently. It would be a shock for everyone here once she finished annexing the Kingdom and finished pulling the entire continent together into a single, cohesive whole.
Joachim was shaken out of his thoughts as the guard captain gave him a slap on the back. Just enough to make him jerk forward a bit and not quite stumble, but it still got a reaction from his bodyguards.
A simple sign was enough to forestall them. Not now, not here. Besides, the captain meant no harm. Killing one of the people who'd bribed him here, even by accident, would be an act of monumental stupidity.
"You'll have something to tell your grandchildren about. Seeing the first meeting between their majesties and Crystal...The only thing that'll top it off will be when the Empress comes herself!"
"Indeed." Said Joachim. "That will be quite the sight."
By the time it came to be, he would be in the hills of discovery, past the Barrier Mountains and into the Sapphire Kingdom.
Preparing the next stage of the plan, and the liberation of humanity.
*****
"It was a risky bet." Said Gift, as the Custodian looked at the city and the army before it.
"I agree. But it is still a shame. If we wish to avoid complications...introducing her slowly to my lord's designs would have been a great help."
Gift gazed at the Custodian. Only someone like his lord would deliberately use an extradimensional, and one of his own pawns no less, as a vehicle to inform someone of his plans. Or at least the beginning of them. It was just insane enough that a human could have come up with it, in fact.
"Though perhaps it would have caused her to dig deeper."
The Custodian chuckled.
"That would have been the point." He shook his head. "Still, this is a good reminder that we cannot control everything. And sometimes, even hedged bets don't pay off."
"We could have stopped the guild from killing him."
"It wasn't the guild that eliminated our dear shard's delivery man. It was embittered adventurers and remnants of the guild's private army, that did not engage during its collapse. Shadows and rotting limbs too far gone to even realize the rest of the body was dead." The Custodian shook his head. "Proof once again that just because you've killed something doesn't mean its remains are harmless."
"The Order was plenty proof of that." Said Gift, as he gestured at the image.
They both knew he meant the whole conflict unfolding, and the Custodian nodded.
"Indeed. But a useful reminder nonetheless." The Custodian gazed at Gift. "Are you ready for what is coming?"
The dungeon core nodded.
"You gave me freedom. Of mind and body. I will return it."
There was something sad and incredibly old in the Custodian's eyes.
"You and I both."
They stayed there in companiable silence, watching plans older than nations slowly unfold.
*****
"Hey."
Alexandra looked up from the hologram, and turned around, blinking tiredly as she saw Emilia enter the command center.
"Oh. Hey darling."
"You're still working?"
"The Empire never sleeps. And even with everything...." She turned back around, and tapped the hologram, causing it to glitch and ripple. It was small, barely hovering over the projector. It helped her think. Stay focused. One small thing at a time. "We still have to attack Southmarch. I think we can-"
She stopped as she felt Emilia hug her from behind.
"You don't have to do this." Whispered the vampire. "We talked about her. Arcadia. What you feared she would do."
Alexandra's shoulders sagged. And tears began streaming down her cheeks.
"We did." She whispered back.
The vampire's arms tightened, squeezing her girlfriend.
"And the people that you served for most of your life...They betrayed you." Emilia shook, and Alexandra realized the vampire was sobbing as well. "I know how that feels."
She did. After all...she had spent her whole life living a lie, preparing to be a dungeon advisor for the Custodians of the God of Fire.
Alexandra slowly pried her girlfriend's arms off, and turned around, embracing her girlfriend in turn.
"I know." She murmured.
Emilia hugged her back, and they stood there, for what felt like hours.
At last however, there was a ping, and Alexandra sighed, letting go of her girlfriends.
"Duty calls."
Emilia nodded.
"I know. But..." She took Alexandra's hand. "Come by tonight, alright? You need some rest."
"I will." Alexandra closed her eyes, doing a system check.
Her tracking programs were discrete enough that though their target probably knew they were there, it would be impossible to tell what exactly they were seeing.
The dungeon core took a deep breath, and let it out. Allya was still on her way, and had pinged to say she was coming. She had a bit of time.
That was good. Because she wasn't entirely sure what to do.
No one, after all, had written a manual on how to help your other self. Not even Arcadia.
And it's not like Ghost had Emilia to pull her out of it.
"I will." She repeated.
*****
"Heya, sis."
Ghost froze, and looked up from the data she'd been crunching through.
Something passed between them. Ghost knew Alexandra had been doing much the same thing she was, throwing herself into work. She also knew she wouldn't have pulled herself out of it so quickly. Not on her own.
And instead of choosing to partake in that or handle other things, the first thing she did was to connect to the simulation, and go see her other self.
Alexandra walked over to the sofa, opposite the one the apparition was occupying.
There was a short silence. Then Ghost let out a choked sob.
"How could they?" She finally managed to let through her lips.
"I don't know." Softly said Alexandra. "Perhaps we never will know. Even if we could somehow get back to Earth...they'd be long dead by the time we figure out how the God of Light got himself or a proxy there."
Ghost looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Arcie is going to drown Earth in fire."
"Just the Federation."
Ghost shook her head.
"No. She won't have a choice. If it is the Federation council that took us out...she'll remove them. Take over. And once she does, she'll activate project Hegemon. Ciel, if no one else, will guess she has to have something like this in the works. So it'll be a use it or lose it situation, and in her state..."
Alexandra nodded, grimly.
Arcadia wasn't just hyperprotective. She was also deeply emotionally volatile, and generally extremely unstable as an AI on a baseline level.
The emotional volatility got stabilized by the hivemind, according to Ghost. But it created a kind of perverse imbalance. She handled small shocks better, but hit her hard enough...
Hit her hard enough and the emotions would be amplified rather than diluted by the hivemind.
"Fair enough." The dungeon core closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "I'm not...good at this to begin with." She chuckled. "And there isn't exactly a manual on, you know..."
"Helping your other self?"
Alexandra smiled, opening her eyes.
"Exactly."
Ghost leaned back into the sofa. Then she chuckled.
"Look at us. 'Crystal' and 'Ghost'. The mighty ladies that unified the continent. Fumbling about blindly, trying to reassure one another. Some historical figures."
Alexandra couldn't help it, she laughed. And Ghost did too.
Before long, both of them were roaring with laughter.
Because when you came down to it, this, all of this, was absurd. They were on a world of dead civilizations, fallen empires and magic, trying to conquer it, while worrying about their homeworld, which they might never see again, and almost certainly not before taking down Gods.
Finally, their laughter died down, and Ghost nodded at Alexandra.
"Alright. Enough monkeying about. Go see Emilia, she must be waiting for you."
"Actually, I'm going to meet Allya."
"Kinky."
Alexandra sputtered.
"I'm not meeting her for that!"
"This time."
The dungeon core opened her mouth, then closed it.
"Go meet the Empress." Said Ghost. "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
Ghost nodded.
"I don't have a vampire girlfriend to drag me off by the ear whenever I start spiraling, but I can keep myself off the slippery slope if someone gets me out." She smiled. "Even if that 'someone' is myself. So shoo. And before you say anything, I do have some work to do."
"Just make sure to hand some over to Glitch and the others, alright?"
"Will do. So long as you let Allya handle the politics and get Emilia to help you with the runes."
Alexandra rolled her eyes.
"Fine." She stood up, and gazed at the data, her eyebrow rising. "You were analyzing some of the astrological data?"
"What links Earth to Alcheryos appears to be based on hyperspace, at least on the other side. Given that, the Gods' starships, or debris field thereof, seemed like a good place to start digging. Besides, whatever wrecked them can take down the Citadel too. Presumably, at any rate."
"Thinking a bit too far ahead on the Citadel part."
"Actually I was mainly fantasizing about vaporizing that God of Light and everything he'd ever built. But that also."
The dungeon core winced.
"Fair enough. I'll be back later to check on you, alright?"
"I'll be fine." Ghost smiled. "But I appreciate it. Now shoo! Thine Empress requires your presence. Fast, before thou are flogged for the slothness!"
Alexandra snickered, before stepping out of the simulation.
Allya was unlikely to flog her. That would be more Emilia or Pyn's speed. But there were things that needed to be handled immediately.
After all, the world didn't stop for her.