Chapter 144: Desperate Alliances and Fallen Realms

"Ugh."

Dion opened his eyes. The first sight that greeted him was a plain wooden ceiling and its intersecting crossbeams. He blinked a few times, then bolted upright, only to find a heavy arm draped across his lap. Turning to his side, he saw Aria sleeping soundly right next to him, with little Gina curled up fast asleep in her embrace.

Dion glanced toward the window and noticed the sky outside had already turned dark. He surveyed the room, realizing he was lying in an inn bed, and brought one hand up to massage his temples.

"What the hell happened... why am I even here? What happened to the cathedral? The last thing I remember, I activated the Ancient One persona... raised the barrier, and dropped Atomic Nova... After that... I completely blacked out," Dion thought to himself.

He turned back to check on Aria and gently stroked Gina, who was still snoozing peacefully in her arms.

"They’re... just asleep. Thank God," Dion sighed with relief.

He carefully lifted Aria’s arm off his lap and swung his legs over the side of the bed to stand up. Just as he planted his feet on the floorboards, creak! The door swung open. Dion whipped his head toward the entrance, his eyes going wide: King Lamberd stepped into the room, accompanied by Evelyn, with Takeshi holding the door open behind them. Spotting Dion standing near the window, he glanced outside and saw a heavy perimeter of samurai guards securing the inn, flanked by a royal carriage and several holy knights standing at attention out front. Turning back, Dion met Lamberd and Evelyn’s eyes and bowed his head respectfully.

"King Lamberd," Dion greeted.

"Raise your head, Dion, son of Derian and Diana von Oswald. Don’t be so formal with me; you used to run around terrorizing the palace gardens when you were just a kid," Lamberd chuckled warmly.

Dion raised his gaze to look at Lamberd, whose arm was still wrapped in medical bandages, wearing a kind, welcoming smile. Lamberd glanced down at Aria, who was still hugging Gina in her sleep, then back at Dion’s pale face.

"I... I didn’t do anything weird with Aria! Uncle...er, Your Majesty, I literally just woke up too!" Dion stammered frantically.

"Hahaha! I’m not worried about that. Your engagement has already been officially re-established, so there’s no issue there... I came here today to offer my sincere gratitude. Because of your intervention, this city and kingdom were spared from falling entirely to the undead," Lamberd said, dipping his head in a polite bow.

"Uh... um... You’re welcome... Please, raise your head, Your Majesty," Dion fidgeted nervously.

Lamberd straightened up, and a heavy silence settled back over the room. Realizing the somber expressions clouding Evelyn and Lamberd’s faces, Dion instantly put the pieces together.

"Aria... already told you everything, didn’t she?" Dion asked.

"She did. She told us all about it... and right before departing, Olivia actually came back to meet me and Aria outside the cathedral once the dust settled... Speaking personally and on behalf of the crown, I thank you, Dion. Because of what you did, Olivia is finally free and no longer bound as a puppet of the undead," Evelyn answered softly, a warm smile gracing her face through shimmering, tear-filled eyes.

"I echo those thanks regarding Olivia, Dion, both personally and as a father," Lamberd added.

"Um... uh... Don’t mention it... though the one who actually finished her off was Aria," Dion mumbled.

"But you were the one who carried Aria there. Besides, it seems Olivia came along with you; the moment the blast cleared and you collapsed, those glowing flecks of light drifted up from the crater where the cathedral stood and manifested into her spirit. Aria, myself, and everyone present witnessed it with our own eyes," Evelyn explained.

"I see... so that’s what happened," Dion muttered, completely clueless and having zero idea how any of that had transpired.

"Dion, you are now the sovereign of the Kingdom of Xandor. Having witnessed your extraordinary power firsthand, and seeing the current state of the world threatening to swallow my own kingdom whole, I, as King of Thetor, have decided to officially ally with your realm to crush this spreading undead plague," Lamberd declared.

"Huh... um... Whoa. That’s a heavy topic to drop on me right after waking up... Uh... let’s discuss this later," Dion stammered, completely overwhelmed as a flood of massive geopolitical decisions rushed into his brain.

Before he could process it, the king stepped over to sit on the edge of the mattress while Evelyn stood beside him, making it clear this conversation wasn’t ending anytime soon. True to Dion’s suspicion, Lamberd pulled a magical scrying mirror from his coat and placed it on the bedside table. The glass flared to life, projecting the tired, careworn face of King Alexius of Lutherias onto the surface.

"Greetings, King Dion," Alexius bowed respectfully from the reflection.

"Ah... King of Lutherias... Alexius III von Stein... um... please raise your head, Your Majesty," Dion blurted out, sweating profusely.

"Pardon me, but on this occasion, I must ask you to hear King Alexius out," Lamberd interjected.

"Of course, Uncle... er, Your Majesty," Dion corrected himself.

"Just call me Uncle like you did when you were little or better yet, Father, since your engagement to Aria is back on," Lamberd smiled.

"Uh... y-yes, Uncle," Dion forced a tight smile. He turned his attention back to the mirror. "How can I be of assistance, Your Majesty Alexius?"

Alexius paused for a moment. He looked utterly exhausted, appearing far older than he had previously, before finally lifting his gaze to meet Dion’s eyes.

"King Dion, I apologize if my request is entirely out of line, but I am begging you to shelter the surviving citizens of the capital of Lutherias. I intend to evacuate the capital and abandon our kingdom permanently," Alexius pleaded.

Hearing those words, Dion gasped in shock, and Evelyn mirrored his stunned expression. Lamberd, however, remained entirely composed, suggesting he had already been briefed and was likely the driving force behind this meeting. Dion scrambled to make sense of what he had just heard. As far as he knew, Lutherias was the second-largest kingdom on the continent, boasting renowned academies for knights and mages alongside an exceptionally formidable battle-mage corps.

"What on earth happened, Your Majesty?" Dion pressed.

Alexius let out a heavy sigh before explaining the grim reality: the academic city of Phobos had fallen to the undead. The horde had massed there, meaning that even if the undead forces across the crater remained still, the colossal army assembled at Phobos could easily loop around and crush the capital from the rear, leaving the populace trapped with nowhere to run except into the arms of the undead.

The revelation hit Dion like a physical blow, though a crucial detail still refused to add up. Phobos was famous for its elite military garrison and battle-mage divisions, bolstered by student bodies composed entirely of rank A and S elites.

"How could Phobos fall so easily... Was there treason from within?" Dion demanded.

Evelyn turned her head to stare at Dion, and even Lamberd locked eyes with him, his jaw tightening. Alexius stared back through the scrying glass with a deadly serious expression.

"Your intuition is correct, Your Majesty. My right-hand man and the royal court mage betrayed the kingdom... They lowered the protective wards of Phobos from the inside... I had dispatched them there believing they would reinforce the city, that was my fatal mistake," Alexius confessed bitterly.

"Wait... your right hand? You mean Count Mateo?" Evelyn gasped.

"Count Mateo, yes, alongside Fergil, a Sage-class mage of SS-rank... As of right now, he has evolved into an Abyss Nosferatu of SSS-rank... following his slaughter of the sacred spirit tree in Eredor. That intelligence was transmitted directly by a Shadow Hand operative stationed in Eredor, and he remains active there... According to reports, he was recruited personally by Queen Aurora," Alexius finished grimly.

"W-What?!" Dion yelled, his blood running entirely cold.

Dion’s mind raced as he scrambled to digest the terrifying implications. His face drained of color, and his lips trembled. If Alexius’s intelligence was accurate, the fates of Chiyo or Cylona had suddenly become dangerously uncertain. Both of Dion’s fists clenched tightly at his sides while his brain struggled to process the nightmare unfolding across the realm.

***

Meanwhile, deep within Springrock, Eredor,

"Help me! Ugh!"

A fleeing man shrieked as a sweeping tentacle lashed out from a towering beholder, tearing a gaping hole straight through his back. A moment later, the man convulsed, his eyes rolling back as he lurched back to life as a mindless zombie. Two Shadow Hand operatives crouched atop a ruined rooftop, staring down in absolute horror at the devastated city. Every single resident had been transformed into the walking dead, mutated beholders drifted lazily through the purple-tinged sky, and the colossal ancient tree at the center of the mountain had rotted entirely black.

"W-We need to report this back to King Araki immediately," one of the operatives whispered, his voice shaking.

"Right... let’s get out of here," the other agreed.

The two spun around to flee, but iron-clad fingers clamped instantly around both of their throats. Lifting them effortlessly into the air was a strikingly handsome man with pale skin, pointed elfin ears, razor-sharp fangs, and jet-black bat wings sprouting from his back.

He wore the opulent, archaic attire of a medieval noble, adorned with a sinister black tree crest and dangling from a heavy chain around his neck was Cylona’s severed head, preserved and shrunk like a grotesque trophy. He flashed a wide, bloodthirsty grin as the two operatives clawed desperately at his grip.

"Where do you think you’re going? To report back? Oh, let’s not be hasty. Once we march on the capital and annex this entire kingdom, you’ll have all the permission you need to deliver your report," Fergil purred with a twisted smile.

Crack!

With a quick twist of his wrists, he snapped both of their necks and tossed their limp bodies aside like trash. He then looked down at the main road leading out of the city toward the capital, where an endless army of zombie swordsmen, samurai ghouls, and skeletal knights, the former townspeople, marched in rank behind him, while a cloud of damned beholders hovered lazily in the skies above.

"Forward, my loyal army... For Queen Aurora," Fergil whispered, a savage, spine-chilling grin stretching across his face.