Magical Soul Parade - Chapter 353: Bitter Reality

The Undying Flame remained seated, unmoving on her throne despite the ruckus. She raised a hand and the court went silent in an instant, leaving only the sound of their shuddering breaths and rage-filled trembling bodies filling the room.

“Finish your report,” she motioned to the guard who remained bowed with his head low to the ground.

“T—Thank you, Queen Monarch!” he swallowed visibly then continued. “The report states an ’Althea Seneschal’ was the target of the attack, though how true that is remains to be seen, as reports of a similar attack on the main Seneschal family base in Feraxia also came in moments after the attack here…”

The guard’s words only went to confuse the court even further. It would seem the motive of the attack truly was this Althea person. For the news of the same attack all the way in Feraxia to arrive literally moments after the attack here in Aethelos, it simply meant the Ossuary wasn’t even trying to hide anything or be provocative to the Aethelosian sovereignty per se.

“They want this Althea to come to them,” the Undying Flame deduced calmly, then asked. “How many Preceptors are left?”

“The report did not exactly say. But a flock of them were seen leaving the ruins of the school. Estimates suggest at least ninety percent of them vacated the school and Aethelos as a whole after the deed was done…” the guard reported hurriedly.

“And no one has tried to confirm this?” the Undying Flame asked, her voice flat.

“T—They have tried, Queen Monarch!” the guard stuttered. “But no one who went close to the site has come out alive…”

The weight of the report settled over the room like a moody cloud, putting a damper on even the previously fiery voices. The situation was much more delicate and dangerous than they’d thought it to be.

The Queen Monarch, Undying Flame, pondered in silence for several seconds before waving a hand for the guard to leave. Then she spoke:

“There are deeper things at play we still do not know,” she stood up from her throne, the whole court rising along with her in readiness for her orders.

“Cassius,” the Undying Flame called, and a young man with long white hair and blue eyes stepped forward.

“This Althea person, she is the girl who had witnessed that event along with that black-haired boy back then, is she not?”

“Yes, my liege,” Cassius responded. “Althea Seneschal and Finnegan Slade. The girl is the one the Ossuary are now after, and the boy… somehow he is the one who has made a mockery of the Ossuary by taking control of their new Sanctum. The so-called ’Error Bearer.’”

Murmurs rose in the room in an instant, but the Queen silenced them again with the raise of her hand.

“So this is yet again connected to both of them,” she muttered, then took a deep breath before facing the council.

“Here is my order as Queen Monarch. Cassius, along with my seat of warriors, will head for the world tear in haste. You are to find this Error Bearer, Finnegan Slade, and pledge your allegiance to him—”

“My Liege!!” The young warrior head couldn’t help the shocked cry that escaped his mouth.

But even after realizing his mistake, he didn’t feel remorseful.

This was his queen asking him to go pledge his allegiance to someone else while she was still alive and breathing. How was he to do that when he had promised his life to her? What did she mean by giving such an order? Was she saying she was going to die? If she was, then she should take them along with her; they would gladly join her cause without the slightest bit of hesitation.

“Jordan,” the queen called, her gaze softening uncharacteristically as she looked at her warrior head. That soft gaze further cemented the doubt he already had in his mind.

“In promising your life and service to me, you also promised to follow all my orders to the ends of the world, did you not?” the Undying Flame asked.

Jordan’s gaze flickered violently, conflict and unwillingness written all over his face. He bit his lip till it bled, but he held his tongue nonetheless and nodded firmly to her question, choking out a strained, “Yes.”

“You did. Well, now I’m ordering you to take your men. Take our loyal Ossuarists. And follow Cassius. Find the Error Bearer. And pledge your allegiance to him for the sake of Aethelos… and for my sake.”

Jordan felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see that his queen had descended from her throne at some point and was now right in front of him, her eyes boring into his with a calm, but firm conviction.

In the face of such a conviction, how then was he to keep trying to disobey her order? It would be an insult of the highest order to keep doing so.

His gaze hardened, and he swallowed the lump in his throat, nodding firmly in response.

“Your will is my command, Undying Flame!”

His words seemed to light a fire in the hearts of all in the room. The trace of hesitation and doubt they held disappeared entirely, each person understanding fully well what their queen had understood right from the onset of the report:

They had joined the party way too late. It had come to light now that there were droves of people with much greater levels of power within the Ossuary. These people had been playing a secret game the whole time Archons like the Undying Flame and the three other Archons of their world thought they were the peak.

All that could be done now to regain any semblance of control was to join the right people as fast as possible and hope they were right in their decision.

In essence, the hidden meaning behind the queen’s order was that Aethelos, as they knew it, was now nothing but a husk. The same went for all the continents.