Chapter 385: Across the Sea

Elara had a more practical question.

"Cassian, what about the Chapterhouses we’ve already built? Can they receive the latest facilities?"

"Of course. I’ll open the updates from the Hall." He brought up the Building panel. "And anyone still training Rare Legionnaires can advance those veterans through the Chapterhouse. You only need to make up the difference in Battle Essence between Rare and Epic. You won’t have to start over with new recruits."

His fingers moved across the controls.

Blue light settled over more than a hundred Chapterhouses. Elara’s, Nessa’s, and the one Darian supported in Maelin’s Domain all received the same notice.

[Facility Upgrade Pending]

[Epic Materials Required]

Their Epic rating remained in place. The facilities and training configurations awaited the owners’ payments, much as the Five Elements Temple’s foundation had waited for its materials.

"That’s wonderful!" Nessa said. "All the Battle Essence we’ve spent raising the older troops still counts."

Cassian nodded.

"Mira, help coordinate the resources. Let’s get everyone’s Chapterhouse ready as soon as possible."

The strength of an Epic Eclipse Legionnaire far exceeded that of an ordinary Epic troop. Spreading more of them through Divine Province would make a real difference.

That was why he had hesitated over the announcement. He wanted his allies stronger. He also felt he had spent quite enough time at the center of the Homeworld’s attention lately.

Well, the announcement was out now.

——

Sector 632.

A clear, piercing cry rang across the battlefield.

A blade of light a hundred meters long swept through the enemy ranks. Hundreds of bodies fell in two pieces.

A skilled observer would have recognized Saber Will within that strike. Like Sword Will, it could drive the power of a weapon technique far beyond its ordinary limits.

Helena Grey lowered her Artifact, the Ashwing Saber. Despite the devastating blow, anger and frustration remained on her face.

"Withdraw!"

Losing her War Office had turned a favorable campaign into a crisis. On the front against the Black Banner, her forces had been driven back again and again. Now she had even been forced to abandon the map holding the entrance to the Mythic Ancient Road.

Her army still obeyed with the discipline she had drilled into it. More than ten thousand Lords passed on the order. Tens of millions of troops began an orderly retreat.

Helena was watching their movement when she noticed Aveline’s expression change.

"Aveline? What is it?"

Elara’s mother blinked, pulling her attention away from a private notice.

"My Chapterhouse has received a facility upgrade from Cassian. He’s opening the improved training facilities across the branches." She let out a small, disbelieving laugh. "And the Homeworld has just formally recognized his Epic troop line."

Helena turned fully toward her.

"He’s ready to spread them that widely?"

"The notice is right here."

For a while, neither woman spoke.

Helena had spent decades studying every possible way to improve the Greywing Legion. Only recently had she begun to see a route toward Epic, inspired by the defenses Cassian had developed for his Eclipse troops.

Now his line was receiving the Realm’s recognition while his Chapterhouses prepared to put more Epics in the field.

She had thought herself difficult to discourage. That still stung.

Then a quiet laugh escaped her.

It grew louder, until the nearby officers glanced over in surprise.

"Good. Very good!"

The bitterness had left her expression.

"A recognized Epic line, with Buildings he can supply to his followers. He’s already stepping toward the rank of Greater Domain Lord. House Frost chose well."

She looked out over the withdrawing army.

"Perhaps it really will fall to him to overthrow the Jade Court and rebuild the Crown’s order in the Seventh Realm."

Aveline’s spirits rose with hers. She had always thought highly of Cassian, but a Greater Domain Lord? Even she had not dared look that far ahead.

She would have to have a word with Elara. Her daughter had been close to him since their early days in the Realm, yet somehow that advantage was becoming less distinct with every new woman around him.

Then Aveline caught herself.

What useful advice could she give? In that particular matter, she hardly had much experience herself.

——

News of the announcement and the available Epic Buildings spread rapidly among everyone with an interest in Cassian.

The Chapterhouse owners began paying for the updates. Rare Eclipse veterans entered training and emerged as Epics, their owners supplying the additional Battle Essence. Darian funded the work in Maelin’s Domain, and his friends brought their own branches up to date in turn.

After seeing the troops’ strength, Edran Frost bought a hundred Chapterhouse Blueprints for House Frost. Cassian paid the Hall’s usual ten thousand Muster Fortune for each Blueprint before filling the order.

Edran also expressed an interest in a lasting arrangement.

An Epic line of this quality was worth securing.

House Caerwyn chose a different approach.

"A hundred War Lords from Ironpass want to settle in Divine Province?" Cassian repeated when Mira brought him the application.

"Yes."

"Then let them. You can handle things like that."

Divine Province occupied an excellent position. Requests to move there from the other Crown Provinces were nothing new. Cassian welcomed reliable allies whose backgrounds they could verify. More movement between the provinces meant closer ties.

Mira’s expression remained peculiar.

"All one hundred are beautiful women. And every one of them is a Caerwyn."

Cassian rubbed his forehead.

Of course they were.

No ruling house loved marriage alliances quite as much as House Caerwyn.

He considered the matter, then waved a hand.

"Find a Region where they can settle first."

Turning them away would make the whole affair seem more significant than it was. There were already plenty of women around him. He could simply avoid getting tangled up with this new group.

——

Another week passed.

"Cloudrest fleet, ready!"

"Southreach fleet, ready!"

"Westreach fleet..."

Reports came one after another above Divine Province’s coastal waters.

Cassian stood on a cloud a thousand meters above the sea. Wind pulled at his clothes. Below him, warships stretched beyond sight, carrying troops whose numbers ran into the billions.

He took in the flags, the formations, the ships waiting for his command. Excitement stirred in his chest.

One call, and an army like this answered.

"Damn, being a Sovereign feels good," he murmured. "What must it be like to rule a Greater Domain?"

He drew a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice rolled across the water.

"Will you cross the sea with me? Will you bring down the Black Banner, raise the Crown’s name, and honor those who died before us?"

The answer rose from the fleets in a roar.

"Cross the sea! Bring down the Black Banner!"

The cry carried for fifty kilometers. Light descended over the ships as Lords activated Navigation skills, strengthening their fleets for the voyage.

Then billions of Aether burned away.

Nineteen immense Gates opened on the sea. Each was a kilometer across, large enough to swallow the warships sailing toward it. Rare vessels, Epic vessels, Legendary vessels—all filed into the shining passages.

The far side lay a hundred thousand kilometers away.

Founding Divine Nation had opened that range to Cassian. Once the fleets emerged, only forty thousand kilometers of ordinary sailing would remain before they reached the Black Banner’s inner sea.

——

In Highcrest, in the Third Realm, Edran Frost sat with two familiar projections before him.

The founder of House Valcrest looked considerably better than he had at their last meeting. He rubbed his chin, watching the reports.

"Cassian usually makes sure of everything before he moves. Why is he in such a hurry to attack the Black Banner?"

He frowned.

"Time favors us. Give him a few more years of steady growth, and he should have little trouble dominating Sector 666."

"If he waits, those two million Fenwick Lords will go to waste," the Caerwyn Sovereign replied.

The older Lords who had descended with the Fenwicks had abandoned their foundations in their former sectors. Without those Domains to support them, they and their Heroes and troops would eventually be overtaken by the younger Lords growing around them.

Their strength was most useful now, while their advantage remained.

"True," the Valcrest founder conceded. "But I still feel that isn’t enough to explain it."

Edran took a sip of Enlightenment Tea from the head seat.

"Could it be the Firstborn Gate?"

"Damn." The Valcrest founder stared at him. "Surely not?"

The Caerwyn Sovereign’s gaze sharpened as well.