Some time before...
Eastern Empire
The training grounds of the Eastern Empire echoed with the grunts, shouts, and heavy breathing of thousands of soldiers as they pushed their bodies to their absolute limits. Day after day, they were subjected to an increasingly brutal training regimen, one that had been noticeably intensified over the past couple of months. With each passing day, the instructors demanded more from them, pushing the soldiers harder and harder without giving them enough time to even catch their breath before they were ordered to move on to the next exercise.
Of course, the sudden change in their daily training routine hadn't gone unnoticed. Many of the soldiers were confused by the increased intensity, while even some of the Empire's high-ranking officials found themselves wondering what could possibly have prompted such a drastic change.
Yet, despite their questions, no one dared to complain or openly voice their dissatisfaction. After all, this new mandate had come directly from their Great Emperor himself. That alone was enough to silence whatever doubts or complaints they might have had. There was neither the option nor the desire to oppose an order issued by the ruler they had sworn to serve. Even those soldiers who normally tried to get away with doing the bare minimum had swallowed their complaints, dragged their tired butts onto the training field, and forced themselves to keep going.
More importantly, it was a well-known fact that the United Eastern Empire had not been built through diplomacy alone. Throughout its 2,000-year history, the Empire had repeatedly sent its soldiers on dangerous operations, some of which had ended in complete disaster, with entire units being wiped out and only a handful of survivors making it back home. Because of that history, most soldiers simply assumed that another major operation was on the horizon, and that the increased intensity of their training was meant to sharpen them for what was coming.
Interestingly enough, the rumor of an upcoming dangerous operation didn't frighten most of them. If anything, for many of these soldiers, the possibility only served to motivate them further. To them, being sent into battle was an opportunity to earn glory, distinguish themselves from their comrades, and perhaps even make a name for themselves that would be remembered throughout the Empire, just like the heroes whose names they had seen commemorated on the monument for the fallen. Some dreamed of returning home as decorated veterans, while others simply wanted to prove that they were worthy of standing among the Empire's finest. With those thoughts driving them forward, they poured their blood, sweat, and energy into every drill, pushing their exhausted bodies harder than they ever had before.
Meanwhile, from the balcony of one of the buildings overlooking the training grounds, Feldway stood with his arms folded, silently watching the soldiers below with clear disgust and contempt in his eyes as he observed them struggling through their grueling exercises. However, his disdain wasn't directed at any particular soldier, but at the living beings of the Cardinal World themselves.
To Feldway, these people were nothing more than inferior creatures driven by greed, desire, and countless other selfish impulses. They were riddled with contradictions and imperfections, constantly allowing their emotions to cloud their judgment and leading themselves into conflicts they could have easily avoided. In his eyes, they were utterly unworthy of being Lord Veldanava's creations.
Moreover, in his eyes, all of their efforts were ultimately meaningless because he knew that when confronted with the greater forces that existed within their world, these soldiers could amount to little more than momentary distractions. Their lives, their sacrifices, and even their deaths meant absolutely nothing unless their suffering somehow became the catalyst that drove an awakened human to emerge, and even that was an exceedingly rare occurrence.
Yet beneath all that contempt, there was also a faint trace of pity in Feldway's expression, though it was the sort of pity one might feel toward pigs waiting helplessly to be slaughtered. After all, Feldway knew that these soldiers, who believed that their efforts would eventually earn them honor and glory, had no idea that everything they were doing was ultimately nothing more than preparation for their own slaughter.
That, in the eyes of their Great and Beloved Emperor, every single one of them was nothing more than an expendable piece on a much larger board, gathered together, trained, and polished like weapons before being thrown directly into the jaws of death, all for the sole purpose of creating a chance to get at least a single awakened human. Soon, these thousands of troops training before him would perish, and even after all that bloodshed, there was no guarantee that they would achieve the desired result. Thousands could die without producing even a single awakened human, rendering the entire massacre nothing more than a colossal waste of lives.
And Feldway found the entire situation quite hilarious because, in his eyes, it represented everything that was wrong with his Lord's creations. The irony of it all was the fact that Veldanava's most beloved and treasured race had not only betrayed him and ultimately caused his death, but was now being slaughtered in waves, decade after decade, all while believing that their sacrifices served some greater purpose was simply too amusing to him. And to top it all off, it was his own student, Rudra, who had orchestrated this merciless scheme, which was the cherry on top of the whole situation.
However, just then, Feldway's thoughts were interrupted when he received an urgent message through thought communication from one of his subordinates stationed in the Otherworld, and judging by the tone of the voice in his head, he immediately knew that something was definitely wrong.
******
Present
"What the hell do you mean by 'someone took the World Destroying Dragon away'?" Feldway gritted his teeth as he glared down at his subordinates, Cornu, Obera, and Zalario, who were kneeling before him.
Looking closely, however, he could clearly see that whoever had invaded that realm had done quite a number on them. Both Cornu and Zalario looked considerably worse for wear, their God-grade armor cracked in several places, while Cornu's God-grade axe had been cleaved cleanly in half, and various injuries were visible across their faces and bodies. Obera, by contrast, looked completely unharmed. However, the haunted, stunned look in her eyes, combined with the same pale complexion shared by her two companions, was enough to keep the seed of suspicion from taking root in Feldway's mind.
Finally, Feldway forced himself to take a slow, deep breath as he suppressed the rage boiling within him and calmed himself down, knowing that losing his temper now wouldn't accomplish anything. Whatever had happened in the Otherworld had already happened, and there was nothing he could do to change it. What mattered most now was finding out exactly what had occurred and, more importantly, who was responsible for this mess.
"Tell me. Who was the intruder?" he asked, his gaze moving between the three kneeling Seraphim, but instead of an answer, he was met with silence, causing his eyebrow to twitch as the silence continued to stretch on. "Who was it?" he asked again, his voice noticeably colder this time.
The silence stretched on for several more moments before Zalario finally spoke. "We... don't remember."
"You don't remember?" Feldway asked, narrowing his eyes.
"No." Zalario slowly shook his head. "We remember that someone entered the realm. We remember fighting them. We remember..." He hesitated, his fists tightening against the floor. "We remember losing shamefully to whoever it was."
There was a trace of disbelief in Zalario's voice, as though even he couldn't fully accept the words coming out of his own mouth. "But their face..." he continued, shaking his head in frustration. "It's completely gone from our memories. No matter how hard I try, I can't remember what they looked like."
"You're telling me that someone defeated the three of you, took Ivaragé..." Feldway's expression darkened considerably as the implications of Zalario's words sank in. "...and you can't even tell me what they looked like?"
"We aren't intentionally withholding anything from you, Feldway," Zalario replied as he lifted his head and stared directly at the General of the Original Angels. "It's as though our memories were tampered with. Whenever I try to recall their appearance, there is simply... nothing. I know someone was there, but I can't remember their face."
"That coward!" Cornu added, gritting his teeth as he clenched his hands into fists. "They must have used some kind of foul trick on us! There's no other explanation. Whoever they were, they deliberately tampered with our memories so we couldn't recognize them!" His voice was filled with anger and humiliation while his pride clearly wounded by the fact that he and the other two had been defeated so thoroughly. "That bastard didn't even have the courage to let us remember their face!" he spat as his frustration grew with every word. "They had to resort to some cheap fucking trick just to hide their identity!"
Meanwhile, Obera, who hadn't said a single word throughout the entire exchange, quietly listened to them with a strange, almost unreadable look in her eyes, and for the briefest moment, something that almost resembled realization and understanding flickered in them before she quickly masked it and returned to her usual indifferent expression.
Fortunately for her, neither Feldway nor the other two noticed the subtle change in her expression. Cornu and Zalario were far too preoccupied with licking their wounds and dealing with the humiliation of their defeat, while Feldway was deep in thought, carefully processing everything they had told him. A technique capable of interfering with the memories of three Original Angels was troublesome enough, but completely erasing their memories of someone's appearance was something else entirely.
Feldway eventually clicked his tongue and rubbed his forehead, once again forcing himself to calm down before his frustration got the better of him. "Damn it..." he muttered under his breath before lowering his hand and looking at the three of them again. "If you can't remember their face, then forget about that for now. At least tell me exactly what happened here. I want every detail you can remember. Start from the moment they entered the realm and don't leave anything out."
And so, the three Seraphim began recounting their encounter with the mysterious intruder, starting by explaining to Feldway how the stranger had first used some kind of bizarre spell that caused everything around them to fall into a deep sleep, regardless of whether they were Angels or Aggressors. The effect had been so sudden and absolute that none of them had even realized what was happening until it was already too late. It was only after the entire realm had fallen silent that the mysterious person finally appeared out of nowhere, without any of them sensing their presence or even realizing that someone had entered the realm in the first place.
From there, Cornu recounted how he had been the first among them to attack. However, despite his overwhelming strength and vast experience in battle, the mysterious person had dealt with him so effortlessly that Cornu had barely been able to comprehend what was happening before he was defeated and sent crashing into the ground. The sheer speed and power of the encounter had left him almost completely helpless, and even now, recounting the humiliating experience clearly irritated him. Even so, Cornu continued insisting that the fight hadn't been fair and that the intruder must have used some kind of underhanded trick to overcome him. As far as he was concerned, there was simply no other reasonable explanation for how someone could have defeated him so easily.
Zalario then took over the story, explaining how he and Obera had decided to attack the intruder together after witnessing what had happened to Cornu and unleashed one of their strongest techniques, [Combined Holy Art: Seraphim Judgment], against their opponent, fully expecting the combined attack to at least neutralize the intruder, if not outright vaporize them, given the sheer destructive power and properties of the spell.
Instead, much to their horror and disbelief, the intruder didn't even bother to dodge and simply stood there and tanked the attack head-on as though it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience. The sight had left both of them stunned, but before they could properly comprehend what they were witnessing, the mysterious intruder had destroyed their attack simply by releasing and expanding their own energy, overwhelming their technique through sheer power alone.
As Zalario continued, a look of shame gradually settled over his face as he admitted that, despite Obera's warning and her attempt to stop him, he had ultimately lost his composure after witnessing the mysterious intruder's overwhelming power, causing panic and rage to cloud his judgment, and had rushed toward them headfirst rather than thinking through his next move.
And of course, just like Cornu before him, Zalario had been crushed into the ground with virtually no resistance. Looking back on it now, he acknowledged that charging straight at the mysterious person had been an incredibly foolish decision. After witnessing that person's overwhelming strength firsthand, he should have realized that a direct frontal assault was the worst possible course of action, and that the intruder represented a threat far beyond anything they had initially anticipated.
Lastly, Obera explained that after Zalario lost consciousness, she had seriously considered retreating from the battlefield and calling for reinforcements, realizing that continuing the fight alone would be extremely foolish and potentially suicidal. However, before she could put that plan into action, the mysterious person somehow appeared directly behind her, as though they had known exactly what she was thinking and had anticipated her intentions before she could even act on them. Without giving her enough time to think, react, or even move a single muscle, the mysterious person had knocked her unconscious before she could launch any kind of counterattack.
Finally concluding their testimony, Zalario explained that when they woke up, their surroundings were largely the same as before, with both the Angels and Aggressors still unconscious from the intruder's spell. However, unlike before, the Spooky Palace was crumbling around them, and the presence of the World-Destroying Dragon had completely vanished from the realm.
After hearing their accounts, Feldway remained silent for a long moment before simply vanishing from the Otherworld, leaving the three Seraphim behind, defeated, confused, and completely unsure of what to do next.
******
Meanwhile, Feldway had already returned to his quarters in the Empire, but the moment he arrived, he found himself unable to sit still. He paced back and forth across the room with his hands clasped behind his back as a growing sense of dread settled over him. No matter how many times he went over the Seraphim's testimony in his mind, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Someone had infiltrated the Otherworld without being detected, defeated three of the Seven Original Angels with seemingly effortless ease, and then taken Ivaragé without leaving behind even the slightest trace of their identity.
Even so, after pacing around the room for several more moments, Feldway finally stopped and let out a quiet sigh. He had initially intended to deal with the matter himself, but after hearing what had happened, he knew that this was no longer something he could afford to handle alone, and there was one other person who needed to know about this immediately. So, without wasting any more time, Feldway established a connection through Thought Communication and contacted the entity with whom he had been working toward the greatest goal of his life.
A moment later, his consciousness was drawn into an endless white plane, and standing within that strange space was a man bearing the familiar appearance of the Eastern Empire's Great Emperor, Rudra, save for the crimson-red eyes that immediately marked him as something other than the man himself. This was Michael, the Manas born from the Ultimate Skill [Michael, Lord of Justice].
Meanwhile, Michael noticed Feldway's consciousness and turned his attention toward him with his usual calm expression, though there was a faint trace of annoyance in his eyes at being summoned so abruptly. "Feldway," he said in his usual deep, monotone voice. "Why have you contacted me so hastily?"
"We have a problem." Feldway didn't bother with pleasantries and went straight to the heart of the matter, recounting everything his subordinates had told him, from the mysterious person's sudden appearance to how effortlessly they had dealt with his subordinates, and finally, to the real problem, that being the disappearance of the World-Destroying Dragon, Ivaragé.
"They took the World-Destroying Dragon?" Michael asked incredulously, with narrowed eyes. For the first time since Feldway had begun speaking, Michael's calm and somewhat bored expression disappeared, replaced by a noticeably more alert demeanor. "How is that possible? Three of the Seven Original Angels were guarding Ivaragé's prison. How could an intruder have entered the realm, defeated all three of them, and taken the World-Destroying Dragon without any of you noticing beforehand?" he pressed, his red eyes narrowing further. "Are you sure there wasn't a bad seed involved on your side?"
"Impossible," Feldway immediately rejected the possibility without even considering it. "There is no reason for any of my subordinates to allow someone to get anywhere near Ivaragé. They all know what that thing is capable of. More importantly, they have already witnessed the Evil God's true power once before. None of them would willingly release it or allow someone else to take control of it." His expression grew increasingly irritated as he continued, "Besides, this isn't the time for us to start pointing fingers at one another, and we need to identify this intruder as soon as possible."
Michael remained silent for a moment, seemingly considering Feldway's response before finally nodding. "I agree." His expression remained serious as he continued, "Although Ivaragé isn't necessary for our current plan, it was still an important backup option. If our current method of resurrecting Lord Veldanava were to fail, the World-Destroying Dragon could have provided us with another possible path," he added while Feldway's expression darkened at the reminder.
"However, that is not our only concern," Michael continued. "We need to determine the identity of the person who took Ivaragé. After all, someone capable of accomplishing what you have described cannot simply be ignored. Even if they have no interest in interfering with us at present, their very existence could become a major problem for our plans in the future."
"You're right. Whoever did this can't simply be ignored," Feldway slowly nodded in agreement, his expression remaining grim as he folded his arms across his chest while his mind immediately began running through the possibilities.
However, the more he thought about it, the more difficult the task became. There were only a handful of beings in the Cardinal World whom Feldway believed possessed enough strength to demolish Cornu, Zalario, and Obera with such overwhelming ease, and there were even fewer who could have accomplished it as effortlessly as his subordinates had described. But after narrowing down the possibilities as far as he could, only one name remained, and that thought immediately caused Feldway's expression to darken.
The strongest Demon Lord, Guy Crimson.
The thought alone was enough to darken Feldway's expression further and even though Guy being responsible didn't completely make sense to him, he couldn't deny that the Primordial Red was one of the few beings who could potentially pull off something like this.
More troubling, however, was the possibility that Guy might have grown to such an absurd level of power without him even realizing it was a bitter pill to swallow for Feldway. After all, they had known each other for an incredibly long time, and Feldway had always maintained a fairly clear understanding of Guy's capabilities. Yet if Guy really had become strong enough to casually overwhelm three Original Angels, then perhaps Feldway's understanding of his former rival's strength was already hopelessly outdated.
Still, he couldn't ignore the possibility simply because of his personal feelings, so he turned toward Michael and told him about his hypothesis. "There's also his Ultimate Skill. As far as I know, Guy is capable of completely reproducing abilities and Ultimate Skills he's witnessed even once." He paused briefly before adding, "If that's still the case, then it's not entirely far-fetched to assume that he could have acquired some means of putting an entire area to sleep, not to mention some kind of ability capable of controlling or manipulating Ivaragé. It's only a possibility, I agree, but given what we know about his Skill, I can't completely dismiss it."
In front of him, Michael remained silent for several moments, his expression growing increasingly thoughtful as he carefully considered Feldway's deduction. "Your hypothesis has some merit," he finally admitted. "As you are aware, Rudra recently met with Guy and declared that the upcoming Great Tenma War would be the final stage of their game. So, he does have a possible reason to intrude into the Otherworld and secure Ivaragé for himself before the war begins."
"Yes, that's another possibility, I guess," Feldway said, nodding along with Michael's words as he realized he hadn't considered that point. "So, we should investigate him," he said, folding his hands against his chest.
"Yes." Michael nodded. "If we have no other leads, Guy is the most logical place to begin. However, you must be discreet. If Guy truly possesses Ivaragé now, then we cannot afford to provoke him just yet."
"I am not stupid." Feldway looked offended by Michael's warning. "Anyway, I'll take care of it," he said as his consciousness returned to his body before he opened his eyes and found himself back in his room. "Now that I have a suspect in mind, it's time to make my move," he said as he once again used Thought Communication, though this time, he was contacting an old acquaintance of his...
"Hello, Dino. It's been a while..."
To be continued...