The sky gained another sun, and the power of Arthuria Pendragon was once again displayed in full.
Causing the people who had been sitting back, feeling pleased at the losses incurred by Albion, to turn pale in fright.
Many had gotten ideas as they watched Albion struggle; they smelled weakness and were like sharks in water smelling blood.
They just hadn't been able to act on their intentions since they too were still busy dealing with the Sentinel problem.
And now, they quickly buried their plans; all the schemes they had been cooking up were hidden away, and all traces were wiped off the face of the Earth.
For while weakness and vulnerability had encouraged them.
This show of strength quickly drained that courage right back out of them.
It had been far too easy to forget about the might of Albion and Arthuria Pendragon when machines of doom rained fire from the sky.
More so since even Albion struggled.
But the moment that power was tested, the Sentinels tested against Arthuria herself, all illusions that technology could match her were dispelled.
Still, it wasn't yet time to relax.
For while one decisive battle could be enough to win a war, it was rarely enough to end it.
And while this particular war likely wouldn't need a peace conference and treaty signing to truly end.
It was still far from over.
Thousands of Sentinels remained, and given how they had adapted over the weeks, even the Illuminati could no longer trust their ability to track each and every one, no longer trusting the big red number.
Because deception clearly was a strategy the Sentinels understood, one they used often enough.
So while, for the moment, Albion was safe, that could be temporary, or the remaining threat could simply move somewhere else.
As long as the Sentinels remained, they remained a threat.
Still, for the first time since the Sentinels first attacked, there was a total lull in their activity.
A lull the main fighters, the leaders of the resistance, didn't spend relaxing and recharging; instead, everyone rushed toward Camelot.
-----
While my castle remained mostly empty of Enforcement Knights, with only the barest minimum left for protection, it was no longer the silent and empty building it had been when I first returned.
Once more, I sat on my throne, since my office remained filled with equipment and simply wasn't large enough to host everyone who wanted and needed to see me.
And many wished to see me, and many of them had very good reasons for it.
"We have evacuated this area here, the red one; only combat personnel remain. The yellow area is where we consider there to be a threat of attack, while the green—"
"Is safe and untouched?" I finished for Yelena Belova.
"Well, as untouched as any place can be during a war like this. No attacks, but there are the refugees, the general unrest, and the fear," the Black Widow explained with a slight sigh, not sounding tired, but not full of energy either.
It was a weariness that was shared by most people these days.
I nodded at her report; that was true enough. When a nation was invaded, few places remained entirely untouched, even if not by enemies and attacks, then by the consequences themselves.
And the consequences of something like this weren't minor at all.
My realm still barely functioned, cut off from the global market and supply chain; there were many things that weren't in large supply.
And given the damage caused there... the rebuilding alone would be costly and difficult.
Something that would be the next big problem.
But that was for later.
"And what about the casualties?" I asked.
There was a brief silence in the grand hall.
Even with everyone here, it was quiet; it was a heavy topic, one no one really wanted to speak of.
"Your Majesty, the total loss of life across Albion is... significant." Agravain was the one who finally broke the silence, stepping forward with a tablet in his hand.
He looked me in the eye, his own gaze steady, yet I could see the weight of the numbers he was about to deliver.
"As of this morning, the confirmed civilian death toll is twelve thousand, four hundred and sixty-two." He paused, letting the number hang in the air. "This includes both humans and mutants. We estimate the actual number may be higher. We are still... finding bodies in some of the more devastated coastal towns."
He took another breath.
"Of my knights," he continued, and I noticed the slightest tremor in his voice. "Of the Enforcement Knights left under my command, we have lost thirty-seven percent. Many were simply worn down, their mana depleted to a point where they could no longer regenerate their forms. They... fought until they faded."
My grip tightened on the armrest of my throne. The Enforcement Knights were constructs of magic, given form and function; their life or death didn't truly matter. What mattered were the lives of my citizens.
The lives of twelve thousand, four hundred and sixty-two of my subjects.
A silent, cold fury built within me, a storm far more terrible than any I could conjure with my power. For a moment, I felt the urge to raise Rhongomyniad again, not to fire a cleansing light, but to bring the full, unrestrained wrath of a god upon those responsible.
But the Sentinels were gone.
For now.
And unleashing that power here, now, would do nothing to bring back the dead. It would only be a waste of time and energy.
I forced the rage down, burying it deep beneath a layer of icy composure.
"Enforcement Knights can be replaced," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "People cannot. This will not be forgotten."
Everyone bowed their heads, either in shame or simply because the power I emitted was too much for them to look at directly.
They were, after all, mortals. Tough as nails they might be, but there was still a limit to all things, even to me.
"I hope I'm not too late." The cocky voice of Tony Stark interrupted the tense atmosphere as the genius came wandering in.
While his cocky and careless attitude was but a mask, it did indeed break the tension in the room.
"You are not," I said, my gaze falling upon him. "In fact, you are right on time, Mr. Stark."
"Great! Love being right on time," Tony said, clapping his hands together. "And thanks for the laser light show. Very impressive. A little overkill, maybe, but hey, who am I to judge a goddess when she's having a bad day?"
He strolled into the center of the hall, a tablet of his own in hand. He tapped it a few times, and a holographic map of the world appeared, floating in the air.
"So, here's the good news," he began, pointing at the map. "Your little light show was very effective, eliminating every last Sentinel detected within and directly around Albion. In fact, how did you hit them all with such precision from here? That's quite a range."
"Rather than the range, the homing properties are far more impressive, Stark. Range is about energy, and while the amount something like this must have required is staggering and, frankly, unbelievable, the control post-expulsion is far more impressive," Reed Richards cut in as he also entered the room, carrying all manner of equipment.
Some of which, I felt, wasn't there to help catch me up to speed and discuss future actions against the Sentinels, but rather because of Reed's endless curiosity about me and my power.
"Welcome, Mr. Richards, and allow me to express my appreciation for your help in defending my realm," I said to him.
"We couldn't just let machines kill everyone," Reed said with a sigh as he walked over and started messing with Tony's map, adding some new data streams to it.
"Okay, Mr. Science Fair, you can have your turn in a minute," Tony said, a little annoyed. "As I was saying, the good news is the UK is clean. The bad news is the rest of the world is still a mess."
He zoomed the map out, showing thousands of red dots scattered across every continent.
"Your little show stopped them for a while, but they are far from defeated. We limited their production capabilities, but given how intelligent they are, I wouldn't put it past them to have made another production site or two while we were busy," Tony pointed out.
"We've confirmed three new sites," Reed said, pointing them out on the map. "They are smaller, far more hidden, but they are producing new models, improved ones."
"Improved?" I asked.
"Yes," Reed confirmed. "They've adapted. Their armor is thicker, their energy output is higher, and their anti-mutant technology is more potent. They're learning, and they're learning fast."
"I hate to say it, but they are an impressively advanced piece of machinery," Tony added.
"However," I cut in, "they are still machines. And machines have limitations. They can be hacked, they can be destroyed, they can be controlled."
"True," Tony said, a small smile appearing on his face. "And that's where we come in. We've been working on a way to hack their central network, to take control of them, to shut them down. But we've hit a roadblock."
"Their network is encrypted with a level of complexity that we've never seen before," Reed explained. "It's not just a matter of brute force. We need a key, a backdoor, something that can bypass their security."
I looked at Stark.
"We need access to their core, physical access; nothing else will work," he said with a shrug.
Well, that explained why they still hadn't been able to deal with the Sentinels using technology, why they were fighting against machines like soldiers rather than scientists.
"And what is causing you trouble? Given your powers and abilities, I estimate that it shouldn't be impossible to achieve that," I asked, curious about what the obstacle was.
"It's not that it's impossible, but it's not easy, and we have been busy with other things," Reed explained.
"But now that you are back, we can fully focus on that, because we no longer need to hold the lines everywhere," Tony said, a hopeful look in his eyes. "With your knights and your own power, we can finally go on the offensive."
He was right.
With my knights, my power, and my army, we could finally take the fight to the enemy.
We could finally end this war.
"And you have my support," I said, my voice a firm, unwavering promise. "Whatever you need, whatever it takes, we will do it. We will end this."
"Perfect. I have long since grown tired of being defensive and passive; it is long past time we showed these machines the fury of humanity's future," a deep voice added as more people came fresh from the front lines.
(End of chapter)
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