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“No,” Leon replied with an amused smile. He wasn’t quite sure that the reality of what the Sunlit Emperor was demanding had set in for him yet, but he was certainly sure that he wasn’t going to do anything that the man wanted him to do. “That’s not going to happen. I quite enjoy the position I find myself in now, and I’m not giving that up just because you demand it.”

“Then we’re going to have a problem,” Sunlit dangerously stated as killing intent flooded through his aura. He rose from his seat, triggering nearly everyone else to do so as well. For a moment, Leon thought that the man was going to attack him right then and there, but Sunlit glanced briefly at both the Grand Druid and the Lord Protector, and he clamped down on his aura, defusing a bit of tension in the room. “Do not leave this city, Leon. If you do, I’ll consider that an act of aggression and move against you.”

With that, he strode for the door, and Leon was only too happy to see him leave.

Anastasios, on the other hand…

“STOP!”

Sunlit glanced over his shoulder at the older man but continued walking toward the door, albeit a little more slowly.

“You think you can just threaten us all, accuse of us treason of all sorts, and then just leave?”

“Why not? It’s not like us fighting here will accomplish anything.” Sunlit’s eyes flickered across the room, resting for a split second on everyone in both the Grand Druid’s and the Lord Protector’s entourages. “I’ll get my way eventually…”

He exited the room, leaving Leon to move quickly after him, everyone else in tow. However, he didn’t try and stop the Sunlit Emperor, he just wanted to make sure the man left him home in good order.

And it seemed he did, as the Sunlit Emperor strode out into the forecourt and back into his waiting carriage. In a matter of minutes, he and his entire entourage had left Leon’s villa and were back on the road making for Occulara.

“That was…” the Lord Protector said hesitantly, clearly trying to find the words.

“… Scattered,” the Grand Druid uncharitably said. “Petulant. Childish. Immature.”

“We should talk,” Leon said.

“Indeed.”

“Yes, we should.”

A few minutes later, Leon, his family, and the two tenth-tier mages found themselves in one of Leon’s private meeting rooms about as far away from the conference room as they could be in Leon’s villa.

“What was all that?” Elise demanded as soon as the door closed behind them. “Has he always been so disgusting? I mean, I’ve heard stories…”

“Yes,” Cassandra quickly confirmed. “He’s always been like that. The Little Prince that was never told ‘no’ and who lives in the shadow of his mother. You should see some of the ‘proposals’ he made toward both me and my older sister. ‘Disgusting’ doesn’t even cover it—apparently he thinks that the best way to a woman’s heart is by explaining in explicit detail just what he wants to do to them, sexually.”

Elise’s look of revulsion grew more intense.

“Yes,” the Grand Druid added. “And it’s gotten worse since his mother passed. Now, he’s completely unrestrained.”

“But that seemed like a little much, even for him,” Anastasios said. “We’ve known about you, Leon, for longer than you’ve been in this region of Aeterna. As a matter of fact, young Sunlit even defended you against us before, going so far as to claim that he’d offer you a better place in the Sunlit Empire than any of us would.”

“I’d like to see him try to offer anything close to what we have,” the Grand Druid said as she reached out and ran her fingers through Cassandra’s long golden hair. Cassandra just scowled and pulled a step away.

“That’s interesting,” Leon said. “He’s always been rather pleasant to me before. I think he’s been trying to get me to move there for quite some time. Why demand it all of a sudden? Why reveal what he did?”

“I’d guess he’s starting to get desperate, or his patience has run out,” Anastasios replied. “What we do know is that he wants you in his Empire.”

Leon thought about the offer the man made the Director upon his arrival and stifled a shiver. “Whatever he wants, it’s not likely to leave me particularly healthy. Or alive.”

[If he wants to take you, he dies,] Maia declared, such rage flowing through their connection that Leon was surprised she was even still coherent.

“Yeah…” Leon murmured. “It seems that Sunlit wants us to be enemies, doesn’t he?”

“What are you going to do?” the Grand Druid asked.

“Hmm? I’m not sure. I have the sudden urge to go hunting in the Ilumerian Wetlands, or inspect some Heaven’s Eye research labs in the Sacred Golden Empire, or be anywhere that isn’t Occulara just to see what he does in response.”

“Deliberately antagonizing an Emperor will not go well,” Anastasios gravely stated. “As much as I hate him, and as much as I hate to admit it, this is not a problem that we should solve with violence. It’s… possible that this was just a stunt to make his position clear, and that he’ll start trying to negotiate to get what he wants with this as a starting point.”

“Do you really believe that?” the Grand Druid asked, to which the Lord Protector shrugged.

“It’s hard to say what he will or will not do. Predicting the moves of someone like that is impossible without knowing precisely what they want. So I’ll think he might make some kind of overture next, try to negotiate some kind of deal, but I wouldn’t bet anything on it that I can’t afford to lose.”

“Any deal that involves us being sent to his harem is off the table,” Cassandra muttered.

Leon quickly walked over to her and laid his hands on her shoulders. “Anyone who wants you will have to go through me.”

Cassandra grinned and Leon felt her shoulders loosen slightly. “Back at you,” she said.

“Oooh, you two are just the cutest,” the Grand Druid cooed.

Cassandra’s cheeks flushed as ruby-red as her eyes, and while she tried to instinctively pull away, Leon held on tightly and pulled her closer instead.

“Let’s try to stay on track,” Anastasios said.

“What if the public declaration was the point?” Valeria suggested, her voice, while quiet, still drawing everyone’s attention. She frowned slightly and said, “You said that you’ve known about Leon’s heritage for a while, but the Sunlit Emperor might’ve thought that you hadn’t told anyone about it. Maybe he just wanted to see what would happen if he revealed these things to all of your guards and high functionaries.”

“A distinct possibility,” Anastasios conceded. “That seems… not the best way to go about it, though. I’d have started with spreading rumors around the city, or making an even more public declaration rather than in a meeting like that.”

“The day’s not over,” Valeria observed.

“That it isn’t…” Anastasios said. He turned to Leon. “I’m going to get in contact with my grandson. He’ll need to be on alert for any additional movements from the Sunlit Empire.”

“Isn’t he already on alert?” Leon asked.

“Of course, but we need to step up our patrols. Whatever that man’s planning, we need to be ready for it. We can handle him here, but the border must be guarded even more fiercely.”

“My daughter, too, must be informed,” the Grand Druid said. “We will speak more of this later. Cassandra, dear, you should come with me for this. It won’t be long.”

Cassandra glanced at Leon, and Leon subtly nodded. The Lord Protector and Grand Druid both had comm stones, so it wasn’t like anyone was even going to leave his villa, let alone the city.

---

“… with various gemstones, but we’ve found that rubies work the best. There’s something about their internal structure that resonates particularly well with magic bodies,” Nestor explained to Asger through the comm lotus.

“What a fascinating area of study!” Asger enthusiastically responded. “Living on past the death of the body! Hardly a new concept, but one masterfully done! Our own experiments have found that magic bodies decay after a period of about nine hundred years stuck inside a gem!”

“Pathetic,” Nestor haughtily replied. “I’ve spent nearly a whole Nexus Cycle inside one.”

Leon had to bite his tongue a bit to not snipe back at Nestor. He had entered his workshop to burn off a bit of steam following the events of the day by working on his sword design. However, upon entering, he found that Nestor and Asger were busy discussing Nestor’s continued survival inside an enchanted ruby. Leon could see the appeal in studying such matters; Nestor wasn’t the first person he’d found who survived after his body died in such a way and given how devoted the Ravens-of-Hail-Hall were toward their studies, Leon’s surprise was nonexistent that they’d studied this field before.

While what they were talking about was fascinating, Leon didn’t want to get in the way, so he was only listening while tending to his sword design. In this case, making sure that Asger got a good idea of who Nestor was—as well as what he was—was also a huge part in his taking a step back to see how their relationship developed.

So far, despite Nestor’s excessive pride and sense of self-importance, they seemed to be getting on like a pair of merging storm clouds. Leon could hardly enter his workshop without hearing the two of them discussing some field of research at such an advanced degree that he had a coin toss of understanding anything.

“Experiments! This calls for experiments! I will personally see if I can get my magic body to survive for a while inside a properly enchanted ruby!”

Leon sighed. He could take a step back with Nestor’s haughtiness, but this was a bridge too far.

“Wait, Asger!” he called out as he moved in front of the comm lotus.

“Eh? Your Majesty? Is there something you needed to add?”

Leon fixed the eccentric researcher in a stern glare. “You have many other projects to tend to, don’t you?”

“Uuuuuh, yes. I am currently actively participating in more than two dozen and monitoring a hundred more!”

“It would be a terrible loss for all the Ten Tribes if we lost your brilliant mind,” Leon said, hoping to use flattery to soften the blow he was about to land. “And, besides, doesn’t good research protocol call for extensive testing done before moving on to human trials?”

“Eh? Well, if you insist…” Asger frowned like a chastised puppy.

“Leon, why are you coming down so hard on him?” Nestor asked with a faint trace of sarcasm laced into his voice. “All good researchers follow their passions. If good Asger here is inspired, then should he not be given leave to pursue that inspiration?”

“And leave one hundred and twenty-ish projects without a lead? No. And let him risk his life? No. Let him disregard all proper safety protocols? No.”

“Wow,” Nestor replied. “Why don’t you just come out and tell us to stop having fun.”

“Make do with what you can in the bounds of safety,” Leon said with some exasperation.

“I wonder if I truly died recently,” Nestor said. “You, of all people, saying those words… this must be a post-true death vision…”

“If we can’t experiment upon ourselves…” Asger began, “can we at least share what we have on the subject?”

“Assuming our King allows it… Leon, oh great and glorious monarch, ruler of the storm, and slayer of many barbarians, are we allowed to share our notes?”

“I’m tempted to deny you for that tone alone. But… fine. Since you asked nicely, I’ll make this concession.”

“Oh, how wonderful! Truly, your magnanimity knows no bounds!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Leon sauntered back to his desk while Nestor began pulling diagrams and a small box that could fit in Leon’s hand out of a drawer in his golem workbench.

“Now,” Nestor began as he opened one of the enchantment diagrams—with Leon subtly projecting his magic senses to see as well, despite his poor angle, “as you can see, the key in creating a proper habitat for a magic body relies upon this, here.” Nestor indicated the center of the gem, where a complex pattern of overlapping circles had been inscribed. “Do you know why the magic bodies in your experiments would decay when placed inside gems?”

“A magic body, as a construct of magic power, requires magic power in order to sustain itself,” Asger quickly replied.

“Yes, but as you and I are undoubtedly aware…” Leon scowled as Nestor said those words, interpreting them as an indirect dig at him. While Nestor might be a bit insubordinate, Leon didn’t expect him to actually compromise the Clan and their return to power by denigrating Leon to his subordinates. “… a magic body is one of the most fragile parts of the human body. Or, indeed, any body. A magic body requires magic power to survive, but it is so easily destroyed by foreign magic power that while it is quite capable of leaving the physical body whenever a mage wants, few ever make use of this power. An errant hint of fire magic carried by the wind could kill a mage who astrally projects themselves in such a manner. Terrible, terrible risk.

“So that’s the problem that must be solved. If a magic body is supplied with enough magic power, then the magic body can survive indefinitely.”

“But how does one do that when foreign magic power is so dangerous?” Asger wondered aloud. “Most of our experiments were predicated upon the idea that the magic power must not only conserve power but be insulated from foreign power. But that enchantment appears to absorb power from its surroundings!”

“Yes,” Nestor confirmed. “The gems are, effectively, stores of magic power that a magic body is immersed in. All of the enchantments you see intersecting with the central pool of magic power within the gem act as filters, purifying and pacifying the magic power absorbed by the gem and allowing the magic body within to sustain itself with that very same power.”

“Fascinating…” Asger said as he stared at the complex diagram that Nestor held up. A moment later, however, he straightened up and, with a thoughtful look, wondered, “What about a mage’s body? You’ve engineered a body for yourself, but what about a body without a magic body? Could a mage possibly…”

“Yes,” Nestor immediately confirmed the researcher’s unstated question. “A magic body can possess another body if that host’s magic is… otherwise indisposed.”

Leon gritted his teeth in irritation. It had been a long time, but that particular aspect of his and Nestor’s meeting still cut deeply.

“Interesting…” Asger murmured. “Interesting… This opens up many possibilities for the viability of long-term survival even if Apotheosis can not be achieved. There are several projects being led by my kinsmen in light magic that might aid in this line of research…”

“It might help to see a demonstration,” Nestor said as he opened the box he’d retrieved, revealing another sparkling ruby within. “I made myself a spare, just in case,” the dead man explained as Leon more overtly glanced over in shock and interest.

Before Leon could say anything, though, Gaius quickly entered the workshop, a look of grave concern on his face. “Leon,” he said. “Sunlit’s back.”

Leon immediately scowled and projected his magic senses and saw that the Sunlit Emperor was, indeed, back in the forecourt, though this time he was hovering about twenty feet above the forecourt, a lazy grin on his face as several of Leon’s house servants stood awkwardly nearby. Notably, neither any of Leon’s family nor any of Sunlit’s attendants or guards were there, either.

His ladies, Leon could understand, and he could even see Elise and Cassandra monitoring the situation from a room on the third floor overlooking the forecourt. However, why the Sunlit Emperor had returned unencumbered by even the smallest of entourages, Leon couldn’t hazard a guess.

As for the Lord Protector and Grand Druid, he could see that they were still in their wings of the villa dealing with their side of the fallout of Sunlit’s first meeting.

Leon reluctantly got to his feet, glanced at Nestor, and said, “I’ll have some questions about that later. This demands my attention.”

Nestor hardly seemed to pay Leon any attention as he focused on using the spare ruby as a teaching aid for Asger.

“All right,” Leon said as he met Gaius at the door, “let’s go deal with this.”

“Should I get everyone ready for possible violence?” he asked, a serious look crossing his face.

Leon paused a moment, then grimly nodded. With how Sunlit left, there was no reason to think his intentions for Leon were peaceful. “Make sure the Lord Protector and Grand Druid are notified, as well.”

“I think Valeria’s already on that,” Gaius replied. Sure enough, Leon saw Valeria walking as quickly as dignity would allow through the halls, only a couple doors away from the Grand Druid’s apartments.

And with that, Leon and Gaius departed the workshop. As they made their way back to the main villa, Leon flexed his aura quite noticeably, and, as he’d intended, immediately gained Sunlit’s attention. However, Leon had expected Sunlit to imperiously wait above the forecourt; Sunlit instead leaned toward Leon and shot through the air, arriving above Leon in an instant.

For a moment, Leon reeled in shock and panic, the look of greed he could see on Sunlit’s face sending fight-or-flight adrenaline coursing through his body. However, a moment later, Sunlit’s expression shifted back to the lazy smile and benevolent detachment he’d had above the forecourt.

Barely a second later, the Grand Druid’s aura practically exploded from Leon’s villa, and he saw the old woman literally throwing herself through an open window and flying up into the air, arriving next to Leon as quickly as Sunlit had.

“Why have you returned?” she demanded without much courtesy in her voice.

Sunlit’s grin thinned as he took her in, his eyes raking up and down her body.

“Mind your own business, hag,” he said. “I’m here to speak with Leon as a man; I have no interest in indulging the ever-changing whims of a woman.”

The Grand Druid’s aura rose, as did Sunlit’s in response, each glaring at the other with undisguised hostility as more and more killing intent poured into their auras, and Leon began activating his villa’s defensive enchantments. It seemed that it was about to be attacked by yet another tenth-tier mage.