A Global War Fought With Magic

The instant the explosion was heard, portals were created all over the world, all leading to the location where the meeting took place. The meeting was held in a skyscraper built on a remote island; one of the secret locations where the Nations Alliance held their meeting for the safety of their members ever since the Great Mana Ascent.

In seconds, the entire premises was flooded with government agents. As they came out of their various portals, they were awestruck at the sight in front of them. Many had their hands over their mouths. The entire building had crumbled to the ground in flames and ashes. It took some time ravaging in the debris to find the bodies of all the nation heads that had attended the meeting.

Unfortunately, no single one of them was found alive. Their clothes had been burned off and skins were covered in pitch black ash, as if they had been set ablaze till they burned to a crisp.

All this damage was done by one fireball? Just who was that intruder?

While the bodies were transported back to their respective countries and investigations were carried out by an elite team of mages, all the vice presidents gathered on the other side of the island to talk.

"Are you sure this island is safe?" A woman with glasses over her nose asked, trembling noticeably. "I think we should do this somewhere else."

"Why? So you can finish the job and have us killed as well?"

"Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Just drop the act woman, we know Magnis was behind the attack,"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Frederick shouted, eyes staring at the two old men in front of him. He sucked in a breath. "No one knows for sure exactly what happened. The last thing we should be doing right now is accusing each other."

All fifty-two of them were standing in a circular arrangement. By the cautious looks being passed around, it was obvious that everyone was watchful of the other person.

"Sir, the Elder Mages are done examining the area," Frederick heard a voice speak into his ear through the airpod he had on.

"Great. Send them to my location. I'm sure everyone here would like to know what happened."

A deadly silence filled the air as everyone waited for the Elder Mages to arrive. Every country had an issue with at least five others. Despite the smiles they maintain on the exterior, if given the opportunity, several countries would be at war with each other. This reason supported the hypothesis that whoever launched that attack on the Nations Alliance was someone from a nation present.

It was needless to say this one attack would destabilize the affected nations so much that an attack could be made more easier than before.

"Tell us who's responsible for the attack," a man with red eyes and a balled fist asked when he saw the Elder Mages arrive.

"We can't, because we don't know," a Mage in a peculiar blue-green-striped suit confessed, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes and hair were the same color as his suit. He had a calm composure, but on further study, one could tell by his brow furrowed and his eyes darted back and forth that he still hadn't made any sense of the incident. He was also confused.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Another man in authority yelled.

"We've tried all the spells we know. None was able to spot a trace of foreign Mana in the vicinity. Without a doubt, the explosion we heard was caused by a fireball. Residue of the mana used to create it should be here, but we can't find any,"

"If your spells are too weak, find someone else better to investigate. I will surely avenge the death of my deceased president," another man said in a tone full of conviction.

"Address us with respect! We are descendants of the Originals who wrote all the mana spell books. We are the best there is," the leader of the Elder Mages fired back.

"So what exactly are you trying to say?!" Frederick asked, holding his head in frustration.

"For one thing, we know this attack was carried out by a single person, but it's impossible to find out who the person is. There are no Mana residues to trace, which shouldn't even be possible. It could be anyone in the world," the head Mage explained.

Just as everyone was trying to absorb the situation before them, Emeric, the vice of Heinrich, the president of Bacilia rushed out of the gathering and went far off into the woods. His face was twisted in a scowl, brows furrowed and mouth set in a hard line. His fists were clenched. Every movement was sharp and jerky as if he could barely contain his anger. His breathing was rapid and shallow, as he struggled to keep his temper under control. When Idris was certain that he was out of hearing range from the others, he brought out his phone to make a call.

"The president is dead and the Mages they brought to investigate cannot identify the attacker; I hope you know what that means," he asked, digging his nails into the palm of his free hand.

"Someone's after the crystal!" the person at the other end replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Exactly. You must have it transported to the military training facilities in the East. Give it to Rudolf, the General. He'll know what to do," Idris commanded, making sure to say every word as clearly as he could. He couldn't afford the other man to make a mistake with the delicate mission he was giving him.

"What about Heinrich's plan to annihilate all non-mages?"

"Seeing as all the other nation heads were also killed in the attack, I can't give that order yet," Idris paused when he heard the crackling sound of a leaf. He diligently looked around to make sure he was alone and when confirmed it, he continued, "But for one thing, I'm not going to let this pass. Someone has to pay for the death of the president."

Idris ended the call and went back to join the others. He remained silent as Frederick and some other men kept throwing accusing fingers at each other as to who was behind the attack. After a while, he finally said something.

"It's clear the Elder Mages have no idea who or what attacked the Alliance. If you all keep on accusing each other, I'm just going to leave. I have better things to attend to,"

"He's right. I also will be taking my leave,"

A whole lot of other vice-heads agreed with Idris. To everyone else, on the surface, it seemed like they were annoyed by how unhelpful this meeting had been, but to the three Elder Mages who were very keen observers, deep down, they could tell that there was something else prompting them to leave the island.

"Alright. With the nation heads gone, right now it's up to us to take responsibility for what happens in the world. I'll schedule a meeting later on when we've put our respective nations in order," Frederick said then heaved a sigh. "We don't know who the mysterious attacker is yet, so let's not do anything rash in the meantime."

Rash? If only he knew what was on Emeric' mind, and the minds of tens of others.

They all had their suspects and the majority weren't going to sit back and just forget that the number one citizen of their country was assassinated through the aid of someone in this gathering.

"Whatever." Emeric waved his hand nonchalantly as he walked away with an evil grin on his face. "They are well aware of what's going to happen next. Good."

President Heinrich's body had already been transported back to Bacilia through the portal, so Heinrich had no other reason to stay. He looked at the watch on his wrist. It was a few minutes till it struck 1 PM. With a high sense of purpose, he walked through the portal created by his bodyguard who was an SS-Rank Portal Type Mage.

Within a short period, everyone left the island back to their respective nations, leaving the Elder Mages and some other military personnel to carry out further investigations.

Frederick returned to Etharia with a sad look on his face.

"What do we tell the people?" the General asked, walking side-by-side with Frederick to his office. "Telling our enemies that the president was assassinated might cause them to stir up trouble. That's the last thing we need right now. I say we tighten our defenses before we say anything to the public."

"We can't keep the news of his death a secret," Frederick countered. "I'm even certain the other vice-heads have already confessed to the world. The best we can do is try to keep this nation in one piece until everything settles."

Just as they were walking, the general received a call through his airpod. At the moment, he was already very annoyed considering the assassination of the one man he had sworn to protect, but whatever he was told on the phone made him even more annoyed.

Immediately the caller terminated the call, The general stood still, pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed and his head facing the ground. His right hand got balled into a fist and he kept banging it on the hard wall next to him.

"What's up? Did something happen?" Frederick asked when he turned and realized the General was no longer by his side.

"Shit!" The general cursed, then opened his eyes. "Edward warned me some time ago that this was going to happen but I didn't believe him."

"Edward? What did he warn you about?" Frederick asked again, this time his voice was dripping with curiosity.

"A global war fought with Magic." The General lifted his head and linked eyes with Frederick. "Magnis just made a devastating attack on Denvis. Gyreland attacked Reina. Countries are attacking countries with specially trained Mages and they're fighting back. A Bacilian airship just flew over a city a hundred blocks away and the Fire-Type Mages inside rained fire down on everything. Nations have declared war with other nations."

"Fuck!" Frederick exclaimed, running his fingers through the field of hair on his head.

"What do we do? People got hurt and possibly died. We can't pretend it didn't happen, and once we strike back, there'll be no returning from it."

Frederick paced around in the empty corridor for some minutes before making up his mind. A day hasn't passed since the world lost those that kept it in one piece, but everything's already turning to shit.

"Since Edward saw this war coming, he must've known that we won't be able to stay out of it. Mana has created a new chain of command in the world and with this single opportunity, every nation is fighting to be at the top," Frederick said, looking at a portrait of the deceased president.

"I don't know how long this war will last, but no matter the cost, Etharia has to be the one at the top," Frederick sighed then turned to him. "General Charles, as the acting President of Bacilia, I, Frederick Reignsfield order you to strike back at the enemy and defend the integrity of this nation."

***

The world war had begun, but there was still hope and time to stop it all from escalating any further. Unfortunately, that particular order made sure the war wasn't going to end.

Not without an invincible victor.

Not without the emergence of someone to establish order in this chaotic world of Magic.

The Arcane Monarch…