Conflict

Sophia saw Inian launched into the sky with wings on his back and wanted to ask Marc about it. She went to the throne room where Marc usually sat and decided not to ask.

His demeanor had changed entirely. He clutched the arm of his throne hard enough to make his knuckles white. His eyes were balls of fury raging.

Sophia just stepped off to the side and waited for instructions.

"Go get me the head of the research department, Sophia."

"Right away."

Sophia left and came back with the head of the department. "What would you have from me, your majesty?" He asked.

Marc answered, "I want you to focus on researching the version 4 exosuit. Your funding will be tripled."

Sophia spoke up, "your majesty, with all the funding you've put into the military and construction projects, I'm afraid we don't have enough to triple the Research department's funds."

Marc glared at her, "then raise taxes. We now have a new enemy, and I need that version 4 exosuit to fight them."

He paused for a moment, "also, we are going to war with the Ranid Kingdom. Our forces must move quickly to destroy the remaining nations before they can band together. The Ranid Kingdom is weak and broken, so that'll make them our first target."

The research head and Sophia stood frozen in place. How could they move so readily to declare war?

Marc noticed that neither of them moved, "go now!" He commanded, spurring them into action.

He watched as the two left, then began pacing the throne room. 'Why would Inian leave me? I needed him, and he left me.' Marc was biting his nails. 'I need to move quickly, or else the other nations will band together, and more lives will be lost before the world's united under the Empire.

He walked out of the keep. Several guards were waiting for Marc and walked with him.

Marc hopped in a vehicle to go outside the city; there, a massive project was happening.

Hundreds of workers were building a behemoth level mecha, to match the firepower of the one in Irigia.

He went over to the overseer. "Your majesty!" The overseer said and bowed when he noticed Marc. "What is the shortest time for this project to complete?" Marc asked.

The overseer answered, "we have hundreds of workers working day and night, but it'll still take a month for this project to be completed. After all, it's on a massive scale that the Empire has never done before. Except for the Behemoth level ship of course."

Marc said, "I want it done in 3 weeks. Hire more people or have them work overtime. You will be compensated for the shortened time."

The overseer's mouth dropped open, but Marc didn't wait for a reply and left.

Marc then headed back to the throne room to look at the reports of the other jobs and projects he made. There, he read about his product line that was churning out version two exosuits. He spent a massive amount of military funding to mass-produce these version two exosuits. Sadly, the version 3 exosuits were far too expensive, and they could only be given to select individuals, such as his guards.

Marc barely had enough funding, and that was after the tax increase. He needed to bulk up his military substantially. Especially if there's a possibility that the Empire could be against the whole world.

Marc went to the dining room and looked out the large windows. Sophia found him and began talking, "sire...if I may be so bold, do you think this is the right thing?"

Marc didn't look at her and answered with a tinge of anger in his voice, "now you sound just like Inian. There's no choice. If I don't do this, then history will repeat itself, and wars will continue to break out. I intend to put a stop to that and to do that I need to bring the whole world under the Empire's rule."

Sophia shook her head, "then you run the risk of the whole world hating you. That can lead to riots and rebellion."

Marc answered, "not if they are too afraid to move. Then peace will overcome us, and humanity can unite against the monsters. Can you imagine? A world where you can walk to another city and not worry about getting torn to shreds!"

He paused, watching a bird fly by, "that is the world I long for."

Sophia sighed, "this is the wrong way to do it. I'm sorry, Marc, but I'm resigning."

Marc looked betrayed, "why? This is your chance to be apart of something great." He held her hand, "I liked going out with you. Will you take the chance to stay with me and become Empress?"

Sophia shook her head, "We didn't even date that much. Besides, you aren't the Marc I went out with. He is long gone. So goodbye, your majesty."

Sophia left. She could hear the sound of Marc tossing chairs and shouting angrily.