32 The Eve Of War

…Alice's PoV…

"Are all the units in position?" I send a telepathic message to my commanders who all answer positively.

"Ma'am, we have the apartment complex surrounded. The Stonecrushers also report that all their men are in position."

"All right," I nod and take a deep breath, "Then let's begin the operation!"

The Werewolf relays my orders to the Stonecrushers, and I concentrate on the live feed of the battlefield provided by a recon officer. Our target is the Family that attacked the Stonecrushers a few days ago and we easily found their hideout, a small and ancient apartment complex at the edge of a small town.

My commanders all report that the barrier has been successfully raised to surround the perimeter; its purpose is to stop any Outsiders from witnessing our activities.

This action marks the beginning of the next phase of our plan, destroying the barrier that protects the apartment complex. This Family isn't very powerful, but their barrier is abnormally strong. I bet the Scalebound are to blame again, but their efforts are futile against the Stonecrusher's expertise. Their anti-barrier spell is fearsome, and even our own defenses would be hard pressed against such a powerful attack.

Multiple groups of Stonecrusher mages, all heavily protected by Wolfheart soldiers, approach the barrier with cautious steps while mages specializing in reconnaissance comb the area for hidden traps. Laying deadly magical traps is technically forbidden, but this family is a vassal of the Scalebound so it's unlikely that they would respect to the rules of warfare.

The groups progress without encountering any traps and they finally reach the edge of the barrier. The Wolfheart escorts raise shielding spells; their timing is impeccable since Birdfolks fly out of the building in the same moment.

"What's the meaning of this aggression?" a powerful voice echoes through the battlefield, but the soldiers are unfazed and continue setting up their devices under the Birdfolk's heavy bombardment. The Stonecrusher mages in each assault group are all carrying a large piece of metal on their back, and they quickly assemble them into devices shaped like a large cross with a big red metallic orb in its center.

Large magic circles appear under each group as the Stonecrusher mages grab each other's hand, massive amounts of Mana flows from the mages into the devices that are slowly lighting up. The bombardments increase in intensity while other groups of Wolfheart soldiers armed with specialty satchel charges slowly attach themselves to the barrier-breaking groups.

The devices now emit an almost blinding amount of light, and a shockwave spread into the area as all the devices discharge their power directly into the barrier. The shockwave is so strong that cracks spread into the asphalt, and I feel a slight rumbling in my stomach despite being a block away from the battlefield.

The barrier is covered in cracks, and the desperate Birdfolk increase the intensity of their bombardment while my commanders confirm that all their preparation for the next assault is complete.

*I hope those birds don't have some sort of secret weapon…*

The Stonecrusher mages launch another shockwave into the barrier, and it shatters into thousands of small shards that evaporate in the air.

A deafening war cry echoes through the battlefield as the assault groups Shadow Walk next to the building while our mages are providing air support by suppressing the flying Birdfolks.

All the assault groups quickly confirm that their men are out of harm's way, so I order my mages to raise barriers before confirming the situation with my liaison officer, who confirms that the Stonecrushers are ready for the detonation.

I nod and press a button on the detonator, causing a bright yellow flash to obscure my vision of the battlefield. The shockwave is so strong that several of the windows in my base of operation, a small warehouse owned by my Family, cracks.

The mage responsible for providing me with a view of the battlefield groans and rub his eyes. The blurry image becomes clear again and I get a glimpse of the battlefield once the dust clears. The building is gone; all that's left is a large pile of rubble. Pieces of Birdfolk pulverized by the explosion are littering the area, but the soldiers don't pay attention to their fallen foes as they carefully approach the destroyed building, wary of any potential survivors.

The rubble is scanned and flooded with flames each time a sign of life is detected. Smokes and muffled cries for mercy emerge from the destroyed building, but it only serves to intensify the flames until the area becomes silent again.

"Ma'am, the mages report that the area is clear." the liaison officer reports.

I nod and lean back; we killed an entire Family in less than an hour. The political repercussions are going to be massive, especially considering the tensions with the Scalebound. But the Council won't say anything since both sides of the conflict are too powerful to be opposed by the neutral Families, and the neighboring Families will be too busy dividing the fallen Family's territory to care about us acting out of our jurisdiction.

I hope the Scalebound will get the message and stop their raids. Otherwise, the entire area will be plunged into a bloody and violent war, and knowing the Scalebound, it's likely that some Outsiders will get involved. That means other Councils will get involved, and it could result in the Hidden World being exposed.

Somehow, the idea of the fate of the world resting on a megalomaniac lizard's shoulders doesn't inspire me with confidence.

"Ma'am, I just received a message from the Stonecrusher Patriarch." The liaison officer interrupts my thoughts, so I beckon her to speak.

"The Stonecrushers are pleased with the assault and report that they suffered no casualties. The Patriarch insisted that his Family is ready for war, and only need a word from you to assault the Scalebound."

I massage my temples and sigh; this warmongering attitude is what causes so many problems. Most of the leaders of the Families are at least several centuries old, and they still think we can wage grand battles like the old times. But they are failing to see how much magic has evolved in those centuries, how destructive modern spells are…

Not to mention that they still look down on the Outsiders and won't hesitate to involve them. They fail to understand that we should no longer pretend that the Outsiders are harmless to us; most mages will be hard pressed to resist a machine gun. Weaker Families would be annihilated by an intercontinental missile, and if a nation strikes us with nukes then…

A certain Outsider comes to my mind; John Thomson created a weapon that was able to destroy a promising warrior in a few shots, he also annihilated the Black Claws... And that was all done by a single person with little to no resources. Who knows what horrifying weapons the scientists and engineers of the world could devise if they learned about the Hidden World?

The Outsiders' ability to reverse-engineer new technology and their prowess in warfare is fearsome, a truth that the Families fail to recognize. They are all stuck in their antiquated view of the world, persuaded that their rule is absolute…

They are due for a rude awakening if they ever anger a powerful Outsider.

…Alex's PoV…

"So, how is it? I bet you can't do that!" Cynthia says with a smug smile as she parades around the apartment. I glance at the small bird-shaped flame dancing on her hand and look at my own spell, a simple ball of flames.

"This is nothing!" I close my eyes and focus on my other hand, using every bit of willpower until another fireball appears in my hand.

I return her smug smile and we laugh before canceling the spells.

"I still can't believe that magic is real…" she says as she snuggles up to me.

I caress her hair and nod, "You still have a problem with magic, even after everything I told you?"

My meeting with my mysterious informant went a lot better than expected, and he explained a lot of things for a moderate fee. I learned about the Hidden World, and how the Fishmen were just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of different species out there; all of them are hiding amongst humanity.

The man, or rather the Werewolf, is a smuggler who's willing to sell certain items related to the Hidden World to Outsiders, as they call people not affiliated with the Hidden World. Of course, most of his wares, be it information or artifacts, are quite expensive since he's taking a big risk.

According to him, there's an oppressive organization called the Enforcers who impose a strict set of rules onto the Hidden World denizens. One of those rules says that it's absolutely forbidden to reveal the Hidden World to an Outsider, and he assured me that we will both be dead if an Enforcer ever discovered that I had dealings with him.

Of course, I didn't reveal this last bit of information to Cynthia, otherwise, she might freak out and try to stop me from learning more. Deep down I know that continuing to buy information from the smuggler is a bad idea, but he assured me that he's only selling things that are inconsequential, so he's not monitored, and we shouldn't get caught if we are careful.

So, I learned more about magic and even bought a textbook about basic spells. Right now, we are experimenting with the basic fire spell, and it's quite fun!

Cynthia has less mana than me but has far better control over her flames. She can make complex figures out of flames and make them move at her will, while I can only make basic geometric shapes. However, I'm able to use two spells at the same time.

But using two spells is quite tiring, and I can only maintain them for a half a minute at best.

I also tried to learn more about the Hot Spot's storage closet, but he refused to say anything. He insisted that I don't visit the closet again because what it's hiding isn't something I want to know if I value my life and my loved ones.

I already know that the closet is some sort of portal to a place called the Bazaar, so I assume that it's shopping related. But the smuggler's warning put a stop to my research; I don't want to take too many risks. Learning more about magic will also keep me busy for a long time.

"You know, I was wondering about something…" Cynthia asks. "What should we do with magic?"

I raise an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I've read the entirety of the textbook, and I believe certain spells could be very helpful to society as a whole. And we are the proof that there's nothing that can stop regular people from using it, so we should leak it to-"

"No." I immediately interrupt her.

She raises an eyebrow, "But why? Your goal always was to expose the occult."

"Sure, but things changed since then. Meeting the smuggler has been… eye-opening."

At first, I wanted to become famous by revealing magic to the public. But the informant's warning about the Enforcers made me reevaluate my position. I don't doubt for a second that they have access to spells that are far more impressive than what we're currently capable of considering that our textbook is aimed at beginners.

Not to mention that I have no way of identifying who's a regular human and who isn't. It'd be very easy for an Enforcer to get near me and kill me in one swift strike, and I don't want to endanger Cynthia. I only accepted her confession because it was convenient, but now I've grown quite attached to her. I don't want her to die because I was foolish enough to mess with magical beings.

I shake my head; the smuggler told me that the Enforcers only interacted with Outsiders if they had to cover up something.

We should be pretty safe.

…Erdis' PoV…

"Sir, here is our latest report on that mana outburst that happened two days ago."

I nod and grab the sheet of enchanted paper, according to the mages a large concentration of mana suddenly appeared a few towns away. It happened in the middle of nowhere, so I didn't really bother sending anyone to check on it. And it's in the territory of one of our vassals, so they would've contacted us if it was serious.

A glance towards the report doesn't reveal much, other than a massive concentration of mana erupted in a certain spot, and massive destruction occurred afterward. The mage reports that a basic barrier has been raised around the perimeter, but it couldn't do anything other than block non-magical way of seeing what was happening inside.

*This doesn't really make any sense, if someone could deploy that much mana then they could've set up a better barrier.*

I cup my chin and read the rest of the report, the images aren't pretty; there are cracks on the asphalt surrounding what looks like a scorched pile of rubble. The report also contains extracts from Outsider newspapers claiming it was caused by a gas leak, and the address makes me pause.

*This seems familiar…*

I rack my brain to remember where have I heard this address before, and then it hits me like a brick.

This is where our vassal's home base used to be!

"I want mages on the premises as soon as possible! This case needs to be thoroughly investigated; I want to know who's responsible for this!"

The secretary nods, "All right Sir, I also have a report from the medical division. They say that the preliminary preparations are complete, and the next step of the project should be ready in a week."

"Good, then please leave me alone." I wave the secretary away and look through my window. There have been a lot of covert raids lately, mostly between smaller Families. I ignored them since it never involved the Scalebound, but the timing between the raids is too perfect for them to be isolated incidents. There must be a mastermind behind all of this, and my intuition tells me that the recent raid on our vassal Family isn't a coincidence.

But why would someone raid small Families like that? The instigator obviously has a lot more power and resources than those small fries, so what can he possibly gain? Maybe there's something that links these Families together that I'm not seeing…

I shake my head and focus on the report from the medical division. Zarand's preparation is going well, and I memorized the Puppet ritual perfectly. There's only a few days left before the Black Claws' true purpose is going to be realized, and I can hardly wait to get my hand on such a perfect weapon.

However, my enthusiasm is muffled by another, direct report from the medical division. Alza's condition is deteriorating at a faster rate than they anticipated, so they are forced to use stronger, and rarer, elixirs to keep her alive. The head of the division estimated that she only had a month left, and that's if she stays stable and the supply of elixirs keeps coming.

I grit my teeth, the Wolfhearts are going to pay for their crimes and regret ever existing. I'll personally take care of John Thomson and make sure he doesn't die before experiencing ten times the suffering he has inflicted on my daughter.

My next target will be the Council that allowed this farce of a trial to happen, not a single one of those bastards raised an objection so I bet they all knew what was going to happen. If they think they can take the Scalebound down by banding their pitiful forces together then I'll make sure to show them how wrong they are.

I can already picture it, an enhanced ancestral dragon capable of destroying all of my enemies with a flick of the wrist…

Nobody will be able to stop me!

…??? PoV…

"Did you find anything about the Relic?" I ask after emptying my teacup.

The Devil with short curly horns nods, "Yes, we found some records about its location, and from what we found it seems that the Enforcers don't know the Relic's true purpose, so we shouldn't face too much resistance when we go retrieve it."

I nod, "Good, then have you managed to pinpoint its location?"

"Of course," he answers.

"All right, then one last thing… How is our little operation going?"

My subordinate smirks, "It's even better than we anticipated, sowing discord amongst the small Families worked wonders. I've heard rumors that tensions are rising, and some already attacked the ones they perceived as their aggressor. Not to mention that your plan of attacking Families aligned with bigger factions is causing a lot of unrest amongst the big players, so it's very likely that a large scale war is going to happen soon."

I refill my teacup and smile, the Enforcers will be too busy killing each other to pay attention to our ritual, and it will be too late to stop it when they finally notice.

I stifle a laugh when I realize how perfect my plan is; soon I'll lead my species to a brighter future, a future where we rule over the world…