Late Evening - Late Summer : Over the Leyfa Askr/Uates Border | Earth

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  - Kazzaer Aldinn ~

  *Swish-Swish* Swirling my drink as I looked out the window of a rge suite, overlooking the endless forest between the Uates and Leyfa Askr, the gentle hum of the airship's reactreeted my ears and the st of delicious food filled my sinuses.

  But even in such a rexing enviro, my nerves could never find ease.

  At the time, I was on my way back from my meeting in Leyfa Askr after a number of days of debate, returning tton where I would have another meeting with gress and the heads of majuilds to decide how we, the Uates, would go forward with the details of the deal the 'Queen's Representative' proposed to us.

  In general, the deal itself was in our favor, but no matter how much I thought about it, so many aspects of it just didn't sit right with me.

  "She's going to be a problem..."

  Nodding as Miss Tsvetok's voice met my ears, I gnced over my shoulder just in time to see her throw back a shot of liquor. "I agree..." Turning back to the window, I looked down into my gss of iced bourbon with a troubled expression. "Things weer than expected, but something about her doesn't sit right with me..."

  Pausing, Miss Tsvetok's expression darkened before anxiously plug one of her feathers and fidgeting with it.

  She was currently ing back tton with me in order to propose a formal treaty between the Uates and Russia to gress, and discuss the specifics of the retionship as per our deal before the meeting.

  But while such a treaty was indeed something that would take the world by storm, her of us could even think about it. Even after well ht hours had passed sihe meeting cluded, we couldn't get our minds off the meeting, disseg the as and thoughts of the 'Queen's Representative' Eir Igna, and pario the Queen.

  As a representative, one would expect that she would share many of the Queen's ideals, thought processes, and desires, whether it was instructed by the queen herself, or simply the traits of a close servant.

  However, what we saw in the meeting showed no such retion, almost as if we were talking with a poser, a scammer, even though she and Madam Ormr were most certainly who they said they were.

  To try and keep it simple, the deal would grant both the Uates and Russia a huge amount of military support to our major cities, something we desperately wanted, in exge for a series of ges uncharacteristic of the Queen, and a 10% dist on an order of mana stones uhe pretehat they bought in bulk.

  On the surface, it was an exceedingly good deal, something we couldn't have even wished for prior to the meeting. -Even at a dist, she is giving us a shit ton of money, and providing military support.- But while the number of cores she actually wanted was more than a little ing, being essentially the eockpiles of both the Uates and Russia, the impending monster waves from the rank-up would more than supplement it.

  In other words, it was like we had the ce to sell a stock at its peak knowing its price would fall.

  But even with such a good deal at our fiips, her Miss Tsvetok nor I could be happy about it, and that was all thanks to 'the fine print'.

  Tied into the rger deal was an incredibly long list of seemingly out-of-character ges like reverting a series of trade and travel deals made in the past that would make the already limited travel into the try o ent, while simultaneously projeg a huge amount of emigration from the try. -Before.. while it was slow, the Queen did seem to be slowly iing Leyfa Askr into the global market.. but now it's like she did a plete 180...-

  It just felt odd, and with the purchase of five times the world's global supply of mana cores, it was clear there was some kind of ge in pn that occurred behind the ses.

  We just couldn't see what it was just yet...

  "What could she possibly need all those things for..?" It was millions of tons of mana cores, unimaginably more than the US could even fathom using in their current state.

  "If I knew, I wouldn't be so anxious..." Shaking her head, Miss Tsvetok threw baother shot of alcohol befrimag. "This whole situation reminds me of when Argentina bought a bunch of atomithesis supplies and gssed half of South America with Californium bombs..." *g* Smming the gss ba the table, she looked up at the wides over the fake firepce, showing the news rep a series of towns that had gone up in fmes, and stiffened her expression. "I just 't my head around a reason why for any of the decisions she made..." Turning to me, a slightly drunken suspi flooded her voice. "Do you not find it odd..?"

  Tightening my grip on my gss, cracks spreadih my fiips before I quickly caught myself. *Tink* -Shit... I'm getting too worked up...- Looking back out over the Great Lakes, I let out a heavy breath to try to ease my nerves. "I do, but I 't refuse this deal because of suspis like that." Reag over aing down my gss on a nearby ter, I finally turned around. "After all, who's to say that the Queen acquiring a new powerhouse didn't make her ge."

  "You 't be serious." Shooting me a gre, the feathers on her head fred out. "That frosty bitch would never go ba deals she's made. She would knoould take this deal even if she didn't backtrack past agreements. Many of the deals were in her favor, yet she still termihem." From engaging irade of potions, rge amounts of teology, and merary equipment, Leyfa Askr got more than a little bit of support from previous deals.

  -But regardless of that, they were all terminated...- And to add the cherry on top, she offered us military aid, something that was never even a iable option before. "It does feel odd.. I'm not denying that... However..." Thinking back to the situation with Evren, my utled slightly. "I don't think we should ignore a bone when it's tossed to us." -Perhaps Evren just wao repay us...-

  After all, many of the old deals being terminated helped us rather signifitly, especially with a storm on the horizon.

  But Miss Tsvetok wasn't so keen, sharpening her gaze as she looked at my refle. "Even if every hint we've been given says that the bone is ced with poison?"

  Stiffening my expression, I locked eyes with her. "Sometimes poison is o fight poison." Turning around and looking at the news, my gaze turiff. "We have a disaster at our doorstep. One so great it will threaten all life on this p... Even if it's poison, I think we o take it."

  "Tch..." Following my gaze to the s, she clicked her tongue and leaned back, watg as the camera pao a pack of lizard-like monsters, the culprits of the destroyed towns. "I just hope you know that if you're wrong.. it's not just you that's fucked..."

  -----Mid Afternoon - Early Fall : The Forest of Giants | Temnota

  - Evreir ~

  -Alright...- *woooOOOOSH* Zipping through the forest at several times the speed of sound, my mind raced to s my aura for the presence of a monster, any monster.

  I was trying to find a monster I could have Bel or Eve kill in order to try and level them up ahem some upgrades, but the forest was pletely desote.

  Or at least that was the way it seemed.

  As it turned out, all but the world's top predators like the drake I had killed earlier ran after feeling my presence, so in order to find anything, I had to catch up to the monsters running from me, and that happeo be much faster than Eve could handle, even after taking a step toward immortality.

  As such, I had left them behind to essentially run in circles around her ao try and find some 'food' for them, which didn't take very long.. but.. the first thing I ran into, a massive dinosaur-like omnivore, unfortunately, didn't survive the blow I o try and knock it out. -That thing's head popped like a balloon...-

  Even though I only used mana in my bones, my punch was many magnitudes heavier than anything I threw oh. -It makes me wonder...- Looking down at my hand, I ched it a few times befathering my mana in it, dissipating it, and g it some more. -Ever since my system got wiped, my body has beeing stronger... Slowly.. but surely...- Looking back up as I finally started approag my target, a rge lizard ging to the side of a tree came into sight, and I pulled my hand back. -I wonder what's causing it...-

  *Fsh-WHOOOOM* Hitting the lizard right between its hind legs, its spine snapped like a brittle twig before following the shockwave through its body and digging into the tree truh it, brutally blowing the lizard's body in half before the shockwave blew through the back of the tree and showered the surrounding forest with a mix of green blood, fragments of bone, and wooden shards.

  That was far from enough to kill the lizard though.

  Rushing to close its wound, its abdomen tracted around its spine while it started rag up to the opy in hopes of esg, ign that it just lost the lower half of its body, only for its froo abruptly snap as well, and for my aura to pletely lock it in pce like the grip of a giant's hand.

  "Sorry in advatle guy, your death won't be quick..." Looking back at where I could faintly feel Eve's aura, some hundred ay kilometers away, I plucked the oversized lizard off the tree and rushed back toward them, keeping a fairly close wat its dition to make sure I wasn't accelerating too fast.

  But even though there was a hundred ay kilometers between us, at just under Mach 9, it barely took a minute.

  *WHIP-CRACK* ing to a near-instantaneous stop on the branext to Eve and Bel, my heels dug into the wood and forcefully dug trenches into it before stopping and turning toward them.

  "Sorry that took a bit lohan expected." Grabbing my o try and ease my ay about being so far from them, I let out a breath to rex before notig their gazes locked on the behemoth behind me.

  Granted, pared to the drake it was fairly small, however, being almost a hundred meters long, or rather closer to fifty now, it was still huge.

  And both Bel and Eve khat even without a lower body, it was still far strohan anything they'd ever matched gazes with. -There's nothing to worry about though...- "I have him restrained, don't worry."

  Watg as their hesitand unease grew, my smile widened.

  *Thump-Rustle* Smming the big lizard down on the branch, I quickly walked over to him before hopping up on his lip and rather casually opening his mouth before it smmed its too my back, slinging slimy saliva all over everything.

  After all, while Eve could maybe deal a killing blow with a big enough spell, it was much easier if I gave her a shortcut to its brain.

  That shortcut just happeo be through its mouth.

  "You.. 't be serious..." Eve was certainly not too keen about it.

  Bel, however, wasted no time. As soon as Eve voiced her unwillingness, she ran up to the lizard and perched her front paws up on it, *Spt-Spt* getting showered with slime in the process. "I-I'll go first."

  -Oh.. that's surprising...- Looking out at Eve, my smile faded for a moment. -I thought she would be more eager to get stronger after our talk...- Looking over my shoulder as the lizard's tongue repeatedly smmed into my back, I shrugged befripping it with my aura, tying it all to my arm, and ripping it out. *CRACKLE-SPLAT* Blood instantly started flooding its mouth.

  But Bel didn't waste any time hopping into it with a spsh. "S-So, how am I going to kill this thing?"

  She was clearly still a bit uneasy about it, but as she looked up at me, she looked oddly determined. -I like it...- "Just follow me." Gng over my shoulder, I gave Eve o gnce before stepping into the lizard's mouth aing go of its mouth. "We'll be ba a moment, Eve." *SNAP*

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