The announcement of Sylvia Eternalfrost joining Jerald's side raised several eyebrows and evoked skepticism from all the warriors.
Hadn't Duke Whirlwind promised that he would get rid of the Council?
Had their trust been misplaced in him?
Luckily, Jerald's next words cleared up a big part of the issue.
He said that Sylvia had allowed him to read her mind, and he had seen with his own eyes how every other Council member had supported the suppression of the warriors.
He promised everyone that Sylvia would be the only member of the Council that would stay alive.
He would kill everyone else.
Obviously, another important part was that Sylvia had voted against assassinating George and Mattheo when the Council had voted on it.
She truly hadn't supported these decisions.
Sadly, one person only represented 20% of the main Council, and she was outvoted four to one.
After talking with all the warriors, Jerald went back to Shang to talk to him.
"I have learned some interesting things by going through Sylvia's memories," Jerald said.
"I'm listening," Shang answered.
"The fact that Susan wants to reach the Archmage Realm has been a lie, which has been transformed into the truth, and then transformed back into a lie again."
Shang raised an eyebrow.
"The Council is far worse off than we expected," Jerald said with a small smirk.
"The Council might have made some dumb decisions in the past, but they are not actually stupid. Their power had simply gone to their head."
"But when you slaughtered their force, they woke up from their delusions. What do you think? What was their decision as soon as they heard of your power?" Jerald asked.
"I would guess that they would pool their forces and strike us down immediately before we had any chance to gain a foothold," Shang said.
"That wouldn't be that dumb," Jerald said. "In a way, this would have been a safe bet. However, they had something completely different planned, and that plan would have been even safer. Like I said, they're not stupid."
"Oh?" Shang asked. "What was their plan?"
Jerald's smirk widened. "They wanted to flee."
"Flee? To where?" Shang asked with furrowed brows.
"The Magic Purity Kingdom," Jerald said.
"After they saw your power, they immediately realized that their chances of victory were small without personally getting involved and attacking me. However, the Council has lived in comfortable safety for too long, and they don't want to risk their lives."
Shang looked at the ground for a bit as he was thinking about that.
"Can they actually flee, though? They've cost the Magic Purity Kingdom so many lives and resources. Wouldn't the Magic Purity Kingdom just kill them?"
"Shang, this is politics, and personal emotions and agendas have no place in politics," Jerald said. "Only numbers matter."
"It doesn't matter that the Council has cost the Magic Purity Kingdom so many resources. If the Magic Purity Kingdom killed the fleeing Council, they would have gotten their revenge, but several of their most powerful Mages would also die. For what? Only for some personal belief, nothing material."
"But if they accepted the Council, they would have gained several very powerful High Mages, making the Magic Purity Kingdom even more powerful. If they accepted the Council, their chances of overtaking our entire world would skyrocket."
Shang scratched his chin. "Then why did Susan say that she was planning on reaching the Archmage Realm to Duke Torrent and everyone else?"
"A present for the Magic Purity Kingdom," Jerald answered. "By giving the losing side of the internal war hope, they would keep the war going. Instead of fleeing as well, the Mages would continue fighting us, weakening both sides."
"The only party that would benefit from that would be the Magic Purity Kingdom, and this had been their plan."
Shang looked to the side for a moment. "But you said that the lie turned into truth and then into a lie again. This means that something has changed, right?"
Jerald nodded. "Indeed."
Jerald's smirk widened even more.
"King Skythunder got wind of it."
Shang's eyebrows rose.
That wasn't good for the Council.
"And what did he do?" he asked.
"King Skythunder told them that they were the most powerful Mages in the Skythunder Kingdom and that they had decades to shape the Skythunder Kingdom into whatever they wanted."
"Yet, even with nearly omnipotent power and authority, they managed to screw up everything to the point that the very Kingdom they had ruled for an eternity started to turn against them."
"Everything that was happening was their own fault, and he wouldn't allow anyone to escape."
Jerald chuckled a bit.
"If he found any member of the Council outside the Kingdom, he would come for them personally, and he also said that no Mage in the Five Kingdoms, including the Kings, would be able to stop him."
At that moment, Shang snorted with amusement.
He was happy that the Council had gotten the shaft.
"Because of that," Jerald continued, "they were forced to continue the war. If I win, they will die. The only way to survive is to kill me."
"Their backs are against the wall."
"With their new situation, they quickly tried to find a way to win against us. Of course, Susan's ascend to the Archmage Realm quickly became a possibility again."
"But, it turns out, Susan wouldn't need three months, but six months."
Shang was quite surprised.
Six months was a lot of time.
Did it truly take that long for Mages to reach the next Realm, even though they already knew the Concepts necessary to advance?
Then, he remembered that Jerald had said that he would also need several years to advance if he completely ignored comprehending any additional Concept.
"That was their second plan after the first one failed," Jerald said. "However, that plan got changed yet again when we distributed all the letters."
"They expected the war to take much longer. They thought that we would slowly consolidate every Zone we conquered before advancing."
"Ironically enough, their initial lie was one of the factors that made me decide to assault the Skythunder Kingdom at such a rapid rate. If we had more time, I would also slow my advance to consolidate the new Zones."
"Their very lie made it impossible for their next plan to succeed."
"And then?" Shang asked.
"Well, then everything returned to how you know it. They tried to kill you in the Deepwater Shark Zone, and when that failed, Sylvia proposed the next plan."
"The Council should still be in the dark, and they don't know of Sylvia's betrayal yet. Right now, they should just be waiting for news."
Then, Jerald looked towards the west with a sneer.
"How about we give them the news they are so desperately waiting for with the next set of letters?"
Shang also smirked.
