"A very strong being whom I have no chance of defeating. It's just that his home ground turned out to be my home ground also." Alex smiled while extending his hand to pat Riya's head and caressing her hair.
Riya leaned her head a bit so that Alex could reach her and enjoyed the w1armth spreading out from Alex's touch.
"I was lucky enough to survive."
The situation made him sure that the power wasn't fully his and until he grows stronger in his own body everything is useless.
"Where are we? For how long have I been out?"
"We are in the fortress and you were out for one and a half days," Riya replied.
Alex and Riya started to chat a bit and Alex shared a bit of his experience to lighten his heart but at that time, they heard a loud voice.
Alex frowned and tried to get up.
His body was aching badly nevertheless, he tried to push his body.
"My Lord, don't push yourself," Riya spoke and offered her shoulder.
Alex leaned onto Riya and walked outside.
Alex walked through the corridor and arrived at the wide spacious ground filled with students and teachers along with soldiers who were talking casually while pointing upward.
Alex raised his chin and saw a blue light bird with a length of two metres and a wingspan of 2.5 metres hovering around the sky above the fort.
It was quite beautiful and looked majestic.
The bird which was flying over the wall suddenly noticed a gaze and dashed towards the person under everyone's surprised gaze.
"Huhh!" Alex was startled to see the bird coming towards him and sitting on his shoulder it pecked Alex's forehead a few times.
Alex's body froze like a statue, as a message passed to his brain.
The bird after pecking at Alex's forehead slowly dispersed, turning into glittering twinkles.
"What is this?" Riya screamed in shock and everyone also reacted the same.
Under everyone's gaze, Alex with a solemn expression spoke"The bird was Athena's summon."
"Leonheart is under the attack of the undead."
"And three cities at the edges of Leonheart had been destroyed and thousands have been killed."
Riya's body tensed up and anxiety reflected in her eyes.
"Alex, what are we going to do?" Riya asked.
Alex just hugged Riya tightly and his gaze fell on professor Harry.
"Professor, it seems I have been under immense physiological burden and the current expedition has made me unfit so I need ten days to leave."
'Pressure, unfit…..My ass. Every Professor in the academy knows just what kind of beast you are. If we didn't ask you to lay low, everyone would cry tears of blood seeing your prowess.'
Even though he was thinking like this, he wasn't brave enough to point it out as he could feel a strong gaze filled with immense bloodlust which even shocked everyone.
"Yeah, both of you can take a break. Please take care of yourself."
.....
The attacks of the undead and the odd happenings were already reported to the central power.
As soon as the undead were cleared in Gawaffin, messengers gritted their teeth to cover the distance between Zenith as fast as possible.
But what was unknown to him was that he wasn't the only one who came with the report.
Beside him, they were messengers from 19 Kingdoms who sent messengers to report about the undead and ask for troops along with some financial assistance.
In a highly classified meeting room, many important officials were present.
On the table lay a huge map of the entire Empire of Kinley.
At one end stood Emperor Kevin with two most trusted comrades of his.
On the other side stood the Second Prince and First Prince and along with them stood various generals of Kinley.
A meeting of such scale can be said to be at a level of national emergency.
Emperor Kevin stared at the black dots on the map with a grim expression.
The entire atmosphere was quite cold and everyone waited for him to speak.
"19 Kingdoms!"
"Out of nowhere, 19 Kingdoms were caught in a disaster and are now on the verge of being taken over by the undead."
"Can anyone just tell me how such a tragedy happened and all the officials didn't even have a hunch?"
"Tell me, what is the intelligence department doing? Are they taking their salary and sleeping in their house instead of doing their duty?"
A deathly chill radiated from Emperor Kevin who stared at everyone who all bowed their heads and averted their gaze.
Kevin's gaze revolved around everybody and finally fell on the two princes.
"Prince Sean and Prince Hesh, I remember both of you have a capable team of your own still you two didn't even get the hang of it."
"Both of you have enough time to play tricks right under my nose but both of you don't have time to check intel when it comes to the Empire's security.."
"Your Majesty!!"
Both William and Sean tried to speak but their words were cut short in the middle.
"Shut up!"
"Is this a joke going around here," Kevin shouted, releasing a hint of his pressure.
Everyone back was drenched in sweat seeing the Emperor's anger.
"Which had hit the worst?"
One of the generals nodded and came forward while pointing at the territory of Hine.
"Almost one million undead attacked Kingdom Hine."
"What is the status of others?"Kevin asked.
The discussion went on for quite some time and Kevin's brows furrowed as his gaze fell on Amidon.
"How is the situation in Amidon?"Kevin asked.
"Ex-Saintess Athena seemed to be holding the ground and leading the charge in Amidon. The situation is still in a stalemate and her presence proved to be quite useful for Amidon."
Kevin nodded and ordered, "Everyone conveys the troops to give support and form a subjugation team"
"Ask the Church to assist."
"Each subjugation team will be headed by a Mythic rank."
"Sent troops to those which had been hit badly."
After the discussion finished, he dismissed everyone and slurped down on the sofa with a tired expression.
The two close aids stood beside him and spoke gleefully.
"Your Majesty, it seems we have averted the worst."
"Your Majesty, you were wise enough to interpret the oracle's words and enrol His Highness Alex in the academy."
As two of his closet aids poured out flatteries, Kevin shook his head in dismay.
"We don't know if it's over or postponed."
Seven months ago, an oracle received the words from Goddess that if a certain event is not prevented then one day, darkness would develop the land and rot the creatures of the world turning them into beings that aren't desired by any.
"I have been playing with it since my childhood, but I don't think I have been able to grasp it." He stood up and folded his hands behind his back, he took out a picture and stared at it for a moment.
"You know sometimes when one knows the future and tries to prevent it, we end up doing the very thing that leads to the future we don't want."
"So, whether we were able to get rid of it or not only time will tell."
"Still, putting him in the academy was a very big gamble and it is simply a waste of time for him. If he wasn't successful and we messed up more."
"There is no academy which can train him rather it may hinder his progress. Who knows if my decision to avert a nearby disaster may bring forth another disaster which is much bigger than this."
"Then this might be our end for real," Kevin spoke with a bitter smile.
