Turning down a monarch, let alone a tenth-tier Emperor, wasn’t an easy thing, but there was nothing Leon wanted to do more as he readied himself to head to Argos’ citadel.  He’d be heading there alone, without Penelope or Red.  In fact, Penelope had told him that there would likely be no women attending at all, it being codified in law that women weren’t allowed in the government and had many of their public freedoms restricted.  Given the way she spoke about the Sunlit Emperor, Leon could tell she also hated the man, but for why, she wouldn’t say.  Heaven’s Eye had the clout to negotiate for better treatment of their guild members, but it was the exception, not the rule, and even Penelope was restricted in what she could do if she were to leave the Guild’s property.

All of that in mind, Leon still found it rather odd that the local Tower Lord hadn’t received an invitation, if only to act as cover for the Sunlit Emperor’s intentions, but given the way the man dressed and acted, Leon wasn’t so sure that the Emperor even knew what subtlety even meant.  It jived well with what he knew of the Grand Druid and the Lord Protector—being old, powerful, or both generally meant fewer restrictions on behavior.  After all, who was going to openly criticize their Emperor if that Emperor was brushing against the doors of divinity?

Leon wouldn’t openly criticize the Emperor, but he was sure thinking many critical thoughts as he left the Heaven’s Eye enclave on his way to the citadel.  He was surrounded by Heaven’s Eye guards assembled by the Tower Lord, but he was the only one of any real rank heading there.

The old fortress around which the rest of the city had sprung over the millennia was an imposing thing.  It didn’t quite cover the same footprint as the Bull’s Horns, but as far as defensibility went, it was still effectively impregnable to conventional forces, as far as Leon could estimate.  Three layers of wall protecting the complex within, every building fortified, and numerous isolated baileys separated by additional walls and towers.

Leon passed through many of these baileys on his way to the palatial keep and was met outside of its front doors by the full red carpet treatment—including an actual red carpet leading into the keep.  More than a hundred servants were there to see to any needs the guests had, and Leon could hardly believe that the city had been getting sacked less than twenty-four hours prior given their professional demeanors.

He was led to an opulent ballroom more suited to a proper palace than a keep, wherein more than fifty high-ranking mages in either luxurious formal wear or military uniforms were present with their adjutants and personal assistants.  The Emperor himself sat in a gilded throne at the opposite end of the room quietly chatting with two other men who Leon could tell were ninth-tier mages.

Despite this illustrious company, as soon as Leon entered the room and was announced, the Emperor’s eyes—as well as just about every other eye there—turned in his direction.

But Leon stood strong against this withering fusillade of attention.  He was on the lookout for it, but he sensed not much killing intent, calming some of his anxieties about coming effectively alone.  However, his other anxieties, especially those of a more social nature, only grew.  Most parties of this sort that he’d attended had been with Elise on his arm, ensuring that he was never really left alone, and that he always had something of a lifeline keeping him from drowning in social expectations and traditional ceremonies.

But after so long with his wife, he knew at least a few standard courtesies, even if he felt more than a little awkward observing them.

So, he strolled further into the ballroom with as much confidence as he could display and made his way toward the evening’s host: the Sunlit Emperor himself.

Leon was dressed fairly modestly, in a mostly black ensemble that hugged his figure in a way that had made Elise and Valeria—who’d both selected it for him—practically swoon.  Almost invisibly embroidered on his vest were bolts of silver lightning that followed the lines of an almost comically idealized male physique.

The Emperor, on the other hand, was dressed quite loudly, in bright, garish yellows, oranges, and blues.  Again, he wore what Leon could only assume was a padded codpiece given its size—he wasn’t the only one present doing so, Leon observed.  The Emperor’s colorful jerkin was cut very tightly, accentuating his lithe physique, while his underlying doublet was far looser, making his arms and shoulders look even bigger.

“Leon Raime,” the Emperor exclaimed as Leon approached, the two ninth-tier mages at his side dutifully stepping aside as their monarch’s attention shifted.  “A joy to see you, my friend!  Welcome to my little get-together!”

“I wouldn’t have missed it,” Leon said far more genuinely than he felt.  “Thank you for your invitation.”

“Ah, it was the least I could do when a man of your station and position went out of his way to defend my city!”

Leon’s smile became just a little more strained; Argos was technically jointly administered by all four Empires, but since it was so close to the Sunlit Empire’s southeastern border, it was essentially in the Sunlit Emperor’s pocket and it was the Sunlit Empire’s laws that held sway within the city.  However, while that was the reality, Leon was a little surprised to hear the Emperor lay such overt claim to the city given the presence of nobles and officers from the other Empires present—or so he assumed.  A quick glance around confirmed that most of the men present at least looked fairly similar and had roughly similar clothing choices.

‘Maybe there aren’t men from other Empires here?’

“You know, Leon,” the Emperor said, drawing Leon’s attention back to him, “I heard some stories about what happened here after your arrival, but I’d rather hear it from you.  So, tell me a story.”

Leon smiled with as much cheer as he could, but his heart rate accelerated.  He’d spent the past day altering his story just enough to sound plausible enough without being dishonest.  The last thing he wanted was to draw Imperial attention for dealing with the Sky Devils.

“Well, Your Imperial Majesty,” he began, “how good can a story be without a drink in hand?”

“Well said!  Bring us something to wet our tongues!”

Leon took a deep breath, satisfied with having bought a few seconds, but barely a moment later there was a cup of heated wine being offered to him as the Emperor stood up from his throne, his own cup in hand.

“Come, Leon, let’s talk.  Tell me your story.”

With a sigh, Leon began with his journey north from the Pegasi States—personal business had drawn him there, he assured the Emperor—when he heard about the assault on Argos and the call to arms to all Heaven’s Eye forces in the area.  He and one of his retainers arrived a few days later, and when Leon noticed a lightning mage wreaking havoc in the city after the sea wall was breached, he just couldn’t help himself and challenged the man to combat—both to satisfy his own desire for battle, and to stop the man’s rampage.  He challenged the Jaguar that if he were to hit him just once with his own magic, then the Sky Devils would have to leave.

“… and obviously, I won the bet,” Leon finished.

“A story well told!” the Emperor exclaimed as he clapped Leon on the shoulder.  “I’m still surprised the Sky Devils would honor such an arrangement, especially given who you are.”

Leon did a slight double take at just how open the Emperor was being, but fortunately, most of the others in the ballroom were giving them a wide berth.

“Listen, Leon,” the Emperor said, finally leaning in a bit and lowering his voice, “that was a good story, and I applaud your attempt, but we both know that that was packed with a least a little bit of bull shit.”  Leon had to fight to keep himself from scowling at the Emperor’s choice of words.  He wasn’t overfond of the Bull Kingdom, but he still held Trajan in the highest esteem.  “You should rethink ever going near the Sky Devils again.  I understand that you don’t have much interest in conquest, but there are those in the Empires that desire your death regardless.  Keeping you away from the Sky Devils was one of the only ways we could get those particular cocksuckers to back off.”

Loen cocked an eyebrow and asked, “Who?”

“That’s unimportant—what is important is that you’re being protected right now.  I am one of those who’ve put his name and reputation on the line to guarantee that you would keep away from these terrorists, you understand, and I’m not thrilled at the idea of you making any further contact with them.”

“I’m with Heaven’s Eye,” Leon said with a conciliatory tone, seeking to end this particular discussion as quickly as he could so he could make good his escape from the party.  “My interests lie in Occulara, not in the Sky Devil’s Hell.”

“That’s wonderful to hear, my friend, simply wonderful!”  The Sunlit Emperor threw his head back and laughed in a manner that Leon thought rather fake.  “Now, then, my friend, I’d like to extend to you another invitation!”

The Emperor’s arm around Leon’s shoulder tightened, and Leon felt a slight pinch up near his shoulder.  He quickly shook off the Emperor’s arm.

“Ah, I apologize if I’ve been too informal,” the Sunlit Emperor stated apologetically as he let Leon pull back a couple of steps.  “I tend to do that.  However, as I was saying, I would like to invite you to consider my Empire your home away from home!  I won’t be quite so shameless as to try and bribe you to join my Empire as those old fools in the north and west have done, but I want you to feel welcome here.  Don’t every hesitate to come visit!”

As he spoke, the Emperor extended a hand and let a few tiny bolts of golden lightning dance across his arm.

“And don’t forget: we have the best lightning mages in all of Aeterna.  I, personally, would love to test my skills against a trueborn descendant of the Thunderbird, that great monster lurking in the dark that we all tell our children about to make them behave!”

“I think that might be easily arranged,” Leon said with a far more genuine smile than he’d shown thus far spreading across his face, his competitiveness kindled by the Emperor’s attitude.

“Fantastic.  Now, I have to make sure the rest of my guests are having a good time and that they’ll be ready to get back to work tomorrow.  But tonight, we shall celebrate driving off the Sky Devils with plenty of wine and women!”

As he made this exclamation, one of the nearby doors opened and a long line of beautiful women of all shapes and complexions came streaming in, their faces hidden behind veils while their bodies were otherwise put on display with skimpy dancer’s wear.  The Emperor gave a great cry of delight as he seemed to forget all about Leon and scamper over to the ladies, immediately taking three of the most beautiful with him back to his throne.  The rest of the women spread out amongst the other couple hundred men present, doing their best to be as seductive as possible.

One even approached Leon, a gorgeous woman with striking red hair and glittering green eyes.  Leon smiled bitterly as he turned her away—he wondered if someone had purposefully sent her after him, knowing who he was married to.  The woman greatly resembled Elise in almost all ways.  She was voluptuous and forward, and were she not nearly half a foot shorter and had a higher-pitched voice than Elise, Leon might’ve even thought for a second or two that his wife had come here incognito.

After fending the dancer off, Leon didn’t stay too much longer.  He wanted to get back to Occulara as soon as possible, and he’d made his plans to leave the city almost as soon as he returned from this party.  So, sparing only the Emperor the dignity of a goodbye—having been the only person he’d had a meaningful conversation with—he soon took his leave.

---

The Sunlit Emperor grinned with delight as the dancer writhed in his lap.  He was half-considering taking her right then and there, in front of all his men.  He had no children of his own despite his massive harem, and that had led to a few untoward rumors about his virility, so he’d taken it upon himself of late to be even more public about his desires than he already was.

However, just as he was about to make a decision, one of his ninth-tier guards approached from behind.

“Your Imperial Majesty, I must ask one last time: give us your permission to take that bastard’s head!  To have him in our lands is a danger we cannot bear, especially after what we saw on our way to the city!”

“You can shut your bitch mouth,” the Emperor retorted.  “My word is final: Leon is not to be touched by unclean hands.  Those pole greasers in the north and west are watching him too closely, he’ll leave our lands safe and fucking secure.”

“But the risks—”

“—Are negligible!”  The Emperor finally turned his face from admiring the suddenly very nervous dancer who was hearing things far above her pay grade and facing his ninth-tier personal guard.  The Emperor let his aura spill forth, making it quite clear exactly what would happen if the man continued to press his luck.  “Go find a good pussy to stick your cock in,” the Emperor commanded.  “Blasting a few loads in a good woman has never failed to calm me down.  Gods know I would welcome it if you were to relax and get the fuck off my dick, exactly where you’re not welcome.”

The guard barely contained a snarl, but left anyway.

The Emperor smiled as he did, reveling in how his power ensured that he always got his way.  His guards might not like it, but he was not only the Emperor, but his power also made him completely untouchable.

But even then, unchecked political power, and nearly unrestrained personal power wasn’t enough.  He wanted more.  Ascension past the tenth-tier hadn’t been done by anyone on Aeterna in so long that many didn’t think it was possible with the plane’s current magical developmental standards, but the Sunlit Emperor had just secured exactly what he needed to give him that extra boost, to bypass that restriction entirely.

Despite having a dancer in his lap, he couldn’t help but think about Leon for a moment.  It infuriated him to no end, thinking of the power the boy had just fallen into simply because his family had managed to hold onto their ritual to awaken bloodlines.  As far the Sunlit Emperor had been able to ascertain over the past decade, Leon’s family was the only one with a direct link to the Thunderbird that had managed such a thing.

‘I am the Emperor, not him!  And yet, he’s the one with the power!’ the Emperor jealously screamed in his head.  He thought about his Empire, its people constantly snickering behind his back at just how much of a failure he was compared to his mother.  She’d been a rare sort, achieving such power in the Sunlit Empire despite the inherent limitations of her gender that were apparent to all Sunlit men.  Compared to her, he had achieved nothing at all.

In a fit of insecurity, he retrieved a small glass orb from his soul realm, needing to see it with his own eyes just to make sure that he still had it, that it hadn’t spontaneously vanished, or been merely a figment of his imagination this entire time.

The glass orb was heavily enchanted, and contained within it, hovering in the exact center of the nearly-transparent sphere, was a single drop of fresh blood, glowing bright red with magic power.  A quick invoking of some of the orb’s enchantments had a couple sparks of silver-blue lightning erupt from the blood, protecting it from his probes.

He quickly pulled it back into his soul realm, his grin growing for a moment until he realized that the dancer in his lap had slowed her gyrations, a look of nervous fear on her beautiful face from what she’d overheard over the past few minutes.

“Keep moving, whore,” the Emperor commanded, and the woman practically jumped to continue her moves.

He lost himself in the body of his dancer, and thoughts of the glory he was soon to cover himself in once he unlocked the secrets hidden in Leon’s blood.

---

“Ready to go?” Penelope asked as Leon arrived at Heaven’s Eye’s only arkpad in Argos.

“Absolutely,” Leon growled.  “Where’s Red?”

“Your wyvern friend is already inside,” Penelope said, and she lost no time in leading Leon into her ark.

It was spacious enough, but Leon was more concerned with its speed.  He was fast in his Thunderbird form, but an ark built for speed was always going to be faster.

As he entered the ark, he found Red walking around, her amber eyes wide open in wonder.  However, as soon as she saw him and Penelope, her expression hardened.

[About time.]

“It takes time and finesse to extricate oneself from an Imperial party,” Leon replied as he collapsed in the first seat in his way.

“Was the party that trying?” Penelope asked.

“Trying enough.  Red, how’re things with you?”

[Wondering just how humans are capable of building something like this.]

“You’ve seen arks before, haven’t you?” Penelope asked.

Red nodded without too much enthusiasm, but Leon could still see her looking around the cabin with much more excitement than she was otherwise showing.

“What’s on your mind?” Leon asked her.

Red frowned.  [Nothing.]

“Doesn’t look like nothing.  Looks like something.”

[I have said it was nothing, and nothing is what it is.]

“Fair enough.  But if that nothing turns to something, don’t hesitate to talk about it.  That’s what humans do: they share their thoughts.”

[Perhaps a bit too much…]

“Is that a subtle attempt to get me to shut up?”

“I think it was,” Penelope interjected.  “If Red’s not too willing to talk right now, Leon, how about satisfying a curiosity of mine?  Now that you have more power within Heaven’s Eye, what are you planning on doing with it?”

Her question was fairly neutral, but Leon picked up on a slight waver in her tone.

‘She’s nervous?’

“Research,” Leon quickly answered, eager to assuage any anxiety.  “I have two goals right now: get stronger, and get smarter.  Learn and grow.  I’m in the perfect position to do both now.”

“I suppose that’s true.  Any projects worth pursuing right away?”

Leon thought of his Hesperidic Apples.  “Nothing in particular,” he answered.

“All right…” Penelope said as the ark began to lift off now that they were all onboard.  “Finally!  I can’t wait to get out of this damn Empire!”

Leon nodded in solidarity.  He just wanted to get home, and woe to anyone or anything that got in his way.

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