After more than two months touring Aeterna, Leon returned to the Thunder Kingdom.  For the most part, he thought the tour went well, but it had filled him with melancholy and determination in equal measure.  However, what he brought back to Stormhollow promised to alleviate some of that melancholy and aid that determination.

To the former, one of the first things he did upon his return was to ask Elise to head up efforts to get silkgrass to grow outside of the Northern Vales.  If he couldn’t return to his childhood, then he would take a piece of his childhood with him.  Elise responded with a grin and a promise that she would find a way to make it grow.

To the latter, he charged Cosmo and Elias, Alcander and Sofia’s sons, with bringing the Forest of Black and White’s tree sprites to Tikos.  The greater part of the power he’d attained in his life came from the materials that Tikos produced.  Adding the sprites from the Forest of Black and White would nearly double the population of tree sprites subordinated to Tikos.  That wouldn’t immediately translate into doubled output, but it would greatly increase the production of thunder wood and amber, as well as Hesperidic Apples.  Moving Tikos and a portion of those sprites to the Nexus would be easier with a larger population, too.

He also sent the snow lion pelts off to the Royal Tailor.  Elise had a few ideas for what to use all of it for, and Leon was only too happy to let her handle that, too.

After arranging those few things, Leon threw himself into his preparations for leaving Aeterna, and he made sure that included training with many of the new weapon systems created by the Ravens.  He hoped such familiarity wouldn’t be needed in the future, but he was no soothsayer, so he decided that he needed some level of competence that he didn’t currently have.

---

A long sigh escaped Leon’s lips as he was encased in a metal suit that put the giants’ old stone bodies to shame.  Mari’s mass-produced Ulta suit designs had been smaller than hers, but the suit that she and the Ravens had specifically wrought for Leon was a monster comparable in size to hers, if not a little larger—when they’d floated the idea of building one for him, Leon had insisted on adding a few alterations of his own that demanded a larger frame and power supply than what the rest of his forces used.

Mari and the mad inventors in the Ravens—Asger, in particular—were all for it, and even as the now-built suit sealed itself around Leon, he could still hear their excited voices outside.  The suit itself was sleek, bearing a masculine figure and covered in smooth, shiny, silver armor plates.  Its exterior might be modified later, but at the moment, it was almost mannequin-like in appearance.

In only a moment, the pilot’s compartment was sealed, leaving Leon sitting in a comfortable, but still somewhat cramped chair illuminated only by dull red lights and a few glowing runes on the enchantment consoles attached to the seat’s armrests.  While the chair was comfortable, the feeling of being buried alive in a metal box was intense, and made only moreso by the straps that anchored Leon into the chair and prevented most movement.  His arms from the elbows down could still move relatively freely, however, and he tapped one of the glowing runes on an armrest console.

The walls of the compartment were immediately illuminated, relieving Leon’s claustrophobia as they projected the world around him.  To his eleventh-tier senses, the projection was imperfect, but he felt a mortal in his place might’ve thought it an incredibly detailed and accurate picture of the world around him.

“Hey there, Your Majesty!” Mari called from outside as she jumped and waved at him in the suit.

All around her were several dozen Ravens keeping an eye on various technical panels that monitored his Ulta suit, and watching from not too far away was a large group, including Cassandra, Valeria, and Gaius.  Neither Leon nor any of his wives could go anywhere without a veritable army of Tempest Knights, secretaries, and others accompanying them.

Mari continued, “Just fire up those engines whenever you’re ready!  Everythin’ out here’s lookin’ tip-top!”

Leon chuckled and reached for another of the runes, pausing only a moment when he felt Xaphan’s attention.  The moment his finger touched the rune glowing on the dark slate, the suit around him seemed to come alive.  Rune-inscribed machinery below, above, and all around him whirred to life, so finely machined and assembled thanks to the skill of the earth mages Leon had working for his Kingdom that even to his ears, the Ulta suit was remarkably quiet.

Magic flowed in spectacular rivers throughout the suit.  Storm crystals in the shoulders and hips of the machine fed power throughout the entire frame, and though the suit didn’t move at all, it still felt like it had started to breathe.

In one very particular way, such a sentiment wasn’t even that wrong.

[Something on your mind, demon?] Leon asked as Mari and the Ravens stared at what the enchantment consoles were telling them.

[I’m curious,] Xaphan replied.  [This is the first time you’re going to use that stuff, isn’t it?  Personally, I wouldn’t touch anything that crazy bitch made with a ten-foot pole held by someone else, but if you trust her that much, then by all means.  It’s your mind.  But do be a good little human and let me know how it feels to have your mind cooked.]

[My people have been using this stuff for years now, it’s safe,] Leon insisted.

[How many of them have additional passengers?] Xaphan countered.

That question brought a momentary frown to Leon’s face.  [Experiments on that front… are ongoing,] he replied.

[Meaning ‘none’,] Xaphan smarmily replied.  [Like I said, tell me what happens.  I’m actually dying to know how it feels.]

[That’s some intense curiosity there, demon,] Leon responded, but before the demon could continue, Mari jumped again to get Leon’s attention.

“Ready and steady, Sire!  Next up is the main event!”

[I hope you have good healers on hand,] Xaphan drily stated.  [I wouldn’t put it past this woman—or those bird brains next to her, either—to fuck with this thing in the name of experimentation.]

For the sake of his comfort and sanity, Leon decided to ignore the demon for the moment.  He took another deep breath before leaning back in his seat.

The pilot’s seat was about as thronelike as the compartment would allow—in other words, eminently comfortable and elaborate, with soft cushions on the bottom and back, and carved Thunderbirds all along the armrests.  There were no cushions behind Leon’s head, however; instead, there was a circular panel of glass, polished to a near mirror shine.  Beneath its surface, visible behind the translucent reflections, were swirls of dark gray reminiscent of storm clouds.

The moment that Leon’s head touched the cloud glass, all of his perceptions changed.  He was still in his body, as aware of himself as he was the moment before.  But he was also more, seeing out of mechanical and magical eyes, hearing with artificial ears, and simply knowing more around him, his brain failing to parse that knowledge as anything more than raw information.

He could feel his arms, but he could also feel the arms of the Ulta suit.  Just as blood flowed through him, so did magic flow through the suit.  He could even sense himself within it, his real body almost acting as the heart of the suit—the heart of the larger body that his mind now occupied.

However, all of this knowledge and perception came accompanied by the uncomfortable feeling that he wasn’t alone in his own head, that something else was in the suit with him.

[Can you hear me, Divine One?] a silent voice sent to him through the cloud glass that his mind interpreted as calm, mature, and feminine, asked.

[Siddi,] Leon responded.  [I can hear you.]

[I am ready to do my part,] the stone giant within the Ulta suit declared.

Leon didn’t respond in words, but in emotion, using his years of conversing with Xaphan and Maia through their respective connections to send feelings of professional gratitude to his Ulta suit’s other operator.

Such was Mari and the Ravens’ greatest innovation: integrating thunder wood amber into the Ulta suits so that a human and giant could operate the suit as a pair, taking strain off both as they used the suit to its fullest.  The human would be the pilot and would normally operate as the directing will of the suit, while the giant—or possibly wisps in place of the giants—would act as an on-board engineer.  Given the suit’s size and integrated enchantments, Leon was glad for the help in operating the thing.

While Leon could still see with both his eyes and the suit’s sensor suite, with his head against the cloud glass he saw a small humanoid appear hovering over his left armrest no taller than the length of his hand.  The figure appeared to be made of light gray smoke, and though it lacked most distinguishing features, its body shape was vaguely feminine.

[Can you see me, Divine One?] Siddi asked.

[By a certain definition of ‘seeing’,] Leon replied, [yes, I can.]

The smoky figure rendered him a deep bow.

“Hey hey!” Mari called from outside.  “Ya ready in there?  Wanna put this thing through its paces?”

Leon grinned.  “Fuck yes,” he whispered.

He took a deep breath and stood up.  His body remained in the chair, but the Ulta suit, curled up on the ground to allow him to access the pilot compartment, pushed itself to its feet with all the fluidity and grace of Leon’s human body.

[All systems are operational,] Siddi reported.  [We are operating at one hundred percent efficiency.]

“Let’s hope that continues,” Leon replied.

[Madness,] Xaphan whispered.

[Reality,] Leon shot back.  [Hey, demon, want us to make one of these for you?]

[And have some metal monstrosity go rooting around in my mind?  Fuck no, boy, you can keep all of your wisps and wispy giants to yourself!  I’m already perfection manifest, anyway, so why would I need to run around in some metal box?]

Leon grinned savagely as he and Siddi ran the Ulta suit through its tests—raising its arms, balancing on one foot, turning around in place—and teased, [I think you’re jealous.  And afraid.]

[There’s nothing to be jealous of, boy.  No demon would ever feel jealous of any human.]

[Ah, but you are afraid, then.]

[Easily refuted, dumbass.  Though instead of pointing out the obvious way it can be, I’m more curious as to why you think that.  What, precisely, am I afraid of, in your view?]

[Of being locked in a melting metal box.]

[If I melt anything, blame it on the operators.  Or on the builders, your choice.  If they don’t fuck with me, I won’t fuck with them.  And if they want to give me something, then it’s on them to ensure that it’s fireproof.]

A chuckle was all that Xaphan received in response as Mari called out, “Let’s test the weapons now!” and Leon simply stopped paying the demon any mind.

“Ready the Lances,” Leon ordered aloud.

He’d already piloted the suit over to a firing range, and after his order, raised both of his enormous metal arms.  Panels slid open and a pair of small Lightning Lances extended parallel to his forearm.

[All systems are ready,] Siddi reported.

For just a moment, Leon’s grin widened, and he fired the weapons.  He didn’t press a finger to any rune or glyph, he fired the weapons with nothing more than a mental command transferred from his head to the suit via the cloud glass.

With loud, synchronized cracks, the Lightning Lances on his arms fired.  The Lances were a little underpowered compared to those put on MALLs, let alone the largest Lances put on arks, but they still blasted right through the stone walls used as targets.

Leon gleefully fired off a few more shots, his mood lifting as he felt more and more like a child with a new toy.  Unfortunately, even with the suit’s size, it had limited space for ammunition.  This wouldn’t be that large of a problem in the long run so long as Leon stored additional Lance bolts in his soul realm, but it did mean an end to the tests.

[The Lances performed to expected parameters,] said Siddi.

“Gooood,” Leon drawled in anticipation.  “Let’s try the blades, next…”

While Mari and the others were still poring over their telemetry from Leon’s Lance tests, the Lances in question retracted back into ‘his’ arms, which felt more than a little strange now that his mind was linked with the suit.  At the same time, small armor panels slid back around the suit’s wrists, and long blades made of blue light extended, much like the armaments on Mari’s Ulta suit.

Cackling like a madman, Leon moved on to the next test range where several targets had been set up, amounting to a handful of columns made of different materials, mannequins, and MALL-shaped dummies.  His blades sliced through them all, though some of the columns and fake MALLs had been secretly armored beneath the surface, which Leon had only noticed when his wrist blades sliced through less cleanly than the others.  The blades would struggle with thick enchanted armor, it seemed, but softer targets would be carved up.

Leon gleefully continued testing the suit’s capabilities, including testing its flight capabilities, creating a shield of white translucent light that could protect the suit from all, or only certain, angles, and even a shroud of darkness that rendered the suit nearly invisible to the naked eye—there was still a barely-noticeable shimmer that Leon made a mental note to correct later.  These capabilities drained power faster than moving around, but not so much that Leon felt compelled to supplement the suit’s power with some of his own.  Based on Siddi’s reports, he guessed he could fight for twelve continuous hours if he wanted to before he’d have to start channeling his own power into the suit.

When those tests were done, Mari hopped into her own upgraded suit and joined Leon in the air.

“Ready for this part, Lele?” she called out.

Cassandra, Valeria, and Gaius quickly followed her up, and Cassandra scolded the younger woman, “We’re still in public, Mari’Kha!”

“Yeah, yeah, Your Majesty,” she sarcastically threw back.  Her suit glanced back at Leon, put its hands on its hips, cocked its head playfully, and asked again, “Ready, Lele?”

Leon chuckled and replied, “Yes.”  He then shot straight up, putting the suit’s flight capabilities through a much more rigorous test.  Mari followed suit, but even with the power of their suits, the three outside were easily able to keep pace.  The Ulta suits were fast, but they weren’t faster than powerful mages flying under their own power.

Higher and higher they climbed, and eventually even Gaius, Valeria, and Cassandra had to stop and watch as Mari and Leon kept going up past Aeterna’s thin barrier keeping the Primal Gods’ power from potentially leaking out into the universe.  Up there, with nothing but the Void around them, Leon and Mari hovered.

[Seals are maintaining well,] Siddi reported.  [No breaches detected.]

Leon laughed in appreciation.  He didn’t need a suit like this to head out into the Void, but having a suit capable of it pleased him greatly.

Mari gave him a questioning thumbs-up, and Leon sent one back.  Together, they flew around in the Void for a few minutes before heading back down, meeting up with the others before leading them back to the ground.

It had been an exhilarating test; Leon had operated the suit like it had been his own body.  After the initial discomfort with sharing the frame with Siddi, it had been completely natural, needing essentially no instruction or training.  The cloud glass made operating the suit intuitive enough that Leon’s heart raced at the possibilities.  A warrior might take years to train, and a mage even longer, but an Ulta suit pilot might only need a few hours to acclimate to piloting the machine.  Granted, he knew that there would need to be additional training, but that training would focus on learning to fight and work with teammates rather than simply how to pilot the suit at all.

Almost as soon as Leon reluctantly powered the suit down and stepped out, Valeria appeared next to him.

“I want one,” she stated, her sapphire eyes glittering.

Cassandra appeared at her side a moment later.  “Me too.”

“No,” Leon replied, laughing at the momentarily confused looks his ladies gave him.  Explaining, he said, “This is a prototype.  The ones you’ll be getting will be better.”  He turned and called back into the pilot’s compartment, “No offense, Siddi!”

The giant’s smoky form appeared in the air in front of the suit, visible even without Leon interfacing with the cloud glass, and spoke aloud, “The amber I live in can be transferred, Divine One.  I am no more attached to this frame than you are.”

Leon was tempted to laugh again, but with so many observers with their eyes on him, he contained himself.  Smilingly, he stated, “I look forward to working with you more, Siddi.”

“It is the honor of my life, Divine One,” Siddi replied, her smoky projection bowing once again.

When her projection flickered out, Leon turned back to the others.  Cassandra and Valeria took positions on either side of him, while Mari climbed out of her suit, the Ravens poured over the data they received, and the other observers waited for him to give voice to his thoughts about the new suit.

However, he indulged himself in a brief fantasy first.  He imagined himself leading a push against fortified positions, covered from above by arks and below by MALLs, supported all around by mages, other suit operators, and fighter arks.  Nebulous, faceless goons loyal to Kamran fell before him in droves.  The fantasy shifted a moment later, and his opponents became members of the Great Black Dragon Clan instead, all with Fain’s face.

The thoughts certainly entertained him, but he doubted things would be that easy upon reaching the Nexus.  He had no idea what he might face upon arrival, let alone when—or, in the case of his mother’s side of the family, if, as he quietly hoped he could get them to release his mother peacefully despite everything he’d said to Fain—he challenged them.

The more weapons he had on his side, the better.  The more warriors he had on his side, the better.  The more everything he had on his side, the better.

‘Now,’ he idly thought as he stepped away from his new Ulta suit, ‘if only I could get a handle on these damn wisps!’

As Leon opened his mouth to address the waiting crowds, the irate demon in his soul realm spoke up.

[You just completely ignored me when I asked you to tell me about that suit, didn’t you, Leon?]

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