In the end, after Ignis was gone... so were the monsters. Throughout the rest of the winter, there were no attacks, not against the Pride nor against the other two Passes. Nothing... Just silence. When the weather began warming up again, signaling that spring was approaching, I also headed ho, intending to take a look at things and strategize a little for the future... For a very bloody future. It was good to see the city again, even though I wasn't that far away; it was still sothing that always made proud while looking at it. The saying is indeed true... if you build sothing, you will care for it more than if it is just given to you. That's why I also hope to instill a great deal of pride into the future generations, so they will remain just as attached to Avalon as I was... especially if the world is about to burn. As we were closing in on the landing spot, I was looking over the latest report Arthur had sent about three days ago, which made smile and shake my head.
“Kustov,” I said, looking through the long list, “when we left, there were six operational factories in the Union. Guess... How many are there now?”
“Twelve?” he asked, pretty unsure.
“Close..." I chuckled, "Fifteen. And rising." I shrugged, folding the paper, "Ishillia and Atuvia lead the numbers from those, of course, but even the Geth Empire finished its second plant last week, while Sar is starting on its third. Going by all of this... Union production, collectively, is at nearly fifty percent of Avalon's capacity. This ans not only the chs, of course, but everything. Although the newest plants are for them, naturally.”
“Fifty percent, huh?” He repeated, clearly surprised, “Not bad for countries that were still using wagons and horses a decade ago.”
"Sothing like that!" I laughed, standing up, stretching, and watching as we slowly descended toward the ground, noticing that cars were waiting for us there, which made my smile widen. "Give it another decade, and they will have replaced the horses with those." I pointed downwards.
"Really?" Kustov asked, raising a brow, but not because he doubted .
"Yeah. Horse riding will be nothing more than just a sport... But first, we will have to stop a dragon. Because Ignis's presence can postpone a lot of things... including living."
When we walked down from the Calot, Arthur was already waiting for us. After getting the hugs and kisses from my wives, I also pulled him into my arms, patting his shoulders. He looked tired, though that seed to be true for every one of us. He wasn't overdressed either, only throwing an unbuttoned cloak over his attire, his hair growing long, and he began wearing it tied back in a loose knot, cultivating even a short stubble on his face. Honestly, he was turning out to look a lot like .
“Welco ho,” he said, stifling a yawn. “You didn’t even send a notice ahead, typical. I could’ve arranged a reception.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, chuckling, nodding towards the cars as we stepped in, Yuri racing to the yellow one, wanting to drive it, of course, “We both know that's not true. How's the thinking box?”
"Fine." He answered, glancing at and Sasha while we got into the red car, which was, of course, driven by Leyla.
"Did you beco your brother's chauffeur?" I joked, seeing her sitting there.
"A what?" She turned towards with a grin, "Dad, are you secretly mocking ?"
"Even I can't tell." Sasha chuckled, shaking her head, but I just leaned back, smiling. "But," she looked at our son after he closed the door, "What does fine an? Headaches? Are they gone?"
"Completely," He continued as we began rolling, following Yuri's car, which I could tell was already speeding. Damn adrenaline junkie. "I haven't had any for more than a month now, not even when I access all those weird mories. Galahad's thod really helped, and he is with , almost more than with Fila... I am kinda... feeling conscious about it now."
"Don't worry, Fila is not angry about it," Leyla interjected, "Plus, I had ti to drag her out and spent so quality ti with her, or she would be like Galahad, cooped up in her room, all day."
"Speaking of mories," I continued, herding the topic back on track, "What about the mories? Can you tell more about Ignis?"
"Actually, yes." He nodded, turning around from the front seats, "We worked on and separated most of the mories related to it. I read and looked at the images you sent back from when you fought with it, comparing them with what I know of its past... The mories tell enough to say that her wings are sothing new. That beast had none originally; it was more... lizard-like than a dragon."
"Well, it evolved," I grunted, "Thanks to our ancestors."
"Yes it did." He continued, "Its scales also hardened a lot, and as far as I know, it was able to shrug off most spells even before it gained proper sentience. It was a tough one, tanking other beasts' spells and going in for physical, lee combat."
"I don't hold much hope for that to remain the truth." I warned him before he got too excited about it, "It has clearly changed more since then, and can cast spells, equal to the Calot's primary weapon."
"Yes, but we can nullify that." He said before I could add more.
"Would the Trojan work on it?" Sasha asked, leaning forward.
"Yes." He answered firmly, "A modified one. Galahad, Morgan, yli, and Fila are working on it. Thanks to Galahad's smart head, he can rember all that I tell him and draw down from mory, and he is certain that they can co up with sothing that is tailored to directly interfere with Ignis's spells. A custom-made Trojan, just for that dragon."
"From the magic it had..." I muttered, "You do rember what spells were used on him and what they can do..."
"Exactly," Arthur nodded, visibly excited, "I have been mostly scouring the mories when not dealing with Union matters. I already made a list of Ignis's strengths, what kind of spells it was capable of producing, her weak spots, anything."
"Weakspots?" Sasha perked up, just like .
"Kind of..." He shrugged, deflating a little, "More like... traits. When it gained its first, rudintary intelligence, bringing it back from beast to animal, it was like... a cat."
"Should I build a massive laser pointer?" I grunted, smiling, shaking my head.
"What I an," he continued, ignoring my joke, "I have a good assessnt of its possible personality. And that is the first step to make sure I can also hack not only its spells, but her mind."
"..." Sasha wanted to say sothing, but in the end, she held back, just as I did. If all things failed... We may have to let him try it... no matter how much I dislike the idea.
"Let's exhaust all the other possibilities first," I spoke up in the end.
"I agree," He smiled at us, and we arrived at the palace in the end, walking in, and while everyone was enjoying getting ho after a long trip, I headed into my old office with Arthur.
"What about outside of Avalon? How are our allies doing?" I asked, sitting down, now opposite my old chair, leaving it to my son.
“Everything is working out nicely,” He said, leaning back in it, “Ishillia had won the first round, and they have already produced the first Ishillian ch. What they are doing now is fine-tuning the mass production and then training the pilots.”
“Sounds promising,” I nodded, tapping on the armrest, hoping that with extra help, I could pull my forces out of the other Passes and relocate most of our power to the Pride. “What about the people?” I asked.
"They know sothing is going on," Arthur’s expression softened, closing his eyes for a mont, “Most of them are almost working themselves half to death. I had to enforce mandatory rest days and issue a statent confirming the existence of a massive, dangerous beast found on the other side. I also spoke to them, telling them that it's worse than the Guardian, but we are prepared to take it on.”
"Mhm,” I smiled at him, being proud of him, “You beca a great leader in a short ti... I am proud of you.”
“I am your son, after all. I can't screw up your work.” He chukled, shaking his head. "Speaking of people, Kiva ca to us a few weeks ago."
"Really?" I leaned forward. "What did he want? Or what did you do?"
"He enlisted," Arthur explained, "For now, I sent him to work with Lucca; he is helping him catch up, and after that... I don't really know. I am open to your suggestions."
"No, that's good." I said after thinking about it, "He will work with Lucca and then co to the Pride when he is done with his 'training.' They can work together and boost our firepower. We will also have to pull most of our people out of the other two and bring them to the Pride. Not all of course! But... promote Markothians to command their Pass, while Elliot will provide the manpower for them. As for the Third Pass, we should leave it for the other Union mbers to handle. We can't be doing everything..."
"I was thinking of the sa thing," Arthur looked at , smiling, “It’s good to see you ho, you know. I was starting to think you would now permanently stay at the Pride.”
“Believe , son, I want to be back here more than getting grilled by your mother!”
"Huh?" He leaned forward, "What happened?"
"Long story short, the new head of the Vasas has declared she wants my seed."
"..." For a mont, he just looked at , before beginning to laugh, holding it back as best as he could, aning, not at all, "And she doesn't an... ?"
"They still want you, and I am thinking about introducing you to them, as it is inevitable... but no. She wants to sleep with . She told it directly to your mother's face."
"Pffft!" Finally, he couldn't hold it back at all, laughing as loudly as possible, almost choking on it, "You are... really sothing else."
"Hey! It's not ! Or... well, not like usual! It's unlike how I seduced the others... I didn't do anything this ti!"
"Soooo... Will I have a new brother? Sister? Is this incest?"
"Okay, you are going too far!" I snorted, rolling my eyes, "And try that joke with Sasha and see what happens! I haven't been able to go to the toilet without her coming with , making sure Sa'Ith doesn't pop up from nowhere, raping or sothing."
"You make it sound as if I should be afraid." He flinched. "I don't know if I want to et them anymore."
"They won't touch you. Better not! But if you take a fancy to her..." I looked at Arthur and then shook my head, "Damn, she is over a hundred! Don't even think about it."
"She's that old?" He huffed, leaning back, blinking his eyes, "Well, I guess so... They do live longer than us..."
"So be wary!" I warned him, "They know more than you... wait. No... that is also not true, not anymore, huh?"
"Well," He twitched his lips, "That's kind of... yeah... Right... Dad... I think the collective knowledge I have in my mind is greater than hers..."
"Just," I muttered, pinching the ridge of my nose, "use protection. If you decide to woo a Vasa girl because their looks are exotic. Who knows what they have..."
"Dad," he grinned, leaning forward, "I am not going to steal one of your possible wives."
"Yeah, no." I stood up, ending the discussion, "I have everything I need already! I am not going to spice my life up more than it already is. Sooo... Let's go. I missed you, little bastards! Where's my grandson, too? I want to see little Percy!"
"Bastards?" He laughed, standing up too, "How can we be bastards when you are our father?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" I patted his back as we left the room, "Don't play the semantics gas with , kiddo. I am still your Daddy! I will win... by default."
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