While the battle appeared to have ended, the chaos in Wenmouth was far from over.
Two thirds of the city had been damaged or destroyed, large portions of the Palace were rubble, and the University complex had collapsed, trapping an unknown number of students and employees.
But that was not the largest concern for Karl and the others in his suite.
There was a growing sense of power overhead as the storm began to fade, and the auras of at least a half dozen Totem Rank powerhouses had surrounded the city, while sothing stronger was flying overhead.
Their best guess was that whatever had happened here had attracted the attention of the Mythic Rank Black Dragon that held the unofficial title of overseer of the continent.
Karl and Niall had a general idea of what had happened, as Rae and Niall had gone to assist Ahmad in the fight. But the storm was interfering with any attempt to observe from the ground.
There was no way that they could have guessed the monuntal nature of the events that were occurring in the sky above Wenmouth.
Overlord Ahmad surged with power as he stood on the shoulders of his summon. His back was bent in a deep bow, welcoming the Mythic dragon, but his attention was entirely on the process happening inside his body.
Once the stronger challengers had arrived, he had imdiately used the Mana Core of the storm. A missed opportunity was worthless, but to the gathered Totems, the Mana Core was nearly as valuable intact as it was to him.
"You have gained quite the opportunity today." The dragon intoned, speaking slowly, the human language unfamiliar and difficult from his draconic form.
"Indeed, Mythic Lord." Ahmad agreed.
The dragon's passive look turned to a faint smile. "Perhaps from now, we shouldn't call the Golden Dragon Nation the largest human nation anymore, but the Northern Beastkin Territories." It suggested.
Ahmad shook his head. "You flatter . The Archbishop is still the leader of the nation."
The Mythic Dragon snorted in amusent. "For how much longer? A year, two at most? Lord Nacht has been keeping vigil over him for months, ready to step in if he should go earlier than expected. But in a few more minutes, the Golden Dragon will have a new heir to the nation. To think that so many Overlords among the humans would have thrown their lives away in one battle for greed and power. But their sacrifice birthed a new Totem, and over the next days new Overlords will rise to replace those who have fallen. Such is the will and blessing of the God of Death."
That was when it really began to dawn on Ahmad what he had done. He had taken the chance to gain the greatest of powers, and had pushed himself past the brink and into the Totem Realm. Already, the Totemic Blessing was settling into his bones, and his power was skyrocketing as his magic and his very soul rged with the world in new ways.
But the power ca with a cost. There was only one other Totem in the Golden Dragon Nation, and he would soon be on his deathbed, leaving Ahmad as the leader of the country by default.
Surely, that young Monarch was laughing at him now.
Everyone had assud that his astronomical rise to the top would have marked the next Totem Rank powerhouse on the Continent, but instead he was comfortable in his Palace suite while it was Ahmad up here, trying to digest the implications of his own actions.
Karl wasn't actually at the Palace, but in the labs beneath the city, but Ahmad didn't know that. Ahmad couldn't sense him there, but he had felt the familiar presence of Thor and the ladies.
Not only had he done this to himself, he had literally killed for it. Well, ordered soone killed for it.
He should have made Inquisitor Niall use the stone. That smug bastard deserved to be stuck with a desk job.
As his advancent took hold, Ahmad realized that he no longer needed assistance to fly, he could simply control the mana in his body to hold himself aloft on the natural mana currents.
So, he dismissed the Elental, and let himself hover. "Good, you are learning quickly. Congratulations on your advancent, young Enlightened One. Now, I have whelps to oversee, new to their training." The Mythic Dragon announced, before simply vanishing.
Ahmad smiled as he realized how the Ancient Dragon was doing it. He knew both teleportation and Portal, so he opened a tiny portal, then simply teleported through it to the other side, bypassing the limits on the range of the teleport spell.
He was simply so good at it that the process was complete before even an Overlord Rank mage could tell what he was doing.
With the Mystic Dragon gone, the other Totem Rank leaders approached to introduce themselves or make sure that the new Golden Dragon Nation Totem was who they thought it was.
"Welco everyone. Why don't we move this to my place for a bit of tea?" Ahmad suggested.
His house in the hills outside the city, obviously. Bringing all of these people to the Capital was a terrible idea.
----------------------------------
The storm cleared as they left, and the Palace started to give out damage reports. No casualties in the visitor wing, fourteen in the guard barracks. Seven guards were killed at the train station, two in the east wing. Fifteen died in the underground areas, where Karl assud the dungeons and storage areas were.
But the true extent of the attack beca clear in the last line.
[Fifty Guards, two Overlord Rank Protectors, five princes, two princesses, the Queen Consort and The King slain in the Throne Room region.
A King is Dead
King Axel inherits the throne by birthright.
Long Live The King]
Niall and Rae stared at the ssage that had been handed to the maid. "That shouldn't be right. We cleared that area." Rae insisted.
Niall nodded in agreent. "And I killed four other Overlords with their retinue just over here, only one turn down the hall. They were on their way in, not out."
Rae vanished and started counting bodies in her space. She had collected all the Overlords once they t up, and nobody had tried to steal any of them before she got to them.
"There are still seventeen. We didn't lose any of them." She explained when she returned.
Niall sighed. "It looks like my work is not over yet. The Church will want answers to this."
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