Noah placed the talisman down, a small hint of shock on his face. Still, it only took him a moment for him to regain his calm.
Noah didn't know what his grandfather's ability was. In fact, he was certain that no one knew. Emperor Fawkes was a man who always kept his cards close to his chest. Even his closest advisors might not know everything he was thinking about.
But, this was the way of an Emperor. To remain so calm even in the face of everything you and your Ancestors had built potentially burning down… this was the marker of a true ruler.
That said, Noah wasn't so certain that this was all about calmness. He always got the sense that his grandfather wasn't calm but rather… confident.
It was a subtle difference that was hard to grasp but even harder to fake.
However, as the Prince of the Empire, Noah knew the situation well. And, quite frankly, there was simply nothing to be confident about.
Earth was caught completely unprepared.
This wasn't a failure of Emperor Fawkes and the royal family, but rather simply due to circumstances. Who could have predicted the appearance of Camelot? And who could have predicted that a second acceleration would occur right after the first?
In truth, Camelot should have been a variable Terrain couldn't prepare for. But, due to the circumstances, it became a saving grace for them instead.
"What would you like to do?" Jessica interrupted Noah's thoughts. Maybe only she was allowed to listen in on a conversation between the Emperor and a Prince.
Noah tapped on the large table before him, his thoughts running wild.
He wasn't very sure how he felt about his cousin. He didn't hate nor love Leonel, he was about as neutral on the topic as one could get.
At the same time, he could also tell that his grandfather wasn't overly eager to bring Leonel back to the palace either.
Though it was said like this, this wasn't to say that Emperor Fawkes didn't want anything to do with Leonel. If that was the case, he wouldn't praise him so much. Rather, the main point was that the Emperor was content to watch Leonel spread his wings out from afar.
"According to the information we have, there's a great possibility that he is within Camelot at the moment.
"The dead White Knight that His Imperial Majesty mentioned should have fallen before the attack on the first Barony. That attack occurred within 20 to 30 kilometers of Camelot. This coupled with the fact reports say that Prince Leonel was a part of the Zone trial that brought Camelot here and this is the most appropriate conclusion."
Noah nodded noncommittedly.
"… How do you think he managed it?" Noah couldn't help but ask after a while.
"…"
Jessica didn't respond. She had been with Noah long enough to know that whenever he asked questions he knew they didn't have enough information to answer, that he didn't really expect one.
Noah was usually a meticulous, hard nosed, and between the lines kind of person. The only moments he acted like this was after he finished speaking with his grandfather. He didn't even seem to have the same aura about him anymore.
Noah stood, his calm returning in full.
"It seems that Imperial Grandfather was correct, there are many eyeing our Earth and some of them might even still be lurking in the shadows even now. Maybe it's time we show them that we aren't pushovers."
Noah walked to the side of his military tent.
Located on what would have been a wall, there was a weapon's rack, but it was filled with nothing but sabers. However, shockingly enough, each and every one of these sabers were as large as a human body, carrying blades that seemed capable of cleaving a mountain in two.
Despite their heft, Noah picked up the first with a single arm. Its radiant blue blade reflected beneath the dim flickering lights. It seemed to exude a magic aura.
"This one will do."
With a flip of his palm, the saber vanished and Noah walked to the entrance of his tent.
"Jessica, all the preparations you made for the Demon Empire, forget them for now. We have a city to level."
Jessica nodded.
According to their intelligence, the Demon Empire had allied with Camelot and planned to submit to The Empire. With this sudden change, their thoughts might turn from submission to thoughts of taking advantage of The Empire in their time of weakness to maintain their own sovereignty.
In that case, rather than giving them a hollow show of power for mere negotiations, they'd show them a real one.
**
Within Camelot's treasure vaults, Leonel had no idea that his grandfather was aware of his presence already. In fact, he wasn't even aware that he had a grandfather to begin with. In Leonel's mind, his only family was his father and his missing mother.
But, maybe even if he was aware, he wouldn't have the mind to think about it.
Leonel sat on the ground, beads of sweat falling down his face.
If one stopped focusing on his visage and focused on his hands, it would be possible to see a ghastly sight without compare.
Blood dripped from Leonel's hands, ricocheting off the ground and echoing through the vast vault.
Little Tolly happily swam around Leonel's fingers, not realizing the damage it was causing. But, Leonel couldn't blame the little guy, despite having evolved into the Fourth Dimension, it was still nothing but a toddler. In fact, the little guy hadn't even really begun to form cohesive thoughts of its own.
Though Leonel could command Blackstar with words, Little Tolly didn't accept such direction well. Leonel had to use a series of images for Tolliver to understand his meaning.
However, understanding didn't make it any less painful.
There was good news and bad news.
The bad news was that it was almost impossible to suffer such pain and focus on crafting at the same time. How could one maintain a steady connection and complete such intricate actions when it felt like the world was collapsing around them?
The good news, however, was that Leonel managed to evolve under pressure and create a new ability. He called the ability Dream Sense.
Since it was so hard to feel such pain and focus at the same time, why do so at all?
Dream Sense allowed Leonel to split his senses the exact same way he split his mind, it was just an extension of his Dream Clone ability.
Leonel used Dream Sense to split his mind two ways. One tackled the brunt of the pain he was feeling while the second focused entirely on his Crafting.
It was on the third day of using this ability that Leonel evolved once more. He realized something incredibly important.
If he could split his senses to help him focus, why not split his sensory pain between several minds? If he did that, wouldn't this allow him to dull his pain by several factors?
If he split the same pain between ten minds… Wouldn't he reduce his own pain by a factor of ten?
This realization truly opened Leonel up to a new world. If he could control his mind even down to this minute level, just what other possible abilities could his creativity have in store for him?