Chapter 1106 Executive Order
"To me! We must head towards the second headquarters! Regroup! Regroup!"
Hearing the Bishop's shouts, Jonah escaped the murky darkness he had once again entered and looked around to see that they were above the Endless Sea.
His memory was hazy, but slowly, it all started to come back to him.
Of course, the moment this happened, the same broad smile from before came back on his face but it was wiped off when he felt someone punch his stomach.
"Stop that, or I'll change my decision and send you back to your home in a hundred pieces. Hold this, and keep repeating my message."
Hunched over due to the pain, it was all he could do to nod and take the object given to him.
It was in the shape of a disc that felt like it was made of wood, but he knew that it was an expensive Artefact that sent coded messages to all those who held the receivers.
"Regroup at this location. We will be heading towards the secondary headquarters. Regroup at this…"
Repeating the broadcast of the message while the Bishop began to cast a spell, Jonah finally started to take bearing of his surroundings.
They were so far away from Angaria that it was once again a small pinprick in the distance. The two of them were standing on a square platform that floated between the sky and the sea that had a barrier which was protecting them from both of their fury. A few soldiers were lying around them with their bodies in various states of injury, and seeing the worst of them, Jonah winced.
That was when he realised that he, too, was injured, but the pain it caused was trivial compared to all that he had gone through in these past few months. Most of his body was burned severely, with a majority of the damage concentrated on his legs. Right now, they were just stumps that he was barely able to stand on, but as the pain slowly begin to bother him more and more, he cast a spell to support himself and took his weight off of them.
He didn't have to think much to remember why that was the case, and when that memory played again in his mind, the smile threatened to come back. However, knowing that the Bishop must be keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings, he resisted the temptation and just reveled in that feeling that had struck him when he had realised that the tables had been turned in one stroke.
The explosions had come from below, and hence, their legs had been the worst affected before they had managed to leave. He still remembered the frantic screams of the analysts who had beseeched the Bishop to save them, but she had barely had the time to save herself, and him. In his mind's eye, he could once again see the way she had whipped out two figurines of the Saint and crushed them both to fill herself with enough destructive power to break through the anti-teleportation formation that had suddenly been activated in their surroundings.
Their first teleportation hadn't even been enough. Unluckily, or perhaps by design, they had arrived at a certain spot over the Endless Sea where one of the giants from before had been waiting for them just a few metres away. The giant had even been prepared with multiple devastating attacks, so when it struck with all its might, he had barely managed to defend himself and had thus lost consciousness due to an overdraft of his Mageroot.
The Bishop seemed to have saved him then, and then fled again to arrive here. He didn't blame the soldiers of Angaria for attacking him, as she had taken the precaution to change his face before they came here.
He still marvelled at the simplistic brilliance of the plan to taunt them with a part of their forces before blowing them up, and even though he didn't understand how it had happened, he felt so proud of them all.
"That's it. Let's go. We are all that remain."
The chilly tone of the Bishop was back, so Jonah simply nodded. While he had been busy enjoying his memories, a few more soldiers had managed to make their way to them so that the total count of survivors had reached 43.
It was incredible. 280 soldiers had set out from the ship, and only 41 of them had returned. He could tell that even these few had only survived as they had been in the upper parts of the fort where they had had enough time to break through the strong anti-teleportation formation and escape, while the rest had no option but to burn in the flames that had consumed everything.
They began to fly in a certain direction while infrequently teleporting to get ahead whenever it was possible. None of them spoke, but Jonah did not miss the sullen eyes of the soldiers that looked at the Bishop who was only staring straight ahead.
She had meant to advance herself by ending the war using the tactic of teleporting the ship over, but that had resulted in the entire thing being destroyed. He had no idea how valuable it was, but he was pretty certain that it was worth a fortune that even a Bishop might not be able to pay.
Even though it might sound unreasonable, it was on her. After all, a leader had to bear the faults as well as the honours depending on how a battle played out, and sadly for her, yet happily for Jonah, it was a disaster so far.
In a different life, he might have felt sorry for her but right now, all he wanted to do was jump in the air and cheer Angaria on.
They reached their destination after 15 minutes, after which she made them pause before passing them through the invisible barrier that hid Angaria.
The second headquarters was in the form of a floating surface in the air that was protected by a circular barrier. The barrier was such that it disguised everything within so that nothing was visible on the outside, so when the Bishop entered along with them, the second wave that was standing ready on the inside greeted them suddenly.
Many weapons of war could be seen being checked by the personnel of the Church on the surface, but ignoring them all, the Bishop headed towards the three-storied six-sided building in the centre of the barrier. On the way, she dropped off all the soldiers at what looked like an infirmary, but Jonah was made to follow her.
The moment she entered the building, she made her way to the topmost floor where most of the commanders she had spoken to before they set out were waiting. This surprise Jonah, but he then remembered that it was always the policy of the Church to distribute those in command so that even if a major portion of them fell, there would be someone remaining who could take up their position.
Of those that had left the Church, more than 60 % of them were present here, so Jonah could deduce that very few had been lost with the ship, which was a pity.
When the Bishop arrived, most of them looked at her with eyes filled with consternation as she cocked her head and listened to a silent message.
After all, the fate of the mission would weigh heavily on their own careers, too, so their anxiousness was justified.
A few seconds later, she straightened her neck and spoke in that same frosty tone.
"Well, it was only suspected before, but it is confirmed now. The bombs were all hidden in bodies of dead creatures from the sea. They were detected by the analysts, but they did not see any threat in them. If we had an even more advanced scanner, this would not have worked. Without knowing the exact capabilities of the ship that we set out on, it would have been impossible to implement the strategy… and the chances of them getting lucky are slim, at best. Someone told them about Saintess Ahora. I'm sending the message to the Mainland to-"
"Ha, you're all foods! I'm the one who gave them that information! So the external help that they have… is me!"
While hearing the Bishop speak, Jonah had suddenly felt afraid for Angaria even though they had just won a great victory.
The Bishop's reasoning was sound. It was almost impossible for it to be a coincidence that someone would use this method to disguise the bombs unless they knew about the scanning capabilities of the ship that was being sent, but if the fact about the external help was confirmed, the Church might deploy more of its strength.
He did not want this to happen, so finding the courage, he had decided that he would try to make it seem as if he was the culprit.
A brief silence hung over the room after he spoke, during which the look that the Bishop gave him was so scathing that it almost physically burned him.
After that, she moved with such speed that she became a blur, and when she came to a stop, he was dangling in the air from her hand that was clutching his throat with so much force that it felt that it would soon be crushed.
Yet, the pain that he felt due to this did not even register in Jonah's mind as the Bishop turned to the commanders and gave an order which made his mind go blank with shock.
"He's blustering. By the authority vested in me by Saint Hisos, I'm drafting an executive order to hereby increase the threat level of the continent known as Angaria. Hence, we will immediately be taking action by activating the secondary part of the first wave that was sent to be deployed in case the suspicion was confirmed. Commanders, send the order. They think they can play with fire… so fire they shall have, in plenty."