Yaulander finds the encampment abuzz with gossip with the soldiers that fled from the castle. Many arguments are being had, since soldiers abandoned their posts, and Imperial military doctrine is very clear about such things. Those who fled could rightfully be hanged for deserting, particularly considering they abandoned their liege lord, the Grand Prince, in order to save themselves. The blond man in question calls out magnanimously, "All of you, at ease. Pack up and prepare to depart. If anyone knows where Count Baumalde is, I expect a thorough explanation about why the firing this time acted the way it did."

"Y-Your Majesty, these men…"

"I don't care about stations right now. Our first priority should be…"

"Incoming!" screams one of the men from a little further away. Everyone, including Yaulander and the magically-compelled Zuzia Spolskia, look towards the soldier, following his point towards and beyond the fortress to their north. Two pitch black spheres of unnatural lack of color are racing towards them, faster than the magic orbs produced by the void artilleries travels, yet possessing the same unnatural quality to them.

"Scatter!"

"Men! Clear the area!"

"Evacuate!"

Screams and shouted orders fill the air, not unlike the fortress seemingly mere moments ago, where monsters sprung forth from Nesparu's elven slave's void managed to sow chaos among the defenders trying to isolate, restrain, and enslave Zuzia. While the cost was grave, the reward should prove absolutely invaluable. An otherworlder summon with untold physical strength, and the power to resist an inborn divine gift; she alone is worth every man lost.

Yet, more may fall, as the black orbs racing towards them bring with them an ominous impending doom. Even though the orbs are distinctly smaller than the shots of the void artillery fundamental spell orbs, their nature can only be the same.

The two spheres of impending doom don't approach the Grand Prince's position directly, though if they possess the same potency as the actual void artillery, they will be well within range.

Yaulander's heart races as several of his guards try to pull him away from the direction the attack spell is headed. It won't matter. If they aren't far enough away already, they're already dead. Once the spell detonates, from what he heard, the annihilation is instant.

That said, Yaulander is not without his divine protection. He is the Grand Prince of the Empire. The Grand Principality of Strylaph was established long ago, when two siblings had to formally settle the royal succession and keep the Empire stable. One branch became the Lindenmorg family, named for their steadfast nature similar to the mountains, or 'linden' as they're known in the ancient High Imperial language Graume Vaudis, which is the first language Imperial royalty are taught, and the Strylaph family, named for the Strylak which became the sigil of the Empire, whose unfathomable power embraces the whole world.

As such, because he is of the god-protected bloodline of Strylaph, naturally, the incoming void annihilation spell misses Yaulander. Instead, it seems to perfectly reach its point of tangency; the point at which the true spell triggers, directly over the western void artillery relative to the central camp. The spell flashes, and in an instant, the pitch black sphere fouled with dancing violet lightning arcs engulfs the entire void artillery, all of the soldiers around it and manning it, and several dozen yards outwards from the superweapon. In an instant, nothing remains of the included area, not even a spark of light nor a single wisp of smoke. Not one gasp nor ghostly cry manages to escape the all-destructive power of the void annihilation spell that the void artilleries employ. In spite of the weapons themselves having some sort of strange reaction with each other's shots, this spell, cast by one of the Fievegal interlopers, has successfully erased one of Yaulander's newest military assets from existence in the blink of an eye, along with the soldiers and artisans required to operate it.

His heart is pounding vigorously in his chest. The crater left behind, cleanly carved from the land by the spell annihilating everything within its radius, reaches to within a dozen yards of his own position. His divine blood has protected him once more, but it is clear that the Fievegal means to take his life, and they will sacrifice anything that gets in their way. For a fledgling collection of upstarts ruled by an otherworlder peasant, he nearly killed one of his own.

The fool. He dares to launch such an attack at me? Soon enough, I shall surround his pathetic stronghold and his harlots with a hundred void artilleries and vaporize their entire pathetic Fievegal all at once.

"Captain! Send a cavalry unit to engage the fleeing mongrels! Let's go, Rat. We'll kill those would-be savage assassins soon enough."

The Captain immediately confirms and starts rallying his troops for battle. For her part, Yaulander's newest servant doesn't say anything in reply, simply following his orders. It's pretty common for magically-bound slaves to have an abrupt culture shock to being made slaves. It usually happens without warning, so their mind and body are in disparity as they come to grips with the new reality. He'll have all of the time in the world to temper her behavior. Besides, no one expects courtesy from a dog.

The best dogs are silent and unobtrusive.

"Your Majesty!" calls out one of the noblemen serving as a military officer.

"What is it?" asks the irritated Grand Prince. He's exhausted, and he can't let them know how concerned the day's events have made him. A Grand Prince of the Strylaph royal family must maintain his air of dignity and command.

"What shall we do about… that?" He gestures towards where the void artilleries are fired, having observed it from range with the rangeviewer magic devices they have. It uses technology similar to memory devices popular mostly with women and wealthier soldiers with families to project an image from much further away onto the ground directly in front of it.

"What of it?" The Grand Prince notices that Zuzia glances at the spot that looks like the dying embers of a burnt out fire releasing its last sparks. Yet, it does seem to be sustaining at that indefinite, slowly expanding bed of coals.

This stumps the officer, and Yaulander says what should be obvious. "We needed to test the newest weapon of the Empire, did we not? The fact that it failed to perform properly is a trivial matter. Someone find Count Baumalde and bring him to my palace when you bring the remaining artillery. We'll need to shore up our defenses before the Fievegal attacks again, and Baumalde has much to answer for letting those wretched dogs not only escape, but launch an attack as well."

"But, the fire, your Wise Majesty. Shouldn't we try to contain it before it spreads?"

"Do as you wish, Lieutenant. Just know that I'll be expecting Count Baumalde within the week. If the fire spreads, it's only natural that the dragons will be blamed, yes?"

The soldiers glance at each other, and Yaulander asks coldly, "Do you intend to claim something else happened here?"

"N-... No, your Majesty," replies the Lieutenant.

"Good. Don't bother waiting on the cavalry. Finish packing up the artillery and move it out. Without Nesparu or his porter, we'll have to move it the old fashioned way. I'll send for more men to clear the route to Imperial Territory."

"Y-Yes… your Majesty…"

Zuzia gives the men a tiny bit of a sympathetic look. She still hates them almost as much as their liege lord, but they are in service of a particularly callous one. He barely even batted an eye at losing several dozen soldiers in the fortress, let alone the return 'void artillery' attack. Her own fear gripped her for a moment, but everything from the day has exhausted her.

And, Yaulander is still quite angry at her, given how he makes her follow his newest carriage on foot.

***

Sundenelle approaches the defensive command post on the Citadel's outer wall where Roeta is coordinating the defense from. Far in the distance, vehicles are thundering as they slowly pursue the demon-kin, scattering them and mowing down their forces with multiple points of machine gun fire. Even larger vehicles boom loudly enough to be heard even this far away with ease, exploding craters in the midst of the enemies from a range further than even most demon-kin mages can cast magic spells from. It is absolute chaos with streaks of various colors and flashes travelling in every direction.

"Your Grace," remarks Roeta. "Sir Ecklevon."

"Dame Roeta," replies the gatonine knight, and Sundenelle greets the pink dragon as well. "Dame Roeta. This is quite a view."

The defensive command post is perched a little behind the actual wall, but higher up, and it seems to have been built more recently than the rest of the Citadel's original structures. Because of the range of the rifles, several dattakoriens and Uhl'tall are laying on their bellies, waiting for enemies that attempt to rush past the vehicles.

"I used to think watch towers like this were just an easy target," jokes the rose-pink dragon. "Any one of those five would be a threat to me now." She gestures at the soldiers waiting patiently and talking quietly among themselves. One of them, who is wearing a cloak with some kind of simple insignia made of chevrons near his left shoulder gives a thumbs up gesture. Sundenelle gives a return thumbs up, unsure if it's some sort of secondary salute, or a polite gesture. Regardless, it's unlikely that her doing so will be particularly disruptive. "I see," replies the albino teen. "I should have moved more quickly when I first heard about the arrival of two otherworlders. Had I known Mornistae was banishing one, I would have snatched him up."

Roeta scoffs. "Thank goodness you didn't, your Grace. I doubt we'd be having this conversation if you had."

"Perhaps. What's the situation?"

"The vehicles are routing and scattering their forces, since they seem to be trying to dig in and defend. I'm the only dragon deployable at the moment, so we haven't been able to rush their back line yet."

"I see. What of the other dragons other than the Empresses and Gold? I've seen a few I've yet to be introduced to."

"They're all under strict magic contracts still to prevent them from being a threat to Daniel or the Empresses. They're mostly free to come and go from the Citadel, if they've been released from prison, so they only observe or travel at their own leisure."

"Are you saying not all of the dragons are allied with Daniel?" asks the young Empress curiously.

"Forgive my bluntness, but isn't that like asking if all humans are allies with you?"

Sundenelle smirks. "Fair enough. Regardless, if we can't rely on their help, then that's all there is to it." She then looks at the battlefield, asking, "What of the battle? Are we not concerned about the vehicles being trapped or destroyed by magic?"

"The vehicle crews are aware of the risks, but look there;" Roeta points out towards a specific point, which is about half-way between the wall and the battlefield. It looks similar to the large armored vehicle with the artillery piece mounted on top. However, this one has six barrels in two pairs of three aimed at steep angles high into the sky. Roeta instructs, "Watch closely."

Six small flashes emit from the barrels, but the smoke and explosion from the muzzle is considerably less significant than the other weapons or artillery pieces. Even the rifles make a more noticeable presentation of firing.

Regardless of this fact, six explosions in close proximity suddenly bloom around one of the sources of magic flashes coming from the enemies, and the magic spells cease. Sundenelle probably looks quite undignified with her mouth hanging ajar. Her mother would certainly scold her, assuming her own face didn't match the young Empress's when Ecklevon is also watching in stunned silence.

It's nowhere near as dramatic as the attack that Ryuogriar called the 'Fiendbreaker', which lured out some sort of intensely powerful berserker monster in retaliation. But, the precision with which the long-ranged vehicle took out a mage, who are often powerful enough to shield themselves from arrows and ballista bolts, as well as incoming magic spells. Demon-kin, especially the Uhl'tall, can be particularly difficult for eastern military forces to defeat in open combat. The Fievegal, as with most things, is handling them with apparent ease.

Of course, it helps that demon-kin are the majority of the Fievegal as well.

Roeta explains the vehicle, "Daniel calls it the 'Pee-Three Poorkyupyne', though, apparently, it doesn't technically count as a tank… or something." She chuckles at her own faulty explanation, saying, "It can be amusing serving a dragon lord who speaks so oddly."

"Any signs of more of those berserkers?" asks the young Empress, trying to do her best to resume serious conversation.

"None yet. The dattakoriens behind me are running radios with the troops, and in an emergency, our soldiers will deploy flares. Why? Are you and Sir Ecklevon planning to fight it?" Roeta snickers slightly, and Sundenelle lets her have it. Ecklevon is doing his best, but he's still weary from his own attempt to defend Sundenelle against it, and the young glass-haired woman had her own flash with death.

"Not if I can help it," replies the young Empress. "But, I wanted to make sure everything needed is being done. I'm not particularly a combatant, but I've studied a great deal of strategies from Imperial history. Though, the more I learn, the more… outdated they would seem to have been, given the demon-kin were not advancing as aggressively as they could have. Ignoring the Fievegal, obviously."

Roeta scoffs and nods. "I can barely keep up, and I'm one of the Valkyries."

Sundenelle studies the map on the desk, as well as the radio operators. As she understands it, the magic radios that the Fievegal employs currently all speak to each other, but Roeta has three such operators each with their own radios.

Roeta explains, "Each one is tasked with filtering out their own specific traffic to coordinate the different teams. It can be a little messy, but it's still quite efficient."

Interesting. I could spend a lifetime here and not know everything the Fievegal is capable of, it seems. But…

She looks out over the Citadel's inner region for a moment. The magical fortress itself looms over all of them, dwarfing the Imperial Palace, which is huge already, and the 'town' is large enough to qualify as a city, once the population grows enough to catch up to the space.

"Do we have search parties patrolling the inner perimeter?" asks the glass-haired Empress suddenly.

"Hmm? Oh, uh, there are patrols, though there's a lot of area. That said, Xyreko is operating at minimal capacity, not completely disabled. I'll ask that she check, just to be safe, though. I've been focused on the battle."

"As I understand it, we have a lot of high value prisoners right now, and this will be the most vulnerable the Citadel is. Only going off what I would do,..."

"Right," agrees the pink Valkyrie. She declares suddenly towards the radios, "To Central, request increase of interior scanning and patrol."

"To Central, request increase of interior scanning and patrol, aye!" confirms the dattakorien woman operating the right-most radio. After a few moments, she declares, "Commander, from Central, pulses occurring at irregular intervals and high value areas are under physical lockdown. All Royal Family accounted for; the Princes and Princesses are secure." The same dattakorien suddenly twitches, and she listens intently.

"Commander, from Central, Mechanic One has returned."

"Already?" asks Sundenelle with surprise. "They only left a little while ago."

"It was an extraction mission. If he doesn't have to, Daniel doesn't like to linger in enemy territory. Hopefully, all went well."

Ecklevon chuckles while Sundenelle sighs a little dramatically. She isn't strong enough to be part of the backup team, and she's too important with the Fievegal-Empire alliance still in limbo. The gatonine simply says, "Shall we, your Majesty?"

"Yes. Any messages or…" Sundenelle says it out of reflex only because she occasionally did the same when she was a forgotten princess hidden in plain sight. She would usually offer out of courtesy, since she had the easiest direct line to the Emperor because he very obviously spoiled her. But, with the radios, which are far more efficient than telepathy, which can mostly only be used by light-magic mages, it would take longer for Sundenelle to deliver any message one way than for Roeta to get an answer in reply and have a full conversation as if in person.

"Nevermind," replies the slightly embarrassed Empress.

"Thank you, but actually, a personal message… I will hold my post, but please ask the Emperor to… hopefully… if possible… uh, return my Mukori."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Sundenelle has heard it plenty, and the term even shows up on letters from Ryuogriar referring pretty obviously to Daniel. It's some kind of term of endearment, as far as she can tell, though she's not sure how Daniel would 'have' Roeta's Mukori, which should be Sir Magnir. Either way, it's a simple message to pass along. "Return Dame Roeta's Mukori. Understood. Sir Ecklevon, don't let me forget."

"Of course, your Majesty."

Sundenelle makes her way back down to the ground, which thankfully is a coiling flight of stairs rather than a vertical ladder. Her combat uniform, granted by Xyreko, is loose, but efficient, making it much easier to move than a bulky dress.

Still, it is quite a few stairs, and Sundenelle doesn't usually have to climb up and down stairs or hills very often.

***

"Mukori, what… or rather, who is this?" asks Ryuogriar, all but ignoring that she asked the question as she walks right up to Daniel, scooping the infant out of his arms. Daniel wants to object, but she moves so intently and without warning that he can't actually stop the First Dragon Empress as everyone gathers. The small puppy-like being squirms a little and whimpers as Doephluev tries to explain on Daniel's behalf.

"Ryuogriar, it's attached to Daniel, so…"

Ryuogriar doesn't listen, instantly cradling Star properly against her chest, humming gently and cooing as the little being simply settles into her arms, upsetting Doephluev a little. Instead, the dragon simply repeats, "Mukori?"

"Oh… Uh, according to Ochibenara, here, his name is Falkorga'kohn. And, uh… I'll explain a little better some other time. It's… not easy to talk about."

Ryuogriar nods without question. Since the dragon eggs are being kept isolated in Gold's secure vault, she has the feldrok egg discovered where the Pol'vappor was discovered in the harness she usually uses for her own eggs.

"Falkorga'kohn?" repeats Reignleif.

Neith is the one to explain, "It's a feldrok name, from the sounds of it, so it matches… what the child is."

"He's extremely dangerous, though," replies Daniel as the grey dragon sets Amalaskae down on one of the stretchers Daniel requested ahead of their arrival. Ryukana approaches, studying her junior while Daniel continues, "When we arrived, it was producing strange mana, and its body was almost completely solid."

Reignleif and Geirahoel have crowded around Ryuogriar to study the infant, who is smaller than the apparent non-living embryo within the egg. "He seems fine now," murmurs Reignleif, gently touching the whelp's belly, which causes him to squirm his underdeveloped arms, legs, and tail, and his ears shift.

"It was more intense than Kernuules," states Doephluev. "It's probable that his body was solidifying into the strange mana material."

"Speaking of, what should we call that material?" asks Senn. "If we're going to keep identifying it, it may be practical to give it a more distinct name."

Everyone looks at Daniel, and he asks, "Wha-...? Why me?"

"You're pretty good at naming things," declares Treia.

Wenlianna asks curiously, "Is there nothing like it on the…" She quickly flips through her notes, finishing her question, "Periodic table of elements?"

Daniel scoffs. "No. We didn't have magic, and if it compares to anything, it'd be something like solid neutronium, which is supposed to be impossible. Given how magically radioactive it is, we should just call it 'sorceranium' or 'magicesium'."

"Sold!" shouts Hekate. "Sorceranium it is!"

"What!? No! I was jo-..."

"An Emperor's words are law," retorts Hekate proudly, puffing her chest up. She looks at Senn, asking, "Will sorceranium work, Lady Senn?"

The elven sage nods agreeably. "Yes. So, if the child really is a feldrok, which I agree with Neith, Falkorga'kohn matches their naming conventions for a boy's name; we should operate under the assumption that he was reaching the maximum mana threshold his body could withstand before becoming solid sorceranium. If we operate on this assumption, the egg's embryo likely was in the early stages of gathering mana in the same manner."

"Once they start converting that mana into sorceranium, it becomes a source of strange mana, which is over-charged beyond normal refined mana processed through living bodies," ponders Wenlianna aloud.

"Wait! Is this going to happen to me, then!?" asks Hekate urgently. She's still visibly glowing, and she runs to Daniel. "Daniel…!"

"Calm down, Sweetpea. What they just said explains the pain Fal… Uh, let's call him Fal for short. But, it explains a lot."

"This sweet child was in pain?" asks Ryuogriar, shocked as she holds the infant lovingly. She was similarly affectionate with the goblin children as well, though the goblins age out of being cradled extremely quickly.

Hekate nods. "From the sound of it, yes. It was painful to all of us, too."

"I can confirm that," offers Gold, lounging in one of the nearby cushioned seats, finally relaxing away her exhaustion.

Senn adds for Hekate's benefit, "To my knowledge, feldroks typically don't absorb raw mana continuously, so there must be some mechanism that prevents it in a fully developed feldrok, or at least, developed enough beyond the egg. And, you should be able to simply offload excess mana by using spells or depositing it to the Citadel."

"Ah! Right!" She starts to jog towards the secure room, where the access panel for the Citadel is located. She halts, whirling to point at the main group. "Don't discuss important stuff without me!"

"You'll just hear it through the walls, won't you?" asks Gold playfully as she holds her hands up by her own horns to emulate Hekate's big ears. The fox-eared girl's big triangular ears stand up as this embarrasses her, and then they flatten down. "Sh-Shut up, Gold! You should come with me!"

"Hah! Why the hell would I…?"

"Because I did hear what you said, Mu-..."

Gold all but launches herself at Hekate, clearing the distance in one impressive, big leap. She scoops the surprised feldrok girl up under her arm, saying urgently, "Don't worry about us! We won't be long!"

"Hey! Put me down!" whines Hekate. She kicks and flails in utility as Gold jogs out.

"What was that about?" asks Gwenesphia quietly.

"Given that reaction, you'd think they have a thing…" remarks Kera'tai. She then asks, "More importantly, do we need to worry about the sorceranium in Fal?"

"I don't think so," replies Daniel. "He calmed and turned back into soft tissue when I, uh, sang to him and fed him."

"Sang?" asks Reignleif with instant curiosity.

"Fed?" asks Senn.

Daniel nods. "He's a baby. It was the only two things I could think of to calm him down. Singing caused him to stop crying, and milk seems to have satisfied him. I'm guessing, in addition to other things, starvation is a factor to what was happening to him."

The three dragon Empresses glance at each other. Ryuogriar's arms close a little more firmly and possessively around Fal, while Reignleif immediately says, "Ryuo, your arms are looking a little tired. Allow me."

"I'm quite fine, Reina. After all, we don't know how hungry Fal will be when he wakes up."

Geirahoel also gently grips Ryuogriar's left arm, trying to steer the baby towards herself to be stolen away. "Sisters, I need to train my body more than you, so…"

"Oh? Is Miss Favorite going to rub it in our faces, 'Sweet' Geira?" growls Ryuogriar a little enviously.

Everyone watches on edge for a moment, except for one. Treia walks right up to the trio and takes Fal from Ryuogriar's hands while she's distracted with the other two dragon Empresses. They start to move to stop her, but she spins, blocking them with her body. "If you're going to fight, do so while you're not holding a superweapon baby."

Everyone watches the brazen gatonine as she walks back to Daniel, standing beside him as she cradles Fal, who has drifted in and out of sleep, but doesn't seem as resistant to changing hands.

"I'll stay close to try to put him back to sleep," remarks Daniel. "And, I'll teach everyone the songs I know, since they seemed to work. Mukoris, do try not to fight over Fal. If he does start crying and projecting mana, I'm the only one who can safely approach him."

They all shrink a little, and he offers gently, "Thank you, though. I'll be relying heavily on you all for help."

This restores soft smiles, and Ryuogriar clears her throat. "Yes, well, it will do well for us to take turns. We will all need practice."

"Agreed," replies Reignleif.

Geirahoel adds bashfully, "I'm probably the least responsible, so it's probably best that I have help. I wouldn't trust anyone else."

The three shake hands in truce, and Doephluev pouts, "He wouldn't let me hold him…"

"I wonder why?" retorts Ryuogriar a little meanly, and the archoneldwyn scowls at the dragon Empress.

Daniel does his best to reassure her, though. "I'm sure he was still agitated at the time. He's exhausted right now, which is why he hasn't been fussing with all of the chaos going on."

"Did something else happen?" asks Ryuogriar seriously, now suddenly more serious and grave-sounding.

The mechanic clears his throat. "Neith, why don't you catch everyone up. I need to talk to Ryukana."

"My Liege?" asks Neith nervously, and Ryuogriar growls, "Mukori…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Daniel flees, though he's only a few yards away.

Geirahoel storms over to Neith and faces him from extremely close. "Onii-chan?"

The grey dragon clears his throat and gives in, beginning his explanation.

"How is she?" asks Daniel as he approaches Ryukana and Amalaskae. The former is petting the latter's dual-tone hair, studying the youthful-looking goddess.

"It's strange. I'm not sure why she's not waking up."

"She was in the grasp of an extradimensional creature, I think," states Daniel quietly, trying not to draw too much attention from anyone else while they listen to Neith explain the mission and the results. Yaulwembor followed Daniel, but she won't understand the conversation, and she'll notice if the Lurker 'appears' over him. "I believe it's related to my curse."

Ryukana studies him for a moment, nodding once she sees whatever it is she is looking for. "Curses shouldn't be able to hold us indefinitely, but I am sensing a similar energy… It's only lingering though. If anything, it's more like her mana was forcibly drained beyond a safe level, but she'll recover."

"If I'm allowed to know, how 'mana-like' is the energy that you guys use? I assume if my shadow wanted it, it must be tangible to denizens of this world. And, I just so happen to have a Hekate."

"Hey!" barks Hekate. "I resemble that remark!"

"Indeed you do," retorts Daniel, knowing she would come running if she overheard that part. Gold follows lifelessly, like Hekate drained the dragon's magic, rather than her own.

Ryukana answers as the feldrok girl jogs up, "It won't hurt her to transfer mana to her. It may recover her consciousness, at least." She looks to Hekate, who perks her ears and tail up.

"Leave it to me! I only gave the Citadel enough to stop glowing and turning into sorceranium!" Hekate steps up, holding her hands over Amalaskae's unconscious form. "Wait… What do I do?" Hekate's ears sheepishly droop down to the sides, and she blushes while Gold steps up beside Daniel.

Ryukana chuckles, and she explains while the mechanic asks Gold, "Everything alright, Gold?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Listen, Harbinger, this mission has given me more stress than I care about, so if it's alright, I'd like to have a whole bottle of rum and sleep for something like a whole day."

Daniel nods with a smile, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You've been a huge help all this time, Gold. I truly would have been too late without you."

She smirks, scratching her cheek a little awkwardly in spite of her normal arrogant smile. "Well, I'd say we're alright friends, now, yeah?"

Daniel laughs softly. "Yeah. Just a wee bit better than acquaintances." She gives him an awkward look, but decides that he's teasing her. He adds gently, "Go get some rest. And, Xyreko can vouch for you. Just don't overdo the rum."

"Yeah, yea-" starts the blonde dragon, but she's cut off when Ryuogriar shouts, "Mukori! Mukori, return to us at once and explain yourself."

Daniel whispers urgently, "Run!"

"You too Gold!" snaps Geirahoel just as the second eldest dragon matron tries to sneak away. Gold sighs dramatically, and Daniel can't help but laugh. It's obvious that Neith just got to the parts about either Fal, the Lurker, or the void artillery.

His legs nearly buckle when heavy weight squashes large, pillowy breasts against his back, and strong arms loop over his shoulders. Gold just dumped all of her body weight onto Daniel's back, hanging from his shoulders. The suddenly-lazy dragon groans, "Ughhh… Harbinger, just drag me."

"Stop goofing around!" snaps Geirahoel.

The exhausted battle-junkie retorts from Daniel's shoulder, "Hey! I had to carry your Mukori around, the least he can do is return the favor!"

Daniel rolls his eyes, retorting, "A little warning next time, at least."

"Sure thing. Let's hurry so they don't scold us too badly."

Rather than wrapping her legs around his waist, though, she seems to be content with being dragged like a long cape, her feet and tail still on the ground.

This time, it's Daniel's turn to let out an exasperated breath, and he crouches briefly to scoop her thighs up and carry her piggyback. She is mildly startled, perking up briefly but not squirming too much as Daniel carries her to the main group. Hekate focuses with Ryukana to try to recover Amalaskae while Daniel and Gold face their scolding first.

***

A few moments earlier, in the secure room containing the control panel of the Citadel where Daniel and Hekate became the masters of the ancient, near-living fortress, a golden dragon rushes in and closes the door, plopping her black-haired liege lord down in front of her.

"Listen, Hekate, your Greatness, mightiest and most beautiful woman in the Fievegal…"

Hekate's eyes narrow, and her ears fold back in suspicion with every word the normally crass and mischievous dragon says. The most suspicious part is that every word sounds as sincere as it does nervous.

The dragon clears her throat, kneeling before the feldrok girl. "Hekate, have I told you how wise and admirable you are?"

"I'm telling him."

The dragon springs to her feet, desperately exclaiming, "There's nothing to tell!" In spite of this, her cheeks fill with color.

"Mm-hmm…" retorts Hekate.

"B-B-Besides, a lot was going on, and obviously, Daniel was wearing his armor, so you probably heard…"

"Mukori," states Hekate bluntly, halting the dragon.

"... Nooo…" objects the much more mature woman, physically speaking, after a long pause and with all of the confidence and commitment baby rabbit. Considering the contrast, it's a very stark difference to her usual demeanor.

"I never thought you of all people would become my rival," states Hekate, crossing her arms.

"I… It was… Listen, Hekate, you can't tell him what you think you heard, because…"

"It's true?" asks Hekate dryly.

"Graaahh! Please stop! I don't have to take this from a tiny little child like you! I have individual scales older than you!" She starts to storm towards the door, stating, "No one will believe you over me, so do what you want!"

Just as she's reaching for the door, Hekate says seriously, "I won't tell anyone." This halts the blonde dragon, all but completely confirming that Hekate's ears didn't betray her.

"Daniel will figure it out if you keep acting like this anyways, so I won't have to."

Gold scowls at her, and the feldrok teen adds, "I love him, too. It's not like I don't understand."

"I never said I love him," snarls Gold as she storms back towards the ravenette. Hekate fearlessly holds her ground, since Gold is just reacting emotionally, which honestly, reflects Hekate in a lot of ways, in spite of their massive age difference.

"Mukori," states Hekate bluntly again, and Gold dramatically acts like she's been shot in the heart, dropping to her hands and knees.

"I-I-It was heat of the moment… I… I've never… had a Mukori, and… I don't know, I just wanted to say it."

"Mm-hmm," hums Hekate dryly. She still wants Daniel all to herself, and she doesn't like the fact that her competition continues to increase. And, like Ryuogriar, Gold has considerable assets in her humanoid form.

"What do you want?" asks Gold wearily.

"In exchange for my silence?" asks Hekate with a smirk.

"Y-... Yes."

"Hmm… Well, if you insist… I don't know much about spending money, so I don't have much. And, I have a few things I want you to buy."

"Daniel will literally buy or make…" Gold trails off as her confusion is replaced by realization. Hekate's expression suggests that Gold's thought isn't far off.

"And… it has to be me?"

"You're the only one that could get away with it and won't take Daniel's side immediately."

"But…"

"He won't be that angry. If anything, he'll scold me and lecture you, to which you'll say I blackmailed you, which is true, and I'll get scolded more. But, I have to try!" Hekate shakes her fist in the air, and Gold slumps down onto the floor of the room, groaning in defeat.

"Can't you just ask me to teach you magic only I know or something?"

Hekate crosses her arms. "You can tell him that you love him, or you can cooperate."

Gold sighs, laying flat on the floor. "Fine. But, if it crosses any serious lines, like murdering someone, the deal's off."

Hekate grins. "Don't worry. I just want some special clothing."

"I know…" whines Gold. She knows about Hekate's failed scheme disguising herself as Doephluev. She's not sure if Daniel can be fooled, or if Hekate is just pushing his buttons.

The feldrok girl answers this when she says softly, "It's hard to tell, but if Fal really is a boy… I…" Hekate fidgets with her hands and swallows hard, causing Gold to cock her head to look up at her.

The dragon sighs and climbs to her feet. She then shifts to slip her tail behind Hekate, curling it gently over the large, poofy black tail of the feldrok Empress. Dragons curling their tails together like this is a sort of relaxed, gentle intimacy between friends. Hekate only knows this because the closest female dragons in the Dragon's Keep under the Red Lord would rest in the position with their tails overlapping, gossiping and mocking Hekate, if the feldrok girl was present.

Gold never bothered mocking or harassing Hekate, and she usually left if Hekate was being abused by Morthybargaron and any of his close allies, all of whom are dead or imprisoned now on Hekate's word when Daniel was selecting dragons to revive and/or free.

Gold says sincerely, "The Harbinger is physically incapable of forcing you to do anything you don't want to do."

Hekate starts to protest, but the dragon continues, "I don't just mean in power level. What I mean is, I don't think there's a single part of him that could say anything as cruel to you or any of us as 'go and breed with your own kind to restore your population'. There are complications for dragons being so few in number, but we have good natural senses for avoiding… ahem, unfortunate pairings. If you and Fal remain the last two feldroks on Zenkon, the feldroks remain doomed, I'm sorry to say. Not unless you do like Doephluev and just expect your racial bloodline to dilute way down. But, she doesn't care about the archoneldwyn, it seems. There's also a non-zero chance that you and Fal are related, for all we know. So,..." Gold ruffles Hekate's hair a little roughly, but she adds with a cheeky smile, "Do what your heart tells you to do. If you think you can make Daniel break his rule, then good luck to you. If he won't, and you want to hold out for him, I'll cheer you on." She then punches a fist to her other palm. "And, if the Harbinger does try to force you to make more pure-blooded feldroks, then I'll force him to change his mind."

Hekate giggles. She then turns feisty, adding, "Don't think that because you're being nice to me, I'll approve of you! Daniel already has enough mistresses!"

The dragon scoffs, rolling her eyes. "As if we haven't heard those words before…"

"Gah-!" exclaims Hekate, and she folds her ears back. "Mukori."

"Stoooop!" whines the dragon. "I'll never say it again… maybe…" She tries to whisper the last part, but of course, she whispered the treacherous word in question to begin with, and Hekate still apparently heard it with ease.

Gold braces herself for her fate while Hekate turns over the excess mana she absorbed during the mission; that being the original reason she came to this room.

Gold doesn't know what she feels for certain, but she would be lying if she said that she has any dislike or resentment for the strange otherworlder human.

***