By the time the sun began to set on the royal capital the news of what happened in the funeral spread like wild fire, and by tomorrow the whole empire would know, followed by the world a week or two later. This was obviously due to Isaac greatly aiding in spreading the information under my orders.

    But to be honest, I feel that it was unnecessary since the people who were at the funeral did more than enough on their own, and within an hour hundreds of gifts were sent from all over the capital congratulating me and my family.

    But it wasn''t the time for that now. Currently I was headed to the throne room followed by Darius, Horus, Abraham, Isaac and Nizam, and they were giving me all sorts of reports. When they finished I said "Darius I want you to immediately call for the war council."

    Darius shocked by this, says "But your majesty, by law and tradition the funeral of the emperor must be continued for two weeks, and war is forbidden until the funeral is over!"

    "Law and tradition also demand that we protect our people, defend the empire and avenge our fallen! So I''m sure we can make an exception this time, don''t you think so Grand Vizier." I emotionlessly replied.

    Darius opened his eyes wide at this, but then a content smile appeared on his face as he said "Of course my emperor, it shall be done immediately."

    I nod to this and he departed to see his task complete. Without stopping my movements I continue "Isaac I want you to take all my belongings and move them to my mother''s palace for the time being."

    Isaac confused by this asks "Are you not staying at the emperor''s palace, my liege?"

    "Not at the moment, I will move to the emperor''s palace when my mother''s health improves." I reply with a concerned voice.

    Isaac understanding says "Very well, your majesty. But I will still have the emperor''s palace ready at any moment for you, sire."

    I nod to this accepting his decision. But then I remember something that freezes me in my tracks, as I turn around and tell him "But make sure that you remove all of my father''s lecherous toys first."

    Isaac stifles a laugh and says "Of course, sir."

    It was at this moment that I remembered that Nizam was still following me, and no matter how mature Nizam was for his age, what we were about to talk about was not something that a twelve year old boy should listen to.

    "Nizam I have a job for you as well." I say in the same tone of voice I used to issue orders to the others, but I could not help my eyes growing a bit softer.

    "Yes brother!" Although Nizam tried to keep his earlier composure, but this time he failed completely, and everyone only saw a cute child who wanted to help his brother, while trying to imitate the adults.

    "I want you to go to our mother and tell her of all that has happened today." I said while showing a small smile on my face.

    Nizam was obviously disappointed with the task I gave him, but none-the-less he still left to do it.

    The northern army that was supposed to defend against the Luminous army was nearly destroyed, and we have no armies close enough to stop them, and if they are left unchecked they could easily attack and capture the largest city in the north; Abaddin!" Hamilcar said with a powerful and loud voice so that all could hear.

    When he reached this point everyone was astonished. After all if Abaddin fell that would leave the capital open to attack! Not to mention that Abaddin itself was home to more than three million people.

    Even though they were shocked everyone here was a man of great talent and wisdom, so they calmed down to allow Hamilcar to continue "As I was saying, this is the overall situation.

    As for why we lost so miserably, it''s because our Chimera Knights were no match for their Gryphon Knights, and were absolutely decimated."

    This once again shocked everyone. Because historically speaking the Chimera Knights have always either defeated or stalemated the Gryphon Knights, but they never lost to them.

    At this point Isaac said "I''m afraid I don''t understand Grand Marshal. Was the information the Shade Corps provided the army of the number of Gryphon Knights wrong for this to happen?"

    Hamilcar did not answer this time, instead he looked at General Sodarus. Seeing that all eyes were on him now, the general stood up and loudly proclaimed "The reason the Chimera Knights failed was not because of the Shade Corps! The Chimera Knights were not outnumbered.

    It was because the Luminous Empire has invented a new type of armor for the gryphons and their riders that is resistant to a chimeras fire and poison!"

    The hall erupted in a flurry of noise and yelling trying to understand how they could have invented such a thing without us knowing about it from our spies. But they were silenced by Abraham when he released his terrifying aura. The only ones not affected were Hamilcar, Sodarus, Hekan and Adam.

    When they calmed down I asked "Grand Marshal, who was leading the Gryphon Knights?"

    "It was the brother of emperor Octavian, Grand Duke Marcus, sire." Hamilcar replied calmly.

    The hall stayed silent this time as they waited for me to speak.

    I take a few seconds to think before saying "So we have no army in the north to fight them with, Abbadin is their next target, we can''t defeat their Gryphon Knights and they are being lead by the Luminous Empire''s most talented aerial commander."

    ''In my past life we avoided losing Abbadin by signing a humiliating peace agreement. But not this time! They must be insane if they think I will be giving up an inch of land this time around. But how?'' I think.

    As I was thinking over the situation while petting Bellerophon, who jumped on my lap at some point, an amused smile appeared on my face.

    ''This is so complicated. HAHAHA! This is so much fun! I haven''t had a problem this complicated in eons!

    But it doesn''t matter how hard it is, I''ll figure it out and once I do, I will flood this world with the blood of the Luminous Empire!'' I think as a predatory look settles in my eyes.