If there was one negative to a sacred battle like the one that was currently taking place between the two young dragons, it was that a battle like this could go on for days before reaching a conclusion.
As seen, both geniuses needed to take time to release their most powerful concepts. Only when someone lost one of these collisions would the battle end, but since it was a place where honor was enforced, each genius was given the time they needed to create a concept that could match the other person.
If they couldn't create anything meaningful, then they could try to combine smaller concepts into a sort of amalgamation that could defend them, but how long would that last?
Eventually, the person who fell short would lose.
But that was just eventually.
At the moment, Faldren and Valerie's battle had only just begun. They decided to start with their strongest concepts, so even when several hours passed, they were still trying to see whose overall belief was stronger.
It would be many hours more before they switched to any other concept, so while they fought, it was better to focus on the movements of others.
Noticing Valerie missing and feeling the explosive force on the horizon, the people she'd brought from the Wood Dragon Clan immediately rushed to her aid, but, obviously, they never arrived.
They were immediately interrupted by the violent ringing of their communicators, through which August's voice greeted them.
"Return to base. Let Valerie fight."
The wood dragons immediately took offense to his words.
"But, sir!"
They still called him respectively, since Valerie forced it into their skulls that he was someone to be treated as they'd treat her.
"Don't say anything. If you go over there, you will only obstruct her. Senior Revell sent her here so she could grow, didn't he? Do you want to be the reason why she gets stunted at a critical moment?"
It was a valid point that nobody could counter. No matter what was happening, Valerie wouldn't die. Any battle here truly was a great learning experience.
They saw how different the current Valerie was when compared to the irresponsible young miss they once knew. To Valerie, they wouldn't leave her side because they couldn't adapt to the outside world.
In reality, they did so to make sure she stayed out of trouble. The Valerie they knew would cause chaos with her lack of care for anything other than amusement, after all.
She clearly showed them time and time again that their worries were unfounded. There wasn't anymore a reason for them to be so overprotective.
They sighed, but in the end, they did return as ordered.
They were stationed in the border city directly opposite to the one they'd captured. Raul and Yuna joined them as well.
It was not August's order, but Iridia's.
She had taken the lesson August gave her to heart, and within the few hours that had passed since Gianna was defeated, she was able to connect to the army he brought.
There was no way for her to gain complete loyalty from them, but they respected her ability to lower her head and see them eye-to-eye. With Juno and the rest being the first to say they'd follow her orders, the rest soon acquiesced as well.
And Iridia didn't plan to lead them the way Raphael did his mercenaries.
She first split them into groups.
Yuna and Raul were sent to occupy the western border city with the wood dragons as they would later become an advance force.
Juno and Mikaela were similarly delegated to Melania, who had also returned to their side after destroying the other side's city.
Everyone was given that order. Raphael was the only one who refused to follow it and instead chose to occupy the city he'd conquered.
Nevertheless, with those who usually controlled them delegated to other roles, the rest of the army was forced to rely on the structure that Iridia gave them.
She chose a few exemplary warriors to lead the rest before splitting them into the two nearby inner cities.
The third was left empty, part of a plan that had yet to come to fruition.
August and Cera mirrored Wilhelm and Eris as they stood in the palace overlooking the projection map, but the atmosphere around them was completely different.
"That idiot…he probably has no idea, does he?" Cera said, frowning slightly.
"I tried to tell him," August responded with a shrug, "but he doesn't want to listen."
August specifically included in his message that the ease they felt while taking the border cities was probably a trap, but Raphael didn't care.
"Don't worry about me and my people. Do your own thing and stop trying to interfere…"
"...is basically what he said. I guess it takes more than just merit and skill to prove myself to him," August continued.
"It's just Raphael. He's too much of a traditionalist and even the rest of his clansmen are always talking about it. Still, we can't leave him alone, can we?" Cera responded.
August shook his head.
"Based on your brother's information, there isn't anything we can do but watch. Hopefully, he survives, but if he doesn't, then that's completely on him."
August didn't want to give up on Raphael. If this was any other situation, he would've done everything possible to help Raphael despite his insistence on independence.
But, just like with Valerie, this was an opportunity for Raphael to learn and grow.
Whether he lost here or found a way out, he'd understand the consequences of his brashness.
In this place, that was the most important thing.
"After all, I never had Raphael in mind when I planned our victory from the start."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. More importantly, since everyone's in place, we just have to wait until they move, right? With all the chaos Valerie is causing, they'll realize that Gianna is gone pretty soon. Tell Melania and Iridia to get ready."
It was better that Cera didn't know what he said. She nodded and went off to prepare the things he asked for. Meanwhile, August looked at the projection map again.
'Wilhelm Liqua…'
That man was the one leading the other side, wasn't he?
August had heard so, so much about the Liqua Clan. No, at this point in Qinglong's memories, August had seen exactly the kinds of atrocities they'd committed against dragonkind.
'Even if everyone else can be saved…'
Even if August was willing to spare the other Holy Clans and give them a chance for redemption…
'...not them.'
When August first received Qinglong's memories, he was only acting out of filial piety.
Now that he had seen more, he had truly taken his ancestor's grudge as his own.
By his standards as well, the Liqua Clan needed to be eliminated for good.
Otherwise, dragons would never be able to thrive.
It wouldn't be more than a day before August's thoughts were validated again.
Because Wilhelm Liqua was about to show the world exactly what kind of person he was.
And the ones who felt the weight of that declaration would not be his people, nor would it be Raphael and those he was aiming to eliminate.
It was the common people.
They had forgotten through the heir wars just why they were so far below the Holy Clans in status and power.
In Wilhelm's opinion, it was about time for them to remember.
Just how powerless they were, that is.
If there was one negative to a sacred battle like the one that was currently taking place between the two young dragons, it was that a battle like this could go on for days before reaching a conclusion.
As seen, both geniuses needed to take time to release their most powerful concepts. Only when someone lost one of these collisions would the battle end, but since it was a place where honor was enforced, each genius was given the time they needed to create a concept that could match the other person.
If they couldn't create anything meaningful, then they could try to combine smaller concepts into a sort of amalgamation that could defend them, but how long would that last?
Eventually, the person who fell short would lose.
But that was just eventually.
At the moment, Faldren and Valerie's battle had only just begun. They decided to start with their strongest concepts, so even when several hours passed, they were still trying to see whose overall belief was stronger.
It would be many hours more before they switched to any other concept, so while they fought, it was better to focus on the movements of others.
Noticing Valerie missing and feeling the explosive force on the horizon, the people she'd brought from the Wood Dragon Clan immediately rushed to her aid, but, obviously, they never arrived.
They were immediately interrupted by the violent ringing of their communicators, through which August's voice greeted them.
"Return to base. Let Valerie fight."
The wood dragons immediately took offense to his words.
"But, sir!"
They still called him respectively, since Valerie forced it into their skulls that he was someone to be treated as they'd treat her.
"Don't say anything. If you go over there, you will only obstruct her. Senior Revell sent her here so she could grow, didn't he? Do you want to be the reason why she gets stunted at a critical moment?"
It was a valid point that nobody could counter. No matter what was happening, Valerie wouldn't die. Any battle here truly was a great learning experience.
They saw how different the current Valerie was when compared to the irresponsible young miss they once knew. To Valerie, they wouldn't leave her side because they couldn't adapt to the outside world.
In reality, they did so to make sure she stayed out of trouble. The Valerie they knew would cause chaos with her lack of care for anything other than amusement, after all.
She clearly showed them time and time again that their worries were unfounded. There wasn't anymore a reason for them to be so overprotective.
They sighed, but in the end, they did return as ordered.
They were stationed in the border city directly opposite to the one they'd captured. Raul and Yuna joined them as well.
It was not August's order, but Iridia's.
She had taken the lesson August gave her to heart, and within the few hours that had passed since Gianna was defeated, she was able to connect to the army he brought.
There was no way for her to gain complete loyalty from them, but they respected her ability to lower her head and see them eye-to-eye. With Juno and the rest being the first to say they'd follow her orders, the rest soon acquiesced as well.
And Iridia didn't plan to lead them the way Raphael did his mercenaries.
She first split them into groups.
Yuna and Raul were sent to occupy the western border city with the wood dragons as they would later become an advance force.
Juno and Mikaela were similarly delegated to Melania, who had also returned to their side after destroying the other side's city.
Everyone was given that order. Raphael was the only one who refused to follow it and instead chose to occupy the city he'd conquered.
Nevertheless, with those who usually controlled them delegated to other roles, the rest of the army was forced to rely on the structure that Iridia gave them.
She chose a few exemplary warriors to lead the rest before splitting them into the two nearby inner cities.
The third was left empty, part of a plan that had yet to come to fruition.
August and Cera mirrored Wilhelm and Eris as they stood in the palace overlooking the projection map, but the atmosphere around them was completely different.
"That idiot…he probably has no idea, does he?" Cera said, frowning slightly.
"I tried to tell him," August responded with a shrug, "but he doesn't want to listen."
August specifically included in his message that the ease they felt while taking the border cities was probably a trap, but Raphael didn't care.
"Don't worry about me and my people. Do your own thing and stop trying to interfere…"
"...is basically what he said. I guess it takes more than just merit and skill to prove myself to him," August continued.
"It's just Raphael. He's too much of a traditionalist and even the rest of his clansmen are always talking about it. Still, we can't leave him alone, can we?" Cera responded.
August shook his head.
"Based on your brother's information, there isn't anything we can do but watch. Hopefully, he survives, but if he doesn't, then that's completely on him."
August didn't want to give up on Raphael. If this was any other situation, he would've done everything possible to help Raphael despite his insistence on independence.
But, just like with Valerie, this was an opportunity for Raphael to learn and grow.
Whether he lost here or found a way out, he'd understand the consequences of his brashness.
In this place, that was the most important thing.
"After all, I never had Raphael in mind when I planned our victory from the start."
"What was that?"
"Nothing. More importantly, since everyone's in place, we just have to wait until they move, right? With all the chaos Valerie is causing, they'll realize that Gianna is gone pretty soon. Tell Melania and Iridia to get ready."
It was better that Cera didn't know what he said. She nodded and went off to prepare the things he asked for. Meanwhile, August looked at the projection map again.
'Wilhelm Liqua…'
That man was the one leading the other side, wasn't he?
August had heard so, so much about the Liqua Clan. No, at this point in Qinglong's memories, August had seen exactly the kinds of atrocities they'd committed against dragonkind.
'Even if everyone else can be saved…'
Even if August was willing to spare the other Holy Clans and give them a chance for redemption…
'...not them.'
When August first received Qinglong's memories, he was only acting out of filial piety.
Now that he had seen more, he had truly taken his ancestor's grudge as his own.
By his standards as well, the Liqua Clan needed to be eliminated for good.
Otherwise, dragons would never be able to thrive.
It wouldn't be more than a day before August's thoughts were validated again.
Because Wilhelm Liqua was about to show the world exactly what kind of person he was.
And the ones who felt the weight of that declaration would not be his people, nor would it be Raphael and those he was aiming to eliminate.
It was the common people.
They had forgotten through the heir wars just why they were so far below the Holy Clans in status and power.
In Wilhelm's opinion, it was about time for them to remember.
Just how powerless they were, that is.
