PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 12: Battleship Arteria

• Shortly after the battle at Odium, Gerand Darmoor called a meeting with his Apostles, in which Ypsilon reported that after extracting the memories of a captured Alliance soldier, he had learned that Empress Cygnus was a Transcendent-in-reserve, and that Shinsoo was an Ancient God. In order to take both their powers, Darmoor dispatched Reina aboard the battleship Arteria in order to invade Maple World. In order to take that power, Darmoor gave Reina a draining crystal, which already contained the power of a god.

• Meanwhile, Tai Yu sent the Glory Guard and Gaon back to Maple World, where they found the High Flora army attacking Victoria Island. While Brighton left to check on Edelstein, Oz and the others traveled to Ereve, where they learned from Neinheart that the Cygnus Knights were spread thin defending Maple World from the High Flora.

• Just as Neinheart dispatched the Adversary to reinforce Eckhart at the border between worlds, Arteria arrived and unleashed a powerful laser cannon that destroyed the newly-installed barrier around Ereve, allowing the High Flora to invade. In order to stop them, the Adversary and Gaon worked together with Oz and Irena to reactivate the barrier, though they soon realized that the attack had been a diversion to gather the Knights in one place, while the invasion of Maple World had been a diversion to scatter their forces from Ereve.

• With Reina’s adjutant, Lystor, leading the diversion, Reina froze the Alliance soldiers in order to clear a path towards Cygnus, whom she kidnapped and brought aboard Arteria. As the High Flora threatened to wipe out the Adversary and their allies, Shinsoo returned to Ereve, bringing Eckhart and his Knights as reinforcements. Shinsoo then used her power to freeze Arteria in place, so that the Knights could mount a rescue attempt.

• Aboard Arteria, Reina confronted Cygnus and noted that while she respected Cygnus’ selflessness and resolve, her efforts were ultimately futile in the face of true power, adding that whereas Cygnus’ leadership was enough in a world at peace, it was meaningless to those who came from a world that faced endless war. Reina then began using the draining crystal to extract Cygnus’ Transcendent powers.

• Meanwhile, in order to help the Adversary, Shinsoo bestowed a portion of her divine power to the Adversary, which was absorbed into the World Heart. The Adversary then led the rescue party aboard Arteria to rescue Cygnus, with Eckhart and Gaon holding the line against Lystor and his overwhelming numbers to buy the Adversary enough time to reach Cygnus.

• Through Shinsoo’s power in the World Heart, the Adversary was able to use Shinsoo’s connection to Cygnus in order to speak telepathically and discover her location, fighting past waves of strange frozen soldiers to reach Reina’s throne room. There, they discovered that Reina had finished extracting Cygnus’ powers.

• As the Adversary fought against her ice powers, Reina attempted to use the divine power inside the draining crystal to defeat them, though she was surprised when it had no effect. She realized that the Adversary had destroyed her frozen ‘prisoners’, leaving her unable to offload the backlash of the crystal onto them. Nevertheless, Reina continued fighting against the Adversary, who was protected by the World Heart unleashing Shinsoo’s power to create a shield around them.

• Eventually, however, Shinsoo was unable to keep Arteria frozen any longer, causing it to move again. Just then, however, the Resistance arrived to reinforce the besieged Cygnus Knights and pushed forward towards the Adversary’s position. Irritated, Reina authorized Lystor to detonate a Vision Bomb. Lystor began making preparations to detonate and allowed only High Flora officers to evacuate, leaving the mercenaries of other races to die aboard the ship.

• With the World Heart’s power failing, the Adversary was defeated by Reina, who prepared to finish them off. Just then, however, Cygnus rushed forward and took the blow in the Adversary’s place, mortally wounding her. The rescue party then arrived, shocked and furious to find Cygnus motionless on the floor.

• Outnumbered and exhausted, Reina realized that she had no choice but to use the draining crystal, though the backlash from using the power of the gods without her prisoners to offload it to caused her to grow severely weakened. With the Alliance frozen in place, Lystor rushed in and evacuated Reina, just as poison gas from the Vision Bomb began flooding the ship.

• Though the Adversary wished to pursue Reina, Claudine and the others stopped them from going, noting that they were seriously injured. Just then, the group was shocked to see that Cygnus was barely moving. Realizing that she was alive, the Alliance escaped Arteria and brought Cygnus back to Ereve.

• In the aftermath of the battle, the Adversary met with Neinheart, who explained that with the poison gas contained, he had authorized an investigation of Arteria in order to learn more about the High Flora from data aboard the ship, as well as the mercenaries who had been left behind. He revealed that through speaking with the mercenaries, the Alliance had learned that Reina was a God of the High Flora, having recently earned the position as lord of the snowy mountains - one of the six High Flora territories - by defeating the former lord in a Syaman duel.

• The Adversary then traveled to Shinsoo’s refuge in Leafre, where a comatose Cygnus slumbered peacefully at Shinsoo’s side. Shinsoo revealed that it would take a great amount of time for Cygnus to reawaken, though she added that the power of higher beings - the Ancient Gods and Transcendents - would help expedite the process.

• In order to help the Adversary, Shinsoo surrendered the remainder of her power to the World Heart, explaining that she would fall into a slumber alongside Cygnus to keep her company until she awakened. After Shinsoo fell asleep, the Adversary vowed that they would do anything it took to save Cygnus, even if it meant that they would need to face Gerand Darmoor himself.

• As the Alliance investigated Arteria, it was discovered that the frozen ‘prisoners’ were knights who served the former lord, and that Reina was a blood relative of the lord. As magical talent was hereditary, Reina’s magic was on the same standing as the former lord, making her talent nearly equal to that of a God. After killing the lord, Reina ascended in caste from Priest to God, granting her the title of lord of the snowy mountains.

• However, those who were loyal to the former lord had turned against Reina, who had frozen them - along with many other enemies - as her prisoners, using them to offload the backlash of her draining crystal. Because of this, the frozen prisoners experienced immense pain whenever Reina used its power, and they also began losing many of their memories.

• Additional investigation allowed the Alliance to learn that Vision Bombs were illegal weapons that released an extremely painful poison, killing both enemies and allies alike. Neinheart’s intel revealed that the secret of Vision Bombs had been given to the High Flora by Mr. Hazard of the Shadowdealers. Though Hazard had been sent to the Shadowdealer High Council for his treachery, Neinheart believed that Hazard’s allies may have remained in other Shadowdealer branches, for which he resolved to look further into the matter.

• While interrogating the mercenaries, the Alliance discovered that the mercenaries were members of other races, whose nations had been taken over by the High Flora. Because of this, the mercenaries had been forcibly conscripted into the Flora army as footsoldiers, while the High Flora served as their officers - including the High Flora commoners who had no magical abilities. Because of this, the mercenaries had no choice but to serve the High Flora to their dying breath, as any form of disobedience would result in their loved ones being harmed.

• Meanwhile, as Maple World recovered from the invasion, Neinheart noted that the Alliance needed to learn more about the enemy, as they had little knowledge about the High Flora, while the High Flora had ample amount of intelligence through Ypsilon, who was extracting the memories of captured Alliance soldiers. However, Neinheart also noted that with the invasion of Maple World - as well as the Empress’ resolve to weaken Ereve in order to protect the citizens of Maple World - it was likely that the fragmenting Alliance would likely be bolstered against a new common enemy.