Chapter 299: Refinement


    Early Evening - Mid Winter : As, Bahamut


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    *vwowowoom* The noise of countless ripples traveling through my aura filled the abyssal silence as I worked in the void, but the noise of my thoughts simply blotted it out. -How exactly should I mimic an Ancient Fenrir...-


    Currently, I was spending some time fixing the space rune leading to Siratha, but rather than spending my extra brain power theorizing about mana or physics like I usually would, I was busy trying to fill in the holes my secrecy left in Poniriá''s n. -Should I use light magic to actually make it look like I''m one of them.. or maybe I could just stay out of sight?-


    Our meeting ended just over a day ago andsted several hours, but by the end of it all, we hade up with a far more sound n than anything I had proposed.


    Originally, my n was to simply have the professors'' meeting moved to an isted part of As, where I would simply kill them under a veil and leave the grunts to inevitably disperse once their leaders were gone, but as time passed, it continued morphing.


    Once my meeting with Poniriá rolled around and we started talking, ideas started flowing more fluidly, and eventually, my nnded on opening our borders with Siratha, exposing the deeds of the Ancient Fenrir, and using the professors'' deaths to set an example, such as disying their dead bodies or something the like. I figured those without any direct connections to the Holy Kingdom would break off out of fear and opt to go to Siratha instead, where the stronger gods reside.


    But Poniriá had other ideas. To her, my ncked meat; itcked detail.


    And that was when that crazed woman''s true colors came out."Brr..." A chill passed down my back as I thought back to it. -But I can''t deny that, while her demeanor was.. concerning at times.. she really knew what she was doing...-


    Of everyone I had ever met or spoken with, she was by far the best at taking information and turning it into something else, and well.. after almost two hours of discussion, I spilled everything I could spare, including much of the information I normally kept quiet about, such as my connections to Siratha and ability to ''contact the Ancient Fenrir'', but in return, I received an invaluable ally and a proper n.


    For simplicity''s sake, the n shared the same general framework as the n I had proposed during the meeting and specifically shared the same first step. The expansion of draconic territory.


    But that was much easier said than done.


    The moment I returned home from the meeting, I met with Mother and Father to discuss how the diplomacy would work, and ording to them, it would take a month at an absolute minimum for such aplicated decision to be made, if not longer. Plus, even with Grandmother''s influence and connections, it would be a difficult change to make.


    But how long it would take or how difficult it would be to pass wasn''t an issue for us. What we wanted were the rumors that would result from it being presented to the Elder Hall. Rumors that could be easily manipted.


    Leading up to the day of the cleanse, we wanted to stoke the mes of curiosity in As, and not only turn their attention to Siratha, but the Ancient Fenrir. Once those rumors had begun, the 2nd stage of the n would begin.


    Originally, this part of the n was to spread the news that the Ancient Fenrir had imed the lives of three gods and use it to drive fear into those considering joining hands with the Holy Kingdom, but Poniriá, after much discussion, decided that we would do the opposite.


    Rather than crediting the Fenrir, who already had quite an extensive reputation among dragons, she would use her connections to advance the spread of the newsing from the Elder Hall: the news that Myles had be the first dragon to im victory over not just one, but two gods with main seats in the Aesir, and had sessfully taken the first steps to bing a demigod.


    That news alone had the power to shake the entirety of Bahamut and, ording to Poniriá, even possibly reignite the passion for growth and development that the draconic race had seemingly lost after the Great War; but for now, all we needed to do was put Myles on a pedestal over the Holy Kingdom''s gods, and paint him as a figure that could lead our race to a brighter future.


    Beyond that, whether we continued our n or not, Bahamut would naturally be nudged onto a path of progress by a surge of draconic pride, and while conflict with the Holy Kingdom would inevitably arise, Bahamut would be in a much better position than it was now.


    But while the n could have ended there and still been considered sessful, Poniriá was one to drive every single nail into the coffin.


    The final part of the n was simple. Make a scene. And what better time and ce to make that scene than the meeting of traitors in the heart of As. The Academy.


    In short, when the meeting between traitorous professors and staff was to ur, Poniriá wanted the Ancient Fenrir to make a scene and, if possible, form and announce some sort of allegiance with them.


    But even with my reassurance that ''the Fenrir'' would agree to the n and ''allegiance'', she prevented herself from putting all her eggs in one basket and decided to devise a backup n.


    That n, however, quickly changed my demeanor toward how I was going to handle the professors'' meeting.


    Using her family''s connections, she would gather as many ancients as she could, and when the time to make a scene came around, she would make an announcement over the academy, exposing the disgusting events that had urred within the academy''s confines before finally announcing ''the cleanse'' with a bang.


    The detonation of a fusion artifact.


    With the support of the ancients she nned on summoning to As, she would contain the damage to the walls of the academy and, in turn, turn the academy, which stood tall as a monument of prosperity for over ten millennia, into a crater of ash and molten rock.


    At first, I thought she had finally lost it; I couldn''t think of any good reason that would call for such an aggressive disy besides ''driving the message home'', but before long, she exined that the destruction of such a monument was necessary to not only force the surviving traitors to scatter but also give dragons ''a project'' to work together on.


    However, although I could roughly see where her reasons wereing from, -I still think she''s a little crazy, but who am I to judge. Being able to destroy the academy just makes things easier for me... Even if it''ll sting a little bit...- *vwoom* -All I have to do now is figure out how to go about doing it...- *vwowoom* I quickly wrapped up what I was working on as I decided to set my thoughts aside. -Regardless, it looks like I''m done here...-


    Quickly looking over my finished work within the void, I did all the final checks to ensure everything was in working order before finally approaching a small ck diamond at the center of several intersecting tubes of crystalline space mana.


    *vwoop* A ck sphere engulfed me the moment I got close, instantly recing the indescribable darkness around me with a colorful night sky and a view overlooking the ocean. *crash-crash*


    "Haah..." With a heavy breath, I finally pulled my eyes off the horizon and looked below myself to see a simple, small stone tform, stillcking the returning space rune.


    But just before I got started on it, an idea came to mind. -Wait, if I have to rebuild it anyway.. what if I moved it more into the heart of Siratha?-


    Currently, the rune was on the outside of a mountain bordering one of the most isted stretches of forest in Siratha. -Wouldn''t it be more convenient to have the rune a little closer to a city?- I figured that, since we were already nning to expand draconic territory over Siratha, moving the rune to a more convenient location would make dragons view Siratha more favorably toe and go from. -Wouldn''t that also help drive home the existence of the Ancient Fenrir?-


    But after a moment of thought, I decided to put it on hold.


    While it certainly would have been more convenient to build the rune elsewhere, other precautions would need to be taken beforehand, such as speaking to Leif about where it should be put as well as confirming that Bahamut would overtake Siratha with draconic influences.


    With a single word, I could get Leif to agree to it, but that wasn''t the case with the Elder Hall. -Once this is over though.. public opinion should hopefully shift in our favor... At least ording to Poniriá...-


    But that was something for another day. For now, I simply needed to focus on making the rune.


    And make the rune, I did.


    Over the course of the next few hours, I did everything I could to recreate the space rune as it was in other areas, and after trekking back and forth through the void several times, I eventuallynded on something that looked normal and functioned properly. -Some people may not even realize the rune was reced! At least if they don''t look at anything else...-


    Momentarily ncing down, I saw the dark gray, space-mana-strengthened steel tform and immediately let out a sigh. "Haah..." -Well, at least I got it working again.-


    Quickly activating the rune, I traveled back through the void before appearing in As, standing at the center of the only empty space rune, looking toward the wall of buildings blocking the view of the sunset on the horizon.


    *Fwoosh* Promptly taking to the sky, I was presented with a beautiful view of the city in front of a stunning sunset and turned around to see the top of the academy just barely peeking over the opposite horizon, glimmering in the warm glow of the sun.


    But while it was beautiful, it was likely to be thest time I could see it. -Day after tomorrow, that spire won''t be there anymore...-


    The beacon that provided light to As through the dark years following Bahamut''s disappearance would finally fall.


    But now wasn''t the time to worry about such things. I only had one day left to finish my preparations.


    But thankfully, that was more than enough time.


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