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Early Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, 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 plan.

-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 and lasted several hours, but by the end of it all, we had come up with a far more sound plan than anything I had proposed.

Originally, my plan was to simply have the professors' meeting moved to an isolated part of Atlas, 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 plan landed on opening our borders with Siratha, exposing the deeds of the Ancient Fenrir, and using the professors' deaths to set an example, such as displaying 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 plan lacked meat; it lacked 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 plan.

For simplicity's sake, the plan shared the same general framework as the plan 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 according to them, it would take a month at an absolute minimum for such a complicated 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 manipulated.

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

Originally, this part of the plan was to spread the news that the Ancient Fenrir had claimed 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 news coming from the Elder Hall: the news that Myles had become the first dragon to claim victory over not just one, but two gods with main seats in the Aesir, and had successfully taken the first steps to becoming a demigod.

That news alone had the power to shake the entirety of Bahamut and, according 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 plan 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 plan could have ended there and still been considered successful, Poniriá was one to drive every single nail into the coffin.

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

In short, when the meeting between traitorous professors and staff was to occur, 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 plan and 'allegiance', she prevented herself from putting all her eggs in one basket and decided to devise a backup plan.

That plan, 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 occurred 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 planned on summoning to Atlas, 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 display besides 'driving the message home', but before long, she explained 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 were coming 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 black diamond at the center of several intersecting tubes of crystalline space mana.

*vwoop* A black sphere engulfed me the moment I got close, instantly replacing 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 platform, still lacking 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 isolated 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 planning to expand draconic territory over Siratha, moving the rune to a more convenient location would make dragons view Siratha more favorably to come 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 according 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 eventually landed on something that looked normal and functioned properly.

-Some people may not even realize the rune was replaced!

At least if they don't look at anything else. ..-

Momentarily glancing down, I saw the dark gray, space-mana-strengthened steel platform 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 Atlas, 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 the last time I could see it. -Day after tomorrow, that spire won't be there anymore...-

The beacon that provided light to Atlas 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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