Kneel! I am Kang the Conquerer!

WORLD WAR MANA: RISE OF THE ARCANE MONARCH

PROLOGUE I:

EARTH

1972

"Boss, you sent for me," muttered a young, tall, and muscular man dressed in a tank top over khaki shorts. His head was bowed to the ground as he stood behind an older man dressed in an expensive red suit.

The young man could tell by the tone of the one who called him that the boss wasn't in a good mood. To see him smoking now confirmed his thoughts.

"That I did," the older man replied, standing and looking up at the dense canopy of trees that blocked out most of the light from the moon.

A midnight stroll out of the camp wasn't as relaxing as he thought it would be. The air was heavy with the smell of moist earth and vegetation, and the sounds of the jungle were heightened in the darkness. Crickets and frogs chirped and croaked, and the occasional howl of a distant animal could be heard. The old man could barely tolerate the discomfort the forest was giving him.

He brought the cigarette held between two fingers in his left hand to his mouth and dragged a long puff before letting out the smoke. "Tell me, Warden Kent. For how long have those goddamn slaves been digging the mines in this bloody forest?"

"Three weeks, Sir," the warden replied, slowly raising his searching eyes.

"And how many Carats of Diamonds have been gathered?" he asked again, this time his voice carried the undeniable aura of anger and disgust.

"None, Sir," the warden answered yet again.

The older man turned and fixed his black eyes on Kent. He walked over to him and seized him by the neck, although he lacked the strength to lift him from the ground as he desired.

"None? But yet you deem it fit for those lazy dogs to eat my food, drink my water and sleep in my fucking cells???" he shouted, tightening his grip on the warden's neck as he spoke. His chest continued to fall and rise as he breathed heavily.

"Sir, they are tired and need rest. I pushed them to their limits the entire week. Any more and I'm afraid they won't be as productive as you need them to be. Perhaps this field has no diamonds beneath it," the warden replied, trying his best to speak very carefully.

The man in power had bought this portion of the forest for a very huge sum after he was assured of the diamond mines beneath it. There was no way he was going to believe he had been swindled. He had the sure conviction in his heart that the land indeed possessed diamonds. All he had to do was make his slaves dig until it was found. He released the warden from his hold.

"You have no idea what I had to do to acquire this land so don't you dare tell me it has no diamonds," he said, darting a warning look to the warden. With both hands, he combed his blonde hair back and took in a deep breath. "Go to their fucking cells and wake them the fuck up! I don't give a shit how tired they are. Their arms can fall off for all I care; no one sleeps until a diamond cavern has been found! Am I understood?"

"Yes Boss," Kent replied, with his right hand on his neck.

"Now Leave!"

With gritted teeth and hands balled into solid fists, Kent hurried to the underground cell where the slaves were held. The instant he got into the tunnel, he turned on the light bulbs and then brought out his keys to open the locks.

The slave cell was cramped and squalid. It had only a thin mat for each to sleep on and a bucket for waste. The hot air was thick with the smell of sweat, and the only light came from a flickering bulb at the center. Except during work time, the cell was always sealed, destroying any hope of escape the slaves had.

Kenr picked up the big bell on the ground and began ringing it. In a few minutes, everyone had woken up. At the sound of the bell, the slaves quickly stood up from the ground, recognizing the warden's presence.

"Sleep time is over. Get your asses back in those mines," Kent said with his arms over his chest. His firm tone made it clear he wasn't in for a debate but the slaves couldn't help but grumble at his words that seemed to annoy them. "What's with the noise?"

"Warden, with all due respect, I think it's best you turn the light off and fuck off. We've been digging since sunrise. I'm damn sure we deserve a good night's sleep." the spokesman of the group voiced out from the ground where he lay. "The food didn't even go round so the least you can do is grant us the comfort of sleep."

Kent chuckled lightly on hearing those words. What a brave slave. He hated it when the slaves who were beneath him dared to think they could exchange words with him. He dropped his hands and placed them in the front pockets of his black khaki shorts. With his brown orbs fixed on the slave, he strutted to him with an intimidating aura all around him that sent the other slaves some steps back.

"Slave, what's your name?"

"Dan."

"Well, Dan I thought I made it very clear that whenever I come in, you all should be on your feet?" he asked the slave with an arched brow.

Before the slave could respond, Kent brought out a gun from his right pocket and sent a bullet between his eyes.

"Is anyone else still feeling fucking sleepy?" Kent yelled, sending warning glares around. The deafening silence brought a smile to his face. I"Good. Now get dressed and go dig me some bloody diamonds!"

Just as he was about to exit the cell, an idea popped up in his head.

"The first person to find a diamond cavern will earn himself his freedom."

With this new incentive, the slaves did as they were told and got back into the underground diamond mines. The mines had dark tunnels, but the line of electric bulbs fixed at both sides illuminated them. The tunnels were saturated with air heavy with dust and the sound of pickaxes striking rocks.

The slaves were dressed in rags, their faces streaked with dirt and sweat. They took turns hacking away at the rocks, but never once unearthing anything precious. Despite the grueling work, there was a sense of hope and determination in the air, as the workers searched for the glittering treasures that lie hidden beneath the earth. Although, just by how slow and weak their strikes on the rocks were, one could easily tell that they were weak and tired. Nonetheless, they kept swinging their pickaxes at the hardened rocks. No one wanted to be the next Dan and they all craved freedom from their cruel master.

After a half hour passed, something interesting happened.

A young boy barely seventeen years of age was digging with all the force his frail body could gather. His palm had scars and wounds leaking blood but he did not stop. Once again, he raised the pickaxe and swung it at the rock in front of him, but this time it wasn't a piece of the rock that broke out and fell to the ground.

It was the entire wall.

He looked at the crystal cavern before him and his heart was full of joy. He was determined to be the one to find the diamond cavern and earn his freedom and he had. Luckily for him, he was the only one assigned to work in this part of the mines.

The boy walked in with a lantern to explore the vast space filled with shiny diamond crystals. The walls of the diamond cavern were lined with glittering crystal formations. The largest of these was a magnificent diamond crystal, rising high above the cavern floor. Its facets reflected the light from the boy's lantern, sending dazzling rainbows dancing across the walls.

The cavern was filled with the sound of dripping water. As he looked around the cavern, he felt a sense of awe and wonder at this beautiful and mysterious place.

His curiosity drew him closer to the giant diamond at the center of the aisle. He was strangely drawn to it. The instant his bloody palms hugged the diamond, the bright shiny white color turned red and it began to vibrate. It shot out a powerful beam of light upwards which drilled its way to the surface, disintegrating everything in its path.

It kept ascending till it touched the night sky, turning the once-black sky to a striking red. As if in some sort of a trance, the boy stood motionless unable to let go of the crystal. As if something in them was activated, all the others in the cavern also released beams of light and they all united with that of the giant crystal. This held out for a few minutes.

Everyone on the premises could hear the loud eerie sounds produced by the beams and see the determined streak of light it sent toward the night sky. They all rushed to the scene, but by the time everyone had gathered, it was all over. At first, no one dared to approach the boy holding the red diamond.

But after all the diamonds lost their otherworldly luster and began to shatter into grains of sand, Kent summoned the courage to walk up to him. He shook the boy roughly by his left shoulder.

"What did you do?" Kent roared at the top of his voice.

For a few seconds, the boy was startled and unaware of what was going on, but it didn't take long for him to piece everything together.

"I find a cavern. Me free, right?" the young boy asked with innocent blue eyes, slowly gathering tears. He was one of the unfortunate kids who had been kidnapped at a young age and sold into slavery. Hence, his faulty English.

"Found it?! You fucking destroyed it!!"

Kent gripped him by the neck and pushed him to the ground. He brought out his gun and cocked it. He was raising it to the poor kid when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Give me the gun."

It was the old man in charge. Without a word, Kent gave the gun to him and in a split second, a bullet blasted out of it straight into Kent's head. The kid screamed as the warden's dead body dropped to the ground, slowly forming a pool of blood around him.

"Demon, we can either do this the easy way or the bloody way," the man threatened, pointing the gun at the boy. A signal from him and all his security guards in the mines did the same. "I don't care what you did to the sky. I want my diamonds and I want them back now. You have five seconds. One!"

Demon? The boy was no demon. He had no memory of what happened after he touched the crystal. Despite how weak he was, he continued to push the limits of his body just so he could find this diamond cavern and win his freedom. He didn't deserve this.

"Three!"

"I didn't done nothing. I sweared," the boy cried out on his knees. "Priz, I find cavern. Me no more slave."

Annoyed by the kid's words, the old man pulled the trigger, aiming for his right thigh. The gun gave out a roar as the bullet shot out heading for the kid, but a few centimeters from him, it began to slow down as it was getting heated up by a strange force surrounding the kid. With an incredible speed, the bullet was heated to the point it practically became a whiff of smoke.

"Kill the demon child!" the old man shouted with widened eyes full of shock.

Immediately, all the guards began to shoot at the boy, but just like the first bullet, none made it to his skin. His body was radiating heat on a volcanic level. He raised his eyes to the old man and his once blue eyes were now blazing golden. The kid gathered all the pain built up within him and let out a piercing cry. As a result, the burning force surrounding him started to spread out, covering a hundred-meter radius in golden flames within an instant.

The entire camp was reduced to ash, leaving no one but the boy alive. After the massive release of energy, the boy lost consciousness there on the ground. The boy had no idea that he had just activated the Origin Mana Crystal which by default, would activate every other Mana Crystal in multiple locations beneath the Earth as well. In unity, they all released Mana, the divine force of Magik into the world.

This young slave had singlehandedly opened the gate to a new era.

The Era of Mana and Magik…

PROLOGUE II:

EARTH

2022

"Mister President, the S-rank portal-type mage has arrived," a slender man in a black suit said, standing in front of a desk filled with documents and a man seated at the other end, attending to them.

"Good. The sooner I get to the venue, the sooner it ends and I can return to finish signing these documents," the other man replied, taking a look at his watch as he stood up. He took his black suit jacket from the coat rack some paces from his chair.

Both men looked to be in their early fifties, but they still maintained a tough body shape. They were dressed in fancy black suits that had the Etharian (pronounced e-tay-ree-an) golden crest on the jackets. However, the medals and decorative designs on the suit of the man previously sitting made it obvious that he was superior to the other. His face bore a calm expression as though he wasn't stressed out by the work he was just doing.

"You really don't have to go to this meeting. With everything going on in the world, I don't think it's a good idea to have all the major nation leaders in one room," the other man said, leading him out of the office with a black briefcase in his left hand.

"I've told you, Fred. The head of every major nation will be there. If I don't show up, it'll be seen as an act of disrespect by Etharia to the other nations. Don't forget I was the one who called for this meeting. With the rapid changes Mana has brought to earth over the last 50 years, the Nations Alliance has a lot to delegate. Surely as the Vice-President of Etharia, you understand that?" the second man said, turning to Fred.

Although the president was concerned with his safety, this was something that needed to be done. He wasn't going to let his fear of the unknown, control his reasoning. Ever since the Great Mana Ascent fifty years ago, a lot of extraordinary things have kept occurring.

The mana saturating the earth enabled some people who could properly wield it to awaken unbelievable abilities. The world referred to these humans as Mages. Sadly, there wasn't discrimination as to who got these powers. Both the good and the bad awakened abilities and the governments of the world were having a hard time putting them in order.

"I understand," Fred sighed. "What I don't understand is why I can't accompany you as well. A meeting in a secret location where only the nation-heads are present doesn't really sit well with me."

They walked into an elevator and it began to descend.

"Haven't I already explained the reason behind that? I'll be as safe as I can ever be. Besides, if you're gone, who's going to take charge of the country? There hasn't been an attack by a dark mage in a few weeks. I need someone capable of handling things while I'm gone," the president replied with an assuring smile.

The elevator came to rest and the door opened, revealing a room full of tough men that were armed to the teeth. Both men walked out to meet up with two others dressed in flashy and highly decorated army uniforms. The president turned to Fred with an arched brow at the sight in front of him.

"The General and his men are just here if anything goes out of plan. I figured if we can't be with you in the meeting room, we can at least be at the other side of the portal," Fred said before handing him a golden signet ring. "It's enchanted. If anything goes sideways, press on the top and the General will get you out of there."

"Good thinking." Without a second thought, the president took the ring and wore it on his index finger. "It's good to know Magik can be relied on for better purposes than wreaking havoc."

Fred turned to a man in a blue suit with spiky purple hair that stood at the far end of the room and called out to him, "Open the portal."

The man nodded and stretched out his hands to the wall in front of him. He closed his eyes as he concentrated his mind on the meeting venue. For a portal-type mage, using mana was more difficult and complex than mages with other magik attributes. One small mistake or a lack of focus and you will end up conjuring a portal that leads to the wrong place. Imagine wanting to open a portal to a relaxing beach only to send the people who walk through to their deaths at the bottom of a boiling volcano.

What started as a small, slowly revolving purple disk gradually enlarged until it became a door-sized spinning wheel, radiating an otherworldly aura. As the disk spun with great speed, it made a soft whistling sound in the air.

"It's open," the man announced, turning back to the vice president.

He heaved a sigh and stood by the side of the portal as he continued to channel his energy to sustain it.

"Be careful," Frederick said as he handed the briefcase in his hand over to the president.

Frederick's worry for the president wasn't out of place seeing as he wasn't a Mage. If anything was to go wrong in this secret meeting, the president would be completely defenseless.

"I'll be fine."

With those last words, the president strode to the portal and walked in.

On the other side of the portal was an extremely spacious room with a circular array of chairs. There was a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling just above the center of the room, complementing the other light bulbs illuminating it. The white walls had historical paintings hanging on them. Everything thing in sight appeared to have the best quality making the room look extravagant.

"Glad you could make it, Ed. Please, have a seat," said a bald man seated at a table directly under the golden chandelier.

This table was reserved for the executives of the Nations Alliance of which President Edward was the head. With a sense of purpose, he walked to the table and sat on the chair in the middle.

After Edward, it didn't take long before the other nation heads arrived. With all fifty-two leaders of the major nations in the world in attendance, Edward stood up to speak.

"Good day everyone. I appreciate you all for making time to be here," Edward let out a sigh. "Fifty years ago, a substance we now recognize as Mana was introduced into the Earth. It granted us, humans the power to awaken abilities we could never believe we possessed. Some of us, at least. This much isn't strange to any of you. Unfortunately, while there are those who wish to use this power for good, there are those who would rather abuse it for evil- Dark Mages.

"Terrorist attacks have risen on a colossal scale. A lot of awakeners have resorted to using their abilities to oppress those without any. Law enforcement agents are quickly losing control over the citizens. The world is experiencing an imbalance of power the likes of which it has never seen before. I requested this meeting in order for us, the heads of the most influential nations in the world to solve this global crisis before it gets any worse," Edward concluded, before taking his seat.

An old man probably in his late sixties stood up to speak. He had a neat haircut and a well-shaven beard. He was putting on a Red suit that had some golden stripes beautifying the jacket. What was most noticeable about it was the. The crest of Bacilia ( Bay-sea-lee-ah).

"Mana cannot be taken away from the Earth. That is of course very obvious. Then again, the strong shall always oppress the weak, as history has shown time and time again. The only solution to this crisis will be to eradicate the weak. In clear terms, every person above the age of twelve who hasn't awakened a C-rank affinity or any affinity at all must be annihilated!"

The loud sounds of people gasping could be heard across the room. All eyes turned and were fixed on the old man.

Does he know the gravity of the words he just uttered?

Genocide…

PROLOGUE III:

"The only solution to this crisis will be to eradicate the weak. In clear terms, every person above the age of twelve who hasn't awakened a C-rank affinity or any affinity at all must be annihilated!"

The loud sounds of people gasping could be heard across the room. All eyes turned and were fixed on the old man.

Does he know the gravity of the words he just uttered?

"Erick, surely you don't think the only answer is genocide? How can you even suggest such a thing?" the man beside Edward stood up to say, his fisted hands pressed on the table in front of him. "That's insane!"

"Insane?" Erick snickered, sending a glare at those around him. "Deep down, you all know I'm right. The world is already unbalanced as it is. Do you really think ordinary people can live peacefully with others who can summon lightning from the freaking sky?"

"I-"

The room was filled with rumors as Erick's idea began to make sense to some people. He wasn't all wrong, but then again, genocide would be going too far.

"Genocide is out of the question. Prime Minister Erick, if you don't have any other propositions, I suggest you have your seat," Edward announced, trying his best not to show any irritation in his voice to the old man.

"Out of the question? Is it because you are among the weak ones?" Erick persisted, crossing his arms above his chest. He scoffed and then sat down. "What better solution could there be? Survival has always been for the fittest. I can't wait to hear a better solution, because, in the end, it'll all lead back to genocide."

"Enough!" Edward shot out, banging a fist hard on the table. "Someone else should please proffer something that doesn't involve killing innocent men, women, and children."

Just as Edward finished speaking, a man some distance from Erick stood up. He was putting on a suit designed in gold and white colors. Compared to the other authorities present, he was on the young side. He had a tall, brawny figure and looked in his late thirties. His dark blonde hair was trimmed at the sides. His black eyes gave out an overwhelming aura of power; an Awakened.

"I agree with you, Edward. Genocide is not the answer. What I propose is order. The scales of this world have been tipped, bringing chaos that if left unchecked will ruin us all. What the world needs is a nation that'll stand above every other nation in terms of intellectual, military, and magical prowess; A new World Power.

"If this was the days of Evan the Terrible, do you think the dark mages would have the guts to do what they do now? No. Because there would be no bail or jail sentence. You break the law and pay with your fucking life in the most painful methods imaginable." With every word from the man, the force in his tone heightened. He had the attention of every person in the room.

"For centuries, Etharia has been in power, but with the state of anarchy in the world after fifteen years of magical influence, it is clear that the world needs a more capable nation to maintain balance. One to rule with an iron fist, which no dark mage, terrorist, or whatever they can fucking call themselves, will dare to oppose."

Having made his point, the young man took his seat. Edward stood up to speak but was pushed back to his chair by an unseen force. It prevented him from getting off the chair.

"Whaat?!" Edward exclaimed with unbelieving eyes searching his chair.

"He's right, you know!" came the deep voice of a man at the far end of the room.

He was the only one seated on the row of chairs. He appeared to be in his early thirties with long fiery hair that was tied at the back of his head. Unlike all the others, he was dressed in a casual black top and red jeans. Up until now, no one had noticed him. He brought his hands out of his pocket as he stood up and began to walk to the center of the room.

Everyone looked back and was shocked to see his unfamiliar face. The fact that he didn't bear the crest of any nation made one thing certain. This man was an intruder.

"Intruder!" some chorused at the sight of him.

"Just shut the fuck up and listen." The man snapped his finger and all of a sudden, no one was able to move. Almost like he had stopped time.

Edward struggled to move even an inch of his body but he couldn't. He wanted to alert his men at the other side of the portal through the enchanted ring, but right now that was an impossible thought. Many others wished to do similar but whatever magik the intruder was using on them prevented them from doing so.

"Die!!" Two men shouted as they stretched out their palms and flames five times the size of a football shot out of them, heading straight for the intruder.

The intruder put a hand out to block the attack and the instant the fireballs touched his hands, they disappeared into thin air. Another threw lightning bolts at the intruder, but just like the fireballs, he absorbed it, taking no damage whatsoever. These men were SSS-rank Blockers who also had an additional magical affinity. No level of magik could affect them so they didn't have trouble breaking free from the time-pause.

They were ten in number. Ten against one. They kept on throwing attacks at the intruder, but he effortlessly absorbed all of them.

"I almost forgot about you guys," said the intruder, his tone laced with irritation.

He picked up a pen from the table next to him and with superhuman speed, he zoomed across the room and back to his former position. All ten bodies fell to the ground within an instant. He dropped the pen now soaked in blood back on the table.

"I'm going to make this as quick as possible," he said, standing at the center of the room. "And just to be clear, no one is entering or leaving this room. Not alive at least."

He cupped his hand and lifted it, and by doing so everyone in the room was lifted up by their necks by an unseen force, strangling them.

"I'm only going to ask this once," he warned, increasing the force in his hand. "Which one of you stupid fuckers has the Origin Crystal?"

He waited for a few seconds for an answer but got none. His eyes suddenly began to glow golden. He was amplifying the heat in their bodies, creating a condition similar to liting them on fire.

"There are several other painful ways to get what I want, so just save yourself the agony and tell me."

When he still didn't get an answer, he increased the intensity of the heat.

"S-stop! I'll tell you where it is!" Erick struggled to say, unable to take the torture any longer.

The intruder waved his hand in the air and the roasting and strangling sensations ceased.

"Give me your word that you'll let me live."

"You selfish bastard," the intruder chortled. "You are in no position to be making requests." He fisted his left hand.

"Arrrgh!!" Erick shouted as all the bones in his left leg were crushed to powder.

In a second, the man levitated in the air and got to where Erick was. He placed his palms on Erick's head and began to scan through his memories. Satisfied with what he saw, he smirked and then snapped his finger. Immediately, they all fell to the ground. He stood on the air, his eyes flashing golden as he opened his palm and a fireball began to form above it. It kept increasing in size.

"Forgive me. This was the only way."

BOOMMM!!

PROLOGUE IV:

The instant the explosion was heard, portals were created all over the world, all leading to one location- the meeting room. The meeting was held in a skyscraper built on a remote island; one of the secret locations where the Nations Alliance held their meeting for the safety of their members ever since the Great Mana Ascent.

In seconds, the entire premises was flooded with people. As they came out of their various portals, they were awestruck at the sight in front of them. Many had their hands over their mouths. The entire building had crumbled to the ground in flames and ashes. It took some time ravaging in the debris to find the bodies of all the nation heads that had attended the meeting.

Unfortunately, no single one of them was found alive. Their clothes had been burned off and skins were covered in pitch black ash, as if they had been set ablaze till they burned to a crisp.

All this damage was done by one fireball?

While the bodies were transported back to their respective countries and investigations were carried out by an elite team of mages, all the vice presidents gathered on the other side of the island to talk.

"Are you sure this island is safe?" A woman with glasses over her nose asked, trembling noticeably. "I think we should do this somewhere else."

"Why? So you can finish the job and have us killed as well?"

"Glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. Just drop the act woman, we know Magnis was behind the attack,"

"Stop it! Both of you!" Fred shouted, eyes staring at the two old men in front of him. He sucked in a breath. "No one knows for sure exactly what happened. The last thing we should be doing right now is accusing each other."

All fifty-two of them were standing in a circular arrangement. By the cautious looks being passed around, it was obvious that everyone was watchful of the other person.

"Sir, the mages are done examining the area," Fred heard a voice speak into his ear through the airpod he had on.

"Great. Send them to my location. I'm sure everyone here would like to know what happened."

A deadly silence filled the air as everyone waited for the mages to arrive. Every country had an issue with at least five others. Despite the smiles they maintain on the exterior, if given the opportunity, several countries would be at war with each other. This reason supported the hypothesis that whoever launched that attack on the Nations Alliance was someone from a nation present.

It was needless to say this one attack would destabilize the affected nations so much that an attack could be made easier than before.

"Tell us who's responsible for the attack," a man with red eyes and a balled fist asked when he saw the mages arrive.

"We can't because we don't know," a mage in a peculiar blue-green-striped suit confessed, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes and hair were the same color as his suit. He had a calm composure, but on further study, one could tell by his () he was also confused.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Another man in authority yelled.

"We've tried all the spells we know. None was able to spot a trace of foreign Mana in the vicinity. Without a doubt, the explosion we heard was caused by a fireball. Residue of the mana used to create it should be here, but we can't find any,"

"If your spells are too weak, find someone else better to investigate. I will surely avenge the death of my deceased president," another man said in a tone full of conviction.

"We are the best there is. We are the originals who wrote all the mana spell books," the head mage fired back.

"So what exactly are you trying to say?!" Fred asked, holding his head in frustration.

"For one thing, we know this attack was carried out by a single person, but it's impossible to find out who the person is. There are no Mana residues to trace, which shouldn't even be possible. It could be anyone in the world," the head mage explained.

Just as everyone was trying to absorb the situation before them, Idris, the vice of Erick, the president of Bacilia rushed out of the gathering and went far off into the woods. It was written all over his ()annoyed) face that he was annoyed. When Idris was certain that he was out of hearing range from the others, he brought out his phone to make a call.

"The president is dead and the mages cannot identify the attacker; I hope you know what that means," he asked, digging his nails into the palm of his free hand.

"Someone's after the crystal!" the person at the other end replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Exactly. You must have it transported to the military training facilities in the East. Give it to Reed, the General. He'll know what to do," Idris commanded, making sure to say every word as clearly as he could. He couldn't afford the other man to make a mistake with the delicate mission he was giving him.

"What about Erick's plan to annihilate all non-mages?"

"Seeing as all the other nation heads were also killed in the attack, I can't give that order yet," Idris paused when he heard the crackling sound of a leaf. He diligently looked around to make sure he was alone and when confirmed it, he continued, "But for one thing, I'm not going to let this pass. Someone has to pay for the death of the president."

Idris ended the call and went back to join the others. He remained silent as Fred and some other men kept throwing accusing fingers at each other as to who was behind the attack. After a while, he finally said something.

"It's clear the Grand Mages have no idea who or what attacked the Alliance. If you all keep on accusing each other, I'm just going to leave. I have better things to attend to,"

"He's right. I also will be taking my leave,"

A whole lot of other vice-heads agreed with Idris. To everyone else, on the surface, it seemed like they were annoyed by how unhelpful this meeting had been, but to the three Elder Mages who were very keen observers, deep down, they could tell that there was something else prompting them to leave the island.

"Alright. With the nation heads gone, right now it's up to us to take responsibility for what happens in the world. I'll schedule a meeting later on when we've put our respective nations in order," Fred said then heaved a sigh. "We don't know who the mysterious attacker is yet, so let's not do anything rash in the meantime."

Rash? If only he knew what was on Idris' mind and the minds of tens of others.

They all had their suspects and the majority weren't going to sit back and just forget that the number one citizen of their country was assassinated through the aid of someone in this gathering.

"Whatever." Idris waved his hand nonchalantly as he walked away with an evil grin on his face. "They are well aware of what's going to happen next. Good."

President Erick's body had already been transported back to Bacilia through the portal, so Erick had no other reason to stay. He looked at the watch on his wrist. It was a few minutes till it struck 1 PM. With a high sense of purpose, he walked through the portal created by his bodyguard who was an SS-Rank Portal Type Mage.

Within a short period, everyone left the island back to their respective nations, leaving the Elder Mages and some other military personnel to carry out further investigations.

Fred returned to Etharia with a sad look on his face (describe).

"What do we tell the people?" the General asked, walking side-by-side with Frederick to his office. "Telling our enemies that the president was assassinated might cause our enemies to stir up trouble. That's the last thing we need right now. I say we tighten our defenses before we say anything to the public."

"We can't keep the news of his death a secret," Frederick countered. "I'm even certain the other vice-heads have already confessed to the world. The best we can do is try to keep this nation in one piece until everything settles."

Just as they were walking, the general received a call through his airpod. At the moment, he was already very annoyed considering the assassination of the one man he had sworn to protect, but whatever he was told on the phone made him even more annoyed.

Immediately the caller terminated the call, The general stood still, pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed and his head facing the ground. His right hand got balled into a fist and he kept banging it on the hard wall next to him.

"What's up? Should I be worried?" Frederick asked when he turned and realized the General was no longer by his side.

"Shit!" The general cursed, then opened his eyes. "Edward warned me some time ago that this was going to happen but I didn't believe him."

"Edward? What did he warn you about?" Frederick asked again, this time his voice was dripping with curiosity.

"A global war fought with Magic." The General lifted his head and linked eyes with Frederick. "Magnis just made a devastating attack on Denvis. Gyreland attacked Reina. Countries are attacking countries with specially trained Mages and they're fighting back. A Bacilian airship just flew over a city a hundred blocks away and the Fire-Type Mages inside rained fire down on everything. Nations have declared war with other nations."

"Fuck!" Frederick exclaimed, running his fingers through the field of hair on his head.

"What do we do? People got hurt and possibly died. We can't pretend it didn't happen, and once we strike back, there'll be no returning from it."

Frederick paced around in the empty corridor for some minutes before making up his mind. A day hasn't passed since the world lost those that kept it in one piece, but everything's already turning to shit.

"Since Edward saw this war coming, he must've known that we won't be able to stay out of it. Mana has created a new chain of command in the world and with this single opportunity, every nation is fighting to be at the top," Frederick said, looking at a portrait of the deceased president.

"I don't know how long this war will last, but no matter the cost, Bacilia has to be the one at the top," Frederick sighed then turned to him. "General Charle, as the acting President of Bacilia, I, Frederick Reignsfield order you to strike back at the enemy and defend the integrity of this nation."

The world war had begun, but there was still hope and time to stop it all from escalating any further. Unfortunately, that particular order made sure the war wasn't going to end.

Not without an invincible victor.

Not without the emergence of someone to establish order in this chaotic world of Magic.

The Arcane Monarch…

CHAPTER 1