Steel and Mana

The convoy came to a smooth halt before the steps leading into the Palace. Maids and palace guards were already ready and there, opening the car doors as the incoming delegation was led into the Palace, making Ahnud Sar finally breathe a sigh of relief and begin unwrapping his head from the sea of scarves.

"Sovereign Leon's invention of this... central heating was the greatest thing he ever did..." He muttered to himself, making Attila next to him smile as he was also letting one of the maids take off his coat.

"Living this far up north makes people think up great ideas to battle the cold."

"Please, this way," Leyla said, interrupting them after the group was now dressed much more comfortably, beginning to lead them towards the meeting chamber.

"It feels as if after every visit," Mirian muttered softly, "this place grows larger."

"Larger?" Alvor chuckled, "You mean richer. If they ever decide to charge an entrance fee, I'd go bankrupt visiting..."

"We did have some renovations and expansion here and there," Galahad added, coming up next to his mother-in-law, flanking Mirian with Fila walking on her other side. "Lancelot and Jila also have their own wing now, raising Percival. Fila and I got our personal spaces, too, and so do Arthur and Leyla. So... in a way, yes, it is a bit bigger. But Dad did build it and planned it to be spacious enough, so we can install additions to it in the future, although we still have the limit of space we have."

"We can still go down or up, if we need to." Fila chimed in, but then fell silent as she realized that maybe not everything has to be told to the guests, even if it was her mother.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Mirian chuckled, shaking her head, "Haaah... I was just saying, anyway."

At the corridor's end, a pair of carved doors stood open, revealing the large chamber beyond them. The room was already prepared and waiting, with a long oval table dominating the center, surrounded by cushioned chairs, each bearing a small flag of its respective nation, made directly for the time when the Union members convene in Avalon. As the delegation began filing in, at the far end of the table, Arthur, the current Sovereign, was standing there, talking with his brother, Lancelot, both of them looking serious and even a bit grim. When Leyla stepped through the threshold, her eyes fluttering a little, a clear sign that told her siblings that she had told something to her brother, as Arthur forced a smile on his face as he turned towards his guests.

"Your Majesties, Lady Mirian, Chairman Alvor," he greeted them warmly, bowing his head a little, the previously clearly visible grim shade wholly gone from his face. "Welcome back to Avalon. I hope the journey was comfortable."

"Which journey?" Alvor laughed, "If you mean the train ride, we are already used to it. If you mean the cars...? Buttery smooth! You see, those machines of yours would fetch a good price..."

"Yet their price is fixed and an Avalonian exclusivity." Arthur's smile curled a little, telling Alvor to not even think of asking for them, and he simply smiled back, telling him that he understood. And would not push for it... yet. "Anyway, I'll take that as a compliment to my sister's driving."

"Barely," Leyla muttered playfully, "I am still an amateur and almost shifted into the wrong gear twice..."

"Sovereign," Mirian inclined her head gracefully. "It is good to see you again, Arthur. Honestly speaking, you look more like your father every year… I don't know if it's the title or not, but... the resemblance is uncanny."

"Heh," Arthur chuckled, "I'll take that as a compliment too." He gestured toward the table. "Please, sit. There's food and coffee prepared. This is an informal council, as not everyone is present."

"Informal?" Ahnud asked as he took his seat.

"We will hold the proper announcement a few days later," Arthur nodded, watching everyone get to their places, "Everyone is invited from the Union, but... I sent you four an, let's call it, an advanced notice, as between all of us, this decision will impact you more. And if you want to add something to it first, before it goes public, we must talk about it."

"Sounds really important..." Attila gulped, making Arthur look at him, the grimness returning to his face for a moment.

"It is."

Just as he finished, maids entered quietly, carrying trays with steaming cups, treats, and small pastries, allowing the aroma of roasted beans to fill the air. He waited until everyone was served before speaking again, he himself enjoying a simple cupcake before beginning the discourse.

"I'll get straight to the point," he said, resting his hands on the table's edge after wiping it with a handkerchief. "The news from the northern front is… grave."

"So we heard from Leyla..." Mirian murmured as everyone else put down their cups, watching Arthur.

"Yes..." Arthur nodded, placing the now non-functional communicator he got from Zah'Ratil on the table. "I was in contact with the leader of the Vasa people..."

"I can't believe it..." Mirian inhaled, watching it, and while the others also had their own legends of the Vasas, none were as knowledgeable as an Ishillian. "They still exist?"

"Kind of." Arthur explained, "They are half and half... They are no longer entirely human."

"Can we even trust them?" Attila cut in, his eyes narrowing.

"For now," Arthur answered after a momentary pause, "Their leader, Zah'Ratil, died, not that long ago... They were contacting us after discovering our presence when we built the Pride at the other end. They asked for help, for sanctuary, as there is a beast, no land has ever seen before, ravaging the other side."

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"Really...?" Alvor asked, watching Arthur slowly nod his head.

It was... a half-truth... Because the easiest lie to tell is always built on some kind of truth. In the end, after many deliberations, Arthur had decided that what they were going to relay to the Union had to be a version that would rally them. If they don't, if they look at the Vasas as the origin of this cataclysm, the solution to it would be much harder to achieve. Sometimes... a white lie was necessary.

"It is worse than anything," Arthur exhaled, "because it has the ability to think like us. Like a human... It is a monster that evolved and is now capable of strategizing. Why do you think we had so many large beasts coming over winter after winter?" He added, putting the blame on Ignis, "Because there is a monster that commands them, like the Guardian commanded the skeletons... Only this one has proper intelligence, and it finally routed the Vasas from their sanctuary and killed their leader."

"A monster with a brain..." Alvor inhaled sharply, looking at the others, seeing even Ahnud's face turn from black to pale white, "I can't believe it..."

"We confirmed it," Arthur continued, "We now house the remaining Vasas at the Pride and protect it jointly." With that, he placed an Imaginary projector before them, showing them images of the hundreds of massive beasts coming at them. "The bad news is... things are only going to get worse. Markoth's and the Eastern Pass both suffered attacks, though less severely. For now, we can hold all three, but we came to the decision that we alone won't be enough to keep fighting them. You all need to step up."

"Step... up?" Ahnud asked, leaning forward, furrowing his brows, expecting some unreasonable request coming at him just in a moment.

"Exactly," Arthur continued, his tone steady, measured, knowing what the others were thinking of, "Avalon holds the front for now with the Pride standing strong. But we cannot hold out forever if it's only our troops fighting. Even with the airships deployed, even with our mechs and walls and fleets of artillery, this enemy..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "...is beyond the scale of anything we had fought before. This is not just our fight."

"And what should we do?" Ahnud leaned even more forward, "You're saying Avalon… can't win? Then what are we supposed to do? Throw humans at it until it chokes on their bones?"

"No, I am not saying that," Arthur met his gaze. "I'm saying Avalon cannot win alone."

As if rehearsed, Arthur glanced at Lancelot, who nodded and opened a heavy case placed beside the table. Slowly, he pulled out multiple, identical folders, several thick bundles of sealed papers bound in red wax with stamps deeming them 'Top Secret,' as he began laying them out, one before each representative.

"This," Arthur continued, "is what my father and I, what Avalon offers to you all."

"No way!" Alvor yelled out first, opening it, and gazing at the detailed drawings in his document. Gasping for air, he hurriedly looked over at Mirian's documentation, and it was... the exact same. "You gone mad?!" He gasped, as this was something he thought he would have to sell his soul and every other being of Atuvia just to take a look at it...

"These are mad times," Arthur smiled at them, "What you are seeing are the complete schematics, construction protocols, and magical interface systems for the Avalonian mechs. It is everything you need to replicate our machines and start building and developing your own."

The room fell utterly still as every pair of eyes was fixed on the folder before them.

"You're… giving them away?" Alvor asked slowly, disbelief still flashing in his eyes, looking up at him in shock.

"Yes," Arthur nodded once. "To every Union member... Free of charge. Each nation will have the means to build its own mechs, defend itself, innovate, and prepare. That's why you are here early... By our estimation, you are the only members who can start building your own from the start."

"Arthur," Mirian said softly, now also leaning forward. "This is unthinkable. You'd be giving away the foundation of Avalon's military dominance! Your greatest advantage."

"No," he answered with a smile, "If you think that... You will be surprised." he looked at everyone, "What we are doing is something that has to be done. Sooner or later, one of you will reverse engineer a mech; it is inevitable. With the danger looking at our land as food... we must stand united and do everything we can to fight back against it."

"..." The Emperor of Geth exhaled slowly, looking up at him from the documents, "You mean to arm the entire continent?"

"Yes," Arthur said simply. "Our first and only stipulation, that you MUST fight the monsters in the three Passes, before you think about dominating others."

"Who would do that when we have it so good?! I mean, disturbing the peace we have!" Alvor snorted, shaking his head, holding his document as if it were one of the Godly Artifacts.

"You would be surprised," Ahnud scowled. "What happens when this is over? When every nation now builds its own army of steel giants... You may be creating the very war you hope to prevent..."

"That is for our descendants to decide," Arthur didn't flinch, repeating what Leon had once said. "But that kind of future tells me enough... That we defeated the mother of all monsters, and we managed to secure a tomorrow. Don't get mistaken! If we fail, it won't matter who could have betrayed whom... We will be dead. And... If we live, we'll face that challenge when it comes knocking on our door."

"I'm with Avalon, until the end," Alvor leaned back, breaking the sudden silence, watching Arthur, "You're your father's son, all right. Still finding ways to turn the market upside down... With this, Atuvia can start producing its own mechs by next summer. If not earlier..."

"Hmph..." Mirian shot him a look but couldn't help smiling faintly. "My Ishillia has already had some of the machines we bought from Avalon. With this..." She tapped the folder before her, "By spring, I will be ready to build the first variants of our own."

"I see," Arthur said softly, knowing that amongst them all, Mirian was the closest to having her own. She simply... didn't push for it, not to disturb their alliance.

"We will probably need a year or so." Attila added after exchanging a glance with Ahnud, "At worst."

"We can't tell what this Ignis will do," Arthur shrugged, "But we need more mechs, more soldiers, knights, pilots, call them whatever you want... we need them to fight the beasts. Of course, to speed up the process," he continued, "Send your head engineers to us and we will teach them manufacturing, maintaining, everything you must know about these machines. As for their pilots? It's up to you to determine who you put into them..."

"There is only one question!" Alvor raised a hand, "Where do we get the cores?" he pointed at one of the pages, where it detailed how Avalon uses monster cores to 'fuel' the machines.

"We will provide them," Arthur looked at him, "for a fair price."

"Like?" Alvor asked, slowly leaning back, raising his cup to his lips.

"For example... Land. Because we also want to establish embassies in your countries." Arthur said simply, "In exchange for a plot of land in your capital cities, no bigger than a courtyard, with our embassy building on it, that would belong to Avalon. But that's an example only... we can, individually decide on it, come together and come to an agreement on what you would be willing to trade for monster cores."

"..." Ahnud was about to speak when Arthur raised a hand, making the room fall silent once again.

"Consequently, when your mechs battle the beasts, every killed beast's core would go into a shared pile. Every winter... And then, at the end of every campaign, based on your performance in the Union's effort to stop the monsters, we would distribute it amongst member states. That is the fairest we can offer... and," he looked grimly at everyone present, "We do it because if we don't... we all may die. Please understand this..." He pointed at the floating, still image of a hundred massive monsters roaring and attacking, "that if we don't stand together now, in a generation, there won't be humans left in our world..."