Aramis, ever since the subjugation army left and even before they left had been busy with administrative work, there was so much to do. First, the countless villages, towns and cities across Akarn were still desolate. As such rune practitioners were mobilised from one town to the next, restoring vegetation and giving aid. But it wasn't changing Akarn's state of being a desert.

  The process was slow, preparation and immense resources were required. Nearly all the remaining rune practitioners of Akarn were mobilised. What made it possible was, Akarn unlike most kingdoms, nearly all rune practitioners in it were under the employ and authority of the royal family.

  Anything they did outside their personal lives had to go through the palace and they also received missions from the palace.

  Even with this being the case only about half a tenth of the kingdom could be said to be fully restored, it was not dependent on runes to sustain itself anymore.

  As the one handling the mobilisation, Aramis knew how much they had done and how much was left to do, which places were urgent and where they could take their time getting there. This wasn't even all he was focusing on, he was also involved in the destruction of the teleportation arrays around the palace.

  "It's been a full day and half now. Sigh, will it really take more than a week?"

  His brows furrowed slightly while thinking of how long it took before a victor was decided in the past, about a month.

  Just thinking about it made him want to sigh several times more. But thinking of what they were going through his eyes were filled with determination and he fixed his gaze on the paperwork before him. He went through it, assessing and coming up with solutions for the real time situation out in the field, across the kingdom.

  Several hours passed as the day approached evening, not long ago according to his instructions the mobilised rune practitioners sent the last report of the day. It detailed their progress, challenges and improvisation for any surprises along the way.

  (I must do my part, when they return how can I have the face to meet them when I haven't finished such a simple task.)

  Just when he was about to message back to them using a golem there was a knock on the door. After confirmation a guard walked in bowing before the prince.

  "Your Highness, Prince Aramis there's a matter of urgency. One of the East side teleportation arrays is reported to show signs of activation. What are your orders?."

  Before the guard even finished reporting Aramis got up leaving his desk.

  "Has Leandro been made aware?"

  He asked moving towards the door. The guard moved aside allowing for him to pass.

  "Yes, he should also be on his way there."

  "Good, what about my sister and master Isis?"

  "Regrettably, no. We've searched the entire palace but there's been no sign of them."

  The guard replied, his tone anxious and with good reason.

  "It's nothing to be nervous about, sometimes what keeps a threat away isn't the drawn weapon but the hidden one. Assuming they are here is but out of sight will be enough pressure on whoever dares provoke us."

  He said looking back, behind his desk on the outer left side was a window. If he left through it he would reach his destination much quicker but he wasn't the type to do such things.

  (If it was elder brother he would even smash through a wall if he felt rushed enough.)

  He thought, his mood that was starting to turn grim relaxed but from the beginning it did not show, his expression calm and stern from the moment he heard the report.

  He walked out not a moment later his stride quick but with a graceful form.

  (Now I have to delay my original work to settle this. If it was before it would have been a matter sir Jura's department had to deal with. All our palace men power are practitioners with more than half being elites, with them gone the workload on those who remain is higher. Perhaps after this we should think about bringing in nonpractitioners into the court.)

  He thought as he rushed down the hallway even tempted to run. But he was the ever rule abiding prince Aramis, he suppressed this feeling.

  Along the way he met up with Leandro, also heading to the East side. Although Leandro tried to hide it, his expression was still transparent, it showed his anxiety.

  (It is times like these that I appreciate my father's teachings. His idea of the way of the nobles and royalty of not being unemotional or expressive instead deceiving the world of how you feel comes in handy.

  According to him, since we live in a dishonest world as people of high status there is much to be gained from using us. So we should at all times hide our honest emotions but still act emotionally, lest someone tugs at our heart strings. Learning and creating melodies that make us dance to the tunes. Eventually they can induce varied emotions from us, enslaving us in the process.

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  In the former case it is clear whether you are within a manipulator's grasp or not but in the latter not so much, thus deceiving them. Probably why father prefers this method and it's useful for even other matters beyond noble politics.)

  Thought Aramis as he assessed Leandro, as someone high in the chain of command his expressions definitely had an impact on the mental state of the soldiers below him.

  But his current demeanor wasn't something to fret over. It was within the range of acceptable reactions, considering what they were faced with.

  It was a common fact why they destroyed teleportation arrays despite the cost of resources. In a way, a kingdom or any force having them was a weakness if the teleportation arrays' designs were to be known by others, thus destroying them was a matter of national security.

  As long as arrays were identical teleporting between them was possible. As such arrays were destroyed upon use depending on the environment, incase they ever fall into the wrong hands. Be it another kingdom or some lone force in the world, with an array at the palace all they would need is to make an identical one and teleporting their forces directly into the palace was possible. In such a case overthrowing a kingdom in less than a day was a simple matter, if a royal palace had one it would be a closely guarded secret.

  (In such turbulent times, could there really be someone looking to make gains by robbing others?)

  He wondered when they were almost at their destination, they were already at the East side and the numerous teleportation arrays were visible above them. Among them one was emitting a pillar of light, taller than a person and in the next moment the pillar rose even higher becoming several meters taller and thicker.

  When Leandro saw this his heart sank, the same was true of the hundred or so guards and soldiers below it, ready to strike. Everyone present was a rune practitioner.

  But this number wasn't much, if a person was attacking the palace they would at least need a rune master and someone of such a rank could easily deal with thousands of experts not to mention this small force.

  Aramis noticing the growing unease in Leandro said.

  "Don't get too tensed, being anxious won't do us any good. Besides we have a home field advantage and a considerable number of cannons on our side. Even two, three rune masters would have to fight with their lives on the line. And there's still our own rune masters, yet to show up but not something to overlook."

  Hearing this Leandro quickly calmed down, in the first place he wasn't this uncollected. It was just that recently he fretful from having failed his duty, watching over prince Aleus. He failed to prevent his departure, this ate away at him and ruined his composure even on his other tasks.

  (His Highness has to be alright, at least master Isis said there was no need to worry.)

  He consoled himself pushing these thoughts away and focusing on what was before them.

  As someone with a rich battle experience his attention was vital. The truth of the matter was, in the past it may have been rough living conditions but the situation allowed for there to be nearly no conflict between the kingdoms or any other small force.

  Even those that were unavoidable were small scale and controlled conflicts. Closer to being competition rather than war, as such there was a shortage of rune warriors with true battle experience not to mention fighting someone of a rank higher than themselves.

  This made many fail to remain composed, brimming with fear thanks to the knowledge of the gap between ranks even with cannons at their disposal.

  Individuals like Leandro were necessary to control the situation, this way no strength or advantage would be wasted.

  "The light is dimming they are about to cross over."

  Declared Aramis while gesturing for the guards to take aim. In the next moment the light vanished revealing a lone man in his youth but undoubtedly a rune master. Even when he saw the encirclement around him he had an unrestrained grin not fazed by the army before him.

  ...

  The battle ended and Aleus who witnessed it from start to finish was astonished. Hiro possessed a lot of means allowing him to stand his ground against the stronger opponent, the fragment. And with his last two attacks he displayed something Aleus could never have imagined.

  But even Hiro had limits and Aleus had seen as much otherwise why would Hiro burn his life force to increase his stats. The end result of which was he ended up in a half unconscious half conscious state, now drifting in space at the will of worldly forces. But despite his condition the two holy swords did not loosen out of his grip.

  He was injured and both swords were doing everything in their power to heal him but not just the body was harmed. This was a technique that burned life force, how could life force remain unscathed and by extension the soul, roommate of the former, was also negatively affected.

  To make matters worse it wasn't as simple as being injured, so the holy swords could not heal him at the same rate as before. It was now slow, so slow it wasn't visible if he was healing or not.

  (As he is I'll have to be the one to bring him back.)

  Thought Aleus not a moment later after arriving before Hiro. He deactivated his dream rune and became real.

  Swoosh.

  He opened his painting and Hiro was sucked into it. The fragment was now history while Hiro was rescued, the only thing left was returning.

  Aleus looked around in all direction, there was nothing but space for a good distance. His home was quite far, he would not reach it at his desired time even when he traveled as a dream body.

  (I have those in the painting, making a teleportation array should be quicker but this heavily depends on the assumption that the ones we used before are still intact. Regardless it is not hopeless, how many could they have erased so soon? Two thirds at most. Sigh, if only we could communicate with those back home.)

  Aleus got to work asking for those inside who still remembered any one of the arrays used before to draw them up. He was confident everyone involved would still remember, as rune practitioners they had excellent memory.

  Shortly after they got to work, making these rune arrays using the material inside the painting. Aleus counted the number of teleportation rune arrays, it was the exact number used initially at the palace.

  (I expected some to not be here considering we lost quite a few ships and masters. It must be because it was a joint effort.)

  He noted while inspecting what was happening inside the painting from outside.

  Time passed and the completed arrays were brought out of the painting, all on white paper with one metre square surface. Unlike the usual golden characters these were black.

  Upon having them he wasted no time activating the first one. The runes gave of a black light before the paper along with the runes turned to dust and scattered into the vacuum of space.

  (The corresponding array must be destroyed already.)

  He concluded then moved on to the second, the third, the fourth,... the eighteenth, all turned to dust when infused with life force.

  "What horrible start up luck."

  He said looking at the remaining arrays, his chances of finding an intact one were less than fifty but he didn't expect to activate this many before finding one.

  He sighed once before activating the nineteenth. The nineteenth was like the previous ones, but the twentieth, when infused with life force the black runes shined with a black light. Soon it formed a black pillar of light while the paper continued to disintegrate.

  (Success.)

  He thought with excitement, but this was a small window before the paper parishes so he went in just as quickly. It only took a second after being bathed in it that he was teleported away.