Chapter 25: Shadow Temple p4
"Haaa…." The fire queen sighed out. She had flaming red hair and scarlet eyes. Wearing a slightly revealing outfit that accentuated her enormous bust, she sat in her carriage.
After the pressure from the Thunder Kingdom, she had no choice but to invade the tiny Yin Kingdom. From what she's heard, the ruler was but a little girl. Little she may be but she was powerful.
Honestly, she hated the thunder king. He was a tyrant, a greedy tyrant who stopped at nothing to gain that of which he wanted.
His newest target, the treasure possessed by the Yin Kingdom's ruler. The Fabricator. A miracle tool of the red grade that was able to make anything as long as the person had a clear image.
But with the current world's knowledge and technology, the best they could do was mass produce a few weapons and vehicles. It wasn't really anything too amazing but what the king wanted he shall get.
"Such a poor little dumpling…" The fire queen muttered.
*Knock knock
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's a message from the Yin Kingdom. From their queen." A servant said.
"I dare say, you haven't checked the contents have you?" The fire queen said narrowing her eyes.
From confidential matters like this, having a servant read the letter would be detrimental.
"I don't dare empress."
"Mn." The fire queen nodded and retrieved the letter.
Opening it up, the queen was shocked.
[Fire queen, I'm going to keep this short. Would you like to form an alliance with me? We both know the power of the thunder king being too big for the world. However, recently, I have managed to develop a weapon of mass destruction using the power of the fabricator. A single use will allow me to wipe out over 200 thousand of the thunder kings men with ease.
As a fellow oppressed ruler's, I do not wish to involve you in the massacre if I can avoid it. Naturally, you may also choose to ignore my warning and be caught in the collateral. You can think this as a threat, I don't intend to hide that fact.
But the simple statement remains. Join and live or ignore and die. Your choice.
If you do not believe me, you may see the destruction for yourself in time when the thunder king arrives. Pray that you aren't too close to the site or else some collateral damage will affect your army as well.
Queen of the Yin Kingdom – Shiro]
"Kek, this little dumpling is rather feisty. Just her writing tells me of her tone." The fire empress muttered.
"Pardon my empress?" The servant asked.
"Nothing, you may leave." She waved her hand.
'For her to adopt an attitude of me being the one wanting the alliance could mean a lot of things. But primarily, it doesn't matter if I joined or not. She can probably deal with this with her new weapon.' The empress thought with a serious face.
She had to tread carefully. Between Shiro and the thunder king, she would rather Shiro win as their military power is bigger than Shiro's. However, if Shiro can give out what she promised, then she really couldn't hold a candle Shiro and her kingdom. They'll become the biggest threat.
"Yet for her to ask for an alliance means there are still complications on her side. She desires this alliance but isn't solo focused on it. A convenient boon if anything.
Thus, meaning she doesn't mind using the weapon on me as well… hahaha, I'm guessing she doesn't see this situation as a threat. But merely a playground for her weapon. Another day in her life." The queen chuckled as she examined the attitude Shiro adopted.
"But… This empress doesn't like to be threatened. Should the little dumpling's weapon be not up to standard, she can bet I'll be going after her head." The fire queen muttered with a cold glint in her eye.
In the end, she didn't mind who comes out victorious. Rather, she didn't mind them weakening each other in the war. The more men they lose, the easier it was for her to overtake either of them in the end.
###
"How're the public donations?" Shiro asked.
"Due to the urgency of the situation, many have been very willing to donate all of their mana. With that being said, a lot of our denizens have already migrated due to the current affairs. Our total tally for MP gathers amounts to 43 million." Fei Ling reported.
"Hais… how far can they even go? If the thunder king is who you say he is, then he'll rather kill a kingdom than to let a cockroach survive. Running away now is just speeding up their death." Shiro shook her head.
"But 43 million, the weapon needs 100 million. We have 2 more days at most which should be barely enough time. As for the manoeuvres we have to pull after the weapon drops, we will have to adopt a wait and see approach." She sighed.
"My liege, to explain to this servant why you believe this weapon is the turning point?" Fei Ling asked.
"What do you think of a moment in your life that you were met with unstoppable power?"
"Under certain circumstances, I should try to run." Fei Ling replied.
"Now, what if you can't run?"
"I'll try to fight."
"And the final question, what if you couldn't even fight it?"
"I'll die trying." Fei Ling replied with determination.
"Indeed, but do you think a tyrant like thunder king will be the same?"
"I believe he will still fight as he is stubborn." Fei Ling said unsure as to why Shiro pointed out his strong personality.
"Naturally. Now, I want you to consider his subjects." Shiro said with a glimmer in her eye.
"His subjects?..."
"You still don't get it. This isn't a fight between kings and individuals but rather the army. Since he is so oppressive and favours an iron fist. Do you think his subjects are truly loyal?" Shiro grinned with her eye narrowed.
The face which didn't belong to the body of a young child caused Fei Ling to shiver.
"The faith and anger the people have against the thunder king is our advantage. Humans don't like to be restrained harshly, it's their natural instinct. When faced against something so terrifying that it breaks their will they'll try to leave.
With thunder king's attitude, he'll kill the leavers and force them to fight." Shiro explained with a gesture of her open palm.
"When you give that fear an extra push and douse them with promises and a way out, do you think they'll take that? In other words…"
"A rebellion…" Fei Ling muttered realising Shiro had already simulated the situation with the description of the thunder king she had given her.
"Indeed. The thunder king would force his subjects to fight but when I give them that extra ray of hope, I covert his army into my pawns.
With his ego and personality, he would never believe something he did was wrong. So this battle will serve as the guillotine to put a crack into his mind.
And when the fire queen chooses a side due to my weapon, the crack becomes a deadly fissure that will split him in half." Shiro smiled sinisterly as she clenched her fist.
"A broken king is no opponent, mere trash by the roadside. Killing him then will be a mercy." Shiro said tilting her head back.
"But that being said Fei Ling… A king is a lonely position. No matter how strong you are, there are times when you are tested. A tyrant like the thunder king has no companions to support his burden.
No one he can trust, no one who can help him. He is wary of every subject under him. Who will betray him, who will stick with him? The constant pressure placed on him tires him out.
Fei Ling, will you be my right-hand woman? One who I can trust, one who I can leave my back to and one who I can call a friend." Shiro said looking at Fei Ling.
"…"
Fei ling kneeled on her right leg as she placed her hand over her heart.
"To I, Fei Ling, there was no greater honour than to serve you my liege. But I was wrong, the highest honour would be to accompany a king not as a servant, but as a friend to support his back and share the burden.
If I were to be as rude, I indeed wish to become my liege's right-hand woman and friend." Fei Ling said as Shiro smiled.
"Then please call me liege no more. Call me Shiro as you are my friend before servant." Shiro said standing up and placed her hand over Fei Ling's shoulder.
"Yes, my L- Shiro." Fei Ling corrected herself with a smile.
Shiro grinned seeing the change in attitude.
"Either way, we're playing the waiting game now. Once we collected enough mana, they'll be dancing in my palms." Shiro shrugged.
"So let's use the rest of these days to improve the Yin Style Phantom Arts."
"As you wish Shiro."
###
"Shiro, we got 100 million mana now." Fei Ling said walking into the throne room.
She saw Shiro examining the orb as she looked up.
"Pass me the mana first. Afterwards, keep collecting." Shiro said as Fei Ling nodded.
The storage for the mana was a neon green crystal. Shiro grabbed it and saw the information.
[Extreme Mana Storage (Red)]
100,000,290/500,000,000
"Oh my. A maximum storage of 500 million." Shiro muttered in surprise.
Transferring the 100 million mana to the orb, she returned to crystal back to Fei Ling.
"Try to gather as much as you can. We still have a day left until the thunder king arrives." Shiro said as she nodded.
Leaving the throne room, Fei Ling went to continue with the public donation's.
[Fabricator Stored MP: 125,000,000]
In her time of waiting, she would deposit all of her MP into the fabricator.
Seeing the 9 digit number, Shiro sighed as it was going to be gone in a few short moments.
[Remotely Activated Atomic Mana Pulse Bomb created. -100,000,000 stored MP]
Looking at the bomb in her hands, Shiro grinned.
The remotely activated Atomic Mana Pulse Bomb or the mana nuke, has enough power to wipe out anything in a radius of 30 miles. Naturally, it won't activate unless primed with the remote.
Only after the remote is broken, can the bomb be activated using physical force.
The best part about the bomb is that it is almost impossible to dodge. The speed of which it sends out the explosive pulse was too fast for most to dodge. Shiro in her prime with nano tech supporting her might be able to barely outrun it. BARELY. And that was when she was the strongest in the world.
Flicking her hand, Shiro summoned a shadow soldier.
Over the course of an entire day, she managed to figure out some of the skills that came with her current abilities.
Instructing it to place the bomb roughly 35 miles away from the kingdom, Shiro sent a shadow bird to make sure it was in the correct space.
Covering her eye with her right hand, Shiro saw what the bird saw.
"Go." She said as both the bird and the soldier dashed out the throne room.
There was only 1 day left before the thunder king's arrival.
Crossing her legs, Shiro had a smile on her face thinking of the surprise she had in stock for him.
"Kufufufu, the feeling of playing someone around your palm is quite enjoyable…" Shiro muttered.
Right now she was like Buddha tricking the monkey king. No matter what the thunder king did, he would lose.
Retreat? Sorry, that just gives her more time to make another bomb.
Attack? Sorry, this miss already has a bomb ready for you.
Hide? Then I can just bomb your kingdom into submission.
The king had to fall someday.
Thunder King Arrival ETA – 1 day.