Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Royal Academy...

Sapphirine Guild Headquarters...

Melinda finally left the Harem space and had Nicole open a portal to let her out into the Academy.

Every one of Hal's women who were interested in the planned retreat had been or was being reached out to and that was true for Nicole as well.

Like anyone given the sort of opportunity the retreat was granting, Nicole was ready to be a part and would head to Sapphire city at a moment's notice.

Melinda was here to speak to the ladies of the Sapphirine Guild who she had spent over a year with and considered to truly be on her side.

"The Guild will disband" Melinda announced.

"What?" Suri Hander asked with wide-eyed surprise.

Here they had all been thinking and working towards the next clash among Guilds in the Royal Academy and were now being treated to this news.

"The guild will either disband or be renamed because the name 'Sapphirine' is about to have a terrible reputation in the Haron Continent. I won't know though, 'cause I won't be here" Melinda said.

"This... We've only been a guild for a year" said another member of the guild.

Melinda shrugged,

"I've only been a student of the Academy for just a little longer than that and I am dropping out regardless," she said.

There was a moment of silence to let those words sink in and whatever impact it had on the ladies of the Sapphirine Guild, Melinda wanted that impact to be had.

She had used the Guild... It had all been a means to an end for her.

She was told she had to join a Guild, but she did not want to and chose to rather form her minute Guild with a maximum of twenty members who had fought alongside her and who had all given her a true feeling of a commander.

"I- I am a member of a Cult whose goal is World domination," she said once the moment of silence had dragged on long enough.

"What?!" said Suri for a second time but this time it was not just an exclamation due to outrage but also an exclamation at the disbelief of how foolish the words she just heard sounded.

"You heard me. I, Nicole, and Valerie are members of a Cult that will take over the world. The one at the head of the cult is Hal and the only reason I am revealing this to you is because you will be welcomed if you want to join" Melinda said and she said it with such a neutral expression despite knowing how silly she likely sounded to them.

"Join a Cult?"

"Yes, join a cult. If your loyalty to your families as well as your loyalty to the Harons is too great that you can turn down the advantages to come from being a member of the Sapphirine cult, then, by all means, turn me down." Melinda said.

"What are the advantages?" asked Leila.

Leila was a Runemaster who had found herself striking a chord with Hal when he visited because of his proficiency in Runemastering and she had even expressed interest in taking him as a mentor.

To her question, Melinda just smiled as she and Nicole let out the pressures of their cultivations to reveal the massive improvements they had seen over the course of a year.

This time, it was Nicole who spoke,

"You are not required to give your bodies if that is what is causing your skepticism but desiring to join the Cult and sealing that desire with a contract that ties you to the very basis of our course will give you cultivation techniques that surpass any technique that any mortal could ever possess.

Whatever field you wish to improve in, the Codex Of Infinity has the knowledge to help you."

"You don't have to believe us. This is an option and when sights are turned to the Guild due to the name, you can tell them you had no idea and they should believe you.

You rebrand yourselves and you can go on as a Guild... I and Nicole will be gone from the Royal Academy though. Our time here is up.

That said, there is no going back once you are a member of the cult and so I do advise that you think of your decision carefully." Melinda said and that was the end of her speech and the end of her attempt to convince anyone.

She was done with the Royal Academy and would have hated to leave without making things clear to her Guild.

***

Two Days Later...

Whatever worries Melinda had alerted her Guild to was yet to happen but that was mostly because all sights and attention had been directed to the Sapphirine Guild in Sapphire City.

Many means were implemented, most notable of which were portable Teleportation circles as well as Space warping with the Abstract Ordinance of Space.

The forces sent by the Harons through the Dane Duchy all learned the hard way that they were not to get too close to Sapphire City or they risked death.

Experts up to the cultivation level of Two star Saints got too close and never returned and the more experts they lost, the clearer it was the Sapphire city was the sort of high-level threat Makena had envisioned them to be.

The Danes, now accepted as the rulers of the Duchy had been ordered, two days before, to engage their experts in the battle against the Sapphire City and this was even though the Silvas had warned that it was all pointless.

In fact, the Silvas decided strongly against sending any more of their forces to Sapphire City, claiming they had lost enough which in actuality was not true.

Anyway, what they felt and what they wanted meant next to nothing in the face of oppression from the Danes who were backed by the Haron Family.

The Emperor wanted the full might of the Duchy capital against the Cult and that meant every family had to take part.

Of course, all that the Silvas had done so far had been fully directed by Hal who considered all occurrences as a movie that he had full control over and he was not wrong...

The two days that had passed so far were enough time for the Harons to transport their own forces to Sapphire city by funding runemasters to somehow push their Express Teleportation circles into cutting down the time needed for the journey.

The Imperial family was not holding anything back, especially against the Silva Family who was being very uncooperative.

Speaking of the Silva family, they saw the return of Adeline who had decided after all not to stay back at the Royal Academy and wanted so strongly to be in the know about what was going on with her family.

Adeline arrived at the Duchy a day before the Haron Forces.

There was really not much to learn though... Her father and every member of the family simply repeated what she had learned through the rumors.

But while she might not have been very involved in her family's power game, her intelligent mind could very well see that her family had given up power much too easily.

It quickly became clear that her family was not even attempting to regain power as they were very open to her about various areas that were revolting against the Danes being in power and yet the Silvas were helping the Danes pacify said areas.

Nothing appeared different about her family but it was clear that their priorities had changed.

The Danes were still a bunch of dickheads but the Silvas were just attempting to maintain the peace because, according to them, they did not wish to get on the bad side of the one backing the Danes.

"Who is the one backing the Danes?" Adeline had asked and she was told her answer lay in Sapphire city...

... The first area the Silvas had tasted defeat before their loss was sealed by the Danes.

Adeline's curiosity was piqued especially since, at that point, the Danes had launched an attack campaign against Sapphire City by Imperial Order and were trying to get the Silvas to be a part of it all.

Adeline was present when her family gave the Danes a hard 'No' and expressed a lack of desire in losing any more than they already did and it confused her.

Why were the Danes against their supposed backing?

What sort of strength did a single City possess to require such militia to take down?

The Haron forces arrived at the Duchy capital with another attempt to press the Silvas, this time with much more oppressive means, and the Silvas finally gave in... They had held out long enough to build the terrifying image of the Sapphirine cult and they could now accept the Imperial Order.

The Silva forces were selected and they excluded Adrien who was still recovering and was said to be in no shape to fight.

The fight against the Sapphirine Cult was shaping up nicely but Adeline, who should not have been a part of it all, decided to volunteer to go with the Silva forces.