Chapter 1018 — The Surging Tide

"'Descent' is not entirely a gradual process, especially now that the mapping relationship between the God of War and this world has grown increasingly disordered," Virodai shook her head. "Once all the conditions are met, the God of War may fully enter the material world tomorrow; but if some condition goes wrong, He may linger in this threshold state for a whole year... That is precisely why I am all the more curious what 'knack' that Emperor Luo Yan has grasped, that gives him the confidence to constrain the timing of the God of War's descent within a relatively short window. You must understand that even with Typhon's national strength, it is impossible to maintain the military force around Winterhold for very long..."

"He possesses knowledge we do not... knowledge perhaps deeper than what the Defiants understand," Gao Yang said thoughtfully. "Perhaps one day I will ask him face to face. But for now... I do not care how exactly he intends to 'bring' the God of War down. I care only when it will happen."

"Of course. I will continue to keep watch here, and I will inform you the moment the situation changes," Virodai said gently. Then she gave a light wave of her hand, and the wall returned to its previous state. She remained standing on the holy light sigil, scepter in hand, watching the direction of the Typhon Empire like a tireless sentinel.

As a powerful Transcendent, she could keep gazing from here for a very, very long time.

...

Somewhere in the northern part of Winterhold, on a certain high mountain.

A cold wind came down from the north, howling through the gorges and over the peaks. The clouds seemed to hang within reach, endlessly curling and shifting with the shrieking wind of the upper air. A mage-officer in a dark blue robe of starlight, a golden oak staff in hand, stood on a platform hastily built of great timbers and stone, looking down over the busy construction below.

Mages who were revered in other nations had become ordinary builders here. Powerful spells were used to shape earth and boulders, and amid all manner of flashing magical radiance, enormous stone platforms, towers, amplifiers, and all kinds of large-scale spell facilities took shape with astonishing speed. At this moment, on the flattened mountaintop, a vast circular plaza for spellcasters had already taken form.

Four lime-grey towers rose around the plaza. Above the platform at the center of the plaza, several dozen meters in radius, floated a great ring inlaid with numerous gems and precious metals. More than a dozen battle mages in combat robes were busy beneath that ring — drawing magical symbols on the ground with molten metal, or setting gems of various colors into the correct grooves.

"Sir, the Focusing Ring has passed the resonance test," a mage said, descending from the air and bowing slightly before the mage-officer. "Rune inscription is more than half complete, and the Essence-Extraction Tower's power output has reached seventy percent."

"Mm, very good... With the rune substrate, construction is indeed proceeding faster than expected," the officer nodded, then asked casually, "How far along is the energy crystal inlay?"

"Sixty percent of the inlay is complete — at the earliest, by this time tomorrow it can all be finished," the battle mage said at once. "In addition, the core orb has arrived at the foot of the mountain and should be brought up very soon."

A hint of satisfaction appeared on the mage-officer's face. He nodded slightly, then raised his eyes, his gaze passing over the clouds that rose and rolled between the peaks, and looked off toward distant Winterhold.

...

The "Hall of Arcana" on the castle's upper floor was brightly lit. On a wall inlaid with gems and metal runes, light rippled and flowed. On the shimmering surface, several separate panels each showed scenes from the summits of different mountains — mage units busily and tensely setting up spellcaster positions, enormous towers and Focusing Rings already taking shape, while other panels showed several camps at the foot of the mountains, where engineers and mages were busily constructing all manner of positions and facilities.

Palin Winterhold's hand swept before the wall, switching among the sets of surveillance images. Then he withdrew his gaze and looked at Luo Yan Augustus, not far behind him.

"Your Majesty," the Count of Winterhold said with a slight nod, "construction is more than half complete at every site, and the project on Winterhold's main peak is largely finished."

"Very good," Luo Yan Augustus said calmly. "It seems that at least in this respect, our progress is going smoothly."

The Count of Winterhold looked at Emperor Luo Yan. He seemed to hesitate a moment before speaking tentatively: "Your Majesty, to this day we still have not synchronized any intelligence with Cecil, nor... communicated with them. We have come this far almost on tacit understanding alone. Is this situation not too dangerous? Even if Emperor Gao Yang understands our intentions, that 'trust' must be very limited. Our exchanges of fire along the border have now escalated to a very dangerous degree; it is hard to call it 'controlled military action' any longer. And now we have carried out a large-scale 'reinforcement'... Will this not provoke the Cecil side too much?"

Luo Yan was silent for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head. "On this matter, we cannot have any intelligence communication with Cecil, not even a hint. Such behavior would be far too great a challenge to the 'order' of a war; it would steer the god toward unknowable changes... And by now, His variables are already numerous enough."

"Then what about Cecil's side..."

"...Gao Yang Cecil is a ruler of foresight and wisdom, and more importantly, he possesses a formidable hand. As long as he can hold steady, all of Cecil can hold steady," Luo Yan said slowly, but after a moment he still shifted his tone. "Yet your concerns are not without reason, Lord Palin. The Cecil people's 'trust' and 'tacit understanding' toward us are not unconditional, and by now they have likely been worn down to almost nothing... I will give this matter some thought."

He shook his head, setting the topic aside for the moment, then strolled over to a window on one side of the hall. Through the crystal glass set into the window, his gaze looked down upon the castle courtyard below.

Soldiers were escorting group after group of black-robed figures past the front of the courtyard. In one corner of the courtyard, many more people draped in black robes could be seen standing there, heads bowed as though awaiting judgment.

The faces of these black-robed figures were hidden by their hoods, so their sex, age, and build could not be made out, yet they all shared similar traits: faltering steps, swaying bodies, a vacant state as though sleepwalking, and at the hems and sleeves of some of the black robes, loathsome, horrifying tentacle-like things could be seen ceaselessly contracting and unfurling...

Luo Yan's gaze swept across those black-robed figures, and after a long silence he spoke softly, as though to himself:

"Pray..."