Raz awoke from his stupor to see the younglings looking at them, these old men and women with confusion. He wiped his eyes as the others also awoke.

“Indeed, that was a glorious time.” They all whispered the same sentence and laughed. Raz smiled and Saule and opened up the booklet.

He took out some charts and graphs which made Saule’s eyes swirl. Raz chuckled and only simply pushed a paper to the front of the table.

“This paper is the oldest paper of theories we have. This is my first paper. The theory of Travel And Relative Dimensions In Space. I began to research this when we came to this.. Dimension, or more likely, Universe.” Raz’s eyes swelled with pride as he spoke of this.

“You see, we did indeed try some experiments, many volunteers appeared among our ranks to travel into black holes to see what happened, but most of the time, the ships blew up before our eyes.” Regret filled in his voice he croaked out.

“Until, we sent something into Devil’s Maw.” He paused as he stared at Orla. She nodded and continued for him.

“Yes, before you were born Saule, I had sent a couple of my disciples into it, but the ship didn’t get destroyed, it disintegrated. That was a first in our experiments. But we disregarded it because after all, we saw it get destroyed before our eyes time and time again. Now though, we’re getting this signal from it. Which means, Raz was right. And my disciples are still alive in most likely, the same place Empress is.” Orla slapped the table as she let out a big smile.

Saule became ecstatic and once again nearly fell down from her chair.

“Come on then! Let’s send a ship!” She pleaded with them.

Sha only shook his head again as he looked to Lasda. She nodded and waved her hand. Colourful light began to flow from her fingers which created an image.

In the center of this image was a black mass with grey orbs floating around it. On the outskirts of this image were tiny motes of red all surrounded by hexagonal blue light.

Lasda pointed to the red and furrowed her brows. “See these? These are Intergalactic Void Beasts, they seemed attracted to the black hole so we surrounded both them and the black hole in a Qi-Magic forcefield made out of very precious items.”

“We need to slowly get rid of those beasts, only then can we try and inspect it again.” Lasda stared at Saule. “Lasda Yami, Magic Department nominates Saule Letz for Temporary Commander role.” She stood up and put her hand up to her face, splitting the two sides.

The other ministers all hesitated before following Lasda.

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As the people of Larystaro panicked about the Empress disappearing, the person herself was about to enjoy a grand feast in Duke Kars home.

Sounds of construction rang out from every part of this place. And if one had a birds eye view the mansion, which had been extended and grown into a palace, was the epicenter of the growing base.

The Duke had been given lots of land in the city yet he never used it, keeping it forested, almost as if it was a tiny forest within this city

He began to build many buildings. Of course that was only on paper, Emelia was the true person supervising and puppeteering him from behind.

She began by building homes and shops for the common people in the outskirts of his territory. In some secluded hidden areas there were tunnels leading underground, where Emelia planned to install barracks’ and warehouses.

In order not to arouse suspicion from the ruling powers in this capital city, they could only do everyone slowly and carefully. Fully vetting everyone before they can work.

The work on the new extensions to the new palace were done first and fast. They then began work at the barracks underneath.

Due to Duke Kar being retired and not very social, not many people visited him. Most people in the city feared him.

Because Duke Kars birthday was nearing he, like every year, sent out invitations for his comrades and loyal ex-subordinates to celebrate with him. Every year, at that exact time, the capital city would be filled with military personnel.

In the dining room, the room was filled with vibrant music and colorful lights. The two double doors at the front of the room were suddenly opened and all the chairs were shoved back as the inhabitants stood up.

“Greetings to Teacher, greetings to Father!” All of Duke Kars children stood up and shouted at the same time. Duke Kar let out a small cough. His children called out Emelia first, not their own flesh and blood father. But there is nothing he can do about that.

During the month where Emelia had been building the phase pistols she had also been teaching Duke Kar and the children magic. How to gather it, refine it, use it, and let it out.

They were all innately good at magic, which is why they suffered under Qi. Especially Kalene, who grasped it first and was currently the most powerful. While the rest of the children were mere Magic Apprentices, Kalene was already a Magic Pupil, nearing a Probationary Magician already.

A delicious aroma flowed in the whole room, the table was completely full. Duck, chicken, pork, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, you could find anything you wanted. Nothing was left behind in the kitchen, causing the chefs who cooked it all to moan, but they didn’t complain. They loved Duke Kar, the main reason being that he paid them, but the other reason was that they were military chefs that followed Duke Kar even after he retired.

Emelia smiled at them and sat down at the family head seat, while Duke Kar was relegated to the side seat. “Let’s eat.” She announced and they began to dig into their food.

As they ate, Emelia looked around, inspecting them one by one. When her gaze reached Kalene she furrowed her brows. “Kalene, meet me after dinner, I need to discuss something. Duke Kar, come with her.” Duke Kar nodded along with Kalene and continued to eat.