A/N: Hi people,
Sorry about another sort of late update I'm still sick but back at school which mean I have piles upon piles of schoolwork to do. I write this in the small breaks I allocate myself between doing everything else. Sorry if this chapter seems choppy it was going to happen eventually and also Akashi may appear OOC as I am unfamiliar with his character compared to the rest of the GoM.

-Angel

-Chapter 6-

The Red King

Shoji pieces slid across the board with ease controlled by elegant, pale fingers with neatly trimmed nails. The pieces continued to move the man playing against no opponent but himself. He played the game as if It were his way of planning attack carefully considering both the moves of his own army and the imaginary opponent he was facing. The pieces representing his own armies made careful well-planned manoeuvres forward while the opponent appeared to be making the board game equivalent of a head on charge.

"Checkmate." The opponent's king sat in a corner of the board surrounded by pieces of the man's army. A sadistic smile crept across the man's features fire burning in his heterochromatic eyes. He took the opposing king from the board throwing it in the air before snatching back before it even reached the peak of its arc. Shoji pieces certainly weren't human beings but he could control them all the same. For his words are absolute and all must bow before him. No one dares oppose the Red king, nobody, not even the other kings and especially not the Magister.

"Sei-chan." The redhead turned his head to glance of his shoulder at the man standing by the room's door. He was tall with long stringy black hair falling around his chin and gentle eyes. Mibouchi Reo had been a constant presence since he was a child as a trusted yet obedient friend and advisor. Grey met red and gold as the two made eye contact the older walking over reaching down to take the young King's hand. The offered assistance in rising was gently refused as Akashi stood brushing imaginary dust from his spotless black pants.

"I assume Chihiro has information, otherwise I requested not to be disturbed." Mibouchi nodded in affirmation as Akashi swept from the room velvety red coat flying behind him. The young king was either a tyrannical idiot or a dictator mastermind. For all his worth Mibouchi wouldn't pass judgement, not yet. His ruling was still young; he had plenty of time to prove the critics either right or wrong.

-Consumed by Shadows-

"Good to see Mibouchi-san found you Akashi-sama." Mayazumi Chihiro glanced over his shoulder as the Fire king entered the room. The Shadow-wind mix-mage with a talent for information gathering turned back to his screens tapping in a few controls before an image of the land of Teikou appeared on the largest screen some areas highlighted in different colours. The Wind and Shadow kingdoms were highlighted in pale green their border in an almost offending bright shade of lime. The Light and Water kingdoms were both highlighted in yellow the border between them in an almost gold colour. Daichi was in blue, the Fire kingdom in red and the Earth kingdom in purple.

"So Shintarou has announced war on Tetsuya and Daiki has done the same to Ryouta, anything actually new?" Bland sarcasm dripped from Akashi's voice. If the king hadn't been so naturally intimidating it would have been a good reason for Mayazumi to chuckle. Instead he just tapped one of the arrow keys to switch to a new slide. It showed the meeting in the Water kingdom throne room two days prior at roughly the same time the Wind kingdom had officially declared war on the Shadow kingdom. Mayazumi played the video watching Akashi as the Fire mage watched the video intently.

"That means the attack will be 5 days from now correct." Mayazumi nodded typing in more commands putting the screens back to surveying the castle and it's surrounds. Akashi sat on the edge of Mayazumi's desk back straight staring down his intelligence lead with an intense mismatched gaze. The older man appeared to be lost in thought pale eyes scanning over his screen absently ignoring his liege.

"Chihiro." Akashi's commanding tone bought the grey-haired man back to attention. He matched the red king's gaze with ease glaring back at him with an intensity to match the others.
"Yes, Akashi-sama" He stated calmly not letting his eyes stray as much as he desperately wanted to look away.
"As much as the affairs of my former companions are interesting. I already know what is happening, my eyes do not miss a thing." Akashi slipped off the desk standing and adjusting his blood red tie. He left the room without another word instead simply emanating an air of power and heat some of his intense fire magic seeping into his aura.

"Don't do anything idiotic Akashi-sama." Mayazumi sighed running a hand through his hair before turning back to his screens.

-Consumed by Shadows-

"Satsuki" The familiar drawl of her old childhood friend now king made the pink-haired strategist groan.
"What?" She snapped whipping around the tip of her ponytail effectively flicking Aomine in the face. The Water king rubbed his cheek subconsciously observing Momoi's state of disarray with vague amusement. Momoi nearly growled moving turn away and continue on her path down the corridor to Imayoshi's office where the commander and strategist had been planning to have a meeting regarding troop allocations for the attack on the Light kingdom.

"Before you say anything Aomine-kun, may I remind you that you're the one who ordered this attack." She turned on her heal in one swift motion ponytail swinging behind her as she walked. Aomine sighed watching the girl's retreating back with a somewhat forlorn expression. As much as he was quite possibly the most lazy and perpetually bored king Teikou had ever seen it didn't mean he wasn't human. Akashi and Tetsu were the 2 kings that had the least claim to humanity. One was a tyrant and the other appeared to have no emotions to the point of appearing to not be effected by even the most disturbing of scenes. Like ghosts, as much as Aomine would later deny it he was afraid of ghosts that fear definitely wasn't helped by the disappearing habit of his former best friend.

"I wasn't going to say anything brash…I think." He turned back down the corridor the way he came heading towards the roof entrance. There was nothing more relaxing to Aomine Daiki than sleeping on the roof whilst his underlings worked their butts of planning an attack that they'd win even without thinking. The only one who could beat him was himself and the only kingdom that could beat the Water kingdom was the Water kingdom alone. The motto worked for him, the motto would work for his people simple as that.

-Consumed by Shadows-

"Riko-san" Kuroko slipped into the office of his second in command with ease standing before the young women who spent most of her time training new recruits into the Shadow kingdom's military. The brunette looked up adjusting her reading glasses tapping her pen on top of the moderately sized stack of papers sitting before her. She tilted her head to the side ever so slightly asking a silent question of what he was doing hear along with gesturing for him to take a seat on the opposite side of the desk.

"The attack strategy?" Riko notably straitened on the word attack beginning to sift through the folders on her overcrowded desk to find the one the king was after.
"Here," She pushed the file across the desk towards the teal haired teen who opened it smoothly sifting through the pages one by one reading them quickly but accurately to gain as much information as possible.

"You believe this will work?" Kuroko posed the question bluntly studying the brunette with his blank gaze.

"Yes, Izuki-kun approves also, it is the best way to proceed forward." Kuroko nodded shutting the file quietly before pushing the chair back from the desk standing in one fluid motion adjusting his oversized cloak so it sat on his shoulders in a somewhat acceptable manner.

"Thankyou for doing this Riko-san." The Shadow king bowed ever so slightly before striding towards the door in an unusually bold manner.
"No problem Kuroko-sama." She smiled as she spoke returning to the work she dedicated her life to. Sometimes it was stressful but she wouldn't exchange her current position for anything else in the world.

A/N: Thankyou all so much for reading, follows, favourites and reviews. You all encourage me so much with this and I'm really impressed with all the feedback it helps me a lot. Also just as a forewarning I am going to have less time to write for about the next month so don't expect updates anywhere as frequently as they have previously been coming. I shall endeavour for once a fortnight atleast.

Thankyou for your understanding
-A very sorry Angel