CHAPTER 6 THE GATHERING OF STORMS

Celestine POV

"Ah, another vision"

I thought as I found myself in a place which she fell in love with for the past 2 years of its beauty, the endless space. Even though she had seen it in the last 2 years, she couldn't stop admiring the beauty and vastness of this boundless sea of stars. I looked around me to find any familiar sight from my previous visions. None so far. Large floating rocks are my only company.

For the next few minutes, I flew around, admiring the new sights. I then noticed a white figure from the corner of my eye. My heart fluttered as I immediately flew to the white speck attached to one of the large rocks.

"Could it be?"

I approached the rock with hope in my eyes as I flew over it. I soared as the familiar white ship laid to rest. It is a gigantic white ship made of entirely metal, its design, and creation are too complex for Eostia's standards. The ship had 2 protruding wings, 2 giant barrels that could blow blue flames (based on her previous visions), and a crow's nest which is the command room. I flew towards the command room hoping to see him again.

I entered the room and found it bustling with activity. Multiple albino-haired girls on the cusp of maidenhood with the same faces and clothing moved around relaying orders and fulfilling them. The room is still a confusing mess for her but she got used to it after several visions. I watched with a smile as these young girls fulfilled their duty. Suddenly, the door opened from the outside. Two people came out of it.

One is a woman of cold beauty. Like the rest of the crew, she is albino-haired. The difference is her stature and demeanor. The crew members are stoic young girls wearing white uniforms making them look like children, meanwhile, the woman is another breed entirely. Her body is much curvier, her hair is much longer compared to the chin-length hair of the crew members, and it reaches all the way to the ground. She wears an article of exotic clothing, a very tight white gown design akin to Mai's clothing but without the plunging v-neck line that hugged her body. It was also backless, displaying her flawless skin to all. She also wears a big skirt covering that protects her exposed legs from the sides. Two long white gloves protected her dainty hand. White thigh-high long boots protected her legs from the ground. She was a picture perfect of a princess. I admired her beauty for a bit but my attention was taken by the young man beside her.

There he is. I didn't notice he had grown again.

The young man was a direct contrast to the woman beside him. His skin was dark, akin to a dark elf. His head was covered with short pale hair with bits of black in it, it must have lost its original color. He had sharp features making him quite handsome. Wearing a gray uniform and white pants, he looked like the picture of authority. His sharp gaze looked around the room as I examined him closely, noting all the changes in his growth. I blushed as his sharp gaze looked through my astral body. Our faces are too close.

This young man has been the center of my visions for the last 2 years. In the beginning, he was just a boy at the age of 10 fighting in a war he should have no part in. Back then, he still had deep dark hair and fair skin. As visions passed by, I watched him grow in body and strength as years passed by in my visions. Once, he was just a boy with orange armor. Serving a captain of his in a ship akin to this one. Now, he had become a handsome young man with his own ship and crew. His appearance had also changed quite drastically over the years without explanation but it actually made him more pleasing to the eye, to be honest.

This man is Mika Noah, the captain of this ship.

I continued to admire his grown self (the last time I saw him, he was just 15, now he was 18 or 20. I think) as he walked towards the command chair which is a chair that elevates via an unknown contraption to her. It allowed him to see the view clearly from the front and made his voice louder for his crew to hear. He sat on the chair and it went up, and I floated alongside him. And then the white princess floated up and took a seat on his lap while wrapping her arms around his neck.

I watched with gritted teeth and jealousy in my heart as they talked to each other.

"What did Miss Sumeragi's message say?" He asked

"They needed assistance, it would be their final mission and they want our help." Her stoic but silky voice answered.

"Coordinates have been sent." She continued

"Well then, better join them before it's too late. Set course to the coordinates!" He ordered.

The ship went into activity. A loud thrumming sound echoed around as the ship came to life. It's now going to fly. I watched as the ship flew off the rock it was settled on. I pressed my face on the window in wonder as we passed the gigantic rocks around us. Our journey had now begun towards combat.

*timeskip*

I watch as we slowly approach an ongoing battle. I would never get used to seeing a war. Even in the hundred-year war against Olga, I never once led or took part in huge battles. I only clashed against Olga's magic. I watched as the dark void was filled with beams of light and explosions as the battle raged on. A blue ship was surrounded by numerous red knights who were attacking it. The blue ship's green field of energy is its only protection from the onslaught. Four unique-looking knights are defending the blue ship but they are outnumbered. From afar, 3 steel Gray ships also start firing at the blue ship.

"Celestial Being is getting swarmed. The GN field is about to fail." One of the girls said.

"Launch all GM SNIPERS, I want them sniping all those A-laws. I'm going in. Eve, take command." He ordered as he stood up and jumped down the seat. The white princess, Eve, floated up and took his seat.

I followed him as he went to the launching bay. Suddenly he was covered in light, and in a blink of an eye, he was now wearing armor. It's a white knight armor. Its helmet had V-shaped horns (a motif that I noticed among his armors). The most eye-catching detail of the armor is its blue folded wings, which thrummed with an orange glow as he sprinted toward the ship's opening. I can see that a few blue-armored knights are already out, firing beams of light at the enemy.

I flew with Mika as he flew out of the ship, immediately bursting towards the battlefield. I watched as his wings fully unfolded and multiple parts of them detached and started flying with him. He pulled out his sword made of light as he approached the nearest red knight.

I winced as the red knight was cut in half from the waist before exploding in gore. This time I didn't vomit. Mika then unleashed hell on the enemy. Flying in and out of the enemy formation, he slaughtered anyone he could reach with his blade. His flying wing parts meanwhile separated from him and started hunting down the enemy as if they had a mind of their own. The red knights can do nothing as the fast-moving wing parts fire at them, killing droves of them. Together with the four knights, Mika would defend the blue ship. Beams of light also came from Mika's ship, from the Blue Knights with deadly precision. It was long until all enemy forces and ships were destroyed.

Suddenly a feeling of dread ran through my body. The danger is coming. I look at the direction of the threat.

My jaw dropped as countless swarms of Grey knights emerged from the huge rock shaped like a crescent. Too many, this is impossible even for Mika. I look back at him as he is joined with the other 4 knights. I can't hear what they are saying but I can see them preparing for the coming swarm. Their weapons all pointed to the swarm.

Suddenly Mika charged forward alone. I screamed as I tried following him toward his suicidal charge.

Suddenly he was surrounded by 4 glowing figures. Knights came out of the light, each one unique from the other. 4 new knights joined his charge.

He then stopped and unfolded his wings. Carnage soon followed. His wings and weapons unload a huge amount of beams. Instantly destroying anything unfortunate to get hit.

Blue Knight entered the swarm. Dodging and weaving inside the swarm easily, the blue knight is untouchable. His weapons barked loudly and his six wings separated from him. The six wings flew around him, killing any enemy who got too close.

A pure white knight followed the blue knight. Its body glowed with eerie red lines as it dodged and weaved around the swarm. With a simple flourish, it aimed its weapon at the massive swarm. A massive red destructive light raced through the swarm, destroying everything that it hit. The unlucky few who were grazed or just near the vicinity of the red beam had their gray armor melted on their bodies.

The last two knights are behind Mika, preparing their weapons. A knight with angelic pure wings and a knight with a huge contraption on his back. They then fired at the oncoming swarm.

Hell broke loose.

Two gigantic beams of concentrated light engulfed the swarm. One is a huge beam of orange light while the other is blue. The two knights inside the swarm avoided the beam by diving downwards. The two then dragged their respective beams, engulfing those who hadn't been destroyed.

Such wanton destruction in a short amount of time.

By the time the attack was done, there was no sign of the swarm left. The 5 knights then flew back to the white ship. I followed behind them. The 4 knights accompanying Mika dissolve in blue light. The blue knights stationed outside the ship have also returned inside and gone inactive.

Mika's armor dissolved as he entered the command room.

"Status report," he asked Eve.

"Celestial Beings' mission was a success, all innovators were eliminated. There were casualties," she answered.

"Who did we lose?" he asked with a somber tone.

"Tieria was killed in action. But I don't think he is dead." Her statement surprised Mika as he snapped his head to her.

"Explain"

"I felt his consciousness join the Veda system, it basically preserved his mind and ego while his physical body died."

"That's…..good, at least we can offer a new body for him. What do you think?" he sighed in relief.

"Whatever decision you make Master, I'll support it, although offering them a body for Tieria would actually owe them a favor to you," Eve answered after a few seconds of thinking.

"Well let's do that."

The dream then turned dark.

*end of vision*

That wasn't fair

I pouted furiously as I stared at the ceiling. Annoyance in my heart.

I still want to see more!

I turned my head to the culprit of my awakening. Claudia is standing in her revealing armor (although I am starting to like the full-body armor design) with a sour look on her face.

"Claudia, whyyyyyyy?" I whined to her.

Claudia only rolled her eyes. Blasphemy, you shouldn't roll your eyes to the Goddess Claudia.

"Because it's morning and you need breakfast. Alicia is waiting for us. Prim arrived just this morning and she's going to join us. You need to be there." With that said she pulled the covers of my bed, exposing my nude body to the morning chill.

"Aurg" With a groan I stood up as Claudia started to clothe me, after that, she started to take care of my hair.

"Any news from the other shields?" I asked her, stifling a yawn.

"Letters from Mai, Lulu, and Kaguya came. Mai is traveling with Vult. Lulu will be here by tomorrow and Kaguya will be delayed but she will arrive by this week. " she answered while brushing her particularly curled hair.

"Good, how about the Karrok scout?"

The Karrok scout was a brave man to be able to go in and out of Olga's territory. I can't even enter the land before getting accosted by Olga's legion. That man had my thanks, his dedication and bravery had greatly contributed to this war.

" Alexia has sent a letter, the scout has returned safely from his expedition. She will be accompanying him to Feoh tomorrow," she replied.

"That's a relief, I'd like to meet and thank the man who made this campaign possible. Now let's go, I want to see Prim." I said to her with a happy smile.

Timeskip

Arcturus Fortress, dining hall

"Oh, you've grown young lady" I hugged the pink-haired princess as soon as I saw her. When Prim became the symbol of Ur, I had grown fond of her. Her parents started grooming her to be its next ruler at an early age so I blessed her and made her one of my shields to alleviate her burdens. I think I did a good job. Ur loved Prim and she had started ruling Ur through her parent's guidance.

"*Giggle* Thanks, your grace. You are still as beautiful as I first saw you" she greeted me back as I enjoyed embracing the girl.

"Good morning, your grace" Alicia greeted as she arrived with Claudia in tow.

"None of that, just call me Celestine. We are all equals here" I said to them, tired from polite mannerisms.

"Yes, you-Celestine-Sama. " That can work.

"Now, let's eat shall we"

For the next hour, the 4 of us ate and discussed what we would be doing while waiting for the other shields. Claudia would be taking over Beasley's job of keeping the mercenaries in line. She also pointed out my security while she was away. Alicia volunteered to be my guard for the day but I rejected her. I would be spending the day with Prim in the Fortress which is secure enough. I pointed out to Alicia the people's status in the outskirts of Feoh. They need food and many of them are homeless. They needed help. Alicia frowned at this, she would tell Beasley to make some arrangements to solve the issue. She would also go and assess the situation with Beasley.

So our day began.

*Linebreak*

Mai POV

Route to Feoh

" I still don't get why you need to do business with that pig" I grimaced as the memory of the Pantielle heir, his obsession over her still creeps her out.

" The Pantielle family has something Kin needs, I just negotiated with them," Vult replied to me.

We are currently riding to Feoh to answer Celestine's summons albeit delayed by the Pantielle heir (who tried to marry me, again) we will make it by day tomorrow.

" This artifact is of great importance to our task, Mai. It needed to be done." Kin added.

"Hah, of course, we would need it. It's not every day the Goddess herself requested our service." Vult laughed. A big grin on his face.

I smiled at him. The Kuroinu mercenaries have been my family since I was a child. They taught me everything I needed to become a successful mercenary. It was their teachings that led to me becoming part of the Seven Shield alliance as queen of mercenaries in Rad. Celestine herself took notice of my achievements and blessed me.

Now it's Kuroinu's time to become a hero. Celestine hired the Black Dog's service for a campaign. A campaign to kill the Dark Queen Olga. Finally, they are going to get the recognition they deserve.

"What so special with that by the way." I pointed out the artifact on Vult's waist, a simple red gem.

" It would be our vital piece in piercing the Dark Citadel's protections" Kin simply answered.

" Don't worry about the details Mai, we have a plan" Vult smiled at me reassuringly.

I believed him. They would fulfill the job and come back as heroes. I trust Vult.

3rd POV

"I can't believe I left the Goddess for this" Alicia is currently riding with Beasley as she assesses the outskirts situation with his guards.

"Here we are Alicia, one of the food storage we have in here." Beasley gestured to one large warehouse where food is to be stored for winter. It consisted of sacks of long-preserved food to last the winter.

The guards opened it. Alicia's mouth fell in shock as she stared at the empty warehouse instead of a fully stocked one.

"What's the meaning of this Beasley!" she roared to Beasley. He was in shock too.

"Alicia-Sama, I swear it was fully stocked for winter. The peasants must have stolen them." he defended. She believed him. Those honorless curs would do it indeed.

"Search the place. Find those stolen goods and execute the ones who stole them," she ordered the guards.

The guards obeyed her orders with sadistic smiles. For the entire day, the guards would break into houses to inspect for stolen goods. The poor families can do nothing as they find the food the Goddess Celestine gave them. The guards would declare the food as stolen from the warehouse much to the residents' confusion and fear, they had no idea about any stolen goods. They would then be restrained and tied to one another for execution. No one was safe. From beggars on the street to poor families in crude houses, everyone who had been given food by Celestine would be captured, even the poor little girl last night. They would be executed for stealing from the kingdom. Even people who have a better quality of life in the slums have been implicated, the guards claiming their hard-earned food and money were stolen. That day over 300 people and families were executed by beheading. Their corpses were thrown in one massive hole to be burned as the night finally came.

"Alicia-Sama, we found the stolen goods far too late. It was already eaten by the peasants." The guard spat.

Alicia is currently wiping her bloodied sword, for the entire day she had beheaded many people and even children.

"They're all criminals of the kingdom," she told herself.

"Hmph, as expected of these scums. Take everything valuable in their absence. Take everything to Beasley. He will do the rest to clean up this mess" She would then ride off. Unknowing about the plot she just allowed it to happen.

The guards took everything valuable they could find while laughing and hollering at the princess's stupidity.

Meanwhile, Beasley and the Bishop are pleased with this turn of events. Currently, the two are drinking in a brothel, both men have women pleasing them below the waist.

"You outdid yourself this time Prime Minister, ha ha ha oh how I wish I could see it." the bishop hollered.

" It was child's play for me, but you should be careful of your image yourself, Alfonso. Alicia is currently sheltering the goddess Celestine" Beasley warned his partner in crime.

"Bah, that whore never found out about us while we were under her own kingdom. I bet she can't see her toes with how big her breasts are, hahahahahaha!" the bishop is truly drunk.

"Get off me bitch!" he would then grab the slave's hair and kick her off. The slave would fall on the ground in pain, she would no longer rise up again.

" Now onto serious business, what did the Mortadella brothers say?" he asked.

" They accepted the deal. They would buy the land as long as we would help them cover their operations." Beasley said in glee. The purge Alicia made allowed Beasley to steal a huge amount of land on the outskirts of Feoh. not only that, Alicia also killed everyone who opposed Beasley in the area.

"Tell them I would do it as long as I have the first choice of every batch they send. This one no longer satisfies me." Alfonso would start kicking the now-dead slave on his feet.

Beasley merely smiled but he wasn't done yet.

"I have heard of interesting news by the way"

"Oh, and what is that?" the bishop's curiosity was piqued.

" The black dogs are gathering and they are planning something" he whispered.

" What is it?"

"A rebellion"

*Timeskip*

Kaguya POV

Thorn, Kaguya's temple

Night

"Lady Kaguya, more priestesses have collapsed. They all have the same visions" One of my priestesses barged into my room as I meditated, still comprehending what my God had shown me.

"Are they alright?" I asked her.

"No, they are all babbling mad about a butterfly. They are starting to go mad about the destruction that's about to come. The doctors had already resorted to restraining them in their beds" the poor thing said in panic, not knowing what to do.

Our sect is dedicated to our insect God but lately, he has been showing us visions. All of us are trained to read and to be able to decipher whatever vision our God reveals to us. It didn't help at all.

The vision was a confusing mess. It wasn't understandable. Not only can't it be deciphered, but it also starts affecting our minds. Not even me is exempted

I shuddered as I felt the telltale sign of another vision blooming in my head.

*Vision*

I find myself in the same place as I have found myself again and again. A gigantic desert of ash.

It stretched as far as the eye could see. The desert wasn't made of sand but pure ashes but it wasn't hot. It was night, I think. There were no stars or any source of light nearby except for one.

Two gigantic pairs of wings made of light bloom out of the ground not far from my position. Harsh winds coming from it. I started to run towards it. I need to know what it is to stop this epidemic vision. Many times I have failed to approach the center because of the harsh winds but this time I persevered.

My lungs burned as I ran, and my breathing became ragged. I noticed my entire clothes got shredded by the wind, leaving me buck-naked. I didn't care, I was in a vision.

As I approach, I can see that the wings are made of a lot of colors, changing at random intervals akin to a rainbow. I watched in awe of its beauty. I finally arrived on a giant dune where the wings originate. Ash is sticking to my nude body as I slide down to see what it is.

Dread filled my entire being as I stared at the inhuman figure attached to the wings. It was kneeling on ash, its figure was shadowed by the light coming from its wings.

But I knew.

It was staring at me.

Red eyes.

A black hole in the air.

A mustached face on my face.

It was staring at me.

It knows I'm here.

It knows where I am.

Red

*Vision end*

"Snap out of it my lady!" a group of Miko's restrained the thrashing and screaming Kaguya. Tears of blood ran down her face as she fought and screamed at her followers. It was not until nightfall she would gain coherence.

Her subsequent madness had her Mikos fearing for their lives if more visions were soon to follow but none came. Kaguya had deciphered the vision

"I had to go to Celestine. A new threat has emerged to Eostia"

Unlike Olga, this threat only wants one thing.

TO CONSUME THE WORLD UNTIL ASHES REMAIN.

THE FOREIGNER FROM THE STARS HAS COME.

End chapter

Props to those who could recognize the MS of this chapter.