tales of perdolia

49

Chapter 49 (Continued)
Council of the Nine - Shadows Over Starfall

A cold haze clung to the towers of Starfall City. Within the crystalline Hall of Accord, eight Emperors gathered beneath the flickering projection sphere.

Allen's holo-emblem-Emperor of Chrono Spiral-remained dark, his absence more unsettling than silence. But the meeting had already begun, tension pulsing like electricity.

The atmosphere was fractured with static images of a recent disaster: the ruined husks of the Anatomy Machines, torn asunder by a force that was supposed to be extinct.

A name echoed unspoken between them:
Knight of Orion.

He was alive. And far stronger than before.

At the chamber's heart stood Infinite - the shadow-clad Emperor of Calamity Prime. His voice crackled like dying stars.

> "A week ago, the last of the Anatomy Machines were reduced to scrap by the very enemy we vowed to erase - the Haven Knights. And somehow... the leader of those ghosts still lives."

His crimson eyes burned through the circle.

> "Knight of Orion. He should be a memory. Instead, he broke my spear... and rose stronger than ever."

Beside him, standing tall in obsidian and violet armor, Embryo - the Empress of Anubis - tapped her twin-bladed staff against the floor. Her voice rang clear and firm:

> "High Command has spoken. Our Emperor demands answers. Does anyone here have an explanation?"

The gathered Emperors exchanged stunned glances, each visibly shaken by the return of a foe once believed extinguished. None spoke.

Even Lyra, the Evening Star Emperor, held her tongue, her harp silent in her hands.

Only Professor Green, the Ring Dragon and technomancer of Starfall, dared chuckle - a hollow sound.

> "The readings were impossible, even by Saturnian standards. His aura was... transdimensional. The laws of entropy bent around him like ribbon."

> "That doesn't answer how I couldn't kill him!" Infinite's voice thundered across the hall. "My spear pierced his core - dark magic fused with calamity flame. He should've melted in agony!"

Just then, the sphere crackled.

A signal forced its way through.

Allen's blurred figure formed in the projection-dust and smoke swirling around him, the Chrono insignia flickering on his torn cloak.

> "I made it back... from Atlantis."

All eyes turned to the holo-feed.

> "I failed. The territory's still theirs. And I saw him... Orion. Him and his damn knights - they interfered."

Alexander, Emperor of Sybaris Aflame, stepped forward, fire coiling off his armored shoulders.

> "You what? You went without me?! You know full well what they did to Willis. We could've made them pay! Why didn't you call me?"

Allen's voice was hard. Cold.

> "Because I had to go home... one last time. I wanted to see it burn. But Orion didn't let me finish what I started."

Infinite's gauntleted hand clenched as black mist curled around his crown.

> "Enough of your pathetic sentimentalism. I don't care about your family or your grudges. What matters is this..."

He raised his hand. A spectral war map unfolded in the air-pinpoints of Haven activity glimmered dangerously close to Federal strongholds.

> "If the Knights of Haven are surfacing in Atlantis-that can only mean one thing."