After Luka disposed of the second wave of zombies, he extended his detection net to seek more undead. Luckily, the mage discovered nothing further; Luka slowly returned to the ground.
"Your Grace, please return to the carriage and rest. We should not linger here," Serle advised.
"Okay," Luka agreed. The mage was mentally exhausted because Holy Fire was harder to cast at night and required additional mental concentration to keep the flames alive. At the same time, he had to maintain the Light Barrier so that the zombies could not physically contact the templars and infect the living. Thus, he engaged in dual-casting for a lengthy period. Luka obediently entered the cabin and promptly fell asleep.
The knight captain wrote another message describing the encounter. Serle hesitated for a moment before sending his request for backup. He feared that his small group of four templars was insufficient to protect Luka from the roaming zombie horde. Thus, Serle tossed aside his knightly pride and sought reinforcements from the pope to complete his primary objective.
The night parade of undead shook Dagobert and Hildru to the core because every villager was essential to reclaiming Izan's land. Once the news of the undead contagion spread, no one would live here and risk becoming infected. Instead, the residents would rush to escape the territory. Thus, the two natives faced a dilemma to either disclose this information and watch people go, or suppress it to make the villagers stay but endanger their lives in the process.
After some debate, the couple ultimately decided to be truthful and reveal this information to every village they visit. Dagobert and Hildru felt that the Izan residents should receive full disclosure on the risk of staying to make the right choice for themselves.
Some people may stay and add additional security measures to protect their land. Others might decide that the risks overweighed the benefits of living here. But either way, the couple felt they could not suppress this important news from their fellow residents.
Chapter 97
Reinforcements
"Your Holiness! I apologize for disturbing your rest, but Captain Serle sent an urgent message!" the aide said while knocking loudly on the door.
Pope Demetrius awoke and slowly climbed out of his bed. The church leader opened the door and invited the young man inside. "Come in, Markus."
The secretary entered the room and cast Light. He reverently handed a letter to the church leader.
The pope accepted the paper and read the message. Its content shook the man to his core! "Code Red," Demetrius said grimly.
Markus bowed and rushed out of the room. He quickly passed the alert to other servants inside the residence, and they informed the messengers, who then departed for different parts of Lumina.
Demetrius changed into his church robe with a manservant's assistance and exited his residence. A carriage was already waiting outside. He slowly climbed into the cabin, and the coachman directed the vehicle southbound for the control center.
As the horseshoes clopped on the silent streets, the church leader gathered his wits and began to organize a plan of action. When Demetrius finally arrived at the control center, many officers were already waiting inside.
"Captain Serle informed me that he encountered zombies during his travel within the Izan Province where the last Netherese War took place. Even worse, an undead contagion broke out," the pope announced. "The Divine Church of Light will spare no resources and no efforts to eradicate the contagion and its source."
"Per this objective, I am ordering Lumina to leave its orbit above the kingdom's capital and move to Izan at the fastest speed possible. Second, the templars will reinforce Serle's unit on the ground and root out all the zombies within Izan. Third, all the pegasus squadrons must take part in this mission; they will either scout for more undead forces or deliver supplies to our templars."
"Fourth, we must increase production and inventory of holy water; if necessary, the workers at the food factory could supplement the current rotations in the church basement. Fifth, we will notify Duchess Silverblade and ask her to send men to blockade Izan and prevent people from leaving without inspection; we don't know if villagers are infected unless we use Appraisal to check them individually. Finally, we must retrieve Altima's Godson, who is currently traveling under Serle's escort, and bring him back to Lumina. Execute my command at once!"
"Yes, Your Holiness!" The control room became frenzy with activity as the officers followed the pope's orders.
* * *
When Luka awoke the next morning and climbed out of his cabin, he noticed Lumina hovering above his head! "Why is the flying city here?" he demanded to know.
Serle saluted. "Your Grace, per church protocol, I notified the pope of our encounter with the zombie horde, and he took action based on my report," the captain responded.
"Don't blame the knight for following orders. He acted appropriately."
Luka recognized the female voice and turned around. "Mother! Why are you here?" he asked with astonishment.
"Pope Demetrius issued an order for our pegasus squadron to serve as scouts and deliver supplies to the knights on the ground," Juliette answered. "He is asking you to return to Lumina."
Luka shook his head. "I don't want to go back. I will stay and fight!" he declared.
The mother gave him a stern look. "Don't be stubborn! You are the heir of the Heavensfell duke house. If something awful happens to you now, then our line will end. Your godfather is worried about your safety."
The son bit his lip because he couldn't refute her words. "But I can help!" Luka protested weakly.
Juliette smiled faintly. "You will -- from Lumina. The knights will use up a massive amount of holy water to fight the zombie hordes. We need your help to make more of them quickly. You're the only person who can perform this task."
Luka gave up his resistance because she was right. Even if he stayed behind and searched for roaming zombies, the other searchers would run out of holy water sooner or later. The better course of action was for him to support them by ensuring that the undead hunters would never run out of holy water. "I'm going then," he answered. The mage grabbed his pets and teleported directly to Lumina.
When Luka arrived at his guesthouse, he was surprised to see Matty waiting outside the entrance.
"It's about time you got here," the church official remarked with a grin. "While I wasn't certain whether your mother could convince you to return to Lumina, I made a bet that you would come here first. And it looks like I won!" Matty pumped his fist and struck a victory pose.
Luka glowered. "Stop clowning around! We have work to do!" he admonished.
Matty dropped his form as his face turned serious. "I always knew you were a magnet for trouble, but you certainly outdid yourself this time!" he joked. The bodyguard walked around the house and toward the backyard. He ripped off a covering and unveiled a half-dozen wooden tanks.
The four servants employed by Luka's mother stood in front of a table containing trays of empty glass vials. "Welcome home, young master," the women greeted in unison.
"I arranged for you to produce holy water right from the comfort of home. I also enlisted your family maids to help out; Duchess Silverblade granted permission to assist in this operation that I'm calling 'Endless Holy Water.' Your task is to fill up these empty containers with holy water. So you'll need one casting of Create Water followed by a Blessing. The maids will bottle the holy water into potions. Runners will come by periodically to take away the glass vials and bring empty ones that our craftsmen are creating currently," Matty explained.
"Why can't I work in the church basement?" Luka asked with suspicion.
Matty made a face. "Can't you take my words and deeds at face value?"
"No," Luka answered bluntly.
"Fine," the official huffed. "There are several reasons. First, we don't want the other workers to feel discouraged when they witness you producing holy water ten times faster than them. Second, you would be working from home; this place is relatively
isolated and offers no distraction for your critical task. Thus, I expect your efficiency to increase even more."
"Third, this place is out in the open and accessible by the valkyries for their landing and take-off. They will drop off trays of used vials (each pre-treated with Cleanse), pick up the newly created potions, and fly directly to our ground forces. Your ongoing production at this location will significantly improve the valkyrie's potions delivery," Matty explained in detail.
Luka was impressed by his thinking. "Did you come up with all this by yourself?"
The escort nodded. "I'm not all-brawn, you know," Matty flexed his bicep and grinned.
Luka rolled his eyes. "Let's get started." He walked over to an empty tank. When the mage filled the container with holy water, the servant began to fill the glass vials with the precious liquid.
Luka repeated the process five times and waited until the maids emptied the containers. While he waited, the mage practiced casting Holy Fire on his hand. Since the spell did not affect living tissue, Luka didn't feel any pain. Out of sheer boredom, he performed a dual casting, and the magical flame appeared on each hand.
[Try controlling the shape of the fire.] Bel suggested. Both he and Gripper were fascinated by Holy Fire. Although the two animals harbored an instinctive fear of flames, they felt no danger from this spell. Thus, they couldn't help stare at Luka's hands as he played with magic.
The master thought for a moment. "I'll try." Luka concentrated on his left hand. The burning flame slowly changed shape until it took the form of a rabbit! Then the other fire turned into a gorilla!
Bel and Gripper admired their replicas. [Not bad. Now, try making other people.]
Luka soon turned into a circus performer as he took their requests and continuously changed his flames' shape.
"Young master, I apologize for disturbing your fun. We need you to refill the storage tanks," Arquina interrupted a quarter-hour later.
"Oh, thank you for notifying me," Luka replied sheepishly. He quickly replenished the six containers with holy water. "Should I help fill up the glass vials?" he offered.
The four women shook their heads.
"Please continue what you were doing," the head maid said with a kind smile. Urquina noticed that Luka enjoyed playing with his magic. This behavior reminded her that Luka was still young even though he acted mature for his age. She was glad to see him play and felt sorry for interrupting his fun.
Luka continued practicing his light magic until the women needed him to refill the crates again. He noticed valkyries dropped by periodically to pick up trays of holy water. Each knight wore a backpack to store these trays. The maids helped remove and reload the bags' contents.
Luka hoped his mother would visit him, but she never did. He assumed that Juliette remained in Izan since she was the domain's feudal lord and directly controlled operations within the province.
When Luka got tired of playing with his magic, he spent time watching the servants work instead. He saw that each tank filled up twenty vials. The mage spent approximately three-quarters of an hour filling these containers because his magically created water slowly poured into each container instead of appearing instantly.
Adding the fifteen minutes the maids spent bottling the water, his workgroup made a hundred twenty vials of holy water per hour. Luka felt shocked by this calculation because the valkyries picked them up as quickly as his group was producing them. Thus, Luka didn't realize he was making so many vials of holy water.
As the day passed, Luka noticed the valkyries coming more frequently to resupply. "How's the hunt?" he asked; the knight was waiting for the maids to load up her backpack.
"We found more clusters of zombies, and the templars are running out of holy water," she admitted. "The faster you could produce them, the better," the woman urged.
"I understand," Luka replied with a solemn nod. He waved goodbye to her when she left and then turned toward Bel and Gripper. "Can you help fill the vials?" he asked.
[I guess we can't sit out anymore.] Bel agreed.
Hoot!
The group worked continuously until dusk. The maids returned to the residence to prepare dinner and a bath for the young master.
"Thank you for your help," Luka told his pets as he looked at the impressive stockpile of holy water on the table.
[This task was easy!] Bel puffed his chest, and Gripper did the same.
"I'm thinking of taking a look at Izan after supper," Luka said.
The familiar shook his head. [That's a bad idea, kid! Although you carry Altima's divine essence within your body and probably immune to the undead disease, your presence will attract ALL the wandering zombies like moths to a flame. There's no reason for you to endanger yourself for curiosity's sake.]
The listener considered this advice carefully. After Luka spent some time thinking, he decided to heed Bel's wise counsel. "You're right. I'll stay in the city and let the professionals handle it," he agreed reluctantly. Luka concluded it was a waste of time to fly around Izan now because he didn't know where the templars went.
If Luka arrived at the places already visited by the undead hunters, he would not find any undead to eliminate. And if he somehow comes across the templars, they might mistake Luka for an enemy and attack him instead. During the nighttime, the undead would be more active, while the church forces would be more skittish. Hence, it was too risky for him to roam the province by himself and interfere with church operations.
Luka resumed his magic practice until Urquina called him for supper. He took a quick bath with a maid's assistance before changing into aristocratic attire. When he arrived at the dining room, his pets were already eating their food.
Luka sat in his chair, and a maid quickly placed a tray before him. When she lifted the cover, the patron saw a dish containing muttonchop over rice and peas. The wonderful aroma made his mouth salivate, and Luka to eat while taking care to follow noble etiquette. "This is delicious!" he praised.
"Thank you, young master," Urquina replied on behalf of the servants.
After the meal, Luka retired to his room for the night because he wanted to get up early and start making holy water. He awoke at dawn and began to dress. Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the house. BOOM!
Luka immediately teleported to the bell tower; he chose that site for its unobstructed view of the entire city. The watcher surveyed Lumina to search for enemies attacking the flying fortress. Luka felt relieved when he found none. However, the mage sensed an enormous concentration of light essence under the city. He used Void Step to fly there and investigate.
When he did, Luka saw something shocking on the ground -- the entire Izan forest was gone! In its place was a massive crater; nothing stood in the surrounding areas beyond the blast radius. Even the main church in Sorrel and its accompanying town disappeared!
Luka used Touch the Horizon to reach the crater. He felt a tiny trace of miasma and the residuals of a magic portal. The mage cast Reverse Time; he witnessed Lumina fly to the Izan forest and blast it apart with the city's light cannon! The resulting explosion created a shockwave that flattened everything hundreds of miles beyond the blast radius.
Luka began to teleport to the villages that he had visited. His heart sank when he discovered that the shockwave had destroyed buildings and crushed their unwary inhabitants. He couldn't find a single survivor within the wreckage.
Luka's grief soon turned to anger at the church's callousness for killing his subjects. Yes, he thought the church committed a cold-blooded massacre with its action. After all, how hard would it be to evacuate all the villagers? The church possessed enough human resources to pull everyone out of Izan if it wished. The fact that the church leadership didn't bother revealed how little it cared about the commoners.
The organization's treatment of the Izan natives was an eye-opener for Luka, and this event planted seeds of doubt about the Divine Church of Light within his heart. As Luka used Void Step to fly back to Lumina, he reconsidered
everything he knew about the organization. By the time Luka reached the guesthouse, he had decided to separate himself from the church and its members and keep them at a distance.
Luka quietly entered his bedroom, placed his pets in storage, and teleported back to the Heavensfell estate.
Chapter 98
Schism & Resolution
"You can't enter! The pope is sleeping!" someone yelled from outside.
Pope Demetrius sat up and called out, "Come in."
BAM! The door slammed opened, and Duchess Silverblade stomped into the room. "Why couldn't you wait?" she glowered at the elderly.
"How dare you use that tone of voice?" a templar seethed. He reached for his sword to punish the valkyrie for her disrespect.
The pope raised his hand. "Everyone aside from the duchess should leave," Demetrius ordered quietly. Once the extra personnel departed, the elder rubbed a ring on his right pinky to activate a ten-foot sound barrier around his location. "Okay, let's talk," the host invited with a smile.
"Who authorized Lumina's attack on Izan?" Juliette asked in a calm tone of voice. She determined that this was the best method to deal with the cunning man. Moreover, the noble didn't wish to turn the pope into her enemy.
Demetrius tilted his head for a moment to recall the rotation before he answered. "Bishop Karlson," he revealed.
The listener sucked her teeth and shook her head. "No wonder. Karlson is part of Archbishop Milstein's faction, which broke apart after the leader's divine punishment by Altima. Milstein's followers blamed my son for invoking the goddess to act against the archbishop and his nephew. Karlson likely took note that the undead contagion broke out in my territory and conveniently abused his authority to kill my subjects," Juliette laid out the conspiracy openly for the church leader to consider.
The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima Page 79
