Water, in the end, chooses to deepen downward rather than merely flow.
The central hall within the Aqua Empire.
Emperor Nereia and her retainers were engaged in a grave discussion.
“Silva is supporting Ignis... Does it make any sense that they would willingly hand over their life cores to Ignis?”
Nereia’s eyes shone an even deeper blue.
Naus spoke.
“Could it perhaps be because of Metalum? Ignis has attempted to invade Metalum no fewer than three times, yet Metalum has only grown stronger and stronger. Even the distance between Silva and Metalum has now become much closer. I do think it would be enough for them to feel threatened.”
But Nereia’s expression did not change.
“In the past, Silva had its cores seized by Ignis without permission! They should have made them pay the price, yet you are telling me they instead offered up their cores of their own accord?”
Sian spoke cautiously.
“Ignis has already consumed the life cores and created something called ember cores. They have expanded their barracks as well, and are said to have produced a new troop type. However... it was somewhat unexpected that their destination was Terra, not Metalum. Fire was originally meant to aid earth, so why...?”
Levian shook his head and said,
“That is none of our concern. Terra is our enemy, so the fact that they attacked Terra may be good for us, but Ignis growing stronger is not at all a desirable situation. These chaotic relationships must be put in proper order.”
Nereia remained silent for a long while, gazing at the ripples.
“We have moved together with Silva. We jointly fused cores and built barracks together as well. And yet, are they now trying to draw Ignis into this relationship?”
A brief silence passed, and Nereia continued.
“Silva’s current... where is it trying to flow from now on? We need to know that.”
Nereia slowly moved toward the outside of the citadel.
Her retainers followed behind her.
From the northwestern border of the Silva Empire, Aqua’s bluish energy was slowly seeping into a forest linked by dense greenery and the texture of roots.
It was not alien, but nor was it natural.
“Nereia...?”
Sensing a presence, Drian revealed herself between the vines.
Nereia looked into Drian’s eyes and said,
“I wish to get straight to the point. Your decision has left us bewildered.”
Drian briefly steadied her breath and replied,
“I expected as much. I understand your position as well.”
She subtly avoided Nereia’s gaze.
“However, we stood at a crossroads. In the end, we found ourselves facing Metalum. The forest is no longer safe.”
“So you turned toward fire?”
Nereia’s tone held a cold severance, like the flow of water.
Drian did not back down either.
“Metalum has joined hands with Terra, and now they are claiming to be the center. None among us had the strength to keep Metalum in check, so we had no choice but to join hands with someone else.”
Nereia’s voice echoed more deeply through the forest.
“Are our alliance relations insufficient?”
“That is not what I mean.”
Drian shook her head.
“We merely intended to borrow an outside force for a time. If Metalum can no longer exert its power, then we will have no reason to support Ignis either.”
“For your sake, we refused Metalum’s request twice! And then Terra attacked us, stole our cores, and handed them over to Metalum. Right now, Metalum looks down on us. But if we had joined hands with Metalum as well, would you have been able to accept that?”
“Is that not a different situation? Metalum is stronger than us. But Ignis is weaker than you, is it not? I believe that even if we helped them, it will not return to you as a great blaze. If the situation does not flow favorably, then we will take responsibility.”
For a moment, silence passed between the two.
Nereia spoke in a somewhat calmer tone.
“What remains now is the possibility that we, too, can create a different current. We, too, can take action purely for our own sake.”
She soon turned away and left Silva together with her retainers.
Drian gave no answer, merely turning her gaze back into the forest.
After the dispute with Drian, Nereia and her retainers returned to their own citadel.
However, Nereia remained deep in anguish.
“If they helped Ignis, then we have no choice but to check Ignis in return.”
She stood silently in the central hall, gazing south.
Levian said,
“It seems the situation is not as favorable as it appears. To check Ignis, we would have to pass through Terra, but Terra will not permit us to pass. Meanwhile, Metalum has advanced all the way to the center, and if things go wrong, there is a risk they may advance toward Silva as well.”
Nereia, who had been lost in thought, opened her mouth.
“Would supporting Metalum also be a foolish choice for us?”
Her retainers flinched in surprise at her words.
Naus cried out,
“W-what do you mean by that? What benefit would there be in helping Metalum in the current situation?”
Levian chimed in from the side as well.
“Exactly! If it is merely a reaction to Silva’s actions, then such a move would ultimately be good for no one...!”
Nereia looked up at the sky.
“It seems my heart wavered for a moment. The reason I thought of such a thing was that I hoped Metalum would check Ignis in our stead. Terra, which is allied with Metalum, can invade us again at any time. Rather than suffer the humiliation of having our precious cores taken by them, I thought it might be better to exchange cores through dialogue with Metalum.”
She turned toward her retainers.
“But it seems it was an imprudent thought after all. We need a better alternative.”
The retainers glanced at one another and said nothing.
The relationships of mutual generation and mutual opposition were unexpectedly complex.
An enemy to me could be another comrade to my ally, and a comrade to me could be an enemy to my ally—relationships tangled and intertwined with one another.
Levian slowly opened his mouth.
“It seems, after all, that Silva is our only ally. Their recent actions are certainly unsatisfactory, but even so, we have no choice but to continue helping them...”
“Hmm.”
Nereia glanced toward Silva in the east.
“I am not in the mood for that right now. We intend to clearly convey our will to them. We will make our own choice.”
Sian continued,
“Terra is said to have recently expanded their citadel further and even produced new troop types. While the other empires, including us, have each been fusing dual-attribute cores, Terra has quietly produced only their own cores and developed themselves. How about we halt the production of slime cores for a time and strengthen our own camp?”
Nereia nodded.
“Let us do that. The center is growing larger and larger now. If we are careless, all of us may be cut off by them. For now, we must maintain calm and reorganize ourselves.”
She commanded her retainers.
“Be faithful to your respective roles. Replenish the soldiers and rebuild the defensive walls. Once enough wave cores have gathered, we will deepen the citadel at once.”
“Yes, we shall do as you command.”
The retainers bowed their heads to Nereia, then left the citadel.
The interior of the Aqua Empire moved busily.
It was as if they had returned to their original resolve.
The defensive walls destroyed by the Terra Empire’s raid were newly built, and the disordered coastline was gradually put back in order.
“After one dust storm passed through, it has grown quiet as if nothing ever happened.”
A citizen said near the southern border.
The other citizens spoke as well.
“But we’re still uneasy all the same. We never know when those Terra bastards will show up again. Are we supposed to just keep getting beaten?”
“What on earth is Silva doing? Terra keeps growing larger and larger.”
Another citizen sighed.
“Terra chose one good friend, at least. Metalum, of all places. With Metalum protecting Terra, how could Silva come in with peace of mind? It would be nice if Silva protected our side too.”
“Well. If we want that, wouldn’t we have to give them something even greater? Terra isn’t researching dual-attribute cores at all. They’re even handing over all the other cores they obtain to Metalum, aren’t they?”
“Aren’t they giving their own cores to Metalum too?”
“That’s what I mean. If we want Silva to protect us from Terra, we would probably have to hand over all the slime cores we developed to Silva. But I don’t know whether we could actually do that. Silva isn’t exactly a reassuring ally either.”
“In the end, that means everyone will have to fend for themselves later.”
Within Aqua, tidal warriors began to be newly trained rather than slime infantry.
In the research institute, enhancement research on the previous troop types also proceeded diligently.
The bodies of the soldiers were designed to become more condensed, to withstand soil and rock and seep into them more deeply.
The defensive walls were gradually repaired as well.
Basically, defensive fortresses were constructed with slime cores, but defensive walls were also rebuilt with wave cores.
Sian said to Nereia,
“The interior seems to have stabilized to some degree. I believe we can slowly begin now.”
At those words, Nereia nodded.
“Begin the deepening.”
Aqua began the deepening of the citadel for the first time in a while.
The current designers led by Sian gathered around the citadel.
Pillars of water rose with the citadel at their center, and the walls of the citadel undulated fluidly.
The citadel’s circular structure rose above the water to nearly twice its former height.
The citadel seemed still, yet within it, circulation and flow never ceased.
“Deepening complete.”
Nereia declared.
Now the heart of Aqua, the citadel within Nereis, could hold even more energy and supply power to its surroundings.
Nereia looked up at the citadel.
“Keep this in mind. Our current still flows here, in our own way. We change, but our essence does not.”
Aqua’s citadel looked more reliable than ever before.
They now began preparing for new change.
The forest of the Silva Empire was originally quiet.
Yet even within that quiet, there existed the potential for a new being to be born.
The waves of the Aqua Empire did not reach that place.
And yet there were signs that something was coming into being.
Perhaps something harder than slime, and of a more complex structure.
It might become a new threat to certain empires.