Chapter 157 - Fifty What?

"What should we do, Alexander?" Aleyria asked calmly. They had just finished interrogating "Prince Marius" the Devilkin a few minutes earlier and were having a mini meeting with their trusted friends and advisors.

Blackfire, Flamewing, Dubaza and Caerose were there. 

Although the Devilkin had been extremely stubborn in the beginning and refused to say anything except insults and death threats to the both of them, he became extremely cooperative after Aleyria lost her temper ever so slightly.

As a God candidate with powers that defied the imagination, it was extremely easy for Aleyria to understand the Devilkin's physical structure and find his pain receptors. And once Aleyria found his pain receptors, it took him exactly three hours of non stop screaming and howling to finally give up and tell Aleyria everything.

"The Gods of the Realm of Darkness should be able to successfully weaken the Almighty's realm suppression to a level where they would be able to send in their heavy hitters in about ten years." Aleyria summarized. "That's much, much earlier than our previous estimate of a hundred years."

"We can either take a defensive stance and spend the next ten years building up our army and defences, and then fight them with our defensive advantage, or we can attack now before they are ready and bring the fight to them. Either way, it would be a massive undertaking. We need many more men and resources, much more than the maximum that Arcanus 26 can muster." Dubaza added.

"We will attack, of course. As far as possible, we want to avoid having to fight in our own realm. Doing that would give them free reign in dictating the pace of the war. They can attack anywhere while we have to defend everywhere." Alexander immediately said. "Offence is very certainly the best defence for us right now."

"I agree." Blackfire said. 

"This is what we'll do." Alexander's eyes glowed slightly gold as his thoughts raced at full speed and an ingenious idea formed in his mind.

"We will divide our full war strategy into five main objectives. 

Our first war objective is to instigate a war between the Ascendants and the Realm of Darkness by way of "borrowing a sword to kill our enemy".  Regis and I will depart to the Realm of Darkness immediately to spread the news that the Ascendant realm is about to complete development of a secret weapon called "Realm Destabilizer" that could easily weaken the power of all realm denizens by 25%. Our realm is too weak to do anything, and it is up to the warriors of the Realm of Darkness to attack the Ascendant Realm pre-emptively to make sure that the Realm Destabilizer does not get used on them. Hopefully this will open another war front for the Realm of Darkness as they cross realms to attack the Ascendants.

Our second war objective is to hasten the beginning of the war between the Realm of Darkness and the realm below them, the Realm of Sin. This will drain yet a significant portion of the Realm of Darkness's strength and resources. Regis and I will do this as well.

Our third war objective is to delay the weakening of the Almighty's Realm Suppression at all cost. This will buy us more time to prepare, and will give the wars that the Realm of Darkness are fighting more time to simmer and enter their white hot stage. Aleyria, you'll be in charge of this. Flamewing, you will assist her. 

Our fourth war objective is to unify this realm and in the process, acquire or train up a fighting force that could fight effectively against the realm invaders. Blackfire and Dubaza, you both will be in charge of this. Caerose, you will assist them.

Our fifth and final war objective is to assassinate the top fighters of the Ascendant Realm and the Realm of Darkness."

"What? Assassinate top fighters?" Caerose asked in surprise. "By top fighters you mean…"

"Their gods." Alexander said simply.

There was a stunned silence after Alexander said those words.

"Well, I'll take their Emperors, Kings and Generals if we can't deal with their Gods." Alexander chuckled at all of his team's shocked faces. 

Only Aleyria had a serene smile on her face. She trusted Alexander completely. Whatever his plans and strategies, her part was to simply execute them. 

"May I ask how do you plan to take out their gods, Your Majesty?" Blackfire asked politely. "Based on what Regis had told us, we need a spark of divinity to do that. And at this point, only Magius has that."

"We'll only begin on the fifth war objective after Aleyria had condensed her divinity, and when the war between both realms have entered the critical stage where participation of the top fighters of both realms become absolutely necessary. Depending on how successful our first objective is, I reckon we have at least five years. Aleyria, can you condense your divinity in five years?" Alexander turned to look at his beloved.

"With Magius's help, I am sure I can do it in one year." Aleyria said. "Without his help, three years."

Alexander nodded. "In that case, I guess the only thing left to do before we all begin is…"

He paused for a moment and looked at all of his team's faces before turning to Aleyria and giving her a gentle smile.

"For us to get married."

The smile that bloomed on Aleyria's face could only be described as… Dazzling.

The team immediately erupted into loud cheers. 

"Let's get married in three days." 

"Three days." Aleyria's eyes widened. "But our guests -"

"Can come if they want to, or stay home. I don't care. I want you to be my wife in three days." Alexander said firmly but gently.

Aleyria blushed lightly. "Alright. If that's what you want."

All of a sudden, a communication device by Caerose's ear suddenly crackled and a voice rang out in her ears.

Although it was designed so that only the wearer can hear, Aleyria and Alexander could easily hear it.

"Urgent news Madam Caerose! The entire Symphonian Starship Fleet of fifty had just appeared two days away from us!"