Lord Shadow

Chapter 1958: Ruler and Prime Minister

It will really surprise Azief if the Dome still stands firms and had no change or repairs.

The fact that the Dome is still there and looks newly built shows that Arthur repaired it after that event

The Dome is on top of a hill.

The Dome itself is rarely entered by anyone.

But for people of Arturia, it is a political symbol.

The Dome was a symbol of Pandemonium.

And it is political building.

It had no other use other than being a symbol.

But that alone made it precious. In this new era, in this new world, Pandemonium is the number one world power, a hegemon of the world.

And in the history of this rise of hegemon, it has never proactively protected any other power.

One in particular was Poland but other than that, barring other organizations, the forces that Pandemonium do support or back was a political entity that already existed even before the Fall.

Like countries and kingdoms.

But Arturia was an independent power. It was also a small power surviving under the cracks of the world powers.

It was endorsed and protected.

And as long as Pandemonium is in power, that Dome is a protective amulet more effective than any protection formation against other forces of the world

Any force would think twice before offending Arturia or attacking Arturia precisely because of the backing of Pandemonium

Azief looks at the Dome only for a few seconds before he walks toward the Palace.

But unlike before, he no longer conceals himself.

Slowly, the area around him distorted and it revealed him.

Clad in dark clothes, dark aura billowing from the edges of his clothes. Wherever he passes, the temperature cooled down.

The clouds above suddenly turns dark.

And in just a matter of second, BOOOM!

The thunder cracks the sky, a flash of lightning illuminates the darkness.

The guards of the Palace were mostly on their battlements just lazing around.

After all, this is not the ancient times where they have to stand guard on the battlements to know if an enemy comes or not.

There are other devices to detect such things.

They are just there as a precaution and as a reminder.

And if emergency comes, these soldiers could form a military formation and uses the formation of the place to withstand initial attack while waiting for the main force to attack or defend

But suddenly they heard the crack of thunder in the sky

And this crack of thunder in the sky causes everyone to shake. The ground rumbled and the air itself felt oppressive.

All it took was that one moment to find out something unusual was happening. It is not the first time that this island has suffered from thunderstorms.

There is even tsunamis and other more terrifying natural disasters.

None of it makes them feel this oppressed. It was like the might of heaven enclosing them from all directions

It took a moment for all of the guards, the patrolmen, the soldiers on the walls and inside the palace to known this is an unusual thunder and this is an unusual weather

It took them another second to feel the chaotic energy gathering all over the sky.

And alarms rang out in their hearts.

The guards on the walls rushed outside of their canopied battlements and looked at the sky. They know something is wrong in the sky

Because before, they were sunlight covering the entire island. Now, suddenly there is a dark shade. And lightning and thunder come without warning.

And with one look up toward the sky and they were shocked

“What in the hell!”

’What is this!”

“So thick clouds!” one of them shouted.

“Danger! Sound the alarms!”

Everyone looking at the sky could not help but gasp. There is thick dark clouds that is moving toward the palace.

Not only are thick dark clouds moving towards the palace.

There is lightning.

Fiercely pounding the ground. Pounding the ground like there is a god of thunder in the sky pounding the Earth with a hammer of lightning

The ground shakes and trembles and the sky is split into fragments each time the lightning flashes.

It is like lightning cuts through the horizons of clouds.

The only clouds it could not cut was the thick clouds holding this ager of heavens

As for the other parts of the sky, it is the display of rifts all over the sky. It was like someone is slicing the sky

This rift would heal with time. The fact that it still appears there even after a minute shows the force of this lightning possesses powerful pure energy

This deserves an alarm

And then there is this chill that seems to emanate from the clouds.

One look and they all could tell this is not a normal weather phenomenon. Someone is inciting this.

The guards sounded the alarm, and someone quickly run inside the palace ground.

“If only I could super speed!” the soldier that is rushing through the palace ground cursed at the energy dampener inside the palace.

Running inside, he rushes toward the throne room

..

Throne Room of Arturia

Sitting on a chair in one corner of the throne room he is reading something. There is someone standing beside him.

Arthur was in his throne room with his Prime Minister

This Prime Minister was with him the longest and this pair of ruler and prime minister is the rare example of subordinate and superior complementing each other perfectly.

Ahmad bin Nuh who was one of the advisors of Arthur Foster in the past, is now the prime Minister of Arturia.

Arthur is reading some reports about the outside world. The more he reads, the more he frowns.

And then he sighed.

“The world is going crazy again. The world powers are all waiting to see whether Death Monarch would return to calm down the waves”

“Some of them are preparing. No one knows where Death Monarch is. Some of them probably know”

“Many of them do not. Ironically, it is this uncertainty that forces the other faction to adopt a wait and see attitude. After all, this is not the first time Death Monarch seems missing and then he suddenly appears to save the day”

Ahmad nodded

He sighed again

“Still, it did not change the fact that the current wave has momentum that has the power to swallow the world into another troubled times if it is not handled properly”

“There is already many that are dead between the two sides in Pandemonium. A great grudge has been formed. So, how could thing easily get resolved after this?”

He could not help saying this while shaking his head

Then Arthur look at his Prime Minister

“It is not easy to get such reports. Thank you for your hard work”

Arthur said nodding toward Ahmad

“I have some connection with the people in the Shadow Guards. Still, our intelligence agency capability is still far from those of the intelligence agency of the world power. If we have some resources, we could think to expand our intelligence capability and recruit talented spies”

Hearing this Arthur only smiles bitterly but he did not add anything.

The current Arturia is no longer a small island.

It is more like an island continent and there is many things that he needs to spend his resources on.

“The world is becoming bigger and the distance that is easily traversed in the past is now so hard to traverse. It almost felt like we are visiting another planet with how disconnected we are all to one another”

Hearing this Ahmad only nodded and Arthur could only smile bitterly.

This is clear.

Arthur wanted to change the topic. And Ahamad himself knows the current situation of the treasury, so he did not insist.

“The Order of Thinkers is creating other communication methods that would not be affected by energy storms or other obstacles”

Arthur only shakes his head.

“I do not dare to use their method until the World Council decided what to do with Helva. If we take Order of Thinkers side who knows what our position would be later”

Ahmad nodded

“But without Pandemonium on the helm, any World Council resolution would lack some persuasive powers”

Arthur chuckles at this

“Everyone no longer pretend that the Death Monarch in Pandemonium is real?”

Ahmad smiles bitterly at this. He shakes his head

“It is not that simple”

Arthur sighed

“It has never always been simple for this world powers, right?”

He paused for a moment and then shakes his head

“The price of order”

Ahmad listening to these words nodded

“Everyone knows”

He paused for a moment and sighed

“Everyone knows that the one in the Pandemonium is a clone. But not everyone would acknowledge it. They even must pretend that it is real”

“Most of the world powers did not want a war. Acknowledging it might start a new world war. Not because they wanted to, but because they might be pushed into it. I might seem a bit alarmist, but it is better to a bit more cautious”

“Hikigaya, Oreki, Raymond, Hirate, Narleod, all pretend everything is good and well. Even those enemies of Pandemonium pretend nothing changes”

And Ahmad smiles

“There is a reason for it”

..