"Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yeah I am~"

"Please take this seriously!"

Understandably one person was especially worried about Dax's lax att.i.tude.

"Alice I've been ready and completely prepared for this trial since that oversized angel appeared in Kingsted."

While rea.s.suring Alice Dax placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair as he put on a warm smile, making Alice relax a little bit more.

"Really?"

"Yep. I'm the commander of a former wetwork battalion, this is not the first time I've stood trial with my life on the line, nor will it be the last~"

"Okay then…"

Seeming less worried Alice trailed off as Dax continued to pat her head, that is until she heard someone coming, and then hurriedly removed Dax's hand as her face bloomed in a deep crimson.

"Dax! There's some important looking angel here- Am I interrupting anything rancid?~"

Having walked in on Dax who wore his large smile, and Alice that was blus.h.i.+ng deeply, Terra put on a grin as she walked right up to Alice and asked.

"E-e-excuse me!"

Proving to be way too much stimulus for the young gra.s.shopper, as apparently overloaded while making the inexperienced decision of a tactical retreat.

"There she goes… Are you ever going to do something about that Dax?"

"I might, when things have settled down a bit more."

"Is that so?.. Are you ready for this?"

"Yeah~ Don't tell me that you're worried about me too Terra~ Are you perhaps falling fo-"

"There's no way. Please answer my questions."

As Terra saw Dax try to play the situation off with a joke she put herself between him and the door and asked for a serious response, making Dax lose his smile as he gave a short response.

"I might be worst case, make sure everyone is prepared."

"Got it."

Leaving Terra behind with those words Dax walked into the main hall of the visitors area to find a single angel looking at him while releasing poorly hidden bloodl.u.s.t. The angel was about Alice's height, being a head shorter than Dax, and wore what could only be described as a mix between a wedding dress and a suit of armor, although it was not as elaborate as the one the archangel Solaris had worn.

"I take it you're the primitive that standing trail? Hurry it up and follow me, you're late. But don't get too close, you stink."

With heavy scorn the angel told off Dax and started walking, but she only made it a few steps before turning around in response to a extreme amount of bloodl.u.s.t that was released at her back. Turning around she didn't even get to react before someone grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the wall as she was lifted so her feet barely could touch the ground. Having dropped her spear somewhere along that, the angel made a fist as she channeled strengthening magic into her arm and punched her attacker in the head, to no apparent effect.

"Call me primitive one more time and I'll rip off those pigeon like wings on your back along with the rest of your limbs as I bury you alive on this f.u.c.king rock your species call a mountain, understood?~"

"Hii!"

Having her first experience of qiton levels of bloodl.u.s.t the angel was lucky she had just been to the bathroom and was about to start begging for her life when Dax spoke again.

"Understood?"

"I u-understand."

"Good~ Then let's be on our way."

Dropping the angel as he lost interest Dax went over and picked up the spear she had dropped before handing it back to the scarred for life angel.

"..."

Being handed her weapon by someone who had just attacked her she considered retaliation.

"It is t-this way."

Considered being the key word, for as she looked at the demonkin she saw a smile, an invitation to dare cross him once more, so he could rip her apart with his bare hands.

---

After being guided hall after hall and up various stairs Dax's frightened guard left him in front of a relatively modest white marble door. Standing there for a few moments he was about to start breaking down the door when it opened by itself. Entering Dax found a circular room that seemed to be the top of the very sanctuary. Starlight shone through the thin air and gla.s.s roof hit a half moon shaped table where the elite of the sanctuary had gathered. The 9 archangels all stopped their talk when the door opened and observed Dax with varying expressions. One of them Dax already knew, Solaris wore a thin smile in her simple silk dress and next to her sat a male angel with the same kind of smile and wings, leading Dax to think that he was somehow related to her. Next to that angel in the center of the table sat 3 angels with way more pairs of wings than the others, leading Dax to believe they were the elders close to the end of their active lifespans Solaris told him about. To the right of them was the part of the council Dax received the most bloodl.u.s.t from, 4 angels with each with 3 pairs of wings like Solaris and her presumed brother, the exception among them was a particularly hostile one with 2 pairs of pure black wings and an long black hair that matched her black eyes and white gnas.h.i.+ng teeth that made her look like a wild hound more than a arcangel to Dax.

"Let's get this over with."

Sitting down in a chair in front of the council members with nonchalant att.i.tude Dax crossed his legs and leaned back in the chair.

"Well met demonkin, have you been made aware of why you have been summoned?"

As the center angel took the word Dax paid closer attention to him, he looked to be about 20 years old, with golden hair and eyes with a fair face not holding any expression, but the six independent pairs of golden brown wings on his back and immense presence of his voice reminded Dax of a qiton elder.

"My name is Dax, if you don't want to call me by that then at least call me qiton, as I am no demonkin. And yes I've been informed that the council believes that I have supplied the northern republic with a device that can disrupt the flow of mana."

"I see you have been well informed, Dax of the qiton race. What do you say to dose charges?"

"They are completely false. While the republic employ some sort of interference type jamming the type I employ is different."

With that statement Dax sat back in his chair as the room filled with silence.

"That alone is not going to amend you qiton, please provide more proof towards that."

Feeling that the lone statement was all Dax wanted to say, Solaris stepped in to try and get him to explain more in detail.

"Okay then…"

Standing up from his chair Dax split open his cybernetic arm as it started humming.

"Then try to use magic miss council member."

"Okay then… Huh?"

As Solaris tried to channel mana into a spell she let you a strange sound before putting more effort but still failed to form any spell.

"This is magic jamming, or the beta version of it at least. Notice how it's vastly different from the primitive technique the republic employes against this sanctuary."

Taking a second to examine the effect the were currently under, one of the elder angels spoke out.

"This is indeed a completely different kind of effect. But that itself is an issue."

"It is! The very use of magic interference demands the death penalty!"

The second the elder made his point the dark winged angel made her stance.

"I support that motion, even if the demonkin isn't affiliated with the republic we can't let this technique spread."

"Then I feel we are mostly in agreement, the demonkin must die, unless you have a issue with that Solaris."

With most of the council in agreement of Dax's death penalty one of the elders looked at Solaris for her opinion.

"As the general of this sanctuary i am in dissagement, we need to focus on the current issue at hand. Currently we're looking at 150-200 casualties just to remove the current incursion, and then what? If they can do it once they can do it again, we need to stabilize the region and that will take even more lives, putting us at risk of a hostile takeover in the future, and we can't rely on the Kingdom for this."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"I'll put it simple, Dax can you take care of this for us?"

"Yeah, I calculate two hours to eliminate the warband, and a few weeks at most to realign the republic with your interest through annexation."

With an immediate answer Dax presented a option most of the council had not thought about.

"That is if the council stops interfering with my operations and the sphere's I have yet to recover, as I seem to remember was the original agreement that obviously have not held up at all so far."

"That is a serious accusation you're bringing before us demonkin, do you have any proof?"

Bringing forth accusation of breaking the mutual non aggression treaty made the angel sitting next to Solaris speak up for the first time.

"I have, just because I can't use magic doesn't mean I can't observe it. After my first encounter with your lovely general I recorded the mana signature of her possession magic and catalogued it. After that it was just a question of time to process the data, and then the world of magic was revealed to me. Since then I have detected 452 mana events related to the unique kind of magic you angels use, most of them was to be expected, just some light peeking and surveillance so I tolerated it. What I do not tolerate is summoning dragons to kill me or trying to blow up the entire city of Kingsted just to kill me. But alas 'yesterday's enemies are tomorrow's fiends and next weeks compatiosion' so I'm willing to forget it."

"That is hardly any proof at all."

"Not to you no, but it is plenty for the Kingdom."

"Tch."

(Checkmate.)

So far it had gone exactly according to Dax's plan, like the council member pointed out he couldn't convince them someone on their side had broken the agreement, but he never needed to. The angels were wors.h.i.+ped in the Kingdom, but that was hardly the norm. All around the Kingdom was old empires and new republics egear to claim there worth, and killing or punis.h.i.+ng Dax for some vague accusation after he himself had seared information of their own misdeeds could be the spark to unite them all, with the Kingdom leading the charge. Sure the sanctuary could handle that, but losses would eventually mount, weakening their position against hostile snatuaryes.

"You can tell the other sanctuaries I submitted to you, that would demonstrate this sanctuaries strength and secure its foundation. Furthermore wiping out the republic will send a strong message throughout the continent that conflict only will lead to ruin, and you lose the torn that have constantly been annoying the sanctuary since you banished them from their land and formed the Kingdom."

"..."

A long silence followed as the high council of the 14th arcangel sanctuary realized they had been played from the moment this 'qiton' had set foot in their home.

"We understand. This council will forget all alleged charges against you if you take care of the republic."

"And stop interfering with me as per the prior agreement."

"O-of course."

"That is all I hoped for~ I'll get on it immediately, please excuse me."'

Leaving the council behind with those words the council room fell silent until one of the members quietly mumbled.

"What a f.u.c.king monster."