Amber woke up in the VIP cabin on Dauntless and, for the first few moments, she had no idea where she was. She was stiff and groggy despite a very comfortable bed. She stared at the ceiling and the wooden decorative panels hiding the ship's metal construction. She very slowly sat up on the edge of her bed and she pressed her hands to her cheeks to rub them. Irene was sitting on her bed, already awake, while Hestia, Mia, and Tia were still fast asleep. Only Aoi was nowhere to be found.

  "If I look as bad as you, then no one can see us today." Irene tried to joke but Amber wasn't sure.

  Irene's hair was a tangled mess as if she were caught by a small tornado. She had dark circles under her eyes and her sapphire blue, usually sparkling eyes, were dimmed.

  "This bed is too small..." Mia moaned and almost slipped off the edge as she tried to roll onto her side.

  "Gods... I swear I woke up every five minutes on the edge of my bed. Whose idea was this?" Tia groaned lying on her belly with her duvet out of reach on the ground.

  "Certainly not mine..." Hestia sighed. "An ancient army of Balantica was unable to defeat us but small beds almost finished us off in one night. That's... funny in its own right."

  The five women groaned and complained for a few moments before erupting into spontaneous laughter. The next half hour they spent eating and trying to tame their hair with brushes. After a few minutes of futile attempts by a Slime Maid, Irene decided to simply gather her long, black hair into a braid. Amber, however, was sitting in a chair and looking at a mirror with an unfocused gaze. The Slime Maid, behind her, tried her best to comb her beautiful red hair but she was losing that fight as well.

  "Perfecto!" Amber shouted and, suddenly, her hair spun itself into a stunning hairstyle.

  In stunned silence, Irene watched the Half-Elf's smug grin reflected in the mirror. She cleared her throat and looked at her Sister Empress. "Did you just create a spell to fix your hair?"

  "Yes!" Amber replied with a happy smile. "I mean... It's just for emergencies..."

  Amber looked at the remaining women with messy hair, who gave her flat stares. She flipped her fingers, quickly using her newest spell on her Sisters who, only then, nodded with gratitude.

  "You know you are going to have to teach us that spell?" Hestia enunciated as she put her hand on Amber's shoulder.

  O???

  They found Aoi on the bridge. The Dragonkin Queen was fully focused on the maps and discussing something with the Admiral. Janet A'net Sparrow was occasionally nodding and typing something on the illusion keyboard. Contrary to her barely refreshed Sisters, Aoi was full of energy and perfect as usual.

  "You are finally awake! I was going to send Morrigan to wake you up." Aoi huffed at them the moment she noticed them entering the bridge. "I think we found something huge. One of the exploration teams was trapped by an overwhelming golem force and they almost died. During that engagement, we lost twenty Praetorians, Private Issilur of the 1st Marine Recon Company, and we almost lost four more Mortal soldiers who sustained heavy wounds before help arrived. They were patched by medics but, in two cases, we will need a Miracle to regrow their limbs, Irene."

  "Damn it... It's barely morning!" Irene shook her head but turned around.

  "Wait, Irene! They can wait for now since the fighting intensified while we were asleep. The number of wounded people grows. I'm afraid that we have to go down there." Aoi continued, earning an ill gaze from Janet. "I know that you want to protect us but it looks like we are the only ones who can open the doors the golems are so eagerly defending."

  "I strongly recommend that you not engage directly, my Lady!" Vishnu's voice sounded on the bridge.

  "Vishnu?! What are you doing? And how?" Amber looked around in shock.

  "I'm following my orders to protect you, my Lady. I'm using the observation tool to monitor your whereabouts, my Lady." It answered immediately.

  "Observation tool?" Amber looked at the screen that showed the ancient frigate and furrowed her brows. She didn't like being observed and, especially, not by the Balantican golems, even reformed ones.

  She suddenly felt something tugged gently on her battle robe. She looked down and noticed a tiny version of the Balantican golem that just stood there. It was maybe ten centimetres tall and painted in dark colours. She snorted but wasn't sure if she was worried or amused. A few days ago, that ship was trying to enslave her, or kill her, if it could get away with it. Now, it was seriously invested in her safety and almost as overprotective as Theon. The tiny golem could have been considered adorable if not for the fact that it was, basically, stalking her according to Vishnu's explanations. She lifted it with two fingers and placed it on the Admiral's console.

  "Can someone explain to me how Vishnu managed to sneak his peeper into Dauntless?"

  The room erupted into a heated discussion between the security officer, marines on guard duty, and the Admiral. In the meantime, Amber focused on her own detection spells and discovered that she simply couldn't see the small construct. It was a magic blank, like the air or stones, which everyone knew were around but didn’t pay any attention to them.

  "It doesn't have a signature!" The security officer scowled as she used a slightly less powerful but, nonetheless, impressive identification spell. "Not even the faintest of auras! Nothing!"

  "I wouldn’t have expected something so tiny to get inside the ship!" The marine officer on the deck shook his head in disbelief. "Just look at that little shit. It's smaller than rats!"

  "By the Gods! Are you telling me that our security is so poor?!" Janet moaned in horror as she covered her eyes with her right hand.

  "With all due respect, the security of the unit called HMS Dauntless is excellent. However, the central unit of your ship is incredibly ignorant and rude. It, even still, refuses to acknowledge my presence as I try to speak with it. Admittedly, if the reason for its silence is my earlier behaviour towards Empress Amber va'Theon, I already apologised."

  A thick silence spread across the bridge while everyone fixed their gaze on Amber. She wasn't sure if disclosing the fact that Arcadian ships weren't, even remotely, self-aware was a good idea. As far as she could tell, it shouldn't have any negative consequences but before she said anything, the First Empress of Arcadia looked at her trusted friend and Admiral. Janet rubbed her chin thoughtfully and reluctantly shrugged. Since her noncommittal wasn't helpful at all, she took her second-best shot and looked at Aoi, who smiled.

  "Our ships do not possess golem cores like Balantican ones. Because of it, you can't talk with them, Vishnu." Aoi explained, causing a prolonged silence on the frigate’s side. "The only golem-assisted war engine is the Titan, Avalon's Wrath."

  "The statement of the person identified as Aoi va'Theon does not compute. The empirical data indicates that the warships of the Royal Navy of Arcadia are communicating with each other. Only the sub-wave golem transmissions and near-instantaneous decision-making are capable of providing the coordination presented by the Royal Navy. Worried observation: if your ships do not possess the Central Support Cores, then their technology surpasses the technology of this unit for at least a few centuries. Installing Central Support Cores might be unpredictable."

  The fact that Vishnu was suggesting installing golems inside the ships of her fleet made Amber distressed. She wasn't ready for such a discussion with anyone and, especially, not with the ancient frigate.

  "Vishnu, meet my Sister Empresses." She decided to ignore his last remark. "The Second Empress of Arcadia, Irene va'Theon."

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  The blue light scanned Irene and Vishnu biped in confirmation.

  "The Fourth Empress of Arcadia Hestia va'Theon." Amber continued; however, the blue light quickly changed to red and returned to blue.

  "Warning, Divine Presence Detected!"

  "Yes, Vishnu. I'm Goddess Hestia in person."

  "Shocked acceptance." The golem responded, making Hestia snort.

  "The fifth Empress of Arcadia, Aoi Sora va'Theon." Amber pointed towards the Dragonkin and received a slightly reluctant bip. "The twins who are ninth and tenth Empresses of Arcadia, Mia and Tia."

  This time, the confirmation bip was more confident. "The Sister Empresses of Empress Amber va'Theon are recognised by this unit. They are not viable as inheritors of the Balantican Empire."

  "Meet, as well, Fleet Admiral Janet A'net Sparrow who is the overall commander of the Empire's naval assets," Amber said after she pointed to the Elf in question. "I authorise her to introduce you to the other officers in my stead."

  "Affirmative." Vishnu shortly confirmed.

  "All right. We’ve been distracted enough." Aoi clapped her hands and pointed to the illusion map.

  The slightly translucent, bluish model depicted the city and its underbelly as mapped by the reconnaissance teams. The friendly forces were marked with green and the hostile were red. Aoi, using a hand gesture, zoomed in where the heaviest fighting was currently taking place.

  "As I said, the golems are defending that room as if their very existence depended on it." She pointed her finger at the large double doors behind the hundreds of golems. "As you can see, at least four more corridors lead to that junction and the golems continue to receive reinforcements from all of them. Our forces arrived from the fifth one, directly in front of the doors. Since then... it was stone carnage. No matter what we throw in there, the golems just replenish their numbers and defend the position. On the other hand, our remaining scouting parties are uncontested by the golems, so it seems they are focused solely on defending that room."

  "All right." Amber slowly nodded. "I probably could use a large-scale spell without collapsing everything on our heads."

  "I recommend you not take to the field, my Empress," Vishnu repeated one more time. "The chamber your forces discovered is the entrance to the Workshop. It's going to be the most heavily guarded place in the entire city and it will self-destruct if you manage to get inside. I doubt you will be able to access it without the explicit permission of the City Guardian."

  "Just fantastic..." Amber rubbed her eyes in frustration. "I won't comply with the Vanushka demands and you are telling me that I can't brute force my way inside. What do you suggest?"

  Vishnu was silent for a solid five minutes before it spoke again. "The symbols of power should be hidden somewhere outside the Workshop. If you manage to gather them, the City Guardian should acknowledge your right to rule."

  "That's the problem, Vishnu! We mapped ninety percent of the undercity. There wasn't a trace of anything that looked like a crown or a sceptre." Aoi shook her head with a sigh. "The remaining ten percent of the undercity is hidden behind that door."

  "Shocked and angry statement: it's against the rules. The City Guardian is... cheating. I am logging the formal complaint... Processing..." The frigate said and fell silent.

  Amber almost laughed. She was nearly sure that a visit to Vanushka was going to be very close to the top of her most absurd moments in life. Suddenly, the frigate's gun ports opened and the portside cannons rolled out, aiming directly at the ground.

  "Angry and shocked realisation: the city core has rebelled against its base programming!" The frigate opened fire towards the empty spot near the exact city centre and collapsed a fragment of the street. "Reconsidered opinion: the City Guardian abandoned its base mission. It's safe to attack the Workshop now, my Lady. The defunct Guardian concluded that if it is in possession of the crown and the sceptre of the Balantican Empire it is the Emperor. This unit destroyed the self-destruct system of the city and, technically, violated the law. After the mission ends, you must decide on my punishment, my Lady."

  "The Arcadian law is more important than Balantican," Amber stated coldly. "You have helped me to achieve our goal and, as such, removing the obstacles is desired if you do not endanger friendly forces. As such, you have not violated any important law known to me."

  "But the Balantican-"

  "I said important law." Amber interrupted the frigate.

  "Affirmative." The ship surprisingly avoided any further discussion.

  "What should we expect in the Workshop, Vishnu?" Amber asked, as she already focused on the area of effect water-based spell.

  "The Workshop is the golem production plant. With enough resources, it can build new golems indefinitely. The individual Workshops always vary in design and details but the Central Core should be somewhere in the middle of the Workshop itself."

  Amber looked at the tiny golem and decided that, from now on, this was going to be her mental representation of Vishnu. Talking to the main mast felt very stupid. Besides that, the pieces of information given by the frigate were crucial and she was reluctant to simply trust the ship.

  "However, I highly doubt that you will manage to recover anything valuable, my Lady." Vishnu continued with a slightly reserved and worried voice. "The crown and sceptre are fairly important, but without the mantle, they are... Useless. If my decision matrix is not wrong and the conclusion made by my logic matrix isn't fundamentally flawed, you, my Lady, do not wish to re-establish the Balantican Empire. On the contrary. Your past experience inclines you to destroy or at least seal the control matrix and every single trace of the Balantican Empire, which may include this unit."

  Amber opened and closed her mouth in shock. The golem, before the reset, would never consider any other option than she would like to die for the Balantican Empire. She exchanged uncomfortable gazes with her sister and noticed that Janet discreetly locked her weapon systems on the ancient frigate. However, she somehow knew that Vishnu was somehow fundamentally different from the remaining golems in the city.

  "I admit that I considered that option, Vishnu," Amber said to the tiny golem that observed her with its tiny, barely glowing, green eyes. "However, your current, different from earlier, behaviour causes me to reconsider my decision, at least, about you. You must understand that Balantican magitech and technology, in general, are dangerous. As the heir of the Empire, it is my duty to take full control over the remnants of the Empire created by Til Na'laar. I can't risk it will destroy the world."

  "With the knowledge of the Arcadian laws and observing your soldiers and subjects, I reluctantly have to agree. The Balantican Empire had many flaws that are, admittedly, absent in the current Arcadian law order. Those flaws were, subsequently, implemented into the golem magitech of the Empire, making it unstable. My logic matrix indicates that your order to put all my directives and Balantican law-based programming into a quarantined section of my memory saved me from another critical series of logic errors that, inevitably, would degrade this unit into the previous, erased state. This unit is currently working based on the alpha-class order that requires it to stay absolutely loyal to Amber va'Theon and is supported by the Arcadian laws-" Vishnu suddenly stopped its monologue as if realised something. "The logic matrix indicates that by following the legal orders, this unit has broken several laws of the Balantican Navy and is guilty of mutiny. However, there is no Balantican Empire anymore to enforce any kind of punishment. Therefore, this unit is no longer a legal member of the Balantican Navy and the title IBF should be removed from it."

  "Once this madness is over, I want you to fully cooperate with the engineers I'll send to study your core..." Amber shook her head. "Vishnu, I would like to trust you and the information you have disclosed to me. You are a valuable asset in my service and I will appreciate your input during our attack on the Workshop."

  "Affirmative, my Lady!"

  "Major Rhys, please assign a soldier to Vishnu so it can be in contact with our strike team. Girls? Are you ready?" Amber looked at her Sisters who confidently nodded. She looked at Rhys and Janet. "Our plans remain unchanged. We are going to open the doors to the Workshop for our soldiers and secure a foothold. I do not plan to waste any more lives. If Vishnu is correct and the Workshop can produce the golems indefinitely, then we have to shut it down for our own good. The Balantican golems are unpredictable and we can't afford to allow the enemy behind our lines. We also have to finish this task quickly because we can't afford a full battlegroup to stay idle. Vestargo is going to, sooner or later, realise that our Navy is gone-"

  A loud warning alert echoed through the dreadnought. The communication officer stood up and shouted, trying to be louder than the emergency siren. "High-priority message from Avalon!"

  Before anyone could say anything, Theon's blue image manifested in the air in the middle of the bridge. He was calm but that fact worried Amber even more. She had known him long enough to be worried if he was like that.

  "I'm sending you alpha strike coordinates, Janet." He said as the weapon officer stiffened and paled. "Vestargo was a very busy little bug all this time. We managed to discover that his bugs were digging tunnels, trying to reach deep into Arcadian territory but they were stopped by Freya and the underground forces under her control. Now, it seems, Vestargo has abandoned whatever plans he had and wants to salvage his efforts by attacking Galahad."

  Janet's eyes went wide as she received the target list and learned the scale of the attack. She was quiet as she inserted the key into the armrest of her command throne. She flipped the switch that armed VLS. Dauntless, Valiant, and Assassin fired a full salvo of long-range missiles that shook the airships in recoil. All one hundred and twenty VLS cells of the flagship were emptied in moments and the three ships of the Arcadian Navy fired two hundred and ninety missiles in total. Theon looked straight at Amber.

  "I don't want to put any pressure on you, Amber, but I will need the fleet much sooner than I anticipated..."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to who edited the chapter!

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