Prepare For The Worst

Emergency Summit
Everything was a mess.

Ever since Vanessa left her traumatized children back home she had been frantic to help mobilize the kingdoms' leaderships to be prepared for war. Having to explain to them why was a headache in of itself and the means of keeping citizens from panicking was hardly feasible. People were already informed about the fall of Sovereign Seven's capital towers by the Black Wizard, Faer Pleigh, whose terrorist actions have wrought thousands of dead and more injured to terrorized. The prison's destruction was kept contained, relatively speaking, since the prisoners didn't run amok to other populated zones across the continent immediately. When the Council was convening to confirm on an entirely different matter, Hell broke loose and lives were almost lost; the exception being some of the Holy Protectors' bodies found after the fact, and their leader hospitalized from the fight.

Morgan Deschain's case was put on hold as a war was declared by Myst, the Blood Queen ruler of the Coven -the elusive and enigmatic underworld organization that secretly ruled in the lawless land of Minstrel- and Black Hell, the infamous powerhouse Dark Guild that manipulated and controlled the many other Dark Mage Guilds that weren't destroyed by vigilantes, Council led forces or Legal Guild interference. Their powers combined, plus the horde of convicts from the Black Vox created an army of enormity that rivaled that of the distant past's encounter with Western Alvarez Empire across the ocean.

Had things remained unchanged from that point on, the organization of militaries would've gone on schedule. Instead, it became rushed, as news of extreme polarizing news hit the Council too late to properly react. The first was that Crime Sorcière had attacked Jarris Dowery's Council manor in Bosco, leaving beyond a scars beyond the supernatural -such as the like it'd take weeks to repair some of the vegitation that had been rotten or destroyed entirely- and a startling confirmation; their colleague, Jarris Dowery, was the Dark Dragon King in question, Jadow the Ragnarok Beast. Such news brought a startling clarity just how easily he had deceived them all and brought shame to their name. Choosing to save face -against the wishes of Lucy, of course- they chose to name off "Jarris Dowery" as deceased and killed off by assassins of the Unholy Union of the Coven and Black Hell's ranks. That at least kept the Council's credibility intact and their actions could move forward unimpeded.

The second thing, made this emergency summit happen ahead of time. Faer Pleigh, despite being unarmed and without his own aura to call upon, had escaped through a foul magic's means. Scorched marks left at the crime scene indicated something was made to inscribe a sigil -some organic substance of sorts- and that the ignition part had happened a few inches from the bars inward. Given that magic can be inserted into a cell of Magic Sealing Stone is possible, it can't be generated from within means that Faer had found a way to generate enough outside to undo his cell but how it was unclear; the rest of the cell from the ceiling through layers and layers of reinforced material up past the earth above was eradicated, leaving a molten and distorted hole through a massive ejection of Ethernano.

Having left with slain and unconscious guards in his wake, none alive could properly identify what happened or what Faer had done to achieve this goal. All that matters to them is that Myst's arguably most useful asset had freed himself and is on the loose once more. Given personal testimonies marking him as volatile and irrational at worst while cool and conniving at best, he's a danger to everyone and everything as much as his masters are.

After reviewing the information, Mangetsu sighed, looking to the Chairman and fanning himself casually while speaking lowly to him, "I think it's about time we brought it out."

"It?" Vanessa inquired, her eyes looking to Mangetsu, both wondering what he meant but also highly suspicious she knew what he was inferring. Glaring towards the Chairman, she asked again with a more accusing tone. "Hold on, you want to unleash that upon the land? The war hasn't even properly started and you're considering such drastic measures-"

"Begging your pardon, Mrs. Alexander," The hat-adorned Mangetsu straightend up, closing the fan with an audible snap, tapping its folds against the lip of his eye-obscuring scalp covering. "But we are well into this war, even if the Council protected nations haven't fought yet. Midi and Joya are now both strongholds of the Unholy Union. Their main headquarters, despite the Punishment Force's best efforts, cannot be located in Minstrel and the territory they've taken are reinforced with very elaborate and dangerous barriers.

"Sin, now being confirmed as non-existent -with Jarris being on the record, assassinated- leaves us one less ally. Our contacts in Enca says they're keeping out of the affair unless they are attacked directly, as always. Pergrande Kingdom is only fortifying its defenses and is basically sitting back, waiting for its opportunity to sieze the spoils of war. Add that Iceberg recently openly declared war against Stella -breaking its treaty with the Council it made with us hundreds of years ago- and welcoming the Unholy Union through their borders so long as they wipe out its neighbours.

"Desierto is a nation of nomadic villages and more than likely keep to themselves, with only raiders and mercenaries inhabiting its borders. That leaves only Bellum in between Pergrande along with Iceberg, but obviously they won't go for them thanks to the latter's cooperation. Iceberg's underhanded alliance will economically fund their war effort past what they already had in their treasury plus re-arm them with all the Lacrima they could want, including their own soldiers and mages. While Caelum is willing to help us, they won't commit until we find us a proper target so they aren't in our shoes too.

"So, that being painfully made clear in more bite full examples for you," Mangetsu coldly replied, his eyes locking onto hers. "In what way are we not 'officially' in this war yet?"

"We can still come to an agreement, maybe a ceasefire so no further blood can be shed-"

"That's woefully naive of you, Vanessa. You're usually a bit more understanding of the situation-"

"What Vanessa is trying to say," Lucy intervened on her behalf -earning a look and a slight smile of relief from her- before she looked to the Chairman and the other members. "We don't know what you mean bring it out. What is it? I thought we made it clear when this Council was reformed three hundred years ago that we'd never create weapons of mass destruction ever again?!"