My System Academy

Eastern border of the northern glacial continent.

Several knights were patrolling on a cliff and observed the beautiful prairie below. They were led by a silver-caped knight embedded with seven flame symbols.

His countenance was serious, looking at the space in front of him.

"There was a magic disturbance felt here earlier. Why is it that we can't seem to pinpoint the exact location of the said disturbance?!"

They had been walking around for hours to no avail. A huge barrier seemed to have prevented them from going further past the cliff's highest point.

Just a few more kilometers ahead of it was a land of eternal winter. The varying weather between the two adjacent areas created a line, separating the vibrant flowers from the withered ones.

They were immersed in the sight. After all, this place was famously known as the Northern Frontier Prairie.

"Captain, we should inform the High Commander quickly. I feel like something is wrong in the area in front of us.", suggested one of the brown-caped knights.

"It's not like we can't go to the High Commander for help.", the silver-caped knight sighed and shook his head, "The High Commander is busy investigating the sudden disappearances of people in the nearby areas. There have already been leads of this incident."

"The worst of it all, it was suspected that the demonic creatures were behind this."

The atmosphere became tense.

Demonic creatures.

What their captain said made them shiver in fear.

"Then…", a timid knight suddenly gasped. He had a bold imagination in his mind, "Captain… what if…", pointing at the winter land in the distance.

"Don't even think about it.", the silver-caped knight reprimanded, "I'm pretty sure the League is already investigating what we are investigating right now. Hell, I bet they're even almost finished."

"We'll just stay still here and wait for further…"

Their discussion was disturbed when they noticed that the space a kilometer away from them seemed to have twisted as if something was about to come out of it.

"Ca-captain! Look-!", shouted the timid knight from before.

Everyone turned and raised their heads.

A crack appeared right between the line that separated the two areas, which was then followed by a huge pressure coming out from the other side of that crack.

Alongside it was the heavy yet nightmarish demonic essence, paling the expressions of the entire knight squadron.

"Shit, demonic essence! Run!"

They turned around and started running away. When one of them looked back, he noticed that the crack had grown vertically, with the other cracks emerging from the branching sides.

It didn't take long before they felt that the pressure coming from the diffusing demonic essence lessened.

A knight covered in bright light appeared in the sky. His aura alone suppressed the raging demonic essence that was pouring out from the crack.

"Hi-High Commander!", the captain and his squad knelt down.

"What has happened here? Why is there a sudden outburst of demonic essence from the northern glacial continent?!", he sternly asked.

"Commander…", the captain felt miserable. He didn't know what to report exactly, "…We were still patrolling the border when the demonic essence burst out of there."

"The demonic essence suddenly burst out?!", the high commander replied in shock.

In fact, he wasn't the only one surprised by this shocking event. Many people in the Morning Star Empire, and even the elves in the Alderian Terrestrial Sanctuary, were dumbfounded about the series of events happening in the northern glacial continent.

First, there was that suffocating pressure from the skies as it trembled fiercely. Many experts felt that a huge impact would happen in the next moment.

However, that pressure suddenly vanished and never returned again.

Suspicious, many factions sent their experts to investigate the area only to be met with a dumbfounding experience.

Nobody was able to enter the boundary of the northern glacial continent.

Many asked a deep question in their hearts.

What sort of trickery was this?

The factions were alarmed and increased the personnel assigned to investigate this strange phenomenon. Then, just as they were getting some results, a crack appeared in the sky followed by a strong gust of demonic essence.

Everyone instantly retreated far away.

They observed the cracks in the space fragment out into nothingness, revealing a nightmarish scenery not long after.

"Thi-! This is-!"

The once winter wonderland became another version of the Wastes. The demonic essence went rampant, polluting the land as it poured out of

"Alert the Elders from the League!", ordered a magister to his subordinates.

The rest followed that man's steps as well, sending messengers to inform their leaders about what happened. This kind of catastrophic event managed to go under their ears, eyes, and noses.

The grandmaster wizards present quickly set up magical formations to stop the demonic essence from spreading.

Soon, the higher-ups of each faction arrived, discussing with one another how to deal with this situation.

"The Otherworld managed to strike the northern glacial continent, at a large scale at that, without us even noticing at all.", an elven Elder from the League sighed in distress.

This lapse in their attention and intelligence will surely be made fun of by their competitors.

"It doesn't matter what they had done. What we need to do now is to reinforce the Norva Assili and any remaining survivors.", a valiantly-looking general from the Morning Star Empire argued, "It would be best if there is news from the other side.", his eyes darted to a corner of the makeshift meeting room.

A dark green-hooded woman walked out, "My scouts have found something."

"Oh?", everyone raised their eyes and looked at her.

Her despondent purple eyes could not be hidden from view, yet they contained a profound mystery to whoever stared at them. She raised her left hand and approached the large wooden table with a map of the northern glacial continent resting atop.

"There's a long trail of clean areas around here.", she pointed near the spot of the Sokovo Stronghold, then dragged both her hands in opposite directions.

One headed east that neared Arsolo Stronghold, and the other on the deep territories of the magical beasts.

"Not only that, there were traces of battles and remains of unknown beasts, most probably demonic based on the aura that came out from their corpses."

"Lastly, there are magic disturbances coming off from ice and fire-based magic. As for the source, my scouts didn't manage to find any evidence of magic circles being conjured.", her eyes suddenly curved downwards, implying something to the rest.

"A long trail, and instantaneous spell casting, huh?", the elder from the League went into a daze and thought for a moment.

"The two sides, both man and beast, must have felt threatened by the demonic creatures and worked together to subdue their common enemy."

Everyone affirmed his conclusion, though were rather baffled by the presence of fire magic reported by that woman in the dark-green hood.

As if reading their minds, she pursed her lips and shook her head, "Several days ago, the great fire dragon Arahon Agui seemed to have left his lair and headed west."

Her answer enlightened them.

The fire dragon's lair was located originally on the east where the Dwarven Mountain Compass was situated. Going in a westward direction and the presence of abundant fire magic implied nothing but his participation in this recent battle.

"I don't know what caused that arrogant fire dragon to go out, but many speculated that he might have brought his 'disciple' out for an adventure.", she added.

"Enough about the dragon. What about Norva Assili? The High King? Is anyone left alive?", the general of the Morning Star Empire quickly brushed off the topic.

The woman's eyes narrowed and her voice went sullen, "Only a handful of them is left, mostly in the Arsolo Stronghold…"

The general's fists bumped into the wooden table, pulverizing it into fragments. His expression was unsightly, and nobody knew what was going on in his head.

The elf Elder shook his head in dismay and sighed again, "How pitiful…"

"Tsk! Tragic!"

Many voiced their concerns.

"So… what's next?", a timidly dressed person asked.

"My army will provide a long chain of outposts to both act as a line of defense and supply.", the general said and walked out, mobilizing the army under his command.

"Then the League will provide additional assistance to any of you.", the elf Elder didn't put out too many words.

The rest talked with one another and arrived at some agreements.

Soon, the northern glacial continent was filled with boisterous noise as people come and go by, carving a path towards Arsolo Stronghold while scouting the nearby areas for any threats and survivors.

…

A small crow perched on top of a tree while glancing at the marching soldiers with its head tilted to the right.

Whatever its two eyes could see was displayed on a rectangular object found deep in the underground caves of The Wastes.

If Eluard was here, he would recognize these bunch of objects standing on top of roughly made tables with clicking and clanking sounds resounding around.

"Was this the result you wanted, you damn crow?!", a huge demonic creature bellowed.

"Well… not exactly Derr Henderral.", Allustro opened his sharp beak, "But this will suffice. After all, it still created a disturbance large enough to attract many of the faction's attention over this incident."

"Our subsequent plans remain feasible. There is nothing much to worry about."

"Hmph! I just hope that any trouble we've come across this is worthy of everyone's efforts!"

The huge demonic creature snorted and left the room. Allustro stood there alone with a cold red glint in his eyes.

He stared at the demonic creature's departing figure and turned his head back on the rectangular object in front.

"Oh, it will be very worthy of everyone's efforts, Der Henderral. It will be…"