The most important moment of the whole war approaches. With the enemy so close to her, no matter what Melissa has planned, it will be her last play if it doesn't work out.
The girls seem to doubt that victory is possible, still, they remain on alert back on Earth, ready to come to my aid the moment I call them.
It is risky for me to face the second prince, and an assassination attempt would undoubtedly end in my death, so now, all I could do was either abandon this war entirely or believe that Melissa is still capable of turning it around.
Having chosen the latter, when the time comes, I leave the kingdom, to find Mia waiting for me.
Mia: "I'm gonna call her."
There are no greetings, and to be frank, there probably wasn't even time for one. Mia dashes towards the stairs to call her mother, and even though she rushes, I can still notice her nervousness.
I wonder, is this because she knows what Melissa has planned, or is that she too is in the dark about everything?
I can't come to a conclusion about her, from everything I know, she believes her mother no matter what, so Melissa probably doesn't need to share anything with her and she'd still follow Melissa's orders.
It's strange how right now, in these urgent moments, it feels like time has stopped. Even though I know this fortress is being attacked by hundreds of spells at a time, my concentration is at its absolute peak, making it so that I can distinguish between each spell fired.
No wonder Mia is like that. If my last bastion was about to fall ... Yeah, I wouldn't be able to stay calm if I was in her place.
I know that Melissa came rather quickly, and yet, to me, it felt like ages. I'm getting nervous about how much it looks like the end is near, but while trying to prevent my mind from thinking about the worst possible outcomes, I fail to maintain my cool, and nervousness also takes over my body.
Not looking that much better than Mia by now, even though the girl must have endured the hellish sounds for hours and might've even been there fighting herself.
Miwen: "So, what do you need me to do, Melissa?"
I have no idea what this woman has on her mind. I know her to be both smart and strong. The girls might doubt her will to keep on fighting, but I believe she's not the type to run from a fight. Whichever one is right between the girls and I, this is the moment the curtains rise and the truth is revealed.
Melissa: "I'll need your Gift. Please, register Mia and me as your citizens."
I really want to ask her how becoming my citizens help, but due to the circumstances, I just give her what she's asking, so as to not waste time, since even a single second counts right now.
Still, while doing what she asked, I can't help but think about this. Maybe she wants me to share her skills with Mia? Strengthening her daughter would provide a bit more of a fighting force, but I'd need days to duplicate all her skills. And even then, I can't do anything about Mia's level. What's more, what would it even amount to?
Two Melissas might've been able to have an impact before the enemy disembarked, but right now...
Not good. I need to regain control. I've thought about everything I could do, but given my position and level, all paths were blocked before me. I can't save her tribe, Melissa is the only one who can do it, I can only offer her help, that's all.
Miwen: "There you go."
Melissa: "Let us enter the kingdom then. Mia, we're teleporting to a new land, alright?"
Thus, the request for the girls to enter the kingdom arrives. Firstly though, I close the one about my points reaching over one hundred and being able to build new buildings inside the kingdom, as I already know what this entails.
Miwen: "So, here we are now, Melissa. What do we do now?"
Melissa: "You're quite tense boy. I think you should relax a little bit."
If I didn't know it better, I'd think she has gone insane. I mean, yeah, I need to calm down a bit, but the situation definitely calls for it. Mia and I are the normal ones, being agitated seeing how close the Kingdom of Hamperlon is to destroying the fortress, it's Melissa that is acting strangely right now, being so calm, as if everything is going exactly as she was expecting them to.
But this must be some kind of act to calm both Mia and me. There's no way the current situation would be favorable to her and I know she's smart enough to realize how precarious her chances are becoming by the minute.
Miwen: "That's a given, the current state couldn't be worse, and you've yet to let me in on how you plan to win this-"
Melissa: "Win? Boy, you're quite optimistic aren't you?"
What Melissa said caught me off-guard. Mia seems to have reacted the same way. By now, my patience was starting to run out. Melissa didn't share anything with me and now she says something that leads me to believe she's given up. So then what is this all about, what are we doing here right now?
I've been agitated ever since I noticed that the fortress is under siege, it made me realize how quickly the enemy is progressing and how bad things are going for the Snow White Wolves. So, seeing Melissa say something so defeatist as if she had given up, made me even more disturbed.
Miwen: "What do you mean?"
I try to be comprehensive whenever possible. But right now, I couldn't care less. I more than deserve to know what's going on in her mind, as it will most likely determine the outcome of the war.
Normally, I'd expect her to be a bit taken aback by me starting to get a bit more forceful, the emotions were starting to take the better of me, and I was ready to argue with her. The urgency wasn't helping, and being kept in the dark about things only added to my declining patience.
But alas, the one to end up surprised was me.
I could only register what happened due to the sound, and yet, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Right in front of me, a single hit faster than what I could accompany with my eyes was delivered to Mia.
In a quick strike, she was knocked out.
At least I could figure out who was the perpetrator of this attack.