"How much longer do we have to watch this…?" Enkai seethed, clearly trying and failing to suppress his fury. With the abandonment of Djibouti, Enkai had naturally returned to Enkare Nkai.

Now, he stood on the railing of a well-hidden outpost built at the crown of a massive tree. This outpost was so heavily clad in sigils that even Imogene herself—the fairy leader of the Humanitas Sangh—would not be able to find it easily, let alone her chaotic army burning its way through the forest a few kilometres (miles) away.

With Naeku still in seclusion, Enkai had actually taken up the role of temporary army commander. With him, several other important figures were gathered, not the least of which were Ankhur, Elora, Runa, and Astrid. Ankhur's wives were there as well, as were Leia and a few other important figures.

"I don't like it either, old friend," Ankhur growled, doing a much better job at suppressing his anger than Enkai did. Slowly, he then raised his left arm and balled his fist. "But the last time we confronted a confessor without Erik there, I lost my arm." As he said that, the glimmering blue fist of his sigil construct arm shimmered lightly.

He lowered his arm again without taking his eyes off the swath of destruction being drawn through his realm. "Our weakness can only be solved through time… And chances are we'll always have to rely on others to fight the most powerful of opponents for us."

Finally, he glanced sombrely at the seething Enkai. "It's not fair, but neither is life, old friend. Perhaps time and training can solve this, but until then, the best we can do for our land and people is wait for the real powerhouses to duke it out while we handle what remains."

Silence fell for a moment, but then, to the surprise of many, Enkai closed his eyes and visibly began calming down. These people were all intimately familiar with Enkai's temper—and how that behaviour had clashed with Erik. The only one who looked proud rather than surprised was Leki, Enkai's son and a devotee of Erik's faith.

After a moment, Enkai opened his eyes again, now much calmer. "Of course you're right, my king."

Seeing that even Ankhur looked at him with some surprise, Enkai actually had the shame to blush a little, angling his head down. "I… My son's been helping me with anger management," he muttered, glancing fondly at Leki. Smiling, Leki nodded back at him.

Ankhur looked back and forth between the two of them, genuinely pleased that his best friend and a boy he'd come to see as his own nephew were beginning to mend fences.

"Not to disturb this beautiful moment, but how about we focus on the murderous army cutting through our lands?" A cold voice tore through the heartwarming moment like claws through butter. Elora looked at them with annoyance, indifferent to Enkai's improvement as he'd long since lost his last chance in her eyes.

Torn from their momentary distraction, both Enkai and Ankhur blinked, then nodded grimly.

"Good," Elora scoffed, and looked back at the fiery line being drawn through the forest. "Just remember that no one's actually died yet, and everything they're burning down will grow back in a year or two at most. You're not dealing with pre-awakening Earth here."

"As for Erik," she shrugged calmly, "he needed to finish up annexing Maghreb, but he'll be here soon. Besides, the army isn't in position yet."

Naturally, Elora took the strategic decision of not revealing what Erik had actually been doing for the past few days. Though she was indifferent to their opinion on the matter, she also didn't believe in sowing needless dissent and chaos among their own ranks.

At least… not usually.

"Don't worry," Astrid grinned excitedly, her subtle but powerful muscles flexing as she rolled her her shoulders. "He knows I'll engage without him if he doesn't show up soon."

Having already returned a few days ago to accompany and protect Elora after most of the fighting in Maghreb was done, Astrid was rearing to plunge into the next battle.

"No need to be melodramatic, Astrid," a deep, amused voice suddenly reverberated in the outpost. Instantly, all eyes turned in the voice's direction as they all recognised it immediately.

There at the edge stood a smirking Erik, having just vaulted over the railing. One step behind him was a gently smiling Emma, once again dressed in the fantastical maid outfit Elora had gifted her.

He stepped closer. Some of the people on the platform clearly looked uncomfortable with his presence, and some even quickly dropped to one knee in greeting. Many in Enkare Nkai were still unsure how to treat this new emperor of theirs, but Erik paid them barely any attention. He still had more important things to do; any dealing with them was Ankhur's job, anyway.

Instead, he looked at Astrid playfully. "For all your bluster, we both know you wouldn't put Elora and Mom in unnecessary danger like that."

Groaning, Astrid pouted a little and rolled her eyes. Having no good response, she chose to stay quiet.

Meanwhile, a disgruntled Runa narrowed her eyes at him. "I can take care of myself, boy!"

Now it was Erik's turn to roll his eyes before looking at his mother with genuine worry. "Yeah, by activating that berserk technique of yours, you might buy yourself enough time to flee at the cost of more damage to your soul. You really think that'd be good enough for any of us?"

Runa's eyes narrowed further… but then she scoffed and looked away. "I suppose not…" she admitted reluctantly, then frowned and looked at Erik again. "I've fully recovered by now, so I think it's time for me to enter seclusion as well soon."

She thumbed at Leia, who stood next to her, wearing the servant outfit of Erik's family and clearly holding herself from excitedly jumping into her 'Daddy's' arms. "Leilei will join me, and we'll use your fancy training room."

Erik smiled lightly. He didn't mind that she stated rather than asked. In fact, he preferred it. It showed his mother wasn't cowed by his greater strength, nor everything that'd happened to and between them. It's not like he'd ever deny her anything, anyway.

He glanced at Leia to grin at the excitement and lust in her gaze. "I hope you don't mind if I join her, Daddy," she chirped, then turned her gaze hopeful. "We can have some fun before then, right?"

Several people who not only knew Leia before she fell into Erik's clutches, but especially knew her father, felt shivers travel down their spines as they quickly turned away from them. Not the least among them was Ankhur himself.

But before Erik could respond, an exasperated sigh coming from Elora interrupted him. "Focus, Erik. You're just in time, because it's about to be now or never…"