Polymath Redux

Chapter 54: Secret War (7): Hellgana's Harbinger

'Not good, that was too close,' Mordred thought to himself as he backed off from the fray. By regulating his breathing he was able to regain his composure and momentum from his heightened adrenaline state. 'Now then, it looks like she's made her move.'

"Morgana Daltress?! Why are you here?"

Ever since this entire gambit was started it may have been an inevitability that Morgana would also join the fray personally. With Mordred at the epicenter of all of this there was no way Morgana would have taken a backseat without even trying, however to the First Prince who was ignorant of their intrinsic connection it could only have come as a surprise. To him this entire mission was not only a secret one but he had also gone far out of his way to plan it behind the back of the entire country. Setting up even an inconspicuous battle field just for Phantom the Prince fought this single battle with his pride on the line as a strategist.

However before Prince Leo was about to make an irreversible mistake his rival and prime suspect had come to his rescue. Much like a knight in shining armor, only in this case the knight more resembled a noblewoman and the horse a siege golem.

"As Minister of Defense for this country it is my job to have eyes and ears everywhere. It is an inevitability that I would learn of this little operation of yours and it seems I have perfectly timed myself to prevent a great tragedy."

Morgana Daltress replied arrogantly as she stared down at the Prince and the others atop of her gigantic Siege Golem. Though the Prince did not hate this kind of informal attitude; it was much less suffocating that the false act of nobility she liked to put on. Everything from the way she carried herself to the glimmer in her eyes, they were all honest as opposed to the manipulative look she quite had before.

Her usual fluttery attire was remodeled with metallic plating that turned it into an ad hoc battle dress; breast plates, metal skirt plating, gauntlets, greaves. Resembling a hardened and veteran warrior rather than a suppressed noblewoman, Morgana carried herself with clarity and confidence.

"... Hah, yes I suppose you're right, it's no time for me to be having such suspicions of you right now. Very well, if you're willing to help then I shall gladly accept it."

The prince replied with a dry laugh; he had not expected her to be the knight in shining armor type of character but, 'odd things happen the more you live... huh?' the prince gave a moment's thought to his odd predicament. It was all because of Morgana that he could breathe a sigh of relief; what Morgana had done by intercepting Phantom's attack was prevent a huge diplomatic tragedy. Had the deceased body of a foreign hero be found in the forests of Xagontetia the situation would immediately elevate to a full scale war with the entirety of the Xedian Federation.

"I shall lend you my aid."

Morgana replied with a determined smile. After jumping off of her siege golem she regrouped with the Prince's party to reorganize their structure. Gerant's [divine awakening] was still active but the person himself seemed to be at his limits and more than likely his transformation would cease any moment. Luckily for them Phantom had also been patient with them as he was also recuperating from his blows with Gerant.

"Morgana... was it? I don't know how strong you are in a fight but you golem looks fairly defensive. So I'll leave the defense of the minster to you."

After having delegated guard duties to Morgana she quickly joined up with Gerant in the front line that was having a hard time even trying to stand up. She was no stranger to using [Divine Awakening] so she knew full well just how hard it was to keep up that form for an extended period of time. Normally it was a technique that was used for a couple of seconds to finish a decisive duel but Gerant was insane enough to use it as a normal power up.