The two leaders met in the center of the platform. There were no bows, no flourishes of trumpets, and no traditional Argentine pleasantries. The only sound was the hiss of steam from the Federation's spider-machine and the low, distant rumble of a storm brewing in the East.
"You are younger than the sensors predicted," Sophia said, her voice a precise, clinical alto. She didn't offer a hand. "The mana-leak we recorded three days ago suggested an entity of immense age and instability. Yet, you stand here as a boy who smells of old libraries and mountain frost."
Livius met her gaze, his expression a mask of calm indifference. "Age is a measurement of time, Chancellor. I prefer to be measured by my silence. You requested a summit to discuss a 'leak.' I assume you're referring to the moment I erased my ancestors from existence?"
Sophia's monocle flickered with a faint, violet light—a data-feed directly into her optic nerve. "We recorded a localized collapse of the Aetheric Field. For six seconds, the Argentine Palace ceased to exist on our charts. We call that a 'Null Event.' In the Federation, things that do not exist are considered a threat to the stability of those that do."
She gestured toward the brass spider-machine. "This is The Oracle-Engine. It is a bio-mechanical calculator that processes the probability of future events based on the flow of mana across the continent. Since your 'ascension,' the Engine has produced exactly zero predictions for the Argentine Empire. You have become a blind spot in the history of the world."
Livius walked toward the machine, his curiosity piqued. He could see the internal gears moving, fueled by canisters of liquid mana that glowed with a sickly green light. It was a marvel of engineering, but to his Silver Sight, it looked like a cage. The machine wasn't predicting the future; it was trying to force the future into a set of mathematical equations.
"Your machine is broken, Sophia," Livius said, his voice dropping into that low, draconic resonance. "It cannot predict me because I am not part of your 'Grid.' I am the Ghost that the Dragon God forgot to kill. If you want to know the future of Argentine, you don't ask a box of gears. You ask me."
Sophia stepped closer, her eyes narrowing. "A bold claim for a King whose treasury is empty and whose army is a collection of orphans and spies. The Federation has ten thousand 'Iron-Clad' soldiers and three 'Aether-Dreadnoughts' stationed just behind that ridge. If the Oracle-Engine cannot see you, perhaps it is because you have no future."