Cynane narrowed her eyes as she stared squarely with Eleftheria, who was grinning with intense anticipation, which no one could understand. It is as if, the sorceress had been living her whole life fighting and that fact alone, is enough to convince the great knight that her opponent has dozens of experiences, waiting to be unfolded in this face-off. However, her senses are telling her that the latter amidst unfamiliar aura—it’s blaring. Terrifying. She couldn’t put a finger on it but all that she knows is that she needs to be wary and that is more than enough to prove that Eleftheria is intimidating.
Am I quivering? Cynane thought and gripped tightly on the hilt of her blade to the point of slight tremble. She finds this reprehensible and it is frustrating her.
While Eleftheria, on the other hand, remained unfazed despite the heaviness of aura that Cynane has. Although, that aura is something she wouldn’t and shouldn’t be afraid of. Her nose is catching the scent of fear coming off of her.
Huh, so that’s how it is. The honey-haired thought and for some reason, she couldn’t help but feel elevated that she could feel her veins beating against her skin. She can’t wait. She has to release it. Now.
I have to test the waters first. Was the only thing Cynane has in mind before she dashed forward—leaping in towards the other with her sword dragged back, releasing a diagonal slash.
Eleftheria took the chance to charge in, grabbing the woman’s wrist with her left then swinging around and using her right to hold up the other’s midsection, throwing her overhead before jumping back to gain a few distances.
Cynane used this momentum to land her feet on the ground. As she turned around, Eleftheria had already charged at her and threw a punch in her face—making the great knight yelp and fly further back, bouncing on the ground a few times before she pushed herself up one knee and landed her feet, digging them into the floor to halt her advance.
The great knight raised her face as she glared at Eleftheria while a thin trail of blood drip from her right nostril.
“Whoa! Look at that move! The sorceress, specialized in defensive spells, can do offensive attacks?!” Gidas commented.
Hmm.. Why do I have the feeling that Eleftheria isn’t actually a sorceress who uses defensive spells? Elvira thought as she watched.
It is almost as if she has actual war experiences. Tythus hummed before grinning, Where did the Moonfire Kingdom get these two?
“I thought you are one of those powerful gals, but it seems Emp’s guesses were off!” Eleftheria mocked.
Although, it is not because Eleftheria could feel that she was stronger but it is for Cynane’s full potential to come out. She will keep degrading this woman down just to witness it and fight her at her strongest.
“Emp? Weird nickname.” Cynane commented as she wiped the blood off of her nose with her thumb, “However, I do not intend to fight you from the start.”
Eleftheria’s grin dropped at this—did she hear it right?
“What do you mean?” The honey-haired asked.
Cynane scoffed, “Did you actually think I would waste my power on you, when we have a lot of opportunities? This is enough to put me to sleep, Moonfire Kingdom.”
Estin and Halber both had their eyes widened in surprise when they realized it while Aeon kept her calm stare towards the unfolded unfortunate event in front of them:
Not too far from behind their army, there is a large, crimson-scaled dragon slowly creeping up towards them before it released one ear-crushing roar that released vicious waves, causing the debris from the remnants of the mountains to glide towards some of the enemy forces, exposing Helfor and the others.
The dragon’s scales are glowing as if they were softly burning with its wings expanded fully that it covered a couple of mountains from each sides. Its thick blood-colored whiskers flowed in mid-air as its flashing golden eyes glared down at them. Its tail, which has a few spikes surrounding the end swayed from side to side.
Helfor gritted his teeth, “Bastard..”
Irah laughed, “We got you! It seems you’ve let your guard down, the moment Eleftheria went around here just to fight off Cynane! The fact that your general helped us, made this much easier!”
Eleftheria gritted her teeth with a thought:
So that’s how it is. They used our stupid general when she went to charge into the enemy lines and when we followed along, they took this chance to send their powerful mages from behind our army to summon the dragon, knowing fully well that we would be too occupied to notice them. That time when this bitch tried to kill off our general was nothing but a mere play to distract us. Not bad…
The dragon aimed its mouth towards the right side of the army before a glowing, orange orb occurred within.
“TAKE COVER!!!” Helfor commanded and he and the other tanks tightened their grips on their shields to hold on for dear life.
The dragon finally released a sharp laser and moved its head to the other side, dragging the laser with it. Right after that, a trail of explosions followed and all everyone could hear and see are blaring howls of pain and splattering blood that painted a huge area of the ground.
Just like that, their numbers lessened to a seriously worse count.
“Heflor! We are down to a hundred!” A knight reported and the said man clicked his tongue while he glared up at the laser-breathing creature. Other knights were panicking as they backed away from it, rushing in towards Helfor and the others.
“It is indeed sad for you that you already had the victory in sight yet you wasted the chance by chasing after your general.” Cynane mocked.
“Huh. I see.. Couldn’t expect less from a kingdom who uses large numbers just to wipe its opponents.” Eleftheria formed a large grin.
Irah’s smile dropped as she glared at Eleftheria. Does she seriously don’t care about her army? This woman is mad!
“Just as I expected.” Aeon said with a confident smile. It actually felt good that her predictions were accurate.
“What?!” Estin looked over at the maroon-haired, who sat in proper posture before shouting,
“NOW, HELFOR!!!”
Helfor grinned, “We had to take a huge risk just to force you to summon the beast!” He rushed in towards the dragon, “Draco!!”
“On it!” The said man replied as he followed along. When Helfor finally stopped, he raised up his large shield and the latter hopped on it, knees are bent to charge his jump.
“Better show us just how powerful a Dragon Hunter is!” Helfor stated as he dragged his shield back with both of his hands and tightened his muscles, allowing his veins to pop out,
“TAKE THAT BASTARD DOWN!!” Helfor roared as he threw his shield towards the creature in a bullet speed.
Draco narrowed his eyes and grabbed the hilt of his blade before swinging it upon reaching the dragon’s neck, slicing his way through until he reached the end of it. He is now covered in blood and as he landed behind the dragon, he turned back to look at it.
The dragon’s head slowly slid off of its neck and fell on the ground before its body went limp and followed. The fall created a slight tremble of the ground in the process.
“I personally asked Draco to handle that dragon with that diamond blade instead of using an ordinary one, which would break during the middle of it.” Aeon told Estin.
“I don’t need you to tell me that!” The scarlet-haired replied.
Irah’s eyes widened in disbelief with her jaw dropped in surprise.
That’s impossible. She couldn’t have had predicted that far, could she? Just what is she— Her train of thoughts stopped when she heard countless of howls of pain from her side of the line and looked at her allies, who were miraculously being attacked by the remaining forces of the Moonfire Kingdom.
Eleftheria snickered, “Have you really forgotten which field of magic I am specialized to?” She then jumped back and flew into the air as she watched her peers lower down their enemies’ count while their bodies glowed bluish.
Cynane gritted her teeth as she looked up at Eleftheria, “That magic spell is one of those powerful defensive spells. I have heard of it yet I have yet to try it due to its difficulty.”
“Indeed! Now witness this and learn, old hag! Face the power of Priminiente Scierte!!!” The sorceress shouted loudly that it echoed throughout the skies and field as she spread her arms and legs.
Priminiente Scierte.. It basically buffs one up in order for them to tank on attacks for a decent period of time. Injuries such as cuts and slashes couldn’t stop it for it will only heal the user upon impact. That sorceress… Irah narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth tightly that her body shook in frustration.
Although.. that doesn’t mean they are immune to pain and can restore their stamina. The more they use it, the more they get exhausted and that is the con of the spell. Aeon thought as she pulled the reigns of the horse and turned it around to watch them.
Tythus grinned, “Those Moonfires sure are something. That sorceress pulled off that spell without a sweat.”
“I have heard it is one of those formidable defensive magic spells. I have seen it a couple of times but this one was a notch higher than those.” Elvira added.
“Damn, that sorceress is strong!” Gidas laughed proudly.
“Whoa..” Halber’s eyes glimmered at the sight. Despite their great losses, she still couldn’t help but be in awe as she watches flashes of blue and red lights in every places on the ground far from them.
Estin’s eyes widened slowly as she watched with her mouth opened, “That’s.. amazing..”
And for the first time in Estin’s life, she could feel that fire lighting up in her heart. She suddenly felt the drive to actually win this. Realizing this, she blinked and shook her head vigorously and began lightly hitting Aeon’s back with her fists, making the other yelp and look over her shoulder,
“General Estin, why are you—”
“Shut up!” The scarlet-haired suddenly felt embarrassed and grabbed the opportunity to release her stress and frustrations on the tactician.
Aeon continued to yelp in pain, “G-General Estin, that hurt!”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear you talk! Just shut up!” The other woman retorted.
Beads of sweats ran down Halber’s face as she watches the two of them before sighing. They are cute.. is what she could only think.
Irah clicked her tongue. Looks like we won’t be able to win at this rate. Very well..
She then snapped her fingers and numerous and thunderous footsteps could be heard, alarming everyone in the Moonfire Kingdom.
Eleftheria gasped when she felt energies coming at them. Her pupils dilated and shrunk countless of times at a rapid pace at the realization.
Irah chuckled, “Surprised, aren’t we? Oh well, let’s see how you Moonfires will do against my army.”
This tactician… Don’t tell me that— Eleftheria snapped out of her thoughts to clap her hands loudly once and her allies were coated, including herself, with a brighter light, vanishing in sight and reappearing to the spot on where Aeon, Estin, Halber, Helfor and Draco are.
Aeon narrowed her eyes. That tactician can use magic, too?
Eleftheria fell on her knees and went on all fours as she panted heavily with her eyes closed tightly due to the sudden great exhaustion. The other knights shared the same fate and some of them raised their faces to look up at the situation.
“That woman.. when did she ever learn to use magic?” Estin muttered in shock.
Halber clicked her tongue, “Guess we will have a harder time facing this one.”
Within the distance, another colossal wave of knights overlay half of the battlefield, it almost seemed like it had no difference from when they started the match. Instead of the enemy numbers lowering down to two thousands, it doubled up.
“Four thousands.. huh..” Aeon hummed.
“It’s over…” Helfor commented as he fell on his knees with his shoulders sunk.
“That.. can’t be..” Draco has his eyes widened as he stared blankly like the heavens crashed on him.
“Tch..” Estin clicked her tongue.
“We.. lost..” Halber breathed in and fell on her knees.
“Hey, Eleftheria. Are you short of breath already?” Aeon asked the sorceress, who looked up at her.
“Shut it. I am still not used to the teleportation spell, that’s all.” She replied before standing up.
“It seems tactics are deemed useless now. There’s no way out of this with everyone’s stamina worn out.”
“What are we gonna do, Emp?”
Aeon sighed, “I want this to end as cleanly as possible but it seems the enemy is stubborn.”
Eleftheria scoffed playfully in excitement. She has been waiting for this moment, “Don’t tell me..”
“Indeed.” Aeon looked over at her honey-haired friend and jerked her head towards Estin as a signal to bring her down.
Eleftheria sooner went to Estin, “Hey, General. You might need to come down from there.”
“M-Me? R-Right..” Estin sooner hopped down from the horse.
“W-What are you going to do, Aeon?” Helfor asked as he turned his attention to the maroon-haired tactician.
Aeon looked back at the man with an immediate reply:
“I’ll face them all, myself.”
It felt like thunder struck each one of them upon hearing those words. That declaration is like a death wish because of its aggressiveness and impulsiveness.
“W-What? Face them all by yourself? Are you mad?” Draco commented.
“You can’t possibly beat them all! It’s suicide!” Halber added.
“You know, I don’t like your attitude at the start but I am beginning to hate it more. Don’t play the hero here.” Estin growled at the woman.
“Oi, you’re the one who was playing the hero here. Just who do you think was crazy enough to charge into the enemy lines without waiting for the signal?” Eleftheria couldn’t handle her temper anymore and decided to talk back.
“Eleftheria!” Estin looked at the sorceress in surprise,
“As a general, shouldn’t you be more responsible and reliable at these times? Turns out that you’re just an immature and inexperienced bitch, who simply hates tacticians just because of trauma. Woman up, will you?” Eleftheria continued.
“O-Oi, Eleftheria, that’s going beyond the line.” Halber said.
“What do you even know about what I had been through?! You have no right to disrespect that and you have no right to say such words!” Estin already felt like crying as she felt all those pain and miseries flooding back. It is happening again. She could feel the heavy weight crushing down both her body and mind, leaving her heart crushed with multiple negativity such as anger, frustration, melancholy, and many more.
It continued to pile up slowly the more Estin holds the urges to shout and verbally abuse the sorceress.
Aeon seems to have noticed the sudden tension in the air and so, she shook her head, “No point in fighting here. We are wasting time.” She finally encouraged the horse to walk forward shortly, leaving an instruction to Eleftheria,
“Eleftheria, protect them while I’m gone.”
Eleftheria scoffed, “Roger that.” She sooner walked away from the general and rose her right hand up with her palm facing upward before a gentle blue wave emitted from it, slowly expanding around them and creating a large, transparent ball that serves as their shield, with Aeon outside.
“O-Oi, are you really serious about this?” Helfor looked over from Aeon to Eleftheria then back at Aeon.
“Of course we are. We had been doing this for a long time.” The sorceress answered.
“Instead of thinking about my safety, think about how we are going to celebrate later.” Aeon said.
The honey-haired sorceress grinned and released a soft chuckle, “Emp’s right, you know!”
“I’ll be on my way, now. I’ll be back.” Aeon said as she allowed her horse to walk forward once again, calmly heading towards the sea of enemies.
“You know, I had been wanting to ask by now but why are you calling her Emp when her name is Aeon?” Helfor asked.
Eleftheria put her hand down and crossed her arms before looking at Helfor, “Because she is an empress.”
“An empress? Of what kingdom?” Halber asked.
“Ahh, no, no. Not that kind of empress. Haven’t you guys heard about the Empress of War?” The sorceress raised an eyebrow.
“The Empress of War? Wai— wha—” Helfor sooner realized what Eleftheria meant, along with other knights, causing them to freeze in shock.
Estin froze up as well and it felt like another a destructive thunder struck her whole being, “H-Hey, d-don’t.. joke like that.”
“I’m not joking.” Eleftheria replied with her dead eyes, “Aeon Gertrude Reigns—”
“—is the Empress of War.”
Everyone fell silent and they slowly turned their heads towards Estin.
Immense sweats began to fall down on Estin’s face as a sudden flow of nervousness flooded her whole body, which began to tremble. Her eyes are now spinning and she has formed a thin, straight line on her lips.
She remembered some things. She remembered what Kiyera told her about the Empress of War, joining them. She remembered what the queen said and finally knew why she didn’t ask about Aeon.
It was because Aeon is the Empress of War!
Not only that, but she finally remembered where in the world she heard Aeon’s name from!
Rascals! I heard it from a part of the book! Yes! That goddamn book! I remember now! “To where war is, will she appear.”! Aaaaaah!! Estin, you idiot! How could you forget it!? Estin kept cursing herself.
Above all that…
“G-General Estin..” A knight finally spoke, attempting to tell her what she said back then.
Flashback.
“I have heard that the Empress of War will be joining us. We surely got lucky this time! Heard she could face thousands of enemies all on her own!” A knight said to his friend while they were taking a break from their training one day.
“I know right! Add the fact that a powerful sorceress will be joining us as well! Now, I’m excited to get to see how they fight close-up!”
“Well, they will arrive soon! Along with that, we have our Mock Warzone! We can actually see them in action!” Estin sooner said when she heard them, “Gather up everyone! I have an announcement to make!”
As everyone in the barracks surrounded the scarlet-haired, the general grinned and crossed her arms, “Our former general has entrusted her role to me so I will now be leading the army! In addition to that, when I reported to the queen, she has assigned me a sacred task along the way!”
“Wait, is that the reason why you had to go to Girstria a few days ago?” Helfor asked.
“Absolutely! And they told me that I am an omega! The queen gave me an assignment to bear a child, who will rule the kingdom in her stead!”
“EHH?!?!” Everyone shouted in surprise.
“W-Wait, you can do that?!” Helfor said.
“Ahh, I just remembered that the queen was sick so she couldn’t have an offspring to be the heir. We do need a future ruler.” Halber commented.
“But will that also means that you will be the queen, General Estin?” Draco asked.
“That’s right. I honestly don’t want to take the role but the queen insisted and so I shall grant her wish! Since this Empress of War is such a popular and legendary name. She is a perfect candidate to be the father of our kid!” Estin answered.
“Whoa, you looked really determined, General Estin!” Halber complimented.
“Hell yeah I am! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Come on, I want to be in a relationship!”
“Well, you had always been telling us how much you wanted to have a partner so we are happy for you!” A knight commented.
“Awww, the marriage is still far off! But this, I assure you guys—” Estin grinned widely with her eyes glimmering in excitement,
“No matter who she is or what she is, I will have her marry me!”
End of Flashback
“Now I remembered..” Helfor muttered.
“SHUT UP!!” Estin shouted.
“Ohhh oh, General Estin, you mistreated the father of your child, that’s a bad partner.” A male knight decided to play with her.
“Hey!” Estin glared at the said knight.
“You seriously didn’t know that Aeon is the Empress of War!?” Eleftheria asked in disbelief.
“Shut it!! The former general was the one who knew about it and forgot to tell me! I only knew about your names but not the titles! Come on, I was just recently appointed!”
“What about those war games, where in the judges called you the general of this kingdom!?”
“That was because I would be a general anyway!”
“Oh dear lord.. I know that General Dronis was a forgetful person but I never knew she would be this forgetful.” Halber said as she placed a hand over her forehead.
Eleftheria sighed, “Jeez, you better say sorry to Emp after this! Let’s just cheer on her for now and repeat after me.” She growled at Estin and looked at the battlefield before smirking, “Emp!!”
Aeon didn’t look back at them but she surely heard it.
Eleftheria continued, “All hail the empress!”
“Indeed,” Aeon narrowed her eyes,
“All hail the empress.”
Her stare is calm yet intimidating the way her deep pink irises gently flashed once and glowed a steady light with a thin string of pink energy flowing out of both of her pupils.
They are the eyes of death.
Therefore, she will dominate the entire army of Mineria Kingdom.
