"To speak of war is understanding why All-Father Faal is considered a "Kind" Divine in the larger cosmos! Kind and Hard Handed! He will ignite your homeworld's skies with holy fire Poison the water, and kill the crops if you question his commands. Heed this children of the All-Father one day He will turn on you! When that comes remember my face as I speak these words!"

Heretical writings of a nameless High Priest.

Lucrezia stared at the masked group of "judges" who were there to mediate the combat, a clear attempt at her life by the Queen. She sighed as they explained the rules not once but twice, to win this round was a simple affair it seemed, destroy the enemy opposition to the last man standing, and whoever's left wins. Lyndell's group looked troubled by this, were they hoping for some sort of objective-focused bout?

She wouldn't know, and there was no real way to press the judges for real answers. Lucrezia tapped the scabbard of her weapon feeling the intricate sigils laid there by the Arch-Duke's weaponsmiths, such a weapon should not be wasted in this...base affair she felt. But her combat style was now built around it and switching to something else would not be wise.

That cursed bow made her hair stand, such defilement should've landed Lyndell into an early grave. Lucrezia cursed the Sacred Sword's spirit once again as she activated both of her contingencies, earning an inquisitive look from Arthur as he felt the necromantic energies flowing into Lucrezia together with her powers. It was done after a few heartbeats, she was ready to face her destiny.

"...Will the party of Duchess Wulfgrem, not field additional troops?" Asked one of the judges, their faces hidden behind a black mask, and their voices changed via some sort of spell.

"No" Lucrezia replied with no emotion in her voice, she would not waste precious lives in this...debacle of a fight.

"Then may the best warriors win, for today will be a glorious day for our Kingdom, at the sound of the horn the combat will start. Get ready" The judge disappeared with a flash of light and both groups saluted, before moving back to their field bases, the particular zone they would be fighting was an unremarkable patch of woods and small clearings, meant to be a test ground for combat within forested areas.

"They aren't using their warhorses, Lucrezia?" Hope asked as she watched the Knights pace around Lyndell and Mava "It's the bow, Lyndell can't or won't do mounted archery so they will shield her. Don't get hit by the arrows, entities from beyond the cosmos have corrupted that thing and I can feel the very foul essence of it seeping out of the weapon from here"

Hope nodded "Richard, Destroy the Knights as fast as you can" he grunted as he took the front of their formation, a sheen of divine light manifesting upon his back as the form of the Goddess of the Orcs descended from the higher planes, her hands enveloping the young man and her face resting upon his left shoulder, eyes closed but with a wolfish grin upon her lips.

Arthur himself had already put his helmet on, the face plate a visage of the first king as the mastery of his necromantic and mind-magic powers flashed above him, a sigil of mana even Kaine would be proud of, he then trembled as the fell energies of the Rage-that-Dwells surged forth, he was ready for combat now and only the blood of the enemy would satiate the growing hunger within his soul.

A terrifying sight, Lucrezia thought to herself as she watched Hope squeeze his shoulder in support. The woman cycled through blessings at blinding speeds and smiled at Lucrezia once she settled her powers as if no words were needed, the sheer radiance emanating from the woman in front of her told Lucrezia what was powering her friend.

The Warhammer she was holding also didn't leave much to the imagination.

Vivienne said nothing as she unsheathed her sword, Ascalon she called and the name convention was not lost on Lucrezia's ears. Whoever from Terra had approved of this was still keeping tabs on her it seemed, the demure girl prayed to the sword as the purple flame rose up from its steel blade. Eldritch fire from beyond the cosmos empowered her in this most dire of situations.

Lucrezia steeled herself for combat as every single sigil of Divine Power pulsated beneath her skin, a thin layer of frost emanating out of her hands and red static flashing together with the ice. Even her own Rage-that-Dwells was being used in this as she would make sure to put everything into overdrive to survive this encounter, seconds went into minutes as they waited for the signal.

"Take out their magic support first, Do not let the woman fire a single arrow, and put down those knights as fast as possible once the mage has been incapacitated" Lucrezia barked orders and her friends nodded. in a flash of thunder and lightning, the signal went off and they were on! the battle had begun and now this farce would finally end.

Arthur was the first to move, as an ungodly strong spell slammed into their position "Artillery spell fire! Hope!" he dashed to his beloved and the couple held hands as a sigil of pure gold appeared around them. Five more projectiles fell like a star shower but they managed to weather the storm, Richard glanced toward Lucrezia and she nodded.

The young man screamed, the trees around them shook and bent as he exploded forward towards the enemy like a bullet and soon Lucrezia heard the screams of panic and pain as he tore into them, Hope flew upwards together with Arthur only to fall like meteors upon the enemy Knights who were already being gored upon by Richard.

Lucrezia closed her eyes and felt a sharp drop from her mana reserves as she pulled a particular variant of teleportation that had elemental shockwaves weaved on it, she appeared in the middle of their Knight-Commander's formation, gasps all around her as Mava and Lyndell scrambled to move out of some ritual pentagram burned into the ground.

A spider-kin man hissed at her and leaped from behind the commander, Lucrezia felt the world slow down as she stared into his eyes, fear and contempt with hints of resignation hidden beneath a mask of controlled rage. These people knew they were being played and used by the duo behind them and they were not keen on it.

Lucrezia moved, grabbing the man by the throat as his extra arms tried to pry her off, he hissed then his head was no longer there as Hope moved with a blinding dash and slammed her Warhammer into him.

Gore and blood flew as Lucrezia's blood lust sang a tune so pure, so strong she nearly lost herself to it. Another man came running towards them as the duo were preparing to do something. Hope then teleported towards Mava and as she reappeared golden thunderbolts flashed beneath her feet. Arthur's hand pointed towards Mava rooting her on the spot with some sort of necromantic spell and then Hope leaped into the air.

To call it beautiful would do no justice to the scene as the young woman became an avatar of divine light! Her weapon shone like the sun before she slammed down on Mava, who barely could enact a shield above her. Lucrezia felt a rush of air to her left as another man tried to restrain her, only for Richard to appear and, with a clean slice, chop him top from bottom.

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A scream of agony broke her out of the grisly sight as she beheld Vivienne's blade carving through Mava's shield with its purple fire, as it break she pressed the blade further and dug into the collarbone of the foul mage, Hope's Warhammer hitting her leg and knocking her down with gusto. The Knight-Commander barked an order to retreat and fall back.

Lyndell was struggling to fire an arrow, something the woman needed to get it right clearly wasn't working! Lucrezia would not let the enemy rest and with an enormous effort that nearly made her empty out her mana and divine reserves summoned a cage of iron pillars. Throwing her hands upwards with a scream of sheer anger she called forth a mighty thunderbolt of red lighting.

The world slowed down as Lyndell's bow burst into necrotic fire and purple smoke, a single arrow that made a horrible noise punched through the weapon into the lighting strike and dispelled the entire thing!

A smirk was planted in the woman's face, she would begin her assault now!

Feeling the surge of their leader, the enemy Knights began throwing Ki attacks at a long-range themselves, all easily dispelled by Arthur and Vivienne's mighty aegis spells that functioned like a solid wall against their Ki onslaught. A crack in the air made Lucrezia's head snap towards the skies as she barely saw Richard's body going up.

Only for him to come crashing down like a comet upon the enemy formation, a whirlwind of steel and fury followed closely by Vivienne and Hope as they tried to crack the shell and take down Lyndell before she could fire another arrow. Lucrezia momentary distracted at the sight felt a surge of mana to her left as the Knight-Commander herself followed by a tall man and Mava teleported to her position!

Damn, I should've done something to bar teleportations! Lucrezia thought as she dodged an overhead slash coming from a halberd wreathed in sinister-looking blood fire, a slash of light came from her right side and she used her sword to parry the blow, only for a bolt of magic to slam into her shield right below her solar plexus.

Time slowed down as the telltale noise of that accused bow ringed through the battlefield, Lucrezia's focus nearly slipping as another misbegotten arrow flew, aimed solely at her! only for a blur of air like a summer's hot day to shine above her position. The spectral form of a particular being who had aided her on this very ground eating the projectile like it was nothing!

Vivienne's sword glowed and hummed as the two women locked eyes for a second, God be good Lucrezia thought to herself, God with a capital G be good! the Terran deities had contact with her above sending in the sword?!? How did the All-Father even allow this to happen? Questions she didn't have the time to ask as the enemy trio resumed their onslaught.

The tall man was unrelenting in his assault, every lunge and slash gave an opening for the other two to exploit and the Commander in particular was fiendishly exploiting them, Mava on the other hand had little synergy with the duo and so couldn't push Lucrezia as much as them. This lack of cohesion was enough for Lucrezia herself to exploit and force an opening.

Ice spikes coated their boots and the very ground. Lucrezia summoned iron rods and, with sheer magical power, threw them as projectiles, which were easily destroyed by the enemy's shields and spells. In their folly, the enemy pushed forward and crushed the ice beneath their boots, the spikes breaking but not falling off as a cloud of iron formed behind them.

With a flair of dramatic posing, Lucrezia baited the Halberd wielder into another lunge and froze his legs in place with the diffused cloud of iron! bringing him to a kneeling position and giving her clear shot to Mava who was reading another spell, the mage's eyes widening in fear and shock as she realized she was being targeted!

With a twist of her staff and hand, she broke the ice that held the man in place, just in time for an Iron drill to fire itself through his chest and a crude blade to decapitate his head clean off with a swipe, the Knight-Commander screamed in fury and spoke "Betrayer! foul Whore!" Lucrezia did not let that golden opportunity slide and with a grunt of power unleashed a flurry of slashes with her blade, Mava could barely hold it together before a sigil flared beneath the ice that was encroaching on their feet.

And then they were gone. Lucrezia's head snapped towards Lyndell, who now had a maniacal look on her face. It seemed the jig was up with how the arrows were tracking her instead of Hope.

A gush of hot air distracted her as Richard's form shifted to her left. His eyes were wide and in panic, as the dreadful arrow came crashing down with a horrific wail that made Lucrezia's arm hairs rise, time slowed down as Lucrezia saw the love of her life throw himself at the projectile and the sleeping goddess upon his back rise her head.

A horrible noise followed as the arrow tore into Richard's Aegis spell. Lucrezia heard the Goddess speak something in a language she couldn't understand but the shock of what followed took her attention out of it, Richard's left arm was vaporized down to the bloody bone! only a stump left as a nasty mark of warped metal and blood remained in his arm socket.

A blood-curling scream erupted from Lucrezia's throat as she burned through Divine Energy from All-Mother's Sigil to call forth a massive spike of bronze-tinged iron from the ground, a bolt of red lighting birthing itself with the snarl of an angry god and the smell of ozone making her nostrils flare. It struck true and the space where Lyndell was became white.

Yet it was not enough, Mava had dispelled the worst of the damage somehow and things grew dire from there as she casually batted Vivienne away with Arthur and barked orders for the Knight Commander to charge, she cursed the mage but still went forward. Hope tried to teleport towards them as she was in the skies but another arrow followed her this time!

Richard's body was limp as Lucrezia got to him, only for the Goddess to move her mouth and make him stand eyes closed "I will need a new arm Lucrezia" he spoke in a stiff way "That thing is not normal, we must take her out and fast" he snapped out of it and grimaced "The pain will not hinder me for now, worry not for me"

Sigils of Gold and Silver flared around both of them as Arthur together with Vivienne and Hope appeared from thin air, another arrow came with its dreadful wailing noise but this time it didn't pierce through the barrier that Lucrezia noticed was being maintained by all three of them, Vivienne's sword burned with purple fire as the woman raised it to the air and slashed down in front of them.

Rings of Eldritch flame lit up the woods around the group as they endured an onslaught of magical and Ki spells from the opposition "Something is not right Lucrezia, even my strongest attacks feel weak and feeble for no apparent reason" she raised her sword once again and the skies rumbled with the sound of thunder, a bolt of purple energy struck the remaining rank and file Knights the duo had ordered to charge.

"Something's foul, the Queen's doing no doubt...All-Father be good Mother why would you do this..." Arthur cursed under his breath, Lucrezia could see his patience with the woman had finally run out, especially given how he kept staring at Richard's arm socket.

"She will pay, I swear on my blood and name" He locked eyes with Richard and the men shared a silent agreement, Hope smiled at the sight and raised her weapon "Let us face the enemy! We have rested plenty enough as is" with a swing, she flew upwards and readied to rain down unholy fire upon the enemy as she conjured the sigil of the Mad God.

Time slowed down once again as Lucrezia's senses told her something was not right, there was no noise as she turned her eyes to the left of her group into the treeline as she watched the form of one of the juries stare at her with a smirk in his lips, no mask hiding his face now before vanishing in a flash of silver only for Lyndell to appear in his place.

There was no noise as she aimed, right at Hope's head. Lucrezia felt panic hit her in the gut like a knife, that was enough for her last ditch effort to kick in and flare a multitude of sigils all around her. The rest of the party snapped into combat positions before noticing what was happening but by then it was too late, the arrow sang its terrifying song once more but instead of finding its way to Hope's head, it curved mid-air, piercing what remained of the Silver and Gold barrier and Lucrezia's own Aegis spell.

Sound refused to return as she watched panic erupt amidst her friends, feeling the cold bite of what had to be the same metal the Queen had made to kill her in their battle so long ago tear into her chest. Air followed as she kneeled in the soft grass and felt her life slowly drain away before being washed with healing magicks coming from Hope and Arthur, even Vivienne herself trying to close the wounds with her flame.

Darkness, a flash of cerulean lights, and more darkness. Lucrezia was falling into a pitch and the last thing in her mind was a small prayer to whoever was there to listen, praying for the last stage of her plan to work lest she actually end up dead.