"Airships from the principality, ships from the shogunate, and carries from every country around us arrived in droves, be it for coin, favor, or something else. We didn't know at first that her reach was that huge but in time we learned how much she had done to fight the one battle that would go down in history"
Academy Student, name unknown.
"You aren't thinking of actually doing the speech right Lucrezia?" Arthur asked as the professor cleared out from the class, he looked to Richard who was shaking his head in defeat, likely having to talk the woman out of this little show.
Arthur was both angry and glad when he finally came to the Academy, he knew that Kaine would've told her to not speak about the attempt at Hope's life, Kaine was always one to mitigate emotional damage, after all, a thing Arthur had come to understand when they were working on his particular powers.
And yet...He could feel something else bubbling deep underneath his feelings for Lucrezia, was he also falling for her? He saw and more importantly felt how Richard often sneaked in looks at her, felt his emotions pulsing under his soul, it felt much like him and Hope, and that raised the question, could he be in love with more than one person? Arthur sighed inwards, a deeper dive into his feelings would be needed, even if that would leave him in a...compromised state for a few days.
"Yes, I am in need of allies, after all, my personal guard won't be enough to storm the fields and that thing will no doubt call the many knights who are in charge of the women in his harem," Lucrezia said staring at him, those cold azure eyes of her fixed squarely on him.
"Gods, the last speech someone gave there was nearly 30 years ago you know?" Ironheart spoke from the back "And you really think the nobles will support you?"
Lucrezia smiled "Yes, not only them but their Knights as well, those fields are a major strategic asset to the whole country, by training inside them and mastering the fear of death we have given birth to the finest warriors of the new world" She pointed to the Royal Knight behind Arthur "That will be enough to attract the combat minded, the rest will follow as their houses and parents tell them"
"And the non-nobles?" Richard asked.
Lucrezia laughed "They have been in it from the start Richard! I've funneled enough coin to the trinity I could fund a small country! be it for glory, anger, or plain curiosity they will come as well"
"Lucrezia..." Arthur wanted to tell her his mother would likely make her move against Lucrezia but he couldn't find the words for it.
"I know Arthur, I know, be not worried my friend for I have taken the necessary measures should that happen" she whispered to him "But can I count on you by side when the time comes?" she asked.
And no doubt stand against mother and father, but Arthur knew she wouldn't approve of Hope, and had long made the decision to forsake even the right for the throne for the love of his life.
"Yes, gods be damned yes" he replied with a nod and felt a great weight being lifted from his chest.
"You haven't given speeches in a while William, what will you do now that simple rhetoric won't work for these privileged blue blood scions I wonder?" Lucrezia spoke with a hint of smugness, she was just below his skin again, having taken a taste for the muted but nevertheless sensations William felt in his day to day life, according to her it took a few seconds to register the wind on his face, the taste of food and drink, a touch from someone they knew, etc...
"If I can't play up to their struggles, I will play up to their egos, their sense of righteous indignation for not being able to train and enjoy the castle, there are many angles here and most of them will work, or so I goddamn hope they will" William fired back to his companion.
The support from the manufacturing plants inside the Academy was already dealt with, William gave them coin and materials, they would work for him to arm his army. most of the disenfranchised commoners and merchant scions were already there so the important bit of logistics and supplying the men and women who would fight was tight as it could be, with the added bonus of shipping in more experts from various countries later as William spent coin like crazy.
Said coin was burning a literal hole in the Duchy's finances, thanks to the many Magi-Tech items being sold Idun told William they had to build 3 new coffers in the castle! and they were still overflowing!
A smile came to his lips, all that wealth being put to use in his duchy, lifting those who had their lives ruined by Lucrezia's parents, the ever-growing number of Gods related to citizen and state welfare sending their people to ask for a chance to work in what was likely the biggest uplifting of society as a whole in the new world, he was even told the number of literate people was rising!
This was not Earth, and if he had just an ounce of the power he has he would still try his best to do right by the people he was entrusted with by Lucrezia. She loved her people and her lands dearly and he would not, could not squander that, for he too had come to love it as his new home.
He felt Lucrezia smiling with happiness and joy, and so William smiled as well.
A gust of cold wind flew towards him, a form blurred and then became focused, Kallista took shape by his right side and nodded her head "Lady Lucrezia, I've returned from my talks with brother dearest, the royals won't interfere with me being here" she smiled "that whelp fears no one it seems"
"She is the strongest fighter of the whole continent, and beyond..." William replied back "So, will the Red Dragon fight?"
"Aye" Kallista grinned "If called he is oath-bound to fight, we have hashed out the rules, safe to say he's none too pleased to fight against me again, never was one for the traditional sibling contest that one, always off doing something or another you see" she smiled fondly at the memories "Now a little bird told me you are to give one of those speeches of yours? rally the humans to fight the good fight and such?"
"Indeed my friend, would you like to watch?" William asked.
"Of course, let us ignite the flame of ambition and war in these soft-skinned nobles" Kallista laughed as she followed William.
Kallista scanned the room full of younglings, a few of her brother's brood could be seen, diluted over the centuries as they were, the infants of Vermilion best and brightest all looking towards Lucrezia who was fully armored, minus her face, of course, they loved a pretty face after all.
And yet, there was something far darker behind that visage of hers, something Kallista had seemed often in her battles across the cosmos, an innate bloodlust coupled with charisma and smarts that would make her and her dragon family fight the direst of fights.
And they would never surrender, never give up and join the collective, no for them it was death and glory, a blaze that would burn everything, and if that took out the enemy? it was more than enough to give those people insane smiles upon their faces.
"Wonder how will he deal with her," Kallista thought to herself with a smile, that old fart loved those types, after all, they made the best soldiers and field commanders, even more than the pious.
In their rather massive dining hall there was a small raised platform, according to what Kallista was told by her brother the kids there used it as a way to gather attention to their events, how did he know about the intricacies of the Academy was something she found odd but then again her brother was an odd dragon, that or one of his brood kept him in the know.
Lucrezia clapped her cheeks and whispered "Let's do this" to herself, Kallista raised her eyebrow but said nothing, both walked the small steps to the platform and it didn't take long before people began pointing to them.
"Get their attention" Lucrezia whispered and with a wolfish grin Kallista nodded
A massive roar shook the very foundations of the hall, and the glass windows and wooden doors trembled! Knights and other security personnel began moving in haste which earned them a nod of approval from Kallista, to walk after a True Dragon's roar was nothing short of impressive!
Kallista felt Lucrezia's presence shift, she raised her hands and spoke.
"Noble scions of the Academy! Citizens of Vermilion! Gather around me and listen!" Her voice boomed with the combined might of all of her blessings! Heads near and far snapped to her as the entire place fell into silence, Kallista could hear Lucrezia's heart beating faster and stronger.
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"Today I come to you! my fellow students, friends, and acquaintances, to ask for help! help in fixing a great wrong! such act saps our Academy of morale! of vigor! And I know you people have raised your voices against it! and yet your parents can only give non-answers, or worse! tell you to look away! to cast a blind eye to such arrogance, such naked display of everything that goes against our fair nation!"
Kallista closed her eyes and for a split second, she saw his form standing where Lucrezia was, golden and glorious, wrathful and holy, the hammer of order glinting in his hand as he egged his troops towards certain doom, for that was his duty.
Until it no longer was.
"For I speak of the sacred Fields of Seresval! the foundation of our great's nation strength! for it was thanks to it that we managed to drive back the Mad King of Grannarius! the Mercenaries of the Dynasty! the Mad Sword Saints of the Shogunate and our ancient enemy the Imperium! And now it sits under the rule of Azarel Bir'Yurar! who brings shame to his house name and to the Holy Sword of Artorius!
"Join me! and we shall break his walls and harem! we will chop his head off with our swords! break his spine with our axes! run him through with our spears and trample his bones with the hoof of our horses!"
Kallista was ready to applaud Lucrezia for a great speech when a thunderbolt flew right towards them, Kallista barely moved a muscle as Lucrezia extended her hand towards the projectile and sucked the bastard down like it was water!
"How dare you! Saal'Xhir whore! get down here and face you Kinslayer disgrace!" screamed a beautiful redhead woman who was flanked by two other equally beautiful women, they all had similar-looking longswords and a patch bearing the sigil of house Bir'Yurar, a blonde woman holding what would become the aforementioned Sword of Artorius
"Beg for mercy and Lord Azarel will forgive you," the leading woman said with a smirk, her escorts unsheathed their swords and took combat stances.
Lucrezia leaped towards them, she summoned her ax and smiled, another leap and she slashed the enemy, who parried the blow only to find Lucrezia's feet planted right into her ribs.
With a cry of pain, her goons leaped in trying to overwhelm Lucrezia, Kallista's eyebrows rose when she saw a pale blue light flare from Lucrezia's back.
"Necromancy" Kallista bit her lips hard "gods this woman truly is the gift that keeps on giving"
From the light a shade appeared, armored in the same style as Lucrezia this shade had her face and features, but her weapon was not the dragonbone ax but a weapon from the Shogunate, one particular blade Kallista had seen before bearing the mark of a very important man of the Kingdom.
The blade from the Arch-Duke's wife sliced through the air like a hot knife through butter, in its wake it left devastation that could catch even the most experienced of Knights. the crowd around Lucrezia gasped as the display of immaculate swordsmanship was paired with the wild swings and reckless usage of magic, she weaved ice, lighting, and metal around with grunts of sheer power as the trio of women was pushed to their utmost limits.
Lucrezia nodded to her clone wraith and slammed her hands on the ground, a cage of iron locked the trio in place as they panic and began to wildly slash their newly found prison of iron.
The wraith walked over to them and with inhuman speed began slashing through the air, with a flourish at the end of her attack she sheathed her weapon. As the blade went in a flurry of delayed slashes tore through the goons who in a last-ditch effort jumped to save the redhead woman, their screams echoed along the walls of the cafeteria as Lucrezia took a neutral stance with her weapon, her wraith partly fusing with her body in a sick display of power.
"Have it written upon ye meager graves, felled by Duchess Lucrezia Sommer Wulfgrem!" Lucrezia dashed towards them and with a nasty uppercut knocked their leader to the side, nearing the fallen goons Kallista noticed they still clung to life!
Then Lucrezia kicked their knees in and they blacked out while screaming.
"I HAVE UPHELD MY END OF THE BARGAIN, AND AZAREL'S WHORES HAVE UPHELD HIS!" Lucrezia's wraith was giving an eerie echo to her voice, she pointed her ax to the leader and continued " FOR FIGHTING THIS WRECH OF A ENEMY, THE SCION OF BIR'YURAR PROMISES MERCY, GAZE UPON A TRUE NOBLE, HEIR TO THE HOUSE THAT FOUNDED THIS KINGDOM, I MAKE NO SUCH OFFER!" She slammed her ax on the ground causing ice and iron to bloom around her, pointing the weapon to the fallen she screamed "RUN, RUN, RUN TO THAT DISGRACE AND TELL HIM THIS, I COME FOR HIM AND HIS SWORD!"
Kallista saw the foes run for their lives as the sheer output of energy both divine and magical washed over her, a true fighter that one, as the others came out from the daze they began slamming tables and plates, chanting her name.
Lucrezia had gotten her army that day, now she only needed to train them.
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Andromeda stalked the fields where the mad Duchess was building her army, she saw many nobles laughing and joking, and many doing drills with their Knights or with Lucrezia's own men.
It was a strange sight to see, but Vermilion Knights knew how to operate under another's banner. And so they did under Lucrezia and surprisingly a merchant's son who was the man behind logistics together with Lucrezia.
Moving past the small army that was gathered in the main camp, the young woman found a small enclave of priests decked out in teal robes, their faces masked with technology that far surpassed that of the capital. The priests chanted a strange hymn, it spoke to her deep inside of her heart, a calling that surpassed the general apathy that blanket her life.
"A religious experience, now?" she spoke to herself unaware some of the men and women were paying attention to her. She watched as they worked in blessing these huge suits of armor, some were light and had few weapons on them, and others were bulkier, culminating in something that looked more like an armored carriage than armor, complete with what looked like a long metal tube sticking in its back.
She had heard of these Magi-Tech shortly before joining Lucrezia's army, they were called "Zenos" and apparently, they could make even the weakest of noble scions into a one-man army capable of taking as much as 10 Knights alone, coupled with long-range fire support and middle of the road generalists units it was one of the trumps Lucrezia was willing to show to her enemy.
A deep rumbling sound was pounding inside Andromeda's head, it was like a call from a beast in pain and rage, she followed this phantom noise until it led her to a tall dwarf presiding over the enclave.
Behind it stood the cause of the noise, painted in deep crimson unlike the others who spotted camouflage for usage in the north, this was a close-range Zenos unit with a long blade and small pulse cannon in its arsenal, meant to deliver precision strikes at speeds that could break the sound barrier!
"How in all hells do I know all of this!" the girl spoke out loud, she then felt the gaze of the priest lock on her.
"a budding blessing, I can feel the power surging around you child, speak your name" the priest commanded.
"Andromeda Farro" she replied staring at the man "This isn't possible, I've been blessed by a Musical God! you can't just get new blessings like that!"
"Not new, hidden until the time was right" he smiled and she saw that many around her had faces that said they went through the same "As you can no doubt see many here were the same as you, but I don't sense the power of a crafter in you" he looked around and found the person he wanted "High Priestess a moment of your time please"
An elven woman clad in armor and flanked by more elves walked up to the enclave, they nodded and the leader of the elves stared Andromeda down "Farro? our lady has dealings with your father hmm" she kept staring "It's akin to that one fellow from back home but geared towards combat, to think we have reached the point where the blessing can mutate and take a more combat-focused aura, marvelous"
She walked past Andromeda "This Zenos unit speaks to you yes? you can feel the metal and crystal hum as you got closer, power flowing from it to you and back to the machine in a perfect loop?"
And Andromeda's eyes widened "Yes! gods above woman how do you know that?!"
"Prior experience, High Priest, let her in, let us see if we have another "Razgriz" on your hands" the elven woman spoke and the man nodded with a kind smile on his face "What a day, what a glorious day!"
Andromeda followed her instincts and with a few key presses in the side pannel she managed to open the cockpit for the Zenos unit, she sat down in its chair and as the blessing kicked into high gear she felt the whole world brighten as if she had acquired insight on the very fabric of the cosmos, the machine spoke to her in deep hums and revving sounds, a symphony of highs and lows, bass and brass.
Metal and Crystal!
"Does it have a name?" she heard the High Priestess's voice far far away, Andromeda closed her eyes and searched, diving deep into the machinery she was currently on, and she arrived at its core, the beating heart of the monster, and she saw a sentinel of righteous fury cutting down every single enemy in her path.
"Crimson" Andromeda's words made the priests chant louder, their own blessings feeling the awakening of a deep bond between the flesh and the Magi-Tech. Lucrezia had gained another powerful ally that day and when she strode the battlefield there would be bloodshed of the likes none had seen before.
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King Jason read the reports as a headache began to kick in the back of his head, his people were working overtime to find out what was Lucrezia's plan and just now they got confirmation that she did not in fact plan to storm the castle and become queen.
"Who witness the fight?" he asked out loud and two women came and kneeled.
"Sirius, Aqua, is it true? did she break the girl's knees? and used high-level necromancy?" Jason asked fearing their answer would confirm the report.
"Yes sir, the woman fought as if she was the goddess of war herself, the shade indicates she has mastered the necromantic arts to her fullest potential without a blessing from the undying" Sirius spoke.
"Cruelty given flesh that woman King Jason, there was no honor, no mercy and no nobility in her fight style, but the shade..." Aqua trailed off.
"The shade? out with it Aqua"
Aqua cleared her throat, Jason disliked being rude to his people but the woman was fond of trailing off to her own little world.
"Lucrezia fights with the ax, as the northerners are known to do, her style has marks from the Knights in her service, the style old Wulfgrem warriors used in the past and the mermen from the Diamond Reefs" Aqua focused and spoke "But the shade sir, she fought with a Shogunate Katana! and there's more, the weapon was from the Arch-Duke himself! well at least anima was given form thanks to the many spells she no doubts employed to summon the shade"
"Sir you know what that means right?" Sirius asked, "The reports Luna gave last week all but confirmed it, the Arch-Duke is on her side and she's poised to take the kingdom!"
"You should lay off those conspiracy novels you read so much Sirius" Aqua snapped back at her friend "Sir, I have in good confidence that Lucrezia wants nothing with the crown, but she knows Queen Malphas and you will come for her"
"You think that? really?" Jason asked.
"Aye my liege, she waits for you in those fields, once she kicks that shameful noble in the gonads she knows the Queen will make her move, we have already intercepted intelligence about the weapon made to circumvent the immortality granted by the fields, and the support from the Red Dragon" Aqua spoke with conviction "We will see a battle this world hasn't seen in millennia, my sources already speak of the movement of the ascended"
"Then we fight" Jason sighed "Gods the things I have to put with thanks to that woman"
"The things we do for our loved ones my lord, the things we do" Sirius spoke with a grin on her face.
"Indeed" Jason fired back with a sigh, this would be a long few months.