"Ah~, there's nothing like a delicious cup of tea with baked treats to pass the time," Cassandra said before munching on a freshly baked cookie. "Plenty of sugar to keep us going on our busy schedule!"
"Ugh," Olivia groaned and leaned back in her chair already exhausted and wanting nothing more than to go to sleep despite it only being noon. She and Cassandra were eating snacks while overlooking the main market street of Gorinville from a private terrace on the third floor of a restaurant. Cassandra was wearing a surprisingly simple light pink dress with very few frills or accessories; she said it was to make her like a flower that would later 'bloom' when the social season officially began. Olivia was taking the opportunity to wear something other than gold since it was almost standardized into her wardrobe thanks to James, and she was enjoying the warm weather in a sky blue dress that was accented with loose-fitting, short, sleeves that transitioned like a gradient into pure white. "We already went to two breakfast gatherings, how much more is there to do today?"
"Well…" Cassandra mused and snapped her fingers.
"You called, my Lady?" A sixteen-year-old boy wearing a simple knight's outfit of sturdy leather boots, simple brown pants, a white shirt covered in a chainmail shirt, and a tabard with the Lyllium family crest of a pink hummingbird embroidered onto it entered the terrace. His short hair was a light brown that glowed in the sunlight, and his soft green eyes sparkled under his bangs.
"What's left on our agenda, Kent?"
"After a short break for tea and snacks," Kent began after pulling out a notebook, "Countess Barrington is hosting a luncheon at her mansion, Lady Isore's salon begins shortly after at her boutique, there's a gathering at the park to enjoy the returning swans which many noble daughters will be attending, then-"
"Agh!" Olivia's head hit the table as she was losing the strength to keep going. "Why is every day so packed when the season hasn't even officially started? Can't we cut some things out?"
"This is the cut-down schedule, though," Cassandra answered matter-of-factly causing Olivia's head to hit the table once again. "Be lucky we rented out the whole floor, our future queen shouldn't be seen by the masses sulking like this."
"…Why, whatever do you mean, Lady Lyllium?" In an instant, Olivia straightened her posture, gently brushed her hair off her face so the sun would shimmer as her hair fluttered to her side, and she smiled an elegantly refined smile. Her voice was calm and friendly, but held authority as she spoke, "Please don't take my earlier misgivings as offense to the efforts you put into our outing today. Spending time with you is always so enjoyable that I sometimes forget to pace myself so that we may enjoy ourselves for the whole day. I hope a momentary slip of decorum doesn't cause you to think less of me." There was an unseen pressure in the air as Olivia's eyes dug into Cassandra, and Kent fidgeted with unease.
"How could I ever think lesser of Her Highness?" Cassandra responded with her head held high and her voice filled with bravado. Her pink fan covered her catlike smile but allowed her haughty gaze to meet Olivia's stare as she added, "I would never dare look down on the Crown Princess for so elegantly bearing the weight you carry and spending your precious time with me. I just wished to make it certain that since we're so close you know you can always lean on me for reprieve."
"…"
"…"
"…Pfft!" Olivia and Cassandra both laughed at their little 'prim and proper' exchange of verbal daggers. While Olivia did tire of having to be seen as perfect at all times while integrating in the social world of the aristocrats it was thanks to Cassandra that she had been able to refine her mask of being a perfect princess. Both girls relaxed their postures as the mood returned to normal and Kent felt relieved that they kept it brief; he still remembered and dreaded the time they went at it for over an hour. "I exaggerate, but it's regretful that I couldn't even do my morning practice since we started so early," Olivia bemoaned.
"That's why this considerate friend of yours made sure to leave time at the end," Cassandra proudly declared as she waved her pink fan and caused her hair drills to jostle in the breeze. "I know you're doing your best, so I made sure to leave plenty of time before dinner so you could relax with your sword."
"Will you be joining me, this time?" Olivia asked excitedly. In order for Cassandra to 'sweep her future husband off his feet' she was doing some training with Olivia whenever time allowed.
"Unfortunately, I cannot as I have to prepare to leave for home tonight," Cassandra dejectedly replied. "I received a letter saying my father's gotten quite sick so I want to return to the barony to help him so he can focus on recovering."
"Your family's health takes precedent," Olivia agreed and took a sip of her tea. "I hope it's nothing too serious and he makes a swift recovery."
"…I think he just misses Mom," Cassandra's voice was low and her eyes fell to her fan that she now held haphazardly in her hands. "I heard that my mom was injured in a battle so I think the stress finally got to him since that happened just before I received the letter about his sickness."
"I see…" A somber air surrounded the girls as a cool breeze danced through the terrace.
"…" Kent took a slice of lemon tart from the dessert cart next to the table and put it in front of Cassandra.
"…Thank you, Kent," Cassandra gave a nervous laugh and did her best to smile at her escort knight.
"Of course, my Lady." Kent was from a commoner background and was often looked down on by other knights when he was in the capital, but Cassandra refused to allow anyone besides him to be her escort knight. He was personally picked out by Cassandra to join her family's knights which allowed Kent to help pay for his family's living expenses since they were quite poor, so Kent felt a strong sense of duty to Cassandra. His talent with a sword was remarkable for someone without training or a proper background, and Olivia saw him as a gentle giant since he was also taller than his peers.
"Then I guess I should stop complaining," Olivia joked and stretched her arms to wake herself up. "You said Countess Barrington's luncheon wa-"
"!?!" A sound like shattering glass and fracturing ice destroyed the once peaceful day and echoed across the capital. Kent immediately rushed to Cassandra's side and Mary entered the terrace to cover Olivia as no one knew what was happening.
"Are you alright, my Lady!?" Mary asked as she checked to see if Olivia was hurt.
"I'm fine," Olivia controlled her racing heart and looked around the terrace and street below to try and find what could have made such a loud noise. "Cassandra, are you…?" When Olivia looked over to check on her friend she saw Cassandra and Kent with looks of horror staring off into the sky. Following their fearful gazes, Olivia turned to the sky to witness an impossible sight; there was a massive hole in the sky. There was a strange object at the center of the hole that was too far away for Olivia to make out what it was, but for some reason, the hole and object reminded her of an eye. And the eye was looking directly at her.
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"W-What…is that?" Cassandra managed to bring out her trembling voice as she grabbed Kent's arm for safety. All the citizens of Gorinville turned their attention to the sky and the hole that looked down upon them. From what she could see, Olivia swore she saw a battlefield on the other side of the hole and a city of red and jade.
"…?" She swore something called out to her from the hole and Olivia outstretched her arm toward it only for the hole to shut a few moments later; the eye closed and left the capital stunned. The strange phenomenon would become the talk of the nobility and commoners alike for the next few days until word reached them from the frontline about a startling declaration from the royal family.
***
When the hole in the sky shut over Toldrin it left the ball of bodies suspended in the air as if held up by an unseen hand, but that hand didn't last long. The ball plummeted to the ground and created a small crater with its impact because of how solid and dense it was. When it hit the ground, all the grass and plant life in a twenty-meter radius burst into flame from the intense heat the ball gave off. Waves of heat and haze obscured the ball that sizzled and boiled in the crater. Then the ball began to bleed.
"…What…is this?" As the haze around the ball began dissipating, those around could finally see the surface of the ball in all its horror. The metal armor of the corpses had melted and mixed with the blood and flesh under the heat and pressure forming a cast around the ball. Faces of agony and anguish, horror and pain were forever captured in the cast that had since solidified. The 'growths' on the ball were the crispy arms and legs of those who tried to break free only to have their limbs burnt to a crisp since they were not covered by the cast.
"M-Monster…Monster!!!" a Peltairan soldier screamed and backed away from the ball and burning grass as molten blood began oozing out of the holes in the cast. The boiling blood was as thick as tar as it oozed down the surface of the ball giving it a disgusting sheen in the sun.
"…" Peter slowly got to his feet and could feel his throat drying out from the intense heat. "…Commander?" He turned to Lucina who was standing completely still just out of the ball's fire circle; the flames licked at Lucina's ankles but never advanced toward her.
"…" Lucina didn't speak and the wind whipped her disheveled brown hair over her face.
"Comma-"
"Peter…" Lucina's voice was barely a whisper, but the battlefield was so silent that Peter could still hear her from where he was. It sounded like she was in immense pain and was speaking through grit teeth, "Horse." Her body started to wobble and sway.
"…!" Peter immediately ran over to his horse which was nearby, mounted and rode it over to Lucina, and scooped her into his arm before sitting her down in front of him in the saddle and pulled her hood over her head. "Hear me, defenders of Peltaira!" Peter shouted with his voice echoing across the silent plains outside the city walls and drew upon the fear of the horror that everyone had just witnessed. "Your saint lies dead in a batter of corpses! Your lines are shattered with no hope of repair! Lay down your arms! Lay down your arms or Toldrin will become nothing more than a sea of crimson monuments!" Peter gestured with his great sword toward the ball of corpses with one arm while the other did its best to keep the now unconscious Lucina upright in the saddle. They held the advantage of fear on their side but only if the Peltairans believed Lucina was still combat ready so Peter was doing his best to speed things along and force a decision before they were found out. Seconds of silence passed as both the Peltairan and Urldrusk forces didn't know what to do after what they had just experienced.
"I…surrender." Then the first Peltairan threw down their weapon and raised his hands. His whole body was visibly shaking beneath his armor and his eyes kept glancing between the ball of corpses and Peter atop his horse with Lucina whose face was covered in the shadow of her hood.
"M-Mercy!" A domino effect started as another soldier threw down their axe and shield, and got down on their hands and knees to begin begging.
"Mercy, please!"
"I-I also surrender!"
"Spare the citizens! They have done no wrong!"
"…" Breezeson watched from atop his tower while all his forces began throwing their weapons aside as their morale was completely shattered; though he couldn't really blame them as he, too, felt his will to keep fighting break. He spoke to his watchman without looking at them, "Sound the horn for our surrender…and open the gates." His fists clenched with apprehension and worry. "Immediately send word back to the palace of our defeat and of the death of Saint Chadman…to our king."
"A-At once, my Lord!" the watchman replied and blew into his horn the signal to surrender which was picked up by all the horns along Toldrin's wall.
"…" Terence got to his feet in a daze and tried to make sense of what was happening. He had been completely useless against Chadman, even with Peter's support, yet Lucina was able to beat an Aurister who had mastered the magic nullification technique with her magic. Dread and anxiety started infecting his heart as the weight of what The Harbinger of Zulm truly was pressed down on his mind. The corpse ball before him sizzled in a pool of boiling blood. A monster at the age of twelve that defied all Terence thought he knew, and his brother held her leash. He turned his gaze to Peter and Lucina and swallowed the lump in his throat. Her face wasn't visible but Terence could tell that Lucina wasn't conscious from how her body was swaying in the saddle. He had wanted to increase his fame by saving the renowned Harbinger and defeating Chadman, but Lucina never needed saving and her victory would be spun to increase James' fame instead. Terence had lost.
"Make way! Make way!" a commanding cry echoed out, and Terence turned to see a precession of white and golden armored knights on horseback riding toward Toldrin's gates; the Golden Lions arrived to steal the show with James at the head. "The Little Lion of Urldrusk, Crown Prince James Arlexton has arrived to discuss the terms of Peltaira's surrender! Open the gates now or you forfeit the lives of all those who dwell within your walls!" Even though they hated her, the Golden Lions were now changing their tune and using Lucina as if she were their trump card. Terence couldn't help but bitterly chuckle at how well the Golden Lions were acting since he saw them taking worried glances at the corpse ball and Lucina. James was doing his best to not look but his face was paler than it should be for someone who 'won' the day.
"Stand clear! We're opening the gates!" The massive gates of Toldrin swung open with the help of massive chains revealing the Jade Jewel of the East.
"And thus the east falls to me," James laughed as he led his knights into the streets of Toldrin. But before he did, James turned to his brother and barked, "Stay here with the others and see to the prisoners! I assume you can do that much?"
"…I will see it done." Terence bit his lip as James and the Golden Lion knights rode off to make history without him. He turned his attention to the remaining Peltairans who were being detained by Urldrusk's forces. Richard Ordrin was doing his best to keep order along his front while Kyrie Mordrist worked to maintain order on hers, and both dukes did their best to make up for the fact that Duke Hoffman and his Olive Lynx knights were deciding to man the perimeter and not help out with the prisoners. The Hellhounds were licking their wounds and counting their living; of the one hundred knights that rode into the battle with Lucina only forty-three still stood. Lucina was still sitting in Peter's saddle but Elise had rushed over and was doing all she could to heal Lucina's wounds and try to help her regain consciousness. She was both the crux and poison to James' fame. Terence sheathed his sword and deactivated his aura; he needed a new plan if he was to claim the throne and he would pour all his resources into finding out Lucina's weaknesses to make it happen.
***
Women and children huddled in their homes, closed their windows, and silently prayed as the Golden Lion knights rode through Toldrin's streets while being escorted by Breezeson. The city, usually filled with life and the sounds of people, was deathly quiet and bare with only the clopping of hooves on stone reverberating through the streets and alleyways. The royal palace of Toldrin rose tall above all other buildings which caused James to laugh, "They live in a tower of houses?" James had never seen a pagoda before despite them being common in Peltaira. The deep red wood and black tile of the palace contrasted the green stone that led up to it and the Golden Lions were led to the palace gates where a large group of people, along with the rest of the Heavenly Dragon sect, waited for them.
"Your Majesty!" Breezeson got off his horse and got down on his hands and knees to prostrate himself before the king of Peltaira.
"Breezeson…" The king was an wrinkly, elderly man whose face was covered in a white bushy beard and whose scalp was as barren as his honor. The king looked over to the Golden Lions before addressing Breezeson once more, "You have allowed our Jade to be tarnished, led your men to a humiliating defeat, and even cost us the life of a Saint due to your incompetence." The king pushed all blame onto Breezeson despite James noticing quite a few Heavenly Dragons glaring at the king's back.
"I am sorry, Your Majesty!"
"You and your family will be disemboweled and fed to the seagulls along the piers, and all those within three generations of you will be sent to the mines in Myu for such a disgrace to our kingdom."
"Your Maje-!"
"Little Lion of Urldrusk," the king ignored Breezeson's pleas as he was dragged off by palace guards, and addressed James. "Have you come to see me grovel? Come to make the last king of Peltaira, as appointed by the heavens, show shame?" While it was true that the first king of Peltaira, Ji Toldrin, was chosen by Lady Muz to lead the Peltairan people, the current king and royal family was actually a branch family that staged a coup to claim the throne and barely held any claim to Toldrin's legacy; but they held just enough blood to be considered legitimate.
"You almost sound like you'd enjoy it, King Piànzi." James deliberately didn't address the king by his last name of Toldrin to drive home that the current royalty didn't deserve the name.
"Though you may have bested my kingdom, I am still a king!" Piànzi demanded respect when not even his retinue would show him any. Without being prompted as if to show some kind of resolve, Piànzi took the ornate crown he wore off his head and offered it to James. "Go ahead then, Little Lion, claim your feast."
"No."
"…What?" Piànzi and all his attendants looked confused at James' refusal to take Peltaira's crown which was how nations showed their defeat. "Is this some new insult? The Crown of Divine Heaven's Credence and Splendor is not good enough for you?"
"You keep jumping to conclusions without even listening to a word I have to say," James said and gave an annoyed sigh which got a laugh out of his knights. The tension in the air was mounting as James gave Piànzi a smile and said, "I'm saying you may keep your crown because you will still be king of Peltaira."
"Still…king?"
"Give me your ears, nobles, attendants, knights, and all those who preside over Peltaira! I, Crown Prince James Arlexton, bring the conditions of your surrender as decreed by my father, King Marcus Arlexton!" James took a scroll out of a pouch around his waist and unfurled it. "With the fall of Peltaira, the entire North Kelica continent is now under rightful rulership of the Arlexton bloodline! Such a vast swath of land is ours by right but such vastness requires more than a kingdom may provide! Henceforth from this day, April twentieth of the five-hundredth year since the Last Dragon's Fall, the kingdoms of Urldrusk and Peltaira shall be unified under the banner of an empire whose reach governs from coast to coast! From this day forth, the Empire of Arlexia is born!"