Seeing the banners and the scenes of celebrations, Alexandros was filled with a deep sense of anger and disappointment. For a moment, he couldn't believe that this was his home and those within were his people.
"The war is just over the horizon and yet they are… celebrating?" He couldn't believe the words coming out of his own mouth.
Scanning the lengths of the newly repaired walls, the boy emperor found much to his chagrin the lack of tower guards and sentries. Unable to hold back his anger, he coldly ordered. "Smash those gates open and ride to the palace. We shall drag that crazed man down from the throne."
The Hielander warriors near him nodded their heads and whistled. The army received its command and the battle began.
---
The battle ended as soon as it began. The forces stationed at the gates were no match for the war parties of the Hielanders, who were not only larger and tougher but much stronger than the average soldier of the empire.
It took the Hielanders a mere ten minutes to break through the main gates of Caroxtel and enter the city. As he followed behind, Alexandros' heart soon grew unsettled for he quickly discovered a distinct lack of firearms and other related weaponry.
The guards were weak. Too weak.
---
The Hielander war parties progressed through the city while facing little to no resistance. Citizens would cry and cower at the sight of the buff, half-naked and mask-wearing savages. Children would hide behind their parents and feel terrified at the sight of these demon-like people.
Occasionally, they would come across a few guard teams that tried to mount a resistance. However, these battles were of no concern for the Hielanders as they found their opponents to be pathetically weak. A five-man party of Hielanders would quickly clear a few dozen guards armed with spears and leather armour.
As he watched these uneventful battles unfold, the boy emperor quickly realized that these guards were trained soldiers of the imperial army but rather poorly trained conscripted citizens.
Not wanting to harm the unwitting citizens, Alexandros ordered the Hielanders to merely disarm the guards and leave them alone. However, he was soon forced to recall said order as these people fiercely resisted even after being defeated and disarmed. They would rush to attack the Hielanders who had turned their backs with the resolve to die.
Faced with such zealous retaliation, Alexandros was uncertain about how to proceed. The Hielanders, on the other hand, felt no such uncertainty as they coldly butchered those that dared to attack them.
When the war party reached the boundary between the Inner and Outer Ring of the city, Alexandros realized to his horror that the citizens of the areas that he had 'cleared' were now arming themselves with whatever they could find in an effort to combat the Hielanders.
Left with no choice, Alexandros was forced to split his army and garrison each of the districts with a portion of his men. With ever-decreasing numbers, Alexandros approached the imperial palace.
---
The resistance at the Second Inner Ring was especially fierce. Alexandros and his army had to face nearly a thousand imperial soldiers armed with firearms and other munitions. The Hielanders, having never faced these weapons before, found themselves vastly out of their depths and suffered heavy losses.
Fortunately for them, the urban nature of the battlefield proved to be a great advantage. The buildings and walls acted as trees and rocks for the Hielanders as they seemingly returned to a 'concrete' version of their home. By exploiting their surroundings and resorting to guerilla warfare, the Hielanders wiped out the enemy and emerged victorious.
Not even stopping to count the casualties, Alexandros pressed the Hielanders to continue onward. He only left a small detachment to tally the bodies and gather the firearms.
---
At the foot of the marble steps leading to the imperial palace, Alexandros faced the fiercest resistance. Three thousand imperial soldiers armed with the latest firearms lay in wait; this time there were no buildings or walls to serve as obstructions.
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Alexandros considered the situation for a moment before realizing that he had no advantages to exploit. Unwilling to delay the situation any longer, he ordered the Hielanders to charge and meet the enemy in an open confrontation.
The results were disastrous.
Nine thousand Hielanders charged to meet the enemy hunkered down upon the marble steps of the imperial palace. Thunder and fire roared en masse and instantly, a tenth of the Hielanders fell; never to rise again.
Had the people charging been anybody other than the Hielanders, such a scene might have vaporized all morale that they possessed. However, in the case of the Hielanders, it was the opposite; the sight of their fellow warriors falling only served to alight their passion and spirit for battle.
The ones that followed used the bodies of their fallen brethren as shields and used them to close the distance. After four rounds of firing, just as the imperial soldiers were amidst reloading their fifth, the first of the Hielanders made contact. And like a divine blade cutting through mud, the Hielanders effectively slaughtered the imperial soldiers.
Bodies fell and lives were claimed. By the end of the battle, the pure-white marble steps had been coloured crimson red. Less than a thousand Hielanders remained standing.
With a heavy heart, Alexandros ascended those crimson steps. Wherever his eyes gazed, he came across gore and slaughter; the bodies of men lying in a twisted heap of burning flesh.
Alexandros forced himself to look away. He hardened his heart and resolved his spirit. This farce had gone on for far too long. It was about time to bring it to an end.
---
After splitting the Hielanders and sending them off to secure the palace and seal away the exits, Alexandros charged towards the throne room with fifty men and a heart rife with righteous anger.
He kicked open the ornate doors of the throne room and entered the opulent hall with furious steps. Inside, he was met with the sight of his Royal Uncle sitting on the throne with the 'Crown of the Empire' placed upon his head. Traitorous ministers and corrupted palace guards stood beside him with pale faces and drawn weapons.
A deluge of impressive pressure and aura fell upon Alexandros. However, the boy emperor stood firm; he was no longer the weak youth of yesterday.
"To think that you would return to your home in the company of these savages… oh, how your ancestors will be rolling in their graves!" Rodriguez weightily accused.
"My ancestors are also yours, Uncle Rodriguez," replied Alexandros. "And I don't think that they would be too pleased with someone who's committed fratricide either."
A tense silence hung as some of the ministers gasped at the boy emperor's accusation. They alternated their gazes between the newly-crowned emperor and the son of the previous emperor.
"Fratricide," Rodriguez calmly remarked. "You do understand the weight of falsely accusing your monarch, correct?"
"It is not a false accusation if it's the truth, Royal Uncle," rebutted Alexandros. "And also, you are not my monarch. I do not recognize you."
"What need have I for your recognition? The people recognize me as their monarch. The ministers recognize me as their monarch. The Crown of the Empire sits atop my head!"
"And what of the generals and the armies, Royal Uncle? Do they recognize you as their monarch?"
His question sealed the mouth of the newly-crowned emperor. Alexandros gazed at his uncle with apparent disdain in his eyes.
Rodriguez maintained a calm façade. He lightly waved his hands and casually replied, "The recognition of fools and barbarians does not matter. They will come to respect me in time."
"When?" asked Alexandros. "When you have sold off the empire to the foreigners? When you hold their families hostage and turn them into slaves? Is it then?"
"Watch your words, boy!" roared Rodriguez. "I will not stand quietly while you accuse me of selling my country off to the foreign devils!"
"Besides, you make no sense. One moment you accuse me of killing my own brother and assuming his place on the throne and in the other, you accuse me of selling off my country to the foreigners." Leaning forward on the throne, Rodriguez heavily asked, "Pray tell, why I would work so hard to become the emperor if I plan to sell it off? How would that benefit me?"
"It is because you never cared for the empire or its people, Royal Uncle." Alexandros evenly answered. "It is because, as long as you are concerned, the whole of the empire could burn in hell. In fact, this is what you fervently crave, isn't it?"
Rodriguez shook his head seemingly as if he pitied Alexandros. "Another fool; just like his father."
"You wish for the empire to burn because that is the only way that your hatred could ever be sated. Only by destroying everything that my father had worked so hard to create, will your perverse desire be satisfied!"
"Stop talking, boy."
"You are like an insolent child who throws tantrums by ruining and destroying your sibling's toys; all because you feel inferior."
"Stop talking."
"Ah, what a pity it must've been for grandfather. To have birthed an excellent son like my father and a disappointing tantrum-thrower like you. No wonder he decided to break tradition and pass down the throne to my father."
"SHUT! YOUR! DAMN! MOUTH!!" Rodriguez screamed like an enraged beast. He glared at Alexandros with a gaze that wished to tear him apart and grind him into pieces. "Your father was a bully! A petty thief! And a goddamned scoundrel!! He is an immoral bastard who cucked me, his own brother, all to satisfy his vain sense of pride and glory!"
With reddened eyes filled with grief, resentment, and madness, he cried. "Oh, my Valencia! My sweet, darling Valencia!"
Alexandros stood rooted in his spot, seemingly having been struck by a bolt of lightning.
"Wha-what did you just say?"