At the outskirts of Luara, the capital of Raldus Kingdom

"Would you look at that..." Dorian approached me without even trying to hide the joy in his voice and looked at the massive hole in the distant city walls, "In the name of everyone there I have to thank you, Francis, without your help, we would have a hard time getting inside..."

Other generals, Casandra and Lucius, burst into laughter when heard him and I gritted my teeth in rage.

"Why that gloomy look?" joined Casandra, "Haven't you killed the famous Witch of White Flames? Your contributions this time will be very high... So what if you lost two-thirds of your men. It's not like we will jump at the chance to deal with you while you are still weak... after all, we are all on the same side."

A dangerous glint flashed in her eyes and I had no doubt that this is exactly what she will do. She was unable to act against me directly, especially with my contributions to the crown, but my losses were too heavy for her to not make a move.

I had to think of a way how to increase my troops as soon as possible, and I couldn't afford to lose a single soldier from those that survived. Which is exactly why I passed on storming the capital... allies were now much more dangerous than the enemy, and with the chaos inside the city, it was a perfect place for various 'accidents' to happen.

A flash of strange lightning suddenly entered my sight.

"Hey, you saw that?" Dorian asked with a shocked expression and just as he finished his sentence a loud thunder reached our ears.

The reason for his strong reaction was because the lightning launched up into the air... from within the city. It formed into a bolt and for a moment levitated high above the city, then it launched back, this time like real lightning was supposed to act.

"That was within the palace!" Casandra exclaimed with worry in her voice and another sound of thunder reached our ears.

A smile rose on my face. That lightning was anything but normal... perhaps I am not the only one who will suffer heavy losses this time. 

*

Within the Palace

"Sir," Randolph saluted in front of me, "reporting on our progress."

"Speak," I said while sitting in the throne of their now dead king and then frowned when heard the tone in my own voice.

The man in front of me had nothing to do with it. On the contrary, he was a promising young lad and was actually almost like a son to me. Good head on the shoulders, a spellblade, and most importantly... knew how to follow the orders. It's just that despite all our efforts there wasn't a single head we could present to our Lady.

"We found her!" he replied with a wide grin, and there was no need to even ask who he meant.

"Have you managed to capture her?" I asked barely able to contain my excitement.

"No," his voice dropped, "the moment we knocked her out an enchantment on her body has activated and she died on the spot, but..." he then gestured at the man behind him and I noticed a box in his hands, "... her head is in perfect condition and no one will be able to deny it's her."

This was very good news. It would be even better if we captured her alive, but one has to be realistic. Earlier, Loraniel lost prince right from under his nose, but now that we got the queen, my contributions to the House should be quite high.

If I managed to get prince that escaped earlier as well... not only my promotion would be guaranteed, but at the same time, I would deliver a loud slap to that old bastard's face.

"Where is Edgar?" I then asked when noticed that there were quite a few men missing from his group.

It was inevitable to lose a few here and there, but Edgar was a third circle mage...

"Dead," answered Randolph and when noticed my darkened gaze quickly added, "she had a few experienced beasts on her side and her magic wasn't that weak either..."

Beasts? Ah... demihumans! Filthy creatures masquerading as men. To think they allow these abominations to walk among them as their equals... Now that the war was practically over, we will change that.

Still... if we don't want to become a laughing stock for the others will need to slightly alter the story why we lost our strongest mage.

A loud bang suddenly interrupted my inner thoughts and when I looked at the source, a large cloud of dust was spreading in the center of a hall.

One pillar supporting the roof was smashed on the floor while another crumbled the moment we looked in that direction. My sight trailed upwards and I saw a large hole in the ceiling, wide cracks spreading far at the edges and occasionally, here and there, some pieces of a stone dropped to the floor.

"Did some idiot at the catapult decided to bury us?" someone voiced my very thoughts.

But that lasted only for a moment.

All hair on my body suddenly raised on their end and I felt the presence of my old acquaintance. Could almost hear his voice whisper in my mind, promising that this time there will be no escape...

A premonition of death.

It has saved my life countless times... but never before has it reacted so strongly.

Before I could even order my men to ready their weapons, there was a bright flash accompanied by a thundering bang and for a moment I lost my sight and the ability to hear. When the sight has eventually recovered, there was still a loud buzz in my ears, but my gaze was immediately glued to the floor...

Dead.

Two squads of knights, personally trained by Izaak of Crimson Blade, two mages and even supposedly immortal spellblade... all dead. Their charred bodies were scattered on the floor, the smell of burned flesh in the air.

"W... who?!" I stuttered while reaching for my weapon only to realize that it was already in my hands. My eyes focused on the cloud of dust and I was dreading to see what's inside, yet dared not to even blink.

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Blue sparks flashed briefly from inside the cloud... then again, and again. With the sound of footsteps, a human figure slowly walked from within, lightning dancing over the body.

It was a young woman and dark robes on her body strongly emphasized her figure.

When she was less than twenty steps away, she stopped and drew a vial from the pouch on her hip, drank its contents and an empty bottle shattered on the ground.

Mana Potion?

"Hello, my dear enemy," her voice then echoed through the hall, "Would you be so kind and tell how many from royal family are still alive? Oh, and while you are at it, I wouldn't mind if you also tell how many of you are in the palace."

"Who are you?!" I yelled while trying to win some time. She might have killed everyone in the hall, but that was only a tiny fraction of our forces within the palace.

As for her identity, I was certain that she was a mage, and... a very powerful one. I have never heard of any mage capable of creating a lightning... and she did that without incantation. Attacking her alone would be a suicide. Was she an elf? I couldn't see her ears, and the color of her hair was pitch black, but... it was the only thing that could explain her power despite such young look.

"Ah yes, where are my manners..." she curtsied in an exaggerated manner, "I am Celina Darkmoon, daughter of Amelia Darkmoon gol Tanus, an heir of Darkmoon House... or what's left from it. Maybe some of the titles now lost their meaning... but you can't deny that I am at least a very beautiful mage, hehe."

Celina? She is a daughter of White Flames?

"Now that the formalities are out of the way..." the lightning on her body started to intensify and suddenly she vanished from her previous spot only to appear right in front of me.

I tried to dodge while reading the sword to attack, but the moment her hand touched my head, every muscle in my body was strained at full power, not allowing me to perform even the slightest movement. I was paralyzed, and even though the sword was still in my hand, I was completely powerless.

A wind blew behind her and I realized that this wasn't even a teleportation, but... a very high speed movement!

"...would you be so kind and answer my previous question?" a reflection of lightning flashed in her eyes and I felt as if she was looking right into my soul, "I am a bit in a hurry."

"Go to Hell!" I roared when found that talking was the only thing my body could do.

Why no one is there yet?! Even deaf should have heard that thunder.

"Wrong choice," with her words, the lightning on her body reached the arm resting on my head and with an unimaginable pain that assaulted my every being I started to scream, "... could have saved yourself from all of this. Do you know that your memories, and the very process of thought, is achieved with very weak lightning within the body?"

I couldn't answer her, nor had the ability to even think straight. My mind was in turmoil and with each wave of pain, random memories started to flash in my head.

"With the lightning as my ally, I can read you like an open book..." almost as if through the fog I vaguely heard her voice, "though as this is supposedly my first time doing this there is a chance that you will die before I even learned anything useful. Please be a gentleman and try to survive as long as you can."

Memories in my mind spun faster and faster until reached the events of today. The pain then stopped just as suddenly as it started and I dropped on the ground without any strength in the body.

"Oh my, it seems that only prince is left, I better hurry..."

She picked a metal orb from her pouch and despite my grim situation I almost laughed when recognized magic tool in her hands. With countless protective enchantments spread over the palace, detect tools were useless there, why else would it take us so long to search for survivors...

But just as my thoughts reached there, she pointed her finger at the orb and a slightly weaker lightning hit the surface creating a connection between her finger and the orb. Glowing marks started to form and I realized she was making modifications to the enchantments.

Impossible!

Even a group of skilled enchanters needs at least a few days of careful preparations... No... Without any arrays it should be impossible to do that in the first place.

"Hey, we heard..." a single soldier suddenly rushed inside the hall and then froze in place, "wh... what happened here?!" four more quickly followed behind him and also stopped at the entrance, their eyes wandering over the charred corpses within the hall.

I sighed in relief when saw them, but my joy was short lived when all of them suddenly charged at the mage.

"Idiots!" I tried to shout, but only a barely audible voice left my mouth. "Send someone for reinforcements!"

What they were hoping to accomplish with so few of them?!

A part of lightning on the mage suddenly spun into an action and with another deafening sound of thunder, all five of them dropped dead. Their charred bodies not any different from the others.

All this time the mage continued working with the enchantment and didn't even bother to turn around. As if all that just happened was not related to her in the slightest.

Little by little the strength in my body has returned, but I bid my time pretending to be still incapacitated, waiting for a chance. There was no doubt that the sound of her attacks will soon draw even more people, all I need is a single moment of distraction.

Eventually, she stopped with her work, smiled and lifted the orb above her head. Lightning on her body started to gather at the orb, making it glow while at the same time creating a humming sound.

After a few breaths worth of time, the orb exploded and released a sphere of light expanding at a fast pace in every direction, reaching the horizon in a blink.

"Found you..." the mage exclaimed in a cheerful tone, "Eh? They are almost outside? Not bad, seems that my help might be not even needed. Still, better to make sure. Can't allow a candidate for my husband to die so easily."

She then turned away to leave, but stopped and looked at me... and I just knew that it was the end of me.

"You were so silent that I almost forgot about you." She pointed her finger with a lightning dancing at the tip, "Sorry, but can't spare you... loose ends and all that."

I tried to attack her from my current position, but an unimaginable force hit my body and my vision was engulfed in the darkness. Her smile and almost glowing blue eyes slowly faded in the void.

*

"But mom, why have you even bothered with that enchantment?" I asked her as she ran through the corridors.

Her speed was incredible and I could no longer tell where was the bottom or upside as half of the time she ran on the walls. We passed many soldiers, but by the time they even noticed us, we were already far behind them.

"Couldn't you just tell where that prince was with your powers?" I continued.

At that time when I entered her body, I was supposed to fall asleep until I am born... but mother said that it's too boring and made it so I stay awake and allowed me to observe her 'adventure' through her eyes and ears. I have to say that when she turned into lightning to fly above the city... was an incredible experience. I hope that when I am born will be able to do so as well.

"Like I said, unless some self-proclaimed god decided to become my meal, I have no plans to use my powers as a demigod," she replied and a few soldiers were sent flying as she accidentally bumped into them on the way making me laugh.

"It's just like when you play a round of Lond, even if the rules say that you are allowed only one move, no one can stop you from actually placing your piece two or four steps further, or even use your hand to sweep all of them from the board... But can that still be called a game? To play my role as perfectly as possible my only power is a contract with the spirit of lightning... by the way, it's a new form of life I created just for this occasion." 

"But in that case, aren't you cheating?" I objected, "I never knew how to make enchantments!"

"My silly little daughter, you might have paid no attention when the scholars were trying to teach you, but all you ever heard or saw is stored deep within my mind. If I can use lightning to read the minds of others, is it that hard to rouse my own? If you were not avoiding the scholars your parents hired like a plague, the things that I could do now would be even more impressive."

Just as she mentioned that I was deeply embarrassed. I really was a spoiled child.

Soon we reached dungeons of the palace and with a bang and flying splinters of wood, entered inside.

"Not bad," mother said while observing the surroundings, "not many would guess that the entrance to a secret tunnel is inside the holding cell meant for prisoners."

She then placed her hand on a wall and with a push one of the stones sank deeper into the wall. But even with that nothing has happened. 

"Hmm, can't open without a key... well, I planned to leave with a bang anyway."

Our body started to glow and soon turned into lightning, just like at that time when she soared into the sky. The wall in front of us shattered into fragments and we entered the tunnel behind it. Just in a blink, we traveled a long distance but by bouncing over the walls we created a massive destruction and the tunnel behind us started to collapse.

Mother soon turned back into human form and continued to run forward at the speed that should be impossible for any living being. Only when the collapse of a tunnel stopped to pursue us, she finally slowed down. Even if the enemy found the entrance, it would be easier now to dig a completely new one than to excavate this.

Not long after, we reached the end of a tunnel and saw a group of cloaked people. From the looks of it they were resting earlier, but now all of them were on their feet and looked in our direction with weapons ready.