Van wasted no time, he immediately erected a mana barrier around Lyn and the throne with him still inside it. Then he prepared a few spells and unleashed his shadow wolves, all of them, flooding the throne room with dozens of shadowy creatures. He then focused on Saline, the biggest threat here while he kept an eye out for any guards that might interfere, but trusting his wolves and friends to deal with them. He walked out of the barrier and prepared to fight.

And Saline gave them one hell of a fight. As he tried to control his wolves to coordinate attacks and used his shadow magic to restrain her, she would simply overpower his tactics with overwhelming force. With every swing of her spear, a wave of energy followed, cutting down his wolves by two and three at a time. Despite his best efforts, she was easily making progress towards him, her eyes alight with anger and fury.

Gloria and Amie weren’t fairing any better. Both of them exhausted themselves fighting against the pressure of the security system and now, even with the pressure off they were in no shape to fight. Which was a problem since they were slowly being surrounded by traitor guards moving in on them.

The imps were also not doing well. Fighters, they were not. They weren’t born that long ago, and did not have the same amount of training that others have had. In truth, they were very much like kids fighting adults, which showed as the battle continued, doing more running around than actual fighting. In the end, they weren’t much help, and if anything, the shadow wolves had to more on one occasion jump in to save them. Even working together they could barely hold themselves against one guard.

“Uh… Lyn… maybe hurry a little?” Van said, still looking in front of him at the approaching Saline stomping her way towards him.

“Just give me a sec!” Lyn complained, “I'm going as fast as I can!” doing her best on trying to figure the controls out. She rarely got opportunities to interact with terminals that directly influenced the tree, let alone one that controlled everything in it. It was clear that this access point was only meant for higher-ups and the such, for it was constantly asking for many of the passwords and identifications for all the prompts popping up simply by using this terminal that she simply did not have, forcing her to try and do a workaround.

Just then, a battle yell was heard. “CHARGE! FOR HOUSE VIRIDIA!”

And out of all the people to come and save the day, Elena came with a small horde of people, some guards but most just regular fairies storming into the battle to help them in their time of need.

““Elena!?”” Van and Lyn, as well as Amie, said at the same time, mostly to themselves but eerily in unison.

“Don’t let her get to the throne!” Elena said, pointing to general Saline. The loyalist then gave another battle cry and charged forward, doing what they could to help. Elena herself went to Gloria’s and Amies aid, handing out a few potions she was able to save.

“Yes!” Lyn then shouted, using this distraction to turn back to the terminal and continue her work. While she wasn’t able to make it permanent, she was able to extend the shutdown for another hour. “Van, give me a few more minutes, I'm going to try and set Saline as the designated enemy and see if I can’t turn on the defense system on our side! I bought us another hour, so do what you can!”

“On it!” Van said though he was a little conflicted. He actually didn’t believe he could hold Saline back for even one minute, let alone a few, but he’ll do his best.

Saline though… if she wasn’t furious before… she was seething now… she looked practically like she was foaming at the mouth in rage and anger, her whole face going red and the grip on her spear so tight that it looked like she would accidentally snap it.

“Enough… is enough…” she muttered then looked at all the pieces of shit that pissed her off to this point. “I said… ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” shouting with a roar that shook the room.

Soon, she was encased in a very intimidating suit of armor and harsh aura began to swath off of her in waves. Lifting her spear, she aimed it at the throne, catching alight the tip with a deep red aura, filled with killing intent and power.

Like a rocket launcher she flung the spear, Lyn just barely able to get out of the way in time, her eyes going wide as the throne she was just sitting in exploded into many little pieces in a show of power and creating a shock wave of destruction.

Saline then slowly started to float in place, her body and armor enveloped in a sickly reddish-black aura. With a wave of her hand, dozens of spears began to appear around her, circling around her in perfect synchronicity.

Van paled a little now at the difference of power between Saline and him, yet his training kicked in and he drew his sword in one hand and prepared a spell in the other, ready to fight to the death if necessary.

“Van! Step back!” Lyn shouted as she flew in front of him, recovering quickly from the explosion, Halberd pointed at Saline and while her own armor was forming on her. “You help Luna and Anna, as well as the other girls! Leave this… to me…” eyes filled with determination and killing intent.

Van hesitated, but knew that out of the two of them, Lyn was a bit stronger with more battle experience than him, so he trusted her judgment, turned around, and set out to aid his allies and maybe change the tide of battle.

“What stupidity… you should have told him to flee, you know you can’t defeat me…” Saline said, her dozens of spears flowing around her in perfect sync then all pointing at her at the same time.

“Damn… that would actually be so cool if it weren’t for the fact that it was Saline doing it and they were all pointed at me.” Lyn thought, trying to keep track of all the spears. In response to Saline's taunt, she took a fighting stance and prepared for battle.

Saline reached out for the floating spears and took two, one in each hand. She then pointed the left one at Lyn and sent about three of the floating spears her way. The spears moved as if they were shot from a cannon, flying at unnerving speeds.

Lyn responded by encasing herself in aura, increasing her speed and reaction time, and doing her best to weave through the attacks. “Hah! Is that the best you got!” she jeered after they missed. “Why don’t you try agai-AAAAAHHHH!”

She screamed in pain as her wings were torn from behind, the spears she thought she dodged, turning back with another motion by Saline with her right spear and attacking Lyn in her blind spot. The spears then joined the others flowing around Saline, leaving Lyn on one knee, her face contorted in pain.

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“You really just don’t understand… Do you?” Saline said, walking slowly towards Lyn menacingly. “I’ve spent over a century of my life on the battlefield, say what you will of my strategies and tactics. But even with breaking my oath and now operating on only a fraction! Of my power… it’s still more than enough to kill you…”

Lyn slowly got up, legs a little shaky, using her halberd to support her and folding her wings up, they were useless now anyway. Slowly she took another stance, ready to continue, even if it meant her death.

“You know what's wrong with you insect-kin?” Saline continued as she walked her way towards Lyn. firing off another spear, that Lyn this time instead of dodging, did her best to block then cut in two, using far more aura than she thought she would have to.

Saline just moved forward, as if nothing important was happening, throwing spear after spear at Lyn as she got ever closer to her, tiring her out. Not even bothering to try anything else, talking all the while about her issues.

“What’s wrong with you insect-kin… is you live such short lives compared to the rest of us…” Saline said, throwing more spears. “And you don’t know what it means to keep an oath… no… I carried my oath for most of my life… I knew what I was doing, but at least I still had a choice to break it… do you understand? …no… you really don’t understand anything… Do you?”

She then lifted her spear and started attacking Lyn directly. The blow was strong enough to push Lyn back, then another blow, and then another, inch by inch, the attacks getting faster and faster.

“You could spend years on the battlefield, watching each other's back, saving each other's lives… but the second some ‘queen’ says your enemies now, you turn and kill those who you’ve called comrades just a few seconds prior…” Saline’s eyes seething with hatred. “You constantly fight and kill each other, then drag others into your mindless fights for FUCKING POLLEN! And then we fairies are the ones expected to pick up and clean the mess!”

Lyn raised her halberd vertically to block Saline's attack that became single noted, just bashing down on her in rapid succession.

“LYN!” Van shouted, pausing from his own fight to look her way and seeing how one-sided the fight was, filling him up with worry.

“No More!” Saline shouted, then taking a step still seething, watching Lyn fall to her knees once more exhausted. She then pointed her spear right at Lyn’s face, and mentally commanded her many other spears to circle around in an arch with Lyn at the center, ready to skewer her from all sides. “No more… no more betrayal… no more senseless wars… everything will burn… and then everything will be set right… once… and for all…” her tone now sounding oddly subdued.

Saline lifted her spear, the others spears following suit, ready to finish this once and for all…

Until a flaming lance took her right in the face… “GAAAAH!?” Saline took a few steps back, but was already recovering, in a practiced motion, she took a vial in a hidden compartment in her armor and drank it, all the while ordering her spears to attack where Lyn was last. Her vision already healing thanks to the high-grade potion.

Van wasted no time, Saline was distracted once, probably not again. So he created a spell and sacrificed most of the remaining mana he had and sent it towards Lyn to repower her. He then took three scrolls he had hidden on his body and opened them, using the last of his energy to summon three of Lyn’s insect-kin friends to help protect him and to help out where they could.

Lyn used this opportunity to roll backwards, narrowly avoiding the spears that would have turned her into a porcupine. She lifted her halberd and began charging up, using the energy Van sent her way to help but also drawing her last reserves of energy as well for good measure.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through to make you like this…” Lyn said, her body now crackling with energy and electricity. “And I'm sure in your own head what you're doing is right.” her body slowly began to glow blue. “But that still doesn’t give you permission to kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives!” her whole body now like an out-of-control power station, shooting lightning every which way. “I’m going to show you the difference in ‘our’ strength!” she shouted.

“LIGHTNING DRAGON CHARGE!!!” using an attack taught to her by one of Ren’s friends.

Lyn shot forward like lightning and attacked like thunder. Saline’s eyes widened as she tried blocking Lyn’s attacks, finding herself barely reacting in time.

As Lyn pushed forward, Saline was forced to sacrifice one spear after the other to keep her at bay. Gritting her teeth, Saline spiked her aura and roared, trying to give as good as she got if not better.

Every strike now sent shockwaves outward, filling the throne room with their deafening sound. Many stopped to stare at the fight that was happening in front of them in awe, feeling like the outcome was now pivotal to the outcome of the battle at large.

Lyn would thrust multiple times with the tip of her halberd, then unconventional twist it to swing in unpredictable ways. She used her halberd like a scythe, a spear, and a staff, spinning around her weapon with practiced ease.

Saline, for her part, had a hard time following such twisty and unconventional attacks that seemed to have no form. It was only thanks to her years of experience and her reserves of power that kept Lyn from landing a fatal blow.

At first, it looked like Lyn was winning, Saline wasn’t able to fully block or dodge every attack, meaning as the fight continued, she was gaining more and more cuts on her face and body. But… Lyn was the one tiring out… by the time all of Saline’s spears were destroyed, Lyn was tapped out, the glow leaving her body.

Saline didn’t even wait, she grabbed Lyn’s face and smashed it into her knee, spewing blood from the nose then continued to smash the head into the ground hard, making a small dent. She lifted her foot to cave the skull in, but a shout from Van had Lyn roll away in the nick of time.

Lyn did her best trying to get back up, pulling out a hidden knife from her boot, only to be kicked hard in the stomach by Saline’s follow-up. Sending her and the knife flying a few feet away. Lyn then lay there, unresponsive…

The crowd went silent. Both sides watching with bated breath. Van, too far and empty of mana to do anything… only able to watch in abject fear at what most likely was going to happen next.

Saline walked up to the now prone Lyn, ready to make sure to finish it once and for all. “Don’t blame yourself for your loss… I've fought better than you and learned much more from my many years on the battlefield, you were just too inexperienced…” she said, picking up the knife on her way and kicking Lyn over, revealing a bloody face with shut eyes and a bleeding nose.

Saline then pressed an armored boot on Lyn's chest and prepared the knife. “I’ll at least give you the honor of a quick death… I suppose if anyone deserves it, it would be you…” Then lifted the knife to put an end to it once and for all. Van yelled the room watched.

“GUAH!?” Saline paused in shock and pain as a knife rammed in between the joints of her armor.

“I too… learned a few things on the battlefield.” Lyn hoarsely said through crusted eyes. “One… always bring an extra knife…”

“Wha-?” Saline looked surprised.

“Two…” Lyn twisted the knife in deeper, making Saline shout in pain. “Learn the weak points of armored soldiers, makes it easier than just wasting energy trying to cut through them…” Making sure to twist the knife in deeper between the grooves of Saline’s armor.

“You bitch!” Saline raised the knife once more, her sense of shock over and ready to pierce Lyn’s heart in one swift motion.

“And three…” Lyn then sent a few million volts of electricity using the knife as a conduit right into Saline's body. “If all else fails… use your own life force… even if you lose a year or two… it’s better than dying…”

Saline screamed in complete agony, despite the pain she still tried to finish off Lyn, but she moved out of the way just in time, still sending volt after volt into her body, she then fell, burnt into a crisp inside her own armor.

“Oh… and I guess four…” Lyn said after some thought. “My ‘strength’ comes from wanting to live a happy life with those I love, while yours was just to make yourself happy after all that pain you’ve endured alone… though that might sound a bit unfair now that I say it out loud…” She then looked over the charred corpse of Saline. “I hope in your next life you are happier…”

“Oh… and I forgot to mention… I’m kinda immortal anyway… pretty unfair, am I right?” mostly joking to herself, then turning to look at Van who had a very relieved look on his face. Seeing him, put her heart at ease, which relaxed her body enough to let the tell-tale signs of unconsciousness creep up in the corner of her eyes. “Huh… I guess this is good night…” and then passed out.