"It was beautiful, under Her guidance and rule our creators flourished and made wonders of Science and Faith. Of Culture and Camaraderie! And then She was gone! Why! What did we do to be forsaken? What did we do to be discarded!?!"

  Excerpt from Wailings of Summer, third act. Revised by the Principality for non-elven watchers.

  Richard stared down at his crystalline fingers. They felt normal, but not quite as if he could faintly feel pulses of Divine energies running through the entire limb that did not belong to his Patron Goddess. In truth, the young man felt many things as the days dragged on: rage and fury at his enemies, sorrow, and longing for the woman he loved.

  But mostly regret, like an echo that refused to silence itself at the back of his head with its powerful booms to the point that he had Arthur look inside his mind for any hex or spell pced by Malphas and Castra took it upon herself to check for necromantic spells. They were thorough and efficient in their searches and the conclusion was one he was not keen on.

  Grieve, Richard was not coping well with his current situation and they could only be there for him as he worked through the pain. It was quite the blood predicament to be in especially his current status.

  "Duke-in-Waiting" his voice had an extra edge, as if the title felt hollow. But he knew that wasn't the case as both the popuce and Lucrezia's people begged him for it, at first he wanted to put Hope in charge but the woman herself declined fearing she would lose herself with such power and go beyond the pale with it.

  A fair assessment of her motives and emotions as Richard came to find out ter while reading a gruesome report of a particur engagement she was spearheading it.

  "Gods be good, nailing people to walls while they are alive?" It was a sight to imagine. It had taken all of them some time to acclimate themselves to the sheer cruelty of war. Its pull to make one commit dark and heinous deeds against the enemy was no small thing and out of everyone, Hope was the one who often needed to be pulled out of the "brink" the most so to say.

  Arthur had told him she still cried in her sleep, in her mind she was responsible for both Lucrezia's current predicament and Richard's near-death state when that dreadful arrow pierced him. He had asked her if she wanted him to forgive her and she said no, letting her brood for a bit was something he wasn't a fan but Richard would nonetheless respect Hope's wishes.

  Lucrezia's War room had come a long way from the humble tales of conspiracy among old armories told him by some of the maids in the pace. As soon as the hostilities had begun her pns were put into motion and another terrifying weapon was deployed high in the skies nearly touching the stars by her people, Divination towers coupled with Information gathering and distribution technology made out of Magi-Craft were putting out such a volume of information that Gods and Goddesses that had Spheres tied to Divination were unionizing to keep up with the new arms race.

  "The Capital is in ruins, rebuilding efforts will take years...at least the academy stands" Richard spoke to no one as he watched feed after feed of information, both in text and images fsh before his eyes "No signs of Malphas yet, Arthur I can't believe you let your sister rope you into this madcap of a pn but Gods be good it better work" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  The image of his good friend and the Second Princess acting as bait for their mother was not something he wanted to see, he had gone as far as denying the pn outright. King Jason had also made his displeasure known but the man was swayed by his son anyway. Richard grunted and entered the courtyard above him, where a special someone was waiting for him.

  Three days' worth of fighting had left Arthur with a dazed expression and little will to do anything else besides sleep. Hope was out there still smiting the enemy forces with the powers of the Mad God, she hadn't slept in four days and Arthur was starting to worry, and that was before she fyed low-level commanders, had their troops nailed, plenty of other manners of horrifying cruelty enacted upon the enemy.

  Richard was due, and only he could calm down Arthur's beloved now.

  Saa'ryu watched as the prince gave out orders to their forces, the maid had been quiet for most of the conflict only really speaking with Richard, but as a measure to keep Hope sane, she decided to not go with him to the Duchy of Wulfgrem. Arthur summoned her with a gesture and pointed towards the illusionary map.

  "Mother has been spotted in the south, she is marshaling her remaining forces near the port city of Melpalis" Arthur gestured to another illusion "Our allies have managed to corner her and I doubt she can run now, is Richard ready? and the others?" Saa'ryu nodded, her face was a mask of rage and sorrow and her voice was all but a whisper.

  "Yes, Soon they will be here" Arthur did not need his powers or command of magic to tell him how much the attempt at Lucrezia's life weighed on the Maid, Saa'ryu was an accomplished Assassin, and one hell of a maid but above all else she saw a true friendship with her Lady, and that tie that bound them together was so strong it was choking her out of passion for life now.

  Arthur sighed, Seeing his people being this miserable ate at him like a pgue. Vivienne crying on his and Hope's shoulders was not a sight he wanted to see but if there was someone who had to be strong for them in this critical moment, it would be him. Even Kaine of all people, the most stoic bastard he bloody knew cried when he saw Lucrezia entombed.

  "I never saw myself in a leadership position you know? I even asked my Father for advice on this and all he told me was that I should be there for my people. Sometimes words aren't needed, a shoulder to lean on. An ear to listen and a hug can save more than words" he spoke not quite out loud but enough for Saa'ryu to listen.

  "I just hope I am enough"Arthur finished feeling a bit silly.

  "More than enough my liege" A whisper came from Saa'ryu's lips with a heartfelt smile, soce in small moments truly was something else Arthur thought to himself as he watched a particur blue dot home into his position via the map's image. Richard was finally here and ready for the push against Malphas to end this mess once and for all.

  Arthur's mind went back to the events that had set up this final battle, a grin manifesting upon his weary face as the sheer insanity of it repyed itself in his mind with crystal clear crity.

  "...Incoming!" Arthur bellowed to his sister who was clutching a particurly bulky shield full of sparkling engravings that had a single objective. Keeping the young woman alive.

  A series of booms could be heard in the distance as a figure cd in crimson closed into their position, Arthur didn't need to guess who that was as the cape behind its form was one he had seen one too many times in his life, Mother dearest had finally come out to do gods knew what. Kill him maybe? Or Hope? He let those thoughts simmer in the back of his mind as his sister raised the shield in the air and screamed.

  Malphas's flight was halted as she crashed near them with an undignified yelp, she raised herself and dusted herself off with a sneer. Her face was a cold mask of calcuted madness and anger, her eyes narrowed and red due to the power of the Rage. "Ungrateful welp, now you turn MY daughter against me? You steal my son, you steal my husband, and now my only daughter?!? I will have you and your peasant girl fyed alive" she snarled and stalked forward.

  Arthur did not utter a word, he knew the gambit had a narrow chance of working and so pyed his part to the T, with a smooth arc he retried two bags that smelled of rot and death, the canvas caked in blood now dried. He lobbed them at his mother's feet and waited. She halted her march and craned her neck to the side to ask what was this about.

  Arthur did not utter a word, Malphas on the other hand clenched her fist and made the bag levitate upwards, with another gesture the canvas burned with invisible fire and she saw the heads of two women.

  A smirk appeared on his mother's face "You think these two whores matter? Oh son you are more foolish than what I thought possible! They were tools to be used and discarded nothing more nothing less, it's a shame they wasted a Sacred Relic but that's the price one pays for acting via proxies. If you want something done my dear, why you must do it yourself!"Malphas had a wild look on her face now, Arthur did not need his magic to tell this turn of events perturbed her.

  The mention of the Relic was also important, confirming the theory Kaine had that it was needed to put Lucrezia down via whatever foul means the women whose heads were floating near him and his mother had devised.

  "Now, since there is no easy path out of this I will show you motherly mercy, bow down for me and your death will be quick and painless, I will be taking my daughter out of little rebellion as well" One more step, Arthur kneeled and the woman who had birthed, raised and loved him marched forward, ready to do the dark deed she had just spoken about.

  "Mother Please spare him!" His sister pyed her part to perfection. Malphas ughed as she smmed her foot upon their trap.

  A beam of light, cerulean and brimming with divine power smmed right on top of the mad queen, with a war cry worthy of an orc warlord Kaine was made manifest on the mortal coil and with blinding speed smmed his Magi-Tech staff right on Malphas's sor plexus, she grunted and tried to leap backward but that was not meant be as she found herself stuck to the floor.

  Arthur watched in pure awe as his childhood friend made his sister appear at their side, and with a voice dripping with poison he spoke "Payback" A shield of divine-tinged mana englobed them and for a few seconds Malphas was confused, she opened her mouth to speak only to stop at the st second as night turned into day.

  "NO" she screamed but it was too te, as the sky ptform Lucrezia had built was unleashed and Arthur had to pump nearly all of his mana to shield his and his sister's senses as the light beam struck true.

  A full minute's worth of destruction on the level no mortal could wield went by and nothing remained, Kaine clicked his tongue in annoyance "She escaped, injured but alive"

  Arthur pced his hand on Kaine's shoulder "We will get her, soon we will have revenge!"

  All-Mother's Rise was a grand series of natural and manmade spires forming Vermilion's strongest fortification south of its borders. It was in these treacherous slopes and in the pins below that Malphas made her st stand, her rebel army now reduced to a fraction of its original size after nearly two weeks worth of total warfare within the Kingdom.

  The Gods themselves were caught by surprise at this development, Lucrezia's war machine had been such a game-changer that there wasn't a divine worth their Sphere within the new world who wasn't affected. Sweeping change would burn the continent in the coming years and the Children of Faal were already working their divine politics to be on the forefront of it.

  All of that was immaterial and worthless to the good men and women on the ground, whose deaths and blood were spent without care by the side of the opposition, and even Richard's own forces and King Jason's loyalists were not spared from the Long Queue. He missed the Academy's Fields something fierce now, having that weight on his soul consumed his thoughts whenever he was out of battle.

  Yet he found pilrs of support with his dear friends, and surprisingly enough the Wulfgrem people in all its societal strata. From Lucrezia's trusted advisors and Commanders to the merchants and learned folk to the humblest of city and vilge folk within its cold borders. No longer was he Duke-in-Waiting, Arch-Duke Jinn himself made him the real deal.

  His mind went back to the trip he took with the Dragoness Kallista way up in the cold skies of the north, fast as a spell and yet comfortable enough for both of them to have a pleasant conversation.

  "We can save her" The mighty power of a dragon flowed through Kallista's voice and words filling Richard's soul with vigor "It will take the work of your mage friend and the one blessed by All-Father, and that princeling as well but we can save her" Richard held himself as to avoid the deluge of emotion that threatened to consume him.

  "But first we must deal with this pest" Kallista sneered at the thought "Brother dearest already pulled his strings as well, she won't be able to escape again using his artifact. Today we avenge Lucrezia, and tomorrow we save her!" A roar of pure fury came out of the dragoness, the very air around her trembled as she made herself know to whatever and whoever was around them.

  "But heed my words, Richard when we get there you will be privy to information not meant for mortals. Soon you will be offered a choice by the powers that be and I advise you to ponder its...ramifications truly" Kallista spoke no more and the duo arrived at the main camp of the grand army that they had assembled throughout this dire war.

  "This ends today, All-Father as my witness this will end today!"

  He made his way into the main command post, a true wonder of Magi-Tech engineering and a testament to the work the Wulfgrem people were doing to avenge their leader. Commanders from other countries were there already, together with Richard's friends and allies. It was a heavy atmosphere that pressed down on him and Kallista who had taken her humanoid form.

  Knight-Commander Erwin was the first to speak, his armor dented in ways Richard didn't believe possible "Lady Hope and the others are out in the eastern shores my Lord, they are trying to break through the triple defensive trenches Malphas and her ilk pced there. It is a grim battle that has halted even Lady Hope's fearsome power.

  "Shores?" Richard asked "Did her mages employ terraforming spells? Gods be good" nods across the room as the image flickered into existence from an eborate crystal stand. Richard beheld a scene that was out of a fictional book as a sinister ke and actual shores halted the forces he was leading. It was paramount that they had the eastern region secured as it led straight into the heart of All-Mother's Rise.

  "Why didn't we bombard their mages?" He asked as Idun made himself visible coming out of a veritable pile of reports "Malphas herself was powering their defensive spells, she has managed to curry favor with numerous Deities who are pledging their forces to her. Should she win we can safely assume she will instate them into the Kingdom as a reward" Idun turned his hand in an anti-clockwise motion and the scene flickered to a beam of pure light hitting a dome of red energy, Richard could see Malphas's form at the base of the dome as he sighed.

  "So much for the easy way, have every battery and long-range artillery we got hammer her defenses until the barrels run hot, and the orbital weapon as well. Have we gotten authorization for the forbidden weapons you mentioned Idun?" Richard asked and the dwarf nodded with a solemn face before speaking "No, by decree of Morugarius herself under pain of death by her armies meant to conquer especially hard-to-crack pnets" he had a nasty smile when he finished that sentence.

  Richard didn't need to guess what he was thinking, it was pin to see that Master Idun wished to test his weapons against them.

  "The hard way it is then" Richard spoke and the image blurred once again, showing all fronts of the final battle in spectacur fashion. He and the other beheld every single piece of Magi-Tech war gear being deployed in the thousands with such precision and gusto that even the more reserved people within the command center could feel the battle lust.

  Chief among the battles was Princess Emyra's forces acting as the spearhead on the western pins. Grannarius raiding parties and huge beasts of war hollering and screaming their fiendish war cries. Mages with demonic and devil-enhanced magic burned people down to the marrow on their bones. Every single story of old, tales that made kids all over Vermilion fear the shadow below their beds now being acted out in front of them.

  The Princess was a monument of wrath, she scythed down troops and charged Calvary with the precision of a Shogunate samurai. Bellowing holy scripture from Ra'Tyrius all the while doing her grim work, this was a holy war for her and her people, and while the Grannarians under her command didn't care much for the sanctity of the battle. They did give their very best for their Princess.

  Together with Idun's Magi-Tech Vanguard, they smashed through the defenses of the western pins and a grueling march up the slopes had begun. The old dwarf's most powerful warriors acted as walls of crystal and silver as they operated towering engines of war that eclipsed even the armor Richard had seen in the fields when they fought those cultists. It felt so long ago... simpler times the young man thought as these monsters of war cshed against crazed defenders and all manners of dimness demons. Necromancy, sved souls bound by oath to cunning devils, and even terror troops from the beyond poured out of the slopes. Among these monsters they saw shining beacons of twisted metal as the st of the Royal Knights tied to Malphas lead the final line of defense, Richard and the others set off to tighten the chokehold and get that foul woman out of hiding.

  "Kallista, we head to Hope's battlefront, the other fronts will be easy pickings now" The Dragonness nodded and with a gesture turned into a mighty dragon again, He climbed upon her back and they flew to the bizarre sight of a ke so big it had shores, waters foul with blood and viscera from the fallen of both sides as Hope herself shone like a beacon of pure fire and light.

  A crack in reality manifested as Richard and Kallista flew over. Horrible noises and a miasma of pure wrongness washed over the armies below as a beast made out of eyes and tentacles roared from the threshold and tried to force its way out! Kallista was enranged enough to roar a fireball the size of a small pace towards the being but some sort of shield halted her attack.

  It was Vivienne and her sword that broke the stalemate as a shadowy being the size of a small mountain made itself manifest at her behest, it screeched loud and triumphant as a massive beam of pure energy smmed into the abomination from beyond the cosmos and together with another manifestation from the Arch-Duke's, this one even taller and with massive appendages for arms that hammered into the enemy's main body.

  "To the st man, to the st scrap of iron and steel and drop of mana! defy the darkness!" Richard's ears were assaulted by Vivienne's mighty warcry as she leaped into the air and with a powerful heave swung the sword in the enemy's direction.

  The very earth and unnatural water parted into two as both sides of the battle halted for a moment. The sheer magnitude of power being deployed at this singur moment was such a sight of power and faith that Kallista herself sighed in admiration "Beautiful" the Dragonness spoke softly as she watched the chaos of war wirl itself back together and both sides cshing.

  Hope was not idle while this went down, together with Kaine and Arthur they had sneaked past the second line of defense and Richard received a simple message in his mind from the Third Prince.

  "She comes"

  One st beam of light came out of the weapons ptform up in the skies and Malphas's shield cracked fully. Artillery leveled her position so thoroughly Richard could see faint wisps of mana crystals being turned into vapor such was the onsught of firepower being thrown at her! but the woman did not relent nor did she back down and thus the stage was set for their big showdown.

  Richard felt the air shimmer around him for a minute before a solid rod smmed into the ground a good 10 meters from his position. Cd in a battle suit meant for agility and precision and wielding a set of silver daggers was the maid, Lady Saa'ryu had a mask covering her entire head and only her eyes could be seen. No words were needed among the three of them.

  Richard didn't feel the first kick at first. He only saw a panicked look on Kallista's face as a blur of light teleported right on top of him and sent him flying. His Divine avatar kicked into high gear a second too te but this time She was not hugging him with Her eyes closed. This time the Lady of the Orcs was imposed upon his back in a battle stance and her entire face screamed bloody murder.

  Queen Malphas Shatter-Spear was armored in her royal regalia. Her long hair was tied into a utilitarian bob and its usual color of blonde and red was now fully red akin to blood and crimson. Her once green eyes were fully bck and her face was a caricature of a War Goddess. Sughter and Mayhem were her trade and policy now and what once were fair and sharp features had become something twisted and alien.

  "Call them, your Gods and your fancy weapons. Your heresies and breaches of sanction! Call every single Godsdammed thing you sorry lot have so you might stand a chance in beating me! THE STRONGEST BEING ALIVE! THE DESTROYER AND SLAYER! COWER IN FEAR WHELP FOR YOU LACK THE WHORE'S LUCK!" Malphas's words made the very ground shake as her power was unleashed to its fullest.

  "I"

  "WILL"

  "KILL YOU"

  Aluminium_Aligattor