“The royal family will pay for their betrayal!” I shouted repeatedly as I moved toward the castle, doing my absolute best to look like a reckless man hellbent on revenge, overestimating himself after an intense power-up.
Also, I wanted them to have no doubt about my intentions. I didn’t want the princes trying to take my allegiance. It might have been useful under different circumstances. Now, I wanted to make a show.
My repeated, magically enhanced shouts worked just as I wished. “Attack, for the name of the prince,” The shouts exploded as I moved over the hill, and I saw a significant part of the army stop the siege and line against me.
It was a chance for the forces at the castle to break the siege, but they didn’t take the opportunity, and just watched. What I intended.
As the army attacked, I repeated the trick I had used against the earlier squad, exclusively targeting the nobles and commanders among them, and attacking the commoners only when they got too close. “I have no problem with the common people. Retreat, and I won’t harm you,” I shouted even as I continued to pick off the nobles.
Morale was an interesting thing. Extremely useful, but fragile. Especially when the nobles were not just morally superior, but also physically. Not only they were better armored and had magical protections, but also they simply had higher stats and HP.
And, seeing their vaunted leaders disappearing with just one hit, their morale shattered, and they started running away. However, I could also see a lot of minor nobles mixed in the wave. Just like that, the army had stopped being a threat, while the prince and the bodyguards retreated into the city.
It looked like the prince didn’t care about the crown as much as his life.
I didn’t really care about him while I positioned myself in front of the capital, and started attacking the walls steadily, creating a show. The magical defenses of the capital were no joke. After all, it was a reason the second prince didn’t assault the capital, and was trying to break the morale instead.
Even against the constant barrage of light mana, the wards stood strong. Even with the intense assault that my new toy couldn’t sustain for long, it would take weeks, maybe even months to take down the wards.
Which was why it was good that all was just to make the Eternals take the bait. Not only did my near-endless usage of light mana suggest I had an external source for it, which they would assume to be Mariel, but also it would help them to assume Mariel was still wounded or unconscious, making it a perfect time to catch her.
After all, if that hadn’t been the case, why would she not stop my extremely showy siege.
Of course, I wasn’t betting only that. Attacking the capital in such a visible manner was showy, showy enough to be noticed by all Eternals, and not just the group that had been doing their best to be sneaky, forcing their hands further.
And, just like what I expected, they reacted by the most obvious tactic. They took Oeyne prisoner. Well, they took the mana clone I had left in her place prisoner. She was happily forging and experimenting in the secret base while the clone was already ambushed and captured by the Agents they had placed in the forge.
To my surprise, they didn’t bring the clone to the walls to threaten me, but instead, brought her away, before a magical message was delivered to me, saying that they had imprisoned Oeyne, and I had to come to them if I didn’t want her to die.
It was a simple threat, but an effective one. After all, they knew I had gone a a lot of trouble just to send her a message, making her a good hostage. I was glad for it, because it gave me an excuse to pull back. “How dare you threaten her, you cowards,” I shouted as I sent another salvo of attacks before I started to retreat, acting like I blamed the royal family for it.
Soon, I was at the ruins of the mansion, where I had been invited. A good location, I have to admit. The number of new wards — subtle enough to avoid the notice of a blacksmith — showed that they were prepared for it.
I could see about fifty people, but I could count another two hundred, hidden. It looked like they had pulled all the eternal agents forward. However, what I really wanted, that corrupted angel, was not there. “Let her go, or I’ll kill all of you,” I said as I moved forward in my walking fortress without attacking.
They didn’t do anything even though it brought them in range, and confident in their wards. “Surrender if you don’t want her to die,” one of them shouted. I recognized him as the one who had been trying to create a rebellion back in the forge.
He must be a ranking one. An amusing coincidence. “You’re angering me,” I said, but I didn’t attack them. After all, they were keeping Oeyne prisoner. “You don’t want to see me when I’m angry.”
“Really, what would you do,” he said.
“Let me show what I can really do, and maybe, we can have a talk,” I said even as I started firing all of my ballistas to empty locations. Presumably, to intimidate them. However, one of those attacks, in a display of complete coincidence and nothing more, hit a critical node, creating a malfunction in the hidden wards.
I could sense their mages reacting immediately to repair, but they weren’t too alarmed. After all, from their perspective, it was nothing more than a lucky shot. Actually calculating in real time would require a true genius. And repeating it while it was being repaired would require even more.
A goddess of knowledge.
I sent a mental note of thanks to Helga as she shared the exact three nodes I needed to hit to create a catastrophic failure in the wards. I followed it, and their hidden wards exploded, the backlash killing their mages.
The best part, it didn’t have any visible impact, allowing me to act unaware even as their amazing preparations were wasted, taking down a lot of their mages in the process. “Scared now?” I asked as I continued to move, like I assumed their sudden panic was about the explosiveness of my attack. “Leave my love alone, and I’ll not even bother killing you as you deserve for touching her!” I shouted, one that gave an excuse for my recklessness.
“We can still talk,” he offered. “We’re not here to hurt any of you, but to offer a membership to the true protectors of the land,” he said.
“Oh, the Eternals. The ones that had been arranging the deaths of the millions for their power,” I said, enjoying their sudden shift of expression. “Oh, yes. I know all about the true face of your gutless organization,” I said.
I noticed them setting a subtle teleportation array around Oeyne-clone, clearly prioritizing her safety over their other agents. Understandable, as she was a valuable hostage, and pulling her away would give them a chance to extend those talks.
“You can’t trust the words of a jealous prince, pouting just because we denied him the chance to join our glorious organization,” he said, though the way his mocking was exaggerated was clearly intentional. They were trying to probe the source of my information.
I was more than happy to give him one that would hopefully give me what I truly wanted. “A prince?” I scoffed loudly. “Like I would care about his words. No, I had been chosen by the true divinity. A beautiful angel had spoken to me, telling the truth about your cursed organization. I would die before joining an organization consorting with the monsters and the dead.”
He paused a moment, though it was obvious that he had been magically communicating with his leader. Excellent. “And, what if I tell you that we’re the chosen of the true divinity, and you are the one that had been lied to.”
“Unless you have another angel that will come and tell me that I’m lying, it won’t work,” I said.
“Well,” he said, and suddenly, a glow appeared at their center. It was a mere teleportation spell, but there were a lot of spells cast by other mages to turn into a show. Admittedly, a good show. Then, a familiar angel appeared.
“I’m here to tell you the truth, my son —” he started, only to be interrupted by a barrage of light bolts. The reason was simple. I could have allied with him, but the first thing he would ask would be to bring me to Mariel … and faking a goddess wasn’t as simple.
And, I still needed to pay him back.
{Strength: 115 Charisma: 115
Precision: 115 Perception: 124
Agility: 115 Manipulation: 122
Speed: 115 Intelligence: 151
Endurance: 168 Wisdom: 122}
{Purified Divine Spark: 1.147,577}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Twilight - Chosen 30
Nature - Chosen 10
Knowledge - Chosen 10}
{GODDESSES
Elven Goddess
Goddess of Knowledge
Twilight Archangel
Goddess of the Forge}
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