An Intense Battle

The situation at the Thorkell Battle-Front reached a stalemate but the amount of Kortz being delivered is not decreasing at all. Everyone is unsure how much Kortz the Thorkell empire has left but this situation si increasingly bad for them.

Lance swings another slash at Kunai who dodges it and swings back at him.

They have been in a deadlock for many days now. Unlike when she was fighting Fiona's this man has no instincts or habits of using mana. This makes her lose her main advantage and she's forced to compete with pure ability, experience and physique.

Is he aware that I am good against magic and decides not to use it? But in a life or death scenario, how can you still not instinctively use your best magic cards?

Kunai is confused but she had to think of a way to be this guy. Adding Kortz will only help against mages like Fiona but someone like Lance will prove useless.

And he also seems to know exactly how I will move, does this come from his battle experience? That shouldn't be possible. It's almost like he can see the future.

She says as she dodges a slash by ducking down but meeting his knee which knocks her body back up.

She grabs her nose to ease the pain and looks at him with fiery eyes.

This is exactly what I mean, this goes against just a mere guess. how does he know exactly where I will be? 

She was mad but she didn't let herself lose her cool. They have the advantage when it comes to Kortz, as long as they play the long game, they can find a good opening. 

She looks over and sees Blade panting while bleeding all over her face. Fiona stands above her while pointing her sword right down to her.

Kunai grits her teeth, losing Blade will be a big blow to them but she can't go in and help because she has to deal with Lance.

Where did these powerful and new commanders come from? This is getting ridiculous.

 As Fiona was about to land the finishing blow, another Thorkell soldier jumped in the way while screaming "Commander!" and took the blade for Blade.

Fiona shot an eye at Maria who allowed these people to arrive and interrupt her but she saw that Maria was being overwhelmed by sheer quantity. She looked back and Blade had already disappeared into the crowd, leaving only the dead body. Fiona shook her head and then dashed towards Maria to help her.

Maria and Fiona fought side by side, pushing back the growing Thorkell empire but they knew that they would have harder days to come. No matter how much they push back now, more and more Kortz will keep arriving. 

It is such a ridiculous scenario.

Lance and Kunai continued their battle as well. Despite his emperor's eye, Kunai still had immense battle experience and was very talented. Overall, Lance may have the edge but Kunai doesn't fight to win, she fights to stall to give her team victory in the long run. 

This difference made it almost impossible for Lance to kill Kunai and even though he isn't at risk of death, he can do nothing about her either.

Frustrating days pass by like this and although the Kadence army was holding on well, the Thorkell army kept aiming to prolong the battle. As more and more Kortz was piling in day by day, the morale of the Kadence army dwindled down.

One day, during another clash with Princess Kunai, a strong vision hit Lance and he held his eye.

Kunai was quick to take advantage and stabbed him right in the shoulder.

"Commander!" Damien yelled as he jumped in and got ready to fight Kunai to the death.

But they both noticed that Lance did not even flinch at the wound, it is not like it didn't hurt but he was just utterly stunned at what he saw.

"Father?!" Lance said in extreme worry and desperation.

Damien and Allen, who knew the truth about Lance and his abilities, surmised that something grave might be happening in the capital now. But as soon as Lance leaves, this delicate deadlock will be instantly broken.

Even if he succeeds, he will still become a sinner who ruined our army against the Thorkell empire.

Is this all planned? Whoever they are is very cunning, Allen thought to himself while gritting his teeth.

As if reaching a new state, Lance gets up, wraps his wound with an emergency bandage, and starts launching a fury of attacks towards Kunai.

He has no time to waste on this woman, he has to reach the capital now before his father gets killed.

But no matter how hard Lance tried, Kunai was not going to let him win easily. It dragged on for a long time and as Lance's frustration reached its peak, they heard another scream, "Reinforcements!"

Everyone looked up and saw a huge army that bore the Voraine flag.

A commander walked forward and told Lance that the countries reached an alliance under the guidance of Ivory and they were there to assist.

Fiona's eyes sparkled with surprise, That girl really ,did it? She handled the Voraine empire and even got them to send troops.

Fiona laughed lightly, I really can't underestimate those classmates of mine. Her eyes then turn towards Blade, "It seems I have to also prove myself".

Lance understood the situation quickly and urged them to assist with flanking the opposing army.

The Thorkell army was caught off guard, all three empires were at a stalemate and had never once reached the point of cooperating and interfering with each other's fights.

Why did the Voraine empire do this? Do they not know how dangerous it is to let the Kadence empire go unchecked? 

Many thoughts flashed through the minds of the Thorkell army but their enemies won't let them think for free.

The battle ensued and the morale of the Kadence empire reached its peak.

The Voraine troops did not use magic so the Kortz became a downside for the fresh troops of the Voraine empire.

With newfound inspiration, Fiona launched a powerful offensive in the direction of Commander Blade. 

Kunai also realized that her long-term stall strategy was useless against this many people. Lance wouldn't let her escape easily and kept her locked into a confrontation.

The princess then guided Lance to exert a force on the shoulder that got hit and used that time to make a quick escape. Lance was about to chase after her but quickly got surrounded by other soldiers.

"Run princess! As long as you are alive, we can win next time!"

Fiona saw the princess rushing to run away and a cold smile shined on her lips.

"It's finally time to catch you off-guard," Fiona said while quickly charging a minuscule version of the light beam, the magic she used at the magic tournament. It isn't a good idea to use self-harm magic in long-term battles like wars but Fiona knew this was her chance.

As the beam shot, Blade's face twisted as she made a quick-second decision and tossed Princess Kunai to the side.

The beam shot right through her heart and the blade landed on the floor emotionlessly. Before Kunai could react, a fire spear was shot at her.

The spear was very hot and even when she tried to swipe it away with her semi-kortz blade, it still forced her back.

Kunai gritted her teeth and knew she wouldn't be able to take Blade back today. She stares one last time at Fiona, making sure to engrave her face into her memory before disappearing into the crowd.

Fiona smiles and approaches the dead body.

"You will be my trophy," She said with a smile while looking at her damaged hands.

"It was worth it" She muttered to herself while signaling her men to carry the body back to the main tent.

The remaining war was brutal. With the loss of Commander Blade and the retreat of the princess, the Voraine and Kadence troops massacred many of the Thorkell army.

Fighting a top-level Voraine army equipped with powerful gear is already difficult and now they are backed by a top-level Kadence army with powerful magic. This is not something anyone can compete with. 

The princess looked at the scene below with her heart-wrenching. What went wrong? Why did it end up like this? Clearly, we made the right plays and the right moves. How did the Voraine empire get involved? This doesn't make any sense!

She stomped her feet in frustration. She breathed deeply and focused her mind. She knew that no matter what, they would lose her. It's probably better to cut the losses. 

She then ushered a retreat from the border, which is something that has never happened before in their history. 

For the first time ever, The Kadence empire achieved a land victory over the Thorkell empire.

After the border city was taken over, morale was very high. This city was very important to the Thorkell empire and it was the main reason why they were able to keep away the Kadence Empire for all these decades. 

With this city now captured, the border defense line of the Thorkell empire is pushed further inward which is obviously not as good as before.

Throughout this entire campaign, Fiona and Lance were hailed to be the heroes. In all the twists and turns, without these two here, the Thorkell empire would have definitely pushed them back.

Despite the great mood, Lance was not in the mood to celebrate. he had to rush back quickly but he couldn't leave until everything was stabilized.

After a while, everything got stable and Lance quickly got people to move back to the capital. Fiona heard the situation and was worried that her father would be affected so she went with Lance.

Maria stayed to keep the situation in check and make sure nothing unexpected happened.

The Voraine troops returned back to their home and Jason helped boost all their crops. The Voraine empire will not have a surplus of 10% of their total harvest every year but they will have to pay the Kadence empire half of what they made.

This isn't a loss to the emperor of Voraine because he knew that even if he gained a little less extra, it was still extra. It cannot be a loss. 

Jason and Ivory also head back to the Kadence empire.

New Southern City

Spies has snuck in the city and attempted to cause havoc under Grenden's orders but the new southern city was well prepared. The poison had little effect once the citizens started incorporating the diets of the southern tribe and the medic team and tools were advanced much further thanks to Selena's Mother's research. 

Not only were spies inside but closeby cities also tried to attack to create as much chaos as possible to stop any reinforcements from coming to the capital. The people who tried to charge the city all fell into huge pitfalls that could fit thousands of people with deadly smog floating at the bottom. 

The ones who fell in seem to have almost died instantly. This put fear into everyone's hearts.

Selena stood at the top of the castle wall and looked down on the approaching people coldly.

"It seems Jason was right, problems did occur. Luckily, we were prepared" Selena said as she urged the archers to fire the advanced arrows.

These arrows also have a special chemical that once combined with another chemical, causes a corrosive explosion. The second chemical was placed at the path where enemies will have to cross, it does not do anything harmful on its own but once they come in contact with the arrow, it becomes a huge problem.

Explosions rang in everyone's ears while others were scratching their skin in pain.

Selena was surprised at how indifferent she could be during this situation. Maybe it's because she has already been through war and has seen life or death many times. Or maybe it is because she was long aware of the danger that might be coming in and was mentally prepared to be ruthless.

Regardless, she had promised Jason to protect his home. They will have to step over her dead body if they want to destroy this city.

She continues to fire orders and the defense of the city seems to be almost impenetrable. 

Selena was satisfied but still looked in the distance with a look of worry on her face. 

"Jason, Please be alright. No matter what happens, I hope you will keep yourself safe first" she muttered to herself while her thoughts started drifting on what could possibly be happening in the capital.

In the Capital

Soldiers are surrounding the palace and everything seems like it is under military law. People are unsure about the situation because even the reporters are not aware of the details.

Many people that try to interfere get killed so people are hesitant to approach.

Count Grenden searched almost everywhere and could not find the emperor. He was kicking things away and cursed under his breath.

He breathed deeply and forced himself to calm down, If I can't get him now, I will just get the empress first.

Count Grenden and his army head towards the empress palace but it seems to have long since evacuated.

As he was taking the path, he noticed some abnormalities in a corner.

He signalled the troops and after they engaged with that person, they realized it was the emperor himself.

"So this is where you were. Your dear wife didn't let you in the palace? It seems she isn't quite happy with you as a husband" The count joked as he mocked the emperor.

It was true that the empress did not let him in but he was long hurt by the many soldiers and guards, he wouldn't last long anyway.

He looked up at the sky, "Monica, I did everything for the empire. Why did things turn out like this?" He said as a blade lunged forward and cut his heart.

Empress Monica was looking at the window from a distance. her eyes didn't even flicker as she watched her husband get killed.

"Now you can go meet that dear maid of yours", she said coldly as she headed towards the teleportation method created by her son.

Once there, she takes one last look at her palace and then sighs.

She then disappears into the air.

Once the emperor was killed, The count searched all through the empress's palace but could not find her.

He eventually gave up because the empress had no power if both her husband and son were not on the throne. He didn't have to worry because neither is possible now. We just have to wait for Lance and deal with him accordingly.

"Kill more people, make this look like an indiscriminate attack to cause chaos in the palace. All these deaths will be blamed on the imperial family" Count Grenden says as the greed in his eyes grows stronger and stronger.