The Legend of the ruthless Empress Freya

- POV General -

Three days had passed since Angel's recovery and it seemed that the time had finally come for a confrontation, for in front of the Dark Forest, a huge army was waiting. The Paladins and Knights of the Kingdom of Zal faced the expanse of trees where Empress Freya's Empire stood. No one really knew what awaited them, but with the blind confidence of humanity, the anticipation was palpable.

3,000 warriors, mages, men and women, waited patiently for orders from the King who had personally come for the occasion. Princes Erzian and Iolas Zal remained in the capital, as did the Supreme and Sage, who gave their orders from afar. A huge tent made of red and gold stood in the middle of this human crowd, so beautiful that it would have been normal to wonder what it was doing here in such a war.

Theophylactus Zal stood in this tent, surrounded by the Chief Paladin Leto and the Captain of the Knights Myles, on a throne as extravagant as his quarters. He wore his crown and was clad in golden armor with the Royal coat of arms engraved on his chest. In his hand was a small object unknown to the Elysium Empire, resembling a thin blank stone tablet.

"My King ! The communication tablet should activate any minute now, once you have conversed with the Supreme, you can give us the order to venture into the forest !"

Myles, the Captain of the Knights stood at the right of the King and looked over his shoulder at what he held in his hand, tapping his foot impatiently. It was a mana-filled tablet that allowed for remote communication with short phrases for essential information. As Myles spoke these words, the stone object suddenly began to glow as if in response to his words.

"My King! This is it !!"

"I can see fine thank you, I'm not blind yet...tsk !"

Dismissing the Chief of Knights with disdain, the King turned to the stone tablet that had begun to vibrate insistently. No one spoke anymore as suddenly letters appeared on the surface as if they were written in real time. This was the case because thousands of miles away, the one who possessed the same object and was tracing a message was the Supreme.

[This is the Supreme. Everything is ready on our side your Majesty. Recap of findings : Monster city in the west. Leader unknown but probably weak compared to our forces. Target spotted a month ago : little girl, white hair, violet eyes, 6 years old. We need her alive. No trace of the Princess but probably captive there. Useless and rebellious little dragon died after giving us this information]

"Tsk... I already know all this ! Has the Supreme forgotten all the information that the Church has sent us for the last month ? This is not the time to recap ! We have new information that could change everything !"

Never content and always insufferable, Theophylactus almost threw the tablet to Leto, Chief of Paladins, to write a message to his superior. Sinking into his seat and adjusting his crown over his gray hair, the King clenched his fists as he began to speak. His voice was neither solemn nor affectionate but condescending, carrying a trace of contempt and annoyance.

"You ! Write down what I'm going to tell you : A few days ago, two ordinary soldiers saw some gigantic animals running towards the west. According to them, there was a wolf, a panther, a cat, a snake and two flying monsters accompanied by half-humans. I don't know if they were drunk, but this is all pretty fishy and hard to believe...that said, it's still important information."

While Theophylactus quickly dictated what he had to say, the Chief of Paladins, though annoyed by his attitude, remained silent and began to write. He traced the letters one by one on the stone tablet, using his own mana as ink to make them appear. The letters seemed to dance lightly on the surface before disappearing as the next one was drawn.

Once the message was written and sent, the three people in the Royal tent waited in an awkward and heavy silence. Outside, the sound of Knights and Paladins preparing for battle could be heard when suddenly the tablet began to vibrate again. Leto leaned over the King's shoulder once again to present him with the Supreme's answer.

[Stay alert but the attack will not change. If what you say is true, you must attack. Those monsters must be aware of your presence. However, our forces are incredible. Destroy the forest. Bring back Princess Alayna and the cursed child. But don't be fooled by her cute appearance... she could be the demon that appeared thousands of years ago. Return proud and victorious to Zalhythe your Majesty. Leto knows my orders, you can attack promptly]

Despite the importance of the information, the Supreme was confident and did not seem in any way alarmed by the presence of the huge beasts. In all, there were 3,000 humans ready to fight for their Kingdom and both the King and the Head of the Church could not, despite their vigilance, imagine their defeat. The best of the Paladins, although not Leto, had the same level as Freya herself, even if no human knew it.

Neither the Supreme nor the King could suspect that the forest was home to a level 45 Empress, a Queen and ten level 30 Commanders all supported by a system and valiant soldiers. However, the soldiers of Elysium, while slightly more powerful than the ordinary Knights and Paladins, were far less numerous than those surrounding the forest. Indeed, the Empress had only 1,500 soldiers in her ranks, only half of the human force.

As Freya had foreseen, the coming War was going to be the most difficult and undoubtedly the most deadly the Empire had ever seen. As always, she desired no loss, but knew in her heart that in any real war, dreaming of a bloody confrontation without death was impossible. However, the Empress was going to do everything in her power to get as close to that ideal as possible, as she had sworn to herself.

"Very well then we will do as planned ! After all, the Church is the one who has been busy gathering information through their...Dragon Thing. Why did he die anyway ? He seemed to be a major asset to your Supreme. Didn't you keep him for ten years ? What happened ?"

Rising hastily from his throne, Theophylactus tossed the tablet onto the table in front of him as he turned to Leto to ask him the few questions that were burning in his mind. He had been one of the first to see the Supreme's experience at the last meeting and could not understand what motivated the decision to kill him. The Chief of Paladins, who was obviously aware of this, lowered his head and answered softly.

"Your Majesty, His Excellency's test subject had managed to gain the trust of the Church's purple-eyed target after infiltrating the city of these subraces. He was ordered to bring her back, but believing himself untouchable, he stayed there, forgetting the reason for his existence and his total belonging to the Supreme. Master Sage, the Holy Scholar then stopped supplying him with his daily drug making him die very quickly... today the mark he carries is no longer detectable."

"Mmh I see. Never mind then, I guess the Church knows what it's doing, as long as its decisions don't harm the Kingdom, his Excellency can well dispose of his toys as he wishes !"

Walking out of the tent, the King followed by Myles, Captain of the Knights and Leto, Chief of the Paladins, was about to launch the offensive towards the West. As he emerged from his royal quarters in the middle of the camp, all the men and women milling about stopped before clicking their heels in greeting to his Majesty. Taking a deep breath, Theophylactus Zal grabbed his golden sword and raised it to the sky.

"SOLDIERS !!!"

In front of the soldiers, it was no longer the sulky and disdainful King who was there but a true leader, a warrior ready to do anything to get his daughter back by himself. All his armor and weapon shone brightly under the midday sun, dazzling the Knights who saw in him a God of War and the Paladins who felt their hearts beating fast. It was finally time for the humans to enter the Dark Forest where so many of their fellow humans had disappeared.

"Prepare to fight for your King and your beloved Princess kidnapped and held somewhere in this forest !!! Today we have two goals and I swear on my honor that we will complete them ! Let's find my sweet Alayna and capture the vile purple-eyed monster that is probably standing beside her as I speak !"

Only the voice of Theophylactus could be heard throughout the camp, no light breeze, no noise, no voice could be heard. Once he had finished his little speech, he lowered his sword and slammed it against the ground, indicating that he was finished. The still silent army watched the King with determined eyes as he turned his head to his left towards Myles who stepped forward to speak.

"Let the ten best level 30 Knights step forward accompanied by the level 45 Mage Knight !"

At his command, the knights on the right parted to let ten of them pass, dressed in grey armor that was lighter than the swordsmen or hand-to-hand combatants because they were mages. They all wore shiny white helmets that hid their faces, leaving only their eyes visible. Behind them, the most powerful of the mage knights arrived carrying two swords at belt level and two behind the back.

The same white helmet shone in the sunlight but a long red hair fell back to the middle of her back... the best Mage Knight was a woman. The eleven knelt before their Captain and King while it was Leto's turn to speak. After a slight nod from Theophylactus, he stepped forward just as Myles did before him, making his voice heard.

"Let the ten best level 35 Paladins step forward in turn and present themselves before His Majesty the King on behalf of His Excellency the Supreme !!!"

To the left, the rows of Paladins dressed in robes for battle also parted to let the ten who had just been called by their leader pass. Dressed in gray with the symbol of the Church, a bird embroidered on the back and on the chest. They were all ready to fight and die for their mission and their Supreme. In front of the three leaders of the army stood the 21 best warriors who were to fight in the front line.

"Good ! Let the 21 strongest warriors join us in the tent for a final check on how we are doing but... Valorous Knights and Paladins ! In one hour we will march on this forest so sharpen your swords, halberds, knives... prepare your incantations and focus because this afternoon we will be slaying half-humans and beasts !"

"...."

"We're going to take my daughter the Princess back to the capital and show those bastards that you don't provoke Humanity, the King and the Church without consequences !!! My soldiers, my fighters,...this afternoon we will destroy the forest, we will shed blood and tonight we will feast on the corpses of our enemies HAHAHAHAHA~"

"YAAAAAAAY !!!!"

King Theophylactus had finished his speech with a raucous laugh, full throated and eager to find his daughter and above all to return home victorious. His words were followed by shouts of encouragement, mostly from his loyal Knights while most of the Paladins waved with a smile on their lips. The sun was high in the sky and in an hour the attack on Elysium would begin.

____

- POV Freya -

I was outside the city, once again on the large expanse of grass that this time was filled with soldiers armed to kill. Although it was past noon, it was not the gentle rays of the sun that greeted me outside, but a starless black sky. A gigantic dome had been created over the Empire, made of wood, earth, ice, plants, cutting off Elysium and its inhabitants from the world.

Everyone had worked with seriousness and determination to protect what we had built and the result was incredibly impressive. Luna and her espionage and intelligence section had deduced from her observations that the humans would attack today in the early afternoon, so everyone had prepared everything they needed and the time for the confrontation had finally come.

There, all silent, was the army divided into sections behind each Lieutenant and each Commander, all dressed in black. My best warriors wore their capes and brooches with their symbols but also, a scary black helmet representing the face of a horned demon. The expressions on each of them were different, one was laughing, another was angry or crying but one thing was sure... they were terrifying.

I didn't have time to approach them to greet them when already Gaya and Kira, who were in front of the whole army, rushed towards me with a serious and almost a little worried look. Not at all dressed in the same way, the first to speak was my wife followed almost immediately by my little sister. They spoke quickly and clearly so that they could be heard by the others as well.

"Honey... the human army is at the center in the forest. The humans in it are destroying and killing everything in their path and if we don't do something, if we don't stop them now...

...they'll end up destroying the entire forest or worse, arriving in Elysium before our army is even out ! Onee...ahem... Freya, we must leave now there is no time to lose !"

For the first time since the creation of the Empire, I was going to fight alongside my little sister who had trained hard for three days, but also my wife. Gaya was no longer pregnant and her rage against those who had locked up her little brother had pushed her to take part in this War. Every soldier, every muscle would be useful, so even though I was worried, I could not refuse the presence of the last Dragoness.

Kira was still barefoot, dressed in black pants and a black sweater with a large scythe with a black and red blade behind her back. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and her face was half covered by a half mask hiding her mouth with a frightening smile embroidered on it. Gaya, without a weapon, was wearing what seemed to be a tight red jumpsuit, open in the back, to promote her transformation.

"Yes...we're going to leave !"

Neither Shiro nor the twins were there as a precaution, and although our three children were perfectly fine, they were in the hospital with Lia and Triss. Our little moon was watching over Angel who still hadn't woken up and Gaya, Kira and I knew we could leave with a light heart. I didn't have time for goodbye speeches, time was running out and we had to start our walk.

I then took my own helmet out of my storage space while walking in silence followed by my wife and my little sister. As I moved, I put on the helmet that looked very similar to the ones worn by my Commanders. It was all black, left openings for my horns but represented my face... the one I had as Goddess Lucifer, covered with tattoos as it had never been before.

The true face of a Demon... the face of Death herself. In a sacred silence, no cheering could be heard, testifying to the importance of this War that would seal the fate of us all. Turning to all my soldiers, Gaya and Kira, I spoke only a few words. Under this dark sky without any light, this dark sky protecting our Empire, my voice sounded cold, powerful and full of passion.

"Let the drums of War resound !"