DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN NOW READ THREE TO SIX CHAPTERS AHEAD. CHECK MY PROFILE FOR THE LINK.
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"You know what's going on, don't you?"
That was the first question Ari asked as she stood directly across from Leon.
Perhaps she was simply looking for someone to blame, or perhaps it was nothing more than an instinctive suspicion, but Ari couldn't shake the feeling that Leon's attack on Tempest was no coincidence. Something about the situation felt wrong, and she couldn't help but suspect that the Demon Lord standing before her knew more than he was letting on.
She watched his gaze travel over her form, only to feel his attention slip past her moments later, settling instead on the subordinates gathered behind him. It was as though her presence barely warranted his consideration.
"What do you want?" Leon finally asked, his golden eyes cold and disinterested. "I have no business with you. Get lost."
A vein twitched at Ari's brow.
Her aura thickened, and the shadows beneath her feet began to writhe, their restless movements reflecting the anger steadily building within her.
"You certainly have a big mouth on you," she said, her voice turning dangerously cold. "In Mother's name, allow me to cut it down to size."
"Are you going to stand in my way?" Leon asked indifferently.
Twinkles of golden light began to gather around him, revolving in slow, deliberate circles like a collection of miniature halos. Their brilliance cast a strange radiance over his figure, yet his expression remained utterly unmoved, as though the threat standing before him was of little consequence.
"Stand in your way?" Ari repeated, her lips curling into a cold sneer. "This is the nation Mother has gone to great lengths to maintain friendly relations with. The nation belonging to one of Mother's good friends. And you dare lay your hands on it?"
Her voice dropped another degree. "I'll pulverize you, scum!"
The shadows beneath her boots erupted.
Darkness surged outward in a violent wave, spreading across the platform as countless shapes and creatures emerged from its depths. Twisted limbs, monstrous silhouettes, and writhing masses of shadow poured into existence, each one carrying the oppressive presence of the otherworldly army bound to Ari's power.
For an instant, the platform seemed to vanish beneath the advancing tide.
Then, with a deafening roar, the entire mass surged toward Leon.
Blast!
A golden beam, wreathed in violent red lightning, tore through the darkness.
The attack swept across the platform with terrifying speed, annihilating every shadow creature caught in its path before slamming directly into Ari.
Her eyes widened.
She had barely registered the flash before the beam struck her. The sheer speed of the attack had caught her off guard, leaving her no time to react before its overwhelming force carried her away.
In the next instant, Ari was hurtling across the sky above Tempest, the golden beam driving her through the air as it carved a devastating path through the landscape.
From one end of the city to the other, the attack cut through Tempest like a razor-sharp blade, leaving behind a perfectly defined line of destruction in its wake.
For half a second, silence reigned.
Then...
BOOM!
A chain of explosions erupted across the city.
The ground split apart as the destructive force tore through Tempest, the devastation spreading outward in a relentless succession of detonations. Buildings, streets, and defensive structures were swallowed by the expanding shock waves as the attack continued beyond the city limits, carving a deep scar through the distant mountains.
In a single, devastating instant, Tempest had been split in half.
The shock wave swept across Tempest, rattling the foundations of buildings that had somehow survived the initial attack. Windows shattered. Walls crumbled. The ground trembled beneath the feet of thousands of soldiers, and for several long seconds, the only sound that could be heard was the deafening roar of destruction rolling across the city.
Then came the screams.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
A soldier of the Yellow Numbers stumbled backward as the earth beneath him split apart, narrowly avoiding a fissure that tore through the street. Behind him, several of his comrades struggled to maintain their defensive formation, their shields faltering under the pressure of the successive shock waves.
And they weren't the only ones caught off guard.
High above the city, Gabiru stared at the enormous scar that had been carved through Tempest, his mouth hanging open beneath his helmet.
"W-WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENED?!"
His wings beat furiously as he struggled to maintain his altitude, his eyes following the trail of destruction until it disappeared into the distant mountains.
For once, the Dragonewt had absolutely nothing to say.
Beside him, one of the members of his Hiryu squad swallowed nervously.
"Captain... was that an attack from the enemy?"
"DO I LOOK LIKE I KNOW?!"
Gabiru's furious shout echoed across the sky, but the uncertainty in his voice was impossible to conceal.
He had seen the beam.
Everyone in the vicinity had.
It had appeared so suddenly that even the experienced warriors among them had barely registered its arrival before the resulting explosion swallowed the surrounding landscape. The attack had crossed an extraordinary distance in an instant, and its destructive power had been sufficient to cleave through the very city they were supposed to defend.
And the worst part?
It had come from Demon Lord Leon Cromwell's direction.
"Everyone, maintain your formation!" Gabiru roared, forcing himself to recover. "Do not allow yourselves to become distracted! We are still in the middle of a battle!"
His men immediately obeyed, although the uneasy glances they exchanged made it clear that his words had done little to settle their nerves.
Gabiru clenched his fists.
'That bastard!'
Whether Demon Lord Leon had deliberately targeted Tempest or simply fired without regard for what stood in his path, the result was the same. Tempest had suffered catastrophic damage, and the people fighting beneath him had been caught in the aftermath.
Worse still, Lady Ari was nowhere to be seen.
[xxx]
"BENIMARU-SAMA!"
The shout came from one of the soldiers stationed near the entrance to the strategic hall.
Before anyone could respond, the entire building shuddered violently. Dust poured from the ceiling, and the magical lights illuminating the room flickered as a deep rumble rolled through the foundations.
Benimaru's hand shot out, catching the edge of the tactical table as the floor tilted beneath his feet.
"What happened?!" he demanded.
"I-I don't know, sir! An enormous beam of light just passed through the city!"
Benimaru's crimson eyes narrowed.
He immediately turned toward the glowing tactical map. Several of the markers representing Tempest's defensive formations had vanished, while others were flickering erratically as the magical instruments struggled to register the sudden destruction.
A line of devastation stretched across the map, cutting through the heart of Tempest and continuing beyond the city's borders.
For a moment, Benimaru simply stared. "...You have got to be kidding me." His voice was quiet enough that only those standing nearby heard it.
Kanade, who had been leaning against the tactical console, pushed himself upright. The expression on his face had changed completely. Gone was the casual composure he had maintained throughout the briefing, replaced by a sharp, calculating seriousness.
Benimaru's expression darkened. "Soei."
The shadows near the wall stirred.
"Already attempting to re-establish communication," a voice replied from within them.
Soei's presence had spread throughout the battlefield, his Shadow Squad gathering information and relaying it back to the command center. Yet the moment the beam had passed through the city, several of those connections had abruptly gone silent.
The implications were troubling.
"Can you confirm Ari-sama's condition?" Benimaru asked.
There was a brief pause. "...Not yet."
The words sent a chill through the room.
Kirara had accompanied Ari to confront Leon. If the attack had struck both of them, there was no telling what might have happened.
Benimaru drew a slow breath, forcing himself to remain composed.
"Continue searching. Prioritize the area where the beam struck, but do not approach Leon's position without my say so. We have no idea what other attacks he may be capable of."
"Understood." The shadows withdrew.
Benimaru looked back at the map, his mind already racing through the possible consequences.
He had spent the last several minutes trying to coordinate a defense against an army of nearly one hundred thousand soldiers. Now, in a single attack, Leon had demonstrated that the destruction of Tempest itself might be well within his capabilities.
And if Lady Ari had been incapacitated...
No.
Benimaru refused to entertain the thought.
"Hey shouldn't I step in already?" Veldora asked, looking more concerned now. "Tempest is getting destroyed!"
Benimaru grit his teeth. In one move, Leon Cromwell had already taken back control of the battle field, and without revealing anything from his side as well.
If he were to reply accordingly, and release Veldora, he would surely be able to turn the battle in their favour as well, but he couldn't help but think that was what they wanted.
There had to be a way.
"Don't worry about Tempest. Leave all damage to the city to me." Kanade suddenly said with a grin, taking his leave. "As well as the hidden citizens."
[xxx]
Several kilometres beyond Tempest, the mountains trembled.
A cloud of dust and pulverized stone drifted across the devastated landscape, obscuring the enormous crater that had been carved into the mountainside. The beam had continued long after it struck Ari, its destructive force boring through the earth and leaving a trench so deep that its bottom was hidden beneath the swirling dust.
For several seconds, nothing moved. Then a faint sound emerged from the crater.
A laugh.
It began quietly, little more than a breath escaping someone's lips, before gradually growing louder.
"Hahahaha..."
The dust stirred.
A dark silhouette rose from the depths of the crater, ascending through the debris with unhurried movements. Fragments of shattered rock fell from her body as she emerged into the open air, her long hair drifting around her shoulders.
Ari tilted her head. "...That actually hurt." She looked down at herself, examining the faint traces of damage left behind by the attack.
Her clothes had been torn in several places. A thin line of blood ran down one arm, and the surface of her skin bore marks that were already fading as her body recovered.
For a moment, she simply stared at the wound. Then her smile widened. "Oh, Mother is going to be so disappointed in me."
The words were delivered with an almost cheerful lightness, but the shadows gathering around her feet told a different story.
They were no longer the restless, playful darkness that usually accompanied her movements.
They had become eerily still.
And beneath that stillness, something was stirring.
Ari raised her head and looked toward Tempest.
The golden beam had vanished, leaving only the enormous scar it had carved through the landscape as evidence of its passage.
Her gaze followed that scar all the way back to the city. Then her expression changed. The smile disappeared.
She had been so focused on reaching Leon that she hadn't fully considered the possibility that he would attack with such disregard for everything around him. She had assumed that, whatever his intentions, he would at least recognize the significance of the nation he had chosen to invade.
Apparently, she had given him too much credit.
Ari's fingers curled.
The shadows beneath her feet spread outward, and the air around her grew heavy as countless voices began whispering from within their depths.
"Fine."
She took a step forward.."Let's see how long you can keep that attitude. Adding an otherworlder to my collection sounds rather intriguing after all."
The space around her rippled and in the next instant, Ari vanished.
"Arise!"
[xxx]
Back on the floating platform, Leon Cromwell lowered his arm.
Golden light continued to revolve around his body, while thin strands of red lightning crawled across the surface of his armour before disappearing into the air.
Alrose stood several paces away, his sword still raised. "...Lord Leon."
The Silver Knight hesitated, apparently struggling to find the appropriate words.
The attack had been extraordinary. Even he, a member of Leon's elite guard, had not anticipated that his lord would unleash such destructive power against a single opponent.
More troubling was the fact that Leon had made no attempt to distinguish between Ari and the city beneath her.
"Was that really necessary?" Alrose finally asked.
Leon's golden eyes shifted toward him.
For an instant, the Silver Knight felt an inexplicable pressure settle over his body. His breath caught. "...Forgive me, my lord."
Leon said nothing.
Instead, he turned his attention back toward Tempest, staring at the enormous line of destruction that divided the city.
Alrose stiffened. "Lord Leon?"
The Demon Lord did not respond.
Behind him, Claude approached, his black armour reflecting the strange golden light surrounding their master.
"Should we proceed with the assault, my lord?"
Leon remained silent for another moment.
Then he raised his hand.
The golden lights orbiting his body began to spread.
"Listen to me, people of Tempest."
His voice was calm. But it reverberated across the land, reaching the ears of everyone within Tempest.
"I have come for one thing only. Relinquish Chloe Aubert to us immediately, or Tempest will be destroyed."
And as the Magic Knights resumed their advance, the golden-haired Demon Lord continued to stare at the ruined city with eyes that no longer seemed entirely human.