Chapter 1081: 68. Fierce Battle
The endless gray fog blanketed the sky, while the ruined city lay buried beneath the night. The jagged silhouettes outlined in the darkness were cold and vicious, like the claws of some demonic beast hanging upside down over the earth.
The once-majestic imperial palace had long since fallen into decay. Dust and mottled ruin covered every corner, as though a thousand years had already washed over it. Yet at the center of that crumbling palace, Celicia sat high upon the throne, one hand propping up her cheek as she calmly watched the black tide gradually sweeping in from afar.
It was an utterly terrifying black tide.
The endless waves had nearly swallowed everything outside the ruined city. Above the sea hung a pale bright moon, scattering bleak silver light across the water like a gigantic blade poised to cleave the city in half.
And beneath that moon—
Upon that blade—
Several graceful figures walked across the waves through the air itself.
None of them appeared especially tall or imposing. Their every movement even carried a soft elegance, like clear spring water flowing through mountain valleys. Yet the aura they radiated was enough to contend directly against the entire city!
As they approached, it was as though a vast darkness itself had come to devour everything.
“Heh. So you’ve arrived?”
For once, Celicia openly revealed emotion, the corner of her lips lifting slightly.
The wind from outside stirred her silver hair, yet as the darkness closed in, her expression did not change in the slightest.
As though what approached was not some terrifying enemy, but merely a few stray drops of rain blown toward her while admiring the scenery atop a cliff.
Entirely insignificant.
“Oh my, who would’ve thought... Her Majesty the Empress would personally come out to greet us.”
Anna smiled seductively, her crescent-shaped eyes curved beautifully beneath the flawless full moon glowing behind her.
She examined Celicia carefully and noticed that instead of the wedding dress Ariel had described in such scandalous detail, she was wearing soft armor instead.
“So where is Your Majesty’s wedding dress?” Anna asked curiously.
“If I wore it out here, you people would probably destroy it no matter the cost,” Celicia replied flatly. “So I decided not to wear it for now. Once I defeat all of you, I can put it on afterward as the victor.”
“Oh? Really? I assumed Your Majesty would send waves of subordinates to stall us while you hurried off to complete the ceremony with Muen first. Like a coward who excels at nothing except sneaking ahead.”
Anna covered her lips with a smile.
“I never expected Your Majesty to actually have the courage to face us head-on.”
“Heh? Sneaking ahead?” Celicia let out a cold laugh. “Muen and I have a formal engagement known across the continent, and we are mutually in love. Everything between us has proceeded naturally. Explain to me exactly where the words ‘sneaking ahead’ apply.”
Then her gaze sharpened.
“As for you little vixens—while I was away, you seduced another woman’s fiancé, and now you actually dare come knocking at my door? Truly shameless.”
“Who are you calling shameless?!”
Ariel immediately spat in annoyance.
“Muen and I are mutually in love too! He even gave me an entire crystal palace. What did he give you? An engagement contract? It’s just a scrap of paper. What’s that supposed to prove?”
“Exactly, exactly! As if any of us are lacking mutual love!”
Liya instantly planted her hands on her hips and drove the knife in deeper. When it came to feelings, who here was inferior to whom?
And as for who came first...
“I was the first one.”
An’s demeanor remained perfectly elegant. Even at a moment like this, she had not abandoned the grace of a flawless maid. Yet the killing intent in her eyes had already become so dense it was nearly tangible, cold enough to rival the frost Celicia wielded.
“And you...”
Her voice turned glacial.
“You’re nothing more than a lucky little insect. Give me a moment. I’ll clean you away completely.”
As though some invisible signal had been given—
The four women stepped forward in perfect synchronization.
The previously calm black tide suddenly exploded into motion, transforming into a colossal tsunami that crashed toward the sinister city cloaked in darkness.
Before that tidal wave, even the silver-haired figure seated upon the throne appeared incomparably small.
Small enough to resemble an insect.
But the insect showed no fear.
Instead, she rose to her feet.
In an instant, brilliant radiance descended from the heavens and forcibly drove the incoming tsunami backward. Celicia’s own aura surged higher and higher, and under the authority of the Empire itself, her presence instantly climbed to the point where she alone could completely oppose all four of them at once.
The insect—
Became a beast.
No...
More accurately, she had always been the beast.
After all, the four women standing upon the black sea at this moment...
Were the challengers.
“Back then, Father defeated an Evil God projection here with a single strike.”
Celicia spoke softly, traces of those not-so-distant memories surfacing in her mind.
The Belrand Reflection.
The foothold once created by the Evil God Silent Moon to launch its assault upon Belrand and transform the city into part of its divine kingdom had once again become a convenient gateway for the Empire’s enemies.
That was only natural.
After all, that woman was effectively Silent Moon’s successor.
Did Celicia feel regret?
Bitterness?
No.
Only amusement.
Amusement at how absurdly indestructible Belrand truly was. So indestructible that no one had ever managed to defeat it head-on. Which meant whether it was the Evil God projection of the past or the little vixens of today, all they could do was hide like sewer rats within the city’s enormous shadow and launch sneak attacks from the darkness.
Pathetic.
Utterly pathetic.
They still did not understand.
Rats would always be rats.
And vixens would always remain vixens.
The moment they abandoned the straightforward path of openly crashing the wedding and instead chose to attack from the shadows, they had already fallen beneath her.
After all, how could women who lacked even the courage to publicly declare the man they loved possibly compare to the grand wedding she was using to proclaim to the entire world exactly who stood beside Muen?
They didn’t dare.
And they weren’t worthy.
“My father defeated an Evil God here. Naturally, I can crush all of you little vixens here as well. Belrand will never fall, and none of you will change anything.”
Celicia’s silver-white hair floated upward without wind. She coldly stared down at the four women whose expressions had darkened considerably.
“Come then. If you have the ability, reach me.”
She slowly raised her sword.
“I’ll be waiting right here... to utterly crush all of you.”
Shing!
The Sword of the King left its sheath.
Celicia pointed the blade downward with a disdainful sideways glance, like an emperor standing above the world itself, utterly arrogant and untouchable.
“What an arrogant mouth.”
Even Anna, who was usually the most broad-minded among them, became slightly irritated by Celicia’s openly contemptuous attitude.
The four women exchanged glances—
Then instantly shot toward the Empress in the sky.
Hummm—
A deep, heavy vibration suddenly echoed before them.
A vague invisible outline split sea and land apart, and no matter how violently the tsunami crashed forward, it could not shake the city in the night even slightly.
The Grand Barrier!
As the colossal mechanism that completely protected the city, even within the Reflection, it naturally possessed no weaknesses whatsoever.
This was the first obstacle.
“Don’t worry.”
Yet faced with an ancient barrier that even Crowned beings could not destroy head-on, Ariel merely crooked her lips into a grin.
“We’re going straight through.”
The moment she finished speaking, she stepped directly into the barrier. The others immediately followed after her.
And just as she had said—
The Grand Barrier, the very foundation that had allowed Belrand to stand undefeated for centuries, merely rippled faintly before allowing them to pass without resistance.
“What the hell?!”
Somewhere within the imperial palace—
Phyllis, remotely spectating with heavy panda eyes from overwork, nearly had her soul fly out of her body at the sight.
The Royal Mage Corps had always been responsible for maintaining and operating Belrand’s Grand Barrier. If it suddenly failed now, the responsibility would be enough to have her head chopped off and turned into a wine jug.
What to do what to do—
How could she shift the blame—no, fix this—
Wait.
Something’s wrong!
Phyllis suddenly snapped awake.
The Grand Barrier was still there!
Her perception spread outward, and she could clearly sense that the barrier protecting the city still existed.
The Grand Barrier had not failed.
And it was impossible for it to fail.
At least not now.
After all, knowing someone would come crash Her Majesty’s wedding, she had personally inspected the entire thing earlier!
If the barrier could still fail after all that overtime, then what was the point of these panda eyes?!
Then why—
“Don’t tell me...”
Phyllis seemed to realize something.
Her figure flashed and vanished from the spot, quickly reappearing inside the central control chamber of the Royal Mage Corps.
Sure enough—
The moment she entered, she saw a certain old bastard suspiciously fiddling around with the Grand Barrier’s control core.
“T-Teacher?”
Seeing the familiar figure, Phyllis’ eyes widened.
“What are you doing here? And what exactly are you doing?”
The old man jolted violently.
After freezing for quite a while, he slowly put down the control core and turned around.
It was not the face Phyllis recognized.
Because the old man was wearing a bizarre mask.
Even his voice had been deliberately pinched into a strange high pitch.
“Teacher? What teacher?”
The old man spoke with complete seriousness:
“I’m not your teacher at all. I’m merely... an ordinary passing-by troublemaker!”
Phyllis: “......”
...
“So you really do have some skill.”
Watching them pass through the Grand Barrier so easily, ripples finally appeared in Celicia’s eyes.
Though she had expected this to some extent, the effortless ease of it still made her inwardly sigh.
There truly was no harmless fish among those raised in that bastard’s pond.
Every last one of them was dangerous.
If she were not currently backed by the entire Empire, she might genuinely not possess the authority needed to force this wedding through.
“Are you afraid now?” Anna chuckled softly. “We’re only just getting started, dear Empress.”
“Heh?”
Celicia naturally responded with disdain.
Even among the fish in the pond, she would unquestionably be the biggest one!
“You really are irritating. I hope when we strip away all your pride and spank you bare-assed, you’ll still be able to smile like that.”
Anna snorted coldly.
The others naturally stopped holding back as well.
Now that the obstacle was gone, how could they not answer Celicia’s provocation?
Ariel charged first.
Flames exploded skyward as she raised her greatsword high.
“Heavenfire—”
“Suppress.”
Celicia pointed a finger without hesitation, refusing to give Ariel even the slightest opportunity to unleash her attack directly. A forbidden spell instantly descended to suppress Ariel’s power.
They were already within the imperial palace grounds.
Launching an attack against her here was simply—
[Anti-Magic Barrier deployed.]
Click.
A faint glow emerged from the bracelet on An’s wrist. A massive, intricate barrier instantly spread outward, enveloping not only the four women, but Celicia as well.
In an instant, Celicia’s body stiffened slightly.
An abnormal sensation directly sealed away the magic within her body.
It was like suddenly being shackled in anti-magic restraints—
No.
Even more absolute than that.
Magic-sealing shackles merely obstructed the flow of mana, but right now, Celicia felt as though the magic inside her body had completely frozen solid. Even sensing it became extremely difficult.
And she was not the only one affected.
Anna and the others clearly experienced the same suppression.
“A large-scale magic-locking barrier?”
Celicia raised an eyebrow.
“There’s actually something like this?”
“There are plenty of things you don’t know,” An replied expressionlessly. “The so-called Empress of the Empire is merely a frog at the bottom of a well compared to a thousand years of history.”
“Whether or not I’m a frog in a well aside, what’s the point of a barrier that doesn’t distinguish friend from foe?”
Celicia tilted her head slightly.
“You shouldn’t be able to use magic either.”
“Magic?” An sneered. “Who here relies primarily on magic?”
And in the very next instant—
“Heavenfire—Unsheathed!”
Blazing flames wrapped around an overwhelming sword arc that completely engulfed Celicia.
The flames came from Divine Favor.
The swordsmanship came from martial skill.
Neither of them—
Were magic.
Clearly, Ariel felt no discomfort whatsoever in this state.
If anything, she had become even stronger.
“Why... are forbidden spells ineffective?”
A puzzled voice emerged from within the flames.
Frost exploded outward instantly, intertwining violently against the scorching inferno. At the same time, the Sword of the King clashed directly against Heavenfire’s greatsword.
Celicia moved second—
Yet struck first.
She forced Ariel backward once more.
She had not suffered injury from the attack, but for the first time, genuine shock appeared upon her face.
“It’s simple,” An said coldly as she summoned steel into her grasp and lunged forward wielding a gigantic scythe, seamlessly filling the opening left by Ariel’s retreat.
“Aren’t forbidden spells ultimately a form of magical construct as well?”
“As long as it’s magic below the Origin level, this barrier suppresses it. And I highly doubt the forbidden spells protecting this palace have reached the Origin tier.”
As for the small issue of nobody being able to use magic...
Just like Ariel—
The primary techniques used by everyone here...
Were not magic to begin with.
“I underestimated all of you.”
The assault continued without pause.
Though this was the first time Ariel and An had fought side by side, they meshed together with eerie perfection. Their combat styles were both broad, violent, and overwhelmingly aggressive, and layered together, their destructive force became terrifying enough that even Celicia was forced backward temporarily.
Yet she still remained calm.
Because from the very beginning—
She had never placed her hopes upon forbidden spells.
After all, if she intended to make these women submit, how could relying solely on external power possibly demonstrate her authority?
“I’m going... to get serious now.”
Brilliant imperial radiance exploded from the depths of Celicia’s pupils.
A dazzling crown descended from the heavens.
In that instant, all sound vanished.
The tides calmed.
As though everything in existence had submitted to that crown—
Submitted to her.
“Crowned.”
The four women’s expressions immediately turned grave.
“She’s serious now,” Anna muttered. “A Crowned transformation is already a qualitative leap by itself. Add imperial authority on top of that, and her current strength is probably already among the very strongest on the continent.”
Anna’s hair fluttered wildly as the moonlight behind her became increasingly radiant. Beneath her feet, enormous shadows began rising at visible speed.
“You don’t need to tell me!”
Ariel shouted.
The flames around her suddenly compressed inward. Strange colors overtook her eyes—one pitch black, the other pure white.
An twisted the bracelet on her wrist.
Its glow reached unprecedented brilliance as a skintight magi-tech armor rapidly spread across her body. Her aura began skyrocketing in a completely unreasonable fashion.
As for Liya—
Her method was the simplest and most brutal of all.
Forget strategy.
Forget restraint.
Holy Light—
Maximum output!
And so—
Despite the fact that not one of them was a true Crowned existence, the pressure erupting from the four women was not inferior to a Crowned being in the slightest.
“Heh. Quite a lot of trump cards.”
Celicia held the Sword of the King beneath the dazzling brilliance of imperial authority, the radiant crown hanging above her head.
Even facing these four terrifying auras, she remained utterly unmoved.
“But no matter how you struggle...”
Her silver eyes turned cold.
“The victor of this war... will still be me.”
“We’ll see about that!”
BOOM!
Unimaginable power collided head-on.
The entire Belrand Reflection seemed on the verge of being torn apart as the earth shook violently.
For the sake of final victory, the five women all chose to unleash their full power without reservation.
At this moment—
They had already entered a state beyond self-awareness.
Until one side submitted completely—
None of them would ever stop.