"Reason."
"Eh?"
"Give me a reason to accept your surrender. Too straightforward a surrender makes it hard to believe. Surrendering for the sake of a single slave—no matter how I see it, the motive is suspicious."
"I don't want to see the words 'accepted surrender, prisoner rebelled' appear in my mission report."
If that really happened, who knows how Natasha Cioara would tease me. Just imagining it gave me a headache.
The incandescent blade of the Domain of Sanction rested against the slender, swan-like neck of the elven girl. Raiden Mei's wrist twisted ever so slightly.
Ssshhk—
The barely audible sound of sharp steel slicing skin rang out. On her fair neck, bright crimson blood with the smell of iron welled up. The stark contrast was shocking to the eye.
At that moment, from a corner of the ruins, a young girl's panicked cry rang out. "Fiel!"
Was that the human puppet she risked her life to protect?
Fine then…
The Queen of Thunder silently raised her left hand.
"If that's how it is, then let's confirm one more thing."
BZZZT!
A shrill, ear-splitting buzz erupted. Thunder crackled. Her idle left hand swung forth like a drawn blade—slash—!
The sudden gale tore through the ruins, shattering colossal boulders into powder. Rubble and even the flowerpots of the royal garden were uprooted and hurled into the air.
Crashhh—
Slowly lowering her hand in a knife-hand gesture, crimson thunder horns atop her head, the Queen of Thunder's pale violet eyes gazed coldly at the elf girl, now utterly stupefied.
"Chlammy!"
The blonde elf with long ears, seeing this, lost all composure.
Her eyes widened to the extreme, only to be swallowed an instant later by blinding arcs of thunder, so swift they surpassed sight itself. The explosive arcs shredded everything around her.
"AAAAHHHH you bastard—! You dare act as an Old Deus! I, Fiel Nilvalen, swear upon my life— even if I descend into hell itself, I will kill you!!"
All grace and dignity were gone from Fiel Nilvalen's face, replaced with gritted teeth and fury.
BZZZT—!
Her eyes snapped shut, then opened again—her pupils glowing violet. Bloodshot veins spread across her sclera. Her eyes, shaped like a cross formed by four diamonds, burned with hatred and venom.
In that instant, behind her, magical arrays appeared, hovering every few meters apart. Intricate runes glowed as torrents of magic siphoned from the Spirit Corridor made the air prickle with dread.
One, two, three… seven?! Eight?!!
If any elf from Elven Gard saw Fiel Nilvalen now, they would be dumbstruck.
Was this not the so-called failure?
A noble-born who could only reach the level of a 'Dual-Caster' with the help of amplifiers, expelled from the White Tower Academy, mocked as the "Shame of Nilvalen."
Yet what stood before them was no failure, but a genius beyond compare! A once-in-millennia prodigy!
Among elves, those who could maintain six spells simultaneously were already considered elite Sixfold Magisters. Sevenfold Magisters existed only among the ancient elders—the very foundation of Elven Gard.
And now, this girl was casting seven spells at once? And even an eighth circle was forming…?!
"Void Zero Protection, Pseudo-Heavenly Smite—!"
Fiel Nilvalen, who had always hidden her true power and played the fool, now pushed her limits under extreme rage, touching upon the legendary realm of the Eightfold Magisters.
When was the last time the Nilvalen family produced an Eightfold Magister?
According to records, it may have been as far back as six thousand years ago—during the Great War, before the Ten Covenants were established, when the head of the Nilvalen family was Think Nilvalen.
The spell Fiel Nilvalen had cast was none other than the degraded imitation of the Heavenly Smite—the same legendary attack that once destroyed the elven capital during the Great War.
Even Jibril, when wielding the true Heavenly Smite, had to expend massive power merely to resist part of its force.
In a sense, it was a blessing in disguise.
But to Fiel Nilvalen, all that remained was regret. She should never have agreed to Chlammy's request to come to Elkia!
If she could, she would rather remain only a mere Dual-Caster if it meant Chlammy could remain safe and sound.
"Seems you weren't lying."
Just as she was on the verge of exploding, Raiden Mei's detached voice drifted through the chaos:
"Won't you rein in your magic? I may survive… but that girl you care about so deeply may very well die under your attack…"
"What?!"
Thud!
A figure collapsed. As the smoke dispersed along with the thunder, a scorched ravine carved deep into the earth came into view.
At the end of that smoldering gash stood the black-haired girl, sitting limply on the ground, duck-sitting in shock.
On either side of her, less than a meter away, ran charred ravines splitting apart. It was obvious—Raiden Mei had deliberately avoided striking her, the slash was intimidation only.
Even so, the girl was utterly broken with fear.
Frozen, trembling, vacant-eyed, her mouth opened and closed. When awareness finally returned, Chlammy Zell's vision dimmed, her ears ringing with a sharp buzz. Her body felt as if it were scattering into dust.
In that instant when the lightning had struck so close, the searing sparks had already grazed her skin, numbing and tingling… She had thought she was already dead.
"Uhh… I'm sorry, Fiel… it's my fault… my selfishness has harmed you…"
"Chlammy!"
As though reclaiming something most precious, Fiel Nilvalen forcibly aborted her pseudo-Eightfold spell, coughing blood from the backlash, yet still rushing toward her without hesitation.
Yes, even with her back to Raiden Mei.
That much was enough for Raiden Mei to confirm it—this elf was telling the truth. She truly cherished and protected this human girl, despite her race's scorn that deemed humans as slaves and livestock.
"Don't cry, don't cry, Chlammy…"
Seeing the elf embrace the black-haired girl in her arms, soothing her with genuine human warmth, Raiden Mei's brow twitched.
Their bond might be deeper than she thought.
Not merely like close friends or sisters… more like mother and daughter.
Why did this feel so familiar?
Was this how she had once comforted Kiana after she failed an exam…?
"If my intelligence is correct, the elven nation, Elven Gard, is a slave state. Humans there are worth less than pigs or dogs."
No time was given for these two to share in their survival. Raiden Mei's tone was calm, task-focused, her grip steady on the Domain of Sanction.
"Well. Never mind. I'll give you a chance. According to your offer of surrender, I must bring you both to Elven Gard. If we delay, it may be too late."
"What do you mean?"
Like a mother hen shielding her chick, Fiel Nilvalen placed herself in front of the human girl, distrust written plain on her face.
The sight was laughable—an elf acting more like humanity's ally than a fellow elf.
"You think Elven Gard can remain uninvolved?" Raiden Mei retorted.
"You… Not just Elkia. You mean to completely overturn the Ten Covenants of the God of Games? To return to the Age of Conquest from six thousand years ago?"
"Age of Conquest? No… The world of Disboard will usher in an Age of Empire!"
Zzzzt—
With the Queen of Thunder's stride, the violet-red blade edge traced across the ruined ground, leaving a glowing scar of ominous light.
From the rift, countless motes of light rose, drifting like fireflies, gradually illuminating the royal capital shrouded beneath storm clouds.
Twisting, rolling, cold, shuddering…
In a daze, Fiel Nilvalen felt a burning sensation pricking her consciousness. The sight her eyes captured left her in utter disbelief.
"No way… that's… Elven Gard?"
Once a vast, jungle-like primeval forest, it now burned with rolling smoke and raging flames. Amid the sea of fire, the outlines of towering arboreal structures could still be seen, solemn and majestic, collapsing one after another with thunderous crashes.
BOOOOM!
Explosions roared endlessly, shaking the skies.
Within the burning elven capital, torrents of gunfire raged freely. Guided munitions streaked through the air in serpentine arcs. Energy weapons howled, bolters roared, bullets tore through everything like hail…
The earth quaked as though thousands of cavalry thundered across it. Giants clad in pale armor loomed skyward, blotting out the sun, their immense firepower raining down in an unending storm.
Every bombardment shook the ground, raising gales, shrouding the skies, sending mud, animals, trees, and stone soaring into the air before crashing back down. In the span of moments, thousands of homes were reduced to dust and ash.
Like a surging tide, the Luna Wolves poured forth—countless pale-armored giants scaling the citadel base of Elven Gard's capital, advancing into the brilliance of the elves' spells.
The banners of auxiliary and vassal armies snapped in the air, their war cries shaking the heavens, firestorms towering skyward, searing winds boiling earth and sea.
"As expected of the Astartes. Their efficiency is unmatched. The full-scale assault has already begun."
Raiden Mei withdrew her gaze, nodded, then took a deep breath. "Raven, enough games! Time for business!"
Staring blankly at the devastation wrought upon her homeland's capital by the towering, pale-armored warriors, Fiel whispered, "A new race of sentient beings, created by gods…?"
"…You could say that."
Raiden Mei did not deny it.
After all, were not the Astartes created by Selene herself?
"To think such a massive mobilization of forces went unnoticed by the High Council… Hah, a bunch of arrogant fools, lost in past glory."
As she soothed the human girl into slumber, the elf's inhuman eyes flickered strangely at the sight before her.
"Who said this was a massed invasion from outside? The infiltration units assigned to Elven Gard and Elkia were no different in scale."
At those words from the woman who seemed like a god, Fiel's pupils shrank sharply.
"As you guessed—it's spatial…"
The Herrscher of Thunder opened her eyes, hand closing around her blade's hilt. She twirled the weapon, Honkai energy coursing backward along the blade, flowing skyward in a seamless motion.
BZZZZZZZT—!
The sky itself shattered under the quaking of violet-crimson energy. Cracks spread across the heavens, extending down into the earth.
From the luminous scar she had traced, a vortex storm of interwoven violet and crimson flared, tearing apart the very fabric of reality.
"Infiltration operations were never just about assassinations, arrests, or intelligence gathering. More importantly—they were about establishing teleport beacons."
The next moment—thrum!
Waves of distortion rippled outward, a blurred silhouette emerging, countless figures gradually coming into focus.
Thud. Thud.
Footsteps like thunder grew clearer. Treads rumbled past. Power armor clanged. The golden double-headed aquila banner unfurled. The shadows of the Imperial Army, the Astartes, the Titans—solidified completely.
Fiel Nilvalen's heart trembled. Such a massive teleportation ritual—even the Flügel could never achieve this.
"What price must I pay?" she asked quietly.
"No rush."
As the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei could sense Selene, especially when Her Majesty chose not to conceal it.
"You guessed I was some so-called Old Deus? My answer is no. And now—the world shall welcome its eternal master. Behold… what true godly might is like, a dominion of dread."
Her words had barely fallen when—BOOOOM!
The skies of Disboard shattered. Across the world, the colossal chess-piece monuments cracked and toppled with thunderous crashes.
"AAAAHHHHHHH—!!"
A mournful wail resounded, transcending time and space, reaching every sentient being of Disboard—or more precisely, every one of the sixteen sentient races bound by the Ten Covenants.
Without warning, the elf girl felt searing agony coursing through her entire body, every nerve aflame. Each cell felt pierced by a thousand burning blades, her whole body consumed by torment.
"The Ten Covenants… have failed…"
She knew clearly what this meant.
And as the Covenants' restrictions dissolved entirely, from the darkness came a voice—a woman's, prouder than the Flügel, more immense than the Gigants, colder than the Old Deus themselves. It resounded in the minds of every sentient race.
"Weakling."
"Are you truly god?"
—
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