Guardian's Wrath
Negotiations with Odysseya had concluded, and new borders were drawn. Leaving behind a portion of our forces, the withdrawal began. The war between Lionea and Silimaron had ended just days earlier as well. Silimaron's capital fell only a few days after being attacked. Even gravely wounded, Duke Gregory fought valiantly to the end, but it wasn't enough—he perished heroically. Unlike Benerus, Lionea spared none of Silimaron's royals. And so, Silimaron faded into the annals of history.
Negotiations with Lionea had wrapped up long before. With nothing more to give or take, they simply respected each other's gains, ending on what seemed like amicable terms.
Moving such a massive army took time, so preparations for withdrawal dragged on. It was only after a full month that the main expeditionary force, including Ether, finally began its return to the homeland. Or rather, it pretended to withdraw.
During that month of feigned preparations, I was constantly on the move. I flitted from the nearby Odysseyan royal palace all the way to Duke Jonah of Lionea, who had seized Silimaron's royal palace. Gathering intel everywhere, I relayed it all to Ether.
As Benerus's army crossed the pre-war Odysseyan border back into their own territory, Lionea's massive force appeared from the rear. Benerus's troops, as if anticipating it, wheeled around with flawless coordination under precise command. And leading them was Ether.
"Traitors of Lionea, hear me!"
Though still boyish in appearance, Benerus's prince stood at the vanguard on horseback, exuding unyielding confidence as he bellowed at the Lionean army.
"We saw through your vile schemes long ago, under the Guardian's blessing! And you pathetic losers of Odysseya, listen well!"
Behind Lionea's vast army lurked Odysseya's forces. At some point, the two had allied to strike Benerus's returning troops in the back. Yesterday's enemy becomes today's ally when national interests demand it—that's diplomacy between nations, and both were proving it resolutely.
"How long has it been since you begged for your lives under Benerus's mercy, only to bare your filthy claws now? I will not forgive your treachery and cowardice! But by the Guardian's mercy, withdraw your forces now, and I shall spare you this once!"
Ether unleashed a torrent of condemnation, but Lionea's command staff dismissed it lightly.
"So they knew we were waiting."
"They're blaming the Guardian's blessing, but Benerus's intelligence network has a fearsome reputation."
Duke Jonah and his advisors thought as much.
"Still, with the prince out front shouting like that, they must have something up their sleeve."
"Even so, with this troop disparity, they can't win."
Benerus's forces numbered around 50,000, having left some behind. Lionea and Odysseya's allied army exceeded 200,000.
"Exactly—Benerus lacks standout knights or mages, after all."
"Marquis Kantana's command is superb, but without Jerome Shuske's dirty tricks, a straight fight leaves them no chance."
Duke Jonah nodded, drew his sword, and pointed forward. "All forces, advance."
At his order, the 200,000-strong army advanced slowly but with overwhelming menace, ranks unbroken.
Ether watched, sighed softly, and murmured, "In the end, it comes to this."
[I told you it would.]
"Human greed truly knows no bounds."
[Get on with it. We can't just let them kill us.]
Ether nodded, pulling a metallic disc from his bosom. Intricately etched with countless magic circles, it wasn't a single plate but layers stacked together. Channeling energy into it, a red glow emanated from the disc.
"Behold! This is the Guardian's Wrath!"
Pouring every ounce of his energy into it, Ether cried out in fury—a sight almost sacred in its desperation. That said, it was a truly cringeworthy name. I'd vehemently opposed it, agreeing only to the propaganda angle. But Ether stubbornly insisted on it.
The disc's true nature was the wide-area spell once developed by the magic tower lord and elders—greatly modified and improved, of course. Back then, the magic-circle-etched plate filled nearly an entire lab; now, layered as it was, it fit in his pocket. Activation once required the tower lord and five elders; now Ether managed alone. Thanks to the Ether Heart Method, far more efficient than standard mana cultivation.
Originally ice-based, it was now fire and explosion magic, with vastly increased range and power. The theory came from my mind, but etching the circles onto the disc took Ether and me over two years. We hadn't built it for this exact moment—just in case, and so I'd leave him a trump card if I ever vanished.
A red beam shot skyward from the disc in Ether's hands, like a laser piercing the clouds, as if boring a hole in the heavens. Both armies of 250,000 watched, oblivious to the coming horror.
The sky split open. There was no other way to describe it. A massive red fissure tore through the blue expanse where the beam had pierced. Flames poured from it—not mere fire, but hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of meteors raining down on Lionea and Odysseya's camps.
Quick-witted souls shouted to evade as the flaming meteor shower descended, but it was too fast, too vast. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The devastation dwarfed thousands of full-powered spells from Silimaron's mages. The ground quaked like an earthquake; scorching winds that could melt flesh reached even Benerus's lines.
The fiery barrage pounded relentlessly for a long while before the roar faded. Smoke, flames, and dust still obscured Lionea's camp.
I hovered at the center of the inferno's ruins. Before me stood Duke Jonah, burns covering his body, leaning on his sword like a cane, expression hollow.
"This... this..."
He couldn't continue. Who could fathom his despair? Tears streamed from his blinded sockets. Had I not intervened, this giant of ambition and talent might have forged a great empire. I absorbed his soul.
In war, where hesitation means death, a single strike had erased 200,000 lives. Utter slaughter. And I'd made it possible. No great remorse—perhaps my humanity worn thin, or because I'm a soul. But deep in my core, something pricked.
Then a world-shaking screech pierced the air. SKREEEEEE!
My form shuddered uncontrollably—no body, so my soul quaked. Like a normal beast or human facing a high-rank monster's Presence.
[Fear?]
I'd endured countless monster presences in the Great Forest, but never like this. Benerus's distant troops showed no reaction. If it were truly that potent, they'd all be collapsed. Countless souls still ascended skyward. Far off, a colossal bird of fire soared.
[Phoenix?]
The legendary divine beast. Origin, habits—unknown. Legend only, absent from histories. Yet everyone knows it, passed down orally for millennia: grandmother to grandson, grandson to his grandson.
Benerus's army remained unmoved. Visible only to me? Then, a soul? Ether showed no sign of seeing or hearing it either.
The phoenix closed in at blinding speed. Distant, it seemed huge; up close, flying high, it felt like a flying continent. As it passed overhead, a wingbeat sucked in the 200,000 ascending souls like a vortex.
I stared blankly as it vanished afar—not empty-minded, but thoughts overwhelming, freezing my mind. Absorb enough souls, and I become like that? Chase it and get absorbed for ascension? Thoughts spiraled.
Snapping back, Benerus's troops cheered Ether's miraculous victory. I flew to rejoin him.
Surrounded by celebrants, Ether—the architect of triumph—looked somber. Still young and kind-hearted. Even a soul like me felt pangs; he surely did too.
[That was the Guardian's Wrath. My doing.]
"But I..."
Yeah, you etched circles and fueled it, but it was me. Anyway.
[My doing.]
"Guardian..."
I played the dramatic role to ease his conscience a bit—dunno if it worked. But he couldn't crumble here. Better than his scheming father, but a national leader must be strong. Benerus was no longer just a kingdom.
Leveraging the victory, Benerus's expeditionary force turned back, storming Odysseya and reducing it to a former kingdom. Odysseya, having dispatched its remaining forces to backstab Benerus, lacked the strength to resist. This time, Odysseya's royals and key nobles couldn't escape Benerus's wrath.
Without respite, Ether led Benerus's army against Lionea. Duke Jonah's elite—that was Lionea's full strength—annihilated, they couldn't hold. Unlike Odysseya, the capital resisted fiercely, but after two months of siege, Lionea too vanished from history.
Thus, annexing Lionea, Silimaron, and Odysseya's lands intact, Benerus emerged as an empire—vast yet incomplete.
Incidents plagued the occupied territories daily. The sudden gains dwarfed the homeland, exposing administrative gaps; Benerus struggled mightily.
Ether stayed abroad, holing up in former Silimaron's palace, slaving away sleeplessly like a drone.