Catastrophe of the Imperial Palace (2)
Cloi could only stare in stunned silence as the explosion rocked the hall. Fortunately, there was no immediate devastation around her, which made the scene feel all the more unreal.
Then.
Thud.
“……Lady Cloi!”
Only when a massive chunk of stone plummeted from the impossibly high ceiling and crashed right beside her did her senses begin to sharpen.
“Lady Cloi, get down!!”
Vivian's shout pierced the chaos, ringing in her ears. Cloi numbly scanned her surroundings, her eyes falling on dying royals and Imperial Knights swinging their swords at them.
“Aaaah!”
“Help, please—spare me!”
“Gaaah!”
What in the world is happening?
“Wh-what……is this……”
The absurd horror threatened to daze her again.
Slap.
A stinging pain snapped her head to the side, revealing a familiar face twisted in fury.
“Snap out of it!!”
“V-Vivian.”
“We have to move! Now!”
Her words jolted Cloi fully awake.
So this is why His Highness……
She had felt uneasy when the Crown Prince had given her the guardian artifact Defensio, but she never imagined something this catastrophic.
As soon as she gathered her wits, her gaze shot to where the Crown Prince should be. Beyond a towering pile of rubble in the center of the throne room, she spotted him scrambling desperately. The Imperial Knights' Captain was hurling something toward him while charging ahead.
Given that the Imperial Knights were attacking the royals……
“Vivian!”
The Crown Prince was in danger.
“L-Lady Cloi! That area's too dangerous!”
“I have to go anyway!”
He had known this chaos was coming and still handed her the guardian artifact.
I still don't get why he didn't stop it, even knowing……
No matter that he was the empire's Crown Prince, a 6th-circle-grade artifact like that wasn't something you just gave away lightly. If something happened to him because he'd passed it to her, she'd carry the guilt for life—not just as his fiancée, but as a person.
Time was of the essence.
“You brought your weapon, right!? Give it here!”
“Lady Cloi!?”
“Quickly!!”
Under her urgent prodding, Vivian reluctantly hiked up her skirt and tossed over the mace strapped to her garter belt. Blessed for amplification, it was her personal weapon, perfect for boosting Cloi's divine power. Who knew the "just in case" prep would come in handy like this?
“Go on ahead! I'll head to His Highness……”
“A guard doesn't abandon her lady! I'm coming too!”
Vivian grabbed her own sword from the opposite garter belt and bellowed defiantly. But her pale face betrayed the barrier's mana-freezing effect—she still couldn't access her mana.
A Vivian without mana might just be a liability in combat, but Cloi couldn't bring herself to stop her.
No choice.
Cloi bit her lip and summoned her divine power. Thankfully, the palace barrier didn't block it; the god's strength flowed naturally. A fleeting, ecstatic glow enveloped them both, igniting their bodies with fiery vigor.
From that moment.
“Let's go!”
“Yes!”
Cloi and Vivian dodged falling debris as they sprinted wildly toward the Crown Prince's group.
And that's when they saw them.
The massive, demon-like monsters blocking their path.
The silver lining?
“Goddess above, grant strength to the brave!”
“Kieek!”
“Kyak!?”
“Grrr.”
Her power worked on the beasts.
“Die!”
Shrouded in holy light, the staggering monsters—and Ixillan driving them back amid the fray—spurred Cloi to plant herself before her fiancé.
“Your Highness, fall back behind me!”
“Even so, this……”
The Crown Prince's troubled face pushed forward again, but Cloi firmly raised a hand to halt him.
“This isn't the time for pride, Your Highness!”
“……Damn it, dammit!”
A sudden curse erupted from him—wholly uncharacteristic. For a split second, everyone's eyes, forgetting the crisis, locked on him.
“It pains me to admit, but……no choice. I'll support you, Lady Cloi.”
Regaining composure, the Crown Prince unsealed a magic scroll, bracing to activate it at any moment. She glimpsed only a few, but as something he carried, they were surely no low-grade items.
“Sister-in-law, why bring a weapon to a wedding……”
“Not the time, Lot!?”
With the Crown Prince's lead, Second Prince Lot and First Princess Juniper drew similar scrolls.
“Kiee.”
“Grrr.”
“Kruu.”
The three monsters, clashing with Ixillan yet flinching at her mace's movements, bolstered the princes' confidence.
A cleric, sure, but……
This strong?
Incredible.
As they silently reevaluated her.
Cloi herself stared at the monsters, head tilted in puzzlement.
From afar, each had seemed overwhelming.
But these hits are landing way too hard.
Demons were weak to divine power, but this was excessive. For beasts two ranks above her to take real damage was astonishing. Even at full strength, this effect was……
It's like I'm wielding a holy relic…… Wait, could it be!?
This Kreim Palace, the oldest in the palace and used for imperial events, stood beside the vault for one of the Seven Great Relics. Relics weren't portable like temple holy items, but their power might reach here.
Looking closer, the monsters' flesh sizzled faintly even at rest.
That confirmed it.
The relic's barrier!
She didn't know Tiny, bearer of a relic, was outside, but her guess was spot-on.
Of course, it wasn't much comfort.
Her divine power hurt them, sure—but each glaring with crimson eyes was still a handful. And the mighty guardian knight holding them off was visibly faltering.
“Light!!”
“Kiiiiiee!”
Another burst only pushed them back briefly.
Now, her only hope was……
Father, please hurry!
As Cloi prayed silently.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Grroooar!”
“Kyaooo!”
The watchful monsters lunged at them in unison.
* * *
“You're just getting in the way right now. Stay put, Vivian.”
Sprinting after her charge, Vivian froze at the familiar whisper in her ear.
Turning, she nearly stopped breathing.
The man from her dreams had appeared like magic, clamping her mouth and yanking her into a fierce embrace.
She glimpsed the princes facing monsters beyond the rubble, but the shock eclipsed even that dire scene.
Then.
“Don't draw attention—we need a surprise attack. Each one's on my level. Anyone without mana, fall back quietly.”
The follow-up whisper snapped her alert.
“Mmph, mmf.”
Let go—I can fight too.
Vivian mumbled her defiance through his hand.
Even without mana……
I can draw their eyes. If I tank one hit, Lady Cloi's odds go up.
Sensing her gritted resolve.
“……Can't be helped. I'll tell you the mana-freeze barrier's pattern. Reverse it, and you can manage a few mana blades.”
The captain she admired had cracked the infamous imperial barrier—and offered her a better way.
As Vivian focused on her mana flow per his instructions.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Grroooar!”
“Kyaooo!”
The monsters beyond the rubble took flight, and the captain shot forth like a silver gale.
Boom!!
The deafening crash echoed.
“Ngh!”
Ixillan, blocking one, was flung back by its strike.
“Damn!”
A prince's scroll-spawned spells shattered under another's kick.
As the last soared, looped midair, and dove at the Crown Prince.
Cloi, teeth clenched, leaped bare-handed into its path.
“La……!”
The Crown Prince paled.
Crash!!
“Kieee!”
A blue barrier flared, repelling the monster. The Crown Prince managed a dazed smile.
But the princes gaped at something else.
“Defensio!? Brother!!”
“Bradley, why give it to the Crown Princess……!?”
“Not important now!? Any scrolls left—pull 'em all!”
“None!”
“Me neither!”
“Damn……! Don't burden Cloi—survive on your own!”
“You……”
“What're you saying!? Brother lives first!”
Cloi tuned out their bickering, refocusing.
[Just bind them once, Lady Cloi.]
To heed the familiar voice in her ear.
This is it. Brother Jenas, please!
Crack.
Her mace cracked noisily.
“To hell with evil!!”
Pouring out every drop of divine power allowed her.
It shattered with a bang, unleashing a wave of holy force at the monsters.
Whoosh!!
“Grrrrr!”
“Kyak!”
“Kyao!”
The demon-shaped beasts summoned demonic energy to resist.
When the light faded.
“Kieeeeek!”
One screeched, its left arm and wing severed clean off.
“Sir Jenas!”
“……The Knight of the North Wind!?”
“Oh!?”
Joy lit the princes' eyes, but Jenas grimaced.
Damn, missed the kill!
He'd aimed to finish one, but his all-out strike only lopped an arm and wing.
No stopping now.
Can't kill them? Buy time then.
Jenas drew mana from his necklace, channeling his full power.
And.
Valentia swordsmanship, Jenas-style ultimate technique, second form.
Song of the Mad Wind, variation.
His wildly swinging blade erupted into a raging blue gale.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
Scraaaape.
Azure slashes poured like a storm from the wind enveloping the three beasts. Not individually devastating, but an unbelievable barrage from one man.
“Th-this is the Knight of the North Wind……”
Even Ixillan, barely recovering, could only gawk, finding no opening.
“Kieek!?”
“Kraaah!”
“Grrruk.”
Overwhelmed, the monsters backed into each other.
Then, the armless one, black blood dripping, veins bulging at its temple, began shuddering in rage.
Like a man in utmost fury.
But its response was monstrously extreme.
“KIIIIEEEE!!”
BOOM!!
Its body detonated in a roar.
The suicide blast's shockwave disrupted the blue gale, flinging Jenas with the others.
Thankfully, Ixillan shielded the princes fully.
Of course.
“D-damn.”
“Ixillan!”
“I-I'm f……cough.”
Leaving him crippled.
“Gr, grrr.”
“Keruk?”
The other battered monsters rose confusedly, while Jenas lay unconscious.
One spotted him, raising a foot high.
The staggering princes missed it amid the blast's aftershocks, but Cloi saw.
“No!!”
Her scream widened her eyes.
Crack!
The monster's foot severed cleanly.
And.
“Vivian!”
The redheaded knight in a dress, vomiting blood, dragged Jenas toward Cloi.
“Kyaaaaak!”
Another monster charged anew. Cloi wedged between, activating Defensio once more.
BOOM!!
“Kiiie!”
The repelled beast howled.
Defense succeeded, but.
“L-Lady Cloi……the captain……”
Reeling inside the barrier, Vivian collapsed over Jenas mid-sentence.
Opposite, the one-footed monster spread wings, soaring again.
This is the last……
As Cloi clenched teeth for another blue shield.
Thud!
The one-footed beast bounced off, glaring irritably and signaling its kin.
“Grrrr!”
“Kyak. Kyar!”
Whatever passed between them, veins bulged on the repeatedly blocked pair's faces.
Like the first, they advanced in extreme fury, step by massive step.
They closed in instantly.
A fist rose before her, but Cloi couldn't move.
Vivian and Jenas lay behind her.
It's over.
Sensing death, she shut her eyes, biting her lip.
“Dammit!”
“Brother! No!!”
“Bradley!!!”
“Your Highness!!”
The princes' cries rang out as someone yanked her into an embrace.
Startled eyes opening, Cloi saw the groom's epaulet.
Y-Your Highness!?
What could a mere mage change by shielding her? But if this was her end, at least she'd go feeling her beloved's warmth.
Yet regret for life surged too.
If only a miracle……
……would happen.
That wish crossed her mind.
BOOM!!
A colossal roar—and the wall where light seeped exploded, pelting the monsters' backs with debris.
“Grr!?”
“Kyak!?”
Monsters whirling in shock.
A blood-soaked black-haired youth grinned from the light.
And.
“As expected, nothing beats a hammer for smashing……”
“Daughter!!”
“……Huh!?”
“Daddy's here!”
A superhuman leaped off the youth's head, erupting in aura redder than blood.