Leona woke up with the sound of footsteps in the armory. She blinked a few times and as she focused her vision she noticed a familiar oni walking around with weapons in her hands.

  “Emi?” she muttered. “What are you doing…?”

  “Oh, good morning, Queen. I’m doing the final preparations. Some of the soldiers are already in position.”

  “I thought they’d come pick the weapons themselves.”

  “Too dangerous. There are a lot of knights patrolling the central square.”

  “I see… anything I can help with?”

  “Aside from being our banner? No, not really. I’ll sneak these out quickly. I’ll be back.”

  “Okay, be careful out there.”

  “Will do.”

  With hurried steps, Emi made her way out with three muskets in a hempsack. Leona took that moment of privacy to sit up and look at Avalon. She grabbed the staff and lightly touched her forehead against its claws.

  “Let’s do this, Avalon.”

  ‘I’m with you, Leona.’

  The tactician nodded while tightening her grip. After a few more minutes she stood up from the bed made out of wooden crates. She looked around but didn’t see either Gunther or Krieg.

  She decided to go to the firing range for a bit.

  As expected, nobody was there. She took the liberty to do some light practice. After pointing Avalon at the sandbag, she chanted shortly.

  “Ice Spear.”

  An ice spike formed out of the air and shot out incredibly fast, embedding itself exactly in between the bags. She took a short breath and chanted again.

  “Wind Bullet.”

  The wind spell shattered her previous Ice Spear as it landed exactly in the same spot. Satisfied, Leona rested Avalon against the floor as she straightened her back. A few moments later footsteps sounded from the armory. Krieg had returned from wherever he had gone.

  “Good morning, Leona.”

  “Good morning, Krieg. Where were you?”

  “I took some time to mourn Lady Ravness.”

  That response widened the princess’ eyes for a brief moment.

  “You… did?”

  “Yes, I realized I haven’t been here ever since what happened to her. It was the only thing I had in mind ever since the plans were laid yesterday.”

  “I… see…” She lowered her head with a smile on her face. “I suppose I should do the same. Will you accompany me?”

  “Of course.”

  Leona proceeded back upstairs with her knight in tow. The dusty wooden floor and furniture were still there just as it had been left years ago.

  The princess held a bittersweet sensation in her chest as she stopped at the exact spot where her mother had breathed her last.

  “Mom.” She spoke softly. “I promise you, I will make things right again. For our family, for our kingdom, for our world… watch over me.”

  That brief moment of silence made both of them realize just how far they had come. Conflict brewed on the horizon, but neither of them feared it. No, they were ready for it.

  Suddenly the door bursted open with Gunther coming through it with a package.

  “Queen Leona!” The two of them were surprised and were pointing their weapons at him. “Ack, apologies, I didn’t mean to intrude.”

  “It’s quite fine,” she spoke while lowering Avalon, “what seems to be the problem?”

  “Ah, no, not a problem.” He entered the room and placed the package on the wooden counter. “It’s a gift from one of the demi-human tailors.”

  She glanced at Krieg and he answered with a nod. Unraveling the package revealed a dark blue cape with white fluff around its upper portion. A cape of royalty.

  “Is this for me?” Gunther nodded excitedly. “But, why?”

  “They said if Leona Crossford herself is leading them, they might as well make sure you look the part.”

  She looked at the cape. Obviously it had been made with care. The textile didn’t show any signs of being stitched together nor had any flaws with its seams. She smiled quietly.

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  “I’ll make sure to live up to their expectations.” Krieg carefully placed the cape around her and adjusted it around her shoulders. The color contrasted with her black uniform and blonde hair. Her aquamarine eyes sharpened. “Let’s go.”

  “Aye.”

  The central square was filled with people. All of which were obviously humans. Not even elves or dwarves were attending the event despite being referred to as being human themselves.

  Leona walked on the side of the street with Krieg, Gunther and Priscilla flanking her.

  The tactician looked at each person’s face. Most of them seemed happy, but some were clearly apprehensive.

  “Not everyone seems satisfied.”

  Gunther followed her gaze as he inspected the people’s hands and clothes.

  “Not the one losing their jobs. Free labor is better than paid labor, don’t you think?”

  “Free labor?”

  “Aye. That despicable king made slavery of demi-humans legal in Arcadia.”

  “Slavery…”

  She shook her head and her fingers tightened. The street was filled with banners and colorful flags as if it was truly a festival. It sickened her.

  From afar, she could hear the metallic march of knights and trot of horses coming down the street.

  “King Alexander!”

  “All hail the King!”

  “Long live the King!”

  Leona could see him between the crowd. A man wearing a wine red cape, luxurious clothes atop of a white horse. She looked at her companions and nodded.

  “Let’s do this.”

  She walked through the crowd, pushing them as she broke into the street. Krieg stood in front of her with Arondight drawn while Priscilla and Gunther stood behind. The people near them stopped cheering and looked at them with confusion.

  Leona raised her staff and shouted with wind magic to amplify her voice.

  “False King Alexander! I, Leona Crossford, come to challenge your right to rule Arcadia!”

  At that point, the knights and cavalry stopped with the frontmost knight on foot raising his blade and shouting.

  “What is the meaning of this?! Interruption of the King’s parade is punishable by death!”

  He and another two knights armed with halberds walked towards Leona, but Krieg stood between them.

  “Don’t take another step if you value your lives.”

  His sword emitted a low hum of mana—the frostburnt silver blade had an eerie aura to it. Arondight, alongside his platinum shield coupled with his imposing height, would have scared any other man, but the knights still advanced. Not to waste another breath, Krieg dashed forward.

  He stepped into the rightmost knight’s halberd and angled his shield to deflect the stab, after getting close enough to him, he decked the knight across his helmet with Arondight’s guard, rocking his head violently to the side.

  The middle knight barely had time to react. Krieg rushed in with his shield and smashed it into him, the impact sending the man crashing into his comrade. Both were thrown bodily into the side of a building across the street.

  More knights pushed forward from the formation, halberds lowering in unison to form a pike wall. Krieg assessed them quietly, then glanced over his shoulder at Leona.

  From atop his horse, Alexander’s voice rang out, amplified by wind magic.

  “Usurper Leona, for the crime of patricide and for aiding demonkind, I, King Alexander, condemn you. Your punishment is death. Knights—bring me her head!”

  The knights surged forward ahead of the main cavalry

  Before they could close the distance, blue-uniformed demi-humans carrying muskets broke from both sides of the crowd. They moved with discipline, forming two clean ranks in the street. Krieg passed between them, raising his blade.

  “First rank! Aim!”

  In perfect unison, the muskets came up.

  Leona struck Avalon against the stone.

  “Ice Wall!”

  Frost burst forth in a violent sweep, a solid wall of ice rising to sever the street from the crowd. The civilians were cut off from the firing line.

  Krieg lowered his blade.

  “Fire!”

  The muskets roared in unison. Gunpowder thickened the air as steel shot struck stone, ice, and armor alike. The cracks of the shots echoed down the street, mixing with the screams of civilians beyond the ice wall.

  By that point, knights on patrol from the other side of the street came running from behind their formation. Priscilla unsheathed her rapier and Gunther readied his musket. More uniformed demi-humans appeared from the nearby alleys and formed two clean ranks of musketeers.

  Gunther shouted from the top of his lungs.

  “First rank! Aim!”

  “Ice Wall!”

  “Fire!”

  Like a well-oiled machine of war, the first rank of musketmen retreated to reload their weapons behind their comrades.

  Seeing their knight comrades fall well beyond the range of their weapons made the rest hesitate. Alexander shouted for the mounted knights.

  “Trample them down!”

  “Formation!” Krieg shouted, “bayonets, forward!”

  Shoulder-to-shoulder, the musketmen raised their firearms like a wall of trained pikemen. Seeing the immovable line of steel made the mounted knights hesitate.

  “Argh, enough!” Alexander raised his hand and shouted. “Fireball!”

  Feeling the change in the mana around him—Leona raised Avalon and many light blue hexagonal shields covered the whole frontline of her musketmen. The fiery explosion rebounded off the wall and torched his own cavalry alive.

  Screams mingled with the crisping sound of burnt flesh making the civilians scatter in fear of being another casualty.

  At that point, Leona stepped forward beside Krieg as he gave the last order.

  “Men! Retreat!”

  The musketmen turned around and jogged to the backline where they supported the others. Leona let the barrier go down as Alexander dismounted from his horse and three royal knights flanked him.

  “You should have stayed far away from this place. I’ll make sure you’ll suffer before I kill you, Leona!”

  The tactician handed Avalon briefly to Krieg before reaching for the back of her belt. She pulled the derringer and shot Alexander twice in the chest. Smoke came out of the barrel of the gun as she tossed it aside, taking Avalon off her knight’s hand.

  “You…” Alexander looked down at the holes in his chest before looking at her with fury. “You think a mere toy would be able to kill me?!”

  “No, but that was the point.” She raised her staff at him. “That means I can go all out.”

  His eyes widened as he noticed the vast amount of mana she had accumulated in a split second.

  “Conflagration.”