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The garrison, annihilated.
The disturbing news reached Cardinal Zolone while he was relaxing in his private chambers within Fidea Castle. He set his wine glass on the table, stroking his chin with a look of skeptical irritation. By his calculations, the military of the Duchy of Gisario should have been rendered utterly powerless by his fleet of Magic-Armor Giants.
“Survivors claim a red-haired woman killed our men one by one…”
Zolone furrowed his brow and let out a small, weary sigh. Red hair and a woman—there was no doubt. It was a Holy Maiden born of that wretched land. She was likely using psychokinesis, the power meant for exterminating Great Beasts, to enact a petty revenge on Fidea’s soldiers.
“How many enemies were there?”
“According to the reports… there was only one.”
Zolone’s eyes widened. The garrison was fortified with over a hundred soldiers and medium-sized Magic-Armor Giants. No matter how supernatural a Holy Maiden’s power might be, they were not a force that could be suppressed so easily.
(Hard to believe. But I must remain vigilant.) Zolone immediately ordered the deployment of more troops to Fidea Castle and the full maintenance of the Magic-Armor Giants. The standing army and weaponry under his command alone possessed enough military might to erase a small nation from the map in a single day.
However, as it turned out, his preparations were far from sufficient.
In less than three days, Fidea Castle was swallowed by flames.
The two large-scale Magic-Armor Giants deployed for interception were both blown to pieces, and the air was filled with the screams of his men. The raiding Holy Maiden was not alone. Rumors of the red-haired girl who had decimated the garrison and led her homeland toward liberation had raced across the continent. Inspired, other Holy Maidens had flocked to her banner one after another.
These Holy Maidens unleashed their devastating powers under Palzea’s command. Some of them were even defectors from Fidea itself.
Cardinal Zolone stood in the audience chamber, finally facing Palzea. Clad in obsidian armor, her long red hair fluttering behind her, she walked toward him with measured steps. Her eyes were hidden behind a metallic visor. Her silhouette was still that of an innocent young girl.
“Are you Zolone?”
Palzea spoke, her voice devoid of any emotion. The moment he heard that flat, toneless voice, a surge of hatred erupted in Zolone’s chest.
(How dare you speak to me that way… “You”? You filthy Gisarian brat!) Zolone gnashed his teeth, glaring at the girl. But he could do nothing more than scowl. The elite guards who were supposed to protect him already lay dead around the throne.
“Ugh—!?”
Suddenly, Zolone’s body grew immensely heavy. His knees slammed into the cold stone floor. His body folded in on itself, forced into a humiliating crouch. He tried to stand with every ounce of his strength, but he couldn’t budge an inch. His forehead and palms were pressed firmly against the ground.
He looked exactly as if he were begging for forgiveness.
(Is this… psychokinesis? Dammit, I can’t move at all!) Zolone endured the stinging shame as his head was ground into the floor. Then, he felt a hard sensation on the back of his head—the sharp, pointed heel of a boot. A stifled groan escaped the back of his throat. He was drowning in a rage that bordered on madness, yet his body refused to obey.
“I have no interest in the administration of a country. You will continue to govern this region as before,” Palzea said, her voice echoing over his pinned head. “But from now on, you will work as a subject of my Empire.”
Zolone had once been intoxicated by a sense of omnipotence—commanding overwhelming military force like the Magic-Armor Giants and reigning as the de facto ruler of the continent’s cultural heart. But the Fidea Empire, which was supposed to reach the pinnacle of its glory, had now become a mere fragment of Palzea’s growing Empire.
(I’ll kill you! One day, I will have my revenge. I’ll tear you limb from limb, you little brat!) With a face that looked ready to weep tears of blood, Zolone made his silent vow. Behind them, Fidea Castle groaned as it collapsed into the roaring flames.
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