Will I ever have a peaceful night?
Inside Lionheart Castle, Reyna was saying goodbye to another busy day. The meetings have been a mess since that big event and she has been trying hard to control the situation in the best possible way, but it was still a lot of work for such a young queen to take care of. She was happy that another day was over, but she wasn't looking forward to the next. At least she would have a little bit of peace for the night.
In one of the big rooms of the castle, a maid helps Reyna to take off her armor.
"You sure are tired today, miss Reyna."
"I sure am. Since that goddess woke up, my life has become a nightmare. I've never been so busy."
"But you are doing well."
"Yeah... but for how long?"
The maid finishes removing all pieces of the armor, leaving Reyna only in her underwear. She cracks her neck, finally managing to feel comfortable after an entire day on that heavy uniform.
"Ugh, my back hurt."
"Should I give you a massage?"
"No, I'm fine. But I still don't know why I have to wear this stupid armor all the time."
"Your armor is the symbol of your royalty. It was passed down from generation to generation by your forefathers. You must embrace it as it is your greatest inheritance."
"So why don't we put it in a museum or something?"
"How many times have we had this conversation, miss Reyna?"
"Don't worry, we'll have more."
"You are so responsible with your duties, but when it comes to your posture as a queen you become so relaxed..."
"You know that I hate formalities like that. They serve no purpose but to make things more bureaucratic."
"All right, all right..."
After passing through a long corridor, the queen dismisses the maid as she enters a large room with a huge bathtub on the center. She gets rid of the few clothes she still wore and enters into the bathtub that looked more like a swimming pool. She rests her head on the floor and relaxes, hoping that the thoughts that continue to bother her would go away.
"Ahh... at least I can rest now."
Meanwhile, Aquoria was outside the castle, trying to figure out what was waiting for her after the walls. The path to the entrance was wide open and she had to hide behind a tree to not get spotted immediately, but there were only a few guards watching the main gate, which would facilitate her intrusion but also worried her. It was way too little security for a king to have.
"So this is the place... unfortunately, I still don't have enough power to do anything meaningful. I must save it for when I need it."
There are two ways to infiltrate that castle: abruptly or sneakily. Teleportation was out of questions, since her lack of power. She was confident that she could defeat all those soldiers alone at the same time without using magic, but revealing her presence immediately would give them time to call in reinforcements and she didn't want to cause a war now.
After analyzing these options, she decides that sneaking in is better. Now she just needed to climb a 10 meter wall. That was easy. A jump would do the trick, and security wasn't tight anyway, they wouldn't even notice.
"All right. Now I just need to enter the main building from somewhere... Hmm? What is this?"
The goddess is spotted by a small mechanical eye attached to the wall. She doesn't know what it is, of course, but its funny appearance isn't enough to make her think that the little thing could harm her in some way. Little did she now that another guard could watch her through the len of that object. When he saw the goddess staring at the camera over the wall, he spit out the coffee he was drinking.
"Cof! Cof! What the--?!"
For him, this would be just another ordinary night and the only invaders he hoped to find were stray cats. He would never think of finding a weird looking woman in a random place like that. He immediately takes out his phone and dials the queen's number.
Reyna had just stepped out of her bath with just a towel over her shoulders when she heard her cell phone vibrating. It was rare to be called at an hour like this unless something had happened. Intrigued, she picks it and puts it to her ear.
"What is it?"
"My apologies, miss Reyna, but there seems to be an intruder in the castle."
"What? How did he get in?"
"It looks like she climbed the wall."
"Ha? What are you guys doing? How has no one seen this?"
"I don't know, she just showed up there. Should I activate the alarm, miss?"
"...no, let it be. I oughta see anyone stupid enough to infiltrate this castle alone."
"Are you sure, miss? Should I call the police?"
"No, don't worry. I take care of this."
Reyna hangs up her cell phone. Hearing that something unexpected might have happened, her maid shows up again.
"What was that?"
"Looks like we have an univited guest. I shall welcome him."
In the meantime, Aquoria was carefully sneaking at the inner walls that surrounded the main building. So far, everything was going according to the plan, at least for her. After jumping from roof to roof, she manages to find a window and peek inside. It was a large fancy room, probably of the royalty.
"No one is inside."
She opens the window and jumps inside the room. The infiltration, however, was too easy and she can't help thinking that something may be wrong.
"It's too silent."
The room was amazingly clean and carefully decorated. It was very spacious as well. The rustic furniture and the detailed tapestry give a pleasant Victorian feeling, as is to be expected from the room of a leader. There are no pictures anywhere though, so Aquoria couldn't immediately identify what he would look like. There was nothing to do there, so she decides to leave.
She opens the door slowly so as not to attract attention and peeks outside before proceeding. Only big and empty corridor lays ahead. She chooses a direction and walks until she finds the entrance hall. Still nobody in sight, except for a few maids passing by. She was on the second floor, only a large staircase connects the main door to an open entrance in the center. She waits for the maids to leave and then quickly enters the passage. Now she was on the throne room, which was also empty.
"Nobody is here also..."
"Don't move."
Aquoria feels the tip of a blade pressing on her back. She turns around and sees a young woman wearing a golden armor and wielded with a long sword. Her eyes are confident and she didn't show any trace of fear or worry. At first, Aquoria thinks that this person was a noble knight or a defender of the king, but her instincts say that the young woman was the owner of this castle.
"A woman. And a very young one. That's quite the unexpected."
Reyna takes the tip of her sword to the goddess's chin, without deflecting eye contact.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
The goddess, however, don't even flinch to her attempt of intimidation.
"Not even the queen won't recognize me. How ignorant this world has become..."
The queen looks the goddess up and down, paying special attention to her clothes.
"This outfit... can you be...?"
"The Goddess of the Waters, Aquoria. That's who I am."
"This can't be true. All goddesses besides Caelia should be dead."
"I don't know about this. I feel very alive right now."
"Then, can you prove me that you're the one?"
The goddess smiles.
"What a good idea."
In the blink of an eye, the goddess rushes at the queen and grabs her by her neck, raising her until her feet cannot touch the ground. The impact is so strong and sudden that she drops the sword immediately and grabs Aquoria's arm, which doesn't move no matter what she does.
"Gah!"
"What about this? Is this of your liking?"
The goddess tightens her neck further, preventing Reyna's circulation from reaching her head. Her face grew paler and paler as Aquoria increased her strength, the queen could do nothing but foam and struggle.
"What about this? Isn't this what you were asking for?"
"Kh! S-Stop...!
The goddess smiles even more and gives the final blow, breaking her neck. The queen stops moving and limbs come to loose, like a broken doll. Aquoria wasn't even satisfied, as she offered no resistance or anything. Still, the job done and this was enough.
"Huh... seems you're having fun. Mind if I join?"
Suddenly, a blade pierces her body through her back. This was totally unexpected, as she thought that the only ones in that room was she and the queen. It was a wide open room, there's no way someone could sneak behind her without showing his presence.
"H-How?! Ugh!"
The sword goes further through her chest, entering all the way to the base. The goddess shakily turns her neck to see who her next opponent was.
It was her. The queen. The one that she just killed. She looked in perfect shape though, as if none of that had happened.
Reyna pulls her sword back, pushing the goddess away from herself. Not a single drop of blood was there, just tiny particles of light that clustered back to the wound that her sword opened.
"Very impressive. It looks like you were right, after all. Only goddesses would have so much strength and be able to withstand that amount of damage."
The goddess, placing her hand above her wound, looks at the queen angrily, not knowing what exactly had happened. She killed that woman. She felt the weight of her body as she held her and the bones breaking as she tightened her neck. The body was still there behind her as evidence of her actions. Who was the woman in front of her, then? An impostor? A spirit that came back to haunt her?
"How did you do that? I killed you!"
"Did you?"
The former queen's body begins to crumble into sparkles of magic until it fades completely, leaving the goddess even more confuse. The remaining queen makes her fighting stance, raising her sword.
"I've heard goddesses are very difficut to kill. Let's see if this is right."
Weekly Power Status
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