Chương 57: The Darkness of the Empire and the Ruler

Four days ago, after Athena's arrival, Serien and the queen had a brief meeting in the princess's office.

"What does the empire want anyway?" Athena asked as she sat in Serien's chair and flipped through some documents in a disinterested way.

"The emissary said that the emperor wants to marry her highness." Serien responded by taking the documents from Athena's hands.

Displeasure came over Athena's face and she scoffed. "I will only marry if the emperor is a beautiful woman."

"I believe he's a man and…" Serien suddenly froze and then looked at the queen in confusion. "Huh?"

"What?"

"No, nothing. It's just that I thought I heard your majesty say that..."

"Yes, I will marry him if he is a beautiful woman." Athena repeated.

"Do you prefer women?" Serien asked in a low voice. She calculated the uproar this news would cause among the nobles, for or against Athena.

Athena watched the princess and then asked in a serious voice. "Is it not okay with me liking women?"

"Huh?" Serien snapped back to reality with her queen's question and saw Athena's cold gaze. "Ah! That's not it. I was just thinking about how to deal with the nobles of the faction contrary to your highness, once they know this information."

"Hmmm.... Is there a faction that's against me?" Athena smiled with interest.

Serien sighed and shook her head. "Please don't do anything." Serien sat facing Athena. "They think they're a secret organization, but I've known of their existence from the beginning. Let me deal with them. If I don't get results in a year, your majesty is free to do whatever you wants with them."

Athena stretched in her chair, then propped her elbows on the table and laced her fingers together in front of her face. "Back to the empire. If we arrested the emissary and the knights who came with him, how long would it be before the empire sends another emissary or declares war?"

Serien's eyes widened at the sound of Athena, but then she saw in the queen's serious expression that she had a plan and smiled.

"I think at least six months and at most a year."

Athena narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and then, there they began to plan the retaking of the Basilica lands that the empire had taken during the war for the past hundred years.

***

What they didn't know was that they had a much bigger asset in their hands. The Imperial Prince had been trapped in the castle dungeon for months, along with Trigan, Vitia, and all the other Vultures.

They were placed there by Athena herself when she found Den dragging Vitia through town while fleeing the mercenaries who wanted revenge for their captain's arrest.

"How long does that woman intend to keep us here?" Trigan complained.

With the exception of Den, everyone there had the strength to flee if the cages was of common iron, but with black iron even on the ground, not even Athena could escape from that place.

Additionally, Trigan's cage had something special about it. By order of Athena, every day a guard came and bathed the cage of the red vervain.

Red vervain was a very effective poison against vampires and related races. The effects were varied, such as muscle weakness, temporary blindness, loss of taste, hair loss and others... Athena did not intend to kill him.

The queen had also ordered Vitia to be bathed, but the girl showed none of the effects other than a mild allergy.

At the time, Trigan was suffering from blindness and loss of smell, as well as falling nails.

The man stared at nothing, paying attention to every noise. It had been weeks since he had drunk a drop of blood and any rat was a banquet.

"Ah~..." Trigan sighed regretfully. "If only I hadn't met you..."

Vitia was sitting on the floor, her back to Trigan, trying to think of a way out of that prison. She doesn't remember how she got there. After being knocked out by Athena, she slept for two days and when she woke up, she was already locked in that dirty cage.

"If you had seriously fought that woman from the start, you... no, we wouldn't be locked in here. Now shut up I'm trying to think."

Vitia said and then the rusty metallic noise of the dungeon door echoed all over the place and the princess appeared followed by two guards and a man dressed in a fur coat.

As the group passed in front of Vitia and Trigan's cages, Vitia's eyes widened when she saw Erna and the same thing happened when Erna saw the girl.

"Vitia?!" Erna squealed loudly in surprise and then fainted at the sight of Den.

Vitia made a bitter expression and Den swallowed dry.

"Do you know each other?" Serien asked, her eyes gleaming with interest for information.

Vitia sat back down on the floor, sulking and snarling. "An old acquaintance..."

"Hm…" Serien smiled. "Throw him in that girl's cage." Serien ordered and the spear-armed guards speared Vitia until she was cornered in the inner corner of the cage and threw Erna carelessly inside. "Have a good time." Serien said goodbye politely and walked back to the exit.

Serien was leaving the dungeon when Trigan screamed. "When will you release me?"

But his answer was just the sound of the door closing, Trigan yelled angrily.

***

Upon hearing Fritt, the imperial knight, Athena made a cold expression and at that moment she decided that she would kill him, but then she felt a dense flow of mana coming from the sky and when she looked a hideous glow fell over her.

The man smiled and rose from the icy ground as a snow mist covered where the queen was.

"Hahahaha! Your majesty will have to forgive me for killing your new toy, I didn't have a choice." Fritt said with a shrug.

"What an interesting sword you have here..." Athena said, making the knight jump away, startled.

The moment the light fell, Athena saw the sword within the purple light of the mana layer that covered it. Athena grabbed the sword hilt and dissipated all the energy to the ground, thus causing a wave of earth and snow to rise to around her.

"H-how?" Fritt couldn't understand how Athena had survived that attack.

The main reason he left his sword in the camp was because he could call it whenever he wished and if necessary, the falling sword could be used as an attack. So he was never really unarmed.

The man couldn't believe his eyes. Until then, only Veta had defended that attack and there was Athena who received the attack and didn't suffer a scratch at all.

Athena smiled as she studied the sword in her hands. "You…" Athena looked at Fritt. "What did you put in here?"

Athena felt something inside the sword, it was nothing like Arladele's, already nonexistent, sacred spear, which emanated divine power. It was something more macabre, but it was not the miasma of demons.

Fritt gave a dry smile and spoke. "Have you ever heard of live weapons? No, I bet you haven't. Sir Veta who invented it after all."

"And what is this?" Athena asked and dropped the sword to the ground. The sword gave her the chills. "What are these live weapons?"

"And what are you going to do when you know?"

"I don't know..." Athena looked at the sword that even without someone hold it, emanated a threatening mana. "But I don't like this sword."

"If you don't like it…" Fritt held up his hand and advanced on Athena. "Then give it back to me!"

The longsword skidded on the ground and flew into the hand of the man who spun his upper body and delivered more than twenty blows to Athena in the attack.

However Athena dodged every attack easely, making the man laugh nervously and then the sword flashed with the use of a skill that didn't come from the man.

The surprise skill hit Athena like a cannonball, hurling Athena towards the balcony where Mifa was. Mifa looked at Athena who was unharmed but had a complicated expression on her face.

"You are angry?" Mifa asked nonchalantly upon realizing that Athena was fine and looking at Athena's expression. "Well, I would be really pissed off too if someone messed up such a beautiful dress."

Athena's dress had a hole in the abdomen region where the skill hit Athena, showing the woman's pale belly.

"It's not that... I understand what that sword is..." Athena said and Mifa cocked her head. Athena got up from the icy mud and went to the balcony and kissed Mifa to lighten her mood. "I'll be right back."

Athena walked back to the man. Her full of contempt for the man, made her shiver with rage.

"What's with that expression?" Fritt asked in a chuckle, showing his teeth.

"I found out what this sword is and it shouldn't exist."

Fritt shrugged at Athena's words and then, frivolously, spoke. "If you've already found out, then you know you're going to die!"

"Do you think souls are something a human can handle like that?" Athena screwed up her face in disgust.

"Oh come on! You're famous for devouring thousands of souls! Dirty ones talking about the poorly washed." Fritt smiled. "Queen of Death."

"Do you know this and still want to face me?" Athena asked in surprise as she took off her gauntlets. "I decided that I wanted to kill you slowly."

"And how do you intend to do this?" Fritt raised his sword toward Athena. "My 'Orphanage' is very unique even among living weapons, you know?"

"Orphanage?" Athena asked with a pale face and Fritt smiled with madness on his face.

"Exactly what you are thinking." The knight placed the blade close to his face as if petting a child. "Here is the soul of fifty orphans and guess what. They all loved me like a father."

She didn't need more words, Athena had already decided to kill that man, but now it was necessary to torture him and make him suffer.

Torture was never to Athena's taste, but Fritt, that monster in front of her, deserved it. Her hypocrisy of actions didn't even shake her because killing thousands of people who knew what they were doing and were prepared for death was totally different from killing fifty innocent children.

Fritt didn't have time to react. Even unarmed, Athena was overwhelmingly stronger than the knight. With her bare hands, Athena lunged at the man and broke his right arm, taking the sword from his hand.

Athena threw the sword into her [Dimensional Bag] and continued the beating as she spoke. "I'll keep this until I figure out how to free the souls in here."

Athena covered her hands with dense mana and punched the man's armored ribs, producing a dull sound of metal bending and bones breaking.

Fritt screamed at every broken bone. He had no idea that Athena was so strong.

Earlier, seeing the amount of mana the queen had and linking it to her reputation, Fritt had thought the woman was some kind of spellcaster, but it was too late for regrets.

The knight tried to react only to be overwhelmed again and again with new broken bones.

When Athena was finished, the man who was taller than she was transformed into just a box of folded flesh that moaned in pain while unconscious.

"Mifa, my love, could you call Serien for me?" Athena asked Mifa that she watched everything while she drank hot tea on the balcony.

Athena was smiling gently with Fritt's blood on her face and arms.

The torment of the man who was once known as "the tenth force of the emperor" was just beginning.

Mifa shivered with cold and fear as she remembered Athena from months ago, when the woman had devoured people's souls as if it were the most common thing to do, but then smiled as she pushed the thought away with the new memories she had with her beloved.

"I'll be right back." Mifa said and disappeared into the room.

"Take as long as you need..." Athena spoke and looked at the half dead on the ground. "He's not going anywhere."

***

Meanwhile, in the princess's office, Serien was reading a soul scroll that she happened to find in the hallway.

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Name • Athena

Race • High Human

Class • Ruler

Gender • Female

Age • 342 years old

•Features•

Saint of Massacre • A saint who became a cold genocider. There is no evil in its killing her and its cause is murky. Due to the large amount of mana absorbed while becoming a genocider, its existence as the Saint of Massacre was strengthened to the point of being permanent.

Distorted Soul • A soul that has absorbed other souls and strengthened its path to be a god.

Ruler • The one who governs all classes. By absorbing the world's mana, Asherah granted you the honor of being the jury, judge and executioner in the world and then laughed that a mortal had access to so much power.

Akashic Records • Due to the receptacle being too weak, only a part of the knowledge in magic and skills was made available for use.

Loved by the Wind • Due to the love of someone who will be a fairy, the wind refuses to hurt you.

Immortal • Time doesn't matter anymore.

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"But what does it mean?" Serien wondered, amazed at what she had read.