Blade of the Goddess

A cloud of darkness filled the air as smoke and soot rose into the sky. Electrically charged particles crackled with intensity, getting ionized from the sheer heat the explosion gave off.

Drakoth, the war general, and Circe were slightly disoriented, their ears ringing from the loud sound of the explosion and the shock that came with it.

Thankfully, Circe was able to protect them at the last minute, narrowly avoiding any injury or even death. But the same couldn't be said for their people.

After regaining her composure, Circe swept away all the smoke, soot, and ash that filled the air with a simple swipe of her hand, but when she saw the state of her kingdom, she collapsed to her knees.

"No." She muttered under he breath. "No, no, no, no, no. He...He wasn't lying. He was telling the truth. I just....I just-"

The shock was too great, and words stopped coming out of her mouth. She took a gamble, a risk that could have put her people in harm's way, but she trusted her gut and called out Zion's bluff.

"I-It wasn't a bluff," Drakoth said, his eyes wide as he looked at the destruction.

Circe's entire personal palace, completely gone, as well as everything that was in a 50-mile radius of it. Buildings collapsed, the terrain was reshaped, and people, thousands, no, millions of people, either lost their lives or were injured.

Their once great kingdom was now reduced to rubble, the main city at least.

"My Lord, my Lady. I'll check out our army and see if anything happened to them."

"I understand, General Bracen," Drakoth added. "Dear, we need to help everyone."

"Drakoth, I did this. I played with our people's lives. I took a risk and failed. How could I let this happen? I'm an Apostle, a Demigod. I serve not only Lord Bahamut, but our people. How could I let our people be harmed? I'm a failure."

Drakoth comforted his wife, wrapping his arms around her. "You aren't a failure. You did what you thought was best for our people. Even gods make mistakes; you're not perfect. I can't even imagine the amount of pressure you have on your shoulders daily, and I'm the king. We get stronger from our mistakes, so don't let this put you down. Zion is our enemy. He did this. So let's avenge our people."

Hearing her husband say that refilled Circe with hope and an intense drive to kill Zion brutally. She was now angry, so angry that she could barely contain herself.

"Come, we'll help as many people as we can while preparing for war. I swear on my life that Zion will not get away with this. After we crush his army, we'll crush his little empire."

"My Lords!" Bracen yelled, flying over to them.

"Bracen? Is something wrong? Did our military take a hit?" Drakoth asked

"No, My Lord, our military strength is perfectly fine with not even an injured foot soldier. But our scouts managed to spot something coming our way. We don't know what it is, but there are a lot of them!"

"A lot of what?"

"Here, take a look!"

Bracen handed both of them a telescope and pointed in the direction of the incoming objects. At first, they didn't see anything, but soon, they saw it.

"Are those arrows?" Drakoth asked

Circe shook her head. "They look too big to be arrows, even from a balista. I've never seen any weapon like that before, if it is one. I won't take any chances, though. Is the barrier up?"

"Yes, Lady Circe. The barrier has been up for some time now. We've even strengthened it to the maximum just in case." Bracen informed.

"Good. Now let's see what those things are."

The flying objects got closer and closer into view until they were able to clearly depict their shape.

After falling for Zion's trap once, she knew that this had his name all over it. So, just to be safe, she strengthened the barrier as a precaution.

It was good that she did, because if she didn't, things would have gotten nasty for them all over again.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"What the fuck?!"

"Are those bombs too?!"

"Nngh! What is this power?! If it wasn't for me adding my strength to the barrier, it would have collapsed already." While Circe wasn't straining herself, she didn't expect the explosions to be so destructive and powerful.

To make matters worse, there were millions of them being bombarded onto the barrier. Even if she had tons of strength, she wouldn't be able to continue this forever, especially when she needed to help her people.

"Call the mages!" She shouted.

Although dragons can use both aura and magic, people who specialize in one or the other use the Title of Mage or Warrior for convenience's sake.

"We're here, My Lady!" Ten mages arrived.

"Use your power to strengthen the barrier. I need to help all the injured down below."

"Yes!"

"Drakoth, Bracen, go ready our Troops. As soon as those bombs stop, we're going straight to the Holy Empire!"

"Yes, my Lady!" They shouted in unison.

Over an hour passed, and the missiles kept bombarding Hylaea's barrier. More and more mages were called to aid the original ten while Circe used her strength to help everyone who was affected by Zion's bomb.

Finally, after another thirty minutes, she was able to rescue everyone, and the missiles stopped.

"Haah, huff, is...is it over?" A mage asked, nearly out of strength.

"I-I think so. I can't see anymore coming from the sky."

A humming noise caught the ear of one of the mages. He thought it was just the exhaustion kicking in, but the sound kept scratching at his ears.

"W-What is that!" He asked, looking up.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"LOOK UP! STRAIGHT UP! SOMETHING IS COMING!"

Circe looked up, too, managing to hear their conversation, and when she did, panic set in. "No! No, no, no, no, no!"

A massive laser shot down at high speeds, drilling into the barrier like it was paper, shattering the only protection dragons had from an outside attack.

"NO!" Circe moved quickly and jumped in the way of the laser. "Divine Art, Dragon's holy breath!" A massive magic circle appeared over her, firing a massive beam of dragon energy that clashed with Zion's laser.

It was powerful, more powerful than she realized. More powerful than the bombs. Still, she could handle it. But if she moved from her spot, her kingdom would suffer more destruction than the bomb, so she was locked in place.

"Fuck! Fuck you, Zion! You coward bastard!" She screamed in frustration.

"Well, that's not nice. You're hurting my feelings."

"What? Where are you?! Show yourself!" Circe demanded.

"Me? Well, I'm everywhere."

"Stop the bullshit! Reveal yourself!"

"Haha, okay, okay, fine. Here, I'll even stop the laser for you."

The laser turned off, and Circe breathed a sigh of relief. Her hands were shaking, not out of pain, but out of fear, the fear of losing her people.

"Hmm, four gates, huh? And you're next to the sea as well? This should be pretty easy." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Circe hissed.

"Look around. I wouldn't want you to miss this amazing sight."