Manifest War: The Weapons Within

As they teleported outside of the compound, everyone looked around and saw the mass destruction within the city. The whole area was like an eerie warzone and there wasn’t a soul left in sight.

“What happened to this place?? Where did all the people go?” Sarah asked with a bewildered expression, remembering how busy the city was when they first arrived.

“I’m not sure.. It.. It was like this when I arrived. Someone must’ve attacked them before I got to Briddle.” Azhane said with a suspicious tone, not wanting to reveal to them that she was the one responsible for this atrocity.

Caleb glanced off to the side and saw all the craters, destroyed buildings, and fires. He then noticed a row of dead, pale skinned bodies littering an exposed alleyway. The state they were in was nothing short of sickening, having lost multiple limbs and covered with deep lacerations.

His eyes went wide with great concern and before he could make mention of it, Azhane stepped in the way of his view and glared at him. She shook her head no, silently urging him to not speak a single word. Caleb nervously nodded and looked away, keeping the grizzly images to himself. Carmen turned her attention over to the city and began to slightly panic.

“Wait, we need to get Homura!! She’s still in there!!” She yelled out with wide, saddened eyes.

“Who is Homura?” Azhane wondered, surprised by Carmen’s sudden concern. She didn’t reply, instead she started to sprint toward the city, hoping to save Homura from the devastation. However, after a few seconds, she halted her advance completely.

The Boundless Palace began to fall and crumble in on itself in spectacular fashion, shaking the ground rigorously and kicking up tons of debris in the process. There was no way anyone could survive a building collapse like that. Carmen looked on with sadness and shed a single tear for Homura, feeling upset that she probably wouldn’t ever see her again. Azhane stepped behind Carmen and placed her hand on her shoulder.

“She was someone I met in the palace. She was a Boundless, but.. She wasn’t bad like everyone else! H-Homura had so many big plans and she also had a baby on the way! Please, we must go and find her! I-.” Carmen’s hurried words were cut off by Azhane’s somber expression.

“I don’t think you’ll be seeing your friend again… I’m sorry..” She replied with a shake of the head. Carmen sulked and looked down at the pendant she received from Homura, thinking back on the brief relationship they had. She gripped it tightly and then wiped her eyes before looking back at Azhane.

As she gazed upwards, Carmen began to grow curious about what she saw. The clouds in the sky moved away from the moon and the group was now fully illuminated by its white rays. The light caught Azhane’s face and body, revealing something quite disturbing.

“Umm, sis? What's that black stuff all over your face and arms?” Carmen asked with great curiosity as she now noticed how dirty her sister was. Azhane slowly wiped her cheek with her finger and examined it with a surprised expression. She immediately knew what it was.

The blood of the countless Boundless she had slain covered her body, staining her skin and clothing. However, Azhane knew she couldn’t make mention of this to them, so she quickly came up with a lie. She smiled and replied after a brief thought.

“Oh, Briddle had thrown some ink at me when we fought. His ability was quite annoying, I must say.” Everyone stared at Azhane with cautious and wary expressions, but they didn't dare question her answer.

“O-oh, okay.” Carmen responded, not wanting to push for more answers. Suddenly, a thought came to her and she quickly turned to Sarah.

“Sarah!! What about your family!?!? Did you all not find them???” She asked with a worried tone.

“No idea. Apparently they were never there to begin with…” Sarah replied, shaking her head.

“Huh? But how can that be?” Before Sarah could reply, two familiar faces flew down from the sky and landed next to the group. Zalthia, Asiah, and Vera arrived at the scene and seemed surprised to see everyone standing outside.

“Your Majesty! Why are you here?” Asiah asked as she bowed her head.

“I simply decided to offer my assistance. Don’t think anything of it.” Azhane replied with a slight smile, clearly not wanting to discuss matters at this time. Zalthia silently gazed at the devastated establishment and began to feel nervous.

“Oh no…” She softly muttered as she pieced together what likely happened here.

“We felt a massive surge of power not too long ago and tried to get here as soon as possible. I should have figured it was from you, Your Majesty.” Asiah commented with an impressed cadence, applauding the Queen’s power.

“You flatter me, Asiah.” Zalthia noticed how vague Azhane was being and before she could get a word in, Asiah pointed out an unfamiliar face standing next to Her Majesty.

“And who might you be?” She asked with a curious smile. Priscilla quickly hid behind Azhane and peaked around her thigh, looking at Asiah with a wary expression.

“Her name is Priscilla and I found her inside the palace fairly beaten up. Despite her fears, she kindly helped me locate Carmen and the others.” Azhane replied while looking down at Priscilla with a smile.

“Ah I see. Well, it’s nice to meet you Priscilla! Thank you for the help.” Asiah kindly grinned.

“Should we really be thanking her? We got captured because of that brat…” Sarah chimed in with a cold tone, glaring at the young girl with annoyed eyes. Priscilla flinched and shivered, feeling terrible about what she did.

“I-I’m sorry! I d-didn’t have a choice.. S-So sorry!” She whimpered with an apologetic tone. Caleb saw how distraught the little girl was and he sighed.

“Cut her some slack, Sarah. You saw how badly that Trion guy beat her when she refused him at first. I’m surprised she didn’t act sooner if she knew what the consequences would be. I know I would’ve..” He said, trying to quell the tension between them.

"Sure, whatever.” Sarah shrugged her shoulders and let the issue go with a slight roll of the eyes.

“With that aside, we should head back to the castle. I fear someone will stumble upon our presence here and get suspicious.” Azhane added. Everyone agreed and they got close together in a circle. Azhane aimed her palm at the group and in an instant, they found themselves in Azhane’s office back at Castle de Belouis.

“Asiah, inform everyone of my return and escort our new guests to the sleeping quarters. They can rest here for the night.” Azhane commanded while looking at Caleb and Priscilla. Asiah bowed her head and motioned for the two to follow her. They did so and swiftly left the room. Azhane then fixed her gaze towards Carmen, Sarah, and Rivell.

“You three, get some rest and I swear, you all better be in this castle once morning comes…” Her tone was no longer warm, but that of someone who was incredibly annoyed.

“O-Of course, Your Majesty! We won’t be going anywhere. I promise!” Rivell nervously replied with an anxious laugh. Sarah and Carmen nodded as well and the trio quickly left the room, not wanting to irritate the queen further.

“Now that that’s over, I need to clean myself up.” Azhane began to walk towards her door, but was quickly stopped by Zalthia’s tight grip around her arm. She turned her head back and saw a worried expression on Zalthia’s face.

“Azhane… What did you do?” She softly asked. Azhane was confused by the question and then softly smiled before responding.

“Nothing, I just decided to help and-.” Zalthia cut the Queen off as she raised her voice.

“What. Did. You. Do?” She asked again, hoping to get a proper answer this time. The room grew silent as the two sisters stared each other in the eyes, vivid red v.s vivid red.

“...I killed every last one of them…” Azhane softly replied with the most evil and cold tone Zalthia had ever heard. Her eyes went wide with fear after she heard this confession, unable to fathom that level of carnage.

“Y-You.. What?” Zalthia questioned, trying to comprehend such words.

“They were going to hurt Carmen, so I did this world a favor and exterminated them... If I knew it was going to be that easy, I would’ve done it sooner. It was honestly hilarious how weak Briddle was, you should’ve seen it…” She replied with a dark chuckle, not feeling an ounce of remorse or regret for what she did. Azhane was completely unrecognizable at that moment, giving off an eerie and sinister vibe. Zalthia was at a loss for words as she slowly let go of Azhane’s arm.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to wash up and rest. I suggest you do the same, as morning will be here soon.” With that final statement, Azhane walked out of the room and down the hall, her heels clicking with each step. Zalthia stood there still in shock as she watched her sister walk away.

“...A-All those people.. Killed? This is the absolute worst thing that could have happened.. Oh Azhane.. What have you done?” She began to feel anxious and worried about what would befall them from Azhane’s actions.

Prior to the group's arrival at Castle de Belouis, five Bright yellow streaks flew through the night sky. They made their landfall at the capitals of each nation and the other five leaders began receiving a dearth of highly classified information about Volaire and the Belouis family.

Jonn Ravenfell, King of Melspire, was just about to wrap up his work for the night when suddenly a beam of light struck his large desk.

He looked bewildered as a large, thick and yellow folder started materializing before his eyes. He cautiously walked over to his desk just as the beam of light dissipated, reaching down to pick up the document filled folder. He slowly opened it up and his eyes went wide as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

“Queen Azhane…. What have you done??” He softly muttered as he flipped through the wealth of knowledge he just obtained. King Darius Crane III and The Ocean Goddess also had similar reactions once they received this folder, wondering what their fellow leader could have done to cause Briddle’s retaliation of blackmail.

Oddly enough, the final two streaks of yellow light headed in the same direction, making landfall in the city of Volta, capital of the Lumen Theocracy. Leo Vaux’Hallah and Gabriella Ramos were in the middle of a strategy meeting trying to go over various war plans.

“I say we go with a blitzkrieg operation and overwhelm their borders with impossible numbers. Sure we may lose a lot of men on the front lines, but Volaire’s forces will eventually get swallowed by our numbers.” Gabriella said while taking a sip of her tea.

“Hmm, possibly... But I'm still concerned about Azhane Belouis. The moment she enters the battle, the tides will turn in their favor. Whether we want to admit it or not, that woman is too big of a trump card to overcome.” The High Priest responded, feeling uneasy about their plans so far.

“That may be true, but we’ll have a Calamity Class Vesta on our side as well. The commander of your Holy Core Saints, Von Melrose. Surely he can keep her busy long enough to allow our men past their borders.” The High Priest wasn’t so sure about her statement.

“Commander Melrose is incredibly powerful, but I’m afraid his strength is relatively untested against the other members of his class. I’m not entirely confident he could pull it off alone.” He replied as the Empress stroked her chin, going deep in thought.

“Hmmm... How about I hire the Calamity Class mercenary, Varric Clover? I’m sure he would happily oblige an offer to fight against Azhane Belouis.” She smiled deviously at Leo and he returned in kind, thinking this would be a wonderful idea. In that same moment, the air began to sparkle yellow and two beams of light struck down at their table.

“What is going on!?” Leo exclaimed as he was startled by the sudden burst of light.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never seen anything like this.” Gabriella responded, slowly standing up and backing away from the table. Seconds later, the beam dissipated and two yellow folders started materializing before their very eyes.