Chapter 45 - Unholy War - Part 10 - The Spear And The Shield

Athena, Serien and the Valkyries were in the palace's conference room in a heavy atmosphere.

Athena was in a bad mood and her beautiful face twisted in anger.

Serien had simply thrown an entire kingdom over Athena without even asking if she wanted to be a queen.

"Queen-" Serien was about to say, but Athena cut her off.

"Don't call me that." Athena glared at Serien with angry eyes. "You set me up."

"Athena, calm down, let the princess explain." Lobana asked.

"Explain what, Lobana? You were there, she used some kind of magic or skill to make me queen. And I don't want to be queen, I don't even know who and what I am. How am I going to take care of a kingdom?"

"It wasn't magic, it's a skill that everyone with Basilica's royal blood has." Serien explained.

"Much better." Athena scoffed. "What are you going to do when I leave after the war?"

"Huh? Are you leaving?"

"Oh! Look Lobana, she asks me things now." Athena quipped. "To think I felt indebted to a snake like you."

Serien had her head down, listening to everything, all the anger Athena had to get out.

She didn't count on the woman's reaction to be like that. After all, who doesn't want to be on top of a kingdom?

The princess thought that like most people, Athena wanted to have her own kingdom, but that didn't seem to be the case and now she was in danger of Athena leaving and never coming back.

It was a miscalculation she didn't foresee, no, she ignored that possibility.

Lobana saw the desperate expression on Serien's face and the fury on Athena's and thought about what to do with a shadow on her face.

"Wait!" Lobana said with a bright smile. "I have an idea!"

Athena looked at Lobana as well as the other people in the room.

"Athena, be their queen!" Lobana said laughing and Athena frowned again.

"Lobana..."

"Wait! Listen to me. You just need to be their queen during the war. Then the princess will just use that skill again and become the queen!" Lobana said and saw Athena starting to consider. "Think Athena, with you being queen, those soldiers and knights out there will have to obey you. That will make the line of command easier on the battlefield."

At that moment Serien broke out in a cold sweat.

"There's only one problem with that idea of ​​yours." The princess said.

"Hm? And what is it?"

"The skill, I can't use it anymore."

"Huh? Why?" Athena asked in a shaky voice.

"It's a skill you can only use once…" Serien explained, but before Athena could complain… "But there are my brothers and sisters!"

"Aaaaargh!!!" Athena complained.

"What is it, Athena? If we have the other princes and princesses, the plan still works." Sahari said.

"Let me tell you something. I kill the brave ones who try to kill me, but I respect them in my own way." Athena said holding her head between her forearms. "But I despise cowards."

At that moment, tears streamed from Serien's eyes. She immediately understood what Athena meant.

"I killed the older princes and princesses because they were a bunch of cowards." Athena said and the Valkyries dropped into their seats with a blank look.

"Well then, congratulations. You are permanently the queen of this kingdom." Lobana said in a dry voice.

The room fell silent for a while until Sahari raised her head again with an inquisitive expression.

"You said you killed the older ones... So there are younger princes and princesses?"

"Yes, we were in ten brothers…" Serien said in a rueful voice. "If his majesty killed the oldest ones, it means that the three youngest ones are still alive. But, they are still too young to be able to use this skill."

"In the end, will Athena have to remain queen for a while?" Hale asked.

"But then Athena has just wait another five or ten years and she'll be out of it." Mhia said and then sneered. "Here you reap what you sow. Well done."

"Mhia!" Hale scolded.

"What? I'm just stating facts." Mhia stared at Athena. "She's a cold-blooded killer. What's going on is much better than she actually deserves."

"Okay, okay! I already know you don't like me." Athena said and threw herself on the couch in the corner of the room. "Ten years..."

***

Later, in the garden, Athena stared at the moons with a melancholy face beside Serien.

Serien had a morbid expression on her face, she accepted the death of her father and most of her brothers, but among the dead there was a sister a year older than Serien whom she loved for being a kind and loving girl.

While she resented Athena, she blamed herself for the same reason.

"I won't ask you to forgive me for killing your family, but..." Athena said but realized that there was no 'but' in that sentence and snorted, irritated with the situation and with herself.

They stayed there in silence until early morning as they heard voices throughout the palace.

There were cries, laments, orders to carry this or that.

It was a turbulent night the day before a final decisive battle for the kingdom's future.

"What was this?" Athena looked in the direction from which a loud noise came and again a thunderous rumble occurred.

"Athena!" Lobana appeared in the garden. "Started!"

"Huh? But we still didn't have time until they arrived?" Athena asked as she ran to Lobana.

"Looks like they've advanced through the night."

Bells began to ring all over the city, waking the mercenaries, alerting the citizens, and warning that the invasion had begun.

***

From above the walls, Athena could see the thousands of army troops from the temple of light, dressed in white armor with a large gold star on their chest.

"Like I said. It's going to be a tough war." Lobana said as she looked at the squad in the distance, dressed in shining white-golden armor.

"What are they?" Sahari asked as the wall shook with the impact of another halberd, which glowed a golden light, was thrown with absurd speed and force against the building.

"I don't know, but they're strong." Athena said and a piece of the top of the wall gave way. "Very strong."

"We don't have time to admire." Nijha complained. "Athena, decide, in or out of town?"

"Huh? Why me? Ah! I'm the queen of this shit." Athena looked at the hundreds of troops and felt a euphoria when she remembered a movie she had watched about a Greek war against some people she didn't remember at the time. "Open the gates for those who can't jump off the wall and those who can, follow me!" Athena ordered and without waiting for anyone, she jumped.

"Athena!" Lobana protested, but it was too late. Lobana looked at the army behind her. "Your queen left command with me. Open the gates and follow her to death or victory!"

The soldiers, knights and mercenaries roared loudly. Those with shields raised their guards, came forward, and advanced as soon as the gates opened.

Halfway through the fall, Athena pulled her helmet and shield from the [Dimensional Bag], strengthened her body with [Death Aura], [Fortification], and used [Acceleration].

As soon as she scratched the ground, she disappeared from view of the troops, leaving only a cloud of dust where she stepped and then reappeared in front of the shields of soldiers who contorted their faces in surprise.

Due to the surprise, the men didn't have the moment to react and when they started to understand what was going on, Athena was already using [Hew] and shredding everyone near her.

With each soldier shredded, Athena felt a current of energy invade her body and at the same time she felt that she was getting stronger, she felt overwhelming nausea.

The feeling wasn't nearly as pleasant, it was like she had someone with their arm through her body and that person was turning her organs with a hand warmer than her own blood.

Athena staggered momentarily and this gave the soldiers an opening to attack.

The soldiers brandished their weapons at Athena from all sides, piercing her shield defense, but not her armor and [Death Aura] which destroyed the weapons like shattered glass on the ground.

When the gates opened, the soldiers of Basilica advanced through the gates while others jumped from the walls, the soldiers of the temple split, as if they were making a path.

At the end of this path, a black-haired man in great golden armor, had in his hand a spear that shone much brighter than the others hurled at the walls.

Athena looked back, and among those who had jumped off the wall, the Valkyries were one of the groups advancing farther.

Sahari, Nijha, Hale, Kaize, Dria, Lera, Mhia, Sura and Mifa advanced while Lobana and Serien kept the command line above the walls.

Athena didn't care when someone she didn't know or hated died, but she always had this weight in her chest, this fear of letting someone she liked die.

Athena prepared her shield and waited for the man to make his attack.

In the distance the man saw the woman raise her shield and smiled arrogantly.

This man was Arladele, the leader of the Divine Swords, a group of warriors who were always scattered across the floating islands, facing powerful monsters and demons in the name of the light of creation, Lhia.

The man put more holy power into his skill, making the spear glow an almost orange light and released the weapon that made its way to Athena in the blink of an eye.

Athena gritted her teeth after screaming the skill [Sacred Shield] of the 'Paladin' class and pushed the shield against the spear.

The [Sacred Shield] took the attack and cushioned the first impact and then cracked as it deflected the massive energy to all sides, hitting the temple soldiers, destroying the ground where Athena stepped and making the air vibrate as a bass sound of explosion was heard all over the battlefield.

Athena looked back, people were running sideways, fleeing the direction and range of the attack, Athena laughed as she saw that Serien and Lobana was still in the same place and Mifa was dragged by the other Valkyries and held out her hands to Athena as she said something inaudible to Athena.

(Those fools...)

Athena pushed the shield further and her [Death Aura]-covered hair attacked the spear incessantly, but that spear was somehow different and was unaffected by the power of Death.

Athena took a deep breath and braced herself as the [Sacred Shield] cracked even more, looking like roots had grown all over the energy shield and the spear's energy was beginning to pass through chinks.

"Aaaassaaagrh!!!!" Athena screamed unheard and pushed further as she started to be dragged backward and then the [Sacred Shield] shattered.