Chapter Seventy Seven: The flames of the war

Vittoria Fortress…

The Kami Miyako city that was the capital of the Slane Theocracy was just twenty minutes away from Vittoria Fortress that served as the first line of defense for the capital on the northside.

The fortress was also surrounded by a wide and deep river, and it was connected with the other side by a drawbridge capable of being raised or lowered if the time came for an invasion by other forces.

One hundred meters away leys the forest of Robin. It was a vast forest habituated with only animals because the demihuman tribes were exterminated hundreds of years ago by humans.

Actually, all the forests that are inside the Slane Theocracy's territory have only unintelligent life forms. This nation has worked fanatically for human supremacy leaving no nonhuman legacy in this territory.

The only way for a nonhuman to get inside the Slane Theocracy will be as a slave and they were treated very harshly by their owners. Slavery has always been part of human society.

Even humans can be slaves of the rich humans, that's what the Slane Theocracy has been doing these last years. It was on the brink of collapse so the cardinals had to fix this disturbance very fast and bring a new law.

For the rich class, this was a blessing because they would fill their workshops with slaves again but for the poor class, this was a battle for survival and not ending in chains.

It was really awful for a country that stood for human supremacy to fall into such a miserable state. Everyone felt that this nation won't last for too long, not with an enemy that has surrounded its territories in every part of the Slane Theocracy.

Inside the forest, a dark circle appeared out of nowhere. All the animals that have been making sounds like every day had gone silent because of this strange dark thing.

From the endless void came out groups of Nazar's wearing leather armor. These soldiers belonged to the races that are masters of guerrilla warfare like elves, bunny warriors, amazons, srush, snakeman, armats, spidans, and werecats.

They ran through the forest and upon the trees without making any noise or sound until they reached the end of it. Facing the Robin forest were the high walls of the Vittoria Fortress. To reach those walls, they have to cross the river without alerting the guards.

The bunny warrior's ears twitched wildly as they tried to analyze where the guardians are and how far they are right now. The bunny warrior nodded to the wood elf and he gestured to the others to advance without being seen.

There were two towers at the edge of the river, and they were guarded by only two soldiers. For this purpose were the srushi nazars. As a rare demihuman species, their skin was able to change color just like the environment that surrounded them.

Nazars could use [Invisibility] but it was risky so it was better to use pure skills. It was dark so the bodies of the srushi weren't able to be noticed by the tower guards. Next, they started to climb on the tower slowly like predators trying to catch the prey.

The guards had their attention towards the forest and the srush showed up from behind. The guard heard a sound from his back and turned confused.

"Who's there…"

Out of nowhere, the guard's face was enveloped by something meaty sticky like a tentacle.

"MmMhhMMmmmmmm!" the guard was being suffocated.

The long tongue of the srush was venomous so the human will have a horrible death. The guard was not able to resist anymore and fell first on his knees, then his body dropped dead on the ground.

The killer removed his tongue from the soldier and his face looked like it was decomposed from the strong venom. The srush looked at the other tower on the right side and saw that his comrade had finished with his prey.

The spidans climbed on the walls of the tower and from there they shot from the mouth a thick web that went to the other side of the river and sticks on the walls of the fortress. This is not a normal web because it was hard as steel. The spidan cut the web from his mouth and stuck it on the wall.

He gestured to the other groups to advance. The cat warriors, elves, bunny warriors, and the amazons that had a very light body jumped on the web and passed on the other side. They were very fast as the wind, in one second they were seen climbing the walls of the fortress.

A guard was patrolling the frontal wall alone because the others were in different positions. Usually, there should be two to four guards here but they had their personal reasons. He observed around and saw nobody, then he decided to lower his pants because he needed to pee.

The piss fell on the river and the guard closed his eyes because he felt relieved. And suddenly from the dark flew a dagger and went straight at his throat.

"Agh…"

Someone from behind covered his mouth so he would not release his suffering voice. From below, a woman with bunny ears climbed, she pulled the dying guard and threw him on the river. Nobody saw or heard him, it was a clean assassination.

The long ears of the bunny warrior twitched again and she noticed that soldiers from the right side were approaching. There were houses below and the Nazars jumped upon them. The two guards were walking and chatting with each other and had no idea of what happened to their comrade.

The wood elf that was hiding behind the chimney of a house put the arrow on the bow and targeted the guard that was closer to the edge of the wall. He lose the arrow and it flew very fast.

The guard's head got pierced by the arrow and fell down the wall. The other one that did not have the attention turned to see what happened but he found out that his comrade wasn't there.

"Oi, where did you go?"

He looked below the wall. He heard sounds but he did not want to believe that he fell and hoped that this was just a prank.

"Damn it, not a prank again…"

Suddenly the vision of the soldier blacked with something sticky. He wasn't able to move his mouth or let out his voice for help. He was very panicked and tried hard to remove this thing from his face but it didn't work.

"uGGhhhUMMM"

The spidan showed up and grabbed the guard below the wall in the darkness. Then, he enveloped the whole body of the guard with his web. There was no way for the guard to survive because the web will even crush his bones slowly.

The spidan cut the last thread and the enveloped body of the guard fell deep inside the river. This was another clean assassination in darkness and the spidans continued to do this with the other guards that were patrolling the wall.

The camp where the soldiers were resting was mostly calm. In some tents were heard the moans of some prostitutes that had come here. They were paid by the higher-ups so the soldiers will be in better form for the war.

Also, when they win the war it was promised that all of them will have an elf female to play with as much as they want so all these soldiers were excited about the upcoming war. It has been a long time since they haven't touched those broken toys with long ears so of course, they were looking forward to this moment.

At the camp came the elves with some big bottles filled with oil. No one could see them and without making any sound, the elves started to pour oil all around the camp.

Near the gates, some of the guards have been drinking a lot and have fallen into a deep sleep. This allowed the nazrars to move freely on the streets. They slowly drew their swords and went towards the gate.

The amazon put her sword near one of the guard's throat and she thrust it. She covered his mouth forcibly so he would not scream in pain. She just brutally cut his throat, killing him instantly.

This happened to all the guards of the gate. All of them died in silence by the assassins of Nazarick.

"Quick, open the gate now."

First, the elves went to the gatehouse to open the portcullis gate. Five of them pushed the round mechanism and the portcullis gate started to rise. Also, the others worked to lower the drawbridge slowly. They could have just cut the ropes but they did not want to wake them up now.

As they did this, the forest of Robin has been filled with Nazar forces. The numbers were enormously large. In every second a gate opened in a different location and brought new Nazar troops and siege weapons.

The army was facing the fortress and they were waiting for the signal to attack. All of them had their weapon ready to kill the enemy. Suddenly they saw someone at the gate waving a torch in their direction.

That was the signal…

"Let's go!"

The Nazar army began to run towards the fortress very fast. The walls of the Vittoria Fortress were unprotected and there was no one that might wake up the knights of the Slane Theocracy.

They passed the towers and reached the bridge and then flourished inside the fortress with high speed. A soldier that was lying on the stairs of a house just woke up from the sounds of the footsteps opened his eyes.

At first, he was confused about what was this all about but then he saw his comrades getting butchered while they were sleeping.

"What the hell?!"

He saw them clearly how they looked like. All of them had different appearances, there was no way that these enemies were all human.

This was not the right place for him to be here so he just got up and run toward the center of the fortress. Many of them noticed him running like a rabbit. The soldier was so scared when he saw arrows flying at him.

"Heeeeeelp!" he screamed.

He reached the center and fell on his knees because his legs were shivering like they were walking in the snow. Then he saw four soldiers approaching him, they looked like they just woke up too.

"Oi, what's wrong, man? Was it you who screamed right now? Did you see a ghost or something?" the soldiers smirked.

"We, we, we are under attack!"

"Huh? The hell are saying?"

They have been on deep sleep, and their head hurts a bit from the alcohol but now they realized that something was happening on the street but it was too late now.

An arrow flew and pierced the head of the soldier that was on his knees. The shocked backed off from this sudden murderer and then a fireball flew past them and blew up a building.

In a very short moment, the center of the fortress was filled with enemies attacking all the soldiers that were in their sleep. The four soldiers that had pointed their spears at them because of fear saw how the others got stabbed without mercy.

"What should we do?"

A war troll noticed them walked towards the soldiers.

"S-Stay back, monster!"

There was no way for the monster to listen to them. The war-troll lifted his ax on the right side and hit the four soldiers at the same time. All of them got turned into pieces of meat flying in different places.

The Nazars soldiers show no mercy to their enemies so they just killed anyone they saw, asleep or not asleep.

"They are inside the fortress! Wake up! Wake UP"

"Alarm! Alarm!"

The shouts of the officers were heard but they were cut down fast. The Nazars stormed inside the buildings…

"Kill them!"

"Wait, I surrender!"

The man and the prostitute got stabbed many times with bastard swords and the bed got covered with their blood. After that, the Nazars put everything on fire and went out to hunt the next prey.

Some of them got dragged outside their houses, some were thrown out from the window and others got hanged on the wall dying horribly. There was butchery everywhere.

The grand camp got burned completely because of the oil and the soldiers were trapped inside their tents but that was not all. The fire arrows and the fireball magic made the situation worst.

Those soldiers that came out were on fire and ran like crazy crying for help.

"AAAAaaaAhhh! AaaaaaHHHH!"

"HELP PLEASE!"

"IT BuuuuURNSss!"

The horrible massacre continued on and on and the fire devoured everything on its path of destruction.

"Get the horses! Get the horses now!"

Those few soldiers on the other side of the fortress were trying to flee.

"Wh-What about the fortress sir!?"

"Idiot, it's over! Didn't you see how many of them are out there!?"

Indeed, it was impossible to take back this fortress now. It was very dangerous to stay here while the enemy wants to cut them down.

"We need to alarm the cardinals! The Sorcerer Kingdom of Nazarick is invading our country!

"Yes sir!"

They opened the back gate and the survivors fled the Vittoria Fortress leaving it in the hands of the Nazars. There were still soldiers that continued to fight the invaders but this brought nothing because the Nazars came like sea waves. The most part of the army has died without even knowing what happened because of the surprise attack.

"LONG LIVE THE HOLY SORCERER KING!"

"WWRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!"

The Nazars swarmed in every part of the fortress and one Theocracy knight had to deal with five angry Nazars at the same time. They were all trapped like rats in this place that will become their grave.

Queen Zesshi passed the gates of the Vittoria fortress and saw the streets of this place filled with butchered men and women. She walked there and tried not to step upon any of them or the pools of blood.

"Fufufu, what an amazing panorama! As expected from, my love!"

She was amazed by the "Carthage Operation" and how the Nazars worked with it. That was it, she hasn't changed a bit when it comes to killing others. She might be bone daddy's girl in the bed but on the battlefield, she is a real killing machine that won't stop the bloodshed until she gets bored.

"Hahahaha look at all these blood bags Zesshi! I even remember the faces of some of these humans, kukuku~!"

Indeed, Clementine has visited this fortress many times in the past when she was a human and a member of the Black Scripture. Seeing it turned into a fortress of corpses filled her with joy.

"Your Majesty."

"Ah, Captain Madeye."

Neia with some of her comrades arrived inside the fortress. She saw the corpses but there was nothing, there was not even a bit of expression of pity in her eyes. Finally, the day has come, and that is to see the nation of the Slane Theocracy burn to the ground by Nazarick.

"He… Help…"

A man laying upon the stairs of a house on the left side of the road was noticed by Neia.

"A survivor, huh."

"My my, to be able to survive in this part of the fortress is almost impossible, fufu~, you must be a very tough guy~." said Zesshi with mockery.

"... help…"

The man was covered in his own blood. His voice didn't come out well and his lips were dried.

"I'll help you."

Neia drew her sword and stabbed the man's throat ending his suffering and sending him to the realm of the dead. Blood flew from his throat and a bit dripped on her face. It was not a problem if she got dirty because this was the blood of her enemy.

"As expected, you are a truly merciless human, kuhuhu~!"

"I'll take that as a compliment, let's go."

"What's wrong with her? It looks like she misses a screw in her head, fufu~!"

"She is the one that executed almost an entire town, Clementine."

"That must have been a lot of fun though~"

"Not for a human like her, I guess…"

All of them walked through the fortress and countless of corpses until they reached the center where many Nazars had gathered. The taste of victory was all over their faces and they were celebrating while drinking beer.

But they all calmed down when they saw the Half-Elf Queen and Captain Madeye approaching the center. The Nazars brought some prisoners that they had decided to spare for the moment.

All of them were middle-aged people or old ones wearing good clothes and good armor so that means they are important.

"Old man Ianonikus? Haha~ it's been a long time, I thought of you dead by now~."

The old man with dark robes and white hair around his head was surprised to see these two familiar faces again after such a long time.

"Cl… Cle… Clementine?! Clementine of the invincible Black Scripture?!" the old man screamed. "But-but why… why are you attacking your own country?!"

"Hmmmm, there are a lot of reasons, for example, my family, my comrades, and my commanders treated me like shit. What's there to protect when your own people hate your guts for being just a bit different. I do not care anymore Ianonikus or should I say I never cared. The Slane Theocracy is dead to me anyway, kukuku~."

Ianonikus was a priest of darkness that worshiped the God of Death Surshana and he has noticed Clementine visiting the Church of Darkness many times. But she never stayed for too long there and always vanished like a ghost. Looking at her devil eyes now made him worried about what this girl has gone through.

She has a family and he knows them. How will her family feel when they find out their daughter works for the enemy and turned into a monster?

"Well, enough with that, what do you want to do with them Queen Zesshi?"

"G… Gr... Great god-kin Zesshi Zetsumei, my lady we worship your ancestors, the gods... please have mercy."

"It's been a decade old man, I don't care about my bloodline or who you worship. You all wanted to start a war against my love! I won't allow it, all of you fools will meet your end tonight by my hands!

On the eye of the old man was seen the reflex of the god-kin rising her war-scythe in a horizontal style. The old man accepted his fate, he was old and knew his time would come sooner or later. The others around him were screaming for mercy but Zesshi Zetsumei was quick, and with just one slash all their heads got chopped by her weapon.

"Ah what a relief, it's been a long time since my weapon had cut anything. I have to do it more often I guess.

Neia left the center and climbed the stairs. Upon the back wall, she was able to see the walls of Kami Miyako. The flames were rising in this fortress and soon it will be the turn of the greatest human capital.

Neia couldn't help but smug.

"Tomorrow will be a blast I guess…"

On the other side, Astrologer opened her eyes because she was hearing people walking the hallway and screaming.

"What's with all this noise?"

With those sleepy eyes, she went outside on the balcony to take some fresh air. She rarely went outside because the demons would just play their tricks and drag her to fall from the balcony.

She saw down soldiers running towards the wall. There were a lot of them and it looked like something was occurring.

"Look on the horizon..."

The raspy voice of the demon inside her head made her lift the eyes. On the horizon beyond the walls of Kami Miyako there was a fire rising.

"No… this is another nightmare right?"

Right… Astrologer has seen scenes like this before in her nightmares but this just… felt so much real.

"Just disappear!"

Nothing happened…

"Wake up! Wake up!"

She grips her skin to help her wake up but the fortress of Vittoria was still on fire. She used other ways like smacking herself, pulling her own hair, and still the same results.

"This can't be real… this can't be happening!"

The door of her room opened all of a sudden and a maid showed up. "My lady, the cardinals ordered me to wake you up. They want you to be present in the war room, my lady."

"It's happening?!"