The shock from the lightning bolts incapacitated all of the Adventurers on the walls, with some of them outright losing their consciousness. With the spreading smell of something burnt, someone from within the castle shouted, "T-the walls' defenses are gone!"
With no one to intercept them from higher grounds, Koneko and Aika were able to approach the partially and drenched wall unimpeded.
Once the wall came into Koneko's reach, the nekomata went into a front stance. While the Adventurers of the Apollo Familia and its helpers were still scrambling to gather their remaining forces, the air around Koneko started rotating as she pushed her fist forward, "Ei!"
A split second after Koneko's fist collided with the wall, there was silence. But soon after, cracks started appearing all over the wall, before it exploded inwards, crushing the people who were gathering on the other side, "AHHHH!!!"
"NOO!!!"
"PLEASE HELP ME!!!"
"WHAT'S HAPPENING!!?"
Screams of panic, confusion, and fear ensued as Aika sauntered through the newly demolished wall.
"THE WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED!!! I REPEAT! THE WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED! IMMEDIATELY INTERCEPT THE ENEMY!", shouted one of the commanders that just came out.
Most of the Apollo Familia and allied forces rushed out and encircled Aika, who was leisurely walking through the castle grounds, and got ready to attack her.
But despite the overwhelming number of people surrounding her, Aika just calmly put the tip of her sheathed blade on the ground, resting her arms on the hilt. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her eyes again and shouting with all her strength, "GET LOST!!!"
As the shockwave from her dragon-infused voice passed through everyone in the castle, all the Level 1s and weaker Level 2s instantly lost their consciousness as they fell to the ground.
While the rest of Level 2s were enduring a large headache, the Level 3s had their ears ringing and all of them were covered in a cold sweat. They all had a feeling that that shout just now wasn't one of a human, but instead of a terrifying beast, asserting its domination.
But instead of a face full of fear and pain, all of them were making the same shocked expressions, as they watched almost everyone fall to the ground without being able to resist. From their overwhelming number of more than 500 people, just 50 odd people were left standing, and not all of them were able to fight.
.
.
.
"A BIG UPSET!!!", shouted Ibri, "With one surprising thing after another, in an instant, the Hestia Familia was able to take out one of the Apollo Familia's biggest advantages!!! However, most people still don't understand what just happened, including me! But fear not, we have someone who could explain things here on stage!"
Ibri then introduced the newcomer, "Since Ganesha-sama was useless as a commentator, we've invited an experienced Adventurer, the Captain of Ganesha Familia, Shakti 'Ankusha' Varma! Shakti-sama! Please explain to us what just happened!"
With a serious expression, Shakti answered, "I'm also not too sure what exactly transpired, but I could give you my conjectures."
"That's fine! Please do so."
Nodding, Shakti continued, "Well then, to start with, two of their magic casters disabled the defenses of the walls, allowing their vanguard to approach it safely. The first one, water magic in a shape of a giant snake, drenched the area and the people defending the walls while also weakening the integrity of the structure."
"The second magic was lightning magic that caused immense shock, especially to those who were wet, causing them to lose their consciousness or being paralyzed, effectively disabling the most important defense of a castle siege."
"One of the vanguards, Shirone Toujou, then approached the undefended and structurally weakened wall and used strengthening magic on herself before smashing it open."
"Using that chance, Aika Kiryuu entered the stronghold and used some sort of intimidation magic to take out those who were vastly weaker than her. And that's how we came into this situation."
But even after explaining it herself, Shakti still believed that her explanation was done poorly and she only oversimplified it for the common people to be satisfied. For one, their magic was too strange and too strong for new Level 3s that could do something like this almost instantly without any prior incantations or activation words, 'How do others view this? Even for my experience, this is really too strange. The Hestia Familia... I'll have to look more into them.'
"But couldn't Aika Kiryuu have used that intimidation magic from outside of the castle? Why did she have to do it inside?", asked Ibri suddenly.
"Most of the Apollo Familia may have been disabled, but the core of their strength was still fully intact. If she had done it outside, before breaking the wall, those stronger members could have immediately gone to the wall to strengthen it."
"By breaking the wall first, they created a situation where the Apollo Familia wouldn't have a wall to reinforce anymore, forcing them to fight on an equal battleground."
Just as Shakti finished speaking, Sona, Akeno and Irina followed their vanguard inside the wall and faced the Apollo Familia who were all gritting their teeth.
"This is the first time we are meeting, Hyakinthos Clio. It's nice to finally meet you. Also, I've always wanted to complain about something when I meet you." Sona then glared at the leader of the Apollo Familia who's standing on the castle's balcony looking at them with a grave expression, "Your members have annoyed us to no end, and you'll have to take responsibility for all of that. For starters, why don't you surrender and apologize for everything?"
Hyakinthos was shocked when all of the Level 1s and some Level 2s who were within the throne room with him suddenly dropped down unconscious after the 'beastly' roar that came from outside and hurriedly brought everyone outside to see what was happening, only to discover that most of the forces couldn't fight anymore within just a few minutes of the clash with their enemies.
He wanted to ask someone for clarification on what really happened, but after Sona addressed him with a tone that was looking down on him, he instantly lost his cool, "What are you all doing!? They're here! Attack them now!"
The prideful Hyakinthos couldn't take someone looking down on him and most certainly not from a lowly 'Level 2' from a tiny Familia whose Goddess had to work herself. Apologize? He didn't do anything wrong, and even if he did, he still had nothing to apologize over. It was their fault for being weak and joining a weak Familia.
If not for Apollo wanting them, he wanted nothing to do with them. In fact, thanks to them 'stealing' the affection and attention of his beloved God away from him, he wanted to kill them from the bottom of his heart.
Among the 21 Level 3s, 11 of them went to attack the group with some odd Level 2s, "Did you think that you had the upper hand just because you were able to reduce our number? If yes, then it's clear why you're a newbie and from a nondescript Familia. Let me show you the truth of the world. The reason why Levels are absolute!", declared Hyakinthos.
However, after a few minutes, those who were sent to fight the group still couldn't get the upper hand in the battle despite the gap in Level and number. In fact, aside from their new members, the contested people, Sona, Koneko and Aika, still hadn't received a single blow and kept counterattacking, slowly tiring out their assailants.
"W-what is this?" Hyakinthos couldn't believe what he was seeing.