What a sight to behold. As Custer watched the ships enter the city, he couldn't help tearing up. He had imagined this moment in many different ways, but never in such a fantastic way. Granted, some ships were smoldering and others seemed ready to drop off at any moment, but they were flying in, hoisting the Tristan sigil.
The war seemed to come to a standstill before someone shouted. It felt like a victory.
"Long Live the Queen!"
"Long Live the Queen!"
Soon the cheers and shouts of celebration gave way to a chant as a grateful city welcomed its monarch. This was a day of triumph.
All over, men, women and children, all Tristanites, were coming out to join un this celebration. It was as though the war was over. The remaining Gumina soldiers were not fighting but rather running away, they too knew they had been defeated.
Just as the outer-most city was gathering under the Queen, the ground began shaking. At first, people did not know what was happening.
Before anyone could even think of running, a gigantic beast the size of a train tore a hole in the ground. It looked much like the sun-worm that had been deployed earlier, only this one was 10 times the size of the previous one.
***
"My Prince, the adult sun-worm had been released. We need to leave," One aide said to the prince, who at the time was still staring at the battlefield. Regret filling his eyes.
"I will repay this humiliation a hundred-fold," The Prince said as he turned and walked away. For the first time in centuries, The Kingdom of Gumina experienced its first major loss.
The means of escape had long since been established. He was one of the few men who could ride a wyvern, and he got on one and left. The wyvern took him to where the ship was waiting in the sea.
He wanted to sail off immediately, but he had to secure his refuge. The Reuzean prince was being rushed to his ship. Unlike him, Lord Otto could not ride a wyvern and hence his movements were restricted. He had some soldiers to guide him through.
He briefly wondered what would happen to the Tristan King. His people saw him as a traitor, and he had no exit strategy. Even the prince would kill him if he got the chance. He let him off his mind for now. Where is that d*mn prince?
***
Watching the huge beast emerge from its hole, the once happy atmosphere turned into a chaotic pandemonium. The beast went on a rampage, smashing everything in its path.
Suddenly, loud reports of rifles going on could be heard going off at the same time. The beast was so huge it made for such an easy target. Not just rifles, but sniper rifles, guns, grenades, and bolts were all bombarding the monster mercilessly.
Under such a fierce onslaught, the beast tried running away. Unfortunately for it, someone had a point to prove. After the last attack, Barda felt he needed to come up with a solution for these annoying monsters. For that, he had only recruited 40 agents.
Every person Barda had chosen was carefully selected by the commander himself. They were part of the teams that were taught to handle the ballistae. However, this group was given a different looking bolt.
Unlike the previous one that was mostly made of wood with Ordinance at the tip, this one was made entirely of stainless steel. Moreover, it was hollow and contained 2 live ordinances. The first was at the tip, and it was designed to drill a hole through even the toughest armor. The explosion would release the tungsten core inside, which would drill through the target before releasing its payload, the second explosion.
Even with only 13 ships remaining, the moment the bolts were fired, the beast was turned into nothing more than a gelatinous mass, oozing off. This made the fleeing crowd cheer in a bigger frenzy. This time, their Queen was undaunted.
***
Lady Maara felt as though she was in a daze. Seated on what had always been her father's seat, everything was so unreal. She didn't understand how she was there in the first place.
She had dreamed it, wished it and longed for it, the victory. She even loathed it as a temptation that was unreachable, but she never expected it to come this way.
Her enemy was strong, so strong that they had completely overwhelmed everything in Tristan's arsenal. Yet just at the right time, Barda had come in and turned the tables.
That was the truth and she had to admit it. Without his interference, she probably would have died with her father at the deck, or in some frontlines somewhere. They had even dispatched 4 wyverns to ensure she was dead.
With her death, Gumina would have had a very easy time annexing Tristan, especially with Reuze aiding. Lord Branton would have had a shaky rule but he would have ruled nonetheless.
She cast a look at him. He was placed before her, and many Tristan soldiers wanted nothing more than to rip him apart, but didn't.
"Your Majesty, you know I was acting on behalf of Tristan. I told you as much!" He tried to defend himself, and many around him did as well.
Looking at the people kneeling before her, she had complex emotions running through her mind. Some were leaders under her father. Some, she guessed, had no part to play in the treason. They just woke up one day and found the city was under different management.
However, she couldn't let them get a pass either. By working with the enemy, they were viewed as traitors by Tristan and especially to her.
"Put them away, they shall have their day in court!" She said. Watching Lord Branton, who had been King, she couldn't help but wonder if he had been part of the conspiracy the whole time. He brought Reuze into the picture, he became king, yet he let them go.
"Where is Lord Barda?" She asked as she looked around.
"Your Majesty, he's gone to find a workshop, he requests that if you have the time, you could see what he is working on."
"Doesn't the man ever rest?" The Queen grumbled.
***
When the people were busy fighting the monster, Barda had been tracking all the wyvern movements. He still considered them a primary threat. However, he didn't think Gumina would wastefully send another wave of the wyverns for him to shoot down.
When he caught sight of several flying off at the same time, he had taken great care to track their movements, until they landed on a ship at sea. He expected the ship to sail off immediately, but it didn't.
At the same time, the subroutines tracking Gumina soldier movements spotted a VIP leaving the palace grounds. He kept track of the VIP's movement and discovered that the VIP was moving towards the ship.
Thinking about it, Barda guessed that these must be the 2 princes fleeing. It would have been satisfying to put a bullet in their heads. It would have been a decisive blow and proper vengeance for the death of the King of Tristan - Lady Maara's dad - but it would not have ended the war.
For now, he had Lady Arnea reorder the ships so that The Queen's ship would be the main ship. She was back home where she was the monarch, time for her to rule.
***
The prince of Gumina held his quill and stared at the paper blankly. He didn't know how to communicate to his father that he had lost the city he had taken less than 3 weeks ago. Just the thought of a loss was enough to make his father go crazy.
More than that, he thought about everything he had lost, how hard he had worked to gain it all. He made a vow to wring the life of that Blacksmith if it was the last thing he did.
"Are you sure about that?" A voice asked. Turning around, the man did not find anyone with him. He wondered if he had hallucinated, but as a prince, he knew to trust his judgment.
"I asked, are you certain you want to kill this archer?" The voice asked again.
This time, the prince shouted, "Show yourself!"
"If I could be seen by your puny mortal eyes, you'd be looking at me now," The voice answered.
"What are you?"
"I asked, are you certain you want to kill this archer?" The voice sounded impatient.
"Yes, Yes I want to kill that archer!" The prince answered.
"Good, then we can work together."