Chereads / A Song of Blood and Sunlight / Chapter 10 - Battle of the Skycrown Gate (End)

Chapter 10 - Battle of the Skycrown Gate (End)

"Dear, oh dear, what was it? The Hunt, the Blood, or the horrible Dream? Oh, it doesn't matter. It always comes down to the Hunters' helper to clean up after these sorts of messes. Tonight, Gehrman joins the Hunt..."

Gehrman, the First Hunter

***

Codex: The Ancient Tomb Expedition

In the Year 4,551 an expedition was conducted by several people when the vast underground labyrinth was found underneath the city known as Yharnam. When they discovered the Ancient Tombs, several people led the Expedition into the depths; among them, the most notable were five leaders of the Expedition.

Master Willem and Big Hat Logan represent the Byrgenwerth, occultist of ancient Gods Laurence and one of the famous warriors from the Age of Strife known just as Gehrman, who acted as their bodyguard. Aside from them, there were two more people who were local nobles.

One of them was the ruler of the region that would be once known as the Grand Principality of Reikland, Gottfried Isebrand Holswig-Schliestein and Lancelin Cainar, who ruled the City State of Cainhurst.

These few people conducted the first Expedition into the Ancient Tombs, where they found the substance later known as the Old Blood and were the first people in the Lordran who encountered the vision from the Great Ones.

***

From a distance, everyone could see gathering clouds high above the Skycrown Gate and the Battle Wizards and Sholaars calling the Winds of Magic for their help. Omnious-looking storm clouds were gathered in one place, as out of nowhere, they started striking hundreds of lightning bolts at the Daemon Horde beneath them.

Each of the thunderbolts that struck down charred hundreds, if not thousands of Lesser Daemons in a split of a second, and their intensity and power were only increasing with each passing second.

Upon this happening, the Daemons started panicking because their numbers were drastically dropping down at tremendous speed under the barrage of the lightning bolts, never-ending dwarven siege engines that were bombarding them to oblivion.

And just as the storm clouds dispersed, tens of Griffons flew high in the air, carrying huge packages with their claws, and when they were above the battlefield, they were dropping them in free fall mode.

Upon contact with the ground, they were exploding in the green fire, a direct greeting from the Gnomeregan, the capital of Gnomes and Thinkers of the Holy Arcadia Empire. Soon enough, the entire battlefield was enveloped in a new wave of explosion and death as the Daemos were dying life and right.

***

On the walls of the Skycrown Gate, the location of Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes.

"My Lord, My Lord, the 6th Imperial Legion has arrived!"

Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes took out his sword from the corpse of Greater Daemon and managed to sneak upon the walls of the Skycrwon Gate under the concealment of the shadows and powerful Chaos Magic.

Still, he was killed by the son of the Elector Count of Sylvania when Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes looked over at the officer who reported this news and sighed in relief.

With the addition of another Imperial Legion, they could coordinate with the Silver Knights, Reiksgarde, and Holy Knights to launch a counterattack.

Even right now, as they were speaking the majority of the Daemon horde lay dead, either from various traps prepared by the defenders, Artillery or Battle Wizards. And that was not talking about several tens of thousands that were personally killed by the Holy Imperator.

The outbursts of the legendary Golden Light of Holy Destruction could be seen even from the distance of the Skycrown Gate, as with each outburst of the legendary aura, tens of thousands of Lesser Daemons were incarnated to the nothingness.

The current numbers and lack of truly powerful Daemons on the battlefield signified the time for a counterattack by the Imperial Forces.

Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes could see that his father was already raging on the battlefield as he turned into a mist of hundreds if not thousands of bats, which were killing everything in their path.

As the Vampires, the children of the night, they commanded very powerful Blood Magic and could control Blood as they wished, which gave them a very special standing in the Religion of the Great Ones because they were considered as "progeny" of the Formless God of Blood.

Not to mention, one of the greatest Noble Houses, the House Vileblood, were something that could be considered as Primogenotrs of the Vampires, as they were truly the masters of masters of Blood and Blood Magic.

Current Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes learned under the Vilebloods of Cainhurst and even married the niece of Lord High Magistrate Annalise Vileblood, the Queen of Blood.

"Prepare for the counterattack! Send down the order!"

With the walls being mostly cleaned up, it was time to clean up the remaining Daemons that were running here and there under the walls. There were something around a few hundreds of thousands of Lesser Daemons remaining on the battlefield.

With the remaining ammunition being used, it would cut the number to approximately 300,000 Lesser Daenmons, which was from an initial number of 2,5 million, a good result.

This they could already handle with combined forces of 2 Imperial Legions, Provincial Amry, Reiksgarde, Holy Knights and Household Guards of Noble Houses. Soon enough, as Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes sent down the orders, the soldiers started gathering and preparing to march.

***

With the 6th Imperial Legion

General Rundstadt was hurrying his soldiers to the Skycrown Gate as they were intercepted by the messenger of the Elector Count House of Draculya-Tepes bearing the newest orders.

"General Lord Jubstacheit Draculya-Tepes has ordered the counterattack against the Daemons; their numbers have been cut enough; we can start the cleaning operations already."

General Rundstadt of the 6th Imperial Legion raised his brow because he was surprised that they were missing most parts of the fight, but it seemed that the Skycrown Gate was very well defended, prepared and it seemed that the addition of Holy Imperator on the battlefield turned the tables considerably.

Having someone who could kill Greater Daemons and even Daemon Nobles in a split of second if the enemies were careless was something that significantly increased the efficiency of the Imperial Forces.

Without the heavy hitters, the strong commanders, Leaders... and elite forces of the Imperial Forces could turn their focus on the Lesser Daemons and putting someone on the level of Reiksgarde or Holy Knight among the ordinary Lesser Daemons would for sure end in a bloodbath.

"To the Gate! Prepare for battle!"

General Rundstadt, upon receiving the order, led his men to battle, with each of his Legates that commanded over three Divisions of the Legion ordered their forces into the formation.

They were going to meet the enemy head-on, so he was a bit worried, though not for the result of the battle because that would be won, but for his granddaughter, who was in command of the 3rd Division and was the newest Legate of the 6th Imperial Legion.

***

MC POV

When I saw that the Skycrown Gate was dropping everything they had in their arsenal against the Daemons, I knew that they were already preparing for the counterattack. Soon, the Gates would open, and the glorious armies of the Holy Arcadia Empire would march with sharp blades and Faith to slay the foul powers of Abyss and Chaos.

I looked at the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand, whose armor was cracked all around the place, and he was bleeding from several parts of his body.

The corrosion done by the Golden Light of Holy Destruction was getting more and more prevalent to the point where it started destroying parts of his body from the inside.

Yet, to my surprise and not to my surprise, the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand was still fighting with even bigger ferocity and brutality than before; the power of his Patron God was getting stronger and stronger...

'Of course... we are on the battlefield, full of carnage, blood and war... naturally Khorne would get tremendous power from it, and everything went to the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand to make him even stronger... fortunately the Senior Hunter from the Worskhop should arrive within a few minutes at last...'

This entire place was constantly empowering the Daemon Lord of Khone... in the end, it was his domain; if not, then Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand would have long ago fallen to the corrosion of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction.

While the Daemon Lord was stronger than me by a significant margin, while both of us were technically speaking Level 6 existences, there was a great disparity between us as the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand was undoubtedly stronger.

Yet under the corrosion of the Golden Light of Holy Destruction, he was getting weaker and weaker, but due to blessings of the Chaos God of Blood and Skulls, Martial Honor and War, who was using the lingering aura of the entire battlefield to empower his servant, he was still standing.

And not only standing, but that bastard was still attacking, forcing me too completely go on the defensive, as I was forced to use Ghal Maraz to block his overpowering blows that were getting stronger and stronger.

It didn't take a long time to realize that the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand entered some sort of Blood Rage or higher state of Blood Rage?

I don't really know because I am not a Demonologist, but he lost his rationality, that was for sure.

Even though when he previously entered that Blessed State, which Chaos God Khorne gave him a bit of his power, he still retained a piece of his own mind. But right now, he was only a maddened beast unleashed on the opponent; he really reminded me of some very powerful Clerical Beasts.

Upon the relentless and unending assault of the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand, I was using practically everything I could to stall him down for a moment so that I could deliver some fatal blow to the maddened Daemon Lord.

As I dodged the enormous waraxe of Khorne, I dropped my weapons as I unleashed a massive Arcane Blast on the chest-belly region of the Daemon Lord's body, blasting him several hundreds of meters away.

In a split of a second, I conjured hundreds of lighting bolts, which all shot toward the still-flying Daemon Lord at full speed, falling onto his body as the Daemon Lord roared in pain from being bombarded by the lightning bolts.

Lore of Heavens the Azyr was Magic in which I was very proficient... aside from the Arcane Magic that was unique to the people who reached Noble Blood of the Old Blood, I focused mostly on the Lore of Heavens because of its destructive capabilities.

Suddenly, as the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand was about to stand up, a huge two-handed longsword shot through the air and buried itself in the shoulder of the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand.

In split of a second, a male figure wearing a long leather trenchcoat landed on the two-handed longsword that was buried in the should of the Daemon Lord, taking a pair of daggers and slashing them at the neck of the enormous Daemonic Beings before he tore out the longsword and jumped back.

"Your Holy Majesty."

The Senior Hunter of the Workshop has arrived, and now the tables have turned... I prepared my Holy Lance and looked at the Daemon Lord with a grin because now that the odds were in my favor, it was time to dance...

***

3rd POV

Atop on the walls of the Skycrown Gate, the Heir of the House of Draculya-Tepes was finished cleaning the last Daemons from the parts of the walls as he raised his head upon hearing the battle horn.

"All Soldiers ready! The reinforcements are here; send them back to the Abyss! Prepare to open the Gate!"

He saw that the 6th Imperial Legion had been lined up in front of the closed gate, together with parts of the 11th Imperial Legion, Provincial Army of the Grand Province of Sylvania, Household Guards of Viceroys and Baron, Silver Knights, Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church and Reiksgarde.

"Open the Gates!"

He shouted as he saw his father, the Elector Count of Sylvania, decapitating another Greater Daemon of Khorne as an enormous Bloodthirster fell onto the ground dead and several tens of the Skull Canons exploded into the bloody mist.

Soon enough, as he issued the order for the gates to be opened, the enormous gates of the Skycrown Gate, which were about fifty meters high, started slowly opening as soldiers beneath them got ready for the fight.

Battle Wizards were preparing the spells, Priests of the Healing Chruch were prying for Blessings from the Great Ones and on the walls of the Skycrown Gate, the Artillery forces were loading for the last shot to clean the way for the soldiers.

Everything happened too fast, as the Hellstorm Batteries and Canon fired at once, targeting the hordes of the Lesser Daemons in front of the gates, clearing the way for the charging soldiers.

And as the explosions quieted down, the soldiers started charging, calling for the Glory of the Holy Arcadia Empire, the Holy Imperator and the Great Ones in their fanatically loyal zeal to the Great Ones and Holy Imperator.

The thunderous charge of the Knights of the Holy Arcadia Empire, be it Silver Knights, Holy Knights of the Healing Church, or the sworn protectors of the Divine Throne of the Cinder and Sunlight the Reiksgarde, were charging on the enemy as some more weak-willed Lesser Daemons starred escaping outright.

Some of the Lesser Daemons were not really strong-willed creatures; they were cowardly as it could be... and when they sensed the overpowering Holy Aura originating from the Imperial Soldiers, they started escaping.

With the addition of another Imperial Legion, they started systematically exterminating every single Daemon that remained on the battlefield under the leadership of Reiksgarde and Holy Knights.

***

MC POV

Now that we were two on the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand, we didn't need to say another word, as we just looked at each other and knew what to do exactly.

The Senior Hunter and I flanked the Daemon Lord from both sides and started relentlessly attacking the enormous Bloodthirster. The Senior Hunter was holding a huge claymore Holy Sword that was radiating the Holy Power of the Great Ones.

"Use the Arcane Prison!"

The Senior Hunter shouted at me as I nodded and prepared the special Arcane Spell that was used for trapping more powerful Cleric Beasts. Within a split of second, several rods of pure Arcane Energy appeared around the Daemon Lord Azigth.

Almost instantly later, the Senior Hunter hacked with his Holy Sword Claymore into the chest of the Daemon Lord Azgith as the Daemon Lord roared in pain because the Senior Hunter hit the weak spot.

I didn't waste the opportunity and while the Arcane Prison was still in effect, the Golden Light of Holy Destruction burst out from both of my weapons as I charged at the Daemon Lord Azgith, piercing through his heart with the Holy Artiact of the Great Ones.

And to my shock, even this didn't kill this Daemonic monstrosity as it was still continuing to fight at full power. The power of the Chaos God of Blood and Skulls was keeping the Daemon Lord going on...

But it didn't last for long because after my attack, the Senior Hunter buried his claymore deep into his brain and immediately afterward, I raised the Ghal Maraz that erupted with the Golden Light of Holy Destruction and smashed apart his skull.

And again.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Until nothing remained from the skull of the Daemon Lord.

***

3rd POV

Skycrown Gate, Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes landed on the walls of the Skycrown Gate as he hopped down from his Griffon. The fight on the ground basically ended when the Daemon Lord Azgith The Stormbrand.

With the death of their leader, the entire Daemon Horde quieted down because, without their leader, the Daemons were like headless chickens. Now that their leader was dead, there was nobody left in charge, and coupled with the fact that Daemons suffered tremendous losses, they started escaping.

The Lesser Daemons, contrary to the Greater Daemons and all Daemons at or above Level 4, basically behaved more or like on their instincts; those were the most important things for Lesser Daemons...

"Start cleaning up the battlefield... pursue them till the end of the Tartarus Pass..."

Elector Count Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes looked at the battlefield as he issued his orders. This was a hard fight... there were many losses; he could see that the 11th Imperial Legion suffered severe losses...

The Provincial Army of Grand Province of Sylvania, too, and there were also a good number of Reiksgarde, Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church that perished on the battlefield and the Silver Knight Order suffered the most in the battle.

"If there are even more battles like this, we need to seriously reform our military forces... the number of Greater Daemons and Noble Daemons within the horde was something outrageous."

Elector Count of Sylvania said because this battle showed that while the Army of the Holy Arcadia Empire was strong but seemingly ineffective against opponents that contained a lot of powerful beings.

Normally, the armies attacking the Skycrown Gate didn't contain so many Greater Daemons and Noble Daemons. Typically speaking, there were maximally a few Greater Daemons and maybe one or two Noble Daemons.

"As I am seeing this father, this would be a topic for the Landsraad or maybe even Great Convention Council..."

His son Jubstacheit arrived shortly after because he, too, left the battlefield as now all of the powerful enemies at Level 4 or above were already dead.

The Great Convention Council was something that was called only a few times during the existence of the Holy Arcadia Empire. It was basically a boosted-up version of the Landsraad; just there were many more people attending aside from the Nobility of the Empire.

Vladislaus Draculya-Tepes knew that a few decades ago, somebody proposed to create a new elite force within the Imperial Military, mainly to create a new breed of super soldiers, even Level above Reiksgarde or Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church.

Unfortunately, it went into nothingness because there was, technically speaking, no need for such radical measure, and the Healing Church also wasn't that much thrilled at that.

'It seems that the fusion of Religious Power and Imperial Power is inevitable after this...'

There were rumors that sooner or later, the Emperor would fuse the two types of power into one, directly under the Divine Authority of the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.

It was progressing slowly, but the process started a few decades ago when even the Emperor changed his official title to the Holy Imperator and the state was approaching more and more theocracy...

This, technically speaking, wasn't really good news for the Nobles because the already immense power of the Imperial House would be so strong that there would be basically no chance of any kind of opposition.

'It seems that some things are really inevitable...'

With that being said, the battle of today was won.

Hail the Victorious dead!

***

MC POV

Several hours later, after the battle ended, I was listening to the reports of losses. Thanks to Magic and famed Imperial Bureaucracy, counting dead wasn't any problem... at least from the technical side, because it was my least favorite aspect of the battle.

"The 11th Imperial Legion has suffered 18,645 deaths; the 6th Imperial Legion suffered 4,599 deaths, Provincial Army suffered 9,411 deaths. From Household Guards of the Noble Houses of Grand Province, there are varied, but they are around 3,000 or so... Aside from these..."

The Elector Count of Grand Province of Sylvania was reporting the numbers, as I saw there General Rundstedt of the House Rundstadt, who commanded the 6th Imperial Legion, and General Tamuc of the 11th Imperia Legion.

Siegfried Tamuc of the Viceroy House Tamuc of the Grand Principality of Reikland, but had the appearance of a typical Fenrisian because his father was actually from the Grand Province of Fenris, from the House Lothbrok.

His 2.5-metre height made him look like a veritable pillar himself, and the tens of little brown pigtails for his beard that were blowing in the wind did nothing to diminish his image. The gemstones, metal rings, animal teeth, and other such trinkets braided into his beard clanged against each other in the wind.

"Aside from these... 71 members of the Reiksgarde perished on the battlefield and 67 Holy Knight Executioners also perished. Deaths from the Silver Knight Order have reached 2,789."

Hearing those losses made me realize that they were indeed too high; it was unusual but also understandable because rarely do so many high-leveled entities participate in one battle, as most of the Reiksgarde and Holy Knights perished against the Greater Daemons and Daemon Nobles.

In the end, they were Level 3 beings, and even with their superior training and equipment, going against Level 4 Greater Daemon was extremely dangerous, especially when the Greater Daemon was blessed by the Chaos God of Blood and Skulls.

The sole good thing was that due to the system I created within the Empire, replenishing the losses would take only a short time. Every single citizen of the Holy Arcadia Empire was required to learn how to fight and actively practice, or else there were sanctions.

The Reiksgarde and Holy Knights would replenish their numbers from the Silver Knight Order, who in turn would recruit from the Imperial Legions, who would recruit from the Provincial Armies and the Provincial Armies would recruit from the broader population of the province.

This created rather a sturdy wheel when replenishing deceased soldiers relatively easily and fast, so I estimated that within a few upcoming weeks or, maximally, months in the case of Reiksgarde and Holy Knights, the numbers would return back where they were.

Still, the 11th Imperial Legion suffered the biggest losses for the past few centuries, not only within the Legion itself but this could be said to be the biggest losses from a singular battle considering the number of Legions and other Units participating within it.

"That would be all gentlemen..."

I was woken up from my train of thoughts when every pair of eyes turned on me.

"This battle pointed to the ineffectiveness of the Imperial forces when dealing with an opponent that has far more high-leveled entities within their ranks... aside from the pure fact that something is happening in the Abyss. First thing was Daemon Lord Demogorgon, whom I killed in the continent of Westeros and now this..."

People here weren't surprised to hear that the Daemon Lord Demogorgon was killed by me, even though it happened only a short time ago. But, considering the gravity of such information, I knew that immediately it happened, it was relayed back to the Homeland.

Everyone could see that something was happening in the Abyss, but nobody could tell what exactly was happening in there.

"Is it something related to the Great Game or not?"

The Great Game is the name given by the servants of Chaos to the endless struggle for influence and dominance in the Realm of Chaos the Abyss, the Dark Lands, and across many of the mortal worlds out there.

In the civilized realms of the material plane, where the Four Major Chaos Gods, their Daemon servants and, their various mortal Chaos Champions and other followers clash in the endless wheels of carnage and death.

Many legends mention the "Great Game", a mythical contest of war and wits fought between the four Ruinous Powers. The Dark Gods ally with one another only when it suits them and often fights against each other for the most spurious reasons.

Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle, and Khorne constantly compete to become the most powerful of the Chaos Gods. They are united only in their determination to finally destroy the Material Plane or conquer some mortal planet.

The Great Game is played out in three arenas. The first was naturally the Abyss itself, then it was the entirety of the Material Plane and the third were their own personal kingdoms, known as the Realms of Chaos.

Within the Realm of Chaos, the four major gods send armies of their Daemons and the most powerful of their mortal champions to assault each other's domains. However, the defenses surrounding their infernal kingdoms are almost impossible to breach.

The second theatre was the entire Material Plane, where the forces of the Ruination were invading the planets and nothing suspecting worlds that fell into the Chaos. Rarely the worlds were powerful enough even to defend, not to mention to push back the forces of the Dark Gods.

"It is highly possible... Reports from Marian Cross indicate that either one of Four is making a major move or there is someone attempting to become a new Chaos God."

Aside from the Four Major Chaos Gods, there were many Minor Chaos Gods, but the Minor Chaos Gods were actually not of that importance because they were not really that powerful and they actually feared to set foot on the premises of the Azyr.

The last time one attempted to do so was killed by Lord Gwyn during his Apotheosis, so the Minor Chaos Gods were a bit reluctant to do so.

"That is highly disturbing, Your Majesty."

The Elector Count of Grand Province Sylvania said as others wholeheartedly agreed with him.

"Yes, it is... but there is nothing we could do about it; we don't have any means to influence the happenings in the Abyss... though there is actually one thing we can do."

I then remembered one of the reports I got from the Directorate of the Imperial Military Intelligence.

"After the reformation of the military forces and elite Units, I plan to launch a systematic attack against the Skaven."

The Skaven, sometimes known as the ramen, the Ratkin, the Children of the Horned Rat, or the Underfolk, are a malevolent and diabolical race of large, intelligent, humanoid rats that inhabit a massive, inter-continental, subterranean empire known in their tongue simply as the Under-Empire.

At the very heart of Skavendom lies the horrific city of Skavenblight, the ratmen's capital city and the probable birthplace of the Skaven race. Most of their territory is within the Dark Lands of the Lordran, but there are many places, even within the territory of the Holy Arcadia Empire, where they took root.

"You suspect that this upheaval has something to do with the Great Horned Rat?"

General Rundstedt asked as I nodded because that was what the reports indicated.

"Actually, yes... While we know that as right as now, the Great Horned Rat is one of the Minor Chaos Gods, we have confirmed that its powers are greatly increasing and its Pantheon is getting stronger; maybe the happenings within the Abyss have something to do with the Skaven."

Skaven were the scourge of the Lordran, and they were constantly embroiled in conflict against the Dwarves of Khaz-Modan and Fenrisian of the Grand Province of Fenris, as those were two mountainous areas of the Empire.

"Dwarves would be pleased when they heard about making a move on the Skaven..."

Yes, they would, but we would need to hit them systematically, breaking their strongholds under other Provinces because right now, Reikland was the sole province where there was no Skaven presence underneath.

The Reiksgarde and Holy Knights made sure of it, but the last time it was checked was a few decades ago, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Skaven stronghold even underneath the Reikland as they reproduced with the speed of light.

"Yes, they would... but we need to prepare for that properly... the Skaven are an underlying danger to the integrity of the Holy Arcadia Empire, and we need to push them back into the Dark Lands."

If we push back the Skaven into the Dark Lands, we can get hands-on access to their underground lairs and pathways, which could very well reach the other continents.

Perhaps, reaching even the of ends of the Essos, Sothoryos, Ulthos or any other landmasses that may or may not exist within the Azyr.

***

3rd POV

Faust, the City of Miracles, around the same time

The battle of the Skycrown Gate has been going on for some time already, and during the time Karl Franz was away, his newest fianceé was left in the Blackrose Castle as she was familiarizing herself with the new environment and also physical changes...

The digestion of the Old Blood always drastically improved the physical attributes of the person who drank the Old Blood, so one needed a lot of time until they once again learned how to control their physical strength.

But for that, the Healing Church was kind enough to send a teacher for Cersei, who was right now a small bundle of nerves, considering the fact that her fianceé went to a dangerous war and the fact that she probably developed an unhealthy obsession with the man.

And the teacher was none other than Vicar Amelia because the Healing Church felt that something was amiss with the situation and wanted to take advantage of it; every player always wanted to get an edge in the game.

Cersei was the daughter of Tywin Lannister; she wasn't that stupid to see that they were attempting to use her because of her lack of background within the Holy Arcadia Empire, either the Byrgenwerth or the Healing Church...

But she was rather okey with it, no matter how pissing off it was to her, but at the same time, she was also using them to obtain more power and build her own support base.

"You are doing well, my child. You have taken to the control lessons very fast, but achieving even greater control over your power would require more time. Still, to be able to reach level 3 through the First Blood Ministration is an impressive feat, even considering the wider Imperium."

Vicar Amelia wasn't flattering her right now, but just telling the truth because people rarely reached higher than Level 2 in the First Blood Ministration.

"Do you have any news from the Skycrown Gate?"

During the past few hours that her fianceé was away, she was very nervous; Cersei had a hard time admitting that she grew very fond of her fianceé. Not only because for the first time, someone actually asked her what she wanted to do, but he also spent a lot of time with her and entertained her whims.

Allowed her to train, taught her, laughed with her, and sparred with her.

"Actually, yes. The battle has been won and under control; his Holy Majesty would return back to the Faust soon enough."

Vicar Amelia said to soothe her nerves as the young daughter of House Lannister relaxed considerably.

"But for now, you should focus on training more because if not, then your opportunity to sneak into His Majesty's bed wouldn't come."

Soon enough, the young woman blushed in mild embarrassment because the sole reason she didn't really sleep with her fianceé was that her physique couldn't withstand it.