Outside the city of Argos, an army stood underneath the moon’s illumination. There was no official declaration of war or notice, there was simply an army that had appeared. Even the guards atop the wall were briefly stunned into stillness.

Liliara eyed the city wall meant to serve as protection and turned to Casimir with a mischievous grin.

“Doing a little damage to the city’s wall won’t be the end of the world, no?” Liliara, equipped with her ominous black armor, asked in a casual manner.

“I don’t think so,” Casimir replied while knowing that his sister would hardly stop at only a little damage.

Liliara seemed to take his affirmation as a signal, raising her bident before throwing it at the stone wall like a furious god. The moment the bident made contact with the wall, it collapsed like a brittle clump of mud.

Liliara smirked at the sight before her body moved forward, starting the assault on Argos. Casimir followed behind her and the dragonkin didn’t hesitate in moving forward either. As befitting those with inhuman strength, a few powerful leaps put them inside of the city and that was the moment Liliara had begun her massacre of the surprised guards, sword masters, and aura masters. The fleeing citizens were the only people given quarter as she didn’t even look in their direction.

Liliara swung her bident toward an aura master who managed to defend against the powerful blow with some effort. His stifled grunt and late recovery made it clear something inside of him had been damaged.

“Ah?” Liliara immediately showed interest and used her power of control.

A red circle spread out around her and the aura surrounding the man shattered like glass. Seeing him fail to withstand her power, she pierced him through with her bident before flinging his body away like trash.

“Come with me, Casimir. The rest of you should be well aware of your objectives.”

With that, the two of them distanced themselves from the area with incredible speed.

“You heard the Sovereign,” One of the dragonkin spoke as he lifted his swordspear. “We cannot disappoint her!”

The rest of the dragonkin exclaimed loudly as they set off to find any influential figures or strong warriors lurking about.

…

Elsewhere, the lycans had begun making short work of Argos’ guards. There was no sense of technique or finesse to their attacks, just an animalistic assault that involved lots of blood. Reva headed the charge. Truth be told, there was no better calvary than a pack of werewolves and she demonstrated that as she and a few others tore through guards like nothing.

Reva stood over one of the guards and lifted him into the air, her claws sunk into his metal chest plate and crumpled it.

“Ah! Aaaah! Shit!” The guard writhed in pain until Reva’s jaws ripped open his neck, allowing only a horrid choking sound to emerge.

As if to show she was done, she tore the guard in half with ease, throwing each half toward the remaining guards who had pressed themselves against the wall. Their morale was non-existent at that point and the only thing stopping them from retreating further was the fact they had reached a dead end.

Suddenly, Reva jumped out of the way just before someone came crashing down, kicking up dust and stone as they did.

“Sir Locke!” A man cried, one of the guards who now seemed to be full of relief.

“Stay calm,” Locke muttered as he rose from the cloud of dust. “If they bleed like us then they can die like us.”

The newest entrant did have the look of a hero about him, a handsome face and bright eyes, and for his apparent age, he appeared to have a great deal of talent.

Locke flicked his sword, drawing a line of blood on the ground. His eyes fell on Reva who growled, ignoring the fresh wound over her face. She was quite surprised that a human managed to land an attack but she was in no way scared. In fact, she subconsciously let out a bloodthirsty growl as the instinctive urge to attack him filled her mind.

“I would be disappointed if no one managed to put up a fight.” She muttered in a bestial tone.

“Oh? They can talk?” Locke showed a look of surprise but remained completely calm.

At the very least, he was no ordinary aura master. After he finished speaking, he immediately began his attack. A blue crescent traveled forward with his swing and nearly struck Reva who twisted her large body to avoid it.

Right after, Locke had dashed forward in the blink of an eye and swung his sword downward but only made contact with Reva’s claws. The blue aura covering his longsword greatly enhanced the strength of his blow as the ground underneath Reva was filled with web-like cracks. With a deafening roar, she forced Locke upward in a show of brute strength. He recovered himself while in the air, positioning himself to land on his feet.

His thoughts raced as he kept his eyes on Reva and the rest of the lycans who lurked in the distance, watching the fight with eagerness.

‘It seems as if she controls them,’ He noted, finding that none of them moved to help her.

The hierarchy of the lycans was based on strength and if she lost the fight, it would be as good as tarnishing the reputation of her clan.

Bearing that in mind, Reva not only wanted to deal with Locke herself, but she had to. If she didn’t prove herself at every opportunity her entire family would lose influence among the lycans. Reva snarled, lowering her body as if she was about to perform a powerful lunge but she stopped moving and even took a step back before finally kneeling. The lycans at her side did the same without an obvious reason.

‘Hmm?’ Locke was, of course, confused by the sudden development but didn’t want the opportunity to land a fatal blow go to waste. Once his feet touched the ground, he reinforced his body with aura and shot forward. Reva didn’t even flinch as he bore down on her with the intention of killing her in one swift and decisive strike.

Just as his sword arrived at her neck, it was stopped. Or, more accurately, it was blocked. A figure in black armor had gripped the sword with her bare hands and halted all momentum behind what would be a life-ending blow against most people.

“You are surprisingly strong for a human.” Liliara’s cold voice assaulted Locke’s senses. A powerful bloodlust seemed to be interlaced with each word she spoke.

Before he knew it, his body began to scream under the sense of impending doom.

‘Run!’ His senses seemed to say to him. His eyes searched the thin visor of Liliara’s black helm for some sign of humanity in order to find some sense of humanity beyond it. The way she referred to him as human, made it clear she definitely was not one.

Liliara’s hand tightened around the aura-enforced blade that Locke’s wielded, immediately breaking it into pieces. Then, that same fist of hers struck Locke’s cheek, sending him sailing backward without a sense of direction. He drew out as much as his aura as he could muster before he smashed through a wall, and then another, and then one more, ultimately ending up in an entirely different part of the Argos.

Screaming filled the air around him as he searched his surroundings in a daze. The men and women fighting for Argos began to spontaneously combust into flames. At first, Locke felt as if he was in a nightmare, but the vivid smell of burnt flesh was too real. He quickly came to his senses and saw the same figure in black armor standing over one of the plaza’s, clearly, she was the one who had set those guards ablaze without much effort.

And then, he felt as her eyes turned toward him which caused Locke to flee before his mind could even register anything else.

‘I have to go now!’ Ignoring the pain of a fractured jaw, he ran forward as fast as he could without looking back.

From above, Liliara stared down, observing the sight of a fleeing aura master as she spoke to Casimir.

“Would you deal with him, Casimir? I very much detest the sight of scurrying rodents,” Liliara spoke softly.

“Yeah, yeah.” Casimir sighed before leaping away.

Casimir overtook Locke and ended up waiting for the aura master in the distance. As soon as he heard Locke approaching, he lowered his shoulder and charged forward.

The young aura master was caught by surprise as he turned a corner only to slam into Casimir. The two seemed to bounce off of each other with Casimir taking a few steps back while Locke crashed into another wall.

Casimir shook off the shock of the impact and moved forward with his halberd. At the same time, Locke freed himself from the wall after being embedded in it and immediately began evading a series of deadly swings from a halberd.

Each time Casimir’s halberd touched something, it was smashed into pieces, speaking volumes of the deadly weight and force behind each strike. One could only imagine what would happen if the massive weapon made contact with their flesh. Locke proved to be skillful as he made use of his surroundings. Jumping onto anything he could during his attempt to flee.

Unfortunately, Locke couldn’t keep his streak of success and slipped up. His mistake allowed Casimir to bury his knee into the pit of Locke’s stomach. With the urge to survive at its highest, Locke pushed his aura to cover the point of contact and his vital organs. As a result of his quick thinking, Casimir’s strike which was only meant to slow his target down served to propel him in the opposite direction.

Casimir was taken by surprise as he watched Locke travel through the air after absorbing the impact and using it to bolster his momentum.

“So an aura can be used like that too?” Casimir nodded, seemingly understanding what Locke’s intentions were. He prepared to throw his halberd and kill Locke while he was in the air, but he noticed where Locke was landing and instead began to laugh to himself.

“What a lucky man,” He muttered as Locke fell into one of the waterways with a splash.

Casimir rested his halberd on his shoulder and headed back to Liliara. In his eyes, if someone was that desperate to escape, then they deserved at least a chance. That and, being someone with a powerful sense of smell made him hesitant to jump into the filthy water just to kill one man.

Casimir arrived in plaza only to spot Liliara’s bident impaling a rotund man to the wall. He let out a shriek as he suddenly caught fire and began to burn on the spot.

“Did you manage to catch him?” Liliara asked, her hands wrapped around the throat of some poor swordsman. A fire erupted from her palm and incinerate the man’s body in a split second.

“No, he actually managed to make it into the waterways,” Casimir replied while rubbing his nose sheepishly.

“I can only imagine he’ll escape to some other city and inform them of what occurred,” Liliara mused as she retrieved her bident from the chest of the charred corpse.

“Should we pursue him, Sovereign?” Reva, now in her human form, bowed.

“There’s no need, Reva. Is it not the perfect time for the rest of this continent to learn about the existence of my Imperium? There is no better announcement than the razing of one of their most prolific cities.”

With caution to the wind, Liliara revealed unshakeable confidence. She wasn’t ignorant to the possibility of a retaliatory attack, but it would come much later if at all. She didn’t think there’d be anyone foolish enough to rush toward her territory without acquiring information beforehand. Of course, she’d increase lycanthrope patrols around her borders to prevent any scouts from getting anything useful.

“Understood.” Reva lowered her head more before returning to the fray.

Far off in the distance, the dragonkin dealt with the remaining sword masters who were the only thing keeping the groups of guards from breaking. Liliara and Casimir simply watched as the city was razed, with only a few key areas surviving.

By the time the sun had risen, the fires had died out and bodies littered the streets. The people of Argos were driven from their homes and shackled together in lines that included dozens of people. Stores of jewelry, gold, silver, priceless weapons, aura cultivation methods, spellbooks, antique armors, and most importantly, food, were looted in droves. Caravans of wagons were formed to transport the spoils of battle back to Liliara’s growing Imperium.

As the entire ordeal slowly came to close, Reva returned, intoning a report as she stopped in front of Liliara.

“No casualties among your soldiers, Sovereign. There were some wounded in the fight, but they’ll recover within the hour given their regenerative capabilities. Additionally, some of the stronger aura masters managed to escape with their lives.”

“Good,” Liliara replied, pleased with how everything turned out.

Honestly speaking, there was almost no chance for victory on the enemy side when the Lycanthropes removed the chain of command. The various sword masters and aura masters were skillful combatants, but they weren’t very good leaders, especially considering that the very normal city guards wouldn’t be of much help against stronger opponents. Fear and surprised also played a part in their victory seeing as Lycanthropes were never seen until that night.

Casimir stared at the city which carried no trace of its previous image. The chaotic and bustling mercantile hub was reduced to a smoldering shadow. Even if it had been in a steep decline from its former glory days, it was still a massive source of trade. The absence would have a heavy impact on the rest of the kingdoms and cities present on the continent. This was also a part of Liliara’s considerations as she had plundered nearly all of Argos. If she could move quickly enough and become an alternative to the former trade city, she would gain a massive amount of influence as many merchants would be forced to do business with her.

‘As expected of her, Liliara is as keen as always,’ Casimir thought, glancing toward his sister who only seemed a bit satisfied. ‘Knowing her, this is just the beginning.’

“Casimir,” Liliara interrupted her brother’s thoughts.

“Yes?”

“You should head back ahead of us. If you wish to reach the Ravenport Territory within the next few days you’ll need an early start.”

“Ah, I guess I should.” Casimir nodded. “Thank you for everything, Liliara.”

“Please, I hardly did anything.” Liliara embraced her brother without hesitation, a warm smile on her face all the while. Casimir returned the gesture while feeling nothing but appreciation for his sister.

When she distanced herself from him, her face suddenly turned serious, “I do hope that when we next greet each other, it will be with weapons rather than smiles.”

“Our feelings are mutual then,” Casimir said with a refreshing grin.

It was a sentence that would sound crazy when said by anyone else, but both Liliara and Casimir hoped they would be able to fight each other with little to no restraint.

“Take care, Lili.” Casimir gave a final wave before departing.

Now alone, Liliara surveyed her first major military accomplishment but could only feel less satisfied than before.