Zinya's kidnapping would have put Vastor out of the game which the Royals couldn't afford. He was their only Highmaster and the heaviest hitter the Kingdom had aside from the Queen's Corpse. Berion was in charge of the detail of Lith's family. Kidnapping him meant throwing into the gutter countless traps and preparations. As for Faluel, no one knew why, but Lith had demanded a detail for her and the allied forces had been forced to comply. Their deal still gave him absolute control over the joint armies and Lith couldn't risk Thrud getting control over the Hydra and with her the Hands of Menadion. "At this point, Thrud should have finished instructing Phloria and learned from her everything relevant to her goals." Lith pondered in the tower with his own War Council. "Yet there is no trace of her nor of the Golden Griffon. Why?" "More kidnappings?" Friya asked with a shrug. "No, there's nothing more she can obtain from us. Phloria gave out our secrets and Iata taught her troops Light Mastery. What need does Thrud have for another prisoner?" Quylla replied. "They would have already taken Zinya if they could and I doubt Thrud wants to face Tezka again." They had no video of the battle, but the reports from the witnesses spoke of a one-sided massacre. That and the kids going back home in time despite the kidnapping, proved that the team of Divine Beasts ambushing them had failed even to slow them. "I have no idea about what Thrud's cooking, but I bet it's going to be nasty." Faluel said. "Always keep your guard up and be ready for the worst. Maybe the Mad Queen really doesn't need more hostages but maybe she's going to use Phloria as bait." "Agreed." Solus nodded. "Phloria is our weak point since we want her alive whereas the slave array will make her go for the kill. Thrud can exploit our bond to capture or kill us one by one." "Whatever you do, please, let's avoid another Yurial." Quylla clenched her fist, her face turning pale as she vividly remembered the sensation of the knife slitting her friend's throat. "If Phloria kills one of us, she'll never forgive herself." *** Grand Duchy of Deirus, the day after. When the members of Lith's group heard the news, no one said it, but everyone thought to have jinxed the war by talking about their late friend. Thrud's army had reappeared at the borders of the former Grand Duchy where Yurial had lived. After Velan's death, there was no time to find a suitable replacement and the second most competent noble of the region had become ruler ad interim. Alas, Deirus had already started splitting the territories before his death and those who had received them didn't like losing their newfound authority so fast. It was Night's and Velan Deirus' parting gift. The Grand Duchy was internally divided and its military force weakened. Not even the war had made the various nobles see reason. The frontlines were far away enough to make the nobles consider all matters related to the war someone else's problem. Or so they thought until they found their own main hubs sieged. Thrud's army had cut through the bordering Remana region like a hot knife through butter, reaching Deirus in the space of a single night. "Idiots." Thrud said with a smile from her Throne room. "I'm done with the strategy of attrition. That had never been my real goal. It was just the means to stall for time while I completed my preparations. "I needed to finish turning my Generals into Divine Beasts and then I needed them to master their new bodies in actual combat. No matter how much I trained them, they were still green and used to fight as mere Emperor Beasts. "I had them exploit the immortality granted by the Unwavering Loyalty array to practice against opponents of increasing difficulty while those with Dragon Eyes collected stole spells and strategies. "This has never been a war so much as a boot camp. Now that my followers and I have learned everything we needed about ourselves and our enemies, it's time to pull the curtains off this farce." "I already have a superior force. My immortal army of Awakened and my Divine Beasts put me above the Council and the Royals. I only have two final obstacles, the academies and the relics left by Valeron the First. "Today, we'll take care of those damn academies." Meanwhile, on the battlefront, Phloria rode the Seven Headed Dragon Ufyl. She wore a brand-new Adamant uniform and Ufyl had even shapeshifted his armor to give her a saddle. It was a bit humiliating for him, but Thrud's army needed its own legends to keep the morale up. If the Kingdom had the Supreme Magus and the Golden Knight, the True Queen now had Phloria, the Dragon Knight. A mind link made them in one mind and one body. Or better, eight minds, one body, and Reaver. Each one of the seven heads of the Divine Beast had Dragon Eyes and they all shared and analyzed the acquired information with Phloria. Her blade allowed her to store two minutes' worth of spells of any tier except for Spirit Spells. Together, they were a one Dragon Knight army. The Dragon Eyes scanned the defensive formations, identifying their weak spots that Phloria's spells and Ufyl's Origin Flames targeted with surgical precision. No siege was needed to take cities down. Thrud's army waited comfortably at a safe distance until they cracked the current target open as a nut. Once the defensive arrays were weakened, Phloria used her Blade Tier spell, Omnislash to blast through the city gates. At that point, the still fresh and rested army walked in. Walls and protections were pointless and the elemental sealing arrays didn't trouble the Forgotten's Spirit Magic. Phloria and Ufyl had cleared the path to Deirus in a single night this way. Thrud's troops seemed to be endless, securing the newly seized cities while the Dragon Knight moved forward. "Idiots." Thrud laughed out loud, her eyes not crying for the first time since Jormun's death. "The Royals had no problem taking my lands in the north because I let them. The moment I understood that I couldn't stop Verhen, I decided to exploit him as a cover. "Instead of wasting my forces in a losing battle, I had them relocating and readying for the next phase of my plan. Those regions never had any real importance. While the Royals waste time and manpower to keep them secure, I'll strike to their heart." "The word brilliant isn't enough to describe your genius, Your Majesty." Iata, the Generals, and the finally healed Hystar gave her a round of applause. Thrud couldn't afford to have the Headmaster injured when she needed the Golden Griffon the most. "We have suffered a lot, but the end of the war is now in sight. It was worth it." The Sekhmet said. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 "Still, I can't believe that a single person could make this much of a difference." Linnea pointed at the hologram of the Dragon Knight. "Really?" Thrud replied with a sneer. "Why do you think I invested so much into kidnapping her and Vastor?"