"Never blame malice for what

can be explained by incompetence."



When it became clear that Victor had gone further than any of his predecessors had ever dared, Faria had almost turned into a ghost town.

No one had the courage to leave the house or raise a word of objection.

The Ducal Guards were loyal to the will of their ruler unto death, and Captain Glassman who led them was a fanatic who would raid even the infernal realms in Eirinn's name.

It was he who solemnly announced to the population that the old Grand Duke had attempted a coup to regain power and hand the country over to the invaders, and that after being executed as the traitor that he was, power had returned permanently to the hands of his son.

The only reason why Victor had not yet put a lance in the hands of every inhabitant of the city was because he and Glassman feared possible riots; and after all, the garrison and what was left of the army were more than enough to maintain order and ensure continuous surveillance.

Naturally, with the loss of all territories outside the capital and its surroundings, food had also started to run out, and hunger only managed to make the situation even more dramatic.

For his part, Victor felt absolutely safe; after all, he himself had remained astonished by the frightening power of that magical weapon that his family had guarded since ancient times.

If only his ancestors had been less fearful in using it, he told himself after seeing its power, perhaps Eirinn would not have been reduced to being a vassal of the Empire for more than a hundred years.

Surely, others would eventually find out what he had done, but at that moment he didn't care either about the excommunication or the judgment of those cowardly councilors. Instead, all he could think about was that with the power of the Spear, the reunification of Eirinn and its return to Erthea's major powers was no longer just a dream.

At night this thought lulled him better than a song, and for this reason one morning he was not at all happy to be woken up just before sunrise by the alarm bells.

"What's going on?" he grumbled at the soldier standing guard outside the door

"The enemy, sir. Free State troops are ahead of Faria."

"What!?"

The boy put on his robe and ran to the balcony, seeing in the distance a myriad of troops marching in order out of the forest to the west of the walls.

"Your Grace." Glassman exclaimed as he entered the room.

"Does that madman really think he can take this city? He obviously hasn't understood what power I have yet."

"He must have something in mind. With your permission I would still like to put our army into defense position."

"Go ahead, if you want. But it will be useless. One blow from the Spear, and I'll wipe them away once and for all."



Daemon stared at the walls in front of him with the knowledge of someone who was, in effect, playing dice with fate.

The plan he had devised to take Faria and put an end to the war could rightly be said to be completely crazy, as Adrian had promptly pointed out to him.

But there was nothing else to do; that was the only solution.

As suggested by Septimus, he and his entire army had completed the last part of the march in the middle of the night, well protected by the thick forest, arriving in sight of the city at the first light of dawn.

To minimize the risk of being spotted, each army had proceeded on its own along a different path, despite everything managing to coordinate their movements almost perfectly and reunifying the army immediately before leaving the forest.

Now they were ready for the last battle.

Everything had been carefully planned, and from then on everything was in the hands of fate; if even one step hadn't gone right, they would all be dead within a few minutes.

"We are all in your hands, Lady Valera. And I thank you for assisting us."

"I will do everything I can to put an end to this madness. But you remember your promise."

"You have my word that we will in every way avoid harming the innocents."

Daemon nodded, and after grouping themselves into the closest possible ranks, all the armies began to advance to the rhythm of drums, flutes and trumpets, marching at a brisk pace and waving their flags.

Such a display of confidence aroused the amazement of the soldiers on the walls, but also the anger of Victor.

"Do you think you can impress me? Grouped together like this they will only be an easier target!"

But that was only part of the plan; the real surprise that left everyone speechless was what happened a few seconds later, when Victor had already started to channel the energy he needed to use the Spear.

Preceded by a shrill and very loud scream, a wyvern appeared from the heart of the forest, rising into flight and heading straight towards the city.

"I can't believe it! Don't tell me he can even control a wyvern now!?"

"Your Grace, we must hurry! If that animal attacks the city it could decimate our men!"

Daemon actually wanted to order Louis to do something like that, but issuing such a command was beyond what that beast could be trained for. Not to mention the compromise that Daemon had to accept to obtain Sylvie's help and which prevented him from acting in this sense.

But there were other ways to make use of such an important and precious resource, like the one that had allowed them to cut supplies to Grote Muren in just a few hours, starting the counteroffensive against Eirinn.

And even in this it had been necessary to accept compromises, since everyone knew that the harpies were almost completely blind in the dark; for this reason, it had been necessary to wait for the first rays of sun to begin the operation.

Like knights aboard an enormous, winged horse, Xylla and her thirty companions soared over the battlefield until they found themselves above Faria, flying high enough to be beyond the reach of any weapon.

They were all wearing spider armors and leather hoods, and two of the more robust ones also had rather heavy bags knotted around their chests.

"Remember the plan. Sonya and Niobe, you and your team distract the enemies. Hecuba, Kata and I will go to the amphitheater with the others."

The harpy who was whispering in the wyvern's ear turned to the others.

"Captain! It's time!"

"Comrades, let's fly!"

Then Xylla and the other harpies leapt down with outstretched wings, descending upon Faria like angels from heaven; they couldn't fly, but this did not prevent them from gliding with precision in the safest and least manned points of the city, including the large palace gardens.

Xylla fell on a soldier, literally opening him in two with her claws, and then began to tear apart all the soldiers who tried to stop her and her companions.

Victor and the commander of his guards were speechless.

"They want to try to reach the Spear! Stop them now!"

Glassman then left the room to rush to give the orders, leaving Victor alone; the young man would have liked to wait until the enemy army was a little closer to enjoy Daemon's ruin more closely, but at that point it was better to close the matter as soon as possible.

"And now, die!"



The moment a glow appeared in the rosy dawn sky behind the high tower of Faria's palace, Daemon ordered his troops to stop, grouping them into an even tighter formation.

"Lady Valera, it's your turn!"

The sorceress forcefully shook her staff, and at the same moment in which the ray of light produced by the Spear rose towards the sky she called upon all the power she had at her disposal, generating a magical shield so much large that it enclosed the entire army within it.

Fear was in the air; everyone knew how powerful Lady Valera's magic was, but after seeing what the Spear was capable of, it was impossible not to wonder if this would be enough to protect them.

The script, which took place in complete silence on the part of the Free State soldiers, was the same as the first time. The Spear's power flew towards the celestial spheres, and the steel eagle eye promptly redirected it to the earth.

"Here it comes!"

This time it was a near-perfect hit. As soon as it hit the shield, the beam dispersed in every direction, enveloping everything in a dazzling light and producing a powerful shock wave that completely eradicated an abandoned farm nearby.

But despite everything, Sylvie's shield resisted, remaining active until the ray ran out of power and dispersed; Inside, everything remained intact.

"We're alive!"

The most amazed was certainly Victor, and it only took a few seconds for his amazement to turn into anger.

"But how the hell did he do it?"

But unfortunately for the rebels the good news ended here; time was short, and from the conditions she had forced herself into to create that barrier it was pretty clear that Sylvie would never be able to create another one like it.

"There's no time to celebrate!" Daemon said starting his stopwatch. "All army, advance at double pace!"

"Yes, Commander!"

"I hope for our sake that your plan goes as planned." Adrian said in an unusually dark tone. "Because otherwise we'll all be dead in fifteen minutes anyway."

Although the attack had failed, however, Victor's anger quickly ran out, strong in the certainty of still having a clear advantage over the enemy.

"You saved yourselves the first time." he said as his ring, after turning black, slowly began to resume its blood-red color "But don't hope to get away with it again!"



After gathering as many Ducal Guards as possible - no easy feat given the mess those damned harpies were making around the city - Glassman hurriedly reached the door to the Spear room, expecting to end up in the middle of a battle at any moment.

Instead, the situation at the temple was absolutely calm.

"Where's the enemy!?"

"Commander, no one has been seen here."

"Impossible, this is the only way to reach the Spear. It's obvious those harpies are trying to get to this place."

"Perhaps, but I repeat that they have not arrived here yet. Maybe the other guards around the gardens have already defeated them."

"Boy, if you had ever hunted harpies in your life, you would know that it takes more than a few rookies to take those beasts down."

However, this raised a problem: did the enemy not know how to access the Spear? Maybe they were blindly looking for another entrance?

No, their attack was too much coordinated for them to not know what they were doing.

Then the Captain remembered a story that General Lefde had told him, about the famous door that no one knew how to open; and he also remembered that he had overheard a couple of guards talking about a very strange thing that had happened shortly after the Spear had been activated for the first time.

"Shit! Quick, open that door!"

"Sir?"

"Those damned harpies are already inside!"



No one could know how long the secondary hatch would remain open, so Daemon had been clear that Xylla and her companions needed to be there before the Spear was activated.

Luckily no one had bothered to guard that side of the gardens, so getting there had been very easy and had caused no losses.

From there the Hollow Tower was just a few dozen meters away, and witnessing the terrifying power of the Spear so close up had been a terrifying sight that had left the harpies astounded.

"Let us hope that Lord Daemon survived." Hecuba had said once the ray dissolved

"Don't even think about it! He will do it! And we must do our part if we want to win!"

Then, a few seconds later, the circular eagle-shaped mosaic in the center of the amphitheater opened on its own, revealing a tunnel that descended almost vertically into the depths of the earth.

A shiny vapor appeared from the hole making air heavy and dizzy, and it was a good thing that the harpies' immune systems could resist even the miasma.

"Let's go, come on!"

Going down had not been easy at all, because the tunnel, in addition to being very steep, was made of the same smooth material as the tower, which not even the claw of a harpy could scratch.

Nonetheless, the six companions finally managed to reach the stone room, taking the five magicians and the few soldiers present by surprise. The order was not to harm those who surrendered, but this did not stop Xylla from also attacking those who tried to escape, until they were all dead.

Seen up close, the Lance was even larger than one might have imagined; it was nearly fifteen feet high, and its surface was rough and wrinkled, like a crudely sharpened stone.

"Be careful with those." Xylla said as her two companions opened their bundles. "Daemon said the fuses are soaked in oil. All it takes is a spark for them to light up."

"Will we be able to get out of here in time?" Kata asked of her as she positioned her container beneath the stone, just before a spear that appeared out of nowhere pierced her right in the chest, killing her instantly.

Xylla and the others suddenly found themselves being attacked by about twenty soldiers and Ducal Guards who rushed against them all together brandishing spears, swords and clubs.

Despite being outnumbered, the five girls defended themselves admirably, managing to massacre many enemies; but the moment Xylla caught a glimpse of Glassman in the chaos of battle, her face contorted into an expression of pure hatred.

"You!"