CHAPTER 90: WRATH OF SERENA

SERENA MAIZONO

5 MONTHS AGO

It’s been fifteen minutes since my dragon knight dropped himself down to the foot of the castle. I no longer hear explosions or screams from soldiers, not even gunshots or clashing metals. The royal castle of Elysia has been quiet for a while now. I’m still hovering around the top of the castle, checking for any signs of activity. 

I’m sad that we really had to siege our home country this way. I’ve been here in this very castle back when I was a human pop star, together with my friend and colleague Mayline, mostly as guests. We also used to perform in this castle when we were in high school, and the smiles of the dukes and duchesses of this country gave joy to our hearts. It's so sorrowful that it has come to be this way right now.

Suddenly, I sensed something big and invisible vessel approaching. My eyes and ears may be lying, but I can still trust my intuition that there is something hidden above the air. I have felt this same thing when we raided on Cheng Du’s party. I won’t let anyone escape.

“Sword of Camelot!” I raised my hand. With my Elform ready, I channeled energy at the northeast side to create a gigantic golden portal. The portal immediately became the entrance of the gigantic Excalibur, and it immediately fired to the unseen object that is right above the castle.

There was a huge explosion as the invisible cloak was dispelled because of the sudden attack. As I thought, there was an invisible airship floating above the castle. Now that my gigantic sword has pierced the airship’s main core engines, the airship immediately fell down and crashed towards the side of the castle.

I immediately sensed some activity at the topmost part of the castle, so I immediately surged and breached the windows for my entrance. Shattered glass showered upon the place as I sassily landed, tiptoeing with my feet on the white tiles inside the castle. 

“Step,” I muttered to myself. Then I raised my head and looked at the person I wanted to see the most in this raid.

Ten meters in front of me is a woman wearing the empress’ crown of Elysia. Her reddish-brown hair, silky smooth white skin, and voluptuous body shape make her a beautiful woman that can make every men fall in love with her. Now that I have seen her personally for the second time, I can no longer doubt as to why Xenon-senpai fell in love with her in the past.

Marisse Trystgade-Eldritch is groveling on the ground, her head pointed at the very center of this floor. There was an altar that is dedicated to a peculiar thing: a small coffin. Above the small coffin is a picture of a cute infant, and beside the picture are white candles and flowers that are used to mourn the dead.

“You should have picked a better time and place to seize this castle.” Marisse Trystgade muttered. “Don’t you see that I’m still mourning with my baby’s death?”

“I’m sorry, but you have to be stopped. I feel bad for what happened to your child, but you need to pay for your sins.” I bowed.

“You’re the one to talk. You took Paul from me. You will be the one who will be paying for your sins, you filthy bitch!”

Marisse Trystgade stood up and turned to me. Her eyes glared at me with menace, yet there are endless tears flowing from it. Her small black irises are flaming but lifeless, and she looks like she’s going to slaughter anyone from her sight. But even though with such a threat and provocative gesture, I will not be fazed.

“Xenon is not yours, to begin with. You threw him like used garbage, and you’re the mastermind of his death. You have no right to say that!” I cried furiously.

“He’s mine, and mine alone! Even after his death, I knew he would love me! Our love knows no boundaries! Even if I cheated with him, I knew he would still love and forgive me!” Marisse shouted like crazy.

There’s no use in arguing this woman. She’s in a severe state of trauma, and her denial and delusions would prove that she is no longer in her sound mind. Combined with the stress of being alone in this very room and the war going on in this capital, I knew she was nothing but a madwoman. His husband is not even here to defend her. This is a favorable event for me as we can have all the time to talk. I need an answer to the one thing that has been troubling my mind.

“Your highness…” I bowed down as I clenched my fists. “Are you responsible… for Mayline Leviticus’ death?”

“Oh, Mayline Leviticus?” Marisse Trystgade tilted her head. “That sassy cutesy bitch? I have nothing to do with it. You should have heard the news. She committed suicide, remember?” Then she made a grin.

“Liar!!!” I cried out loud, my tears sprinkling on the air. I immediately forged a short sword on my right and pointed at her direction. “You’re lying! You are responsible for her death!”

“And how could you say so? There is no doubt that she hanged herself due to stress. Maybe she got whispered by her conscience for betraying you in the past.” Marisse crossed her arms while maintaining her smile.

“No! You’re the one who killed her! You compelled her to kill herself!” I raged. “Mayline sent me a letter about the horrible things you have done to her! She told me that you locked her up in a cage full of rapists! She told me that she became pregnant as a result of that! She told me how her career collapsed due to such scandal! You’re the sole reason why she committed suicide in the first place!”

“Hahaha! Hahaha!” Marisse Trystgade laughed as if it was a funny matter. “She could have just enjoyed all of it. Cutesy popstar bitches deserve to be men’s plaything, nothing more, nothing less!”

“Y-You…!!!” 

I made a heavy step forward. I have never felt this much anger in my life that I was already activating Avenger’s Wrath without my prior knowledge. Inside my mind, I want to rip this woman piece by piece, flesh by the flesh. To add salt to the emotional wound she gave me, Marisse talked again.

“It’s all your fault, Serena Maizono. If you only delivered yourself to us and became our babymaker, then Mayline should have been spared. You should’ve been the one who had that punishment.”

This is it. This is my limit. I’m going to kill her. I immediately dashed forward and readied my two short swords to slash her throat.

“You will pay for what you have done! There will be nothing left of your counterfeited cranium after this!” I cried out loud.

“Forge!” Marisse Trystgade magically created a golden rapier on her right hand, and then she made a centered fencing stance. “Come to me!”

My two short swords were immediately blocked by her golden rapier in the blink of an eye, then, the golden rapier moved so fast that it left afterimages!

“Trillion Thrust!” Marisse shouted. Countless golden streaks stabbed through my way and it ripped random parts of my clothes and ruptured random parts of my skin. 

“Kyah!” I fell and rolled to the ground as I was caught with her counterattack. Using Avenger’s Wrath and charging in recklessly is a bad idea as my enemy right now is a master of sword arts. Xenon told me that Marisse Trystgade is a great sword dancer, but I never expected her to be this good. If any, she’s much more experienced in sword combat than me.

“Oh, look at that sexy body,” Marisse said with a blush and a grin as she scanned my condition from afar. Right now, my battle kimono is tattered by her sword attack. My left shoulder, midriff, and my bra are now exposed. My skirt was already ripped, so I am currently displaying my underwear every time I make a movement. “After your defeat, I’ll execute you in public by displaying your naked body in the plaza and make you a plaything for everyone who has a lust towards you.”

This pervert knows how to run her mouth. I will no longer have mercy to her, as I will be going all out. I focused all my magical energy to gather enough nature force, making me transform into a blonde elf in a tight bodysuit. White wings spawned from my back as I levitated above ground. I magically created a sword and shield, which is the set of combat weapons I’m most comfortable with. With the balance of offense and defense and my ancient power of Elform, there is no way this bitch can defeat me.

Not giving her any time to react, I pointed my sword towards her and used my magic. “Endless Forge!”

Thousands of swords materialized on midair and surged towards the empress. In return, the bitch empress did her best to parry and block all the incoming swords that went towards her direction. “Trillion Thrust!” She shouted again as she deflected all the projectiles with her rapier’s tip.

She may have repelled my Endless Forge attack, but she has no way to block my next move! My Endless Forge is just a decoy to hide my true finisher for this fight!

“Showtime!” I charged forward with my shield and immediately teleported to her back. With my shield, I slammed the back of her head with a powerful push! Then I changed my weapon to lance, ax, mace, staff, yo-yo, and boomerang as I shifted to every direction, attacking her with each of my weapons! “S-E-R-E-N-A Maizono Medley!”

My finisher attack is a mini dwarf star that blasted towards the enemy. Thick smoke engulfed everything on this very floor, and the candles of the altar went off due to the extreme wind pressure.

Even with such an attack, Marisse Trystgade is still alive. However, she suffered several slices and bruises on her skin and flesh. Her empress gown is now also in tatters, and now she’s the one who looked like she just came from a strip club party.

“D...Damn, you almost killed me.” Marisse made a tired smile as she fell down on her knees, her rapier stuck on the ground as a support.

“This next attack will kill you!” I cried out loud as I forged a buster sword on my hands. Then I charged with my full force, ready to chop her head vertically. “Haaaaah!”

My sword went down, but it didn’t reach the enemy. There was a loud metallic clashing noise as a result of swinging my weapon to a wide metal that seems to be a shield. Somebody has gone between us and protected the empress from her death.

The blaster shield that blocked my attack is too familiar that I couldn’t believe it. To add suspense to my eyes, the shield slightly lifted, showing me a familiar face and a familiar voice.

“Serena, stop this.” He said.

“Xen… What are you doing?” I muttered in disbelief.