Chapter 134 - Civil War - 6 (Bridge Assault)

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With Nius' powerful attack that was used as a signal for the Black Army officers, Bolt, after signalling his men to start the Royal Bridge Gates, was among the first to charge against an enemy taken by surprise.

Sofiya was also among the first people to charge for the bridge, valiantly alongside Bolt and the soldiers.

Meanwhile, on the top of the building close to the bridge, the officers belonging to the Marksman's Battalion, who got their balance from the quake, sent the transmission with their snails for the assault to start.

Olmon was among those officers who received instructions from Sofiya to be in charge of the battalion while she was away.

"Guys, set your aims, and when the ground people get to the bridge gate, open fire, clear the first line of defence while they are unprepared."

"Understood, sir." replied most of the soldiers on the high ground using their dial snails in synchrony.

Olmon set his sight on the bridge and looked at the bridge guards, who numbered in about 200 people, and later at the ground soldiers who moved like ghosts. Among them, he could see a silhouette of a woman.

"Your Grace, what are you doing there? Are you out of your mind, aren't you a marksman?" called out the officer while observing Sofiya's moves in the lead of the assault.

Olmon tried to assist his leader, Sofiya, but before he could pull the trigger, Sofiya already jumped on the bridge and later landed next to the unexpected noble guards.

Olmon made an awed expression as Sofiya's movement was faster than the Black Army soldiers of officers, who the marksman deemed ghost.

'She is no ghost, like those monsters. She is a banshee, well above those guys in terms of legality.' thought the officers while keeping watch over Sofiya, guardian her back and front.

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The rounds of bullets also began raining down on the noble guards tasked with the sealing of Sol City from the rest of Sagletius.

Sofiya heard that and nodded her head with a satisfied expression while turning to a blonde man closer to her, fighting a noble guard.

"While those guys seem arrogant after gaining their status and new power, they are still deep down simple people of humble origins, who can listen to their superior regardless of who it is."

"My Lady, we should push forward before they close the last gate of the bridge." commented Bolt while cutting down the guard he was fighting viciously.

After Bolt killed that guard, he turned his attention on his officers fighting off the guards, trying their best to suppress their advance and the officers who began opening the gates, saying to them with a severe tone.

"If those guys surrender, don't finish them. His Royal Highness told us to spare as many souls as possible. Only kill when needed."

"Don't worry, Bolt. We know that Prince Vlad cares about the citizens of Kaysang and tries to keep it clean."

The noble guards were in an adrenaline state after seeing the large flow of enemy soldiers making their way for the bridge. There was one brave-looking young guard who watched as his men were breathing their last in the blades of these black-clothed men who looked just like nightmarish beings who can't be stopped in their advance.

"Surrender everyone. We don't have to die for such job and the people we are working for."

"Viktos, what are you talking about? Didn't you listen to Duke Lacilet's orders? We need to protect the bridge from the peasants at all costs."

The young guard defending himself from a strike coming from a Black Army officer breathed hard and roared to his mates fighting.

"You stupid idiot. You will give your life for someone who wouldn't even care if you died?! Everyone, surrender. There's still a chance for us to stay alive. We are, in the end, brethren."

The officer who saw a weakness in the guard of this young man prepared himself to kill him, not caring about what he was saying, but a slender hand grabbed hold of his main hand where he couldn't move at all.

"Your Grace? This is the enemy. We can't afford delays." said the officer, a bit shocked that he couldn't budge the hold Sofiya had on his hand.

"Keep quiet. These are my citizens too, not just you from Sol and the territory controlled by Vlad." replied Sofiya while staring coldly at the officer, as if she was displeased by the way the officer judged the situation.

The noble guards seeing that the black-clothed men who were visibly stronger than them, slow their attacks, looked at Viktos and later at the beautiful woman wearing black clothes similar to the rest of the soldiers, only that hers were more ornate.

"They called her Her Grace? A Dutchess? Who is she?" asked the guards, confused by this situation.

Sofiya, who looked at Viktos, looked calmly at him, and with a noblewoman-like behaviour, she said to him.

"Guard, you know what is right for you and your men. Listen, we aren't here to kill you. Instead, we are going to bring stability to Kaysang by putting an end to Lacilet and the nobles' traitorous schemes."

When the guards here this, they looked confused toward Viktos who seemed to be their leader and another man who had an angry expression.

He was relatively close to where Sofiya was and called out to her.

"You are a lying peasant, you who are working for the criminal Blood to overthrow the nobles and kill everyone who opposes you. Do you think we don't know about what you did with those merchants and their people?"

Saying that, he moved to strike Sofiya down, believing that she was a weak woman who had no right to fight against them. Yet to his surprise, Sofiya quickly took her rapier in her hand and, with a fast movement, got to that guard neck with her blade point and with a frigid cold expression that sent a chill down the guard spine, she said.

"You call him a criminal? You bunch of idiots who believe everything fed to you, who never asks questions? You even got the guts to say this when you don't know how much he has worked for you citizens of Kaysang? To give you back your freedom and let you walk proudly on this blessed land without feeling the cage the nobles placed around you.

Do you believe yourself as a noble, proud guard? Do you even know who you are fighting? From your foolish expression, you don't. So let me put some light on your minds."

After saying that, Sofiya delivers a kick with her black heel boots, sending him flying and hitting the bridge walls. With her cold gaze on that guard, she continued saying for everyone to hear.

"You are fighting the royal family. This "criminal" Blood is your Prince, Vermilion Zagreus Vlad. He is fighting for your freedom and the kingdom's well-being, yet you have the guts to say these things to me? You would ask later, "Who am I to tell you these things?", to which I have a simple answer. I am his fiance and also Dutchess Selentes, of Selentine Dutchy. I know about his plans and the hardship he had to endure to reach this stage."

Viktos looked shocked at Sofiya, along with a vast majority of the guards who didn't fall from the initial charge. Their conviction and knowledge were put to the test on this day, and with Viktos on the lead, he dropped his sword.

"My Lady, it is true what you said? His Majesty Opheltius is still alive? Also, the Prince, are you referring to Crown Prince Lucius? But he died in the rebellion of the Royal Guards."

Sofiya turned her head at Viktos, and her cold gaze lessened a bit, with a calm tone saying to the confused guard.

"What you guys know are just lies fed to you by the nobles to wash away their guilt of what happened that day. Do you believe that the Royal Guards who served Vermilion House for hundreds of years would reveal like this and kill Prince Lucius? As for Vlad, he is the son of Prince Lucius, who died in the rebellion staged by the nobles."

The guards looked at one another and said to themselves. "The Crown Prince sired a child, and we are fighting against him? This is blasphemy. Vermilion House who ruled Kaysang for the entire history of this country, keeping it alive and strong, never to act against their people, we are fighting against it? What can we say to our ancestors in death? That we are traitors?"

"Surrender everyone. We are fighting our brethren who want to liberate us. Listen to their instructions and don't oppose them."

Suddenly, the vast majority of them dropped their weapons down, only leaving out the zealots, believing to the heart of the lies told by Lacilet and the nobles.

"YOU TRAITORS!? YOU WILL DIE A WORSE DEATH THAN THOSE REBELLIOUS PEASANTS!" called out some zealot guards, and one even charged to kill one of the guards who surrendered.

Yet, those who reacted to kill the ones who surrendered were quickly disposed of by the officers who were in position. Sofiya, who watched all of this, felt a bit of sadness, seeing how heavily influenced those simple people were, by some lies, brainwashed by an evil mind.

"DIE, LYING WHORE!" called out the voice of an angry man who got closer and closer to Sofiya with murderous intent.

Viktos noticed his once "friend" charge at the beautiful noblewoman, who seemed to have all the answers to his questions with a murderous expression.

"Watch out, My Lady! Behind you!"

Sofiya's sad expression shattered like glass and turned her attention on the guard leader who was moving to strike her heart. Like a mirage, her face turned expressionless, and while preparing her rapier, she said to the officers in a tone that held some anger.

"Kill them. We gave them a chance to surrender and listen to the truth. We will no longer delay our plans."

"Yes, My Lady." called out the officers, with Bolt in the lead, who jumped on the back of a zealot and stabbed him in his back, exiting with the blade from his heart.

The officers' expressions were that of satisfaction, doing something they were trained and instructed for such a long time.

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While the officers quickly decimated the 65 zealots, Sofiya blocked the strike of the head guard, and moving closer to him, she punched him with a strong left in his stomach, following with a rapier thrust to his sides that cut a big chunk of his flesh.

"ARGH! Fight me face to face, you whore. Come, do you dare to face me without any tricks?!"

"No need. You are dead regardless if I take my time to dissect your sword style."

After that, following the head guard's intention to strike back, she moved with a quick step to his sides and landed a knee to his peroneal nerve, dropping him on his feet, and with a ruthless strike, she stabbed the guard's throat with her rapier from her back.

Sofiya drew her rapier back with a slash motion following the thrusting movement, leaving the head guard's body lifeless, filling the bridge floor with blood.

"Viktos, right?"

Hearing Sofiya calls out in a calm tone, the other head guard, Viktos, looked at this woman in front of him, who didn't look dangerous at all at first glance, but now, with her cold expression, she looked pretty scary.

"Yes, My Lady?"

"Take arms and bring your men with me. You will talk with those people if they are stubborn and don't want to surrender. Otherwise, I will have them killed if they fight back. As much as it hurts me to say, if the deaths of hundreds or thousands of people are on my hands, to save a million is something I will take on myself."

Viktos, hearing such cold declaration from this beautiful woman who he understood was the future wife of the Prince, they knew as Blood, could only gulp and nod in understanding.

"Bolt, let's move forward." said Sofiya while looking forward to the second gate, which leads to the Royal Fortress.

"We can go now. The first gate has been opened. In no time, we will have full control of the bridge." replied Bolt after arriving next to Sofiya, turning an eye at her face, an expression he had never seen on her before.

'This woman is scary. No wonder the boss looks so pleased when talking about her progression and making a fool of us for not being up to his marks. Could it be? Is she close to awakening her haki? But she only trained for like what? One-two years? No way, not before me. Sorry, my lady, but I have been training my body since I started sailing on the sea.' thought Bolt to himself while signaling his officers to get in position.

"Move!" ordered Bolt to his soldiers after getting in position.

They began a new charge. While the soldiers stationed on the second guard saw some abnormal activity from afar, they instantly gave off the signal that the intruders entered the bridge.

"Send the alert to the Excellencies in the Palace. The rebellious peasants began their attack!" transmitted someone who had a high vision from the top of the gate.

Yet before he could continue, the sound of a gun firing could be vaguely heard from the distance, and in just some seconds, the guards on the last gate of the bridge watched with shocked expressions as the head of the one wanting to send an alert exploded like a watermelon.

"Protect the gate. Send someone to transmit the alert signal to the nobles, but don't linger too much on the notion that they will get in time to reinforce us. We have 1.000 people at this section of the gate. Get everyone ready for the defense!" called out one man who had a scar on his face and had knight armor, with a helmet protecting most of his head.

Some guy close to the knight took out a snail from his clothes and, with a panicked and shaking hands, began formulating a number, but before he could finish, the sound of a gun shooting blasted on the skies again. The outcome was that another head was blown apart, exploding like watermelon.

"AHH. Bunch of incompetent fools, get cover and call it! Don't be like that fool who exposed himself."

Seconds later, after he said that, the gunfire could be heard again, and this time, the knight felt a buzzing sound around his ears, and from nowhere, a large bullet moving for his face.

"FUCK!" crouching down instantly while his legs trembled in fear, he heard another body landing on the ground. Looking at the newly dropped body, who missed his head, he ordered the rest of the people.

"Take cover immediately. Don't let the person shooting at us any chance."

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On the backside of the Black Army that moved to take over the last gate of the Royal Bridge, Sofiya was holding her father's heirloom from a sitting position and with her telescope checking on any sign of a person trying to alert the rest of the people in the Fortress.

'Hmm, these guys are not morons. Still, I brought some precious seconds while killing those three guys, along with creating a distraction for the soldiers.'

Viktos, who was positioned close to where Sofiya was, saw her displeased look and thought to himself.

'Did something go wrong? Knight Chamon sent the signal to the Palace, and the noble army began assembling?'

"Move on, don't stare at my back for no good reason. This is not the right time for scenery sightings. Go to the blonde guy leading the charge, and if he asks for support, you shall do as he says."

"Yes, My Lady." responded the guards and Viktos, who walked to Bolt, who was giving instructions to his officers.

"Hmm, you want something from us? Let me guess. Did you annoy Sofiya? It is fine. Try to avoid her when she is like that and do what she says. She reminds me of my boss when she is like this. Haha, no wonder they are matching so well together."

As he said that, he heard another gunpowder explosion with a bullet passing past his ears, following the direction of the gate.

"Ahh, damn it, that was close. Is she really close to awakening her haki?"

"Haki?" asked Viktos, confused.

"Don't bother. It is hard to explain it to you. Maybe in the future, this notion will be available to everyone. However, what you have to know is that is, this haki is a special power, just like the Devil Fruits who grant mystic powers." explained Bolt in such a way to have this guard stop bothering him.

As he said that, he heard Sofiya's serious voice running to his ears, reminding him of something.

"Bolt, you can easily climb the top of the gate since I made them scared to go out from their cover. Don't waste this chance to take the lead and seal the bridge."

Keeping in mind what Sofiya told him, Bolt stared at the gate from top to bottom and was a bit surprised to see that the top of the gates was not defended.

"Charge this gate, guys. We will take it in a swift motion, with only the Fortress being left waiting for us along with those bastard nobles."

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