"For the crimes of slavery, rape, torture, and slaughter of the civilian populace under your rule, I Friede sentence you, your family, your lackeys, and their families to death in the pyre"

Friede's Judgment of the now nameless clan that ruled over South Cair in Vermilion.

 

Castra-Cam sucked in air as she saw the intensity of Lucrezia's gaze on Hope, there was something deep inside those azure eyes, a fire unholy to this world that raged as if she was possessed, it felt like there was something deep inside the woman, something she had shown flashes of it but now it was at full blast.

There were no words exchanged for a solid minute, but Castra could feel they were communicating, all the same, she took a glance towards Richard and saw the young man trembling, was it fear? anger?

She could not tell.

Lucrezia then tore her gaze off Hope, still holding the girl in the shoulders and her eyes locked with Richard "Are you hurt, did anything happen to you or Castra?"

Richard shook his head "We got a clean bill from the doctors, nothing but a mind magic spell to knock us out, Castra was pissed someone got past her defenses..."

"And rightfully so, as a Scythe it is her duty to fight against both rogue necromancers and mind mages, alas this was no run-of-the-mill necro" Lucrezia began talking like she was there, Castra frowned her brows, the woman had her sources but how did she know? had her sources found out about illegal necromancers in the capital? if so why wouldn't she report it?

"Describe your captor to me" Lucrezia told Hope and the girl started talking "Elven, tall and beautiful, I can't quite remember her face, a spell perhaps? if she could meddle with someone as strong as Castra..."

"Was it a woman?" Lucrezia held Hope again, her eyes burning holes into the girl's own eyes "Focus Hope"

Silence then Hope spoke in a slow tone "...Yes, it was a woman"

Castra-Cam saw the entire body frame of Lucrezia shake, it was as if she was trying very hard to hold a wayward wraith inside her frame, then her mind clicked and she saw the woman was already tapping into the Rage, no wonder she looked like she was ready to rip some poor sod apart.

"Castra, I need you to issue a Mandate 5" Lucrezia spoke words Castra-Cam never in her undying years thought a noble would speak "The one who did this to all of you demands such drastic measures, yes, and I don't want to deal with the Knights once we go collect her head"

Puzzled looks all around them as Castra-Cam debated the monumental choice she had in front of her, to issue a Mandate 5 was paramount to saying there was either an entire cult of rogue necros or demi-god lich in the area, something she had done before and it ended...

"Prove it to her Castra-Cam, prove to your grandmother you are not the fuck up who your people think you are, help me kill this fiend and I'll let you keep the head for the First Scythe" Lucrezia kept talking as if she was reading Castra-Cam's mind.

The undead woman sucked in the air once again, her eyes bulging from her sockets "How the fuck you know about that?"

"Oh but I know much, much and more friend, and I make you this promise, I will tell you more IF you help me now, in this instant" She turned to Kaine "You must tell Arthur, he will be beyond mad but he must know"

Kaine shook his head "I can't Lucrezia, no magical communication until he is done with the ritual in the palace the only way would be to-"

"Send a divine messager" Lucrezia cut him off, she then did a sharp whistle, for a few seconds Castra-Cam thought the woman had lost her mind but from up above she saw a red crow, twice the size of a dog.

"The Spear of Vengeance..." Castra-Cam had forgotten Lucrezia had a blood oath with that ghastly Goddess "You gonna send that? to the royal palace?"

"They won't dare stop her" Lucrezia smiled "Velkarius! I beseech thee, deliver this message to Third Prince Arthur, his loved one was assaulted and I aim to deliver those who conspired against her to justice!"

"Why?" Hope asked her voice trembling "all of this for me?" she sobbed "I don't...I don't deserve this"

Lucrezia shook her "You do, you and everyone here who I care for, I won't let anyone anyone be they mortal, devil or god touch so much as a hair on them with ill intentions" Lucrezia spoke with conviction that bordered on insanity, so thick it was Castra-Cam could feel the air vibrate around the woman.

The red crow flew above Lucrezia for a while and went away "He's gonna be angry" Kaine sighed "But he would be in an even fouler mood if we kept this from him, so? will Castra enact whatever that mandate is? do you know where should we even look for the woman behind this?"

"Yes" Lucrezia said as she pointed south "Come"

Castra-Cam looked as everyone gathered around her, her eyes narrowing as Richard got close "you?"

He scoffed "I may be just a man with a spear, but by gods, I won't let any thrice-damned scum of the earth run amok after I got mind blasted to oblivion" to which Lucrezia smiled as she handed him her ax "No spear today my friend, use this"

Richard looked puzzled as he grabbed the weapon "what are you using then?" then both he and Castra saw Lucrezia's pair of pistols on her back. She smiled at him but said nothing, instead of turning to Kaine and saying "South Gate of the Duskmother, 3 kilometers up the main road of Judgment, 600 meters to the left, three store building, heavy guard presence in the surrounding buildings.

Kaine weaved his magic in the air, a map of the city looking and honing into the exact place Lucrezia had just said, red dots all over it and inside the arcane projection "Rules of Engagement?" Kaine asked.

Lucrezia gave Castra a hard look, Castra in turn closed her eyes and sent a prayer to the Undying.

"Mandate 5, Duchess of Wulfgrem, All-Father's Blessed, Arch-Mage Son, Merchant Son. Unknown enemy, likely a cult with mind-enthralled foot mobiles and mage support"

Castra-Cam felt a cold chill run up her spine, her eyes nearly flying from her undead sockets as the Divine presence turned its eye towards her soul, suddenly the woman felt very small, and for the first time in a long while.

Afraid.

"Be sure the one blessed by Faal is not harmed, you have my express permission for Mandate 5 level operation, Eliminate them all"

"A God just came by" Kaine spoke in very slow words "Bloody Hells Lucrezia!"

"Even the Undying wants a piece of that pie Kaine, I don't blame him one bit" Lucrezia smiled as she placed her hand on Castra's shoulder "Ready?"

"Ready" Castra dispelled her doubts, she had been given a mission by her patron deity, and nothing in this accursed world would stop her from achieving success in it.

---

A lone swordsman marched through an empty street, his name was Perth and he had one job: Command the enthralled guards across the many derelict buildings that formed the web for their base.

Alas, his job was being in a very precarious predicament, earlier today the captive his leader had captured with the help of that horrible artifact brought by the hooded figures who had hired his leader had escaped. Tapping into the Rage to escape her shackles and fly northward.

Perth did not know who or what she was, but he knew the Rage, and that unless you had a Greater Blessing of might or magic it was wise to stay very far away from it, and so his leader decided to trash his minions to vent her frustrations.

"What a sorry band I had the luck of signing into" Perth spoke out loud to no one in particular, the other mages who were part of the band's inner circle disliked him for his martial prowess, calling him a fake mage and such nonsense, he didn't care, of course, all that it mattered was the gold and knowledge of the forbidden mind arts to enthrall more people and expand his legion.

"Unit 2, report" He sent a ping to the furthest outpost, expecting the usual grunt those poor animals gave him, his magic long killing any sort of ego the person once had, effectively being turned into a flesh automaton.

It was no wonder he was being hunted by the Scythes! far as they were concerned he was both a rogue necromancer and mind mage! not that Perth cared, of course, those undead mules could never catch him now.

And it was all thanks to good O' Uumaries, to think so long ago his mother told him that it would pay dividends for betting on such a stick in the mud Goddess.

"She has ambition foolish son of mine, more than any divine of the last 100 years!"

Enough to ally herself with power-hungry nobles and all manner of scum, and to devise a means to block Spheres of Power! and all Perth had to do was suck up to his "Leader" he didn't even know the woman's name, only that she was trying to become a Lich and nearly ready for the started ritual, or the illegal version of it anyway.

"Unit 2, report" Perth was ready to send the command again when out of nowhere the house he was burned in a light so bright his eyes nearly caught fire, he motioned for his sword staff but all he could do was a gurgle in his pool of blood as a small projectile tore its way into his throat, then a kick to his stomach knocking him to the ground as he tried to stop the blood flowing with his bare hands.

"Perth Unders, not the main catch of the day but a nice catch nonetheless" a cold voice came from the blinding light, Perth barely had time to scream when he felt the cold iron ripping through his flesh and bone.

Richard looked up as red streaks of lighting crashed on the main house, in his ear, Lucrezia's voice boomed "Deal with the mages, Castra we deal with the big fish"

Kaine nodded and called Richard to his side, Hope warped to him as well, her hand trembling as the sight of blood was caught by Richard's eye.

He would say some encouraging words to the girl when he saw Lucrezia leap from one building to another, enveloped in the red lighting of before, he gasped in awe as Kaine shook his head.

"She's burning Life Essence like a godsdamn vampire, no wonder the red shade is so strong, let us find those mages before she kills them all" Together the 3 of them circled between a gamut of detection spells and divination, eventually finding the shadowy cabal holed up in an underground cave below one of the buildings.

Another, much stronger presence was felt where Lucrezia had just crashed, with Castra-Cam following in her wake with shadowy teleports.

"That's a Lich if I ever felt one" Kaine spoke out loud "On the double everyone, go! go!"

Hope nodded and with a grunt she commanded the metal around her, blowing a hole through the wall and into the open where they saw spires of twisted metal and ice along the vicinity.

"All-Father's balls she isn't fucking around is she?" Kaine said "the mages are moving! Hope I want you to drill us a tunnel there!" he pointed to a specific spot at the entrance of one of the buildings and marked with a magical sigil.

Hope nodded again and poured incredible amounts of mana into the ground, having been taught geomancy by Kaine just a week prior to the event in the palace. with her insane amount of mana, she managed to drill away towards the hidden mages.

Kaine glanced towards Richard whose hands were shaking, the young man locked eyes with him and took a deep breath, grabbing his weapon and shield until the knuckles of his hands turned white

"Enemies! they have breached the sanctum!" screamed a mage nearest to the entrance Hope had just drilled before a loud war cry was bellowed from behind Kaine, Richard rushed in as if possessed by a wind sprite and impaled the mage in his spear! Hope warped beside him and blasted the other with a cone of sound before stomping the ground and making iron spikes pierce their feet.

That amount of shock and awe was enough to stun the whole group, Kaine sighed as he noticed these mages were ritualists, not hardened battle mages like the fellow Lucrezia had killed earlier.

"Spar-" one of the mages screamed before Kaine chopped his head off with an invisible disc of force, the same happening to the rest, with a sigh of resignation the young mage began speaking "Looks like we are in the clear, now let us move upwards and assist" in that second a colossal warrior wielding a hammer broke through the doors to the far side of the cave and beelined towards Kaine, who had barely a second to react before Richard jumped into the fray.

There were no words, Richard took the brunt of the hammer square in his shield and nearly was lifted from the ground with the impact, with a scream he thrust the spear in the warrior's solar plexus but the man was unfazed, likely a pain dampening spell.

In a feat of dexterity and acrobatic none thought him capable of, Richard leaped into the spear, hanging on it with the grace of a stalking crane of the marshes, and with a grunt slammed his shield right into the throat of the warrior, decapitating the man.

Which turned out to be no man at all, but an undead monstrosity in the shape of a humanoid.

Hope whistled "Keep this up friend and you will find yourself very popular with a certain crowd" she smiled as Richard sucked in air, but not speaking, the killing of the mage fresh in his mind likely.

After clearing the rest of the cave they found no one alive or dead, Richard then spoke "Kaine you got anything for the nerves?" which was a coded word Knights used when they wanted Mind Magic placed on them, usually to do just that, calm the nerves, but often enough it meant to erase memories, blunt the pain or even knock them out cold with a sleep spell.

Since Richard didn't look like he wanted his memory of the deed gone Kaine reached into his pocket and pulled a special potion that granted the user a sense of inner peace, a gift from monks he was friends with.

Richard took the vial and drank it, his eyes closing as the concoction made its way through the body "We are done here, let's go back and help Lucrezia" Kaine and Hope nodded and the trio moved upwards towards the street level.

---

Castra-Cam dodged and weaved dark spells and combat arts against the elven lich, she was yet to become a true threat, her powers barely cultivated enough to employ the true devastating spells these lawless necromancers knew.

Her scythe sliced through defensive charms and barrier spells, it would be a perfect dance of death she was so used to.

If it wasn't for Lucrezia.

She had seen the woman fight before, but not like this, she was running the fell powers of the Rage at full blast and more than once went for actual honest to gods melee combat against the elven blasphemer!

There was no dance with Lucrezia, no perfected rhythm born of countless battles, nay with her it was more akin to a war drum banging as loud and as fast as possible, each step came with waves of iron or ice, then a flurry of blows or gunfire from her weapons. When the ammo ran dry Lucrezia stowed the weapons with one single action and leaped towards the elf, finding an opening just as Castra sliced another barrier.

Mid leap she decked the elf with a scream that ringed across the place, the lich went down and Lucrezia mounted on top of her, raining blows to her head and chest like a beast, Castra was taken back for a split second, the sheer velocity and fury freezing her on her tracks.

"Don't fuck with this one" Castra thought to herself as Lucrezia broke the hands and legs of the elf and banged her head against the ground "Who! Who gave the order!" more bangs until the lich actually spilled blood!

"Lucrezia! cease your violence lest her soul runs to her hidey-hole" Castra-Cam dashed forward and held Lucrezia's right arm as she was readying herself for another series of punches.

Castra-Cam locked eyes with the madwoman and she saw the tendrils in her eyeballs, a telltale sign of those afflicted by the Rage in its initial stage, Lucrezia stopped punching and said "I need to know who gave the order Castra, if she won't speak I will go through her memories"

"You can do that? I thought the studies weren't on that stage yet?" Castra was taken back, she knew Lucrezia had made the talk of the local church with her speed, but to use that level of Mind Magic?

Alas, Castra-Cam was reminded that non-Scythes were forbidden by the Undying himself from peering into the minds of these high-value targets, as to avoid dangerous knowledge falling into the wrong hands.

She locked eyes with the woman once again, and Lucrezia took barely a second to understand Castra "Ask him" Lucrezia said as if the Undying would just...

"Let her do it, you have my authorization" a voice boomed from the deepest reaches of Castra-Cam's soul. her eyes going wide as her patron god spoke with her twice in a single day!

Not even the most esteemed of High Priests or Liches could claim the same! Truly there was a tie that bonded Lucrezia and Hope together, something that had major gods vying for their attention and favor.

Lucrezia smiled, a wicked one at that, and planted her hand in the elf's face, her eyes rolled back and her whole body shook as the spell began to do its job, minutes went by, and Castra saw the other walk up to the room and Hope pointed her finger at the elf "It was her! Gods, what is Lucrezia doing?"

"Reading her mind, the brute way" Kaine spoke, "Castra, is this legal?"

"There won't be any issues on my part" Castra-Cam spoke "Looks like she is done" she pointed to Lucrezia whose eyes rolled back to normal, she sighed with deep resignation, as if something she expected to happen had happened and now she was in charge of cleaning after it.

"I am done, send this vermin to where she belongs, and here, a gift from me" Lucrezia tossed a block of ice frozen in deep blue ice on top of the elf's body as Castra-Cam tapped her scythe and opened a hole in the ground.

"Oh, the Highway of the Undying, first time seeing it, does it drain mana or does it works on divine energies like a miracle?" Kaine perked up asking questions "I thought only high ranking members had the power to call at will, with younger members of the organization having to call their superiors"

"Privileges granted by grandma dearest" Castra-Cam smiled "But no, it works on divine energies, mana was deemed too unsafe a few centuries back but you can still find more old-timers using Mana Highways... a right proper pain to deal with the newer breed of rogues who can climb back" she turned to Lucrezia "So? what did you find?"

Lucrezia closed her eyes "We have Knights and city mages flying towards us, deal with them first then I'll explain.

Hope watched as Castra flashed her symbol of authority to the Royal Knights, the woman in charge narrowed her eyes at Lucrezia but said nothing, she felt a click inside her soul as the particular spell of flight they used was integrated within her.

Alas she was anything but happy, what happened to her was still too fresh, too raw, and that her friends were harmed, as capable as they were made Hope seethe with a rage so strong she could feel the power of that fell entity coiling like a spring, ready to explode forward and unleash devastation across all she could see.

It was a power most intoxicating, just as the books described it.

"So, what did you glean from the woman's mind Lucrezia?" Kaine asked as they regrouped far from the site, Hope could feel Lucrezia's emotions better now, ever since she personally made the pilgrimage to one of Saal'Xhir's churches and pledged herself to the Goddess she was made privy of many details about her friend's inner turmoil, thanks to their shared Blessing.

At the behest of the Goddess herself, who personally came to talk with Hope as she was genuinely worried for Lucrezia, something rare but also something Hope could understand, their time together had forged an intimate friendship between the two.

"Yeah, yeah I know who did it, I have their names burned in my mind and Gods know I will make them pay for this" Lucrezia said after a long pause, she sighed trying to reign in her own slice of the Rage who was still running beneath her skin, shallow as it was compared to Hope's it still empowered Lucrezia above and beyond the usual grunt.

"Name them" Castra demanded.

"Lyndell Morgoth, Scion of the Bow and Mava O'Xav" the words came out slow and tense as if Lucrezia herself didn't want to say them, a hint of regret tinged the accusations but above all else, resignation, as if she knew this was going to happen and she would need to clean up their mess.

"Fuck me Lucrezia, we can't fight the bloody Scion of the Bow! only the Sacred Sword can deal with that gods forsaken weapon!" Kaine spoke his face red "But you don't care, do you? ugh, what's the plan?"

Hope opened her mouth to speak but the world spun around her, she felt the fall coming for a split second before Richard grabbed her in his arms "Hope! Gods be good woman what's wrong?"

"Tapped too much into the Rage, too fast also, the body can't handle so much energy this fast" Kaine spoke as he began casting spell after spell on Hope "This will make things better but you will take a day to be in fighting shape again"

Lucrezia walked up to her and held her hands "I know you want to come, to deal with them together but now It's not the time, let me do it, let me punish them!"

"I can't fight, But I want to see it," Hope said, venom in her voice as once again she locked eyes with Lucrezia as she held her hands, one warm and the other cold, inside those azure eyes of her Hope saw the entire world burning, with Lucrezia in the middle.

It was just like Arthur said, there was something deep inside of this woman, that commanded minds and hearts in ways magic couldn't explain, a sense of gravitas very few had.

"Kaine, take us to the Academy, it is time to end this, and then..." Lucrezia spoke out loud.

"And then?" Richard asked still holding Hope.

Lucrezia turned to him, a wicked smile on her face "War"

---

"Kaine! temporal distortions at angles 40, 65, and 90!" Lucrezia's voice boomed across a private garden set aside for High Nobility, around her bodies of Knights and Students moaning in pain, but not dead.

A rain of spectral arrows flew by, only to warp away as if they were never fired, a scream from below rung across the garden as a young man armed with a shield and spear lept across and impaled his weapon into the leg of a knight who folded into himself screaming all the while.

Lucrezia summoned red lighting and the impact broke some sort of illusion where an ivory-skinned woman with wide eyes chanted spells trying to keep whatever magic she was wavering going, with a leap Lucrezia landed right beside her and planted her metal first right into her stomach.

"Academy Security! and more Royal Knights!" Castra screamed from the skies

"Lucrezia, we must find Lyndell now!" Kaine spoke as he batted away more arrows, Lucrezia didn't reply back, she was raining blows on the mage who eventually blacked out, only for Lucrezia to snap her arms like twigs and the woman wake up screaming like a dying animal.

"Savages!" a wrathful whisper came from Lucrezia's side only for Richard to leap again and plant his spear right by its feat, Lyndell tried to jump away but the magic that was making her invisible was gone, Kaine with a slam of his staff turned the ground into ice and the Scion of the Bow slipped, her face cracking the thin sheet of ice.

Lucrezia didn't bother to take the bow, she slammed her ax right into Lyndell's belly and grabbed her head, slamming it against the ice.

"AND IF I HEAR A HAND WAS RAISED, A STRAND OF HAIR TOUCHED I WILL KILL YOU, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR CLAN AND BURN YOUR GODSDAMNED ESTATE DOWN YOU HEAR ME YOU SHITE EATING CUNTS!"

Hope watched as the words echoed across the Academy, like a wave that would soon change everything in her life, and in the lives of the people here, those last words burning into her mind, and even on her death bed she would remember, remember the day her friend declared war on everyone and everything for her sake.