As the Nether Imp floated in the sky, unmoving, the dual monarchs looked at it with curious expressions on each face. Both of them were wondering why it was staying still and not moving to attack them. The rest of the Imperial Army was still on standby and it seemed that everyone was all looking at the thing floating in the sky which was now hovering over the city or what was left of Aresburg. 

"Huh, thought they would try and attack us now" Ophelia said as she looked at it 

"Hmmm...maybe it is a strike back only if stricken first type of thing" Amelia said as she looked at her beloved 

"Ooo, could be" Ophelia nodded 

<To all lifeforms within the vicinity> 

"Ah nah, it's talking to us now" Ophelia said as she, Amelia, and everyone else, heard a high-pitched voice ringing in their minds 

<Rejoice I say, for it is a wonderful day to die! Your deaths will fuel the opening of our gate and when that is done. This continent will burn with the fire from a dimension beyond your understanding> 

"Huh. So it came from that Nether Realm place I was told of in my dream" The raven-haired empress remarked as she nodded at the floating demon 

"Wait what?" Amelia had a confused expression on her face as she looked at her beloved 

"Yeah...I may have forgotten to tell you I had this weird dream a few months back, it was kinda weird and it was also confusing, I will explain at another date but the point is, that thing, probably came from those ruins near the Florian Clan, apparently it is a gate to a place called the Nether Realm and it is like a filter of the world" Ophelia said as she was pointing at it 

"Huh...that makes sense. I will ask follow-up questions but that can come later. For now, what do we do?" 

<The screams of the flesh being torn from your bodies will fill this world with a wonderful set of music that has been silenced for eons! PREPARE TO DIE!> The Nether Imp shouted as dark clouds began swirling in the sky, swallowing up the smoke from the ruins of the Malgrave Stronghold and conjuring black lightning that began striking the ruins of Aresburg. While inside the city itself, golems made up of the ruins of the city began to take form and march out

"Kill that thing. Then finish the job we came here to do" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

As the wind began picking up, the dual monarchs were ready to end the fighting then and there but then, their communication crystals cracked to life 

"Your Majesties. We have a problem" Marshal Belle's voice stated, causing Ophelia to look back at her from across the field 

"How bad is this problem?" Ophelia asked, a small frown forming on her face 

"Well...it seems that the sentries near the Florian Clan are reporting that the ruins we were told to monitor are making noise, activity of some kind" 

"Mother fucker" Amelia cursed with an annoyed expression 

"Well...that does seem like a big problem. Right, let's do this properly then" Ophelia stated as she looked at her beloved who was already holding a slightly tired expression from all of these twists and turns that had plagued their life ever since their time in the academy 

"I will handle stopping the gate to literal Hell from being opened and you stay here and finish off this fucker. Once that is all said and done, then we can burn this place to the ground. Then. build something way better in its stead" The raven-haired empress stated with a reassuring smile to her beloved who was still keeping her slightly annoyed expression 

"It must be called AmelialovesOphieberg" The blonde empress replied 

"Ah...I see" Ophelia said with a small confused expression forming on her face 

"I'm serious Ophie" Her lover stated, her expression as serious as the tone of her voice

"We will discuss it later so for now, let's get to work my love" Ophelia said as she placed a kiss on Amelia's lips and then teleported to the ruins 

<It seems that one of you has realized the futility of resistance and has chosen to run...you, on the other hand, have decided to not run but instead stand defiant. Prepare to die here puny mortal> The Nether Imp said with a gleeful smile as it hovered forward still high in the sky but looking down at Amelia 

Amelia let out a sigh as she drew her daggers, pointing one up at the floating bastard dripping vile black ooze from every pore of the corpse it inhabited, a steely resolve filling her expression and a fire in her eyes that was always there whenever she got serious. 

"One more push...just one more push" She muttered to herself as her crimson-colored eyes shone brightly, before leaping up into the air faster than one could see, appearing right in front of the Nether Imp with her blades raised and in motion

<Oh fuck> 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Materializing right outside the ruins near the Florian Clan's newly established town, Ophelia was greeted by several Sentries who had radioed in the activity. She didn't need to ask what was happening as she could hear it, a chorus of voices chanting in a language she did not understand, the wind whipping around the place violently, kicking up snow and debris from the ruin, and a bright light shining from deeper within the forbidden place, nearly blinding if one lesser than Ophelia looked at it for too long. 

"Stay here. That is an order" Ophelia said as she looked at the Head Sentry before turning her attention back to the ruins

"Right. Let's stop you from happening" She muttered to herself before sprinting at full speed into the ruins. The sentries outside stayed by the posts, none of them wishing to break her orders 

While sprinting through the ruins, Ophelia could feel a pull tugging at her from the aura and magical energy this place was giving her. It was as if a piece of her that had been long dormant was now calling out to her and trying to get her attention. 

"Not today. Not today" She muttered to herself as she steadied her focus on the objective at hand, finding more about this place could come later, for now, she had a job to do as Empress of this empire 

After a few moments, she found herself standing in the middle of the ruins, their inscriptions now on full display, the snow that had covered the area was now gone, blown away by the wild and violent winds that were coming out of a large rectangular gap in reality that stretched into the sky like a pillar was giving off the bright light that she had seen earlier. The chorus of voices grew louder and louder as she was right here in the center of it all, the language they spoke still unknown despite the raven-haired empress using her magic to try and understand it.

{!} 

Suddenly, hundreds of blackened limbs that resembled arms appeared from the rectangular gap and began latching onto the sides of the thing as if trying to pry it open. 

"Oh fucking hell" Ophelia remarked as she planted her feet down on the ground and summoned her magic, creating limbs of her own that floated in the air and were colored purple, latching onto the edges over the blackened limbs and began trying to push the gap in reality close

Despite being an SSS-Rank in power, Ophelia felt something she had not felt in a long time, she felt actual fucking resistance against the massive power she held within her. Her eyes were wide at how fucking strong the resistance she was facing and a faint smile appeared on her face that grew larger as she could finally feel herself exerting effort in something that would have been so easy if it were something else. 

{!} 

But as she was in the midst of this massive tug of war with Nether Demons from the Nether Realm, a bunch of sharpened tendrils suddenly shot out and lunged right for Ophelia whose barrier magic stopped them dead in their tracks, some quite literally as the tendrils which were sharp and angular, visibly bent when they made impact with the invisible barrier around the raven-haired empress, when the tendrils were bent, Ophelia heard the shrill shrieking of a monster from the other side of the gap in reality. 

"Ohohoho? Trying to kill me fucker?! Think again!" She bellowed as over a dozen sleek and sharp blue spears made of magical energy manifested and began rotating behind her and glowing bright blue 

"I can't close this thing, but it doesn't mean I can just let you through it. I hope you enjoy the pretty lights!" She added as she opened fire, the spears of magical energy surged forward and exploded upon the limbs of the beast trying to open the doorway wide, other spears went through the doorway and struck the thing on the other side, its shrill shrieking filling the air as Ophelia cackled like a madwoman 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

While Ophelia was busy dealing with the doorway to the Nether Realm, she was busy trying to dispatch the Nether Imp which was becoming a problem she had not anticipated to be so hard to dislodge. Despite her SS-Rank in power and her opponent's A-Class in power, the Nether Imp inside Duke Paderborn's corpse was surprisingly resilient, taking the slashes launched from [Corrupter] and [Purifier] pretty well, each slash forcing more black ooze to drip out of its carcass like a disgusting towel. 

It hissed and cursed her though, the pain writhing inside the carcass it inhabited was making it howl as it battled her in the ruins of Aresburg. 

"Just go back where you came from you stupid piece of shit!" Amelia shouted as she used her earth magic to turn some of the stones next to her into spears that were flung at the Nether Imp 

<NEVER!> It bellowed in response as it charged forward, hissing as several spears plunged into the skin of the obese corpse it used as a meat puppet

It leaped at her, using its sharpened hands with hardened black ooze coating the hands that acted as claws. Amelia swiftly countered by raising her daggers to block them before pushing them off to the side, followed up with a swift upward slice from one of the daggers that cut off the claws and then another slash across the neck of the body, earning screams from the Imp before landing a jumping-turning sidekick that sent her foe crashing into a burned out building nearby. 

"Stay down" She stated as she looked at the corpse resting at the storefront, several blacked-out wooden beams were impaling the corpse and it looked as if that did the trick 

{!} 

The Nether Imp then let out a great growl as it transformed into a more terrifying form, the corpse of Duke Abernathy split into two halves, forming the upper and lower lip of a large mouth while the ooze on the ground and in the ruined buildings quickly went back to its originator, transforming into blackened limbs and tendrils that gave the Nether Imp a large shape that was disgusting to look at. Then, without warning, the A-Class in power that it was showing suddenly became an S-Class and that was alarming to Amelia who was not expecting this bullshit. 

<Nyehehehe! Now that you forced me into this form! Your demise is imminent!> The Nether Imp stated as it lunged at her, firing off its tendrils first 

Amelia leaped back to avoid the tendrils that dug into the ground where she once stood, cursing under her breath as she conjured up multiple <Fireball> projectiles that shot out from behind her and exploded on the monstrous nightmare before her, causing it to writhe in pain and scream. The monster then lashed out with a massive claw that she was able to dodge by sidestepping to the left and then brought down both of her daggers, ripping through the obsidian-colored flesh in a single swing, the detached limb writhing on the ground before dissipating. 

"Just die already!" Amelia shouted as she lunged forward and began slicing away at the tendrils still trying to impale her 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Meanwhile, outside the ruins of Aresburg, the Imperial Army was busy fighting a massive force of stone and rubble golems that the Nether Imp had made when the fight began. At the head of them all was the Black Guard, acting as the vanguard alongside Marshal Belle, who was swinging her halberd left and right, tearing apart the golems, which ranged in height from 8 feet (243.84 cm) to 12 feet (365.76 cm).

One of the damn things barreled down towards the marshal of the army and tried to land a clubbing attack with its limbs made out of a burnt-out building, Belle leaped back and the moment she landed, she dashed forward and then swung her halberd in a wide arc, smashing through the limbs of the thing before using her magic to summon large earthen spears that erupted from the ground and impaled the thing, one of them punching straight through the monster's monster crystal. 

"All units! Destroy every single one of these things! Once we're finished here, we have to get to Her Majesty and assist!" She bellowed into the communication crystal, hearing a wave of affirmations to her orders 

"C'mon lads! For the Empire! For the Her Majesties! CHARGE!" An Imperial Officer shouted as led his soldiers into the fray, their shouts filing the air as they charged down several golems who were firing spears of glass and stone at them, bouncing off the plate armor they were wearing. 

Erhet, who was nearby and tackling her own set of golems, gave a low growl as she swung her halberd in rage. The first golem was about her height at 8 feet (243.84) and she simply thrust her halberd's tip through the chest of the thing, killing it instantly. Once she pulled it out, she noticed another golem moving from behind, instead of quickly pivoting around, she used her massive armored tail to wrap around the head of the golem and threw it at another approaching from the left and then pivoting to the right and unleashing a slash that took down another golem in the process. 

She then looked around and saw a golem charging at Marshal Belle who was busy fighting another golem, thinking quickly on her...tail, she chucked her halberd hard and it embedded itself into the side of the beast who staggered back, giving the head of the Black Guard time to rapidly close the distance and yank her weapon free from the body of the thing before swinging it in a downward slash that crushed its monster crystal in its chest, dropping the body unceremoniously on the snowy ground. 

"Thanks for the save" Belle remarked as she looked up at her saviour 

"There are too many of them to get past to get to Her Majesty quickly. The more we kill, the more rise up from the rubble" Erhet stated as she looked down at her 

"You're right about that. But we have to keep fighting as one. If we try and slip a small squad through, there is no telling if you guys will make it without being swarmed. I think that we just have to thin out the herd here and then make it into the city" Belle replied as she looked at the battle unfolding before the ruined walls of the enemy's capital 

"But what about Her Majesties? Surely we-" 

"Must do our job Erhet. Her Majesty Ophelia is busy dealing with those ruins because she believes there is a connection between them and what's happening here. Her Majesty Amelia is busy fighting a foe way above our weight class. If we intervene, it will only distract either of them" Belle cut her off before she could finish that sentence 

"So what do you suggest we do Marshal?"

"We keep the enemy focused on us. If I know Her Majesties, both of them are doing their best to fix this situation. All we can do is ensure nothing else distracts them. Understood?" 

Erhet took a moment of silence as she looked down at the Marshal. A wave of conflicting emotions and wants filled her head, and she was about to charge into the city with the Black Guard in an attempt to reach Amelia. However, after some careful thought and a quick look around at the heavily engaged Imperial Army, she came upon a new understanding of the situation in her eyes. 

"I understand Marshal. You can command the Black Guard as you see fit, tell us where we need to go" She said with a nod 

"Good. I have just the place on the line" 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Back inside the ruins of the city, Amelia was standing next to a destroyed fountain that was once ornate and intricately designed. Both of her daggers were now thickly coated in the blackened blood of the squirming creature before her eyes. The Nether Imp she had been fighting for the past few minutes had been annoying, each time she hacked away at an overextended claw, limb, and other appendages, the thing would fizzle into nothing before a new one took its place, and she was getting quite sick and tired of it all but she had yet to fully use her entire magic arsenal, still unsure of the effects her Holy Magic had on the opponent before her. Said opponent, with its body half buried in a building that Amelia had thrown it into, was breathing heavily as it struggled to get back on its feet, its limbs shaking as it looked at the blonde empress with a desire to kill. 

<Youu....can't...win> It said as it shakily got back up, pushing the rubble off its back 

"Hmm? I can't hear you. You sound delusional" Amelia fired back as she steadied herself for another round 

<Hehe..he...you think....that you...can kill...me?...As long as the gateway is open...you will not win> It stated as it lumbered out of the rubble, standing on the cold and snow-laden cobblestone road 

"Gateway?" She asked with a slightly raised eyebrow 

<Heehee....yes...the Gateway...the main thing that connects this place with my home. For as long as that thing stays open...I will not die....no matter how strong you are, no matter how many times you put me down...as long as it stays open, you can't kill me while I am here. And if you close the Gateway, this entire world is doomed regardless! HAHAHAHAHA> It answered with a snarl and a chuckle as it steadied itself, unfurling more limbs and sharpened tendrils on its back, ready to strike out

Amelia was silent as she observed her foe before her. If what it said was true, no matter how long she fought it here, it would get stronger and stronger with each time she put it down. She couldn't be able to kill it, she had tried earlier, thrusting her daggers into its head and watching as it only screamed in pain as it tried to claw her off. No, if she wanted to beat this thing, she needed to send it back to where it came from, back to the Nether Realm and in order to do that, she needed to get to Ophie. 

"Hmmm...I see" Amelia said as she took a deep breath and let out a tired sigh

<Hmm? Seeing the futility of your actions now?> It asked in a mocking tone 

{!} 

Suddenly, several golden chains emerged from the ground and wrapped themselves around the beast, causing it to writhe and shriek in agony as the <Holy Magic> was burning it alive, Amelia looked surprised for a moment before returning to her unreadable expression as she stepped forward, looking at the writhing mass of hardened black substance and a corpse. 

<Impossible! I sensed no such Holy Magic aura from you! How is this possible?!!!> It cried out as the chains around it tightened and thus burned more intensely

"It was a gift from the Gods. Now, let's send you back where you belong" 

<NO!> 

{!}

A moment later, Amelia and the chained-up Nether Imp teleported directly to Ophelia's location. Amelia immediately felt the violent winds brush past her face, making her hair flail wildly. She also saw the massive rectangular gateway pillar, which looked like a gap in reality, being held back from opening by her beloved. Watching as Ophelia's conjured limbs of magical energy were holding back the thing from being opened wide by hundreds of blackened limbs, even seeing her beloved cackle like a madwoman as she was firing away a spell that struck the limbs and something beyond the gateway of pure white that was screaming in agony as it was hit by thousands of blue spears made of magical energy. 

"Ophie!" She called out to her, prompting the raven-haired empress to stop her cackling and firing away at the thing across the gate 

"Amelia! What are you doing here!?" Ophelia asked as she looked at her beloved with a concerned and worried look 

"I have been told by our friend in chains over there that I can't kill him. The longer it stays here, the stronger it gets, it also told me that we can't close the gateway less we damn the world...so, I did the only thing I thought we could do, send it back where it came from" 

Ophelia looked at her beloved with a confused expression as she began processing the entire situation. The cogs in her head clicked into place, and then a smile became visible as she looked at the chained-up Nether Imp and then back at her beloved. 

"You still remember that spell I gave you in that book I left for you when I was exiled?" She asked with a grin 

"Which one? There were several....wait a minute...you don't mean" 

"Yes. That one. I know the Goddess Histy had replaced your Holy Magic with Carnomancy, but she did say that any Holy Magic spells you had were to be kept and available to use...soooo" 

"I see what you mean. Let's do it then" 

{!} 

<What are you doing?! Put me down! AAAA-> The Nether Imp shouted as Ophelia conjured up a limb that grabbed the chained beast before chucking it into the gap of reality and back into the Nether Realm

With the barrage of light no longer destroying the limbs it had on the edge of the doorway, the creature from the Nether Realm began exerting more force to try and overpower the mere mortal holding it back. It did not shoot out its tendrils out of fear of another barrage of light that would scorch and destroy chunks of its body like earlier, instead, it was wholly focused on overpowering this nasty annoyance that was forbidding it from crossing into the main realm. Said annoyance however, was not going to just let the fucking thing win. Ophelia conjured up more limbs of magical energy that began clamping down on the entrance of the doorway, the magical hands resting over the hands of the monster and pressing as hard as she could to keep it from opening wider and wider. 

Behind Ophelia, Amelia was busy conjuring up the twenty circles that would act as a massive beam cannon. Originally, the spell would have had her conjure these things from up above and in the sky, but if it fired, it wouldn't go through the gateway as it was a pillar that was facing in one direction only and not a massive gaping hole in the ground. Instead, she conjured the spell but configured it in a way that it arranged itself in a single array from lowest to greatest strength and each successive circle would power up to its full capacity before she would 'pull' the metaphorical trigger and blast the monster beyond the gateway and anything else behind it. However, this process was very taxing on Amelia's magic, by the fifth circle alone, she was now relying on Ophelia to be her battery, but the raven-haired empress was also feeling it bite into her seemingly endless magical energy, combined with the fact that she was busy holding the gate in a stalemate with something intent on overpowering her, it was a miracle she didn't run out of magic right now. 

"You have one shot! Make it count!" Ophelia shouted as she leaped out of the way, and landed off to the side, still doing her best to keep her magical limbs on the door, sweat running down her forehead and her heart rate rising as she could feel her physical body finally straining 

"I got it!" Amelia said as she began the process of powering up the circles. 

The circles began giving off a low hum that progressively got louder and louder as each circle activated, each one the size of an arm and each one turning in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner. The circles themselves were glowing once a small hue of blue that soon became gold as the entire set-up was powering up. The beast from the gateway, hearing the humming getting louder and louder, sent out tendrils trying to find out what was making such a noise, only to have said tendrils burn as they were engulfed by the light emitting from the circles, making it retreat said tendrils but not it's attempts to force the gateway open. A few minutes later, the entire array was ready to fire. 

"Ready?!" Ophelia asked 

"Ready!" Amelia replied 

The array was now bright enough to rival the light given off by the doorway, the humming was now loud enough to be heard outside the ruins and the dual monarchs were now hiding behind an overturned block from the ruins and were looking at the gateway. Ophelia dropped her limbs which made the beast from the gateway more ambitious as it had more limbs latch on and began slightly widening the doorway, large enough for the tip of its mouth, which was burning due to the Holy Light, to be pressed onto the other side, oblivious to the array right before it as if the pain as nothing. 

"Enjoy the light fucker!" Amelia said as she closed her hand to form a fist, effectively pulling the 'trigger' 

{!} 

What followed next was a blinding display as all 20 circles fired off a single massive beam of Holy Magic that disintegrated the beast trying to go through the doorway, its hundreds of limbs and its entire body evaporating as it bathed in Holy Light, its final scream cut short by the fact it was hit point blank by the Holy Magic equivalent of a nuke. When the circles fired, it also created a blinding light that made the dual monarchs close their eyes and recoil, the flash being seen as far as Aresburg in the south where the Imperial Army was still fighting the golems but got distracted by the massive light illuminating the battlefield. Once the light subsided and was over, however, the golems stopped fighting and collapsed back into rubble. 

As the light subsided, the dual monarchs reopened their eyes and saw that the doorway, while still open, was no longer letting out any violent wind, there was no chanting of voices in the air and it seemed that the world was still once more. The 20 circles that had been arranged in the array were now gone and what remained was a very quiet, still and relaxing peace. 

"That did it" Ophelia remarked as she looked at her beloved, feeling very weak as the spell took out more from her than she realized

"Yeah...it did" Amelia stated with a small smile, her body teetering on the brink of unconsciousness before she succumbed to it, slumping back and resting on the slab they were hiding behind

"It...really did" Ophelia said before she fell on her knees and then fell forward and fell unconscious 

.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

[A/N: Continent size is like Australia size wise]

Meanwhile in the Nether Realm, the continent where the gateway was on, which was smaller that most in size, was now desolate. Moments ago, it was housing the largest concentration of Nether Imps, Nether Demons, and other monstrosities that this realm had ever seen due to the high influx of killing and dying from earlier in the year. The continent which was housing a massive invasion force and teeming with crimson red ground was now wiped of anything that could have associated it with the Nether Realm, in its place now was a continent with burgundy-colored soil that stretched across the continent before ending up at the crimson-colored waters surrounding it. The blast which was meant to wipe out a single entity, had instead cleansed a continent. Something that shook the Nether Imps and Nether Demons who were outside the continent and had witnessed the blast. When one of them tried to set foot back on the continent, its foot burned and it immediately caught fire as the feeling and aura of Holy Magic was too intense for anyone to handle.

<Impossible....> One of the Nether Imps stated as it looked at the purified land 

<I have never seen anything like this> Another added as it tried to place its hand on a single rock that rested on the edge of the shore

{!} 

It screamed as it picked it up and chucked it back inland, its hand burning continuously to the point where it became unbearable and had to be chopped off. 

The Holy Magic had not only killed whatever was on the other side, it had purified the entire continent it was on, something that could not be undone.

A/N: ONLY A FEW MORE LEFT THEN VOL. 2 IS DONE!