Supreme Magus

The Royal Override bent the Warp Gate to Lith's will, reducing it to a big communication amulet.

He just had to think of Valeron city's rune and the dimensional device locked onto its coordinates. The magical formations surrounding the Warp Gate were turned off as well, allowing the Royal Army to swarm the City Hall unimpeded.

Royal Guards wearing the Royal Fortress armor led the charge, slaughtering everyone on their path. While the army took care of the City Hall, Lith moved on to the final step of his plan.

"We have come to your rescue! Wake up, citizens of Mandia. The King is here for you! Glory to the Kingdom!" He repeated over and over, piercing the silence of the night as he moved towards the city gates.

At first, no one believed him, thinking Lith to be just a naïve fool that would soon be silenced. Mandia had been conquered a little more than one day ago, and no city had ever been recaptured so quickly.

Yet the voice didn't stop and rose in intensity instead. As the people opened their windows, they witnessed a black-clad figure. With a single spell, or a few swings of his blade, he was slaughtering dozens of members of the occupation army.

Then, the doors of the City Hall burst open, and orderly lines of soldiers marched out while singing the Kingdom's anthem with King Meron's name in it instead of Thrud's.

The soldiers on the walls were too far to see the scene, but the noise of the fight soon reached them along with the orders to keep the city gates closed at the cost of their lives.

When the wind carried Lith's voice to them, they found hope. When the wind brought them the first notes of the anthem, it gave them the courage to ignore their orders and open the gates and keep them open at the cost of their lives.

The night sergeant cursed and sent troops of Thrud's loyalists to stop the traitors, but Peonia had followed Lith's instructions and kept her army just outside the line of sight of Mandia's sentinels.

The moment the giant double doors opened, she ordered them to charge and never stop.

"Do you want me to take down the elemental sealing arrays?" Lith asked after notifying her of the success of his part of the mission.

"By the gods, yes!" The Princess replied.

It took Lith a thought to deactivate the magical protections thanks to the Royal Override that was still linked to the City Hall and one word from Peonia to unleash a whole battalion of mages that swarmed Mandia from every direction.

Thrud's men found themselves surrounded by the King's army that attacked from the inside, the Princess' that attacked from the outside, and the citizens that rose to arms, doing whatever they could to help their saviors.

In less than one hour, the battle for Mandia was won. All of Thrud's loyalists and the traitors among the citizens had been reported and either captured or killed. The flags inside the city changed for the second time in less than two days, yet this time the event was welcomed with joy instead of fear.

The Princess and her black knight marched in triumph from the recaptured gates to the City Hall, where her father, King Meron himself, waited for them.

The cheers and cries of joy that accompanied them the entire way were deafening. Countless more or less fresh flowers were thrown their way, covering their path in petals.

"Well done, Princess." Meron gave her a bow, something most rare.

"I'm sorry for letting you down. I'm a terrible King, but I hope you will find the strength to forgive me." The King kneeled to his convened subjects, something that hadn't happened even in the legends.

The citizens of Mandia fell to their knees as well, their foreheads touching the ground out of respect for the King and for the honor he had bestowed upon them.

"Thanks, father." Princess Peonia helped him to stand up. "But I couldn't have made it without Archmage Verhen, the Soldier Magus."

Lith took off his helm, revealing his identity. The people of Mandia were still stunned at the revelation whereas the members of the army immediately burst in cheers. Official title or not, it was the first Magus belonging to their ranks.

"Thank you, Archmage Verhen." The King's smile twitched a bit at those words. The title of Magus was a deal bigger than any Princess and it couldn't be given willy-nilly, not even by acclamation. "I hope you'll keep fighting on our side."

"He sure will." Peonia exploited the moment when all eyes were on them to throw her arms at Lith's neck and kiss him.

That wasn't part of the original plan, but the opportunity was too good to let it slip so he kissed her back. The city walls almost trembled from the cheers while Meron smiled at the scene, promising Lith full support in front of lots of witnesses.

Yet none of it had been his real goal.

Seeing General Morn utterly defeated, his face a mix of green from envy and red from frustration repaid Lith of all of his efforts. Now that Peonia had had her first victory, the political influence of the annoying General would be weakened.

With their alleged relationship public, not even the Royal Court would dare revoke the protection that Lutia needed.

'A kiss is a small price to pay to get rid of that fool.' Lith thought. 'Between his rank in the army and his royal blood, Morn is an opponent that I can't underestimate. He already tried to get me dishonorably discharged and charged with treason.

'I don't think that he's stupid enough to seek Thrud's or Orpal's help, but with the Kingdom sieged, an unreliable ally is much worse than an open enemy.'

'Dammit! I wish I could side with Thrud, but she would kill me the moment I outlive my usefulness. Orpal is not an option either. He's as insane as Night and too unpredictable.' Morn thought. 

'Well played my niece. You and your boyfriend won this battle, but the war is far from over.

'One mistake is all I need to turn the tides and get rid of both of you. After that, I'll force Meron to abdicate the throne and I'll become the regent until a new King emerges from the trial. If Tyris doesn't accept me, then I'll have to force her hand.'

***

Council of Awakened, right after Vastor's marriage.

The war of the Griffons had caught the Council unprepared. They knew about Thrud's plans to take over the Griffon Kingdom and they wanted payback for the dozens of apprentices that she had killed for her experiments in Lightkeep.

Yet the most powerful and ancient creatures of the Garlen continent had failed to grasp the power and resources that the Mad Queen had gathered during the past few years thanks to her schemes.

The Council representatives had intended to abuse their superior expertise and numbers to assassinate Thrud as soon as she became exposed. It wasn't the first time that the Awakened community had to deal with a troublesome leader.

Usually, all it took them to get rid of a pest was a Spirit Spell shot from a distance in a city where the arrays sealed regular magic.