The Princess of Wrath

Chapter 14 - Part VI: The Wrath of the Dreadlady

Diana laid Stanislaus's head in the arms of her father, whose brilliant mind had been shattered in the face of such a painful atrocity, then forced her way through the Imperial Guards to go peacefully to the Throne Room.

She saw that only the Imperial Guard who had been guarding the access to the gallery stayed with the traumatized old man, while the others escorted her as if she were a criminal going to the execution ground. And by the Gods, did they all want to kill her right there because of what she did...

The blonde knightess was able to briefly glimpse the indescribable pain of her father before stepping into the hall; Gustav could do no more than look into the dead eyes of his son, trying in vain to understand that he would never again hear the voice of that boy with dreams of scientific greatness. He seemed to age the rest of his remaining years of life in a second, as if death was ready to take him from that cruel world.

Was a torture like that worth it? Yes... Diana's heart filled with warm pleasure as she repeated that heartbreakingly sad image in her head, over and over again.

Surrounded by men and women who wanted to kill her, she could not help but get excited at the possibility of a massacre. But when entering in the Iron Graveyard, feeling the rust smell of dead legendary weapons filling her nostrils, and seeing at the far away end that hall where perhaps the person who hated her the most in the entire extension of the Empire waited... It was like to be at the gates of a divine paradise.

Standing in front of the black doors of the Hall of the Throne, Diana saw for the first time the genius of Roland implemented in new technology not shown at the Festival a month ago: two pylons with electrified orbs placed on both sides, creating a lethal wall of light blocking the way.

"So that fool Alchemist turned this room into a prison for our beloved Empress...," Diana mused, nodding in agreement. She turned her head to meet the helpless gaze of one of the Imperial Guards escorting her and asked, "What will happen to you if I throw you into the light?"

Sensing the impending danger, the female Guard took the handle of her sword with the intention of unsheathing it, but the fear that dominated her was such that she could not even lift it an inch, as if it weighed a ton.

"Why better not throw yourself and free us from your existence? You damn lunatic bitch." Viktor acted quickly and waved to the two Wraiths guarding the integrity of the pylons: they deactivated the wall of light by moving two levers. Then they opened the doors wide, allowing them to pass. "Move!"

By taking the place of the terrified Guard, Viktor was not someone Diana could easily intimidate, so she smiled sweetly at him before moving on. The doors closed behind her, and the blonde knightess' innocent smile turned into one of honest surprise to see that Roland had not limited himself to reinforcing the main entrance: the windows and the ceiling had their respective light barriers but of permanent character, with miniature pylons distributed on the walls to generate the electric arcs necessary to its functioning.

"Prison, I said? No, thisis more of a birdcage," Diana said as she gazed in wonder at the arcs of light, until her attention focused on the woman sitting on the throne. "And there is the bird that will never soar the skies again."

Armed with the Twilight of the Terror Hand and wearing her combat armor that reflected all the power of which she was rapidly being stripped of, Elfriede Ithryl was a warrior goddess who fell from grace; the ruler of a vast Empire who did not even know yet that her title no longer meant anything.

"We have brought Diana Belmont as you commanded us, your Excellency," the Immortal Aegis said aloud as he stopped a few feet from the steps that led to the throne and bowed deeply. Then, by hearing his voice crack into clear signs of weakness and inadequacy, Diana was tempted to dash forward and break his neck. "The...the last command from you."