CHAPTER 64

GABIN'S EYES settled on his lordship, who just entered the hall after an hour of being away. He wanted to ask if everything went well, but seeing how his excellency looked calm, Gabin knew everything went well.

He wanted to get his lordship's attention so he could report the result of their plan to his excellency, but his lordship was called by the emperor and he was invited to stand beside the emperor in front of everyone as the emperor offered a toast.

The warlord was emotionless as always making Gabin sighed. Can't His Excellency at least fake his smile?

"Everyone! Your attention, please!" A herald bellowed to get everyone's attention before the emperor raised his glass to speak.

"Everyone!" The emperor started and put his arm around Warlord Hakkeran. "This is our hero who captured the evil queen, the Mistress of Flame, my nephew, Warlord Hakkeran Adral!" Almost immediately, murmurs filled the air and most of them were women trying to get the warlord's attention not knowing that the warlord already surrendered his body, mind, heart and soul— his everything— to his queen. "I know most women here wants to have my nephew all to herself, that's why I'm happy to announce that my nephew will choose a woman who caught his attention tonight — or should I say, women?"

Most nobilities laughed heartily, even cheering the warlord on, since having lots of women was a perks the nobilities enjoys.

"Well, nephew," the emperor glanced at Hakkeran who had been silent since the beginning. "Have you chosen? You can choose anyone you like."

Hakkeran glanced at the emperor. "Really, Your Majesty? I really can?"

"Of course! This feast is for you and your warriors."

Hakkeran finally smiled and all the women in the hall nearly swoon at how handsome he looked. "Then, let me introduce the woman my heart has chosen, Your Majesty."

"Yes, yes. Go ahead." Replied the emperor who thought the woman Hakkeran was talking about was inside the hall. Only to be surprised when the warlord called for his commander.

"Gabin, open the hall's door and let my queen in."

Gabin bows his head at his lordship before he briskly walked towards the hall's door and using all his strength, he pulled it open widely before he stepped to the side with his head low to show a beautiful woman outside the door wearing a blood red off the shoulder long sleeve sequin sheath dress.

Gabin bowed his head and motioned his hand at the queen to enter, "please, Your Highness."

The woman with a blood red dress finally moved to step inside the hall and when she finally graces everyone with her beauty and elegance, multiple gasps of adoration and shocked filled the hall.

A graceful and powerful presence made everyone stop at what they were doing. It was only not the beauty nor the stunning dress, it was the bright red hair and lava-liquid eyes that took their breath away.

No dared move, knowing that such hair color and eyes could only mean one thing. A full-blooded Ytherian in their midst.

Their adoration turned sour and hostile, but still, no one dared move. Only whispers and murmurs of disdain filled the hall as the woman continued to walk towards the emperor who looked like he had seen death.

"Who is she?"

"What's with her hair?"

"Is he really an Ytherian?"

"Is she connected to Warlord Hakkeran?"

"What's happening?"

Lots of questions were thrown around in low voices, but nobody dared voice out their questions and just continued watching and observing. Meanwhile, members of nobilities who knew and remembered the face of the Mistress of Flame run towards the emperor to protect him while others run outside to call for the soldiers when they didn't see any soldiers inside the hall which was odd and unlikely.

The emperor's trusted aid was one of the officials who run outside, bellowing for help until he found General Barrin whom the prime ministers immediately ordered to follow him to the hall and subdue the Mistress of Flame.

Meanwhile, inside the hall, someone finally had the dauntlessness to move and attack Sollel — the strongest flame sorcerer in the empire, Prime minister Zasim Pavras.

Prime minister Zasim used his strongest attack, knowing who he was going against with, but his strongest attack felt like the weakest when it neared the Mistress of Flame and the Queen of Flame just nonchalantly blows it away as if blowing a candle flame and it dissipates so easily as if it lost its strength and power with just one powerless blow.

"What did you do?!" Prime minister Zasim bellowed dauntlessly while trying to hide the fear that was starting to gnaw inside him. "That's my strongest attack!"

"Oh?" Sollel's eyes settled on Prime minister Zasim who's blocking her path to the emperor. "You call that strong?" It was melodious voice. She sounded so serene, but her voice had a hint of coldness in them. "What a waste of my blessing." With a flick of Sollel's wrist, every drop of flame essence inside Prime minister Zasim started working against him, devouring his body from the inside until he was burnt to crisp.

In less than a minute, the strongest flame sorcerer of the empire died by his own essence.

Fear hanged in the air.

No one dared to attack Sollel again after seeing what happened to the empire's strongest sorcerer. All feared the woman who had a smile on her face as she faced the emperor.

"We met again, Gabrien—" Sollel paused, then spoke with a mocking voice. "Wait, that's your name, right? Gabrien? Sorry," a very insincere apology. "I don't remember the names of insignificant people."

As if waking up from his shock, the emperor started backing away as he called the empire soldiers in his palace. "Soldiers! Soldiers! The moonrite stone!" But even how much he shouted, no empire's soldiers came to protect him.

"Don't bother." Hakkeran finally spoke after his lady entered the hall. "The palace's soldiers are all dead." As if mockingly, Hakkeran bowed his head the emperor who was backing away in fear. "My warriors thanks His Majesty for the feast. They all enjoyed drinking with the palace's soldiers."

The emperor's eyes widened when he realized what Hakkeran meant. "You...! How dare you do this to your uncle?! To your blood?! What did you do to my soldiers?! You will never be able to destroy my army—"

"We already destroyed half of them." Hakkeran shrugged. "It won't be a problem to take down the remaining half."

"N-no... w-when did you... what did you do?!" Emperor Gabrien was shaking in rage with bloodshot eyes. "What did you do?!"

"What's the use of telling you? It won't bring them back anyway." Hakkeran answered nonchalantly. "I was supposed to show mercy on them and let my queen decide what to do with them, but they were gloating and talking bad about my lady and I didn't like it." Hakkeran's face darkened. If anyone insulted him, they will let him live, but if they insulted his lady— that is another story. "So I ordered Gabin and my warriors to kill every single one of them earlier when I left to 'subdue' the other races outside the city. I mean, you still have alive soldiers outside the palace, but they won't stay alive much longer."

Emperor Gabrien was horrified at what he heard. His mind was blank. He always thought that the Mistress of Flame was weak even if she recovered, but seeing her now and feeling her whole presence, now he understood why his predecessor was so scared of that woman. Why the previous emperors were very careful of the Mistress of Flame. Why they take precautions after precautions when it comes to the woman in front of him!

I had been complacent. Emperor Gabrien thought as fear ruled over him, remembering the stories about the Mistress of Flame from the previous emperor. How scary she was when angered and what she could do to express her fury.

But what Emperor Gabrien didn't understand was his nephew! His nephew never met the Mistress of Flame. Why was he helping her?! "Why... why did you betray your own blood...?!"

Hakkeran looked at the emperor as he would to a bug. "You're not my blood. But to answer your question, because it's humorous that way." A cold, ruthless smile stretched on Hakkeran's lips. "You, humans, betrayed my queen, it's only fitting to return the betrayal, don't you think?"

The emperor still couldn't believe it. His nephew was loyal to the bone! He was the one who helped him subjugate other small kingdoms to expand his territory! His mind couldn't accept that his nephew would betray him in his own volition.

Emperor Gabrien glared at the Mistress of Flame. "What did you do with my nephew?! What power did you use on him that he betrayed his own blood?!"

Sollel didn't answer and just watched the emperor who kept backing away, pale with fear, coldly. As if she was watching someone most unworthy of her gaze. While the nobilities protecting the emperor started backing away too, and even the guests who didn't know Sollel started to step back too, sensing the danger coming from the woman— they all wanted to run.

Feeling the fear of everyone, Sollel smiled amiably at the guests and spoke sweetly, "you can all leave if you want."

The guests were overjoyed, they were all more than willing to leave the emperor for their own safety, but before they could take a step, the whole hall was flooded with scorching and suffocating pressure, as if they were being pinned down by heat and they couldn't move as they try their best to gasp for air. Some even fell unconscious immediately because they couldn't take the suffocation.

The guests didn't know it, but it was the essence of the Mistress of Flame, the queen of destruction, flooding the whole hall, filling every inch of the palace.

In the midst of that suffocating pressure that even affecting Gabin, Hakkeran walked towards his queen as if not affected by the pressure and stood beside her before he introduced his lady to everyone as if they were all still in joyous celebration and not suffocating to death.

"Let me introduce you all to my queen." Hakkeran held his lady's hand and kissed its back, his eyes never leaving her. "Meet Queen Sollel Vatra Sarragny. Krahika of the temple of Ignis. The first blessed queen of Yther and the Mistress of Flame."

Gasped echoed and their wide eyes were filled with fear at the mention of the Mistress of Flame. Known to all humans as the evil queen. But the Mistress of Flame herself chuckled at Warlord as if she was amused.

"No need to introduce me, Hakkeran. They're all going to die anyway, what's the use?"

Fear runs down on everyone's spine as the Mistress of Flame's nonchalance about their death. They all wanted to beg and ask for mercy, but they were too suffocated to even speak.

And then the emperor's trusted aide entered the hall together with a general. Everyone felt secretly joyous that a savior came.

"Defeat her!" The emperor's trusted aide pointed the Mistress of Flame in the center of the hall. "If you defeated her, everything will be given to you! Everything and anything you desire!"

"Yes!" The emperor seconded his trusted aide seeing one of his strongest general. "Defeat her and I will give you anything you want. Woman, wealth and power!"

General Barrin only looked uninterested at the emperor's trusted aide and the emperor before he silently walked towards the woman in the center.

Everyone was hopeful, even the emperor was looking forward to the Mistress of Flame's defeat, knowing how strong General Barrin was, but their hope was crushed in an instant and everyone's jaw dropped when General Barrin suddenly transformed into a majestic bird, the mythical phoenix!

And the most terrifying of all after that was how the phoenix bowed down to the Mistress of Flame after it burned the emperor's trusted aide, making the emperor staggered back.

Just when everyone lost their hope, two of the nobilities who left earlier went back and they had more bad news that made everyone's heart sunk.

"All the moonrite stone is in the camber and it's locked! It was not opening!"

"Our— our families! Our mansions are all burnt to the ground! I saw dwarves and other filthy monsters banding together, destroying our homes!"

"The smithy building had been destroyed and everyone was killed!" Another noble reported. "All the firestone had been sucked dry!"

"This has been planned!" Another noble bellowed in rage. "We've been betrayed!"

The emperor staggered back in the news. Now he understood why the Mistress of Flame in front of him looked formidable. The firestone — all that firestone. Emperor Gabrien looked at the warlord who still had his eyes on the Mistress of Flame. If he had been helping that woman, is that the reason why he took her back her? For the firestone? To make her recovery her strength fast?!

Emperor Gabrien fell to the ground in shock. He had no soldiers, no generals, no moonrite stone. He had nothing! How was he going to fight this monster in front of her? He felt like he was in the corner, trapped like a mouse.

The emperor was already breaking down inside when he heard the Mistress of Flame's voice.

"Don't worry," she sounded so amiable. "I'm not going to kill you. Because you will be my audience as I destroy everyone and everything you hold dear. So just sit there as I give you the best show you'll ever see in the whole Azitera— the burning of the Infernal Empire."

As if on cue, from outside the palace, everyone saw dozens of gigantic flaming swords appeared in the sky. The appearance was so sudden that it made humans wary and nervous, but the other races who saw it and knew what it was, they stopped destroying the noble houses and howled in joy before every single one of them kneeled on one on the ground and bowed their heads in reverie towards the flaming swords.

The flaming swords were burning brightly that its glow and heat could be seen and felt from the terrace in the grand hall. The humans in and out of the palace, though they knew terror, but when the saw hundreds of balls of flame above the gigantic flaming swords, that's when they know what terror really meant.

After the appearance of two formidable flame attacks just hovering above the palace, a humongous flame pillar suddenly erected around the palace, trapping the massive palace and its inhabitants inside. No one could go in and out.

"Watch," Sollel told the emperor who had now lost the color in his face and only terror could be seen in his eyes. "As I destroy your empire."

Sollel flicked her wrist, a casual and unconcerned movement, but to everyone around her, except for her allies, it was a flick of death as the gigantic flaming swords and balls of flame started descending.

Screams. The loud horrific sound of buildings crumbling. The whole palace falling apart and the ground shaking as the gigantic flaming swords pierced and burned everything below while the unending balls of flames brought death, chaos and destruction.

It was the same attack that killed many in the Hallowed Valley, but it couldn't be compared to that. Sollel only had half of strength at that time, but now, she already had all her strength back. That means she could create endless gigantic flaming swords and non stop raining of balls of flames.

The humans who witnessed such terrifying scene happening in the palace could not move in horror. Only when the balls of flame started falling down on the whole city did the citizens of the city of Faberion started running for their lives, screaming for help and begging for mercy.

But the Mistress of Flame had no mercy for humans. To her, this was her long overdue promise.

The Infernal Empire will burn and Sollel wouldn't stop until the whole city was in ruins— just like what the humans did to her kingdom. She did not believe in forgiveness. What the humans did to her people and to other races — it's unforgivable.

And she was not the Mistress of kindness. She's the Queen of Destruction and the Mistress of Flame who promised to burn her betrayers.

And I always keep my promises. Sollel thought as she remained standing as if everything around her was not in chaos.

Death and destruction surrounded her, but Sollel didn't care. Her merciless eyes remained on the emperor who was now crouching on the ground, shouting in horror and pitifully covering his ears.

Angry that he was not watching as she wanted, Sollel walked towards the emperor and grabbed him by the collar before dragging him out to the terrace to give him the best view.

"Watch," Sollel gripped the emperor's head and forced him to watch the destruction and death in front of them. "I'm not done yet."

"N—no! No! No more!" The emperor was crying in fear and emotional pain and when he saw the sea of flames erupted from the ground, burning everything in its path, his mind broke down and he screamed in terror.

It was raining flames. Flaming swords piercing down from the sky. Sea of flames erupting from the ground. Flame pillars caging everyone inside with no escape. All that and Sollel was still not satisfied so she raised her hand in the air and created another chaos.

"Blood of flame, come forth and heed my call! Rise from the ground and devour everything in your path! Molten lava!"

Extreme terror devoured every fiber of his being as he saw with his own eyes how a volcano rose from the ground as if alive and started spitting out lava, devouring everything in its path and destroying the already destroyed palace.

The flame razing hell and destruction in the Faberion City of the Infernal Empire could be seen from hundreds of miles away. Instilling terror on everyone.

Except for the town of Adral. The people in town were in joyous celebration. And inside the castle of Adral, in the terrace there stood a man and a woman— a warlord and a queen.

"Looks like she's really angry." Warlord Treven commented as he watched the flame devour the Faberion city.

"They deserved it." The once kind and gentle Mistress of Nature replied in a cold voice.

Treven glanced at Gatria before he looked at the Faberion city and silently watched the city burn.

In days to come, by the accounts of the people who barely escaped the city— it was said that the city of Faberion, and the palace of the Infernal empire burned for seven days and seven nights— making every human in Azitera believed that the Infernal Empire burning was just the beginning of the Yther's Queens revenge. 

CECELIB | C.C.

SHOUT OUT TO DRAGONESA, MADAM SABOG, MINION T, MINION C, MINION MIC AND MINION MIT 😂 Happy Reading!