CHAPTER LXIV.

'Stop the fighting? pardon the traitors? What the hell is that brat talking about?'

Roland will not allow her to steal this chance to become a legend from him!

Once he realized that the Bartfrot knight in front of him was wielding Vandel's blade he realized that this was his Fate!

But now that… that MIDGET dared to try to deny him his destiny!

The worst part was that he could feel his desire to fight diminishing with every word that came out of her mouth!

As he watched the saintess image projected in the sky it… it drained his will to fight.

The worst part was that he could see the man he had been fighting was lowering his sword too!

How… How dare she dare?!

It… it's not fair!

0x0x0x0

Olivia wasn't someone easy to anger.

Angie on the other hand was about to explode, probably the only thing that was holding her back was that their babies were sleeping a few meters away on their cribs!

Olivia couldn't blame Angie though, she was just insulted!

Oliva was angry now though.

That woman was brushing off everything she and her friend and the rural nobles have suffered at the hands of the Holforts!

She could remember everything!

How she enjoyed her life as a commoner ignorant of the kingdom's politics, and compared to her time in the academy she was happy.

But then she suffered hell on earth at the hands of the noble Ladies that populated Horfort's Royal academy!

They took an instant dislike to her. At first they just wanted to treat her as the help, but she resisted being the naive and ignorant girl she was back then.

So once she dared to deny them they tried their best to show her her place, some would do petty things like putting papers on her hair, tripping her in the hallway was considered daring those days.

Then came that cursed tea party invitation from the Field Heir and it was as if the peasant hunting season in the academy was declared open!

Those petty harpies started to burn her things, sabotage in class and it was worse in the dungeon.

The boys never dared to do anything against her, or for her.

they were non factors in her life in the academy, and now she thinks that was for the best.

She lived in a hell engineered by the Holforts and so did Angie, and now this… this… courtesan has the gall to ask for them to just lay down their weapons without a fight?!

Inaceptable!

Not only because of the insult to her friend and sister-wife, but also because she could feel the magic permeating all across the battlefield, she could see some of her neighbors reluctantly lowering their weapons.

She knew what this was, Miss Joan was adamant on learning about this phenomenon in the last few days.

The spell of the first Saintess named Talking to the Heart.

That evil woman was trying to rob her allies of their will to fight!

The mere thought of her husband falling prey to said spell put her beyond angry, but she wasn't one to lash out without thought.

They could lose everything!

She looked at Cleare who was hovering above Odalis and Gil's cribs making sure they didn't wake up from the noise made by the harlot and as if sensing her eyes on her the familiar turned to her and she called the familiar to her side.

"I'll need to use that boost now" she ordered coldly.

Olivia could feel a small pull on her magic and like that an image of her back was visible in front of the ship.

In a fancy black and Red dress she must have looked quite contrasting to that courtesan in the blue and white dress… perfect!

"COMPATRIOTS?" She asked as she projected her magic through the Partner along with her voice, "IT SEEMS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT SITUATION… SAINTESS, WE ARE NO LONGER PART OF THE HOLFORT'S KINGDOM."

"AND WE ARE NOT HERE JUST BECAUSE A RIGHTFULLY OFFENDED FATHER AND A GOOD AND HONEST WOMAN BEING CASTED ASIDE FOR A COURTESAN…"

"HOW DARE YOU!" the little girl in the blue dress reacted, just as she expected "I'M TRYING TO SAVE AS MANY LIVES AS POSSIBLE BUT YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT, DO YOU? WITCH!"

Maire pushed her magic again, trying to displace her back to try her luck again, Olivia was not surprised someone on the same level as the original saintess would fight her for control.

But it's not as if she would just give up after her first try, Olivia knew this was not something she was allowed to fail and pushed more of her magic into what she was doing… she has yet to name this counterspell and she probably shouldn't name it at all!

"ARE THE LIVES YOU ARE TRYING TO SAVE ARE WORTH IT?" Olivia asked "SAVING THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE THAT ALLOW CHILDREN TO BE SEND TO DIE IN THE BATTLEFIELDS JUST TO FILL THE POCKETS OF SOME OLD HAGS?"

Olivia couldn't forget Leon's face when he told Vince, Angie and herself about how Zola had sold him, that was one of the few times he seemed truly fearful.

The saintess pushed her magic harder instead of arguing for the kingdom's righteousness, but this time the ether became visible to the naked eye, she could hear Angie, who stayed silent until now gasping at the sight.

She responded in kind and to her surprise her own ether became visible as well.

Now that their battle was no longer a secret Olivia could use it to motivate Vince's troops.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE NOTICED SAINTESS, WHILE I'M HERE YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO CURSE OUR TROOPS!"

"IT IS I WHO IS PREVENTING YOU FROM CURSING OUR LOYAL SOLDIERS WITCH!" the saintess Lied.

With their pieces said they just concentrated on trying to overwhelm the other.

Angie's image joined hers and faced the Saintess too "REMEMBER WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR, IT IS NOT FOR MY FATHER OR ME, BUT TO LIBERATE THIS LAND FROM SELFISH EGOTISTICAL MEN WHOM HAVE USED AND DISCARDED US AS THEY PLEASED. FIGHT BECAUSE WE DESERVE BETTER THAN THE HOLFORTS CAN OFFER AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT LITTLE WITCH OVER THERE!" Angie pointed at the courtesan "BECAUSE WE HAVE THE TRUE SAINTESS OLIVIA RAPHA BARTFORT AT OUR SIDE!"

0x0x0x0

Mylene wished she could be alone right now.

but instead she is in charge in this war room and while she is not in charge of the army it's still important for her to maintain a facade of control.

But it is so very… hard… to remain calm right now!

The priest screaming HERESY at the top of his lungs as a wave of ether from Bartfort's second wife clashes and stops the saintess own magic isn't helping either.

The way things are happening right now are enough to send anyone into despair.

The Saintess' attempt to influence the rebels into surrender with her magic have failed spectacularly!

Her brother picking up a cup of his favorite china from the floor was enough to prove how shocked he was to see Bartfort's second wife appear in the sky.

It is also another one of her monumental failures, she could still remember when Lucas told her he found a saintess candidate among the commoners and how he planned to use her to accelerate the Crown's plan to replace the stagnant nobility with worthy commoners!

She should have paid him more attention when he told her about her… But Lucas' ideas are mostly impossible to achieve because they rely too much on people being as idealistic and committed as him!

Angie and Vince snatched a saintess candidate right under her nose and she did nothing!

Mylene still has the day of Angies wedding fresh in her mind, she could even pinpoint the meek commoner that did everything in her power to avoid offending the Redgrave's vassals with her mere presence, and it was hard to accept that that same woman has defied the Crown and the Saintess just now!

At the moment she could readily believe the gods are in Vince's favor…

There is no other explanation for his plans to go without a hitch while hers fall apart so easily!

Jilk and Brad who were lauded as two of the kingdom's strongest have already fallen but nothing they tried can even slow down the Pirate's Bane!

And now Vince has a woman whose power rivals the Saintess being related to him and Angelica claiming her to be the real saintess while said woman overpowers Maire's efforts is just the cherry on top at this point!

And from her vantage point she could see how Marie's magic was being pushed back by the Redgrave's Saintess!

"Lucas" she whispers to his brother, and once she has his ear she continues "Go find Erica and hide"

The battle will end with the Rebels victory and Mylene knows that Erica's only chance of survival is begging Angie for mercy and then hope VInce allows it…

0x0x0x0

´DAMN HER, DAMN HER, DAMN HER, DAMN HER, DAMN HER, DAMN HER!' Ann would keep cursing that woman if not for her fear of the higher deities, she knows the story of Gabriela who lost her magic after cursing her rival seven times and she is not going to risk that fate!

More importantly though, how does that damn woman dare deny her right as the Saintess!

From what she understands Ann herself IS the original saintes, even if her younger sister personified her after trapping her soul in her gear!

Ann has suffered too much to be denied anything she desires, and what she desires right now is to show those upstarts! who the real Saintess is!

She focuses her power through her staff and pours even more magic into Talking to the Heart and she pushes the upstart back!

For an entire second!

That bitch is somehow managing to surpass her in magical power!

This is unexplored territory to her, it has simply never happened before, but she was not only powerful, she was also resourceful, and perhaps she has the tools to win without having to overpower that damned woman!

This is going to be tricky, she has to keep pushing, while pouring most of her concentration on an astral projection she will use to destabilize her enemy.

The noise around her is annoying so she ignores it… so what if her nose is bleeding?

This body is just a temporary shell. she only needs it to last long enough to pit the Traitors against each other and then stab the last one standing in the heart!

After a few seconds of torture she manages to reach the mind of this fake Saintess, but that is only half of the battle.

Ann needs something to disrupt her concentration long enough to ensnare her and the rest of the rebels in her spell.

Diligently she looks at her opponents memories, she needs to be fast, if the woman notices her she might be able to put up a fight, and given her luck recently that is not something she is willing to risk.

The things at the forefront of her mind are her daughter and her… son?

But she has only given birth once and it was a baby girl, ah, so it is her sister-wife's son!

Disgusting!

Her Husband… LEA!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

It can't be!

She refuses to believe she is fighting against her Lea reborn!

Lea loves her and only her!

Yes! Those babies are proof that the only thing Lea feels for the woman that calls themselves is only lust and nothing mor…

0x0x0

Julius was in shock.

One moment his lovely Maire is fighting tooth and sham of a Saintess from the Redgrave army and the next she takes out the bracelet and collar that form part of the Saintess regalia that helps to amplify her powers throwing them at the floor and stomping on them!

He hugs her and pours his magic on her to flush any other invasive spell that the witch in front of them might have used on his lover!

But he is too late!

Marie faints and the impostor's spell washes all over the kingdom's army…

NOT A STEP BACK, KEEP FIGHTING!

A/N.: I sincerely pity Marie, she is back in control of her body right in time for the fall of the Holfort Dynasty!