The group traversed across Firene before stopping as they saw a castle with a town built around it in the distance.
"There's the castle." Alfred said.
"It's so quiet… Where are our knights? Or the Elusian soldiers, for that matter?" Cèline asked.
"They're likely inside with the Queen, and I'm getting a draconic reading as well." Hermit said.
"She's probably being interrogated about where Celica is. They don't know we have her, so we can take them by surprise." Hope said.
"Still, let's hurry on to the castle and ensure the queen's safety." Qadira said.
Meanwhile in the castle…
An older woman with long blonde hair wearing a floral crown along with a sleeveless white dress with blue lines on it and green cloth wrapped around the lower half along with black and white lace on the upper half similar to Cèline was being interrogated by an Elusian officer, this was Queen Evè. The Elusian officer had dark green hair and a dark red cowlick as he mainly wore purple, he is known as Nelucce.
"Hate to break it to ya, Queenie, but our forces have taken the castle. This is the part where you tell me where you've got the ring stashed in here." Nelucce said.
"Who's to say?" Queen Evè asked as she looked away.
"Is it inside the castle? Out on the grounds? I'm asking all polite-like, c'mon!" Nelucce pleaded as he stood close, only to receive a deadly glare from Queen Eve which unnerved him as he backed away.
"I'm not in the habit of speaking to lowly vermin. That's all that you are, the lot of you." Queen Eve said.
"The mouth on this one. You think I won't gut ya where you stand?!" Nelucce threatened before stopping as he turned to see someone approaching.
It looked to be a woman with long white hair in a black dress that exposed much of her body, with horns in the shape of a crescent moon protruding from the sides of her head. The left horn was bigger than the right, and both had red ribbons wrapped around them, one on the right, and two on the left.
"I'd recommend against it, darling." she said.
"Lady Zephia!" Delucce said as he and two Elusian soldiers stood at attention.
"After all, Her Majesty can't tell us much of value if she's dead. Now, I come bearing news." the woman known as Zephia announced. "One of our soldiers says he spotted the princess fleeing before we arrived. How curious. Did you perhaps give that daughter of yours the ring for safekeeping?" she asked as Queen Eve kept silent. "Aw, well isn't this tragic. We'd simply hate to resort to violence. You leave us no choice. By virtue of your silence, we will now kill every living soul in this castle, one by one."
"Please, no!" Queen Evè pleaded as the group had soon arrived.
"Mother!" Alfred called.
"Mother, we're here!" Celine added.
"Alfred! Cèline!" Queen Eve said.
"Oh, look. The kids are home." Zephia said.
"You Elusian Scum! Get away from her!" Alfred demanded.
"Hm-hm. Who's going to make us?" Zephia asked.
"Hermit. That woman with the horns. She the one?" Connor asked.
"Yeah. That's the energy signal I picked up. She does have Draconic traits… but unlike Alear, she isn't a full-blooded dragon." Hermit said.
"(Siege's letter to Mark mentioned her. I think her name is Zephia.)" Hope thought to himself.
"I'm glad you've come. Now we can see for ourselves if the princess has the ring." Zephia said.
"No! Please, leave my children alone!" Queen Evè pleaded.
"Of course. As long as you tell me where the ring is." Zephia said.
"I…" Queen Eve tried to say.
"Ah. Young Cèline does have it, doesn't she? We'll have to kill her, then. The prince, too, for good measure." Zephia said. "Take Her Majesty away. We'll continue our conversation later, if need be."
"Unhand me!" Queen Eve said as she was taken away.
"Mother!" Alfred called.
"Let her go!" Alear demanded.
"All right. Enough with the dramatics." Zephia said before focusing on Alear. "Huh? You… You look familiar. No. It couldn't be. Who are you?"
"I am the Divine Dragon Alear." Alear answered.
"Such lies. Lumera was the last of her kind." Zephia said.
"Believe whatever you want to, it's the truth. Considering what your forces have done at Lythos Castle." Ace said.
"What say we skip the part where we try to convince you to stand down, and get straight to kicking you all out the door head first?" Mark asked, cracking his knuckles. "Feel free to resist. It's more fun that way."
"So sorry, but I have other matters to attend to. But I will tell you this. The kingdom of Elusia has freed Lord Sombron from his imprisonment." Zephia said.
"So you found another way, huh?" Geiz mused.
"Now, if you'll excuse me." Zephia said. "Get the rings. No prisoners." she ordered Nelucce.
"I was hopin' you'd say that." Nelucce said as Zephia retreated.
"That guy's arrogant, but he looks tough. He won't go down just because we hit him really hard." Connor said.
"Let's see what we can do first before we go for the climax." Zi-O advised.
The Elusian soldiers spread themselves out through the throne room, taking flanking routes between the two passageways in the castle.
"They're cutting off our routes with numbers. They've got Cavalry, armor and Archers, but no fliers." Goblin Slayer said.
"Armor knights are no match against mages though." Mona stated. "Since there's two routes, perhaps splitting up would be the best option?"
"Hey Alfred, where does the west route go to?" Aether asked.
"That way leads to the treasury." Alfred said.
"You think the Elusians will go after the treasure?" Lumine assumed.
"No, but I bet they'll funnel their Cavalry that way to try and cut us off fast." Sakura said.
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Geiz responded. "Anyone care to join me to the treasury?"
"Also, is it okay to take some of your treasure, Alfred?" Paimon asked.
"Really, Paimon? Treasure at a time like this?" Cure Starlight deadpanned.
"Yeah, this ain't a good time." Eddy agreed.
"Huh. That's out of-" Zi-O started.
"Wait for it…" Mark stopped them.
"I mean, we should wait until after we save the day to talk about getting something." the middle schooler finished.
"And there it is." the half-angel said.
"Can we focus on driving Elusia out of the castle and rescuing Alfred and Cèline's mom, please?" Glimmer said.
"Glimmer is right. This is kind of high-priority right now." David said.
"Right. Sorry." Eddy apologized. "Anyway, I'm with ya, Geiz."
"Charlotte, you're coming too. I need your help with something once we arrive there." Geiz said.
"Understood." The French IS pilot nodded.
"Louis, you and the other defenders bottle neck any attacks down the center. Chloè, once we take out their archers, you do hit and run on their Sword fighters." Adora said.
"Understood." Louis said.
"Alright, we have our plan." Maria nodded. "Now let's get these Elusians out of this castle!"
With that, the battle to retake Firene castle began. Eddy, Geiz and Charlotte flanked left to cut off the cavalry headed their way through the treasury, while the others held out in the center and east.
"Come on. Take them all out…" Delucce said as one soldier was sent flying right past him. "Just how strong are these people?!"
"Strong enough to crush your army like paper cups." David said. "Last chance to surrender."
"I choose to wave that right." Delucce said drawing his weapon.
"Your choice." Simon said, aiming Hypnos and Nyx at him.
"If you really think you have a chance against us, you're free to take one step forward." Zi-O stated, pointing his Zikan Gilade Ken Mode to the Elusian leader. "If not, then leave. And never come back."
"Hmm…" Delucce said before he then turned and ran.
"Good answer." Zi-O said.
"Yeah, you better run." David said as everyone sheathed their weapons.
"He won't get far. I'm getting the sense that woman with him doesn't like runners in her forces." Adora said.
"Yeah she did give off that failure intolerant sort of vibe." Jexi said.
"At least we've driven Elusias forces back. With this, Firene is safe and Queen Evè has been rescued." Alear said.
"And now we know Elusia is trying to go after the other Emblem Rings so they can give them to a freed Sombron. And they're not below taking them by force and killing whoever's in their way." Hope said.
"Of course, we already knew that." Aelita said. "Meaning we need to get to the rings before Sombron has a chance to revive."
"Let's see… Elusia has the Ring of the Lady of the Plains, so that's off limits for now. And they're already ahead of us because they stole the rings Lythos had." Ethox said.
"And we already have our only ring." Celinè said.
"Actually, that is not true." Queen Eve said as she emerged. "Firene has another ring."
"You do? Which one?" Tanya asked.
"The Ring of the Dawn Maiden. It was hidden away and kept secret in case of a situation such as this." Queen Evè said. "It lies hidden near the border between Firene and Brodia."
"Well we would need to head to Brodia anyway. We can snatch it up along the way." Theo said.
"Good thinking, we will need all of the rings in order to defeat Sombron." Sectonia said.
"Hmm…before we go…I think we should leave some people behind…just in case anymore invaders try to attack Firene again." Theo said.
"I see…like leaving a battalion to ensure peace is kept." Riolu said.
"That's actually a smart idea." Geiz remarked.
"But who should stay behind in case Elusia decides to attack again?" Boucheron asked.
"We'll leave at least a total of 12 behind." Ainz said.
"Charlotte, Laura, Grey, I want you three to stay and defend the region." Aile said. "Can you do that for me?"
"Oui./Ja./Understood." Charlotte, Laura B. and Grey nodded.
"I'll stay as well." Perfuma said.
"I'll leave Geld and Gobta here too." Theo said.
"For us, it'll be Bellossom, Sprigatito, Bulbasaur and Lilligant." Riolu said.
"I think I'll stay too. You guys have plenty of ice-users already. You don't need me dragging you down." Captain Cold said.
"If it's okay with Barbara, I'll stay too." Poison Ivy said. "I trust you all can take things from here without us."'
"If you guys can keep Firene safe, we'll keep things good on the front lines." Hope said.
"Your mission will be to defend Firene until the time for the final battle comes." Jexi said.
"Geld, I want you to lead the orcs in your army to help rebuild their lands." Rimuru said.
"Of course." Geld said.
"The rest of us will make way to Brodia, and along the way, secure Firene's other Emblem Ring." Jin said.
"We'll stay with you. With your friends holding things down here, it might be a good idea to come along so things with Brodia can go smoothly." Alfred said.
"As if you even needed to ask." Totodile said.
"Now…off we go." Jexi said.