Chapter 3a: Liberation

The two of them walked down the hallways of the bigger than they thought prison. Adrian counted at least 12 unconscious guards lying on the floor. He even saw a couple locked in the cells. How ironic. In all of the chaos, he realized he didn't even introduce himself.

"Sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Saralyn. My name is Adrian. Adrian Walker."

"Nice name. Thanks, Adrian." she says. Then another question pops into my head. "How did you find me?"

"It's quite strange. I just felt this… 'pull' towards this area, if you know what I mean. I just felt compelled to come here. I randomly woke up on a mountain one day. I didn't even remember my name, how I got there, or why I couldn't remember anything. It's surreal. I had to learn everything about this world on my own. Which reminds me, do you know how this happened?"

Adrian held his hand to his chin in thought. He wondered how two amnesiacs somehow ended up in the same place at the same time. "Unfortunately, no. I'm just in the dark about this as you are. But I guess that's something we both have in common." He replied.

"I was hoping you could provide me with some answers. I spent a lot of time traveling here." She looks annoyed.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you."

"It's okay. I'm at least glad I managed to get here before they killed you. Maybe we can find out what happened to us together." She puts a smile on her face.

"Speaking of which… Where are we going?"

They had been walking for more than 10 minutes now. Adrian was under the assumption that this was a small prison, not some massive underground complex. How long did it take for the Order to construct this place? And why were they keeping mamono prisoner? They weren't the type of people to take mamono prisoner. They kill on sight. Speaking of which…

"I'd like something to defend myself with in case we run into more guards."

Saralyn pulls a small dagger out of her coat pocket and hands it to me. "What am I supposed to do against guards in full armor with a small knife?" He asked her.

"That's all I can spare."

"You want to start a prison break with just a knife and your… uh…" Adrian tried to think of the weapon she used to incapacitate his interrogator earlier.

"It's called a gun. Specifically, a revolver. I bought it at an auction when I was traveling to find you. And besides, I passed by an armory when I was looking for you. We free the mamono, then hit the armory, and we'll have plenty of weapons for everyone to use. Happy?"

"Alright." Both of them walked until they reached a balcony overlooking a massive hallway. Cells lined the walls, all filled with forest-dwelling mamono like werewolves, mantises, werecats, arachne, mothmen, and even a couple hellhounds. There are some species that Adrian didn't recognize. He could've learned more about mamono if Sharon's house hadn't been raided. The bars were glowing a menacing red, giving the entire cell block an eerie atmosphere. That must have been what Saralyn was talking about when she said that the cells were magically reinforced.

The hallway had two large exits, both of them no doubt having some way onto the balcony they were on. There were guards everywhere. Adrian and Saralyn could hear them barking orders at each other, about making sure the prisoners weren't freed. Going down there and trying to free the mamono at once would be suicide.

"How are we going to get rid of the magic reinforcing the cells?" Adrian asked Saralyn. It seemed impossible to him.

"We find the mage who's maintaining the spell. We do a little… 'convincing' to get him to remove the spell, and then everything from there should be easy." Saralyn whispers.

They heard footsteps coming from behind them. "Saralyn, there are people coming! We need to hide!" He whispered to her.

Saralyn just smirks and looks at me. She draws her revolver, and puts several glowing purple, thumb-sized cylinders inside a strange compartment in it.

The door behind them bursts open, and 4 order soldiers walk into the room. There is a moment of tense silence as they stare at the intruders. Then they act.

"Intruders! Kill the-" A very loud 'bang' interrupts the speaker, and he falls to the ground, unconscious. Two of the three remaining order soldiers charge at Saralyn, while the third advances towards Adrian.

Saralyn steps backwards to avoid one of the order soldier's blades, and then whips him in the face hard with her gun. The other one tries to flank her, and manages to get a glancing blow on her side before she can get dodge out of the way. Saralyn stumbles backwards a bit, and lets out a small gasp of pain. The order soldier tried to capitalize on his advantage and charged forward, but Saralyn dived out of the way, landing on the ground.

Meanwhile, the first order soldier recovers and swings his sword at Saralyn. Saralyn rolls out of the way, and fires 2 shots at his legs. He crumples to the ground, and Saralyn fires another into his head, knocking him unconscious. The second soldier, wanting to end the battle as soon as possible, ran towards her with his sword drawn. Saralyn fired two shots into his chest, completely incapacitating him for the time being.

Meanwhile, the fourth one rushed towards Adrian, excited for an easy kill. He dodged under his blade and grabbed his arm, trying to disarm him. He holds onto his sword tightly, not letting him take it. He punches him in the stomach, causing pain to erupt in his torso, but he endures it. Adrian took out the dagger Saralyn gave him and plunged it into his sword arm, causing him to drop his blade. He stumbles backwards, but before he can finish him off, he kicks him in the stomach, stunning Adrian.

Saralyn finished off the two soldiers hounding her and saw that my battle wasn't going well. She aims her gun at the last soldier. She pulls the trigger, and the gun makes a dry *click*. It's empty.

"Shit! Adrian!" She curses. The fourth soldier picks up his blade with his good arm and charges towards Adrian, ready to deliver the killing blow, but he suddenly gets an idea. He would have to time this perfectly.

As soon as the order soldier swings his sword at me, he rolls out of the way. Then, he threw his dagger as hard as he could at his head. It doesn't go in blade first, but it dazes him. Saralyn took the opportunity to get up and tackle the soldier, before pulling out her own mamono realm silver dagger and stabbed him in the chest, rendering him harmless.

"We need to hide now. The others definitely heard us." Saralyn quickly pulls Adrian up and both run into the hallway. They open a door in a dark corner and quickly get inside, closing the door behind us.

They had been fighting for about 30 seconds, and that was more than enough to alert the entire prison block to their presence. Both of them could hear prison guards running towards the balcony. Thankfully, none of them entered the room they were hiding in. Adrian mentally made a note to ask Saralyn to find a quieter method of fighting.

"Great… What's the plan now?"

Saralyn opens the door a crack and peeks outside. The order soldiers are shaking their fallen comrades, who are still alive. A group of them take them away, while the others disperse, looking for us. "We can't afford to fight until we free the prisoners and get to the armory. We'll need to be stealthy from here on out." she whispers to him.

Adrian heard some rustling in the corner of the room. He slowly crept to the corner of the room. The rustling appeared to be coming from inside a large crate. He took the top off of the crate, and…

An incredibly scared looking devil bug was hiding inside. She looked up at Adrian, about to scream, but he quickly covered her mouth with his hand. Adrian held a finger to his mouth.
"I'm not going to hurt you, but you need to stay quiet. Your life depends on it." He whispered to her. She nods, and he take his hand off her mouth. She looked to be only 12 years old. Poor thing.

"What's going on in this prison? Why is the Order detaining mamono?" He asked her.

Saralyn comes over. "Adrian! Take it easy on her! She's scared, can't you see?"

"Alright, I'm sorry." I apologize to the devil bug.

Saralyn kneels down, and begins talking as quietly as she could to the devil bug. "What's your name?"

"L-laura…" she stammers. "Who a-are you two? Why are you here?"

"We're going to free everyone in this prison. The Order won't hurt you anymore. If you don't mind me asking… Why is the Order taking mamono prisoners?" Saralyn asked Laura.

"They said they were looking for someone. They were also arguing about how they needed to get a scroll of some kind… T-t-they also took mommy and daddy! I managed to get away and hide here." Laura quietly responded. Adrian felt terrible. He didn't have the heart to tell her that the "someone" she was talking about was right next to her.

"There was also something else… I saw a scary guy in blue robes doing something to the cells! They were glowing red!" Laura continues.

"Laura, did you see where he went?" Saralyn asked.

"He went out one of those big gates in the wall."

"Stay with Laura. Make sure she's safe. I'm going to go find our scary man in blue robes." Saralyn gets up and walks towards the door.

"Adrian, barricade the door." She leaves before he can protest.

Saralyn left Adrian in the room with Laura. Hopefully, the two of them stay safe. If anything happened to them, She wouldn't be able to forgive herself for leaving them alone. She walked down the hallway towards the balcony where she and Adrian had their unfortunate encounter with the guards. She really needed to find a more discrete method of fighting. They could have freed the mamono by now. Saralyn dropped to her stomach, and peeked over the railing of the balcony.

The cell block was in a frenzy. Guards ran to and fro, yelling orders at each other. She and Adrian clearly stirred up the hive with their little encounter earlier. Saralyn looked to the other end of the massive hallway: there was no cover she could use to sneak past the guards. She could try and find another way around, but that would take too long, and lives were at stake. Saralyn didn't know what the Order wanted with them, but it couldn't have been good if they had opted to keep them alive as opposed to just killing them.

Then, she had an idea. What if she stole one of the guard's armor and used it to get across the cell block in plain sight? She weighed the pros and cons: she wouldn't have to worry about being spotted, and she would look completely natural. But then if someone stopped her, she'd have to be very careful with her words. The armor would also have to at least half-fit her.

Disguise it is, then. Saralyn walked away from the balcony and began looking for a guard with armor that relatively fit her.

The search for a set of armor that would fit her was long and dangerous. She nearly got spotted at several points, but eventually, by Ares's will, Saralyn had managed to find a guard, on her own, with armor that actually looked like it would fit her. She was sitting in a chair, reading a book, oblivious to her surroundings. It was rather strange as to why a guard was being so complacent when there were intruders on the loose.

Not that she was complaining, of course.

Saralyn crept up behind her, and plunged one of her mamono realm silver knives into her back. She gasped in shock, and fell forwards, her book dropping to the floor. Saralyn collected her knife from her backside. As she was about to leave however, she began spasming and gasping in… pleasure?

Oh shit… She's monsterizing!

Human women could become mamono in several different ways. One of those ways was through mamono realm weaponry; the mamono mana in the weapon would replace whatever energy she lost from being stabbed, which would lead to her monsterizing. She had bought these knives from a danuki earlier this week because they looked cool; She completely ignored the part where she said that the knives were hyper-infused with mamono mana.

Saralyn had made a mistake. In her haste to get a disguise, she now had to deal with a fresh lesser succubus getting used to being a mamono. As the imaginary timer for the woman's humanity hit 0, the woman began to grow a tail, then wings, then horns. She slowly got up, quivering and turned towards her.

"Oh, thank you so much, whoever you are! I feel amazing! I was so nervous about confessing to my crush… He'll certainly accept me now that-"

"NO!" Saralyn yelled at the lesser succubus. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if a mamono got killed because of her mistake. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I mean… this place is dangerous. You'd best stay put. You can be with your boyfriend later."

"Oh… I see. Okay then, I'll stay here…" the confused lesser succubus responded.

"What can you tell me about this place? Where is the person maintaining the magic on the cells?" Saralyn asked.

"This place is called Black Forest Prison. It's owned by a group called The Faithful. I don't know much about why we're keeping mamono imprisoned, though. The higher-ups kept mentioning how they were going to start a project tonight involving them, but that's all I know. The guy in dark blue robes is the one maintaining the magic on the cells."

"Where can I find them?" Saralyn knew what she had to do now.

"Their meeting room. Take 2 rights and a left." the lesser succubus responded.

"Stay here. I'm going to go deal with them." Saralyn took off down the hallway. No time for a disguise now, time was of the essence.

Saralyn stopped in front of the doorway of the meeting room. She took some mamono realm silver rounds and loaded them into her revolver. This should be easy, right? Just knock the guy unconscious, the spell should break, and all of the mamono would be free. Saralyn took a deep breath, and kicked open the door.

An old man in dark blue robes holding an elegant looking staff sat at the end of a large table. An archmage. He quickly got up from his chair. "Who in the blazes are you?!" he yelled, confused.

Saralyn didn't answer, instead taking advantage of the man's confusion to fire a shot towards his head. The man quickly held a hand up in front of him, creating a temporary shield to block the bullet. He then retaliated by launching an explosive ice spell at Saralyn.

Saralyn dove under the table, the ice spell freezing a portion of the room, including the doorway. No backing out now. She rolled out from under the table and fired 2 more shots at the mage.

The archmage sidestepped the bullets, and conjured a swarm of razor sharp icicles to throw at her, one of them grazing her arm. Saralyn hissed in pain and grabbed her arm. How was this old man able to react so quickly?!

"The Faithful will emerge victorious!" The archmage yelled as he unleashed more spells.

Saralyn quickly flipped the table to create some more cover for herself. The contents of the table fell onto the floor on the mage's side. The archmage responded by launching longer and sharper icicles through the table, attempting to impale Saralyn. One of them caught her directly in the leg.

Things were getting out of hand. The ice magic had some sort of life draining property. If she got hit more, it would be over for her.

She searched her mind for anything that could help her in this situation. Then, she realized. A couple weeks ago Saralyn had come across a dark musketeer from the mamono realm Lescatie. She had watched her practice her aim in the forest, which piqued Saralyn's interest. Saralyn offered to pay her a hefty amount of gold to teach her some firearm-based magic.

One of the magical techniques was called "Magic Ghost Smoke Bullet". It would essentially create a smokescreen full of mamono mana. It was perfect for the situation she was in.

Saralyn quickly uttered the spell under her breath. Praying that she was using the technique correctly, she fired into the ceiling.

Smoke began billowing out from the point of impact, filling the room. "What the fuck?!" The archmage began coughing and cursing, waving his staff around randomly. Saralyn took advantage by running towards him and tackling him, dragging him out of the room, the ice around the door having melted.

"Why are you imprisoning mamono?! What is this project you're working on?!" Saralyn interrogated the mage.

The mage responded by mumbling incoherently. Saralyn remembered that Magic Ghost Smoke Bullet would weaken the minds of any human who got caught in the smoke. She wasn't patient enough to wait for the mage to recover, so she just decided to take the mage back into the meeting room, and lock him inside.

On her way out, she saw a pile of papers that she knocked onto the floor during her battle. A quick skim showed that the prison was under the control of a group called "The Faithful" and the project the lesser succubus mentioned earlier involved siphoning mamono mana from monsters for their own goals.

She took a couple copies of the project description. She then tore the remaining papers in half, then in quarters, then in eighths. She scattered the shreds of paper around the room.

All that they were was a bunch of power-hungry maniacs, using the Chief God as an excuse for everything bad they did. It disgusted her.

Back in the cellblock, it was pure anarchy. The magic surrounding the cells containing the mamono had dissipated, allowing for the stronger mamono to break the cell doors down, leaving nothing between them and a free husband. The others followed suit soon after.

A hellhound slammed into a guard, pinning him to the ground. Her tail began wagging furiously and her eyes flared up as she straddled the guard.

"Remember how I said I would turn your pelvis into dust when I got out of that cell? Well… time to do good on that promise!" she said to him.

On the other side of the cell block, a small pack of werewolves had formed. Each of them got their own husband. In the corner, a lizardman dueled with a guard, using a bar taken from one of the cells. The guard managed to knock the makeshift weapon out of the lizardman's hands, but the lizardman immediately retaliated by tackling him into the ground, eyes full of lust.

In an adjacent corridor, a new recruit rushed down the hallway, looking for his partner. An intruder had somehow managed to break in earlier today and disable the magic reinforcing the cells. The sounds of the chaos right next to him scared him immensely, and he wanted nothing more than to leave. Suddenly, a female voice echoed through the hallway.

"Paaauuuulll…" A lesser succubus stepped out of the shadows. The recruit realized his partner had been monsterized, and began to run away, but the lesser succubus caught up to him in less than a second, restraining him.

"Time to have some fun…" the lesser succubus said as she began removing his armor.

Adrian had been waiting with Laura for about 15 minutes now, but it felt like several hours. He had found a box of cards in one of the crates, so that was how the two of them passed the time.

He was relieved to hear knocking on the door. "Adrian, open up. I got rid of the magic reinforcing the cells, let's go free the humans now."

"Is mommy and daddy there? Are they okay?" Laura asked.

Saralyn nodded. "I saw a couple devil bugs on my way back. Let's go see if they're there, shall we?"

Laura's face broke into a wide smile.

Chapter 3b: Countdown

Aperia

"Master… I don't like what the Matriarch is doing. Why does she want to start a war with The Faithful?" a kikimora worriedly asked her husband over dinner.

"Heavenly bastard is dragging us into a war for her own goals." the kikimora's husband replied. "Does she realize that some of us actually like peace?"

"I think she genuinely means well. She's always talking about how she wants to remake the Order and how we need to 'strike at the heart of evil and corruption'." the kikimora reasoned. "But why does she insist on causing a war? Why doesn't she just ask a mamono realm for help?"

"Ever since the old king and queen died, the Matriarch has been getting more and more aggressive towards the Order, especially The Faithful."

"Daddy, what are you talking about?" a younger kikimora asked her mother.

"Aaron… Let's discuss this later. I don't want to scare the kids." the kikimora said to her husband.

"Oh. Of course."

The kikimora's husband thought of the future. What would happen if Aperia was outmatched? What if The Faithful managed to get into the city? What would they do to the citizens?

What kind of future did his child have?

**************************
Ophelia sat in her office, waiting for yet another one of her subordinates lost to the Fallen God, a dark priest. This one had hit her especially hard. The priest, named Selena, had been a good friend of hers. She was in charge of enchanting weapons for the Aperian Military. She and her fellow priests had been responsible for many of Aperia's military victories in the past.

Normally, she would let her subordinates deal with the relocation of corrupted priests/angels, but she wanted to speak to Selena personally.

Ophelia's assistant knocked on the door. "She's here."

"Bring her in." Ophelia ordered. A dark priest and her husband walked in. This was beginning to feel very familiar.

"Selena, what is my number one rule regarding romantic relationshi-"

The dark priest interrupted her before she could finish talking. "NO! You listen to me, you fucking tyrant! Your policies have done nothing but hurt me for the past year. You say you mean well, but I don't think so."

"I DO mean well, Selena. The Fallen God is evil. You can't just let her play with you like this."

"PLAY WITH ME, HUH?! My life has improved significantly since I let her 'play' with me. I feel better than ever now that she has enlightened us." Selena snapped back.

"Selena, I'm your friend. I designed my romance policies to help people like you. Until we can find a permanent solution, you just have to live with it." Ophelia tried to justify herself.

"Help?! You know what I think, Ophelia? I think you're just using us. Using us for your own good. You talk about how bad The Faithful are, which is rich coming from you. I can't believe we were friends."

"Selena, you can't just compare me to The Faithful. I've helped this city immensely."

Selena remained silent. Then she sat down, and sighed heavily.

"Your problem is that you refuse to listen."

"We'll be leaving now. Oh, and by the way, I remember the contract you made me sign. I've already chosen what mamono realm I want to go to. Don't bother asking."

"Wait, Selena-"

"Enough. We're done. Come on Gareth, we're leaving." Selena gently gripped her husband's arm, and took him out of the office, slamming the double doors behind them. Ophelia walked over to the window, and watched them leave the city. Ophelia watched as their figures grew smaller and smaller until they completely vanished. She then sat down, and held her head in her hands.

**************************
5 weeks ago

Diplomat Castor Bistoa Lescatie and his wife Francia Reinel Lescatie walked up to the gates of Aperia. In Castor's hand was a bottle of mamono realm ink, and a demon feather pen. In his right, he held an incredibly important document; an agreement saying that Lescatie would handle the rising threat of The Faithful in exchange for Aperia not getting involved. It also included the details of forming an alliance with Lescatie.

To say that he was nervous would be an understatement. If he succeeded, thousands of lives would be saved. If he failed, thousands of lives, potential lovers, would be at risk. The thought of men being sent to fight what she believed was an unnecessary war instead of staying home and being with their family saddened him.

"Castor, It's going to be ok. Whatever happens, happens. I'm always going to be here for you." Francia said to calm him down, while brushing some of her fox tails on him.

Castor relaxed slightly and gave his wife a smile. Her husband knew how to calm her down.
"I'm just so worried. What if-"

"Shhhhh, It's going to be fine. You're going to do amazing. I can just tell."

"You know how stubborn the Matriarch is when it comes to stuff like this."

"The two of us just have to present our best case to her. Maybe she'll change her mind." the youko said optimistically.

Castor thought back to his time in Lescatie. He had spent days, weeks even trying to perfect the perfect treaty to give to the Matriarch. Even now, he wasn't sure if it would work.

Aperia was originally the fourth largest Order city, but calling it an Order city now would be considered an insult by most Aperian citizens. The cities Castor had visited usually fell under two categories: They either revered the Chief God to some degree, or were indifferent to the Chief God. But he had never seen a city that actively hated and denounced the Chief God. And now, that country was on the brink of starting a civil war.

Both of them went up to the gate. The gatekeeper looked up from the book he was reading, and saw the two of them.

"What's your reason for visiting Aperia?" The gatekeeper asked.

"King Castor of Lescatie has scheduled a meeting with the Matriarch. Diplomacy business." Francia said.

"I see. Good luck with that." The gatekeeper said with an amused tone. Francia really, really didn't like the sound of that.

"If you ask me, those zealots deserve everything that's about to hit them." The gatekeeper continued.

"I just don't understand why she believes she needs to wipe the entire Order out."

"Not the entire order. The Faithful. Have you seen the things they do? If anything, wiping them out would make the world a better place. But maybe the Matriarch will listen to what you have to say, who knows?"

The gatekeeper let them through. Castor and Francia walked through, and the gatekeeper shut the gate behind them.

Both of them walked to the Matriarch's castle, and stopped outside of the main entrance. An angel escorted them to the guest room where they would be staying until the diplomacy meeting.

"So what do we say first?"

"She's an Angel, right? A seraphim. The only one that's ever come down to the surface. Angels care about humans deeply. We say that she's going to get innocent people hurt if she starts a war."

"Okay, that's a good start."

"Let's bring up the economy. If she forges an alliance with Lescatie and lets them handle The Faithful, her country will be able to develop faster."

"Good idea…"

Both of them talked for several hours. Eventually they got tired, and decided to retire for the night. After a session of intense lovemaking to relieve their stress, both of them wished each other goodnight.

"Goodnight, Francia."

"Goodnight, Castor. Remember what I said this morning? Whatever happens, I'm always here for you."

The next day, both of them walked to the Matriarch's castle. Neither of them talked very much; they were still nervous, despite the preparation they did last night.

"Ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

The two of them walked into the Matriarch's castle and walked over to a nearby angel who had escorted them to their rooms.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." both of them said in unison.

"Good. The Matriarch's been expecting you. Follow me. Fair warning though, she doesn't like Lescatians."

That was not what either of them wanted to hear before a diplomacy meeting. Nerves aflame, both of them followed the angel to the meeting room. The angel knocked on the double doors leading to the room.

"Come in." an bored, yet authoritative voice said from inside.

Ophelia felt that she was wasting her time. She was going to declare war on the Faithful whether Lescatie liked it or not. But out of some tiny feeling in the back of her head that maybe Lescatie had a good reason for her not to, she agreed for a meeting between two of Lescatie's best diplomats.

She heard a knock on the door to the meeting room. "Come in." Ophelia said.

A youko and her husband walked in. Diplomat Castor Bistoa Lescatie and Francia Reinel Lescatie. Both were wearing elegant clothing with the symbol of mamono realm Lescatie on it. Both of them sat down next to each other on the opposite side of the table from her.

"Matriarch Ophelia, we have come to negotiate with Aperia. I understand you want to declare war on the Faithful?"

"That's right."

"We hope we can change your mind. We've created a document explaining an alliance with Lescatie, as well as what to do concerning the Faithful." Castor passed a document across the table to Ophelia, along with an elegant looking pen and a container of ink.

"Fine. I'll humor you."

Time to see what they came up with. Ophelia slowly read the document. Continuing down the document, she eventually came to a blank line. That was where she needed to sign, she guessed.

Ophelia re-read the document to make sure she didn't miss anything. What they were offering was tempting. She weighed her options, and made her decision.

"So, have you reached a conclusion, Matriarch?" Francia asked.

"I have."

"And?"

"I'm not signing anything."

Castor's heart dropped to his stomach at those words. He quickly composed himself and began to try and salvage the situation.

"Why not?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"What you're offering is tempting, sure. But I don't want to join you."

"We're not planning to turn Aperia into a mamono realm behind your back, if that's what you're thinking about."

"Oh, I'm aware. But I've got plans concerning The Faithful, and I can't let you interfere. And besides…"

Castor was shocked. Was she willing to start a civil war and risk her citizen's lives for her own plans?

"Matriarch, think of how this will affect Aperia-"

"Quiet. I'm the one talking now. I know Lescatie allows the worship of the Fallen God. For that alone, I don't want to be associated with you. I've lost countless angels to that maniac. Who knows what she'll do if Aperia and Lescatie align."

"So I've got a preposition of my own. I deal with The Faithful, and you stay out of my way. If Lescatie tries to intervene, I might just have to go back on my promise not to hurt any mamono. Understand?" Ophelia continued.

"Matriarch, with all due respect, your country isn't the most powerful. How do you expect to take down the entirety of The Faithful?"

Ophelia refused to answer the question, instead opting to ask her own question. "I believe I asked you a question. Do. You. Understand?"

Castor nodded. Francia, however, wasn't ready to give up yet.

"Good. The meeting is over. Both of you are dismissed." Ophelia got up from her chair and left the room.

"Is there nothing we can do to change your mind?!" Francia yelled after Ophelia. Her words fell on deaf ears. It looked like civil war was inevitable. All they could do now is intervene and try to minimize the amount of people that would die.