Chapter 97. Throne Room Encounter

With a quick motion, the big double doors that led to the Throne Room were opened. Inside, groups of people standing by the side of the path that led to the throne quickly turned to look over.

They were all sorts of people. Some of them I recognized from my past, but most of them I had never seen before. It was obvious that a lot of nobles were going to survive the Final War, especially when the ones that fought at the frontlines were only their soldiers, knights, peasants, and people with talent, which a lot of nobles didn’t have.

As for how they could be nobles in the first place, it was simply because one of their ancestors managed to achieve great things in the past in the name of the Empire or the Holy Gods, and that renown has been passed down from generation to generation, eventually reaching people that don’t have the talent, the power, or the will to be what their ancestors used to be.

“Who might you be to—”

“Ah!” exclaimed Duke Garlford, opening his arms wide in a welcoming gesture and interrupting the other young noble in the process. “Althea! Hero of the Holy Gods! You’re finally here!”

Once he said that, the people in the room stirred, causing some to look at me with stunned expressions and others to loudly whisper among each other, wondering whether I was the Hero at all or if the old Duke Garlford had finally lost his mind.

“Why, of course that she is!” he exclaimed, turning with a glare to look at the other nobles. “Some of you cowardly and young ones might not recognize her face, but this is the very same woman that stood at the frontlines, fighting the enemies of the Empire, and trading blows with the God of Darkness and Hellfire.”

Another lord, one that I didn’t recognize, loudly scoffed in response as he took a step forward, crossing his arms. “What? You expect us to believe that such a pretty girl, dressed in demonic armor, is that same Holy woman? Don’t make me laugh. This is clearly just some corrupted fool, probably under the influence of the same ones that have been tainting the mind of our Emperor!”

Again, the people in the room started whispering, some of them now glaring my way, while others nodded and agreed with the man’s statement. I couldn’t help but take notice of the person that started this and who dared to do so as soon as I stepped foot in the Royal Throne Room.

He was a tall man, with a slim, yet sturdy build. His blue eyes were sharp, and his glossy black hair seemed to shine under the light of the sun that was coming from the tall windows on one side of the room. The young man was dressed in the typical noble clothes from our world, and on the side of his hip, I saw a sword hanging.

The man noticed my gaze and turned a smirk my way. “How about this: If she really is the same Hero from the past, then she shouldn’t have a problem beating me in a duel, right?”

People were surprised by the sudden statement of the bold man, with Duke Garlford taking a step forward. “Marquess Wilcher, this is not the right place to do such a thing. We’re in His Majesty’s Throne Room.”

“His Majesty clearly does not care about us nor his throne as he refuses to show his face, even when someone donned in black armor walks his halls,” Marquess Wilcher proclaimed, taking a couple of steps around so the other lords and ladies could see him. “And I’ve heard that this one is a guest of his here. Surely, someone so esteemed will not have an issue with proving her worth to us!”

The nobles once more stirred. Some of them didn’t seem convinced about what the man was saying, but a lot of them were nodding in agreement as they discussed with each other what the Marquess said.

“Um… is this really okay? Wouldn’t we get in trouble?” Nicole asked with a hushed voice, leaning over to the side so that Helena could hear her.

“It’s not a problem,” the Knight-Commander replied with a calm expression. “The throne room and the throne itself are magically reinforced. It would require powerful magic to do damage to it.”

“Yeah… but I meant if it’s okay for us to fight here…” Nicole followed up.

“It shouldn’t be an issue either. As long as the nobles don’t end up killed, then it’s fine.”

“What if Althea ends up killed?” Nicole insisted.

“If that was the case,” Asteora answered this time, “Then it proves that we’ve wasted our time up until this point.”

“My Lords and Ladies!” Marquess Wilcher shouted, gesturing for the other people to quiet down. “Let us hear the answer from our invited guest. Will you humor our request for a duel?”

So it was their request and not his now, huh… I thought as I looked at the man. If what Helena said was true, then it really shouldn’t be a problem, and just by looking at the young man, I could easily tell that he didn’t have the same power level as someone like Reeta, so with a nod I took a step forward.

“Very well,” I said, my voice loud enough for the hall to hear me. “What are the conditions of your duel?”

The young man smirked, retrieving the sword from his side. “Simple, really. Whoever yields or is unable to fight is the loser.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The other nobles took a few steps back and left a wide area in the middle of the Throne Room. Marquess Wilcher walked to be right in the middle of the path to the throne, making it so the Emperor’s throne would be looming right behind him. I followed suit and walked until I was a certain distance away from him, not too far but not close either.

He noticed the calm way that I was standing, and tilted his head to the side. “Aren’t you going to retrieve a weapon? We can have a Holy Knight hand one over to you if you’re lacking in tools.”

The mocking tone with which he said that caused some of the nobles to chuckle, but I ignored it all as I simply shook my head. “My power should be more than enough.”

“Confident? Aren’t we?” he followed up with a mocking smile, that was wiped as he gave a commanding look to Helena, standing some distance away behind me. “Set the stage!”

I glanced at the woman, who raised her hand. A flash of golden light bloomed from the hand, and a large sword with golden handles and details was manifested from it. It looked similar to the Holy Blade, which was a common thing to see in a lot of Holy Knights.

After gripping the large sword with both hands, she turned it to have it pointing to the floor, where she quickly slammed it down. A loud clank resounded in the hall, and as if to prove that the Throne Room was indeed as reinforced as she claimed, the weapon didn’t even lift a piece of rock from the ground.

Soon after she did that, a pale golden barrier quickly formed, making a dome around both me and the Marquess. It was a Holy Barrier, a particularly powerful one. Helena appeared to be a rather talented Holy Knight.

“Are you ready? Madam Holy Hero?” the Marquess asked with a grin and a mocking tone of voice.

With a nod, I readied for whatever he was planning to do. He took a stance with the sword. It was a rapier, so he was pointing at me while swaying it slightly. I could see that this man hadn’t had any real combat experience besides the ones he had in combat training, where the knights would lose on purpose to not bruise the ego of their masters.

The soft grip of the weapon; the loose footing; the smirk on his face; and the taunting movement of the weapon was all I needed to know that he was thinking that I was either going to go easy on him, or that he had the talent to beat me down.

Without warning, from the tip of his sword, a bright flash of light was fired, and he shouted, “Begin!”

It was such a childish and stupid tactic that I nearly felt like laughing out loud at the idea that he thought he could get away with it.

But despite the fact that he tried to blind me with the light before the fight even started, I was still able to clearly see what he was doing. He was rushing at me with the weapon pointed forward and a wide grin plastered on his face. There was some swiftness in the movement of his feet, and under any other circumstance, he would be able to outperform a lot of people with that speed.

I wasn’t a lot of people, and I wasn’t going to indulge the man with a trade of blows, so while he was coming my way, I pointed a finger forward and then flicked it down. A dark pillar appeared, and the cheeky lord was flattened under it.

“Urgh!” he exclaimed, falling flat to the ground, his body completely surrounded by the dark zone I created.

It was a spell I learned from Reeta. I called it ‘Dark Gravity Zone’. I went easy on the power that I used since I wasn’t planning on killing the man, but I still used enough to render him immobile.

He struggled to get up from the floor, but try as he may, he was forced down once more; his face stretched down like an old man’s and his arms shaking under the very weight of his body and clothes. While he tried to move, I slowly made my way to him, my finger pointing down to sustain the spell.

“I think you’re unable to fight, Marquess Wilcher,” I said with a soft tone.

“Urgh, n-no! I—I can still fight! Don’t look down on me!” he exclaimed and tried to empower his body.

While he was slowly doing that, I reached for the magic pocket on my side, and brought out a coin. I looked at it for a moment, and then flipped it in the air, right in the Marquess’ direction. It had to fly a bit high for it to do what I wanted, but as soon as it entered the Dark Gravity Zone, it quickly fell down on the Marquess.

“Argh!” he exclaimed when the coin landed on his head and was forced once more to be in a flattened state on the floor.

“What about now? Would you say you’re unable to fight? Or shall I make you yield?” I asked with a nearly monotone voice.

“Guh! I won’t give up!” he shouted, and an aura of light covered his body.

Some of the darkness in the field was cleared, but his power was nowhere nearly high enough to do anything about it, which meant that he was still struggling to get up from the floor.

While he was doing that, I reached once more to the magic pocket, where I retrieved a piece of paper. It was a love letter that someone in the Academy’s gym handed to me. I read it once thinking that it was important, but the person that gave it to me just talked about how I was the most beautiful woman he’d seen, and that he wouldn’t be able to live without me. It was clear that he was just interested in my body when he handed the letter since he was just looking at me all over, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I just said thanks and stored it, nearly forgetting about it until now when I needed something light.

I crumbled the piece of paper, and like the coin, I tossed it in the air, right at the Marquess. The ball of paper landed like the coin did, flattening the Marquess once more, who fell flat on his face, said piece of crumpled paper probably feeling like a boulder on his back.

“Should I continue throwing things at you?” I asked, as I thought about what else I could throw at him, since I really didn’t have anything else.

“Urk!” he exclaimed once more with a fierce glare thrown at me from the ground.

It seemed like his pride wouldn’t allow him to yield, so with a sigh, I reached once more into the Magic Pocket. Since I didn’t have anything else to throw at him, I retrieved the large black sword that Igladith gifted to me.

Its jet-black frame appeared like a shadow in my hand, and while holding it, I coated it with both darkness and hellfire. I had no plan on fighting him, but I was planning to force him to yield. So with a strong swing downwards, the blade easily pierced the floor in front of me, breaking apart both the floor and the magic protections that were in place, leaving a clean cut of about a meter.

The people in the room gasped, and even the Holy Barrier surrounding us trembled.

With glowing red eyes, I looked down at the Marquess. “Will you yield now, Marquess?”

He was frozen on the ground, looking with widened eyes at both the blade in my hands and the glowing in my eyes. “I-I-I-I yield!”

Once he shouted, I removed both the power from the weapon and the Dark Gravity Zone that was pinning him down. With the large blade resting in my shoulder, I walked to the still laying down Marquess. I offered my hand to the man, who just looked surprised at me. “Shall we talk now?”