Chapter 102: Hollow Heart

The Flower region quickly surrendered when the Monster army arrived. The tension was thicker than stone and the fear was strong enough to smell. There was a dark cloud in that region. They had never expected to be assaulted by monsters, they didn't even know they were at war with a monster kingdom.

The Flower region had become the first monster occupied territory in well over 1000 years. Sia had been quick to seal the borders and activate the protective barrier there, fueling it with as many mana stones she could find in the region, which was not more than 200. The many villages did mount a revolt against the monster army but were instantly suppressed by the goblin forces. The other monsters had intentionally not made a move. Though the monsters of Scitus's kingdom knew that the goblins were growing exponentially stronger, the world still looked down on their lineage. The goblin only suppression served as an example to the people there, revolt was not an option.

The first day of monster occupation ended in 4 deaths on the peasants' side, the animosity caused by those deaths was not small but they were forced to grit their teeth and bear losing their loved ones. They were blind to the kindness they were shown; The monster army had been tasked with keeping civilian casualties to a minimum. Sia had taken root in the bright moon castle, which infuriated the peasants, but by that point there were already guards patrolling the city. The monster guards made sure that the peasants couldn't form groups bigger than 4, with the exceptions of family homes, however, only direct family members were permitted to enter their homes.

As Sia ramped up the region's defenses, Semera and her two children were returning with heavy ordnance weapons, and the Gidil forces obediently followed them. The Gedil were Merns secret weapon, a powerful force 5000 strong, comprised entirely of lesser celestial warriors. Mern had kept them secret from everyone. Long ago, shortly before the fall of his capital, he had frozen the souls of his second army and placed their bodies and souls in the Mern territory, for a future where he may one day rise again. These men were a sort of double-edged sword because although they were loyal to Mern, truly loyal to him, they would certainly abandon him if they discovered what he had become during their time in stasis. The commander of that army was Mephistos deceased older brother, he had died protecting the capital, along with the majority of Mern's strongest soldiers.

That Gidil were quickly moving towards the Flower region, at the same time, the army sent to take Everon was fast approaching its destination.

They were only a day away and had sent a scout to scan the area beforehand. The place wasn’t as well guarded as they had thought it would be. Somewhere deep in their hearts, they hoped that the woman they defeated was their trump card but at the same time, they couldn’t believe that to be the case either. The scouts returned with the data they had uncovered.

"There aren't any defending soldiers?" the new leader thought aloud. "it must be another one of their traps." The leader decided after a long our of contemplation, "we wait, we must make sure, this isn't a trap."

The men at that time couldn’t imagine that Thoth and the majority of the peasant army had abandoned Everon and headed to reinforce Hera’s position.

"Why are we leaving!!!" Thoths assistant asked the distress in his eyes painted a vivid picture and his constant gaze towards their former castle exposed his stress further. "the goal is simple, take the lake region. If we can take the lake region, it will force Mern to personally act."

“but what about the flower region?” Thoth didn’t answer his question. The assistant grew anxious, Thoth had arrived from the ether, and had claimed to an old friend of Mern. The hopeful peasants believed his words, and in his supposed goal. “Mern Will Return. His true self, the benevolent god he was before.” Thoth had told them that Mern was sick of heart and all he needed was a push, a motivation other than his revenge.

The truth of all of Thoth’s movements would soon be revealed. The coming battle, and the decisions Mern and his army would make would be the final pieces to Scitus’s plan.

Scitus patiently waited with Eveline and the two watched over the citizens of his nation.

"Terra, are you willing to help me." Terra sat outside the city in her dragon form. "I'll assist you, however, this is only because your enemy today is an ally of Siion."

Scitus smiled, “Thank you.”

………………..

The Bright Moon Castle was firm and its architecture was possible only through magical support. Sia inspected the entire castle, intrigued by its make. She took out a notebook from her satchel and voraciously wrote down every thought that popped into her head. “interesting, oh my, I’ve never even seen this before. I wonder what would happen if I move this formula over here. Ummm, WHAA!!! If I move this here, this here, switch the numbers in the formula into this, and this.” The entire castle glowed as Sia messed with the magical formulas that comprised its architecture. The peasants were helpless in the face of Sia’s curiosity, the castle morphed and changed, a tower, then a castle with a moat, and then the moat was gone. As time went on, it became stranger and stranger, “is that duck!!!!” one peasant pulled at his hair. He was the castle’s groundskeeper like his father before him, they had taken care of that castle for generations and now he was forced to watch the witch play with his greatest pride.

“hmm?” Sia’s keen eyes caught a strange aberration in the magical formula. “This seems like an intentional miscalculation. A hidden room perhaps. ” Sia quickly fixed the formula and suddenly the castle shook and although from the outside it did not expand, the inside was slightly larger.

"Let's take a quick look." Sia wandered about the castle and although not much was changed, there were two things she noticed, the first was the overwhelming presence of someone watching her, and the second was the change in castle's color palette. Before the castle was dreary as if the castle itself was in mourning but after her tweak, the castle became more colorful and extravagant.

During her little adventure, she discovered a room she hadn’t seen before. “oh? An armory perhaps?” Sia entered the room and… BANG!!!! Sia caught sight of a hand that grabbed hold of her head and slammed her against the floor. Her skull felt as if it were about to crack but she instinctively knew it was an illusion created by her mind. Sia looked on as the hand released her.

“You aren’t allowed to touch me… Mern.” Sia calmly stood up and brushed the dust of her bodice.

“And you aren’t allowed to enter this room..Not ever.

If you dare enter, I swear I'll rip you limb from limb, damn of the consequences."

His eyes glowed red, redder than even her skin. What lay behind the door was something personal to Mern and Sia had some vague guess as to what lay behind there. “Any other rooms I should stay away from, jack ass.” Mern released a quick breath through his nose and evaporated from the hallway, back to his castle.

“If he cares as much what is behind that door as much as he does about his daughter, Scitus’s plan might just work.”