Tengen continent

Phantasia's history was brutal.

Its history saw nations rose and fell in unending factional conflicts. Gruesome carnage and fear of complete annihilation forced multiple factions into an alliance for the sake of growth and survival.

It should not be surprising that children everywhere in Phantasia was more or less used to the scene of war. For the victor, war meant glory and, for the loser, a tragic reality.

Such conflict raged on the Tengen continent of Phantasia. A hundred years in the past, three factions united under a single alliance. A massive war that followed ended with said alliance absorbing enough territories to be rank as Phantasia's global player. At least until a dispute with the neighboring Fairy Realm fractured the massive coalition into three nations.

One of these countries was Starland. A kingdom ruled by royal families descending from the Starfall Order. Starland, as a country, was prime exporter textiles and agriculture produces. Despite occasional hiccups in its taxes and political status quo, the Starfall Order's nobles and royalties managed to keep the country more or less free and lawful.

And that was broken by one person.

...

At the border of Starland, the Starfall Order's shooting-star flag was burning in the background.

It was a total disaster.

Flame licked the walled fort. Weapons, pieces of the bricks, and bodies covered the ground. Men in silver armor piled the remains of the defender by the wall after stripping them of all valuables.

The fort's magical barrier stood broken and depleted. The takeover was merciless.

Inside the wall, more remains littered the blood-pooled street. Nearly all windows in the battle-zone were in pieces.

It was a tragedy. One street's corner hid the bodies of two lovers, impaled and left to die in each other arms. A few streets away saw one boy hugging his dying puppy with a hole through its chest.

The culprit of this disaster stood on a wooden platform in the middle of the fort. Her men, dressed in black armor was rounding up all surviving citizens before their leaders.

Usually, It would be shocking for a tall girl in her late teen to be responsible for such destruction, but the town folks were more afraid than surprised.

No one could blame them--the girl was an avatar of iron-cladded will. Illustrious silver armor covered her well-honed muscle. Despite its size, the Ancient Greek breastplate's enchantments and craftsmanships was a masterwork that nicely highlighted her perk. The silver greaves and white chainmail pants she wore were ergonomic war pieces. The girl's silver hair and violet eyes shone like sword-edge.

"Citizen of Ford Marijane," She declared. "You have lived in the oppression of this man and his families, but now you are free!"

Behind her, two soldiers in black dragged a middle-age man in torn and tattered jacket up to the platform. A woman and her twin daughter followed in chains. The state they were in told the girl ruthlessness better than anything.

The man's body was cover in cuts. His once proud and well-trimmed beard caked with blood. A dark-red smear was all the remained of his ears. The girls and the woman only looked marginally better. Their cloth was in pieces. Black and blue bruises covered their skin. Iron collar stapled the twin's hand and neck, foreshadowing the oncoming suffering. On that stage, both girls were huddling and crying in the arms of their heartbroken mother. All three were bound and gag at the mercy of the girl in silver.

The girl issued one gesture, and the man was dragged in front of the crowd, instilling even more fear into the family.

The chain tugged tight and dumped the man before the girl's feet. He tried to speak, but he could only mutter an unintelligible gurgling without his tongue.

The girls wordlessly cried as they witnessed their father's fate.

The woman with the hair of silver steel proclaimed.

"The taxation this man levied against you have ended! Today is your new beginning!" She said, stepping on the lord head int the platform's wooden floor in a storm of splinters.

The masses cringed at the violence. On the stage, the younger twin flinched, while the elder averted her eyes away from what was to come.

"He declared me a witch! Stood with those oppressors and barred my path. His defeat is the justice of heaven. He has squandered his chance for peace. Now let him be an example to all those who dare oppose me!"

The crowd gasped in fear as the woman pulled the beaten middle-aged man out of the woods. She grabbed the former noble by his hair and hung his drooling and bloodied body for the crowd. The goddess of war then drew her sword and sliced in one movement.

Behind her, the nobleman's wife covered the eyes of the twins. All three of the victims trembled like a helpless rabbit. For the mother, this was all she could to redeem her failure and protect her children. For the young girls, this was the moment that would define their life of trauma and vengeance.

A headless body fell before the silver executioner. She apathetically held the severed head dripping with blood for all the citizens to see.

"I am not a coy woman, so I will make myself clear!" She held up the head of a father of two.

"This is what will happen to those that let nepotism and injustice foster! We are free men and women, not a slave whose fate will be decided by the so-called royalty. Time has arrived for us to tear those oppressors down. Let our merit, steel, and blood build a new world where we are free."

She waved at the shattered and sobbing family.

"They do not earn the right to decide who we are. Pick up your blade and joined me as my comrade. Together we will bring them down from their ivory tower. Join me and built the greatest empire since the twilight of the Ancient!"

Hidden in the audience, a young boy looked at the lord's decapitated head in horror. Fearing the worse, the nauseous mother wrapped her hand around his mouth. She glanced around, anxiously worried that someone might overhear his cries.

Suddenly, a voice called out amongst the crowd.

"Are you crazy? You destroy our home. Everything was peaceful until you decide to attack without any warning! Why are you doing this?"

The dark-skin man in short pants and vested jacket walked out of the crowd. His eyes glanced fearfully at the armed guard who began to inch toward their weapon.

Despite his outburst, the girl only eyed him with interest.

"You look like you know hard work, unlike these so-called nobles," the girl waved her men to stand down. "Speak up. I am listening."

The man looked around him.

"Do you even look at these people? You attacked their homes and killed their lord. And now you expected them to join you? What exactly is your plan, Tai Hua Tianshang?"

"Good," the Heavenly Daughter of Steel smiled. "You have a gut to speak out against me for your people. I can respect bravery. For that merit, you will become the new lord of Marijane."

A ripple of surprise guzzled throughout the crowd.

"I know the lies those fools spread about me," Tai Hua ignored the crying family, and focused on the people. "They call me a terrorist. They label me a warmonger and murderer. It is because they are afraid. Those fools in Aurorin are trembling at my strength, my resolve, and my vision. They are right. They should fear the world where they had no power. In my new world, there will be no prejudice in sex, age, or social background. Everyone will be free to raise their criticism and decided their fate by their merit. For that world, I will ask you this, why do you bother hearing the lies of the cowards."

The speech managed to get some nods out of a fraction of the public. Most of the brigands and criminals spotted the opportunity, and they bit on it.

"All hail, Tai Hua!" One lanky looking man walked out and addressed the crowd. "The lass is right? Did we ever agree to follow those laws? Those rich pigs took our monies and bought a luxury wine with it. They never care about us, so why should we care about them. I think we should follow the lass, and robbed our money back right brother and sisters."

It was a spark that lighted the fire of dissatisfaction. In the citizen's mind, all the former lord's failures to keep his promise slowly outweighed the good he did. It only took a little bit of self-convincing and victim-blaming for them to create a monster.

"They are right!" A certain beggar yelled first. "It was because of those politicians jacking up the food price that my wife died. We deserve payback!"

The spark was the first of too many condemnations that followed. It was an unreasonable triad aimed at the only representative of nobility present: a widow and two innocent girls.

It began with a jeer. Then a random stone was flung and struck the mother who used her body to shield both her children. With that, the bandwagon set sail, and there would be no stopping it. Rotten fruits and vegetables sailed together with insults.

"Yeah, it is all their fault for raising the price!" A well-built man threw a pebble together with the crowd.

"Yes! Without them suppressing us, we will reach the star!" One woman said.

"Kick the bitches out and sent them into the brothel. That is where they belong!" One particularly fat uncle joined in with the crowd.

Stone after a stone flew; most of them hit the widow who tried her best to shield her children. It was only a glimmer, but a hint of concern sneaked into Tai Hua's eyes. The goddess in silver drew her blade slashed. The resulting winds turn all the flying projectile to dust.

"Enough!" She yelled.

Absolute silence arrived.

The Heavenly Daughter of Steel looked over her shoulder. She never once considered how that pair of eyes that will haunt the children's nightmares for the years to come.

"A force of Justice will not be resort to undiscipline lynching." Tai Hua addressed the crowd. "The demerit of their father is not their crime, and they will get judged as such. Kar'Dia, please take them away."

A dark-skin woman in a white robe arrived in a flash, threw one disgusted looked at the crowd before disappearing in an instant with the family.

Tai Hua turned toward the dark-skin man.

"Will you join me?" Tai Hua motioned toward the shattered city's gate in the distance. "Or you can leave. I won't force anyone to follow me. That is my standard."

The man gritted his teeth. The crowd was looking with expectancy at him with respect and envy. He didn't like this, but he knew this was a once in the lifetime opportunity.

"Fine," The man said. "As long as you hurt none of the citizens, I will join you..."

Tai Hua was overjoyed.

"Open the supplies!" She spread her arms out and openly addressed the crowd. "Tonight, we celebrate our success, men. The road to freedom is near!"

The crowd cheered widely for their new overlord. But in that euphoria, no one even considered what would happen to the family of three. Nobody paid attention to the bleeding corpse of the twin's father--a father who was left muted and dead without any jury and trail.

Why would they care when glory was waiting for them?

...

At the moment of Tai Hua's triumph, the capital of Starland was in an uproar. Bureaucrats and nobles panicked at the thought at a massive invasion. Order and conscription were issued to deal with this new threat.

Yet, despite the air of crises, one girl in an elegant dress and brilliant blue hair was humming playfully.

The sound of danger was music to her ears. Everything was going according to plan, but still, she needed to send a message. She activated the magical broadcasting device.

"This is LinLey. I am addressing all Blue Sea Core's members," announced the girl in feign sadness. "I want you to announce my vote in favor of purging Marijane's family. Suitable punishment should get dispense for losing the fort to the Public Enemy No.1. Put anyone from Marijane under collusion charges. I want them executed the moment their relatives are found guilty of joining Tai Hua. Announced that the crime for aiding Tai Hua Tianshang would be an execution of up to seven generations of kin. Tell them I wanted to see some examples on the spikes tomorrow."

"Where shall I find the examples?" A voice replied from the runes.

"I don't know?" She said sarcastically. "The slum, perhaps? Who would care if those trashes die anyway?"

The voice hesitated, but alas, he decided to answer back.

"Yes, Milady."

The communication got cut off, and the Heavenly Daughter of Water sighed. Tie Hua needed to die. She was too much of a risk. Kardia was too enamored with her girlfriend; she needed to go as well. It meant that the alliance with Chuang was necessary.

And Cytortia.

Linley suppressed her giggles. Cytortia was barely a threat. The report she intercepted from the Drakokia indicated she barely retained three people on her gang. Her only edge was Scathach. The Drakokia was a total idiot for failing to connect the Warrior maid's appearance with Cytortia. Who else but Artio got a gall to cash in Scathach's favor?

She leaned back on her chair. The room deep ocean color was her favorite. For her, the ocean was the ultimate schemer. What else could seem so empty yet filled with depth and life?

LinLey fantasized the day she reigned over everything. The victory was hers for the taking.

...

On the other side of the continent, in the world of poppy and chalked earth, cracks of light symbolizing the corruption of Center-force were still visible in the sky.

The girl with rainbow hair and dress of pristine fire appears to meet the boy who owned this world.

'You'd return,' The girl said sternly. 'Why?'

Rem sighed.

"Satholia, and you, both hinted at the true nature of Magic," Rem said. "Let be honest here. Something is suspicious from the start."

Rem began to narrate.

"Satholia kicked the ass of the Olympians who are a juggernaut in their own right. Scathach said she rigged up a detector during the fight, and the reading destroyed the fundamental law of Mana conservation. Scathach said that when a mage does spell, they burn Mana."

Rem took in a deep breath.

"Satholia's power output didn't match her power consumption. The law was fucked, and fuck-up even further when we showed Scathach Luxina's new ore. So let be honest. How do Mana and Magic work?"

'You finally notice,' Central replied. 'Historically, Mana was first discovered by the Ancient, who used it as miracle energy. The Ancient invented cultivation technique to consolidate their Mana and channel it. However, the Ancient and their cultivation technique went extinct after one thousand years of horrific war amongst themselves. This decline of arcane knowledge led to the current era where Mana was used by burning up to fuel spell-casting instead of the building block of power.'

"What is the difference between cultivation and spell-casting?" Rem asked. "You said all people have Magic inside of them, so how did these techniques affect your body?"

'How? That is a good question,' Central cocked her head amusingly. 'Burning up Mana in spell-casting is, without a doubt, the least efficient. Although systematic-spells provide many options, the permanent loss of Mana for them significantly undermines the development of your True Magic. Initial training in this process might see an increase in Mana and magical stat. But those are unsustainable doping cause by the scarring of Mana Core.'

"What about cultivation?"

'Stop thinking about it,' Central waved that notion away. 'You don't have any manual. Even then, you will only be replacing your natural power with another. Incompatibility between your True Magic and cultivation method will cause death. Cultivation is like synthetic Nylon to True Magic's spider silk. It is good, but using it was essentially replacing a far superior material something artificial.'

She gestured at the world around them.

'I will tell you the secret unknown to even the Ancient. Mana is indeed the miracle energy holding the universe together. But it is not used to create your foundation. Your foundation is created by who you are, not by power stockpiling! That is True Magic. The ultimate form of the miracle; power as unique and more complex beyond any computing as your DNA and protein.'

The girl glowed.

'Sadly, no civilization has pioneered the path of True Magic,' The girl said. 'Are you prepare to step into uncharted water, Rem Breaker?'

Rem was unamused.

"Well, what do I have to lose?"