‘Empress?!’

That was her only thought in her mind. Leona was widely known as Princess Tactician or simply Princess due her status as throne candidate for Arcadia but never once was she addressed as a queen much less an empress.

“Sorry but I must have misheard you. You called me, empress?”

“Ah.” The woman’s eyes went wide as if realizing she had made a mistake. She lowered her head and pinched her nose ridge between the index and thumb from her left hand while the right tightened its grip around the sheathed silver longsword. “I’m sorry, it has been so long that I instinctively…”

She tilted her head up and upon closer inspection, Leona could see the darkened bags under her eyes. Not only that but her complexion was extremely pale as if she could disappear out of thin air at any moment.

‘This person… no, this weapon… how does it know about me?’ Leona thought with her eyes straightening at the woman. ‘Not only that but ‘instinctively’ calling me an empress?’

“Avalon, just how do you know me? You implied that I wouldn’t know. Know what, exactly?”

“This…” She frowned her eyes and avoided Leona’s gaze by looking sideways. “I have been through this way more times than I can count.” She extended the sheathed blade. “Take me, I’ll show you what I mean.”

There was a hint of hesitance in Leona’s right hand as she swallowed dry. There was a sense of foreboding knowledge awaiting for her within that sword’s hilt.

Nevertheless she braced herself as her hand held firmly onto the handle and in that split second—a torrential wave of emotions swept across her mind like a violent hurricane.

The crystal hall suddenly shattered to pieces as they were falling through what seemed to be a maelstrom of memories. Different images flashed inside her mind as they kept free falling through this seemingly endless tunnel of recollections.

‘What is going on?!’

The very first memory that imprinted itself in Leona’s mind was her personal maid Adele handing her a sheathed frostburnt silver longsword not unlike the one she was holding.

“Princess, I’ve brought the weapon you asked for. However, Lord Jean insisted that you took the family’s heirloom instead as opposed to a common blade.”

She saw everything from her own perspective which was even more puzzling, given that those memories were supposed to be Avalon’s and not hers.

“I already told father, he won’t need to worry about me.” She took the blade and inspected the sheathe before drawing the blade, her aquamarine eyes reflected off the lightly blue polished silver metal with a disturbing glare which even surprised herself. “Alexander will pay for what he did.”

Everything became blurry until it faded into black with only an unrecognizable male voice echoing in her mind.

“Leona, you have done it. You mastered it. There is nothing left for me to teach you, however…” There was a long pause before he finished his sentence. “...how you put that power to use will be left up to you.”

A few seconds passed and another memory jolted her mind.

This time she was going through a festival of some kind in the Arcadian main street while horseback wearing full plate armor. The ornate protection was adorned with a blue cape wearing the insignia of the royal guards. A golden eight pointed star with two swords crossing over it.

A number of knights flanked her for protection as the crowd kept shouting and cheering on.

“Queen Leona!”

“Long live the Queen!”

“For the future and prosperity of Arcadia!”

“Hooray! Queen Leona!”

Despite the happiness in the air and festive mood, behind Leona’s fake smile was a creeping flame of hatred that was all but consuming her mind. The resentment was so great she even felt like it could sear her own mind.

“How long… just how long will I have to endure?”

Her past self muttered under her breath and yet again the memory vanished into darkness. In a blink, she opened her eyes to another familiar setting where she was sitting at the end of a wooden table within her own mansion.

A woman of wavy purple hair and lapis lazuli eyes was just across the dining table with a number of escorts of her own. Lady Fye. She wore a similar dress as to when Leona had met her, but she seemed more tired if anything.

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“It is a pleasure to have a conversation with you directly, Queen Leona.”

“Save the formalities for later, lady Fye.” The queen placed both her hands on the table before interlocking her fingers, both her arms were covered with gauntlets which meant she was wearing full yet again. “Tell me, is your airship project proceeding apace?”

That sentence was enough to drain the color from the noble woman’s face.

“How did you-?!”

“To me, my knights!”

Suddenly, the door was kicked open and a group of armored knights came in with their weapons in hand.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Lady Fye shouted. “You can’t possibly be-”

“This is how Arcadia will lead its people from now on.” She stood up and approached the noble woman, whose guards were helpless against the overwhelming number of armored soldiers. “Anyone that stands in its path will bend the knee or die by the sword.” She unsheathed the frostburnt silver longsword and pressed its tip against her throat. “So, what will it be? The sword? Or the knee?”

‘That isn’t me…!’

Leona thought as she forcibly closed her eyes. However as opposed to her sight, her hearing was tormented by the sound of screams and explosions. Once she opened her eyes she was yet again somewhere else.

“I can’t die here…!”

The former commander Olivia was holding a sword as the last line of defense at the front gates of the Londrian capital. Her body was battered and there weren't many of them left as the Arcadian queen approached.

Bodies were strewn across the snow white battlefield with red stains coming from beneath the different soldiers that died for each cause forming almost like a path as she approached the commander with her frostburnt silver blade.

“If you have anything left to blame, blame your kingdom’s selfishness. All we asked was for you to aid us against the death angels and yet you were harboring one this entire time.”

“No! You don’t understand!” Olivia tried to stand up but her knees failed. “We are victims just as you are! Minister Jakob-!”

“SILENCE!” Leona raised her blade. “My people died for your kingdom’s mistakes! Attone with your life!”

As she was about to bring the sword down, she felt a tingle down her spine as she turned around and faced an incoming blade directed at her throat.

“Perish tyrant Empress!” The gray haired assassin Elizabeth shouted as she swung her blade. “Thunderclap!”

A curved sword imbued by lightning cut through Leona’s left arm and as her assailant was about to take a step back, Olivia managed to sink her sword through one of the gaps in the Queen’s armor in the back of the knee joint.

“Argh!”

At that point both of them thought they managed to land a killing blow as the Queen lost a lot of blood and was kneeling down.

“Finish this Olivia!”

Elizabeth shouted but to her dismay, the commander was decapitated with an inhumanly fast slash that seemed to be made out of pure mana. The monarch managed to stand back up as dark red mana seemed to knit her wounds back together.

“I swear on my name… none of you will survive this day!”

Leona took a deep breath and the memory vanished until another took its place. This time, the Queen was sitting on the throne, the hall was empty save for two royal guards standing next to the wooden double doors far away from her.

Opposed to the usual dignified ornate armor, she wore a patterned black uniform akin to the former Londrian issued combat uniforms. At that point in time, Arcadia had conquered the dwarven citadel Akrapocalis and the northern kingdom of Londria and under its rule, the new empire was called Holy Kingdom of Arcadia.

The only remembrance from the conquest was her severed arm which was recently replaced with a mechanical substitute thanks to Londrian technology. However despite everything she had achieved, the Empress seemed more alone than ever.

She extended her right arm out and closed her right hand into a fist before muttering under her breath.

“There is blood on my hands, how long until it reaches my heart?”

The second Leona blinked, another memory took place in the same castle room. The Empress was flanked by five individuals, two of which was Krieg Louvre wearing a pitch black full plate armor with a helmet made of bones and beside him was Laslow Lorraine, a mage recognized by the Empress as he was uniformed with a regal white and blue robe trimmed with golden details on the edge of his sleeves as he held out a crooked staff that looked like a severed hand.

On her left, there were three women, Cecile Braveheart, Phoebe Hawkeye and Priscilla Avellion. All of them three wore the same black uniform as the Empress however each one held a different weapon. A spear, a bow and a bastard sword respectively and all made of bones.

The Empress was now faced by her own knights as they lined in formation with one particular knight standing out from the middle of them.

“My Empress! Please! Reconsider this course! Nara is weak as it is and the empire lacks the people to sustain itself, why would you go to war?! They are struggling as much as we are against the death angels!”

He, unlike the others, had forsaken the helmet in order to speak clearly to his ruler. His short brown hair and dark eyes didn’t leave much of an impression, but he was still considered one of the Knights of Arcadia. A group of personal knights that only served the queen.

“Silence! Insolent fool!” She stood up and extended her right hand out and a nearby knight handed her weapon. “Another word and I’ll have your head on a pike!”

“But my Empress!”

“Sir Reinhardt, Shield of Aegis. You are hereby banished from the order! Whoever sides with this traitor will be considered as such!” She brandished her sword forward with a last order. “Execute them!”

What ensued was a battle to the death that Leona refused to look at. The sound of clattering steel, screams of terror and pain was more than enough to fill her mind with dreadful thoughts.

‘What are these memories?’

“They are you from a different time!” Avalon’s shout snapped Leona out of the memory as she blinked a few times before being brought back to the free fall. “But when your father died, it broke you! You were no longer a benevolent ruler, but a tyrant!”

“This isn’t me!”

She shouted atop of her lungs.

“It is!” Avalon’s response brought despair to Leona’s face. “But I can tell, you are not like this other ‘you’! Please Leona! You must put an end to this—so it may never come to pass!”