CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER 212 – A SUDDEN PANIC

The midday sky looked calm or at least, that’s what Sylvia thought.

From her bedroom balcony, she could see the frozen plains glittering faintly under the pale sun. No storms, no grim reports from her troops, and for a fleeting moment she truly believed today would end like the others: buried in documents, interrupted only by warm tea, then soaking in the hot bath.

She had just reached for her porcelain cup when something struck her consciousness.

A voice not through her ears, but echoing directly inside her mind.

"Sylvia...! Can you hear me?!"

Stacia’s voice, frantic, laced with panic.

Another followed, thinner but equally strained.

"Sylvia! We ngh...!" Alicia’s voice, breaking, rattled with fear.

Sylvia froze. The cup in her hand trembled, nearly spilling.

"Stacia? Alicia?" she whispered, as if her voice could pierce through telepathy.

But before she could demand more, the link was severed abruptly, violent, as though something had ripped the thread apart. Silence rushed back, leaving only the hollow echo that pressed hard against her chest.

At once Sylvia closed her eyes, reaching into the soul-link she had anchored within her twin sisters.

Her breath stalled for a heartbeat.

They were still there.

Faint pulses, proof their lives remained intact. No void, no collapse that meant death.

But the rhythm was chaotic and wild, as if hearts pounded against the edge of annihilation. They were struggling.

"...They’re in danger," Sylvia muttered, her lips tightening.

She knew both were strong, Stacia with her brilliant experimental magic, Alicia with her deadly debuffs. But panic like that? It was not something easily forced out of them.

Without hesitation, Sylvia moved.

She seized a pen, dragged a sheet of parchment, and wrote in swift, sharp strokes:

Celes, I’m leaving. Urgent matter. Don’t worry, I’ll return.

Short, but enough. She placed it atop the stack of documents, making sure it would be the first thing Celes would find.

Then, without delay, she stepped into the center of her room. A low whisper left her lips.

"Void Steps."

The world warped. The stone floor dissolved, replaced by a swirl of violet emptiness. In the blink of an eye, she shifted ten kilometers.

Cold air slapped her face as she reemerged into reality. Sylvia didn’t stop. Again she moved, Void Steps tearing her through space. Ten kilometers. Twenty. Thirty. Each step left a black shadow shattering like glass, swallowed instantly by the wind.

Her body flung through emptiness, but her focus clung only to the soul-pulse of Alicia and Stacia. It was her compass, her only guide.

Closer.

The rhythm grew more chaotic.

And then emerging from the Void once more the sight struck her.

A barren plain of stone, hemmed by the ruins of a collapsed tower. The snow covering the ground was stained crimson, drenched in freshly spilled blood.

In the center, Alicia staggered on her feet. Her staff shattered, the lantern at its tip flickering weakly, breath ragged. Stacia leaned against broken stone, one arm drenched in blood from a deep wound, the other straining to keep a thin magical barrier alive, one already cracking. Her spellbook lay in tatters, pages burned and torn.

They were surrounded.

Dozens of figures in white robes trimmed with gold, a branching cross emblazoned on their chests. Some wielded ornate staves glowing faintly with light, others long swords shining with holy radiance.

Priests. Paladins.

The Church.

"Surrender, heretics of darkness!" a paladin bellowed, his voice echoing across the ruins. "You cannot escape. God’s Light will burn evil to ash!"

Alicia grit her teeth. "You think... we’ll just give in so easily?"

But her staff trembled in her grip, now more club than conduit for magic.

Stacia was barely conscious.

A priest lifted his staff. Blinding white radiance built at its tip, then fired straight at Stacia’s fragile shield.

BZZZT!

The barrier shattered.

Stacia reeled, coughing blood. Alicia lurched forward, trying to cover her, though her own body was already cut and bruised.

When it seemed both would fall

Something happened.

The air shuddered. Shadows tore open the sky. The Void split reality like glass cracking.

From the rift stepped a figure cloaked in black. Her long black hair whipped in the wind, crimson eyes glowing like embers.

Sylvia.

"Enough."

Just one word and the air itself grew heavy. Nether Flame surged around her, violet-black fire devouring the holy light that sought to press down.

The priests recoiled.

"Th-the Zombie Queen...!"

"The Goddess of Chaos herself...!"

They raised weapons, ready to strike. But Sylvia only lifted her hand.

"Vanish."

Chains of black erupted from the Void, sweeping across the circle like a storm. Paladins were hurled aside, armor splintered under unseen force. Priests who tried to chant holy prayers shrieked as their light sputtered, devoured by Nether’s flame.

It ended in an instant, absolute.

Only the whistle of winter wind lingered.

Sylvia stood at the center, her gaze razor-sharp. Cold vapor curled with the deathly aura spilling from her. The chains coiled back to her waist as though they had never struck.

Alicia, near collapse, stared wide-eyed. "S-Sylvia... you..."

Sylvia stepped forward, pressing her gently back against the rock. "Quiet. Rest."

Stacia tried to speak, voice faint. "We... didn’t expect them... Church... they suddenly "

"Sst." Sylvia raised a finger. "I know enough. You’re alive, that’s what matters."

Her eyes shifted. The priests and paladins still writhed on the ground, some unconscious, some groaning in pain.

Her crimson gaze narrowed.

"...But they dared to touch my family."

Nether Flame flared in her palm, eager for judgment.

The plain vibrated, the ground fracturing beneath their feet. Flames burned brighter, violet-black spiraling around her like a storm awaiting command.

And then the Void split wider. Chains burst forth again, not one, not two but dozens. More than fifty, their dark tips gleaming sharp as spears.

Shrrk! Sreeeek!

The metallic screech cut through the air.

Panic struck the clergy. Some tried chanting, voices trembling. "O Holy Light, shield us!"

Their prayers never finished.

The first chain shot forth, impaling a priest and pinning him to the ruins. Blood spattered then was consumed by Nether Flame crawling along the steel.

CRASH!

Three more whipped into a shield-bearing paladin. The holy ward splintered instantly, shattering like glass. Their bodies hurled into the air, smashed against the ground with bone-breaking force.

"N-no! The light... doesn’t AAGHH!"

The scream died as a dozen chains pierced his body, suspending him in midair. His form convulsed before the violet fire raced through him, burning flesh and soul alike. Within seconds, he was nothing but ash swept away by the wind.

Chains lashed and writhed like the limbs of some abyssal beast. One slammed into the ground, leaving a gaping crater, snow collapsing into it. Another coiled around a paladin, bones cracking like twigs before flinging him aside.

Alicia and Stacia could only watch, trembling not from the cold, but from the sheer, overwhelming terror of it.

"...Sylvia..." Alicia whispered, her voice trembling.

The aura that radiated from their queen was no mere rage. It was judgment.

Sylvia stood unmoving, expression flat, cold as death. Only her crimson eyes blazed, the heart of the storm.

"You dared touch my family..." her voice was low, each word reverberating through the air, "...that means you chose death."

With a single sweep of her hand, all fifty chains struck at once.

DUUUGHH!

Steel tore flesh. Bones snapped. Screams merged into one hideous chorus. Dozens of priests and paladins skewered at once, bodies lifted like broken dolls. Nether Flame raced along the chains, devouring them alive.

"AAAGHHHH!!"

"The Light... the Light save u !!"

Their prayers dissolved into nothing, drowned in fire darker than night.

The few survivors turned to flee, abandoning their blades and brothers. Sylvia flicked a finger.

ZRRRAAAKKK!

Chains pierced their backs, dragging them screaming across the snow. Their corpses were tossed into the growing mound of ash at the center of ruin.

The stench of burning flesh mingled with melting snow. The midday sky itself dimmed, as though the world bowed to the wrath of the Zombie Queen.

And then silence.

The chains rattled once more before withdrawing, coiling back around her waist as docile serpents. Nether Flame died down, leaving faint embers adrift in the cold air.

The earth lay scarred with craters, ash scattered like black snow. No priests. No paladins. Nothing left but silence and two sisters clinging to life.

Sylvia turned. Her eyes still glowed faintly as she approached, stepping light against the ruin she had wrought. She knelt before Stacia, pale and faint, tapping her cheek gently.

"Stay awake. You cannot sleep now."

Stacia’s eyes cracked open, lips trembling. "S-Sylvia... you... came..."

"Yes. I came," Sylvia replied softly, her tone lighter than her wrath moments before.

Alicia’s lips curved weakly, cracked with blood. "A-always... you always show up at the last second..."

Sylvia exhaled, easing both of them against the large stone. "You were reckless. Had I been minutes later..."

She left the words unfinished enough to bow their heads in silence.

Her gaze rose, crimson fire still smoldering. Beyond the wreckage, smoke still drifted from the ash of her enemies. Her hand clenched, and the chains at her waist shivered faintly, still hungry.

"The Church..." her voice dropped, cold with hate. "They will regret sending this."