The Legend of the ruthless Empress Freya

- POV General -

Gaya, Mother of Dragons and Imperial Queen was literally on fire in the middle of the coliseum, high in the sky, her great majestic wings spread. Her entire body was surrounded by flames as bright red as blood contrasting with the crimson of her hair. A great heat emanated from her and warmed the entire arena as the hot wind propelled by her wings swept through everyone without exception.

No one knew what was going on, why the dragoness had suddenly burst into anger or even if she herself was aware of this new power. Indeed, at that moment her eyes were fixed on Leto who was trembling with pain and fear, aware that his end was near. He was still tied to the wall of ice but suddenly, as the crowd was hypnotized and held its breath, the threads of blood and the wall suddenly disappeared.

The King and the Knight were still bound and suspended, but the Paladin, crashed to the ground heavily not understanding what was happening. The Empress, who was still watching in silence above everything, had released only the human in front of her wife, not intervening at all. Like everyone else she had been surprised by this sudden change but somehow not so much, having Gaya's status in front of her as an explanation.

Moreover, Freya had no desire to stop her, understanding perfectly and sharing this anger even if she remained silent. Shiro and Angel were concerned, in other words, her own family was directly threatened by the Church knowing about them, which was unforgivable. The Empress had a serious look on her face, understanding with Leto's words, what had happened, simply linking the information received.

If there was one thing she understood, it was that purple-eyed and white-haired beings in this world were very rare, if not non-existent. As far as she knew, only Shiro and Kalaa matched these descriptions, so had he been talking about a new person or one of them ? More information was needed about this strange being, about the Supreme and anything that could harm the Empire even from a distance.

However, Freya didn't need to tell her wife, who would take great pleasure in extracting every bit of information from the Paladin until his last breath. On the ground, Leto could not move, paralyzed by the pain of the rest of his burned right arm and the wound made by Gaya's claw. He couldn't even stand up a little bit, lying in the dust with empty eyes like a dying prey.

"What magic were you referring to when you spoke of that destructive being that appeared during the Age of Extinction ?!?!"

Suddenly, the Queen's voice had sounded once again from the sky, scathing, loud, powerful, cold and echoing like a hundred others. Flapping her wings softly, the dragoness with the beautiful dress seemingly made of red flames was descending little by little to the ground. She stared at Leto with her amber eyes that had taken on a reptilian appearance typical of the dragons inhabiting this world.

"I-...please..."

Finally, the man began to move, feeling the heat of the flames become fierier, tingling his skin and reviving the pain of his current wounds. Gaya didn't seem to be able to control these flames or even be aware that if she got too close she might burn him alive. The more her anger increased, the more vivid, powerful and deadly her flames became, worthy of a blazing queen.

Fortunately, a few meters away, as her feet finally landed on the arena floor, those flames instantly disappeared. Walking slowly towards Leto, the dragoness had become no less terrifying, wearing a face distorted by disgust. Only the sound of her heels echoed through the large coliseum as the entire crowd held their breath waiting for what was to come.

"P-Please...no..."

"What magic were you talking about ?"

As usual, the man was pleading naively thinking maybe he had a chance, his body was shaking and his eyes were unable to stay wide open. Once again, Gaya had asked the question that at that moment mattered most to her and that she thought was the most important. Who was this being that the human had mentioned ? Why did it carry the exact same description as Kalaa her wife's sister, and their daughter Shiro ?

"T-Two...two...e-elements...i-ice...c-c-chaos..."

The Paladin couldn't even formulate a single complete sentence anymore but did the best he could to give the answers the Queen wanted to hear. He no longer wanted to fight, his thoughts were no longer with the Church and his loyalty to the Supreme was not beyond death. As he finished speaking his words, Gaya suddenly stopped while on the platform, the Empress rose in a flash.

No one knew of Kalaa's existence yet except for the Imperial couple and of course the ten Chaos Commanders of the Elysium Empire. So no one in the crowd was really able to understand the reaction of the two women who had been at exactly the same time. Freya and Gaya were speechless, paralyzed, as their thoughts immediately went to the woman who had just arrived.

They still didn't know where she came from, what had happened to her, why she had suddenly appeared with the idea of killing Freya to free Shiro. It was all very mysterious, not to mention her relationship to their little girl...Could Kalaa be that being ? The Paladin was still alive, breathing, and even if those wounds would kill him, he could still respond.

Snapping her fingers, the Queen motioned for two elves standing by the door to the arena, an armband bearing the symbol of a golden cross, to approach. They were two soldiers from Caipy's medical section placed in case of need for situations like this. Without being asked, the two men rushed to Leto to treat him knowing full well what was in store for him anyway.

"And what did this prophecy say ? Was it really reliable ? They are healing your wounds so you should be able to talk, but don't you dare lie to me again. I know a lot more than you think and I will hurt you a lot more if you think of playing me..."

As the two elves finished only partially healing his wounds so the Paladin would not die, the dragoness continued her questioning. Everything was also beginning to build in her mind, so she was doing her best to contain her anger and bloodlust. Finally, the two elf doctors were done and as the two bowed before running off, the man answered weakly.

"When...humanity is at its peak. A-A terrifying b-beast from another world as beautiful as it is ruthless...as cold as...ice, will rise up against y-you and disrupt the order...o-of the entire world and plunge it into...chaos."

"Go on."

"This...this is a prophecy from a divine voice that made contact with the Supreme One during one of his dreams. T-The Gods...the Gods have warned us...*cough cough*...evil lurks in this forest....but...but it is worse. A-A Demon...has appeared...this is the end, we will...all die, this is the e-end of Humanity."

Leto thought of that being that appeared thousands of years ago and that all Humans in this world dreaded but another one invaded his mind. Freya...the one who during the War had killed several of Zal's soldiers in a macabre and nightmarish spectacle. To him, who had not lived through the Age of Extinction, the Wolf Empress in her still incomplete form as a Demon named Lucifer...was the monster that would wipe out Humanity.

"I see...a voice....in a dream..."

Paying no attention to the comment about her wife, Gaya was still determined to get all the information she needed. Her goal was to protect her family, her daughter and her little brother above all else and her main target was obviously the Supreme himself. At the thought of the one who had almost destroyed the still sleeping little Angel, the red flames began to appear small around her body again.

"What does your Supreme want with my daughter ? Why did he send a poor, tortured little dragon here ? To kill he r? To kidnap her ? Answer !"

"I...*cough cough*...I don't know..."

Gritting her teeth, Gaya couldn't settle for that answer, which she felt was far too unsatisfactory considering the stakes. Suddenly, using this new power as if by instinct, the Queen conjured up a whip of red flames in her gloved right hand. Without waiting a second or even being surprised, she slammed it on the poor man's belly, causing him to scream and burst into pieces of charred flesh.

"AAAARRRGGG !!!"

"Don't you have a little idea ? Come on, make an effort, I'm losing patience !"

"H-His Excellency...is...experimenting on non-human kids ! In...in the basement of the main Church of the K-Kingdom of Zal in the c-capital. He probably wants to experiment on...the one in t-this forest, for more p-power."

At the end of his answer, an explosion of power invaded the entire coliseum at once, plunging it into an unbreathable and dangerous aura of its own. The area seemed to go dark and as everyone felt their throats tighten and their bodies tremble, they turned their heads. On the platform above everything, the white-haired Empress had appeared along with that instant sense of danger.

Freya had heard everything Leto had said and couldn't help but imagine her little moon in the same state as Angel or even worse. This thought made her change in a snap of her fingers not her red hair, not her black hair but her pure white hair. At that moment, the Empress of Ice was in front of the warriors while the Queen of Fire was standing in the middle of the arena facing the human.

They had gotten the information they needed, the Paladin didn't seem to be able to help them anymore and there were still two more people to question. Seeing the sudden change in her wife, the dragoness took this as a signal, gripping the crackling whip in her hand even tighter. Raising her arm, once again she would bring it down on the man's body but still in the same place.

"N-NOOOOO !!! AAAAAARRRRGG !!! P-PLEASE !!! UUURG !!!"

Shreds of flesh flew in all directions as the merciless Queen whipped the Paladin's thighs which began to split. The blood spurted ever more, the screams were deafening but she continued, even deeming it too gentle compared to the anger she felt. Gaya could now see the two bones in Leto's legs before finally stopping, her dress in the colors of the universe, covered in blood.

"AAAAAAaaaa"

The man's screams turned into weak, ragged breaths as his mind was already on the verge of leaving, exhausted by the pain. Everything was a blur, everything was moving too fast, he had no arms, no hope, no dignity and after seeing the monsters Elysium was populated with...didn't even believe in the Gods anymore. The irony was that Freya herself was a former Goddess, just like Kalaa was in the hospital.

Leto didn't know it, but he had probably been closest to deities in his entire life by the time he was being tortured, giving up his faith. He wanted it to end, he knew nothing more and wanted only death rather than this intense pain. The wound in his belly was still open, he was bleeding out from there, from his legs, not to mention his arms that had been torn off during the war, one of them severely burned.

"K-Kill me...k-kill...m...m-me..."

"With pleasure."

The desperate Paladin looked like nothing, eyes revolting, empty and dying as he stuttered these few words with his tongue hanging out. This did not seem to move the Queen, who responded in a tone devoid of compassion or feeling as her eyes glowed with satisfaction. All of a sudden, the flames did not disappear from her body but this time it was herself who was changing at sight.

The crimson-haired woman was growing and growing, taking on the form of a dragon to eliminate her as was the tradition of her race. When a dragon took life in its bestial form, it was said to eat the soul of the unfortunate for an eternity of torment. And so, before everyone's eyes, a huge legendary creature ablaze with red flames had appeared in the middle of Elysium.

The Queen was magnificent, imperial, noble, majestic and at that moment, no one doubted the power of the Empress' wife. The Imperial couple was on a whole new level and even if Gaya's anger was not directed at them, fear and respect were present. Letting out a roar that shook the entire city, she leaned towards Leto who saw death in his face, white as a corpse.

"ROAAAAAAAAAR !!!"

Before he even had time to faint, the dragoness was bringing her large head towards him as her left paw came to crush his legs. Grabbing the man's small head in her fangs, she began to pull gently, finishing to break the exposed bones in his thighs. The Paladin screamed like he had never screamed before, literally being torn apart by a giant dragon and set on fire.

This time it was his whole body that was burning, his clothes, his skin that started to form bubbles of flesh bursting more and more every second. Then, with a sharp blow, the man was separated from his lower body with a dull crack followed by silence. Leto could no longer scream, he was still alive but the pain was so great that he was brain dead, unable to take it anymore.

The dragon queen didn't care, and while her paws guarded the human's legs, with a flick of her head she threw his upper body into the air. It whirled above her flames, burping more and more before falling head first into Gaya's open mouth. With a powerful snap of her jaw, slamming into the body part, the Queen's fangs closed on the Paladin, violently shattering its remains.

Chunks of flesh, bone and blood spilled from her mouth as if she had bitten into a juicy tomato in one fell swoop. The blood had scattered throughout the silent, heart pounding arena, paralyzed with fear, awe and admiration. Kira who was standing a little more still said nothing either, hypnotized by this magnificent creature where flames of blood were dancing all around her.

So, while Act One and the beginning of Act Two had been under applause, its end was in complete silence. The Blazing Queen had interrogated the paladin to the point of driving him to despair with strangely addictive, satisfying and astonishing violence. There were only two people left to question, and while Jade was still at the Empress' side swallowing, she muttered a few words.

"T-Two legendary beings...I-Impossible..."