The soft winds blew Camilia's long, bluish silver hair as she looked off into the far distance.
Even though she seemed calm, only she knew how pissed off she was. How could she not?
That king sent a bunch of strangers to her door uninvited. If there was one thing she would not tolerate that was being disrespected.
"Do you really think you can do anything you want just because you're a king? Well then, I hope you don't mind if I go knocking at your front doors uninvited."
A smile appeared on her beautiful face as her figure turned into a beam of light and shot off into a northly direction.
In the northernmost parts of the continent, there existed a nation, one of the three most powerful countries that could easily rival the kingdom of Barat.
However, unlike the other five most prominent nations that formed connections either through marriage or other political means, the kingdom of Paullus was different, they never formed any connections with the other kingdoms.
Throughout the long years of its establishment, the relationship the kingdom of Paullus had with the other great nations was mostly hostile, as the fifth king had declared war on many of the other nations in the past.
However, after the death of the fifth king, that nation became closed off and no longer got involved with the other kingdoms. On a land that easily exceeded approximately 70 kilometres and measuring 50 diameters, the kingdom of Paullus could be seen there. The kingdom was surrounded by layers of brick walls that went around in circles.
While at the main gate entrance, there were two guards doing a check-up on anyone who wished to enter.
The city was divided into two sections. The outer sections and the inner sections.
The outer sections are where mostly commoners and adventurers go about their daily lives, while the inner sections are where the higher-ups and most influential people are found.
It goes without saying that the deeper you go, the more beautiful and extravagant the buildings are when compared with the outer sections.
For those who one day wish to venture to the inner sections, it was possible to gain merits through their combat skills or any other useful means, such as politics or applying to join the royal knights.
The inner sections were safer and far more luxurious when compared with the outer sections, as that's where the truly strong mages live, and magic sword users live. In addition, the royal palace could be seen in the centre of the inner sections.
For the nobles, it was a huge honour to have their house close to the royal palace, as many nobles would compete.
And if the king deemed any of them worthy, he could potentially allow them to live inside the royal palace.
After the death of the fifth king at the hands of an assassin who was suspected to come from one of the five great nations, the kingdom of Paullus decided to focus on building its battle prowess at the sixth king's order.
Currently, the sixth king, Germund Paullus, was seated on his throne as he waited for the arrival of the four knights he had sent out to recruit the woman famously known as the "Strongest" Having someone of her level working under him would definitely bring his kingdom high in no time.
However, a frown could be seen on his handsome face as he waited for their arrival.
Germund Paullus was a young man in his late twenties, with short, neatly trimmed golden hair and green, emerald eyes. He stands at 165 cm and donned a royal robe.
'How long are they going to take?' He couldn't help but wonder. Two weeks had already passed when they had left, and yet, there is still no sign of them anywhere.
He was starting to get a bit restless. However, soon there was a soft knock on the double door.
"You may enter," Germund said in a dignified voice. Soon, the door opened with a soft creak, and a beautiful woman came walking in with short, shoulder-length black hair.
The woman had a beautiful figure and a well-proportioned body; she donned a long orange dress as she made her way towards Germund.
However, she didn't stop in her tracks as she drew closer to Germund. Once she was at a distance of two meters, she gently cupped his face with her hands and kissed his lips.
King Germund gently wraps his hand around her delicate neck as he brings her closer to him.
The two continued to lock their lips together as they got lost in their passionate moment of love.
Eventually, Quinn, the woman whom Germund had chosen to become his queen, was now sitting gracefully on his lap as the two continued to exchange love.
After five minutes, the two finally separated their lips as Quinn moved her face back. And observed Germund's face closely.
"Darling, is everything okay?" She questioned in a worried tone, noticing the troubled look on his face.
"Y-Yes, everything is fine," Germund answered, as his brow furrowed slightly.
"... No, something is definitely wrong; if not, then you wouldn't be making that kind of face right now," Quinn said as she used her hand to gently caress the wrinkles on Germund's brow.
Hearing her words, Germund could only smile bitterly. He didn't want to worry his fiancée, and so he tried leaving her in the dark about most things, and yet... she always sees right through him in the end. After a moment of silence, he finally spoke.
"Sigh, I sent those guys to recruit that demoness; they still haven't returned."
"Eh, by that demoness, you mean, the woman who is feared by those other nations as the strongest?" Quinn asked, somewhat dubiously. Honestly, she was rather sceptical about that woman's strength. Quinn had never met Camilia before.
Someone capable of destroying nations with a wave of her hands, Quinn would have to see such madness to believe it.
Even the most powerful mage wouldn't be able to do such things; the amount of magical power needed for such a feat was simply inconceivable.
Germund could see the doubt in her eyes. Though he didn't blame her, he had even doubted her strength a long time ago after all.
He also thought all those stories were nothing but mere exaggerations. However, that was until he came face-to-face with her a year ago.
The darkish green eyes of that woman were beautiful, and yet dangerous at the same time.
When standing before that woman, the only emotion he felt at that time was.
... Despair.
It was as if he were standing before an obstacle that he would never be able to overcome, no matter how much he tried and struggled.
"I don't think you need to worry, even if that woman is strong, I'm sure even she would never harm someone from our side, after all. That's the same as declaring war on our nations, surely she isn't so stupid." Quinn said, with absolute certainty.
However, those words alone weren't enough to convince him. Germund kept a serious expression on his face as he hugged her body tightly to his and kissed her forehead.
...
Meanwhile, hovering over the capital city of the kingdom of Paullus was a beautiful woman with her long, bluish silver hair swaying gently in the wind, Camilia.
A devilish grin appeared on her face as she held her right hand up to the sky. From the tip of her finger, a small, almost imperceptible magic formation appeared.
Following that, a speck of flame gathered at the tip of her finger; the flame was roughly 3 meters in diameter. However, that speck of flame soon started to grow and increase in size.
Turning into a giant ball of flames measuring roughly 80 meters in diameter.
Soon, the temperature around the kingdom of Paullus started to rise; usually, the temperature around the capital is cold due to the climate around the kingdom of Paullus.
However, it didn't matter whether it was the outer sections or the inner sections; everyone could clearly feel the sudden temperature rise.
When the citizens turned their heads up to the sky, what they saw made all the blood in their bodies turn cold as they all broke out in cold sweats.
In the sky, there was a huge ball of flame that completely covered the entire Kingdom of Paullus. Everyone could easily feel the ridiculous amount of magical power within the spell.
The screams of civilians resounded from all around as many knights could be seen running through the paved streets while weaving their way through the crowd of people.
The ball of flame could easily be said to be a miniature sun as it hovered silently above their heads.
"Shit! What the hell is that?!" A man dressed in knight armour came running into the capital with roughly ten other knights following behind him. The closer he got, the more heat he could feel radiating from the massive ball of flame.
The knights all observed the mass of flame in the sky and tried to figure out who could conjure up such a spell. If they could just take out the caster, then the spell should be undone.
"Oya, I didn't think you guys would show up so early, and here I thought I was going to have to destroy at least half the city for you guys to show yourselves."
While the knight at the front was trying to find the caster, a melodious voice whispered into his ear from behind.
Startled, the knight swung his sword. However, he was surprised when his sword just passed through space.
Camillia could be seen standing ten feet away from the knight. "You! Who are you?!" The knight questioned in an authoritative tone, as he pointed the blade of his sword at Camillia, who stood calmly in the distance.
However, towards such questions, she gently brought her hand to her mouth and laughed.
"Fufufu, who am I... who knows, I am usually called by many names, witch, demon, bringer of calamity, etc. I don't bother trying to remember every one of them." Camillia said as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Tch, stop wasting time, you bitch!" The knight yelled as he swung his sword!
A torrent of light was released from the blade of his sword, surrounding her as though to devour her. However, "Hehe." Camillia grinned in amusement as her body was swallowed by the light.
The knights all sighed in relief as they saw that her body was obliterated by the light. The magic sword in the young knight's possession was a powerful magic sword capable of firing a hot blast of light capable of incinerating anything it comes into contact with. However, something was wrong!
The knight in the lead looked up at the sky with some apprehension in his eyes.
"Th-that ball of flame, why isn't it disappearing?" He shouted. Hearing his yell, the other knights also looked up at the sky.
Indeed, the ball of flame was still burning brightly as before. Usually, when the caster of a spell dies, the spell is undone upon their death, but the ball of flame was still visible in the sky.
What does that mean?
The answer was obvious.
"Tch, she is not dead, everyone makes sure you keep your guard up—" Before the knight could finish his words, he felt something pierce his chest.
His armour broke apart, and if one stood behind him, they could easily see through his chest as a hole was opened up inside his body.
"Cough," The knight coughed out a mouthful of blood as he held his chest. Standing calmly in the distance was Camillia, who hadn't received a single scratch since the beginning.
"You, freak." The knight muttered weakly,
"Freak? Hahaha... that's quite the compliment, after all. I've been called worse before."
Camillia chuckled cutely as she held up her index finger, a red beam of light shot out, this time piercing the centre of the young knight's forehead as blood trickled down his face, his lifeless body dropped to the ground.