Rain

"Candle Knight!"

"Madam Vivianna!"

Cheers rang across the battlements. The vast army assaulting the middle section of the wall halted at once, staring in shock and disbelief at that figure with sword in hand, as poetic and stirring as a song.

At that moment, the final Sand Giant's enormous body came crashing down like a toppled mountain, shattering into countless grains of sand.

"Your Majesty?"

Mahmud II's close attendants instinctively turned their eyes toward him. The Sand Giants, the siege weapons in which they had placed such high hopes, had been completely wiped out, dealing a severe blow to the army's morale. They could not help wondering whether they should continue.

"What are you standing around for? I don't recall ever giving an order to halt the attack."

Mahmud II stared unblinkingly at that figure. Never one to be swayed by feminine beauty, he nevertheless felt a trace of admiration rise within him.

With such extraordinary power at her command, her appearance had become almost irrelevant. Though the female knight was indeed beautiful, Mahmud II could still find one or two women in his harem capable of matching her looks.

If a woman like this were paired with the dragon-taming bloodline within him, what terrifying gifts might the heir she bore in the future possess?

Would improving his family's bloodline not be far superior to those political marriages?

"But Your Majesty, our morale has suffered a crushing blow. The enemy's spellcasters have all climbed onto the walls. Are we truly going to have our soldiers use their flesh and blood to withstand their spells?"

The Grand Vizier urged, "Would it not be better to attack again tomorrow?"

Mahmud II said coldly, "Send in the Sufi spellcasters. Protect the siege towers. The entire population of their city does not even amount