The Battle for the Royal Capital

Half a month after occupying the three new territories, and more than three months after Fran arrived in Antir, she led her followers to the foot of the Royal Capital.

"Are we really going to attack this place?"

Anna asked Fran a question. Looking at the flags and emblems on the outskirts of the Royal Capital, she knew that this was the Royal Capital of Antir, the center of the entire Antir.

Although Anna knew that Fran was a mage from the Alliance, backed by the Alliance and with a very powerful background, she was not flustered at all when Fran asked her to come to Antir to take over the territory.

After all, this is nothing. It's just a mage making a small commotion in a nearby small country. What's the big deal?

But this time, Fran wants Anna to attack the Royal Capital of this region. That's the Royal Capital! Can they really conquer a place like that?

Even with the weapons and equipment Fran had given her, giving her confidence to handle any First Order enemy, this was the Royal Capital! Could there really not be any Tier 2 enemies?

Fran didn't show Anna her application to the Alliance for the occupation of Antir, because it was better to stay out of it, as it was quite complicated.

Fran glanced at Anna, whose face had been tense ever since she received the news of the attack.

Besides that, Fran's gaze swept over the surrounding believers, whose faces were filled with excitement.

Although, due to the doctrine, they were not allowed to arbitrarily clash with the city's inhabitants, nor could they take any Spoils of War.

However, as long as they conquer a city, they will gain the right to preach within it. This is an opportunity given to them by the great Lord. Anyone who makes a contribution to missionary work can join the ranks of Priest.

This is extremely attractive to ordinary people who are of low social status and often go hungry, and no one who comes here would want to miss such an opportunity.

Fran's gaze then fell upon Elan, who was at the back of the group, leading three apprentices who were watching the scene unfold with bated breath.

After noticing Fran's gaze, Elan returned it with a probing look.

Elan knew that Theodore, the man who had previously instigated the rebellion in Antir, was now sitting on the throne in the Royal Capital.

He knew that Fran's purpose in coming here was probably to get rid of Theodore first, but he didn't quite understand how Fran planned to get rid of Theodore.

No matter what, Theodore is a Second Order Profession User, and most of the territory of Antir still regards Theodore as their lord, so his power will not weaken.

Under these circumstances, what methods does Fran, a First Order Mage, intend to use to deal with Theodore?

Fran seemed to sense Elan's question. She reached into a small, sealed pocket inside her robe, tugged at it a couple of times, and pulled out a small item.

The moment Eran saw the red light flash in Fran's hand, Elan understood. His expression relaxed, and he raised his hand to indicate that he knew.

Fran produced the very same Spell Ring that Harbos had given her, a ring that Harbos had once worn on his finger.

As First Order Mage, Elan naturally knew that Harbos originally wore three rings, but he didn't know why there were only two left later.

Fran had kept the ring as her trump card, naturally hiding it completely behind her robes and never letting anyone else see it.

For Fran now, this Spell Ring that seals the Blood of the Furnace is no longer the decisive piece of equipment it once was.

Now, if she encounters Second Order Profession User, she can't say she can defeat them 100%, but she's pretty close.

In this situation, using the Blood of the Furnace once would almost drain her Mental Power, which is really not worthwhile. At the second tier, if she can defeat her opponent, it is best not to use this ring.

Moving up to the third tier, things get a bit awkward. Even though Blood of the Furnace is a third-tier spell, Fran deduced that it was a spell specifically designed to kill Third Order Professional.

However, magic is just magic; it only gave Fran the ability to fight against a third-tier opponent, but it didn't give Fran the confidence to defeat a third-tier opponent.

Even if the Blood of the Furnace can actually harm a Third Order Professional, Fran would have to hit or cover most of the body area for it to cause any damage.

Fran felt that if she were facing a Third Order Professional, she might not even be able to activate Blood of the Furnace before being instantly killed.

Back to the main point, Fran once again sealed the Spell Ring into the small pocket on her robe.

Then she looked up at the towering city walls and gave a slight nod to Anna.

"Don't worry about all that, just fire the cannons and open the city gates."

Fran's tone was calm, showing no change despite being in Antir's Royal Capital, which reassured Anna somewhat.

Following Fran's instructions, she directed the believers behind her to begin tinkering with the thirty cannons they had painstakingly acquired.

Because of the large number of people involved and the fact that many of the believers who originally served as gunners had been replaced, the firing was somewhat chaotic.

Most of the cannons fired at the designated time, but two cannons were a little slow, though this did not affect the power of the shells.

Before the massive procession even reached the outskirts of the Royal Capital, the guards on the city walls had been trembling with fear for a long time, because they knew better than anyone that the Royal Capital's defenses were extremely weak.

Theodore initially Theodore a small number of guards in the Royal Capital to bolster Ian's forces and also because he anticipated that few 'smart people' would consider attacking Theodore at this time.

In Theodore's view, the guards of these ordinary soldiers were not important, nor were the knights; with him here, that was enough.

So when the Royal Capital were surrounded by people, the guards couldn't even fire a few arrows; most of their arrows had been borrowed.

After just one round of bombardment, no more guards dared to appear on the city wall, yet Fran still did not order her men to stop the bombardment.

Fran only stopped the bombardment after the fifth round of shelling caused the city wall in front of her to collapse.

At the same time, all the believers received the command and began to recite the Radiance Prayer. A white halo appeared on the bodies of all the believers.

As the number of followers grew, Fran discovered that having them recite prayers together would grant everyone a small light shield.

Although the defensive and strength-enhancing effects are limited, this bonus causes the believers' courage to rise exponentially.

They didn't know the general values of supernatural power; they only knew that if they were glowing, it meant they had supernatural power. In this state, the believers even dared to punch the knights.

The believers' advance encountered no particular obstacles; their weapons and a small number of Profession quickly cleared away the various obstacles in the Royal Capital's streets.

Fran touched the thick leather coat on her chest; the outfit made her look a whole size bigger.

This is a leather coat she made using materials from the Tosk Horned Bull Magic Creature she had previously inspected in the Spirit Realm. Once Fran removes the outer white robe, she can see the Sky Dragon Rune on the back.

She had already crafted this equipment, but now... she probably won't need it.

Fran's boots stopped at the Royal Palace gates. She looked up at the tall palace doors, sensing that the man named Theodore was inside.

She could sense that the people inside seemed to be receiving the resonance of the entire Royal Capital's Territory Resonance, but now, because of the chaos in the Royal Capital, this resonance was tearing at him, seemingly trying to get rid of him.

She pushed the door open with one thin arm, and it swung open to both sides with an unpleasant clatter, as if something had hit it.

Two small cracks appeared on the wall, and the two large doors, which originally required three people to slowly push open, were pushed open so that their legs almost touched the ground.

Fran didn't care about the condition of the door; after all, the Royal Palace would eventually undergo major renovations anyway, so it didn't matter what was damaged.

She then looked towards the center, at a much smaller doorway leading up the steps, and raised an eyebrow.

"There's another door... no, it seems there's another door behind this one that leads to Theodore."

Fran didn't linger on the road this time. She activated the Sky Dragon Rune behind her, launched herself off the ground, smashed open the large door in front of her, and arrived at the last small door.

Without knocking, she pushed both doors open, letting the sunlight stream into the hall. A slightly weary-looking middle-aged man could be seen leaning against the throne a short distance from where she had entered.

Theodore had sensed someone's arrival long ago, but to his great surprise, it was a mage dressed in white robes who came.

Although Fran's Mental Power far exceeded that of a normal Second Order Profession User, Theodore was still able to detect the faint mental fluctuations emanating from Fran by Territory Blessing and his own Order.

"Who are you?"

Fran raised her head, looked at Theodore, and gave him a smile that frightened Theodore somewhat.

He lowered his head, not daring to look at Fran's smile, because if he did, the explanation he had never considered, but which could reasonably account for everything, might come true right before his eyes.

He refused to accept this fact.

Fran spoke softly.

"Theodore, you can die now... I am Lai, a mage from the Alliance, and I have come to reclaim the land of Antir on behalf of the Alliance."

Theodore did not look up; he was already slumped on the throne, lifeless.

"No... that's not how it is... how could the Alliance..."

Theodore tried to raise his hand, but found he couldn't. He couldn't refuse the Alliance's demands, just like signing those strange treaties.

Finally, Theodore was crushed to pieces by a flash of red light.