Mark took a step forward.

"It’s true," he said, walking toward the door as Yuki followed him. "And don’t worry about the commotion out there... It’s all part of the plan."

The three elves watched them both pass between them without stopping, heading directly toward the hallway.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the druid with a frown.

Mark stopped in the doorway and turned his head slightly toward the others.

"Follow me and you’ll find out."

After saying that, Mark and Yuki began to walk away down the hallway without looking back. The queen, seeing how they were getting further and further away, began to follow them.

"Your Majesty, wait!" said the armored elf, extending a hand toward her.

Emilia stopped.

"Don’t you think you’re being too trusting of someone you just met?" he asked with a frown. "That man lied to us. He infiltrated one of his subordinates into the meeting without any of us detecting her. And now you’re just going to follow him?"

"You’re right, Your Majesty," added the bow elf. "We don’t know what’s happening out there or who’s attacking the palace. Following him right now is extremely impulsive."

"We should at least wait for the situation to clarify before—" began the druid.

Emilia turned toward the three.

And upon seeing her, all three elves closed their mouths instantly.

The queen’s expression was full of determination. And for good reason. She had spent years watching everything she cared about being taken from her, and for the first time she had the opportunity to do something about it.

"What other option do we have?" she asked seriously. "Keep waiting? Stay locked in here while those bastards on the council drive our kingdom to ruin?"

"..."

"This may be the only chance we have to change the situation," continued Emilia without taking her eyes off them. "The only one. And if we let it slip away, there probably won’t be another."

"Your Majesty, we understand what you’re saying, but still—"

"If you don’t want to come, fine," she cut them off with a firm tone. "I release you from your duties as royal guards so you can leave if you wish."

They fell silent and looked down.

Emilia looked at them for one more second before turning around and beginning to walk down the hallway in the direction Mark and Yuki had gone.

Behind her, the three elves looked at each other. Until the druid let out a sigh and began to walk, followed by the other two.

Emilia caught up to Mark and positioned herself at his side, walking alongside him down the hallway until they turned a corner.

And it was then that she saw it.

The corridor in front of them was full of corpses.

The first body was lying face down, split in half, with a sword still in its hand. The second was leaning against the wall with its head hanging forward and a clean cut on the side of the armor. The third was slumped at the foot of a window.

And as they advanced there were more.

Every ten meters, every corner, every intersection of hallways, there were imperial guards on the ground. Some alone, others in groups of two or three, all fallen in different positions. However, they all shared one thing in common: all their wounds were clean and precise.

Emilia looked at the bodies as she walked with her eyes increasingly wide open.

"How were they able to take down so many imperial guards so quickly?" she asked, never taking her eyes off a group of three guards that were piled in a corner.

Yuki, who was walking a few steps ahead guiding the way, answered without turning to look at her.

"It actually wasn’t a big deal," she said in her usual flat tone.

Emilia remained silent as she observed the bodies of those who were considered the most trained and lethal guards in the kingdom, lying on the ground like rag dolls.

"Where are we heading?" asked Emilia after a while, looking back at Mark.

"You’ll know soon enough," he responded without stopping.

"..."

The group continued walking through the palace. They went down stairs, crossed empty halls, passed through dining rooms, libraries, and hallways decorated with tapestries that the queen probably hadn’t seen in decades since she was trapped in her room.

Until finally they arrived at a wing of the palace that Emilia recognized immediately.

Her steps slowed.

"The council’s meeting hall..." she said in a low voice, looking at the hallway that opened before her.

"Wow, you guessed it," said Mark with a smile.

Then the pink-haired bow elf spoke.

"Why are we heading there?" she asked in a voice full of distrust.

"Let’s just say that my subordinates and I have prepared a little gift for the queen," responded Mark without even turning to look at her.

None of the elves knew what to say to that.

The group continued walking in silence until they turned the last corner that led to the entrance of the council hall. Then Emilia froze, her eyes completely wide open. And it wasn’t just her—the three elves following her were also petrified.

The entrance to the council hall no longer existed.

And where there had once been a reinforced wooden double door with iron frames and ceremonial carvings, now only remained a hole.

A massive hole.

The doors had been ripped from their hinges and hurled inside, taking with them a considerable chunk of the wall that surrounded them. Rubble of stone, wood, and metal was scattered across the floor of the hallway. And the entrance frame was an irregular gap with shattered edges.

"What could have possibly done this...?" asked Emilia, looking at the hole with an expression of disbelief.

Mark walked through the rubble with total calm and stopped right at the destroyed entrance.

"Come on, don’t lag behind," he said, turning to look at the elves with a smile. "Everyone is already waiting for us."

And then he entered the hall with Yuki.

The queen and her subordinates looked at each other with doubt on their faces, but ultimately they ended up entering the enormous hall.

The council hall was circular, with an enormous horseshoe-shaped table in the center and high chairs with carved backs arranged around it. The walls were decorated with banners of the different elven castes and the ceiling had a crystal dome that let in the light of the sky. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

However, what caught the queen’s attention was not the room that she was unfortunately so familiar with. It was the twelve council members sitting in chairs.

Each one was positioned exactly where they would sit during a normal meeting, while chains of darkness, made of black energy, wrapped around their arms, torsos, and legs, holding them firmly to their seats.

Some had their eyes covered with the same dark energy. Others had shadow gags covering their mouths.

And standing scattered around the hall were all of Mark’s subordinates.

The queen stood at the entrance, contemplating the scene with her eyes so wide open that they looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

"...Is this real?" she murmured in a low voice, looking at the scene in disbelief.