"Hey, wake up!"
The Imperial guards who protect the border started to wake up one by one thanks to the commotion made by the rebels, they are laughing loudly tonight as if in celebration of joyous achievement, little did they know the rebels' uncontrollable laughs were because of a certain someone's mischievous prank to enliven the show, even the rebels themselves are in confusion because they couldn't stop laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA"
"HAHAHAHAHA"
The guards are not the only ones who are wary of the rebel's joyful night, even the anxious villagers got awaken by the echoes of their laughter, one after another villager comes out of their houses with tired faces to confirm what happened.
"Look! Are they insane? They laugh while their watchtower is raging in fire like that, tsk tsk tsk"
One of the guards commented as he looked at the burning... tower? But it has a strange shape, it looks like a crossed wooden rather than a watchtower.
"Wait, it's not a tower! Someone is tied on it"
The other guards rubbed their eyes in disbelief, maybe they are still half awake, to think the rebels have the guts to burn someone alive right in front of them while laughing loudly.
Woooshh...
A unit of Security Orb that shines in red light is flying to come closer to the burning wooden cross, it starts to record while the other Orbs are broadcasting the scene through the screen not only to the guards, but also to the nearby village, and...
The entire Azure.
"Kyaaa...!!!"
"W-what is that??!!"
The witnesses from all over the continent were shocked to see the dreadful show from the Security Orbs, this is not a proper thing to be displayed on the public.
"Isn't it the west border?"
"Is it means those people are part of the rebellion?"
"Oh my God, how could those rebels burn someone alive while laughing like that"
"How barbaric"
"Kyaaa!!! I don't want to see it"
Bluuurgh...
Some are closing their eyes while others couldn't take it and just throw up, this scene is crazy and is shown everywhere within the continent.
Even though it's in the middle of the night, some people are still wide awake to witness such a horrible scene.
"What is the Imperial Magicians doing? Showing us something as nasty as this!"
"Hey! Do you think it's easy to control a thousand magic tools at the same time? This Security Orb may have mistaken those rebel bastards for arsonists"
The pros and cons of the nasty show began to quarrel with each other, some of them who are hostile towards the Empire think that it's not appropriate to broadcast this scene for the public whereas the other half of Empire's loyalists defend the Empire while saying the Security Orbs exist to show only the truth.
It's normal for a nation to have these kinds of support and opposition from the people but Azure has been infiltrated by the Westerners and the Cronus Temple for years, it's on the verge of disunity.
"Ssshhh! Be quiet you fools"
"What did you say?!!"
"Tch, Something is strange"
"What's strange?"
"That tied man, who is he? Why does he look strangely familiar?"
"How could we know, we can't see his face because he seems unconscious, if only he lifts his face once"
Murmur...
Murmur...
Some people are still debating on what's right and wrong, disagreement between the people is widespread.
"Mom, what is that? A campfire"
"Sshh, back to your sleep, it's not for children to see"
On the other side, the turmoil of the whole nation wakes more people than expected, fortunately, the show is executed in the middle of the night, not many children are awake at this time, it is mostly adults who bear witness to the cruelty of the barbaric rebels.
Bang!
"Mother, wake up! L-look at the outside, I think it's f-father!!"
The Sons of the Cassius family barged into their mother's room, the Duchess of Southern region, to inform the wild things happening outside, they might not see the face of the tied man but they at least recognized their father's physique.
"N-noooooooo!!!!!"
"It can't be happening!!"
The residents of the Cassius castle are in a panic when the madam fainted after witnessing the broadcasting show, they know more than anyone who is being tied to that burning wood, especially the wife of this man as she fainted right away.
When the whole nation is guessing the identity of the man on the screen, a shout echoed throughout the whole continent through the Orbs making every pair of eyes pay attention to the source of the voice.
"REBEEEELLS!!!"
The tied man lifted his face as he comes to his consciousness when the fire underneath his feet is beginning to reach his body, right now Judas is under the effect of the strongest illusion planted by Grizel into his mind, to play the role given by her.
"Judas de Cassius... You are the most loyal subject of the Azure Empire, being kidnapped and tortured by the rebels yet your loyalty towards the Empire remains solid, show me, show us how noble you are, prove to the world that you are the loyal subject of Azure until the last of your breath no matter how much pain inflicted by the rebels to you, encourage us to fight back against the rebellion"
These words whispered by Grizel just now are playing repetitively in his head, making him believe all the illusion planted into his mind was true, grasping at the fake reality made by Grizel, Judas strongly curses the rebellions which are truthfully his allies.
Gasped.
"Oh my God"
"I-isn't that the missing Grand Counselor??!!"
"What??!!"
"How could it be?"
"I heard the news that he went missing"
"Is that means he was kidnapped by the Rebels?"
People finally realized the identity of the man tied to the burning wood, it's none other than their Grand Counselor, the Lord of the Southern Dukedom, Judas De Cassius.
Fear creeps into the whole nation as the citizens started to tremble, their breath is heavy and their vision darkened, the fact that the high noble Lord like Judas De Cassius is burned alive by the rebels means only one thing, have they finally started the war against the Empire?
They don't want to!
War is the source of suffering and woe, how could they live in peace again when the war breaks out, no, they want to refuse, anything but war, anything but bloodshed, anything but sending their sons to the battlefield, anything but waiting for a husband who will never come back, anything but losing their beloved to the war.
Amidst the despair, they heard the voice of the man who became the first victim of the rebellion.
"REBELS!"
The burning Judas shouted once again gaining the attention of the whole nation who were trembling in fear.
Huff!
Huff!
"YOU MIGHT HAVE TORTURED ME"
"BURNING ME ALIVE"
"TO PLANT THE FEAR WITHIN OUR HEART, BUT..."
He screamed at the top of his lungs even though he's out of breath being amidst the smoke, like a brave warrior who will embrace his death with dignity, he encouraged the people of Azure and show his unchanged loyalty.
"THIS ABSOLUTE LOYALTY TOWARDS MY HOMELAND WILL REMAIN UNWAVARED"
Even if the fire started to swallow the lower part of his body, he didn't say a single word of pain, his eyes are full of the determination of his devotion towards this Empire.
"I, JUDAS DE CASSIUS, WILL NEVER BETRAY HIS LAND AND KING"
The whole nation is stunned in awe holding their breaths forgetting the creeping fear within their heart, the man on the screen should be the one who is frightened by the rebels, his flesh is melting and his blood dripping to the sizzling fire, his entire body is almost engulfed in flames, and yet...
He didn't betray his nation.
Judas is not a kind-hearted noble who was loved by everyone, not a few of the commoners and his acquaintances wished him to die early, but even so, those people couldn't bring themselves to joy looking at his dying figure faithfully defend his homeland.
Some people might not be fond of Judas, however, Azure is their motherland as well, the place where they were born and raised, the place where they laugh and cry, a place that is precious for everyone, it's not for Judas to stand alone...
'We' need to protect our homes.
A desire to erase the roots of rebellion began to spur, the wall that separates each group is crumbling, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, commoners and nobles, the rich and the poor, their opinions on the Empire may be different but regardless of their disagreement, they are still a part of Azure.
And peace would never bless this continent as long as these rebels exist among them to spread anxiety.
Judas is right, they need to become one and fight for their home and families, they need to hold their swords of honor and protect this empire.
Like the wild flame that burns Judas, the long-forgotten sense of belonging to the Empire sparks once again in the heart of people, something that is the root of unity called nationalism.
For a living sacrifice orchestrated by the devil, tonight Judas performed his job wonderfully, from today onward those rebels will be seen as the public enemy who needs to be exterminated.
The original plan of the Western alliance is to weaken Azure Empire from within by raising the rebellion as their swords, but a certain someone is borrowing the same sword to execute the traitor and raise the morale of this Empire instead.
Yes.
The cunning devil named Angela Samael is using the enemy's plan to her benefit while hiding in the dark.
To fight against the Westerners, Azure Empire needs to become one, as the old saying...
United we strong, Divided we fall.
"THE BLUE DRAGON WILL SOAR HIGH AND MIGHTY TO WIPE THE SINNERS IN OUR LAND"
Judas declared mentioning the symbol of the empire's flag, the blue dragon who represents the Azure Empire, was once praised by the people of this empire as the protector of the land before the Cronus temple spread their beliefs of their Gods, it's like a reminder for the people about their origin and roots that their ancestors believed in the mighty ancient blue dragon and not the newly created religion.
"LONG LIVE THE GREAT EMPIRE OF AZURE!!!"
His voice echoed throughout the land with the help of the Orbs, it was the heroic final words of the Grand Counselor before he was devoured entirely by the raging flame and the laughter of the nefarious rebels.
Those who witnessed the last moment of Judas's honorable death clenched their fists, this time might be the Grand Counselor, but who's next?
They even treat the high-class noble Lord in such an inhuman way, should they close their eyes and let it go for the sake of peace like the teachings of the Cronus Temple? forgive the rebels and pretend to know nothing about the dispute between the Empire and the Rebellions?
No!
The threat shall be erased immediately.
It's time for them to act because that temporary peace promised by the temple is not the answer.
War... is not all about suffering, like the two sides of a coin, war is also about protecting, no one hopes for the war to break out but there's a reason why wars filled the history of the world.
All of their fear, doubts, and anxiety are replaced by one emotion that is starting to flash within their hearts, burn wildly then consumed the worthless teachings of the Temple to ash, and that is...
Wrath.
It's the beginning of the chaos within the Azure nation where the wrath of the whole nation is directed toward the rebellions because of the death of Judas...
The devil successfully framed the rebels as the scapegoat for that traitor's death and took advantage of it to boost the sense of unity among the Azure people.
At this point, the war is inevitable.
-â¢-
Amidst the dark eerie forest of demise where a group of people builds their temporary base in this den of monsters, a black gate appears as 6 hooded people came out of it.
"My Lord, may I ask why should we give that man the role of Hero?"
One of them asked out of curiosity because the role of a hero is such unbefitting to a traitor like Judas, even if he became a sacrifice to reunite this nation, his name will be remembered as a brave noble despite his real identity as a traitor who colluded with the Westerners to weaken this Empire.
"Hero?"
The little girl tilted her head at the question as if it was a ridiculous thing to ask.
She had planted the seed of war in this land, and now it slowly began to sprout, a Hero is like its blooming flower, a symbol of hope and admiration born during the war, to say such that trashy Judas a Hero is humiliating.
"How could you mistook compost for a flower?"
The little girl is asking back, Judas might look so admirable showing his faithfulness to the Empire, his last words indeed have triggered the morale of the people to fight for their homeland, but...
He saved no one.
Unlike the real hero who will stand for those poor victims of the rebellions and bring back the peace upon the land, Judas isn't a savior, he will only be remembered as one of those unfortunate victims, his glorious death is like fireworks that will sparkle away to ash and...
Eventually forgotten.
"Judas is the highest grade compost for my beautiful garden"
The little girl corrected her confused subordinates, making all of them realized what is that sacrifice means to her, Judas's role is to make the Hero shines greater, he is nothing but a fertilizer to bloom that flower, no matter how great or high grade the fertilizer is, compost will forever be compost, it won't be a flower nor hero.
Also, for him to be used as the weapon against his own allies, Judas will never be able to rest in peace due to his fury.
To be continued...
â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬ à®Û©ÛÛ©à® â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬â¬
Author's Corner:
Hewwooo beloved readers~
I think this rising moment of Azure goes well with 'Atlantis' by Two Steps From Hell, one of my favorite composers, it got me goosebumps especially the beautiful choir (˶â¾á· â»Ì« â¾á· ˵)
*earphones are highly recommended â(â â¢á´â¢â )â..°â¡
Anyway!
The arc of Azure War is finally here, but I think I'll go on hiatus for a month because I have something urgent to take care of, I'm sorry in advance for the inconvenience.
Btw, the vote in the previous chapter was won by the 'Brown' character, and congrats because most of you guessed correctly who's behind the 'Brown' and the other two colors Ù©(à¹^o^à¹)Û¶
And I decided to make separate Extra Chapters for the profile of each character so, yeah, Brown-Kun will be revealed next because firstly I'll re-upload about Lucifer in the extra chapter â¤ï¸
I guess the hint was too obvious before, so I prepare this for my small revenge, please forgive this petty author but it's for my beloved readers who guessed the characters easily in the previous chapters.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ËËê à³(˵¯̴Íê´Â¯Ì´Í˵)౨"
This time you won't guess anything
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