That inconspicuous silver line split the earth.

At first it was incredibly thin and fine, so tiny it was like the first distant thread of dawn. The soldiers fighting amid blood and fire did not notice its existence at all.

But as the Empress’s fingertip moved from left to right, marking out that destined border across empty space... the earth suddenly shook, and a towering snow-white wall erupted from the ground, cutting apart the colliding rivers and seas.

It was a barrier made of ice, thrusting up from nothing like bamboo shoots after winter, yet in the blink of an eye it rose as high as the walls of Fort Notasia itself, grand and overwhelming.

Quite a few Kingdom soldiers were hurled into the air by it, then dropped from its highest reaches, bursting into vivid flowers of blood in the night. Yet before those blood-flowers could even fall, the cold froze them solid, and they shattered into fine powder that scattered on the wind.

The vanguard of the Kingdom army that had charged into the Empire’s camp was cut off outright. Realizing they had plunged deep into enemy lines with no support coming behind them, those soldiers quickly fell into chaos. Meanwhile, Viscount Diyur, whom Celicia had just dispatched, had already arrived with the Royal Guard. The elite cavalry struck in all directions, beginning the slaughter of this pocket of intruders while restoring order to the fortress rear that had suffered the heaviest blow.

Fire blazed fiercely. Panic and confusion began to recede behind the wall of ice. The ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Empire’s elite soldiers took up their weapons again and, beneath the Emperor’s protection, began reforming defensive ranks.

"Incredible. As expected of Your Majesty..."

With no wall there, she had simply created one. Thanks to that, the Empire’s rear, which had been on the verge of collapse, won itself a brief chance to breathe and regroup. Even Count Tern, who had seen more than most, could not help marveling at such power.

But...

"Your Majesty, this is not a wise choice."

After hesitating again and again, Count Tern still forced himself to offer his earnest remonstrance, his beard trembling with frost. "The enemy may have been hoping to see exactly this."

Everywhere the eye could reach was blood and chaos, nothing but slaughter and flame. Yet even on a battlefield this cruel, there were still certain unwritten rules everyone accepted.

For example, no matter how fiercely the ordinary soldiers killed one another, Crown-ranked powerhouses on either side rarely made a move, because the greatest use of a Crown-ranked figure on the battlefield was to pin down and deter the other side’s Crown-ranked figures.

So although Celicia’s intervention had indeed eased the pressure on the Empire’s rear, it would also inevitably draw out the Kingdom’s equivalent forces and place her own safety in danger.

As for which mattered more, the Emperor’s safety or the safety of these ordinary soldiers, even the soldiers themselves would likely give the same answer.

To the Kingdom, especially, if they could kill the Emperor of the Empire here, it would be worth more celebration than breaking through ten imperial strongholds.

And everyone in the world knew the Imperial family had grown pitifully thin. If anything happened to Her Majesty the Empress, then who would inherit the throne and hold the Empire together?

That damned Pink Bear?

The very thought made Count Tern shudder, and he hurriedly drove the evil image of that bear from his mind.

"Your Majesty, I said before that you should never have come to the front in person. Even if you did come, you should at least have left behind an imperial heir first. By throwing yourself into danger like this, you are only being irresponsible to the whole Emp—"

"Silence."

Frost rose again, completely sealing shut the mouth of that old minister who so loved to nag.

Celicia remained expressionless, her face not changing in the slightest as she looked down coldly over the battlefield, as though raising that towering wall of ice had really been no more than a flick of her finger.

But only someone who knew her well could tell that her cool, stunning face... had already grown a shade paler.

"For me, this is the most correct choice."

"Mmph! Mm mmph mmph!"

The stubborn Count Tern still tried to go on, but before his voice could break through that layer of frost, something far more terrifying than his protest came roaring over the ice wall.

It had come.

Count Tern’s heart shuddered. Even from so great a distance, that overwhelming pressure was already crushing the breath out of him. He wanted to warn Her Majesty to be careful, but all he could produce was a muffled whimper. Celicia’s hair stirred lightly in the wind as she instead advanced to meet it head-on.

Her vantage rose higher and higher. Beyond the towering wall of ice forged by her Divine Favor and the authority of the Emperor, she saw the old man wreathed in surging magic.

The Kingdom Royal Mage Corps’ First Archmage, a Truth-Rank Grand Sorcerer—Lucius Deryx.

Vast magical power formed layer upon layer of intricate spell arrays around Lucius. Sensing her gaze, he looked up and calmly removed his hat in salute.

"Good evening, Your Majesty, the honored Empress of the Empire."

"Good evening, Sir Lucius." Celicia inclined her head slightly.

"To possess such strength at such a young age, and to wield both your Divine Favor and the Emperor’s authority of the Empire to this extent..." Lucius let his gaze rest upon the towering wall of ice and sighed in admiration. "As expected of Aldrich III’s daughter. And as expected of the formidable ruler who personally purged her own royal capital several times over—so thoroughly, I hear, that even the sewers ran red with blood—yet still kept the Empire stable. What a pity, what a shame. The Kingdom has so many princes, yet not one of them can compare to you."

"Then would you like to come to the Empire?"

Celicia said, "I guarantee I won’t purge you, and I can even give you a position as vice commander of the Royal Mage Corps."

"I’m the First Archmage on this side, but if I go to yours, I can only be vice commander?" Lucius sounded surprised. "By seniority, I should rank above that little girl of yours who only just took command of the Royal Mage Corps."

"When the defeated come over to the victor’s side, lowering their status is only natural, isn’t it?"

Celicia said it as though it were obvious. "Besides, I’ve never cared about seniority. I only care about strength. In the Empire, the people with no ability who only know how to hide behind their age and credentials have mostly already been killed by me."

"Ha... what a heartbreaking thing to hear."

Lucius smiled. "Had anyone else dared say such a thing to me, I would already have torn their mouth apart. But since it is Your Majesty saying it... then I shall humbly accept it, and sincerely ask for instruction."

Thud!

Lucius tapped his staff lightly. Behind him, that vast, layered compound spell formation thundered shut. Magic power surged, blinding radiance gathering at high speed through layer after layer of profound runes. With an earth-shaking roar, the deep night was swept away in an instant, and the sky above the battlefield brightened like broad daylight.

Legion Magic—Symphony of a Thousand Armies!

A burning torrent of magic ripped through space. The grand, solid ice wall that could have held tens of thousands of soldiers at bay for a time now seemed as fragile as a sheet of paper. Before the attack had even landed, it was already giving off a scream on the verge of shattering.

"Starting off with your signature spell... that’s an awfully humble way to ask."

In Celicia’s cool eyes, the swelling arc of light was reflected without joy, without sorrow, and without fear. She knew that the ice wall, made primarily from the power of her Divine Favor, had no trouble stopping ordinary soldiers for the moment. But against a Truth-Rank Grand Sorcerer of this level, it was already beginning to fall short.

But fortunately, she was no longer the princess who could fight only with Divine Favor and the sword.

She was the Emperor.

The Emperor of the Empire.

And the Empire’s wall as well.