CH.20 Trouble in the kingdom.

After reporting back to the queen, Alice decided to go back to the hero's mansion. She wanted to greet an old friend, but as Alice approached the mansion, she couldn't help but notice the eerie silence that permeated the grounds. The further she walked, the less people she saw. Despite her initial dismissal, a creeping sense of unease began to weigh heavily on her.

She knocked on Alen's door, only to receive no response. Without warning, Alice burst into the room and found Lucy sitting on the floor, her face buried in her knees. Overcome with relief at the sight of the person she had been seeking, Lucy quickly rose to her feet, bowing to Alice respectfully.

"Lady Alice, it's good to see you," Lucy said, keeping her head down.

"Good to see you too Lucy, but where is Alen don't tell me his hiding?" Alice said as she walked towards Lucy.

"I'm afraid... Master Alen is dead" Lucy said. with hesitation and a shaky voice.

The news hit Alice like a freight train, causing her to freeze in shock. Unable to contain her disbelief, she demanded to know what had happened. As Lucy spoke, Alice's fury grew, her heart heavy with the weight of all that had happened in her absence.

Although Lucy may have just been a maid assigned to Alen, Alice could see their deep bond and knew that she must take action. With a fierce determination in her gaze, Alice turned and stormed out of the room, her energy radiating throughout the kingdom. She knew exactly where she had to go: The throne room.

As Alice stormed through the streets of the kingdom, her anger only intensified, sending waves of energy that drew the attention of all nearby. Everyone who could sense magical energy made their way to the castle, from the holy knights to royal guards, gathering at the front of the castle door to face whoever was causing such a disturbance in the kingdom.

To their surprise, it was Alice, her face twisted in fury, and she did not attempt to hide her energy. Sir Zelda, commander of the holy knights, approached Alice.

"What is the meaning of this Lady Alice?" He asked calmly. Alice's response left no room for doubt.

"I want to know what happened to my friends, anyone who gets in my way is my enemy." She growled as she strode past Zelda, who did not attempt to stop her. The holy knights also stood down at his command, but the royal knights drew their weapons and blocked Alice's path. "What is your business here?" One of them demanded.

Alice had no patience for idle chatter, and her three sentient swords shone brightly behind her, their power radiating onto the surrounding knights. Meanwhile, the new queen, Lily, was sitting on her throne, surrounded by her retainers and working on various papers. Suddenly, a portal opened and Jack, Chris, Adam, and Lamis, the four great heroes under Lily's control, emerged from it. Before anyone could ask what was happening, the castle doors were blasted open, and a cloud of dust obscured Alice's appearance but her swords still shone vibrantly.

Sir Zelda had permitted Alice to pass, for even he was dissatisfied with the tragic turn of events. One hundred heroes were summoned to this world, and within a mere three months, more than fifty of them had already perished. Merely 19 survivors remained in their midst, and this number included the illustrious five great heroes. Alice moved forward calmly, her footsteps resounding throughout the throne room's walls. Lamis had deployed a protective barrier to shield the queen, her retainers, and the other great heroes.

"What is this!?" Lamis hissed, but Alice quickly silenced her with one of her sentient swords. Swinging it from above, the sword collided with the protective barrier and forced Lamis to her knees. The clash between the sword and Lamis's shield produced a shower of sparks, and Lamis was struggling to maintain her barrier.

Numerous carriages arrived at the royal palace as nobles from all over the land brought their forces with them. The high priest had also made his way to the palace, and it was only a matter of time before they reach the throne room and overwhelm Alice.

Alice raised her hand and summoned yet another sword. contrary to the previous three, this one wasn't composed of mana. It was entirely black, from the blade to the handle, and had slender white lines running down its grip. The sword emitted an ominous vibe, and Alice hurled it at Lamis's shield using all her might.

This time unlike the first sentient sword, this one contained too much power and had broken through Lami's shield with ease. Now the only obstacle between Alice and the new queen was the four great heroes. Alice raised her hand and the black blade returned to her hand, and as quickly as it had appeared it had vanished the same way.

"What happened to my friend!?" Alice asked, breaking her silence. Her cold tone and gaze had sent chills down everyone's spines.

Filled with rage, Lamis rose to her feet, and from the top of her lungs, she shouted. "They're all dead!! we killed them all, especially your boy toy!" The confession hit Chris and Jack hard, as Lamis revealed that the other heroes, including Alice's best friend Alen, had been killed. To keep their secret safe, Jack and Chris along with Adam turned to the retainers and mercilessly killed all of them on the spot.

Alice was shocked to see Adam involved in all of this, but then again, he was Chris's twin brother and from the looks of it Adam was also involved, although he wasn't present when they were killing the heroes. He knew of everything that was to happen.

Witnessing the brutal scene, Alice felt guilty and naive, she had hoped she joined the fight against the demons. The king would leave the others that didn't wish to participate alone. She reached for one of her sentient swords and readied the other two still floating by her side, now determined to take down Lamis and the queen before any reinforcements arrived.

Alice crouched down and sprung forward instantly covering half the distance between her and the enemy. But then Adam one of the great heroes, with the holy ranger title stepped forward and raised his hands conjuring up a variety of mana guns aimed straight at Alice.

His title, holy ranger allows him to create any long-range weapon he can think of and as long as he had enough mana, he could be a one-man fortress. But right now, maintaining this much alone seemed to be taking a huge amount of mana, his weapons fired relentlessly as Alice used her two floating swords to defend herself and deflect any attacks from her blind spots while she used the one on her hand to defend the ones shot straight at her.

She jumped wall to wall and even used her swords as stepping objects to help escape the majority of the attacks, she found herself getting closer and closer to the group of enemies as Adam looked to be on his last legs, his attacks had slowed down a bit allowing Alice to charge in. But the number of attacks had suddenly increased again, but these weren't bullets rather they were normal spells and skills from the other great heroes as they decided to support Adam.

Despite Alice's efforts to move around the room, Lamis, Jack, and Chris were quick to counter her every move. Tentacles swung wildly from Lamis's water defensive barrier that also acted as an attack, but Alice managed to cut the tentacles one after another.

The tentacles were relentless as they grew back each time they were cut, while Jack used his Runes to make things a million times harder for her. The room quickly fell to ruins as stray attacks would damage the structure of the building. Alice landed in the center of the room, and her impatience and frustration began to show.

She took a fighting stance and gathered energy in one of her hands, the whole room and everyone in it watched as Alice radiated with a golden light, "Hear me and obey my commands. Great sword Herc-" Before she could finish summoning her great sword, she was interrupted by the noise coming behind her. The reinforcements had arrived, but she had failed to complete her task in time. Leaving her no choice but to flee.

Charging towards one of the walls near her, she swung one of her swords destroying a part of the wall and jumping out, she was seen standing on one of her sentient swords as she soared into the night sky.

It had been a harrowing day, with a new queen crowned and nearly killed. But the truth of what had occurred that night remained a secret, known only to Sir Zelda and a handful of people. Lily seized upon the opportunity to twist the story in her favor, accusing Alice of betraying humanity and siding with the demons and also being responsible for the murder of the third princess of the kingdom of Noel, Princess Sakura. Since Sakura had disappeared along with 15 other heroes from the kingdom, everyone was inclined to believe that Princess Sakura was dead.