Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

As the news spread around that High Chief Erlan died at the hands of a foreign invading army from the north, panic spread across the Hinterlands Confederation as a small council of Erlan's advisors who did not die in the ambush that took most of their lives, now commanded the invasion in the south to cease and for all legions to regroup at the 'Cradle' the largest city of the Confederation and its capital. The many villages and towns around the Cradle were heavily fortified as the legions of the Hinterlands Army, hardened by their conquests in the south, laid down carefully made traps and began rigorous training as survivors from the battle that killed Erlan, informed their comrades about the terrifying strength of the enemy army they were facing. They described the enemy as warriors clad in armor much stronger than their own and wielding weapons far stronger as well, they also described this invading army made of many races, many of whom were ones the Hinterland Confederation had subjugated or exterminated en masse. Seemingly giving the enemy army the image of an army of vengeful spirits. 

This terrifying image of the enemy army sent fear down the spines of the soldiers of these legions who now had reason to fight to the bitter end, lest their own people suffer the same thing they had done to their enemies so many times before. A lot of these soldiers, although scared, were confident that they could stop the enemy at their gates and then drive them back northward to where they came from. 

Unfortunately for them however, they were not going to be facing an army. No, they were going to face something far worse, a Divine Beast. 

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In his dragon form and flying high in the cloud sky and approaching the Cradle fast was Spithe. Finally happy that he was given a task befitting his title of a Divine Beast. His spiky and sharp black scales, his golden underbelly and crimson-colored set of eyes in each of their heads really gave off the feeling that they were indeed a beast above everything except their masters and creator. 

{Hmmm, it's been a while since we have done something like this} 

{Yess...it has been quite a while...} Spithe's heads stated to one another as they continued to fly 

{No holding back?}

{Of course, our masters made it clear didn't they? They want this place and everyone in it to ash} 

{Right, my mistake. Then as they ordered. There will be no survivors} 

Spithe continued to soar above the clouds for a good fifteen minutes before they slowly began to descend, they let out a low growl that startled the monsters back into their dungeons and once they were below the clouds, they saw their target. It was a massive clan capital surrounded by high wooden walls with hundreds of houses behind those walls and a large fortress made of wood in the middle of the capital. Spithe's vision could also see the numerous villages and towns before the capital that were fortified and filled with soldiers now looking upward trying to see what had made that growl from earlier. 

The Divine Beast descended even more, just barely above the treetops it snapped off with their scales, with a mighty gust of wind following behind Spithe as they flew overhead, uprooting weaker trees and sending elves and kitsunes hiding in those woods flying and slamming into each other or into other trees or even the ground. Spithe let out another roar, this time it was of a higher pitch and it wrang out across the region like a battle cry as Spithe flew over the capital and then began to ascend again, spinning as they disappeared into the cloudy sky. 

"IT'S A DRAGON!" One of the Hinterlands soldiers cried out as he abandoned his post and began running back to the capital 

Panic swept through the entire defensive line as the legions of the Hinterlands Confederation saw that what they were up against was not an army of invaders, but a bloody fully-fledged dragon that none of them had ever seen before. Wyverns and dragonkin were one thing, a pure dragon was another threat entirely. As they panicked and the initial forward defenses were abandoned, the officers of the Hinterlands Army failed to ensure an organized retreat back to the tighter perimeter around the capital bunching up and turning the once cohesive army into a band of terrified brigands, and who could blame them? None of them had ever seen a dragon before, much less a twin-headed one that was larger than anything they had ever seen before. But as the soldiers panicked, none of them noticed or questioned why the dragon flew low, or even failed to attack them as it flew over, none of them noticing the massive invisible barrier dome Spithe had put down after identifying where the enemy was and made sure they were all going to stay inside this dome. 

Spithe hovered above the clouds, their eyes piercing through the clouds and smiling as they saw the enemy run and corral themselves in and around the inner circle of defense lines, just as they wanted. 

{{TIME TO HUNT!}} Spithe roared with glee as they let out a loud, high-pitched roar before they dived back down 

Piercing through the clouds, Spithe roared as both heads fired intense streams of blue fire that engulfed the first line of defenses, turning the heavily fortified villages and towns, with their fields and parts of the forest along the outer defense line to ash, killing those unfortunate enough to still be in their positions as their comrades panicked and fled. The unfortunate souls screamed as the azure flames splashed over their bodies, the armor melting the instant the flames made contact, their bodies turning into ash just as quickly once the flame ate away their armor and made contact with their skin. 

After making the first pass on the left outer defenses, Spithe ascended and spun around, diving back down to unleash their next run on the right side outer defenses that were mostly abandoned, with the few who were there also suffering the same painful end as they screamed before they died of intense pain and turning into ash. The fire didn't go away however once Spithe's run was done, the flames were still there and created a wall of blue fire that none of the soldiers could pass through lest they die horribly like their comrades. 

With the sight of the outer defenses being engulfed in flames before them, the panic from before was now brought to new heights. But they did not fully break into fleeing just yet as massive crossbows were finally brought out to down the dragon that had dared to attack them. They were placed in towers along the wall surrounding the capital and the second line of defenses, these massive crossbows were manned by groups of 10, and as Spithe was simply hovering above the carnage they had wrought, the Hinterlands Army saw their chance. 

"Fire!" Officers shouted as they raised their swords in the direction of the twin-headed dragon 

Massive bronze bolts with fixed blade heads soared through the air with impressive speed but crumbled and ricocheted once they struck Spithe's golden underbelly. The scales of his body were too strong to be pierced by such weak bolts. The sight of their anti-flying weapons not even denting the monster they were facing brought a massive sense of dread to the people and the soldiers, now seeing that there was no chance in hell they were going to kill the damn thing, they had decided to run. 

Spithe was not going to let them however as they let out another roar before ascending past the clouds before descending with another roar, passing the capital and unleashing another barrage of fiery streams of azure blue that scorched and killed civilians and soldiers running into the forest behind the capital. Turning living beings into ash and engulfing the section of the forest in an azure fire that rapidly expanded and cut off the entire route to the south as burning trees and walls of blue flame blocked the only roads out of the area, and even if they could get past those, the barrier set up around the area was not going to let them regardless. 

The Divine Beast continued their runs, spewing more and more fire in the second and third lines of defenses as Spithe ascended and then dived before flying around outside the barrier, scanning the entire area to make sure that there were no escapees. Hinterland soldiers died screaming and in intense pain as the blue flames of the Divine Beast burnt them alive and to a crisp before they disappeared into the wind as they were turned to ash. Despite their best efforts to keep firing away with their massive crossbows and bronze bolts, those struck Spithe but did no damage whatsoever. Thus the scene inside the barrier dome was getting more and more dire for the Hinterlands Confederation as the barrier dome they were trapped in was now filling with intense heat and smoke as the fire was spreading across the area, except for the capital itself which was now a crowded island surrounded by the fire and flames that could kill at a touch. 

Inside the capital itself, scared men, women, children, and their families were all getting increasingly terrified as the screams of the dragon that repeatedly flew over and past them and the screaming soldiers from outside the walls painted a grim picture of the entire situation for them. Many of these people were avid supporters of the cause of the confederation, that of subjugation and eradication, being indoctrinated by the words of the deceased High Chief Erlan and even instilling these beliefs into the children who knew no better, children who were now bawling their eyes out as the scariness of the situation was coming to light. 

"Mother...what's going to happen to us?" A child asked as he clung to his scared mother 

"I don't know Chali, I don't know" She replied to him, hugging him tightly as she too was also terrified 

Sights like this were commonplace across the crowded capital as they were trying to process the events that were taking place, with the sky above them now growing darker as the smoke coming from the intense fires was blocking out any sight of the original cloudy grey sky that used to be visible to them. 

Meanwhile, one legion that had failed to make it to the capital in time saw with their own eyes the intense fire in the distance. Their expression were that of horror and fear as they saw the blue flames and smoke rising high above the treeline. 

"Everyone! The enemy is attacking our capital! Double time-" 

{!} 

Before the Legion Commander could finish her orders, Spithe's roar filled the air and they descended from the clouds directly above them, much to their surprise. Before they could do anything, Spithe's heads spewed forth streams of blue fire along the perfectly straight column the legion was marching in, annihilating all of the soldiers, their wagons, and the massive crossbows they were hauling behind the wagons. The screams of the soldiers as they were burning alive filled the air before silence soon followed as they were burnt to a crisp and then turned to ash. There would be no outside saviors this time. 

With the outside now secured and no survivors in the area, Spithe looked at the still untouched capital now surrounded by flaming trees, towns, and villages. 

{{Time to Finish This}} Spithe muttered to themselves as they let out another dreadful roar as they flew towards their target 

This time, as they were nearing their target, they did not charge up their streams of flame. Instead, they flew low and right above the capital, using its body to smash the massive wooden fortress in the middle of the capital. Sending debris and people flying and crashing in all directions as the massive gusts of wind that followed the Divine Beast picked up and chucked anything lighter than a log, killing people in the process. Spithe then ascended right below the clouds and with one final roar and spread their wings into a spread eagle position, with lighting crackling behind them. 

{{Perish}} Spithe's heads muttered 

{!} 

At those words, a massive barrage of lightning came down on the capital that was now holding all of the soldiers and civilians in the area. With the lightning bolts striking the ground and electrifying all who were in range. Screams filled the air as the lightning continued and got more intense until one massive and bright blue energy blast engulfed the entire capital, vaporizing everything and everyone caught in the blast and reducing the capital into a crater. 

Satisfied, Spithe muttered a chant that killed the flames and with one more roar, it ascended into the clouds, finishing their mission. 

A/N: And there we go! I hope you all enjoyed the content of this chapter and I hope you all enjoyed the fury Spithe brought down this chapter hehehe. If you got comments or reactions to the chapter, let me know in the comments below and as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!