Amelia and Ophelia: The Former Grand Duchess and Saintess.

Soaring high above the continent on their routine patrol was Spithe, the twin-headed dragon who served as the loyal stead of the dual monarchs while also acting as their greatest damage dealer besides the dual monarchs themselves. He was flying southward under orders from his masters to 'Stir shit up' and he was not about to fail in that mission. While the mission he was given seemed to be open-ended and up to interpretation, Spithe knew exactly what he was to do as he had been present in each of the Imperial Council meetings so far, hiding in plain sight as a chandelier in the ceiling that only the dual monarchs could sense. 

{Oooo, another one of these missions} 

{Yesss, it is going to be fun} Spithe's heads said to one another as they flew

{What do you think those humans will do first? Run or fight?} 

{I believe they will run my dear sibling, fighting is something one does when they have no other option} 

{Hohohoho, this is going to be fun} 

{Indeed it is} 

Descending through the clouds, Spithe appeared over the eastern side of the dukedom. With the sight of his massive draconic frame and his dual heads sending shock and fear throughout the land as people began riding and sending warning signals to one another. 

{Ooo, sending runners to warn the rest, how exciting} 

{Master Ophelia said not to target the border wall just yet and Master Amelia told us to watch our attacks so that we do not strike down slaves. I remember we were told that there was a Halkare agent amongst the slaves and that she had a magic marker on her that only we could see, can you spot it?} Spithe asked their other head 

{I see it over there in that town to the east, blue pillar of light is that marking} The other head replied 

{Right, let's ignore everything around that area, the rest however, is free game} 

{So be it} 

{!} 

With a deafening roar that sent shockwaves below them, Spithe dived towards the ground, both heads charging up precise lightning bolts inside their mouths as they began to ease out of the dive. Once they leveled out, they fired precise blasts of electricity that vaporized the runners on horseback, leaving nothing but their ashes burnt into the ground. Spithe did a little spin as they began climbing again and once they were at a good height, they began flying southward towards the sea, blasting away with electrical beams that scorched roads, farms, and military forts along the way, creating a scene of chaos filled with screams and burning rubble all the way to the sea. 

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Along the center of the dukedom, the main castle of Duke Abernath in the capital of Aresburg was located along a large stretch of land that stretched out to sea and formed a teardrop shape. The city is built in and along the stretch of land and the teardrop and in the center of the city is Malgrave Stronghold.  A towering fortress colored in a deep maroon shade, with a large rectangular outer wall that protects a sprawling interior of gardens, smaller buildings for knights, and the rest of the castle which is blocky and rectangular in shape, with ramparts from the outer wall connecting with smaller buildings and parts of the interior castle, it is a massive stronghold and it is where Duke Abernath is currently staying as he stands atop the northwestern corner of the outer wall and looking out to the city below. 

"Hmmm....finally...a normal day" He muttered to himself in relief as he took a sip of tea from the set brought to his side by an elven slave standing behind him next to his personal guards 

{!} 

Suddenly, there was a loud roar in the distance that let out a shockwave that brought a gust of wind that struck him, making him take a step back and drop the cup of tea in his hands

"For fucks sake...what is that?!" Duke Abernath cried as he looked up from the smashed cup and into the sky in the distance, seeing a massive double-headed dragon descend from the clouds 

They heard the dragon roar again and another powerful gust of wind struck him, their eyes went wide with horror as the dragon was rapidly descending towards the capital. Duke Abernath turned to his guards in fury and looked them dead in the eyes 

"Are we blind?! Deploy the garrison!" He bellowed as he began to run back towards the castle,

The guards rushed down to the local barracks and began ringing the bells that soon resonated around the entire capital as the garrison was alerted of the massive dragon coming their way. In the city itself, it was total chaos as people scrambled to get to safety, rushing down to the docks and clogging up roads with the massive crowds trying to get to the docks and piers of the city, blocking the groups of guards and dukedom soldiers trying to get to defensive towers that littered the city. There were even signs of chaos as the slaves in and around the city were removed from their places of work and brought in and then trapped in the slave pools dotting the city, they cried out for help and to get them out of the slave pool, but unlike the rest of the people who were rushing to try and get to safety, their cries were ignored.  

Meanwhile, Spithe was getting steadily closer to the city, both heads primed and ready to unleash hell upon the capital of the enemy nation that was soon to become nothing more than burning ruin if they were to have their way like they hoped. 

{Shall we use fire this time around?} 

{Hmmm, we could...but what about the slavess?} 

{oOOO, hmmm...Ah! It seems they have corraled all of them into pits around the city, probably thinking we will go down to get a free meal} 

{How amusing} Spithe laughed as they were getting closer to their objective 

{Well, if they are going to just flee down to their boats, then why don't we have some fun} 

{Remember, controlled bursts, our masters still want to sack this place when the time comes} 

{Of course}

{!} 

They roared once more as they smashed into the front gate of the city unphased and skidded along the buildings, destroying many houses, shops and blocks along the area they landed as they stood tall and above everything. Spithe let out another roar as both heads began scanning the area, taking proper notes of where the slave pools were and where the rest of the dukedom citizens were. Before they could deal with them however, there were several tall towers stretching above the city that began shooting at Spithe with gigantic crossbow launchers, the massive crossbow bolts failing to penetrate the tough scales and hide of the Holy Beast. Those crossbow bolts ricocheted or were snapped in half as they landed upon Spithe's skin and scales, sending feelings of defeat and dread down the crews of the towers firing them. 

Spithe returned fire as both heads let loose snappy streams of purple lightning that destroyed the towers in single volleys, killing the cres by reducing them to ash and setting the crumbling towers on fire as they collapsed onto the streets. Spithe then turned their heads back to the docks and they saw masses of citizens on either side trying to escape onto boats, with a few already laden with families who were hoping to escape, they grinned as they charged up streams of fire that soon jetted out from their mouths. 

The effect of the flame streams was immediate as hundreds of people were caught and began burning alive as they were struck by the flames, not even lasting a few seconds before they fell to the ground as a burning husk, the boats that were struck caught fire rapidly and the people aboard them either burned alive or fell into the water, hoping to escape the already worsening carnage.

Such as one boat filled with people that were already on their way out before a bunch of flames from the torrent of fire that landed along the docks landed upon their boat as well, burning the sails and quickly spreading across the deck and even the clothes of the people aboard the ship, making people scream as they tried to put the searing fire out or just jumping into the deep water surrounding the city, their clothes weighing them down and making them drown in cold, dark and black depths of the water. Or along the docks as people were running towards ships, only to be turned to ash or ashen husks as a stream of fire caught them and killed them on the spot. 

The victims of the dragon's attack so far were some women, and some children, all of them were unfortunate casualties as Spithe continued their rampage. Although they knew this was bound to happen, it was an inescapable fact that most of the people, children, men, women, and elderly, were part of a nation that had done worse to others who were not deserving of their current predicament and thus could be seen as a sort of diving retribution and judgment upon them. 

"Go! Take it down!" One of the Dukedom knights shouted as he led his platoon of 15 knights into range, all of them armed with throwable spears and bringing forth a giant crossbow launcher from one of the downed defensive turrets. 

"Fire!" The knight shouted, the crossbow launcher firing its massive crossbow bolt that snapped in half as it struck Spithe's body 

"Again!" The knight ordered as they loaded up another round,

{!}

But before they could fire it, Spithe looked down at them and stomped onto the group where they stood, crushing them under their massive claw. The double-headed dragon let loose another deep and frightening roar as they continued to send out jets of fire that ravaged the rest of the city, carefully making sure that each stream of flames missed the slave pools and struck elsewhere but not also blanketing the entire city in fire and smoke as it could kill said slaves in the said slave pools, drowning them in toxic fumes or if the fire got out of control it could spread to them. 

The Holy Beast let out several more streams of fire and crushed a few more attempts by the local garrison to kill them to no avail. Spithe even destroyed the northern wall of Malgrave Stronghold by firing several fireballs at the wall which sent chunks of the wall flying in all directions, and while there were a few close calls, thankfully none of them landed onto the slave pools. With their job now definitely finished, they let out one final roar before ascending into the clouds above, their enemies scared to hell and their target in tatters. 

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Cowering inside his personal quarters, Duke Abernath was scared shitless as he heard the roars coming from outside the castle. He dared not to venture out and see the destruction and carnage for himself as he was afraid of what may happen to him both physically and mentally if he were to lay eyes on the definite destruction that was lying right outside his doors. 

"What the fuck...." He mumbled under his breath as he hid on the side of his bed, shaking in fear as he kept his eyes on the door 

{!} 

He flinched as he heard hard knocking on the door to his quarters, his eyes on the door and his hands shaking as he gripped a knife he had grabbed from the kitchen on the way here. Although he had a B-Rank in power, whatever the fuck just hit his capital was something leagues above his own and that alone was a fucking nightmare for him made manifest. 

{!} 

There was then more knocking on the door which made Duke Abernath tremble as he slowly got up and slowly began his walk towards the door. His body trembling and his breathing coming in short gasps as he tried to steel himself for what was about to happen. Then, he opened the door and saw a bloodied dukedom knight barely clinging to life waiting for him on the other side. 

"Sir....the beast has left" The dukedom knight muttered with all his strength before he fell forward

"Fucking hell" The Duke muttered in disgust

Duke Abernath stepped back and let the knight fall to the floor, swallowing his feat as he stepped over the body of the knight and began to make his way towards the western wall which was the closest wall connected to the castle. Making his way down the halls, he could see from the windows, the pillars of smoke rising into the air and the flames scattered across his capital, his heart sinking with fear and dread as he could not stomach the damages that would be needed to pay to repair all of this, the lives of his own citizens not even coming to mind as he walked out onto the western wall. 

"What the....fuck!" He cursed as he looked at the wrecked northern wall from atop the western wall, seeing that there was barely anything left of the northern wall remaining 

His brows furrowed as he fell to his knees, his mask barely holding on as he began to curse and scream with all his might as he looked up on the sight of devastation that had befell his precious capital. The stress of the months prior finally getting their chance to claw out of his mind and into his heart. He threw his mask away, exposing his grotesque and greying face to the winds of ash that passed him by, his eyes pulsating with eternal rage as he looked up to the sky 

"By the name of the Goddess! I vow to find that damn beast and make it pay!" He yelled at the top of his lungs before his head turned back down to the ground and he began to sob

A/N: Hello! So this is the end of the set-up chapters heheh, if you have questions and the like, leave em below for me to see and answer and as always, Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Day!