[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV
Redania.
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...
Instead of heading to Cintra, everyone went to Novigrad the following day. Madara, Ciri, Yennefer, Geralt, and the others met up once again with everyone from the Akatsuki.
"Hello, everyone," Madara greeted, turning his attention to each of them.
After what had happened in the city, no one was hunting mages or anyone involved with magic anymore. Even the herbalists had stopped being harassed. On the other hand, a new problem was beginning to emerge.
With the lack of guards, since the entire city watch had been absorbed into the witch hunters' force, which had become the city's entire militia, many people began taking advantage of the chaos to rob and kill throughout the streets of Novigrad. Madara had to intervene alongside the Akatsuki.
Before, they had protected the city's non-human population, but now they were protecting the population itself from those taking advantage of the disorder to commit crimes.
In any case, the Akatsuki would remain busy over the next few days. Sigismund Dijkstra quickly got in touch with some of his allies in the capital, which was still in chaos due to Radovid's death, and a force was sent to replace the former city guard that had been destroyed, preventing the city from descending completely into chaos. Until then, they would continue maintaining order.
"So, are we going to Cintra?" Dandelion asked aloud, quite excited.
It was still early that morning. They had gathered to talk for a while before finally deciding what they would do from that point onward.
"Yes," Madara replied, as everyone nodded.
"We're going to mobilize the Akatsuki. In other words... we'll need all of you. We're going to launch an assault to reclaim Cintra. The Empire is already desperate. Yesterday, I left a few clones in Cintra to make sure none of the nobles could escape. Today, we'll begin judging every man Emhyr placed in charge of those lands. Every one of them will answer for the crimes they committed over these past few years." No one seemed surprised.
There had been countless reports coming from Cintra about the abuses committed by the nobles appointed by Nilfgaard. Since they were not Nilfgaardians themselves, they cared very little about the local population. Their only goal was to force obedience from a people to whom they owed absolutely nothing.
Of course, there were a few exceptions. But they were rare. Most of them had turned every fief in Cintra into a true reign of terror, forcing the population to work almost like slaves to sustain the Empire's taxes. Especially during those three years when the kingdom remained in ruins.
Now everything would be rebuilt.
"Well... it looks like things are about to get interesting," Zoltan commented with a mischievous smile.
"I'll leave a few clones to take care of Novigrad. In any case, we'll launch the assault to reclaim Cintra later today. Does anyone need time to prepare?" Madara asked.
"Wait... right now?" Dandelion's eyes widened.
Ciri merely shook her head. "You're not a fighter. Stay here."
Madara heard that and said nothing, merely turning his attention to Zoltan, Geralt, and the other sorceresses.
Madara and Ciri could do everything on their own. But if they truly wished to build a kingdom where those people would want to live peaceful lives, then they also needed to take part in the reconstruction from the very beginning.
"All right. We'll do it," Zoltan replied, and everyone agreed.
"Excellent. Then let's get ready. We'll leave in ten minutes," Madara said.
Tissaia nodded and headed to her room, as did Triss and the others. Geralt also began preparing alongside Yennefer.
The day before, they had spent part of their time in Skellige. After that, they traveled to Kaer Morhen, where they met Vesemir. The old witcher was completely surprised by their arrival, having no idea about the chaos that had engulfed the Continent. He couldn't help but look at them in disbelief after learning everything they had accomplished over the past few days.
Madara noticed that Ciri was a little tense. Since not everyone who had been fighting for Novigrad would be going to Cintra, the gathering did not include many people, and only Madara and Ciri remained in the room...
Aren had returned to the temple. As much as he insisted on accompanying them, there was no way to take him to the battlefield Cintra would become that day.
"When you come to Cintra, it will already be peaceful. Right now, that place isn't somewhere a three-year-old little boy should be," he explained, clearly wanting to protect him. There would be death and screams that day. Just as it had happened with the enemy armies, there would also be bloodshed in Cintra.
At that moment, Ciri also couldn't hide her own reluctance.
She would finally return to her old home.
Madara knew that would only become worse once they reached the capital. She would return to the very castle where she had grown up by his side. Ciri had always been very emotional, and Madara did not rule out the possibility of sending her back to Aren if everything became too overwhelming. She could still lose control of her own magic and cause a major disaster. Only little Aren seemed more capable of calming her completely than he was. That was precisely why Madara had sent him back to the temple before he went to execute Emhyr on his own.
In any case, everyone was already prepared. Tissaia and the others still wore the Akatsuki cloaks, while Geralt, Yennefer, and the rest remained in their own clothes.
Madara put on his armor. Ciri also donned the silver armor forged from the special metal that conducted the magic of that other world. Zireael remained strapped to her back. She could have drawn the sword directly from her dimensional space, but she preferred to carry it the same way a witcher would. With nothing more than a thought, the sword would leap from her back straight into her hand without her needing to make a single movement.
Besides that, Madara also carried his Gunbai, which he had received from the system along with the armor, although he practically never used it.
Once everyone had finished preparing, they gathered in the mansion's garden. Madara had already left Hiraishin marks in Cintra. Since Ciri knew the place perfectly, she was able to open a spatial portal directly there.
One portal after another appeared, and everyone began stepping through them. Geralt was practically dragged along by Madara before he could complain.
He hated traveling through portals, so Madara used Hiraishin only on the witcher. When they arrived in front of the gates of Cintra's capital, the place was in complete turmoil. Nilfgaardian soldiers were running back and forth ever since the disaster that had struck the North. The entire army stationed around Cintra, which had been attacking the Northern Kingdoms, had been destroyed. That news had already reached them, and Emhyr's death had certainly been announced the day before.
Some men were already trying to flee, while all the nobles had been detained by Madara's clones and remained imprisoned inside the castle. Other soldiers were organizing a force to free them, while the city's population struggled to deal with all the chaos.
Madara turned his gaze toward Cintra, then toward his wife. Ciri remained completely still, simply staring at the city.
The others also looked around in silence.
Madara gently touched her shoulder. "How are you?" he asked.
She blinked a few times before taking a deep breath. "I'm fine... It's just..." Her eyes returned to the city. "It still feels strange to be here again."
They had never returned since the fall of Cintra. Ciri would never have been able to bear looking at that city without being able to do anything for it. It was also impossible to forget that her grandmother had chosen to throw herself from one of the castle towers rather than flee with Madara or Mousesack. Calanthe could never have lived knowing she had abandoned her kingdom. She had chosen to die alongside Cintra rather than live as a fugitive.
"She loved Cintra with all her heart and chose death rather than watch her kingdom fall into ruin... She chose to die with it..." Madara said calmly. "But she also believed this day would come."
Ciri merely nodded. "Today we'll take back what is ours." She took a step forward. "For your grandmother, for Varys, for Eist, and for everyone who died back then... For the future of this land, for Aren."
The next instant, Ciri's body shone with an intense green light, and before anyone could react, she vanished, shooting across the sky at incredible speed, flying.
"Hey! What's she doing?" Yennefer asked, completely surprised as she saw nothing but a trail of green light streaking across the sky toward the capital.
"She wants to settle this her own way," Madara replied. "We're not staying behind." He turned to everyone. "Let's go."
Everyone immediately began advancing toward the city's massive gate.
The soldiers atop the walls noticed the group's approach and quickly aimed their weapons.
"Who are you?" they shouted.
Before anyone could answer, lightning began to flash across the sky. Everyone looked upward as an enormous green radiance shone overhead, and the sky began to darken as black clouds covered it, followed by the deafening roar of thunder.
"What's happening?" some soldiers murmured, utterly terrified.
But they had no time to react. One of the skeletal Susanoo's arms appeared beside Madara and slammed violently into the city's massive gate.
The structure exploded into thousands of pieces, and the wall shook violently. The soldiers lost their balance, screaming in panic.
Madara could have simply teleported everyone inside the city. But he wanted to draw attention.
And that was how it would begin. The very next instant, two bolts of lightning struck the walls, executing the soldiers before they could even get back on their feet.
Tissaia, Triss, Ida, Geralt, and Yennefer ran over to Madara as he dismissed the skeletal hand.
"Let's keep moving," Madara said, as the Susanoo's arm dissolved into its final particles.
Several guards appeared at that moment, staring in shock at the massive destroyed gate and the splintered remains of its wooden doors scattered throughout the city, striking houses and soldiers along the way.
But then, the day grew darker and darker. People screamed, fled in panic, and above all, the lightning flashing across the sky drew everyone's attention.
The sky darkened to the point that some might have wondered whether night had already fallen. Black clouds spread across the entire region while the thunder grew louder and louder. Both the Nilfgaardian soldiers and the people of Cintra themselves could not hide their fear as they watched the storm take shape.
The group passed through the shattered gate and immediately began attacking the black-armored soldiers. Ciri did not stay behind either. As soon as the sky was completely covered by clouds, she raised one hand, and lightning began striking all across the city.
Not a single bolt hit a civilian.
Every strike was controlled with absolute precision, hitting only Nilfgaardian soldiers. The electricity pierced through their armor, instantly burning their bodies, while the smell of charred flesh began spreading through the streets.
The city was quickly engulfed by Ciri's assault. She had complete control over the lightning.
Immediately afterward, she performed a Summoning Jutsu. Several horses appeared before the group. Madara had prepared that contract even before they had departed for Cintra.
Everyone quickly mounted and charged toward the city center while the lightning continued to rain down without end.
The people of Cintra certainly had not expected such sudden changes. They could have said it was the strangest day they had witnessed since the city had been conquered years earlier.
Many of the inhabitants had taken their own lives on the day of Nilfgaard's invasion, drinking poison alongside their families rather than falling into the hands of Nilfgaardian soldiers. Even so, a large portion of the population survived and, inevitably, suffered through the looting that overtook the city.
After the conquest, no matter how bitter they felt, everyone had been forced to bow their heads. The capital also became populated by Nilfgaardian settlers in a clear attempt to fully occupy Cintra, much to the disgust of its original citizens. The people of Cintra were looked down upon by them, having effectively become second-class citizens.
And the years passed after that, and little by little, everyone eventually grew accustomed to that reality.
But everything changed that day. First came the news that Emperor Emhyr had died and that the name Madara Uchiha was connected to the rumors. A massive commotion quickly spread throughout the city.
The nobles began being imprisoned inside the castle itself by a mysterious force. No one knew exactly what had happened. They only knew that one moment those men were ruling Cintra, and the next, they had become prisoners inside the royal castle.
Then, in one moment, the sky was clear with only a few clouds, and in the next, it simply darkened, making people wonder whether it was an eclipse or if night had somehow arrived.
Lightning began falling like a relentless storm, striking only men wearing Nilfgaardian armor. Soldiers were executed one after another, while the population fled in panic, fearing that the bolts would strike them as well.
At the same time, those near the eastern gate were startled by a deafening explosion.
The massive gate was blasted into the air, shattering into pieces throughout the city.
Shortly afterward, a group stormed into Cintra and began slaughtering every Nilfgaardian soldier they encountered on their way to the palace...
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