After much deliberation, it was the conclusion I had reached: I could not release Schub Ardelra.
She was the princess commanding the Undersea People, the Sea Cannibals, and also the admiral of the Celestial Fleet. The knight officers and captains of the Celestial Fleet were all merfolk. Should she return to the deep after fulfilling her millennium-long vow, all the fleet’s high-ranking officers would vanish. This would leave the once powerful fleet as nothing more than a headless snake.
Jeilliris and Matheos were preparing for a large-scale amphibious operation and maritime supply plan. During the battle against the Amir Dukedom in the southern continent, her involvement had been indispensable.
However, even if she were to cooperate in the war as the Mermaid Princess, it wouldn’t mean everything would proceed smoothly. Unlike other heterogeneous races, the merfolk tended to view humans as prey. And Schub Ardelra commanded not only them but also the Undersea People. If she were to vow vengeance after a thousand years of suppression, the southern coast of the empire would be scorched.
The Undersea People would likely host feasts on land that would be attended by countless humans. And while the Celestial Fleet was supposed to stop this, their former admiral was none other than Schub Ardelra herself.
For the sake of the emperor’s and the saint’s plans, for the sake of managing the dangers to the empire, she absolutely could not be set free. Whether it was right or wrong, it was something that had to be done, so someone had to do it.
This was the reward I decided to give for her devotion.
I looked down at Schub Ardelra. She sat inside a massive clamshell and glared at me. Her azure eyes gleamed like a wave on the verge of collapse.
“I’ve served you for a thousand years,” she said with a beautiful voice filled with indescribable emotion.
I arrogantly tilted my chin and grinned slyly. “If a thousand years is good, wouldn’t living that way forever be fine too?”
“I’ve fulfilled my oath!” she exclaimed, her voice devoid of any illogical stubbornness.
“You summoned the merfolk without a word to us,” I countered.
She was silent.
“That I understand. You needed your kin to be sacrifices, didn’t you? But, the responsibility of subordinates lies with their lord, doesn’t it? The accidents and incidents that occurred in the South Sea are your responsibility. Isn’t that breaking your oath?”
This was against the stipulation to “protect the southern sea.”
Schub Ardelra seemed to realize this as well and let out a deep sigh. Her face turned pale.
I laughed wildly and shouted, “Serve us forever, Schub Ardelra!”
A soft glow of the golden incantation energy bloomed around me and seeped into her.
Snap, Snap!
Golden lightning surged out from her body, forming a net that tightened around her.
“Agghhh!”
The Mermaid Princess screamed as I extended my hand glowing with golden light.
“Come along. To stop this world from ending.”
With bloodshot eyes, Schub Ardelra shook her head defiantly.
“Then kill me. Solletarass.”
She raised her voice and shouted, “I will kill you! For the freedom of me and my race!”
Yes. That’s the spirit.
The Mermaid Princess, with her lush red hair and deep-blue eyes, exuding an aura of both mystery and passion, expanded her chest and sang to the heavens.
“Follow me. Rescue me.”
Boil, Boil!
In the next moment, Gorii Lake surrounding the island erupted violently.
“Lord Valen.”
Whoosh!
Lady Trentia, gathering mana and wielding Hwanhan, looked around.
“Kaaarrrr!”
“For the Princess!”
“We are going to the deepest depths!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Undersea People warriors burst out from all sides, creating splashes as they advanced onto land.
“Grab the bald ones!”
Warriors larger than a man, with thick scales thicker than shields, were the Manta Protector warriors.
“Warrr-!”
Massive warriors of Octopus Guardians, their muscular bodies of reddish hues encased in giant clamshell armor.
“Chiiiiik!”
Sea Dragons, with bodies longer than 10 meters and four sets of crab legs.
Clang, Clang!
The Crab Tentacle Warriors carrying enormous sea anemones on their backs and Crab Generals in radiant golden armor.
“I’ll chomp you.”
High-ranking Merfolk warriors, twice the size of ordinary ones with shark heads, the Shark Warriors.
Whoosh!
The 7-meter tall Sea Giant warriors.
“I call upon the waves!”
“O sea, swallow these enemies!”
Furthermore, there were enchantress merfolk casting spells underwater.
I smiled without tension and looked at Lady Trentia.
“Lady. For the sake of the empire and His Majesty, help stop these heterogenous creatures.”
She raised her face mask.
“Lord Valencia.”
Amid her mournful red gaze lay a hint of resignation; on her firmly closed lips was a smile of fierce competitiveness.
“Honestly, until the Mermaid Princess started pleading, I did slightly reproach you, my lord.”
“It seems different now.”
“Look at them. Are they not entirely unworthy of the knight’s mercy?”
Skeeeerrr!
A single trident flew toward Lady Trentia.
Ting!
She swung her sword, Hwanhan, cutting the trident in half.
Clang.
Lady Trentia raised her face mask once again and looked behind her with her cloak fluttering.
“Anything His Majesty desires, Lady Trentia will bring. And…”
“And?”
“I’ve always wanted to properly fight the merfolk.”
*
“Sea monsters, fiends that feed on humans, here comes the Guardian of Light and the sharpest blade of the Imperial Court! Do you amphibians dare to set foot on dry land?”
The knight of the bandits summoned a blazing red mana blade around her broadsword.
Zzzzzzzt!
A mana blade, sticky like blood and blazing like fire, enveloped the sword.
“Warrrr!”
First to charge at her was a beast, like an enlarged version of the merfolk warrior, the Sea Giant.
Kuung! Kuung!
The behemoth, four times the size of the knight, was so massive that even a simple kick could crush her.
Whoosh!
A massive foot blocked out the sky.
Shooot!
Lady Trentia pushed off the ground, sword raised to shoulder height.
Kuung!
The Sea Giant’s kick shook the entire island, but Trentia swiftly dodged, planting her weapon into the knee of the opposite leg.
Clang!
The scales of the Sea Giant were a foot thick, as hard as steel, but the knight’s refined mana blade, combined with the north kingdom’s famous blade, shattered them like glass, embedding itself until stopped by the cross guard.
“Hah!”
She pulled out her sword with a powerful cry.
“Kyaaaar!”
With her knee half severed, the Sea Giant fell like a collapsing tower.
Ka-boom!
She finished him with a thrust to the neck before leaping backward.
Merfolk warriors, tridents in one hand and swords in the other, were charging.
“Hurl them!”
“Armored ones! Hit them hard!”
Squeeaaaak! Squeeaaaak! Squeeaaaak!
Dozens of glowing green tridents descended like a shadow over her head.
“Hmm.”
Trentia held the hilt with one hand and gripped under the crossguard with the other, swinging her sword in alternating circles left and right.
Though her wrists tingled from cutting through the knee of the giant, she couldn’t afford to show any sign of retreat here.
Siiiing!
Hwanhan drew consecutive red circles in the air.
Squeeaaaak! Squeeaaaak! Squeeaaaak!
The tridents from the merfolk warriors flew toward her without hitting one another, striking straight at Trentia, hitting her red circle.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
The powerful tridents, which could pierce through a human and the pillar behind them, were deflected off in slants.
Thud, Thud!
Under the incredible force, her steel boots dug into the sand beneath her, but Trentia managed to block off all the attacks.
“Grrrr!”
Clank, Clank!
However, the battle had just begun.
Merfolk warriors over two meters tall were already closing in while behind her, crab warriors with sea anemones swung their massive pincers, interspersed among them were Shark Warriors.
Lady Trentia spit out another hot breath and drew her left-hand longsword, Manha.
Whoosh!
Even before the blade, neither bone nor metal, could emit its strange glow, it was swallowed by the red mana blade.
Whoosh!
She spun in place and released a Mana Blast toward the Crab Warriors.
Voooooom!
“Karrrrr!”
The mana blade surged like a crimson tsunami, and a radiant crescent carved a gap in the air.
Ka-boom!
The Crab Warrior hit by the Mana Blast literally exploded.
Shards of exoskeleton, disgusting entrails, and sea anemone fragments flew in all directions.
But the remaining Crab Warriors showed no fear, their tentacles glowing with a blue flame lunged forth, while the Merfolk warriors continued their advance without hesitation.
“Hah!”
Lady Trentia lunged again with a cry into the midst of the merfolk warriors.
*
Valenciaunos slowly descended from the peak of the sandbar, tossing flames.
With his majestic demeanor, it felt like he was not on the battlefield, but rather on a stage of a grand theater.
Pooosh!
Every time the flames spread across the sand like waves, one of the Manta Guardians let out a scream and convulsed.
“Warrrr!”
Pooosh!
Once stuck, flames would not fade away, instead they burrowed into eye sockets and small cuts, charring their innards.
“Do you think staying inside clamshells would protect you from my flames?”
With so many mermaid spellcasters around, it was too risky to prepare a devastating technique capable of incinerating the entire area.
‘They are a race proficient in mental magic. All it will take is one dispel to undo a great spell in preparation.’
He maintained an air of calm under tension while analyzing the situation.
Whoosh!
A “Spear of Water” shot out from Gorii Lake.
Squeeaaaak!
Valenciaunos twisted his body to dodge, and the spear struck the cavern ceiling, dislodging chunks of rock.
“Merfolk scum!”
The mermaids began to sing.
“See me.”
“Ra, RaRaRaRaRa. Ra, RaRaRaRa.”
The sound of their melodious, yet mysterious song filled the air.
Each syllable was a spell that would bewitch the mind, a magic of power over water.
This was the magic that had frozen the spirit and body of countless sailors in history, turning them into their victims.
“Ugh!”
“My lord!”
Even the usually stalwart Trentia and Valenciaunos staggered momentarily.
The tridents and daggers of the merfolk warriors slashed at Trentia.
Ka-boom! Ka-boom!
Trentia’s platinum armor was an exquisite piece of work crafted by the finest blacksmiths in the capital and engraved with circuits by the most accomplished magicians of the royal court.
However, attacks leveraging water penetrating through the tiniest cracks managed to severely impact her body.
“Cough!”
A Shark Warrior broke through the Merfolk warriors, raising a colossal knife.
Its tooth-filled maw opened wide.
“Commander!”
Seeing this, Valenciaunos attempted to send a flame spear at the Shark Warrior.
In normal circumstances, he could have done it by sheer will power, but his concentration was disrupted by impatience and the Merfolk’s song, forcing him to create a flame in the palm of his right hand.
Zzzshh!
Ziiiiiii!
This was the opportunity the Mermaids were waiting for.
A water chain shot out from their fingertips, wrapping around Valenciaunos’ arms and legs.
The essence of the deep sea suppressed the flames, and the fire in the palm of the Banished Duke dwindled.
Tzing!
This attack was all the more counteractive to Valenciaunos, who possessed the essence of fire spirits.
He shook with a bone-chilling cold and yelled even more ferociously,
“Neither human nor fish!”
Straining with all his might,
Krack!
The body polished by dragon and ogre blood, stabilized by Az’s essence, exerted an extraordinary strength far beyond human limits.
Whoosh!
“Kyaaaaa!”
The sixteen mermaids holding onto his right arm were dragged out of Gorii Lake and collapsed onto the sandy ground.
But before the wrath of the royal family of dragons could burn their bodies, the remaining mermaids released their Water Spears.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Given their racial affinity, their water element attack was far more potent than those of human magicians.
“Aaaagh!”
The Bandit Duke trembled like a sinner seared by molten iron.
His silver hair was disheveled, his uniform torn, and his handsome face distorted in agony.
Taking this opportunity, Eriann, the mermaid with short navy hair and Schub Ardelra’s adjutant, approached her master.
“Princess! I’ll release you now!”
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")