Siege on the Abellux Castle

The Siege on the Abellux Castle was a conflict that took place roughly 7 years before Natsuki Subaru's arrival into the world. It is the primary conflict of Crimson Afterglow, later adapted in The Tale of the Scarlet Princess.

During the Imperial Selection Ceremony, Lamia Godwin orchestrated an encirclement of the Abellux Castle, mustering a coalition force to take down Vincent Abellux, the leading contender for the throne. Rallying multiple other Imperial Selection Candidates and their armies, along with the forces of the 9 siblings who dropped out the ceremony, they overwhelmingly outnumbered Vincent's troops. Despite this, he successfully repelled the siege with the help of his secret alliance with Prisca Benedict, for Arakiya to neutralize Lamia's cannonade by consuming a portion of Muspel, in addition to the double-cross by the 9 dissenters, whom Barthroy Fitts had secretly entrusted to Vincent before his death. Furthermore, Lamia's Pruning Corps were wiped out by Cecilus Segmunt. Ultimately, the siege ended in failure, with the cornered Lamia slain by Prisca. The battle was a major event, marking the climax of the Vollachian Empire's civil war spurred in the 3 months since the Imperial Selection Ceremony began.

Background

The Imperial Selection Ceremony is the event by which Vollachia’s new emperor is chosen. The emperor selects many wives from among the strongest across the land, bearing the emperor many offspring. With the death of the emperor kicking the ceremony off, the siblings worthy of wielding the Yang Sword would be pitted against each other in a contest to the death, with the last candidate standing being the new successor to the throne. With Drizen Vollachia's death, only 11 siblings survived drawing the Yang Sword.

Lamia would not forget their father's birthday party 7 years prior, where she was trying to find Vincent. She encountered a 5-year-old Prisca Benedict next to him, and from their first meeting, the two sisters immediately knew they were enemies. With Prisca's existence, Lamia knew she couldn't win Vincent over, so she saw the two as obstacles in her path. Henceforth, she cunningly cultivated possibilities and advantages, such as inspiring Barthroy Fitts to adopt a dissenting stance on the Imperial Selection Ceremony. He chose not to participate, rallying 9 other siblings to his cause, who also chose to drop out. Shortly after the ceremony began, Lamia assassinated Barthroy and deceptively brought his 9 dissenters under her fold to fight for her siege.

Lamia worked hard to ensure that Prisca became the very "poison" she would use to destroy Vincent. One issue with her siege plan was that Vincent, likely already anticipating the attack, would be vigilant enough to escape. She was unable to track Vincent, however, she could track Prisca, who she knew could keep up with him. Lamia was confident the two siblings would be in the same place, which is why she proposed an alliance with Prisca to ensure she would be part of the siege. Lamia planned since the start of the ceremony to utilise Palladio Manesque's Evil Eye to track Prisca's exact location. The requirement to carry it out was a part of the target's body, such as hair or a fingernail, which Lamia had acquired during her previous visit to Prisca.

Palladio and Lamia's alliance was to last until Vincent was dead. They agreed that once the affair was over, she would give him a piece of her body, which would allow Palladio to always track her location. In addition to Lamia having her Pruning Corps, the forces of the 9 dissenters, Palladio and Prisca's forces, she also had the forces of 3 other Imperial Selection Candidates.^[1] Lamia's coalition forces outnumbered Vincent's forces by fivefold.^[2]

Battle

The Pruning Corps vs Cecilus Segmunt

The siege commenced with the Pruning Corps advancing upon the Castle, with the rest of the coalition following suit. They were in good spirits, as the odds were ostensibly in their favour. However, the front line of soldiers believed a breeze blew past them, whatever it was, being something too fast to see with the naked eye. Many of their heads would be sliced off their bodies before they could even realise it. Cecilus Segmunt, the culprit, was a young boy taken under Vincent's fold a few months prior. He was grateful that Vincent gave him the sword he wanted, like he knew it would make him twice as effective in battle. And thus, Cecilus introduced himself and set to work by having his deadly sword meet with the Pruning Corps' giant shears.

Prisca and Vincent's confrontation

Prisca and her forces, the Red Plates, along with Arakiya, her sworn sword, were encamped atop a small mountain with the Abellux Castle in sight. They received a letter from Count Berstetz Fondalfon, Lamia's strategist, stating that they were to act as the rear guard when the siege began. However, Prisca decided to go in a completely different direction and prepared a small detachment of her soldiers. Palladio telepathically interjected into Prisca's mind, suspicious of where she was going. She said that she had never intended to comply with Lamia before brushing him off and stating that they were going to kill Vincent. Chisha Gold, Vincent's strategist, escorted his master through a lush forest before Prisca and her entourage abruptly emerged. The two siblings briefly exchanged pleasantries and instantly fought with their Yang Swords in a duel. Arakiya readied herself for a duel with Chisha, but he unleashed soldiers at her to overwhelm her with sheer numbers. To Chisha's surprise, the deadly Arakiya made short work of them with her spirit-eater powers, so he decided to duel her himself. However, it was decided in a single clash as Chisha was impaled with her stick, pinned to the earth.

A second later, Lamia called for a magic-cannon strike, which struck Vincent and Prisca's area, and the light illuminated the entire forest. Berstetz confirmed the strike, and Palladio telepathically reported that the two must have been caught up in it. It was the destructive power of 10 cannons together, with magic crystals that could generate firepower only second to the stones used to build the Crystal Palace. It was something that could wipe the two siblings out in one stroke, which would secure Lamia's victory.

Turning Point

However, Arakiya would impossibly foil the cannonade, in its entirety, as she lay on ground zero. Prisca and Vincent weren't dead, and Lamia decided to resort to Barthroy's insurance policy: have the 9 dissenters ambush the two siblings and finish them off. Lamia was then suddenly targeted by a barrage of arrows, and bewilderedly realized she was surrounded by the forces of the 9 dissenters, who were all turning on her at once. It was an encirclement fought with an encirclement. Lamia frustratingly realized that this must have been the work of Vincent and that he may have been working with Barthroy all along. Having her expend her magic stone-cannons may have been premeditated too, as it would subsequently leave her vulnerable to the turncoats' ambush. Furthermore, Arakiya's crucial role of thwarting the strike meant that Vincent needed her. This led Lamia to conclude that Prisca and Vincent must have been in a secret alliance.

With the tide heavily turned, Berstetz told Lamia to retreat as her soldiers resolved to hold off the encirclement themselves. As she ran away with a few of her best troops, she would encounter Cecilus Segmunt, who was painted in blood from head to toe. The soldiers who accompanied her held him off, and she kept running until she was confronted by Prisca, who was also alone. Lamia asked her how Arakiya managed to stop her cannonade. Vincent chose this place because Muspel, one of the Four Great Spirits, slumbered in the land. The spirit eater Arakiya risked her life consuming a small portion of the dormant spirit, making it possible for her to oppose Lamia's artillery. The two sisters who reviled each other finally dueled, ending Lamia's life by the blade of Prisca's Yang Sword.

Aftermath

In terms of winning the Imperial Selection Ceremony, only Vincent, Lamia, and Prisca stood a realistic chance of Victory.^[3][4] The threat of Lamia being taken out changed the trajectory of the competition, and it was up to the close siblings Vincent and Prisca to finally settle matters. However, Vincent believed his triumph against Prisca was inevitable. Wishing not to kill her, he made a deal with Arakiya that would take Prisca out of the ceremony but ensure her survival. 2 months after the siege, Prisca killed Palladio. Shortly after, Chisha emerged and forced her into a scenario where she had to save the poisoned Arakiya's life by sucking the poison out of her. Although regarded as dead, she survived and took on the new name of "Priscilla", the name of the body double who gave her life before the Imperial Selection Ceremony. As a result, Vincent won the ceremony and became the 77th emperor.

After Chisha Gold's defeat by Arakiya, he would later state that his near-death experience consequently robbed him of his color, with his hair color changing from black to pure white. Although Vincent saw him as a valued strategist, Chisha had deliberately resigned himself to be a pawn of the plan, having devised it himself.^[5] Chisha risked his life fighting Arakiya, despite Vincent and Prisca's secret alliance, to make their ploy more convincing, ensuring the secret alliance wasn't seen through.^[6] The same held true for Vincent's soldiers, although they were unaware of the secret alliance, they had been used as bait to deceive the enemy. Nonetheless, Vincent believed the cost was worth it.

Lamia's strategist Berstetz Fondalfon, who otherwise would have died on the battlefield of the siege, went on to serve under Vincent. Berstetz believed that Lamia would have wished for it, and Vincent recognized his competency.^[7] He was eventually appointed Imperial Prime Minister, making him second in political power only to the emperor.

After the battle, word would quickly spread around about Cecilus Segmunt single-handedly slaughtering the entirety of the exalted Pruning Corps. Recognition of this feat would also spread to other nations, forever engraving the Blue Lightning's name in history as a swordsman to be feared.

References