When we returned to the training grounds the next morning, we were introduced to the remaining children of the Empress for the first time, with Lady Fenryas pulling them into whatever she had planned despite them very clearly not wanting to be here.
As such, the Empress herself and all her wives had shown up, putting all of us in awe as we looked at the assembled women at the front of the training grounds.
Seeing one or two - even three - of them together was already something special, as each of these women radiated power far above most of what I had seen before.
For me, the pinnacle of strength that I had gotten to witness for the longest time was the Marquess and the Countess; the strongest Knight besides Lady Fenryas, and one of the Saintesses of the Empire.
Leone had further elaborated on the title of Saint and Saintess for us last night, the Vampire describing it as a position that was reserved only for those Arch Mages that showed a certain amount of control and prowess with their magics.
For example, Kolia is an Arch Mage who specializes in Lightning Magic as well as the more physical applications of magic - enchantments - and while she is certainly an incredible Arch Mage, she doesn't compare to the Countess, who wields the same element.
The title is conferred based on many things, but the most common is the element you utilize; Saintess of Lightning, for example, is the Countess' title, and she is the only one to hold that position.
There are multiple Saints and Saintesses of Fire, Water, Wind, or Earth, while there is only one per advanced element, mainly because of their scarcity.
Then there are the Saints and Saintesses with special titles; Lady Theresa is the Saintess of Life, not the Saintess of Nature, and that is because her magic used to be so incredibly powerful that she could bring someone back from the brink of death, while she could turn arid wastelands into verdant forests in mere hours.
Another example - one not from the Empress' wives - is the Saint of the Dungeons, an extremely kind and patient old man who rules over the largest cluster of Dungeons in the Empire, hoping to guide and nurture anyone who wanted to be an adventurer into a competent, respectable person.
Where a Knight is the pinnacle of the Empire's physical fighters - which includes archers - the Saints and Saintesses are the pinnacle of the Empire's wielders of the arcane.
Both were needed, both were strong, and when put together, they tended to leave little behind whenever they fought the Empire's enemies.
However, the number of Saints and Saintesses were outnumbered by the Knights due to the far stricter, and far rarer circumstances needed to sculpt a person into such a powerhouse.
Anyways, those were my experiences with the strongest people; the Marquess and the Countess stood above the masses as forces of nature.
The Demoness who could singlehandedly deal with most monsters and wielded an immense blade like it was nothing, backed further by her advanced understanding of Fire Magic as well as a pact to an Arch Fiend; Chordeva Asmodia stands atop a pinnacle that many will never be capable of climbing.
And an Elf who wields one of the deadliest elements with insane precision and power, capable of fighting up close or from afar with equal grace and prowess; Ria Haniel might be weaker than her wife, but she is still a woman that had earned the right to look down at the masses with pride.
Those were the two women that I had always seen and believed to be strong, but comparatively?
The weakest of the seven women in front of me was on par with the Countess - Lorelei Presa, Vampire and Saintess of Blood - with the remaining six only becoming exponentially stronger from there.
Each of them radiated raw power - even if they tried to hide it, it was just something that had been chiseled into their very bones - that you just had to bow your head in awe as they stood there.
Ashen haired and ruby eyed, Leone's Mother radiated the same threatening aura that the Countess had whenever she dropped the kind mask she wore in public - Lady Presa.
A Dragon that draws strength from the very mountain we stood on, wielding Fire Magic as naturally as I breathed and as strong as the Marquess physically - Lady Igna.
The blonde haired Priestess who smiled warmly at everyone, her white pearls shimmering gold while her fair white skin held a golden luster, the serene Lady D'Arcon.
Beside her, the towering black skinned Demon Wolf that we had come to know and respect, her muscular frame and arrogant smirk every bit frightening and comforting - Lady Fenryas.
As white as snow and confidently flaunting her curves, with a smirk daring anyone to take a peek while her aura remained as frigid as a blizzard - Lady Yusa.
Gnarled wood constructed her body, and like her Priestess 'sister' she wore a soothing smile, the Saintess of Life pulsed with power that whispered of the wonders and horrors it could bring in equal measures - Lady Theresa.
Finally, the most imposing of them all, and the woman who had built this Empire from the ground up, a woman that everyone - no matter the country - respected and feared - The Empress of Ash.
These seven were in a league of their own, a league that was capable of razing this country - perhaps even the northern half of the continent - without even breaking a sweat, their power so far above ours that it made me feel like the work I had put in was moot.
I felt like a level 1 slime staring up at a fully kitted out level 100 character in an MMO; guaranteed to die just by existing in proximity of them.
In fact, everyone in this room felt like that, as we all knelt respectfully to the seven women standing before us, while their children bowed deeply to their parents.
This one moment - a moment that meant nothing to them - put a new perspective into each of our souls.
A perspective that stoked the desires to get stronger, to perhaps reach a level where we meant something in front of them; to reach a level where we might instill the same feeling into someone else...
And to do that, to reach that level where we might feel like we were making true strides towards the pinnacle that they occupied, we needed to go through hell...
That was exactly why the black skinned Demon Wolf stepped forwards, grinning wickedly at each of us, her silver eye filled with such foreboding and promise that we all shuddered, only to steel ourselves as we prepared to listen to her words.
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