[Nightmare]

"Master Tyrene never forgot a single student, I swear.

She would rattle off names without context, and the person wouldn't be brought up for a week.

I never knew anything about the person other than the trouble they caused her."

Soldiers and ex-military were smiling with happy hearts.

"Raul, Simon, Riko, Milina, Desmond, Rachel, Tanya, Emanuel, Lisana, Patrick, Strayer, Missa, Tiara, Laptha, Whiney, Smalls, Rupert….

I've heard stories about a hundred people in two months."

Tears started streaming down faces everywhere.

"They were normally an example of what people did and how she dealt with them." Helix laughed.

"But… she was always smiling. It was the worst!"

Helix burst into laughter again.

"I always heard these stories as a warning, but she'd get all smiley and gentle.

Then she'd recognize that she wasn't being a hardass and doubled down.

I imagine that's how the stories came to be in the first place!"

Battle cry-esque laughs burst through doors of pubs.

Many people were rolling.

Macron was crying outside of his office and was forced to hold his stomach in place.

"Even now I can hear her voice." Helix chuckled.

"Boy! If you have time to mock me, you have time to swing a sword!"

Laughter exploded again.

Many in pubs started slapping the table and spilling their drinks.

No one could hear their mugs breaking over the noise.

"That quality made her a legend and helped her touch the heart of many." Helix said with a smile.

"She touched everyone's heart.

If you were her ally, it meant that she touched your heart to make you smile.

If you were her enemy, she was holding your heart [literally]."

Tears were streaming down the eyes of countless people.

The nobles in the auction hall found themselves crying, regardless of whether they knew Tyrene or not.

"Master Tyrene loved all of her students, troops, and troublemakers." Helix said with a gentle voice.

"Before she passed, we were on the way back to the Capital to investigate an increase in monster activity worldwide.

She spent an hour giving me a list of all the people she would nag once she returned." Helix laughed with light tears.

His reminder of her death was enough to bring sadness back into people's eyes.

"It was that same monster activity that took her from us." Helix announced in a low voice.

The city became still again.

Many were listening with dead eyes.

"A fifth-evolution Colossus woke from hibernation.

We didn't know what its level was at the time." He explained with a low tone.

"As you may know, Colossus' are hunted and killed upon sight.

Therefore, in the last century, the highest level Colossus anyone had ever faced was Level 10, and it was a loss-heavy battle.

Tyrene led the fight against that Level 10 Colossus twenty years ago.

That day… almost a month ago… the Colossus was level 387."

Shock rocked the atmosphere in the Capital.

Many people were gasping.

People could hear a pin drop in the auction house.

"That's right. Let that sink in." Helix chuckled bitterly.

"But you know what? You want to hear something pretty fuckin' amazing proud Alzerians?"

The entire city called down and stopped breathing.

"She fought that thing… AND WON!"

Helix let out a battle cry from the deepest parts of his lungs.

He wasn't acting.

He wasn't using rhetoric.

The entire speech was inspired from the inside.

And at the end, he was telling Alzeria as a whole that Tyrene fought an unbeatable monster and won.

Battle cries followed throughout the city.

They rippled through the auction house, the watching party, and then the city gates.

The troops in the barracks were screaming at the top of their lungs.

The pubs and restaurants were filled with deafening roars.

"That's right! Tyrene died a legend in the most mythical battle of the last millenia!" Helix roared.

"Any other death would be absurd!

Sickness? Hah!

Tyrene would punch a virus in the face and rip out its damn proteins!"

Laughter burst into the streets again.

"Old age? Are you kidding me?

That woman could kick a burly warrior's ass at ninety and talk shit the whole way!"

Cries of laughter and joy rang through the city.

"Master Tyrene took a vacation to Kozen to wake up at 4 am and beat my ass until I learned the sword.

I'm sure she's in the afterlife chasing old students down to grill them for getting lazy!" Helix roared.

Cheers rang out through the streets.

"No! General Tyrene was a powerful warrior that fought for Alzeria and protected her homeland!" Helix yelled.

"The only way for her to find peace was on a battlefield so biblical that she could justify a real vacation afterward!"

Battle cries rang out in the city.

"Proud Alzerians! Your legendary Winter General Tyrene Masney died protecting Alzeria from a monster that could wipe out an entire country!

And she did it with a pack of apprentices, a lazy magic circle grandmaster, a few scholars, and a medical chief!" Helix yelled.

"You should have seen the look the Kozen general's face when his that thing with a [Frost Nova] 100 meters away!

If you've never seen General Tyrene get serious, you're missing out on the nastiest fighting this world has ever seen!"

The city had a pulse.

His story moved the queen to the point of being shaken.

Eliza was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Proud people of Alzeria! I have gifts for you in commemoration of General Masney's life!" Helix roared.

Everyone in the city calmed down.

Their eyes lit up with anticipation.

They listened with their undivided attention.

"Three days from now, on the day of rest, there will be a celebration of Master Tyrene's life in the colosseum!" Helix announced.

"Please show up! I'll be handing General Masov that Colossus' index finger that day!

He can point the way to victory against the monsters that [dared] to threaten this country with it!"

Battle cries rang through the city streets.

"I'll be giving the ring finger to the Alzerian war museum to forever commemorate the day she refused the Mad Queen's engagement proposal!" Helix continued.

Laughter exploded from the Capital pubs, barracks, and streets.

"I'll be giving the pinky to the princess to invite the Mad Queen over for poisoned tea!"

War fever was spreading through the kingdom.

"I'm auctioning off the ring finger that day and will be giving 100% of the proceeds to her Majesty to reequip the troops and provide military aid!

I'll make sure that I'll ring out the maximum funding for her soldiers!"

Cries of excitement rang through the barracks.

The auction hall was stunned silent by the news.

He was auctioning off a finger of a Colossus that killed Tyrene.

It was a collector's item that could bankrupt a small nation.

But that wouldn't deter anyone.

"I'm setting up the thumb in the arena for anyone that wants to vent their rage.

Everyone can see for themselves what type of beast she was able to kill!"

Excitement boiled over.

"As for the middle finger, I'm keeping it.

It's fifteen feet tall and extremely hard.

I'll enjoy bludgeoning a Level 87 monster to death with it while flipping off the mad queen simultaneously!" Helix roared.

Pandemonium and chaos were spilling over in the streets.

"There's one last gift! It's for Alzeria as a whole.

It's for her Majesty, the Princess, her troops, General Tyrene's friends, and her allies." He announced.

"It's not a small gift. No!

A gift fit for Tyrene can be anything but small.

Let me tell you what it is!

When that Colossus finally stayed down and breathed its last, I made sure to get Alzeria the only gift worthy of her legacy…." Helix prefaced with a passionate tone.

He waited for maximum dramatic effect.

"I brought you its head! The eight-ton skull will forever be a warning to any beast, country, or monster that's foolish enough to mess with our people!"

The pulse in the city beat faster.

The city breathed, and smoke rose into the skies.

The battle cries could raze a city to the ground.

"Proud Alzerians! It's our turn to take up her legacy!" Helix announced.

"If any monster [dares] to threaten this city, we will rip out its spine and use it as a lamp stand!

We will carve out its ribs and use it as a shield.

We'll tie it up with its intestines and drag it to our troops for training.

Everyone in this city has an arsenal of absurd threats that Tyrene used against us.

Those threats will become real the moment another monster threatens Alzeria!" Helix roared.

Deafening roars filled the Alzerian skies.

"And now… a gift from Grandmaster Winter General Dame Tyrene Masney herself…." Helix whispered.

The entire city called down in an instant.

Helix put a magic circle on the portable amplification circle Tilo set up.

"Oui! If any idiot dares cry during this message, I'll use their skull as a quill holder!"

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)