After Yamato's arrogant display of authority, the envoy had nothing else to say in response, departing immediately after. Even though Yuki suggested not letting him leave, Yamato thought it amusing to see how they would respond to his provocation, if at all. The goal however being to maybe bait them into making a mistake, though he thought this whole siege was already one in the first place. But there could be some circumstances on their side that could justify such a drastic approach, which he kept in mind. Yuki's mind on the other hand was still jumping around in between soldiers of the Empire, just listening in on conversations and preparing for something else. While listening, she heard of an anti-teleport mechanism, which apparently was already activated and surrounded the town. Intrigued by this, she immediately tried teleporting somewhere outside of town but found that she was unable to. So she reported while they were leaving the throne room.
"Master, Master, I have good and bad news. Take a pick!"
"Uh… Bad?"
"All teleportation out of the town is impossible! I'd assume the same goes for teleportation into the town."
"You say that so excitedly… And the good news?"
"The good news are that I love you! And I'm excited because isn't this fun? We're trapped and are unable to be separated, because we are trapped so tightly!"
She said as she hugged him tightly, as if another force was forcing her against him. It would have looked pretty weird to anyone else in the hallway, if they were not alone. Though he wondered if she would have done it anyway.
"Well, that is good… But I don't think we are that kind of trapped… And no teleportation means no safe way to import goods like food for our people, which is double bad… So I'm afraid the bad outweighs the good for now."
"Nuh uh! Because my love counts as infinite good things!"
"But jokes aside, we have to take care of that quickly… Maybe we do have to fight now… Though, if Natsumi is part of the force, you might be busy with her, meaning Amael would have to take care of the rest, which I doubt he could, even if he is an angel too."
"That's right, I'm far superior to him in any way~ You should only view him as 2% of my true power! And that's generous!"
While Yamato doubted the accuracy of that number, he believed her when she said she was much stronger. However, she was sealed and he was not. So their current level should be more equal than she was willing to admit, even if she still had the upper hand.
"Alright, besides you two we also have Marneas and Petrisha, however we can't have them fight in public. Though they might be able to get Hana together?"
"Eh, probably not. Trishy is a good for nothing after all. And Marneas is whatever, I guess. I'd say Hana would deal with them fairly quickly. It'd be such a waste to send them to their deaths like that…"
"You think highly of her, huh…"
"Ah—, I do not!"
"Okay… You think lowly of her."
"That's right."
"Anyway, I think it's safe to assume that we have to use you against her then."
"Do we even have to fight?"
"Unless you have another way to get the teleportation to work again, we're pretty much forced to."
"Well… If I were to get a permission to use ethically questionable means, I might be able to do a thing or two. But I'd have a very guilty conscience too, even with your permission… So if I were to get a reward too, say… One wish to get whatever I want at the time of my choosing, that'd be super duper awesome…?
"…I guess that's alright. As long as the teleportation problem stays priority. And maybe try a bit diplomacy, just for the sake of it."
"Say less, boo. Your gorgeous goddess of a future wife has it all figured out and will impress you so much that you'll grant me two wishes!"
Yuki declared triumphantly, her random usage of a pet name catching Yamato so much off guard that he tried to imitate her.
"I… Okay. I'll leave it to you then… boo…?"
"Yes, I'm so cute~"
Yuki continued teasing him with her newly discovered way to express affection.
Meanwhile in the camp of the Empire, Yuki finally found a place with interesting things in it. A small tent, relatively central in the camp containing a crystal almost as big as the tent itself, which she felt originated both the barrier around the camp and the anti-teleportation barrier around the town. However, she could not destroy or move it due to her not actually being there. Which was a problem of course, as she alre promised she would take care of it. Her pride would not allow her to go back on that, and so she now had to come up with a way to either deactivate or destroy the crystal. But since the soldier left the tent already, she also had to find a new one that stayed close to it, which was an annoying process which hindered her to inspect the crystal more closely. However, right about now, the whole sneaking around thing turned boring to her. Knowing it exists and having the location was good enough to brute force it anyway. But for that, she would have to get there in person, so away from Yamato.
"If I promise to make everything political coming with this turn out positive, can I just go and do what I want?"
"As in, go to their camp? To do what exactly?"
"I dunno… This is an act of war, and we are at war… So I guess I would do something with the same energy?"
"…I would have better things to do, I guess…"
"You sure would! Imagine all the free time, if you let this whole thing in my capable hands~?"
"Not that I want to leave it all to you, but I also have something I need to prepare so… I guess I will leave it to you… Good luck."
"I think you meant good luck, boo."
"I'm not convinced of this…"
"It's mandatory. But I will let it slide this once, because I'm so kind and loving! Bye, bye, boo~!"
After skipping off around the corner, being more excited than one should be for what he assumed would turn out rather violent, a voice filled with kindness and protection appeared around the town, and inside of the Cube.
"Dear citizens, this massage serves to inform you of our current situation. Sadly, the evil forces of the Holy Empire have started a siege on us, despite all of our efforts to resolve this peacefully! Their attempts to cut us off and re-establish their oppressive rule again will however not as long as you are under my graceful protection, and under the guidance of our Emperor I have made the decision to personally stop this attack and ensure your safety! But worry not, everyone who does not wish us harm will be spared, and given a chance to retreat, as we stand for a more civilized future, where oppression such as theirs shall never spread again!"
After using the radio-crystals to make her announcement, Yuki flew out of town and hovered over the camp of the Holy Empire. Slightly fascinated by the protective barrier that prevented even her from noticing them, she gently brushed her finger along it, only to find it being pushed off with enough force to break any normal person's bone. Hers was fine though.
"Ooh, scary stuff…"
She put her finger against it one more time, using more force now. After a mere moment of contact, a crack formed and in the next, the whole barrier shattered into sparkling dust raining down onto the camp below.
"A-amazing, mistress Yuki!"
Petrisha said, clapping in awe and genuine amazement at Yuki's feat while floating beside her. However Petrisha's praise could not mean less to her, as the only praise with any value to was obviously Yamato's.
"Just get the crystal and put it in the room behind the bookshelf."
"Y-yes, mistress… But how am I supposed to get it through the doors?"
"Urgh, can't you even do that? Fine then, put in on the roof of the Cube. But don't let anyone see you. I will take it from there myself, once I'm done here…"
With a swift motion, Petrisha was in and out of the camp, not to be seen by the soldiers below. She was still an archdemon after all, even if Yuki did not treat her as such. Once sure she was gone, Yuki descended gracefully alongside the sparkling dust. One could think she was about to bless those below, simply because of how beautiful her descent looked from the ground. However, a simple glance at her eyes would show the reality of the situation, as she was about to perform anything but a blessing. Though that look filled with disgust and coldness would disappear momentarily as she spoke, similarly to how she just spoke to the citizens moments prior.
"Poor, lost souls… Wandering off to a place where you do not belong, simply because of orders given by an inferior mage, emperor and government… If only you were born in service of our design, you would have not had to die today… But worry not, I allow you to come, come to who is in the right, to who is great, because I forgive you. This one, singular chance to be part of something true and absolute. All you need to do is surrender."
The soldiers, still mesmerized by her majestic, sudden appearance, were unable to respond. It was clear they were not used to fighting such a force, especially when it seemed so kind and divine. But they were not the ones she expected to get an response from anyway, and it mostly served so she could later say, she gave them a chance. The one she expected to respond, Hana, appeared behind her, spinning and kicking Yuki in the back. Or at least trying to, before a circle of golden swords appeared around her and darted straight into all directions, one hitting her right in the stomach. Yuki only looked over her shoulder with an arrogant grin, while shushing her with her finger.
"Shhh… Don't interrupt now, you're robbing them of their free will. That's what devils do~"
To Yuki's surprise, Hana was completely unharmed by the lethal hit to the stomach, despite not wearing any armor. The sword had not even scratched her skin, only pushing her away to a safe distance.
"They don't get to decide whether they want to desert or not. They are property of the Holy Empire of Humanity, and will fight or die as such."
Yuki looked down at the soldiers, who seemed to get into formation and attack her. Pitying them, because she wanted to put them into their own service.
"What misplaced honor… But hey, pure stupidity fits well, you being the bitch of purity and all."
"I don't need you obsessing about my philosophy again, so let's just drop the topic of purity."
"Don't worry, I was just goofing around last time. You were not that interesting anyway. I do wonder, where is Natsumi? Was she not supposed to be your way to counter me?"
"I will suffice, trust me…"
Hana shot three projectiles at her, all shining brightly, which Yuki assumed was meant to blind her. But she could see just fine with her eyes closed, relying only on her other senses and so she blocked the incoming projectiles witn ease.
"Now!", Hana screamed.
The attack still having distracted Yuki enough from the ground for the forces there to finish preparing their attack. Or so the plan. As instead of magic attacks reaching Yuki, they hit each other in the masses, with only few attack spells actually going towards Yuki.
"Hahaha, what's wrong~? Are your soldiers not as pure as you?"
Yuki's arrogant grin returned, clearly enjoying the feeling of making Hana feel as weak and helpless as possible.