Chapter 208: The Butterfly Effect 3

The civilians armed themselves begrudgingly in obedience to the Emperor’s decree. Yet their ranks scarcely exceeded 20,000 – predominantly comprised of the infirm elderly or adolescent youths barely of age. Able-bodied men of military serviceability proved exceedingly scarce.

“What is the meaning of this deplorable turnout?! Did I not command the entire city’s population to muster and take up arms? Vienna alone harbors over 200,000 souls – how could this paltry assembly represent the full scope of our martial potential?!”

“Y…your Sublime Majesty…we have already exhausted every armory’s inventory. This…represents the absolute limit of what armaments remain available.”

“Moreover, most civilians have already evacuated in anticipation. Those assembled here constitute the sole remaining inhabitants who assented to your decree.”

“Khhh…”

The courtier’s despairing report elicited a visceral tide of impotent fury from the stricken sovereign:

“Why…? Why has this utter catastrophe befallen my righteously ordained reign?! I am the Lord’s Anointed – having dedicated every faculty towards illuminating this realm with His radiant truth! Yet why do these benighted fools fail to heed my sacred pronouncements? Why…?!”

“Your…Your Majesty…”

Confronted by their liege’s anguished lamentations, the surrounding nobles could only avert their forlorn gazes – remaining utterly muted.

Or rather…they certainly harbored plentiful insights to impart had the Emperor proven receptive to such candid admissions:

That this unfolding calamity stemmed directly from his own dogmatic excesses sparking such wanton persecutions against his own innocent subjects.

That the populace had grown utterly disillusioned by these senseless, unending sectarian upheavals ravaging their existences.

That the only remaining soul still enthralled by such archaic religious fervor…was this tragically deluded ruler himself wallowing in willful obstinacy.

Regrettably, every intimately truthful advisor once capable of offering such unflinching counsel had already perished through summary purges.

Only sycophants singularly invested in self-preservation remained – daring not to provoke a wrathful sovereign’s displeasure through any intemperate candor.

So they watched in silence as their ruler defiantly donned his ceremonial armor – adamantly unwilling to abandon this futile struggle despite its obvious futility.

“No matter the odds, I shall fight on to the bitter end! This juncture shall surely herald those long-awaited miracles the Lord has foretold – imbuing me with the radiant power to vanquish those traitorous usurpers before marching against the heretical Northern scourge itself!”

“…………”

“What ails you all?! Make prompt preparations – for you shall accompany your sovereign into the breach as duty dictates!”

“Y…yes, Your Majesty…”

“As…as you command…”

Thoroughly cowed by their deranged liege’s wrathful fury, the nobles hurriedly scattered before the diminished figure surveying his paltry ramshackle militia with inscrutable determination:

“I remain utterly unshaken…having expended every exertion towards this realm’s sacred custodianship. My faith shall be vindicated – Providence shall provide those divine interventions essential to shattering these vile seditionists before me and their heretical adherents still to come…”

Begrudgingly arming themselves under the Emperor’s directive, these half-hearted conscripts included various former high-ranking officers alongside mages and wizards.

Yet their demeanors radiated anything but sanguine resolution:

“…What prospects do you envision for this latest conflict…?”

“…Must we even voice such superfluous assessments at this late juncture?”

“…Haaah…”

“The prognosis appears abundantly self-evident, does it not?”

As disheartened acknowledgments disseminated across this disgruntled coterie, an undeniable grim reality increasingly congealed within their shared consciousness:

That their collective fates had grown inexorably preordained.

“It’s all over for us now…”

“How could a mere 20,000 senescent militia possibly stem Wallenstein’s overwhelming tides?”

“You all witnessed how few even assented to take up arms under our sovereign’s direct command – the rest fled or actively concealed themselves at the first opportunity.”

“What clearer portent could there be that the people’s allegiance has utterly forsaken this deluded ruler…?”

“The masses no longer retain any inclination to shed blood over religious sectarianism. An unthinkable prospect mere years ago – yet they have seemingly awakened to that doctrine’s immaterial emptiness compared to their own tangible deprivations.”

“Indeed – incendiary sermons inflaming intolerance hold no more allure for their manipulated minds or hollow bellies. That particular incantation has lost all its spellbinding charm.”

“Yet our addled sovereign remains the sole soul still beguiled by such antiquated zealotry and delirious stratagems.”

“A prime example of abject failure to adapt with the ebbing tides – the unforgivable offense we enabled by swearing fealty to such a hapless figurehead.”

Such resigned lamentations pervaded their huddled ranks until one particularly pragmatic individual furtively surveyed his discouraged brethren before interjecting soberly:

“…But say – if our prospects truly remain so utterly dismal under this sovereign’s misrule…should we not prioritize our own survival above futile immolations in service to a lost cause?”

“Indeed…at this rate, execution at the hands of the irate populace and rebel forces appears inevitable.”

“The erstwhile Emperor might yet retain some semblance of honorable treatment, if only for the principle involved. But soldiers like ourselves assuredly face nought but grisly unmarked demises.”

“…True enough. So I propose – since this path only culminates in our needless obliteration regardless…why not explore more…pragmatic recourses ensuring our self-preservation?”

“Wh…what did you have in mind…?”

The mere intimation of potential survival instinctively piqued the others’ attentions. For they too primarily served through coerced expediency rather than any lofty principles of patriotism or martial honor.

To such pragmatists, the prospect of evading their seemingly preordained annihilation naturally intrigued despite any attendant perils.

And upon discerning those particular contingencies under contemplation, their respective responses proved…mixed, to say the least:

“That…that seems excessively hazardous, does it not?”

“One false step could conceivably jeopardize every single soul present…”

“Of course – the stakes involved render such recourses inherently perilous by definition. But did you not all articulate the self-same quandary already? Our fates remain forfeit regardless under this sovereign’s deranged governance. If death looms inevitably either path – is gambling upon that faint hope of deliverance truly so unconscionable compared to resigning ourselves towards definitive obliteration?”

“Mmm…”

“He…does present a fair argument. Whether perishing this very eve or the coming morrow – our destination remains immutably fixed under present circumstances.”

“With the Emperor’s prospects so comprehensively foreclosed, do we not axiomatically owe our allegiance towards the assured ascendant victor in any case? As his subordinate instruments, self-preservation through pragmatic realignment seems the only viable recourse available to us pariahs.”

As insidious consensus congealed around this cynical calculation, preparations commenced to expedite its systematic implementation.

For these particular individuals had already sublimated personal expediency over patriotic principle – so forsaking their oaths to an increasingly expendable sovereign constituted a relatively trivial corollary.

“…How peculiar…”

“Indeed – most perplexing…”

“Why do they not retaliate or harass our vanguard’s steady advance?”

The magnificently fortified walls of Vienna’s inner sanctum materialized directly ahead, prompting evident bewilderment from Wallenstein and his lieutenants Hestia and Otto.

Their spearhead detachments had already entered optimal bombardment range, yet the legendary battlements renowned for repelling every Turkish and Dragonian siege since antiquity remained utterly inert.

Not a single harrying counterstrike emanated from those storied ramparts – no hails of artillery nor sorcerous barrages. Indeed, not even the statutory sentries maintained their vigilant patrols upon the parapets.

This conspicuous absence of activity only heightened the encroaching forces’ shared disquietude over Vienna’s aberrational silence.

Until suddenly…

“L…Lord Wallenstein! Observe – over there!”

“What in heaven’s name…?”

As unmistakable indications of ceremonial surrender fluttered into view across the vacant battlements, Wallenstein gestured his vanguard into an abrupt defensive stall while dispatching emissaries to discern this unforeseen development’s precise context.