246. Wither (1)
246. Wither (1)
- 1 -
"This is...!"
Prince's entire body went rigid as mana surged from every direction.
That sensation of forces grinding against him, both inside and out, was unmistakably an omen of danger.
- This is... a barrier. A barrier that suppresses the mana of everyone except those consciously designated...!
Seolhwa's whisper reached those around her.
Her flustered gaze swept over Fate Inyeon's surroundings.
"This...!"
One of the martial artists, realizing the source of the mana rising on all sides, destroyed a daffodil, but the crushing pressure of the mana did not lessen in the slightest.
Rather, the moment that flower was destroyed, all the others blazed with even greater intensity.
As though mourning the death of a comrade.
"It would be wise not to touch the garden's flowers carelessly."
Libertas's gentle voice flowed out.
Its softness, so utterly unsuited to the situation, only amplified the terror gripping Prince's party.
"Kh...!"
Immediately afterward, the martial artist who had torn up the flower a moment before staggered.
Strength drained from his arms, and his legs trembled.
And soon, he collapsed.
"What happened."
"He has fainted. That is..."
Prince looked around.
The figures emerging from between the mists of mana entered his vision.
'An army? No, it's not.'
Countless 'people' were there.
Each dressed as servants, attendants, soldiers, knights, and the like.
The gazes of Prince and the martial artists turned toward the several men and women revealing themselves among them.
'That one is...'
Among them was a face Prince knew.
The commander of the Twilight Hunter Mercenary Group, known to have been recruited into Princess Yurena's army.
"Daniel Smith."
But that mercenary, recently risen to fame, was the weakest of those who had stepped forward.
That only fanned the flames of confusion further.
'How could such individuals be deep within the royal palace, completely unknown...?'
He could tell they were not high-rank ability users by comparing their presence to the martial artists right beside him.
But Prince's intuition was screaming.
That the danger of those before his eyes could not be judged by such a simple difference in power.
If you tried to judge by that measure alone, you would surely meet disaster...
'...No, in that case, it is already a disaster.'
Prince smiled bitterly.
They had already suffered losses dealing with the royal family's ability user.
On top of that, the barrier now risen from all directions was suppressing their mana.
Meanwhile, those others carried a presence that was by no means insignificant...
'We have to get out of this place.'
At the very least, they had to escape the space affected by this barrier.
Otherwise, they had absolutely no chance of victory.
"Concentrate your power on a single point!!"
At Prince's command, the martial artists and shikigami spirits began to move, dragging their heavy bodies forward.
The mana of the barrier pressed down on them, but they too knew they had to act immediately.
Because the barrier's intensity was gradually intensifying.
Their target was the white-haired woman standing in a conspicuously less crowded direction.
If they could take even her hostage, another path might present itself.
"Seriously...?"
When a twisted smile crept onto the languid woman's lips, the martial artist at the vanguard sensed something wrong.
But it was already too late.
Because her hair had begun to glow red.
Kwang — !!!
A deafening roar split the sky above the royal capital.
It was an incredibly powerful strike.
So powerful that if not for the barrier Libertas had cast over the royal palace beforehand, the entire city would have been roused and assumed a state of alert.
Ppiiiii -
At some point, Prince realized he was lying on the ground.
As he shook his head against the ringing tinnitus and rose, someone supported his body.
It was one of the martial artists.
"...Ha! Your Highness! Are you alright!"
"I am fine. What... happened..."
He raised his head and saw that all the martial artists who had survived the previous battle lay collapsed.
The only ones still standing were two high-rank martial artists and Seolhwa alone.
The martial artist who had woken him had also avoided the brunt of the attack because he had been guarding the rear.
"What on earth..."
"Th-That woman..."
The warrior raised a trembling finger and pointed toward the woman they had been targeting just moments ago.
Her once-white hair was now thoroughly dyed red.
The sleeves of the white uniform she wore were torn and fluttering.
"That is...!"
Above all, what burned into Prince's eyes was the crimson force staining that beautiful white-haired woman's entire arm.
A power that shone entirely blood-red, with bursts and currents of flame and lightning crackling forth.
Prince of the Western Continent knew all too well what that was.
"Blood Demon..."
A single alias escaped Prince's lips like a groan.
It was the name of one of the Four Great Demon Dragons that had once terrorized the continent, vanished over a century ago.
A demon beast known for killing human martial artists of the same level at the high-rank stage of realization—called the Realm of Fire in the Western Continent's own terminology.
That demon beast's symbol had been the shape of blood-red 'destruction', exactly like that.
Judging by that era and the appearance of the woman before him, this woman was undoubtedly the successor of that monster, at the very least.
'How can she be here...!'
A being that had long since vanished from the Western Continent had appeared before him, here of all places, in the heart of this Eastern Continent.
And at the worst possible moment.
- 2 -
It was a situation where their preemptive strike had backfired, but Prince still had not given up.
"All of you, rise...! 「Imperial Dragon Gate, Vitality Recovery, Urgent Command!」"
With Prince's incantation, the talisman in his hand blazed into flame.
A talisman gilded with gold and made of the finest paper, so extravagantly luxurious it resembled an ornamental decoration rather than something practical.
But its effect was certain.
"Kheuk...!"
The martial artists who had collapsed here and there pushed themselves upright or opened their eyes.
It was not only the martial artists. Even the shikigami whose summons had been broken by the explosion revealed their forms again.
Though their bodies were covered in wounds, their condition looked better than before they fell.
"Circumstantially, it is certain that this woman is the Blood Demon's successor, but she is exhausted now! This is a chance to gain the fame of having slain the Blood Demon!"
Even through their disorientation, the martial artists who heard Prince's words lit up with eagerness.
Rather, it was precisely because they were disoriented that their desires were stoked all the more.
"We have to break through to survive anyway...!"
"Let's go...!"
Shue had been standing idle, having done nothing since her first attack.
Because her appearance seemed exhausted, the martial artists' momentum soared.
Prince still had plenty of sorcery remaining, after all.
Hwareuk!
Seuaak!
Two auras assaulted them from the side.
"You cannot go."
"Here."
A dark sorceress clad entirely in purple and gold flames, and a blonde knight radiating sword aura from the longsword wrapped in blue power.
"Don't let your guard down...!"
"The woman ahead just unleashed power completely beyond the strength she possesses!"
The martial artists began to move cautiously as soon as they detected their approach, but...
Peok!
"Next."
"Damn..."
Amidst it all, one of their precious personnel fell beneath Evangeline's blade.
Now, the only ones remaining in this place were two high-rank martial artists and two elite martial artists.
"We will handle them. You two must find an opening and kill the woman ahead!"
A swordsman and a fist fighter each charged forth toward the sorceress and the knight, Yuran and Evangeline.
"...Only this much...?"
Shue watched the martial artists charging toward her with a languid stare devoid of any force.
No tension dwelled within her crimson eyes.
It was true that she had been waiting for her own recovery, but at the same time, she had simply been refraining from acting more aggressively out of consideration for the other women.
The martial artists were widening the distance and approaching from different angles.
Perhaps due to their fear of the reputation that had once shaken the Western Continent, something beyond mere caution—sheer terror—could be felt emanating from their bodies.
"Foolish..."
The power blossoming from her arm intensified further.
And the languid energy washed away from her crimson eyes, vanishing.
What filled its place was Frenzy.
"You're offering me food...!"
A savage smile, positive proof of the Blood Demon's renown, stretched across her lips.
- 3 -
While the martial artists clashed with the three at the front.
'...He's coming.'
Prince, alongside his shikigami, kept the other beings in check.
Saya, whom he had first seen, and the 'Master' standing beside her, the commander of the Twilight Hunter Mercenary Group aiming his bow from afar, and other unidentified strong individuals besides.
'This is no longer the time to hold anything back.'
Prince gritted his teeth as he pulled various tools from his chest.
If he had thought there was an 'opening' until now, there was none whatsoever anymore.
It was time to wager everything.
Just like when he had willingly walked out of the imperial palace to seek another 'opportunity'.
Whether his identity as a prince was revealed or not, whether the imperial family killed him later or not.
At the very least, it was better than entrusting his life and future to someone else.
"「Heavenly Dragon Chapter, Celestial Descent, Extreme, Great Emperor, Urgent Command, All Laws Penetration」...!"
Kwareureung — !!
From the clouds gathering in the sky, a colossal force pierced through Libertas's barrier and struck down.
A silver radiance far more intense than moonlight.
- That treasure...!
Seolhwa's voice trembled.
A treasure that the Han Nation's imperial family had entrusted to each prince and princess.
A sorcery tool the imperial family had crafted from a cintamani of an ancient being.
It was because Prince had just now used it.
It was a tool enabling sorcery that called upon the power of one of the ancient dragons of the Western Continent and imbued it into the body of one bearing imperial blood.
Guoooooo — !
What manifested above Prince's body was a silver dragon.
However, its form was closer to that of a dragon native to the Eastern Continent, not the Western Continent.
A massive form with wings spread wide enveloped Prince's surroundings, and silver scales gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight.
A single flap of the dragon's wings sent the surrounding air surging violently.
"This is..."
Prince's eyes transformed into the vertically slit pupils characteristic of reptiles, and his irises turned silver.
The air swirled around him, and an invisible, different power began pressing down upon the garden.
"Haha."
Prince lost his composed demeanor and let out a laugh.
Feeling the power filling his entire being. The power of an ancient dragon.
'So this is why...'
[It is best never to use it in your lifetime. If you ever wish to use it, do not forget the mindset that you are to use it only just before death.]
The words of his mother, the Empress, came to mind.
That admonition had been absolutely correct.
Because after feeling such immense power, readjusting to the days when this power was absent would never be easy.
The force swirling around his body was of such enormous magnitude.
Sshwaaaak — !
When Prince clenched his fist, the form of the silver dragon surged and vanished into his body.
Such was the force that the garden's barrier trembled, and the light emitted by the various flowers faded.
A smile lingered on Libertas's lips as she watched him.
"Excessive."
There was no need for surprise.
She had already guessed that a Prince of the Han Nation would have some kind of trick up his sleeve.
"Saya."
Her gaze turned toward Saya.
Though there was a better match to face the Prince, it was she who needed to settle this situation now.
"Go. And make him understand."
Stroking the head of the kneeling Saya, Libertas whispered softly.
"That all resistance is futile."
"Yes. Master."
Saya's crimson eyes shone coldly.