"Haaaah…"
Of course.
I told them I was going to wage war on them, and shortly after doing so, I arrived in Eshaware and revealed Alith’s true identity.
Of course they will be careful, they will do their best to watch and predict my movents.
It is foolish to think they won’t.
And even the precautions the king has taken are insignificant.
Your next read awaits at .Côm
Because they can ignore all of them as they are the security system itself here.
I took a quick look at them all before the guards moved into action.
They are strong. Almost all of them, by human standards, are around C to B grades.
And we’ve got... three B grade guards, Julian who is probably not even at C grade, then Adrian, and .
There’s no way, basically, we’re getting out of here.
They’re gonna kill us.
And that’s when they made their move, when I was thinking about them killing us. All of the guards, more than ten of them... rushed at us with their weapons and the spells they had prepared.
"H- huh?!"
Julian’s surprised voice entered my ears. I felt his mana stirring to protect himself.
But I... remained calm.
I stayed composed in spite of all the attacks that were directed at , right in front of my eyes, and even in places I couldn’t see.
After all, just because we didn’t stand a chance against them... didn’t an we couldn’t hold out for a short ti.
And this ’short ti’ was more than enough to create chaos that would send the whole palace into an uproar.
Adrian acted first, without even waiting for to give him any orders.
His inconceivably intense mana filled the corridor from top to bottom, his erald green eyes glowing brightly. The mana solidifying around him was preparing to spread around us, creating a shockwave, and then I stepped in.
I enveloped caora around the mana he had prepared in a matter of milliseconds. My aim was to strengthen his attack, and... our own guards were not idle while we were doing this.
Two of them put up two different barriers around us as fast as they could, and the other one, who must have understood what I was trying to do with Adrian, directed his mana at Adrian... giving him a buff.
The next second, Adrian released his empowered attack. The mana in the atmosphere, the air itself, collapsed on him slightly.
~whooom!
The air, and the mana, gained an almost tangible density.
At the sa mont, the guards’ attacks quickly crashed into the barriers.
~cr- crack!
The barriers around us shattered and broke instantly. They couldn’t possibly withstand that many attacks... but they did what they had to do, they blocked them from coming straight at us.
Adrian’s counterattack spread out in a circle, like a shockwave, just as he had planned.
~ka-thoom!
"Kh-!"
"Aaargh!"
"B- be careful!"
It knocked almost half of the guards off their feet, caused a few to lose their balance, and left a few unable to do anything but simply stand where they were.
But Adrian’s attack did not stop there.
It reached the walls of the corridor, tearing a deep gash in them... and shaking the palace as if an earthquake had struck. It also caused an ear-splitting explosion.
~BOOM!
Dust, pieces of collapsing wall...
Everything got mixed up, severely limiting visibility.
Not taking any chances, I turned toward the guards and was about to ask them to help by building a thick wall of blue flas surrounding us on my own when...
"H- huh?"
Everyone, and that included , literally froze.
The blue flas I had created around us were just beginning to form... but then, against my will, they dissipated and disappeared. The mana in the atmosphere beca still... silent, as if in submission to a being far superior to itself. It wasn’t the only thing that beca silent.
I felt under such... intense and suffocating pressure that I couldn’t even swallow. I just... stayed where I was with my eyes widened.
And, then...
"What... is going on here?"
I had never heard a voice so clear, so... stern and authoritative.
Even though it was a familiar voice, even though I had heard it so many tis already.
I forced my eyes away from where they were fixed and turned toward the point where the voice had co from, even though it was too difficult to stay standing.
And... I saw a single pair of yellow eyes looking in our direction, both of them shining, so brightly that they had lost their original ’pale’ color and turned completely golden.
And what was even more overwhelming, compelling...
They were facing .
All that pressure, all that mana...
Everything was on .
I was the target, as if this was all my fault.
~thud…
~thud…
~thud…
And then ca the sound of footsteps. Each one clearer, fuller than the last.
I heard the guards behind kneeling one by one as if they were collapsing. Even Adrian and Julian found themselves on the ground, unable to react... just like that.
I was the only one left standing.
And it wasn’t because I was tougher or anything like that, there was no such thing. I was a cripple, for one thing.
It was just...
"Keep it short, why are you fighting my guards in my palace?"
This was the request of the man who had stopped stepping and looked at coldly now that he was right in front of .
"Speak."
"Y- your Royal Highness..."
Without waiting any longer to stand, I willingly knelt in front of him. I bowed my head as much as I could, trying to keep my voice as calm and even as possible.
Faelan Aroniel... although until now he had seed like a quiet and normal king, was quite different now.
He had completely unleashed his power, the pressure he had just by ’existing’.
"I- if I may, I would first ask you to release the pressure that is making it difficult for to speak..."
He didn’t answer, his expression didn’t change. And yet... he did as I asked, and the pressure on suddenly disappeared.
Completely.
As if... as if it had never existed.
And I suddenly realized, or rather... rembered, how easy it is to breathe.
Still, I didn’t raise my head, I didn’t get up from my kneeling position.
"I had a very urgent matter to report to you... and the guards at our door claid that they had to go to you first and that I could not see you whenever I wanted, even though I had specifically explained the situation to them."
I continued quickly, not even stopping to breathe... just to be on the safe side.
"They were not wrong, I am aware that I am not soone who can et His Royal Highness at any ti, but I saw fit to create such a scene, being sure that they were ignoring the order you had given them, and considering the urgency of the matter I wanted to inform you about..."
I couldn’t see his expression because I was bowing my head as much as I could. But... the gleam of his eyes reflected in the floor hadn’t changed a bit as if he hadn’t even moved a muscle.
"What is this ’urgent’ matter?"
"Saligia, Your Royal Highness."
And that was the mont when he fell silent for a brief mont and took his eyes off .
He looked around at the guards, who could do nothing but kneel around him.
"I rember clearly that I ordered you to take Aiden Tenebra to the eting room without questioning him if he requested an audience."
Even though it wasn’t affecting ... the mana in the atmosphere grew heavier, the pressure on the guards beca much clearer.
So much so... that a few of them started coughing, collapsing to the ground, unable to even kneel any further.
"Why was my order ignored, can anyone bother to explain?"
But... no one answered him.
And he... was not soone who, after hearing the situation from , would not have an idea of what had happened. He was a clever king.
His eyes twitched slightly, and he looked with disgust at all those who bowed before him and could not resist his pressure.
"What a... sha, that proud elves would choose to align themselves with filthy terrorists like Saligia. That they would be willing to stand against their kingdom, the royal bloodline they serve, the World Tree that underpins their very existence..."
Even if it was forced... I saw the mana around him ripple as if it were literally tearing open, opening ’rifts’ that I could literally see with my eyes, emitting golden yellow lights. Then, I saw threads shoot out of these rifts, wrapping in random patterns around the bodies of all the guards around us...
"I can’t even feel sorry for you."
And then I saw these threads shining with a dazzling brilliance...
~shiiing!
...
~thump!
~thud!
~fwump!
And when that light receded... all the guards were on the ground, not a single one of them was standing.
None of them had died. The king of the elves was not one to not think he should keep them alive for questioning. And yet, it was... frightening... that one man could so easily neutralize people within the C or B grade persons without lifting a finger.
"Aiden Tenebra..."
I quickly paused at the sound of my voice, recovered myself and spoke, keeping my head in the sa position... on the floor.
"Yes, Your Royal Highness."
"Stand up and tell everything you have to say about Saligia."
The golden glow in his eyes gradually receded after his words. The mana in the atmosphere began to move again, cald down. All the pressure on Adrian, Julian, and my own bodyguards disappeared.
I stood up slowly, ignoring the pain in my right foot as much as possible. And... I turned to his face, which was back to normal, although with a very serious expression.
As if... as if nothing had just happened. His eyes were their original color, his gaze was normal, albeit quite serious.
This was him.
The ’king’ of the elves.
The second most powerful person to ever co out of the elves, after Rian Laute.
And considering that Rian Laute spent the last years of his life constantly weakening, he is actually the strongest elf and one of the strongest beings on the planet...
Faelan Aroniel.
Reviews
All reviews (0)