Chapter 22

Episode 22

"Davey..."

"It's okay. Good job."

"Cough! Did you see that? I made that air veil, brother."

He smiled, and I knew he was trying to make me not worry. He was, after all, only a 14-year-old boy. He had matured rather quickly compared to others. Meanwhile, I felt like I was stuck to the ground. If I hadn't set up a protection yesterday, Barris would have lost his life in this match. No one else, but my brother, who was the only one on my side in the stark palace, almost died.

"Go in and take some rest."

"Ugh..."

"Baltian."

I sent Barris away on a stretcher and headed to the field. My dream was to eat well and live peacefully, just like everyone else. It was a simple dream for me, who hadn't lived in such a way in the previous and present life combined. Life in the corridor wasn't a living form. That was why I couldn't stand out that much.

No matter how brilliant a human could be, they could never survive by turning everyone into an enemy. Did they say that a cornered stone meets the mason's chisel? When judged objectively, I had a range of diversity that ordinary people could never understand. That meant that I could be considered a dangerous molecule. Especially now, when enemies in the Al Rown palace surrounded me.

As I approached Baltian in anger, the knights hurriedly blocked me. Baltian, bizarrely changed, didn't look like a human being but a monster now. Of course, the knights, pulling out their swords, didn't let me get close to him.

"If you get any closer than this, it is too dangerous. Please step back!"

He said firmly, but I, ignoring the knights, turned around and stared at him. I wondered what the use of these words would be to a man who lost consciousness. It was annoying.

What should I do? Should I pull out all of his limbs even if it would end in a war with Voltiz? Or should I take another way? As I mulled this over, Baltian started to move.

"Uggghh! Ugggghhhh!!"

He began to shed bloody tears from his red eyes, looking at me, and then he ran towards me.

"Stop him!"

"Don't let Prince Baltian close to Prince Davey!"

Even so, he continued to rush powerfully.

"Huh?!"

His power was too strong to be stopped by the skilled knights.

Slice!

He cut the knights in front of him with a red sword to reach me.

"Davey!!!"

Winley, who had followed me, screamed. Everyone thought that it was too late to stop him.

"Move."

A blonde-haired girl stormed over the field, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me backward, swinging a sword at Baltian.

[Heavy sword. Splitting the Mountain.]

The girl, who looked only about 150cm-tall and holding a huge sword as tall as her, struck at him, completely changing from someone with a cold face to an insane monster.

Kuwoong!!!

Tremendous vibrations resonated out, and the stone floor, protected by magic, shook and cracked lightly. It was just one strike. However, with it, he was thrown to the ground on one knee by the girl's overwhelmingly heavy attack.

"Raauugh! Raaaaaugh!!"

Her attack made him shriek. Ileana de Palan, called the Princess of Swords, appeared with a blue air veil all over her body, staring coldly at Baltian with tightly constricted pupils.

"Vampire..."

As if there she held a grudge against vampires, she kicked him in the head. She was so fast and intense that even the knights who kept their distance to counterattack Baltian couldn't stop her. Rather, she was way more powerful than most of the knights here, so it would be more practical to help her defeat him rather than stop her.

"Raauughhh!!"

He screamed and fought back, but Princess Ileana pushed him away like a beast.

"The prince is more powerful! Help her defeat him!"

Baltian was no longer a prince, but a monster was running wild. The knights followed her and raised their swords. The wizards who were supervising the battlefield applied attack magic quickly, and the priests who were waiting for the wounded squeezed out their divine power and increased the momentum to press him down.

He wouldn't run wild anymore. Everyone thought so.

"Raaugghh!"

He pulled out a bizarre gem from his heart when she pushed him to the far end of the field.

'Blood Polis?'

It was a sanctuary for vampires. No matter what it was or what it did, my body reacted instantly. Even though Barris went out of the stadium on a stretcher, Winley was still here. As I pulled Winley reflexively toward me and focused my energy, the frightening red gem pulled out of his heart emitted a big light. It turned into a living fog and soon swallowed up its surroundings.

* * *

It didn't take much time for the wave of bloody fog to cover the entire arena. As if volcanic ash was flying from a volcanic eruption, wait a minute! At that moment, it was filled with red fog on all sides, promptly covering everything.

Only two were shining in that space where you couldn't normally even see one inch ahead. Ileana was sitting down while scattering light from her body, and I, holding Winley in my arm, made an air veil to block the fog. In other words, only the three of us were awake. If there were swordmasters, they might have been fine as well, but the Duchy of Felicity didn't have any swordmasters.

If so, what about the sword-masters in other countries?

According to the agreement of the Union of Nations, the swordmasters were considered as human weapons and weren't allowed to leave their country unless it was quite a matter of affairs. The swordmasters here were treated like knights who had mediocre proficiency that was below Princess Ileana's level. In the first place, it was unlikely that swordmasters came here since there weren't many on the continent.

"Cough, Davey?"

Winley, who was painfully breathing, looked exhausted like a person who hadn't slept for several days.

"Don't worry, Winley. Everything is okay."

"Davey..."

She couldn't even think of herself and eventually closed her eyes.

"Get some sleep, and everything will be fine after you wake up from a good dream." I spoke calmly, carefully laying her in a corner.

Then, I frowned as I stretched out my hands.

'Hurry up and move. If you're lazy, you'll be mixed up with the command mana.'

Whooooshh!

As if shrieking, a pale white light moved through my fingertips. There were three energies in me: Mana, command mana, and divine power. Each had its characteristics. Only those who had reached a certain level to communicate with mana were able to sense the change. Not only did it increase efficiency, but it also eliminated recoil and raised more power than I currently had.

This was the state of enlightenment at the very highest master level. My body currently maintained a slightly abnormal balance, though. It had been a little weird since the beginning. The word "psycho" would suit the command mana.

'Use me right now! If you don't, I'll scream!!'

The command mana had this kind of mindset. It had the fastest resilience and was also the most efficient for this reason. The other mana, in a sense, was like a sassy girl. She was difficult, but when I expressed my will, she reluctantly but elegantly moved. And, the divine power showed the worst dullness. It had a lazy nature that didn't listen to whatever I would say.

Even now, if I didn't force it to move, it wouldn't have moved. It was similar to giving a dog a treat for tricks; it only moved when there was special motivation. This was level 4 divine magic, the Shining bright protection. The impact of the Blood Polis wouldn't reach her for a while. However, I wasn't satisfied with it yet and kept using different divine magic.

"Whew..."

A sigh of relief flowed out only after a great deal of divine power escaped, and intense light covered Winley. She wasn't in pain anymore and looked healthier. Too many people in the stadium were suffering from the Blood Polis, but I didn't have time to take care of them. It was a crazy idea to apply protective magic one by one with my divine power in the first place.

My divine magic was, after all, only at level 4. Level 1 was the best, so Level 4 was not the lowest. It was quite similar to the fourth circle magic. As I looked at the two people silently, I got up slowly. Then, I looked at the blonde-hair girl grasping for her sword on one side. Her blond hair, which was bright as honey, was scattered weakly, and her face, which was beautiful enough to take away one's eyes, looked pale.

Nevertheless, the original beauty remained the same. After all, appearance mattered when it came to someone's first impression. Unfortunately, we all tended to judge a person by appearance.

"Sigh...sigh..."

I could barely endure the airflow from my body. I didn't expect her to have a stronger power beyond this. Of course, I didn't need her help. When I approached her silently and put my hand on her back, she cringed away. She was barely holding on with a half-broken giant sword, and as the mana gradually flowed in through my hand, she stopped gasping and began to breathe slowly and evenly.

"Once you feel better, step back."

"Hold on! You?!"

She realized my existence, looking up at me in amazement. There was a puzzled expression on her face.

"You...how come you are unaffected?!"

The bloody fog covering their surroundings weakened and collapsed everyone who inhaled. That included the knights with excellent skills who could manage a certain amount of mana. However, I was fine. She wasn't stupid enough not to know my situation.

The fact that I was the prince of misfortune, who fell into a coma in an accident and was unable to wake up for six years...she had probably heard about me after she came here. Still, she seemed to believe that I was a weak prince with no power after watching the whole thing at the banquet yesterday.

"Well."

"Cough! I don't know what happened, but you should step back. It's not something that you can solve."

"You don't think I can solve the situation."

"You can't resolve the situation with luck like the duel at the banquet!" She shouted urgently.

"They are the nobles of the night, the demons that remained in old books. You've probably heard of vampires."

It was more than that I heard of them. I had hundreds of thousands of fights against vampires. As I was silently listening to her, I found that she couldn't control her body. Because of this, she forced herself to lift her sword in an attempt to block me.