Chapter 135: Wiping Them Out With A Single Strike!
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Princess Qamari looked around, her expression turning grave at the mass of black-clothed men.
'They are from the Hunter Guild?'
The men were ducked in the same black uniform as the ones that attacked them in the Forbidden Zone. For them to ambush her again, the employer must have paid a considerable amount.
"Who is your employer?" Princess Qamari withdrew her golden sword and asked with a cold expression.
"Heh...Little girl, don't you know the first rule of our guild? Whether our mission ends in success or failure, our employer's name will never be revealed. Confidentiality of our employer's information is the reason why our guild is so popular." A man stepped up and scoffed.
"I know. I wanted to try my luck anyway. Now, let's battle."
Princess Qamari swung her sword and charged.
The men had come to kill her, so they wouldn't leave without accomplishing their task. Since a battle was inevitable, she would deal the first blow and grasp the upper hand.
The lead man was shocked. Normally, when they encircled a target, the target's first response was always screaming in rage, threatening with their identities, or begging for mercy and promising to pay a higher price than their employer.
Ones that took the initiative and attacked so decisively like the girl were rare.
'Is it because I'm not intimidating enough?'
His face turned dark at the thought and he roared in anger.
"Attack! Show her why we're the Hunter's Guild!"
"Attack!"
"Kill her, get the price money!"
Vigorous cheers and cold hollers resounded in the valley as over a thousand men charged murderously towards the fragile-looking, lone girl.
Killing intent surged through the men's eyes, their weapons, infused with magic, created wind blades that raised rock and debris flying in the air. As they roared, they slashed their weapons down, aiming at Princess Qamari's vital points from every direction.
Princess Qamari's expression did not change a flicker, her cold eyes swirling with a silver light as she floated in the center of the sky and twirled Skyler.
Hummm!
Brimming with her level 1 Stage 3 elemental energy, Skyler's sword light expanded to three times its original size, spanning as long as wide as 6 feet and as long as 36 feet. As Princess Qamari rotated the golden sword, a cage of golden radiance took shape around.
Boom!
Dust flew and bodies went sailing through the sky. The golden cage repelled the attacks of the thousand men and sent them flying with rebound force. As the dust settled, Princess Qamari's unscathed and clean figure was revealed.
"Da**! How is this possible!? How can she repel all their attack!?
He clearly remembered how the girl and her friend schemed to get the Assistant Leader killed. At that time, they underestimated the two as, well they were younger and therefore they deemed them inexperienced, and it resulted in the death of the Assistant Leader.
But this time, even after seeing that she was alone and her friend wasn't with her, the lead man hadn't underestimated her.
He sent his entire team loose on a single opponent, to shamelessly attack one girl, but the result?
Their complete and utter defeat...
Complete defeat in the hands of a single girl.
"How is this possible...how is...could it be!?" As he whispered incoherently, his gaze fell on the sword in her hand, and instantly, his eyes flared with a greedy light.
"That must be it! It's the sword in her hand! Hahaha....a spiritual weapon! I actually encountered a client with a spiritual weapon! Hahaha..."
Laughing uproariously, the shock and fear disappeared from the man's face as he gazed greedily at the sword in Princess Qamari's hand.
His target had already changed.
"I will kill the girl if I can, but I no longer care whether she lives or dies. As long as I get the spiritual weapon in her hand, I will flee from this place. With a spiritual weapon in hand, why will I fear getting hunted by the Hunter's Guild?" Sweeping his gaze over the dazed and stunned men, the lead men breathed deeply and restored his composure.
He couldn't allow them to notice the peculiarity of the sword until he had it in his grasp...
"Men, attack! No matter what, we must kill her today, otherwise, it'll be us that'll face the gates of Nar!"
"Yes, we can't be down from a girl, otherwise the Hunter Guild's reputation will be dragged in the mud."
"I don't believe I can't handle a little girl! She was just lucky on her first strike!"
Embarrassed at getting struck down on the first clash and regaining their will to battle thanks to the lead man's words, the motivated men in black returned to their feet with their weapons tightly clenched in their hands.
From their fierce and ruthless expressions, it was evident they desired to battle to the death. The shame of being struck down with one clash could only be cleared with their enemy's death.
"Yahhhhhh!"
Roaring with battle intent, the group of black-clothed men rushed towards the girl again.
Princess Qamari watched them charge with a cold expression. Her first human kill was the village head, her second being the Assistant Leader. The first kill was always the most difficult. And after Princess Qamari overcame it, it wasn't as difficult or traumatizing to deal the second kill.
Maybe it was also due to the fact the man came with the intention to reap her life, or that he himself was already covered in blood, or the descent of the Ice Cyclone had distracted her from the incident until she fainted.
Either way, after killing the Assistant Leader, she felt no remorse, regret, or guilt.
Now, when she had swung that earlier strike, it wasn't meant to only defend against their attack, it was also meant as a warning. With that one strike, she only threw them back and sent their weapons flying.
She didn't take their life.
Because as much as they wanted to kill her, she wanted to give them a chance to live. She didn't kill them when she could've easily done so, because she wanted to give them the chance to retreat on their own and preserve their lives.
But it seems her kindness was not appreciated.
"Heh...Skyler, let's dance!"
"Yes, Princess!" The sword hummed in response, excitement brimming off its golden surface.
With a cold sneer in her eyes, Princess Qamari leaped into the air.
She was a level 1 Stage 3 elemental magician now. Taking care of small fries like level 1 stage 1 failed magicians was as easy as lifting a finger.
Holding Skyler right-side-up, Princess Qamari closed her eyes and channeled her elemental energy. Her Realm Heart throbbed, excitedly flushing floods of elemental light energy that flowed through her veins into the golden sword.
As if a beacon of light, the golden sword flared with creamy, snow-white light from the center out, engulfing the place in a blinding, pure light.
Princess Qamari's closed eyes snapped open. A radiant, bright flare shut out from her violet-silver orbs and illuminated the region, and raised Skyler's brilliance.
Swinging the golden-white sword in a right and left stroke, she brought it down the center. A soundless, deafening ring resounded, and for a split second, time seemed to freeze as everything within a mile radius went still.
Princess Qamari watched with emotionless, cold eyes as every man, rock, debris, and fly froze and floated in the air like lifeless puppets. From the clothes on the body of the men, the color and texture of the floating flies and bugs, to the bumps and cracks in the rocks...
She was able to see everything as if viewing the entire image through a magnifying glass.
The instant the mirage shattered, blood rained.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Ahhhhh!
Like the descent of the apocalypse, shrill cries and frightened screams and enraged shrieks resounded. As severed limbs and decapitated heads flew through the air, the valley of rocks resonated with the melody of death.
By the time the dust settled and the horrific screams receded, the valley was dyed a crimson red.
With a single strike, Princess Qamari had wiped out the entire group of over a thousand men.
She expressionlessly swept her eyes over the ruins and gore, before turning and flashing into the distance.
She had given them a chance. It was them that had refused to appreciate.
On the other side, with the help of Black Serpent, Crown Prince Lail returned to Laining City in a day and night. As he walked through the stone mansion and listlessly passed through the stone halls, his mind returned to the white-clothed woman.
For some reason, the moment he separated from the woman, he had been feeling low and empty, as if an essential part of himself went missing.
'What nonsense! How could she be an essential part of me?' Roughly shaking his head, the Crown Prince looked up and saw the room reserved for his stay. With a few strides, he arrived before the door and banged open.
Bang!
After securing the lock behind him, he went to the only work table and sat down. He took his gruesome mask off and ran his hand over his sweat-coated face.
"Princess, do you see all the pain I'm going through to remain loyal to you?"
A teasing, satisfied smirk appeared on his lips as he recalled his wife. For her, he was willing to endure anything. His hand paused as Laila's face replaced his wife's. As if under a bewildering spell, the Crown Prince hurriedly dropped his mask, and dug under his robes.
Magical Stones, bug repellents, and other miscellaneous items sprawled across the table until he finally found what he was looking for.
It was a portrait of a woman.
More specifically, a portrait of his wife, Princess Qamari.
Crown Prince Lail carefully unfolded the portrait, his actions cautious and his expression serious, as if the object in his hands wasn't a cheap image but a priceless treasure. Just before his departure from the Amayan Empire, he had lowered his pride and bowed his head to get the Old Oracle to engrave an image of his wife on parchment for him.
He was afraid, that with the passage of time, the image in his head would become blurry, and the one in his heart would turn dim with the presence of greater temptation.
Crown Prince Lail admitted that he was a human. And as a human, no matter how firm his convictions and how deep his sentiments were, he would never allow himself to fall under the impression that he was infallible.
After all, it's because he's human that he was bound to make mistakes. And it was to prevent such mistakes from occurring that he kept his wife's portrait close to his heart.
Now, as he withdrew that same parchment, his hands couldn't help but tremble from the turbulent waves surging in his heart.
'Could it be...'
As the image unfolded, his sight instantly fell on the eyes of the veiled woman.
"This...isn't this semblance too uncanny...?"
The portrait was in black and white, re-imaged directly from his mind by a spell. The woman, supposed to be in red-purple robes appeared as if she was in black-white robes. Her black hair was braided up with the rest falling behind her.
But the most unsettling part of the entire image was her eyes.
Normally purple, in the image they were grey.
And those grey orbs made his heart pound as various thoughts and scenarios raced through his mind.
Bang!
The chair fell backward as the Crown Prince pushed out of his seat and paced the room in great agitation.
"It's possible...after all, I left the academy wearing a mask...so why won't she change her clothes...?"
"There are also the emotions I felt in her presence! Those emotions...I only ever felt it for my wife!"
"And...and her eyes and voice and presence...and the way she talks....they all match Qamari's!"
"Moreover, if Qamari is as powerful a magician as me...then performing a few spells to change her hair and eye color wouldn't be a problem!"
"Da**! Why didn't I think of this earlier!? Why didn't the thought of her changing appearance ever occur to me!?"
Crown Prince Lail slapped his forehead and turned, kicking the door out as if his body was on fire.
Boom!
"What is that sound?"
"It sounds like the crash of a door...?"
"It's not like the crash of a door! It is the crash of a door! The apprentice in the north just kicked his open!"
"What the realms!? Why would he do that? What's going on? Are we under attack?"
The neighboring inhabitants rushed out in a fluster, frightened out of their minds by the deafening explosion. Afraid they were under attack, they held their weapons before their bodies as they scanned their surroundings.
"Who? Who is attacking?"
But what answered them was a violent gust of wind and flying rubble.
With an explosive jump, Crown Prince Lail leaped into the air and brought out Black Serpent. Landing on the giant Spirit Beast's back, he raced towards the Bansi Village in great agitation; his heart soaring and his eyes blazing.
"Wife, wait for me! I am coming!"
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Princess Qamari looked around, her expression turning grave at the mass of black-clothed men.
'They are from the Hunter Guild?'
The men were ducked in the same black uniform as the ones that attacked them in the Forbidden Zone. For them to ambush her again, the employer must have paid a considerable amount.
"Who is your employer?" Princess Qamari withdrew her golden sword and asked with a cold expression.
"Heh...Little girl, don't you know the first rule of our guild? Whether our mission ends in success or failure, our employer's name will never be revealed. Confidentiality of our employer's information is the reason why our guild is so popular." A man stepped up and scoffed.
"I know. I wanted to try my luck anyway. Now, let's battle."
Princess Qamari swung her sword and charged.
The men had come to kill her, so they wouldn't leave without accomplishing their task. Since a battle was inevitable, she would deal the first blow and grasp the upper hand.
The lead man was shocked. Normally, when they encircled a target, the target's first response was always screaming in rage, threatening with their identities, or begging for mercy and promising to pay a higher price than their employer.
Ones that took the initiative and attacked so decisively like the girl were rare.
'Is it because I'm not intimidating enough?'
His face turned dark at the thought and he roared in anger.
"Attack! Show her why we're the Hunter's Guild!"
"Attack!"
"Kill her, get the price money!"
Vigorous cheers and cold hollers resounded in the valley as over a thousand men charged murderously towards the fragile-looking, lone girl.
Killing intent surged through the men's eyes, their weapons, infused with magic, created wind blades that raised rock and debris flying in the air. As they roared, they slashed their weapons down, aiming at Princess Qamari's vital points from every direction.
Princess Qamari's expression did not change a flicker, her cold eyes swirling with a silver light as she floated in the center of the sky and twirled Skyler.
Hummm!
Brimming with her level 1 Stage 3 elemental energy, Skyler's sword light expanded to three times its original size, spanning as long as wide as 6 feet and as long as 36 feet. As Princess Qamari rotated the golden sword, a cage of golden radiance took shape around.
Boom!
Dust flew and bodies went sailing through the sky. The golden cage repelled the attacks of the thousand men and sent them flying with rebound force. As the dust settled, Princess Qamari's unscathed and clean figure was revealed.
"Da**! How is this possible!? How can she repel all their attack!?
He clearly remembered how the girl and her friend schemed to get the Assistant Leader killed. At that time, they underestimated the two as, well they were younger and therefore they deemed them inexperienced, and it resulted in the death of the Assistant Leader.
But this time, even after seeing that she was alone and her friend wasn't with her, the lead man hadn't underestimated her.
He sent his entire team loose on a single opponent, to shamelessly attack one girl, but the result?
Their complete and utter defeat...
Complete defeat in the hands of a single girl.
"How is this possible...how is...could it be!?" As he whispered incoherently, his gaze fell on the sword in her hand, and instantly, his eyes flared with a greedy light.
"That must be it! It's the sword in her hand! Hahaha....a spiritual weapon! I actually encountered a client with a spiritual weapon! Hahaha..."
Laughing uproariously, the shock and fear disappeared from the man's face as he gazed greedily at the sword in Princess Qamari's hand.
His target had already changed.
"I will kill the girl if I can, but I no longer care whether she lives or dies. As long as I get the spiritual weapon in her hand, I will flee from this place. With a spiritual weapon in hand, why will I fear getting hunted by the Hunter's Guild?" Sweeping his gaze over the dazed and stunned men, the lead men breathed deeply and restored his composure.
He couldn't allow them to notice the peculiarity of the sword until he had it in his grasp...
"Men, attack! No matter what, we must kill her today, otherwise, it'll be us that'll face the gates of Nar!"
"Yes, we can't be down from a girl, otherwise the Hunter Guild's reputation will be dragged in the mud."
"I don't believe I can't handle a little girl! She was just lucky on her first strike!"
Embarrassed at getting struck down on the first clash and regaining their will to battle thanks to the lead man's words, the motivated men in black returned to their feet with their weapons tightly clenched in their hands.
From their fierce and ruthless expressions, it was evident they desired to battle to the death. The shame of being struck down with one clash could only be cleared with their enemy's death.
"Yahhhhhh!"
Roaring with battle intent, the group of black-clothed men rushed towards the girl again.
Princess Qamari watched them charge with a cold expression. Her first human kill was the village head, her second being the Assistant Leader. The first kill was always the most difficult. And after Princess Qamari overcame it, it wasn't as difficult or traumatizing to deal the second kill.
Maybe it was also due to the fact the man came with the intention to reap her life, or that he himself was already covered in blood, or the descent of the Ice Cyclone had distracted her from the incident until she fainted.
Either way, after killing the Assistant Leader, she felt no remorse, regret, or guilt.
Now, when she had swung that earlier strike, it wasn't meant to only defend against their attack, it was also meant as a warning. With that one strike, she only threw them back and sent their weapons flying.
She didn't take their life.
Because as much as they wanted to kill her, she wanted to give them a chance to live. She didn't kill them when she could've easily done so, because she wanted to give them the chance to retreat on their own and preserve their lives.
But it seems her kindness was not appreciated.
"Heh...Skyler, let's dance!"
"Yes, Princess!" The sword hummed in response, excitement brimming off its golden surface.
With a cold sneer in her eyes, Princess Qamari leaped into the air.
She was a level 1 Stage 3 elemental magician now. Taking care of small fries like level 1 stage 1 failed magicians was as easy as lifting a finger.
Holding Skyler right-side-up, Princess Qamari closed her eyes and channeled her elemental energy. Her Realm Heart throbbed, excitedly flushing floods of elemental light energy that flowed through her veins into the golden sword.
As if a beacon of light, the golden sword flared with creamy, snow-white light from the center out, engulfing the place in a blinding, pure light.
Princess Qamari's closed eyes snapped open. A radiant, bright flare shut out from her violet-silver orbs and illuminated the region, and raised Skyler's brilliance.
Swinging the golden-white sword in a right and left stroke, she brought it down the center. A soundless, deafening ring resounded, and for a split second, time seemed to freeze as everything within a mile radius went still.
Princess Qamari watched with emotionless, cold eyes as every man, rock, debris, and fly froze and floated in the air like lifeless puppets. From the clothes on the body of the men, the color and texture of the floating flies and bugs, to the bumps and cracks in the rocks...
She was able to see everything as if viewing the entire image through a magnifying glass.
The instant the mirage shattered, blood rained.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Ahhhhh!
Like the descent of the apocalypse, shrill cries and frightened screams and enraged shrieks resounded. As severed limbs and decapitated heads flew through the air, the valley of rocks resonated with the melody of death.
By the time the dust settled and the horrific screams receded, the valley was dyed a crimson red.
With a single strike, Princess Qamari had wiped out the entire group of over a thousand men.
She expressionlessly swept her eyes over the ruins and gore, before turning and flashing into the distance.
She had given them a chance. It was them that had refused to appreciate.
On the other side, with the help of Black Serpent, Crown Prince Lail returned to Laining City in a day and night. As he walked through the stone mansion and listlessly passed through the stone halls, his mind returned to the white-clothed woman.
For some reason, the moment he separated from the woman, he had been feeling low and empty, as if an essential part of himself went missing.
'What nonsense! How could she be an essential part of me?' Roughly shaking his head, the Crown Prince looked up and saw the room reserved for his stay. With a few strides, he arrived before the door and banged open.
Bang!
After securing the lock behind him, he went to the only work table and sat down. He took his gruesome mask off and ran his hand over his sweat-coated face.
"Princess, do you see all the pain I'm going through to remain loyal to you?"
A teasing, satisfied smirk appeared on his lips as he recalled his wife. For her, he was willing to endure anything. His hand paused as Laila's face replaced his wife's. As if under a bewildering spell, the Crown Prince hurriedly dropped his mask, and dug under his robes.
Magical Stones, bug repellents, and other miscellaneous items sprawled across the table until he finally found what he was looking for.
It was a portrait of a woman.
More specifically, a portrait of his wife, Princess Qamari.
Crown Prince Lail carefully unfolded the portrait, his actions cautious and his expression serious, as if the object in his hands wasn't a cheap image but a priceless treasure. Just before his departure from the Amayan Empire, he had lowered his pride and bowed his head to get the Old Oracle to engrave an image of his wife on parchment for him.
He was afraid, that with the passage of time, the image in his head would become blurry, and the one in his heart would turn dim with the presence of greater temptation.
Crown Prince Lail admitted that he was a human. And as a human, no matter how firm his convictions and how deep his sentiments were, he would never allow himself to fall under the impression that he was infallible.
After all, it's because he's human that he was bound to make mistakes. And it was to prevent such mistakes from occurring that he kept his wife's portrait close to his heart.
Now, as he withdrew that same parchment, his hands couldn't help but tremble from the turbulent waves surging in his heart.
'Could it be...'
As the image unfolded, his sight instantly fell on the eyes of the veiled woman.
"This...isn't this semblance too uncanny...?"
The portrait was in black and white, re-imaged directly from his mind by a spell. The woman, supposed to be in red-purple robes appeared as if she was in black-white robes. Her black hair was braided up with the rest falling behind her.
But the most unsettling part of the entire image was her eyes.
Normally purple, in the image they were grey.
And those grey orbs made his heart pound as various thoughts and scenarios raced through his mind.
Bang!
The chair fell backward as the Crown Prince pushed out of his seat and paced the room in great agitation.
"It's possible...after all, I left the academy wearing a mask...so why won't she change her clothes...?"
"There are also the emotions I felt in her presence! Those emotions...I only ever felt it for my wife!"
"And...and her eyes and voice and presence...and the way she talks....they all match Qamari's!"
"Moreover, if Qamari is as powerful a magician as me...then performing a few spells to change her hair and eye color wouldn't be a problem!"
"Da**! Why didn't I think of this earlier!? Why didn't the thought of her changing appearance ever occur to me!?"
Crown Prince Lail slapped his forehead and turned, kicking the door out as if his body was on fire.
Boom!
"What is that sound?"
"It sounds like the crash of a door...?"
"It's not like the crash of a door! It is the crash of a door! The apprentice in the north just kicked his open!"
"What the realms!? Why would he do that? What's going on? Are we under attack?"
The neighboring inhabitants rushed out in a fluster, frightened out of their minds by the deafening explosion. Afraid they were under attack, they held their weapons before their bodies as they scanned their surroundings.
"Who? Who is attacking?"
But what answered them was a violent gust of wind and flying rubble.
With an explosive jump, Crown Prince Lail leaped into the air and brought out Black Serpent. Landing on the giant Spirit Beast's back, he raced towards the Bansi Village in great agitation; his heart soaring and his eyes blazing.
"Wife, wait for me! I am coming!"
Princess Qamari looked around, her expression turning grave at the mass of black-clothed men.'They are from the Hunter Guild?'The men were ducked in the same black uniform as the ones that attacked them in the Forbidden Zone. For them to ambush her again, the employer must have paid a considerable amount."Who is your employer?" Princess Qamari withdrew her golden sword and asked with a cold expression."Heh...Little girl, don't you know the first rule of our guild? Whether our mission ends in success or failure, our employer's name will never be revealed. Confidentiality of our employer's information is the reason why our guild is so popular." A man stepped up and scoffed."I know. I wanted to try my luck anyway. Now, let's battle."Princess Qamari swung her sword and charged.The men had come to kill her, so they wouldn't leave without accomplishing their task. Since a battle was inevitable, she would deal the first blow and grasp the upper hand.The lead man was shocked. Normally, when they encircled a target, the target's first response was always screaming in rage, threatening with their identities, or begging for mercy and promising to pay a higher price than their employer.Ones that took the initiative and attacked so decisively like the girl were rare. 'Is it because I'm not intimidating enough?'His face turned dark at the thought and he roared in anger."Attack! Show her why we're the Hunter's Guild!""Attack!""Kill her, get the price money!"Vigorous cheers and cold hollers resounded in the valley as over a thousand men charged murderously towards the fragile-looking, lone girl.Killing intent surged through the men's eyes, their weapons, infused with magic, created wind blades that raised rock and debris flying in the air. As they roared, they slashed their weapons down, aiming at Princess Qamari's vital points from every direction.Princess Qamari's expression did not change a flicker, her cold eyes swirling with a silver light as she floated in the center of the sky and twirled Skyler. Hummm!Brimming with her level 1 Stage 3 elemental energy, Skyler's sword light expanded to three times its original size, spanning as long as wide as 6 feet and as long as 36 feet. As Princess Qamari rotated the golden sword, a cage of golden radiance took shape around.Boom!Dust flew and bodies went sailing through the sky. The golden cage repelled the attacks of the thousand men and sent them flying with rebound force. As the dust settled, Princess Qamari's unscathed and clean figure was revealed."Da**! How is this possible!? How can she repel all their attack!?He clearly remembered how the girl and her friend schemed to get the Assistant Leader killed. At that time, they underestimated the two as, well they were younger and therefore they deemed them inexperienced, and it resulted in the death of the Assistant Leader.But this time, even after seeing that she was alone and her friend wasn't with her, the lead man hadn't underestimated her.He sent his entire team loose on a single opponent, to shamelessly attack one girl, but the result?Their complete and utter defeat...Complete defeat in the hands of a single girl."How is this possible...how is...could it be!?" As he whispered incoherently, his gaze fell on the sword in her hand, and instantly, his eyes flared with a greedy light."That must be it! It's the sword in her hand! Hahaha....a spiritual weapon! I actually encountered a client with a spiritual weapon! Hahaha..."Laughing uproariously, the shock and fear disappeared from the man's face as he gazed greedily at the sword in Princess Qamari's hand. His target had already changed."I will kill the girl if I can, but I no longer care whether she lives or dies. As long as I get the spiritual weapon in her hand, I will flee from this place. With a spiritual weapon in hand, why will I fear getting hunted by the Hunter's Guild?" Sweeping his gaze over the dazed and stunned men, the lead men breathed deeply and restored his composure.He couldn't allow them to notice the peculiarity of the sword until he had it in his grasp..."Men, attack! No matter what, we must kill her today, otherwise, it'll be us that'll face the gates of Nar!""Yes, we can't be down from a girl, otherwise the Hunter Guild's reputation will be dragged in the mud.""I don't believe I can't handle a little girl! She was just lucky on her first strike!"Embarrassed at getting struck down on the first clash and regaining their will to battle thanks to the lead man's words, the motivated men in black returned to their feet with their weapons tightly clenched in their hands.From their fierce and ruthless expressions, it was evident they desired to battle to the death. The shame of being struck down with one clash could only be cleared with their enemy's death."Yahhhhhh!"Roaring with battle intent, the group of black-clothed men rushed towards the girl again.Princess Qamari watched them charge with a cold expression. Her first human kill was the village head, her second being the Assistant Leader. The first kill was always the most difficult. And after Princess Qamari overcame it, it wasn't as difficult or traumatizing to deal the second kill.Maybe it was also due to the fact the man came with the intention to reap her life, or that he himself was already covered in blood, or the descent of the Ice Cyclone had distracted her from the incident until she fainted.Either way, after killing the Assistant Leader, she felt no remorse, regret, or guilt.Now, when she had swung that earlier strike, it wasn't meant to only defend against their attack, it was also meant as a warning. With that one strike, she only threw them back and sent their weapons flying. She didn't take their life.Because as much as they wanted to kill her, she wanted to give them a chance to live. She didn't kill them when she could've easily done so, because she wanted to give them the chance to retreat on their own and preserve their lives.But it seems her kindness was not appreciated."Heh...Skyler, let's dance!""Yes, Princess!" The sword hummed in response, excitement brimming off its golden surface.With a cold sneer in her eyes, Princess Qamari leaped into the air.She was a level 1 Stage 3 elemental magician now. Taking care of small fries like level 1 stage 1 failed magicians was as easy as lifting a finger.Holding Skyler right-side-up, Princess Qamari closed her eyes and channeled her elemental energy. Her Realm Heart throbbed, excitedly flushing floods of elemental light energy that flowed through her veins into the golden sword.As if a beacon of light, the golden sword flared with creamy, snow-white light from the center out, engulfing the place in a blinding, pure light.Princess Qamari's closed eyes snapped open. A radiant, bright flare shut out from her violet-silver orbs and illuminated the region, and raised Skyler's brilliance. Swinging the golden-white sword in a right and left stroke, she brought it down the center. A soundless, deafening ring resounded, and for a split second, time seemed to freeze as everything within a mile radius went still.Princess Qamari watched with emotionless, cold eyes as every man, rock, debris, and fly froze and floated in the air like lifeless puppets. From the clothes on the body of the men, the color and texture of the floating flies and bugs, to the bumps and cracks in the rocks...She was able to see everything as if viewing the entire image through a magnifying glass.The instant the mirage shattered, blood rained.Boom!Boom!Boom!Ahhhhh!Like the descent of the apocalypse, shrill cries and frightened screams and enraged shrieks resounded. As severed limbs and decapitated heads flew through the air, the valley of rocks resonated with the melody of death.By the time the dust settled and the horrific screams receded, the valley was dyed a crimson red.With a single strike, Princess Qamari had wiped out the entire group of over a thousand men.She expressionlessly swept her eyes over the ruins and gore, before turning and flashing into the distance.She had given them a chance. It was them that had refused to appreciate.On the other side, with the help of Black Serpent, Crown Prince Lail returned to Laining City in a day and night. As he walked through the stone mansion and listlessly passed through the stone halls, his mind returned to the white-clothed woman.For some reason, the moment he separated from the woman, he had been feeling low and empty, as if an essential part of himself went missing.'What nonsense! How could she be an essential part of me?' Roughly shaking his head, the Crown Prince looked up and saw the room reserved for his stay. With a few strides, he arrived before the door and banged open.Bang!After securing the lock behind him, he went to the only work table and sat down. He took his gruesome mask off and ran his hand over his sweat-coated face."Princess, do you see all the pain I'm going through to remain loyal to you?"A teasing, satisfied smirk appeared on his lips as he recalled his wife. For her, he was willing to endure anything. His hand paused as Laila's face replaced his wife's. As if under a bewildering spell, the Crown Prince hurriedly dropped his mask, and dug under his robes.Magical Stones, bug repellents, and other miscellaneous items sprawled across the table until he finally found what he was looking for.It was a portrait of a woman.More specifically, a portrait of his wife, Princess Qamari.Crown Prince Lail carefully unfolded the portrait, his actions cautious and his expression serious, as if the object in his hands wasn't a cheap image but a priceless treasure. Just before his departure from the Amayan Empire, he had lowered his pride and bowed his head to get the Old Oracle to engrave an image of his wife on parchment for him.He was afraid, that with the passage of time, the image in his head would become blurry, and the one in his heart would turn dim with the presence of greater temptation. Crown Prince Lail admitted that he was a human. And as a human, no matter how firm his convictions and how deep his sentiments were, he would never allow himself to fall under the impression that he was infallible. After all, it's because he's human that he was bound to make mistakes. And it was to prevent such mistakes from occurring that he kept his wife's portrait close to his heart.Now, as he withdrew that same parchment, his hands couldn't help but tremble from the turbulent waves surging in his heart.'Could it be...'As the image unfolded, his sight instantly fell on the eyes of the veiled woman."This...isn't this semblance too uncanny...?"The portrait was in black and white, re-imaged directly from his mind by a spell. The woman, supposed to be in red-purple robes appeared as if she was in black-white robes. Her black hair was braided up with the rest falling behind her.But the most unsettling part of the entire image was her eyes.Normally purple, in the image they were grey.And those grey orbs made his heart pound as various thoughts and scenarios raced through his mind.Bang!The chair fell backward as the Crown Prince pushed out of his seat and paced the room in great agitation."It's possible...after all, I left the academy wearing a mask...so why won't she change her clothes...?""There are also the emotions I felt in her presence! Those emotions...I only ever felt it for my wife!""And...and her eyes and voice and presence...and the way she talks....they all match Qamari's!""Moreover, if Qamari is as powerful a magician as me...then performing a few spells to change her hair and eye color wouldn't be a problem!""Da**! Why didn't I think of this earlier!? Why didn't the thought of her changing appearance ever occur to me!?"Crown Prince Lail slapped his forehead and turned, kicking the door out as if his body was on fire. Boom!"What is that sound?""It sounds like the crash of a door...?""It's not like the crash of a door! It is the crash of a door! The apprentice in the north just kicked his open!""What the realms!? Why would he do that? What's going on? Are we under attack?"The neighboring inhabitants rushed out in a fluster, frightened out of their minds by the deafening explosion. Afraid they were under attack, they held their weapons before their bodies as they scanned their surroundings."Who? Who is attacking?"But what answered them was a violent gust of wind and flying rubble.With an explosive jump, Crown Prince Lail leaped into the air and brought out Black Serpent. Landing on the giant Spirit Beast's back, he raced towards the Bansi Village in great agitation; his heart soaring and his eyes blazing."Wife, wait for me! I am coming!"
