Chapter 30
Sera Betella.
A master-level practitioner and aide to the Fourth Princess Sizelry Ephania, she was furrowing her brows over yesterday’s events.
The informants she had planted in the palace had either been bribed or were only receiving faulty information.
‘What the—’
Despite Sera’s threats, those who had been bought off didn’t open their mouths.
They merely kept repeating that they had no choice.
‘They even dared to mention the palace directly? What is going on?’
Sera swallowed hard.
‘Then it means someone even higher than the Fourth Princess must have given the order.’
There were few people in this empire who held greater authority than Sizelry.
As she recalled those figures, Sera frowned even deeper.
‘Why would they target the Fourth Princess?’
Sizelry often acted like a mischievous brat to distance herself from the throne disputes.
That’s why her other siblings hadn’t bothered to keep tabs on her, so Sera couldn’t comprehend why this was happening now.
‘Can I manage to protect her by myself?’
Sizelry was sharp-witted.
She had taken care not to create any unnecessary defenses, relying on the bare minimum to protect herself.
To her, the best defense was to hold nothing at all.
That’s why Sera bore a heavy sense of duty in protecting Sizelry.
Her mother worrying about her and pleading the Emperor to appoint a master-level practitioner like herself as her aide wasn’t for nothing.
And now, that very person was being targeted.
By wolves lurking in the tiger’s den.
In front of that wolf, Sizelry appeared as nothing more than a weak lamb.
A lamb that could be torn apart at any moment.
Sera was that lamb’s horn.
The only means of protection, but far too small compared to the palace.
“Haa…”
A long sigh escaped her lips.
Starting with the Second Prince’s absorption of the Night Crow, there had been considerable friction between the First and Second Princes lately.
And then there were Sizelry’s strange actions as well.
Everything, from one to ten, was fishy.
She was well-suited for wielding a sword, but when it came to thinking, she was far from it.
That’s why she had directly spoken to Sizelry.
Yet, Sizelry had only sunk deep in thought.
And then had told her not to do anything for now.
Just casually suggested that she protect her own body, which was such a ridiculous piece of advice.
“What are you seeing all alone again?”
It would be nice if she could at least share with her only retainer, but Sizelry, being as clever as she was, often preferred to subtly manipulate the actions of others rather than explain her own thoughts.
The problem was that the person targeted by that manipulation was utterly baffled.
Knock knock—
At that moment, a sound suddenly echoed from the window.
When Sera turned her head, she saw a crow perched there.
“This girl is…?”
Sera had a memory of that crow.
It was none other than the crow belonging to the boy Sizelry had shown interest in recently.
‘The Night Crow.’
The moment she saw the crow, Sera thought that, but she shook her head.
Sizelry had asserted that he wasn’t the Night Crow, so that boy must not be either.
How did such a crow even know her location?
He was just as inscrutable as Sizelry.
Caw caw—
She decided to open the window for confirmation.
The crow cleverly walked inside and opened its mouth.
“Sera Betella.”
Squeak!
Sera’s face stiffened at that moment.
She hadn’t expected the crow to speak.
A smirk danced around the crow’s beak.
It was the first time she had seen a crow smile.
“I’ll lend you some of my immortality in exchange for your life force. So play dead.”
As those words hit her ears, she suddenly realized darkness was flooding her vision.
“Wha—!?”
Her sight abruptly vanished, and she involuntarily swallowed hard before collapsing to the floor.
It was the sudden darkness that disrupted her sense of balance.
She couldn’t react at all; something had happened to her.
‘What the hell was that?’
Her tense body drew her sword in preparation while she focused on any signs beyond the darkness.
As she was dripping with cold sweat, her vision gradually began to return.
Unbeknownst to her, the black star in her eyes gathered and then disappeared.
“…!”
Sera quickly lifted her head.
But the crow that had been at the window had long since vanished.
What exactly had just happened to her?
A quest for answers filled her mind when—
Crumble!
Suddenly, the ceiling above her collapsed.
As a golden aura illuminated the space through the gap, Sera’s body reacted swiftly, swinging her sword upwards with all her might.
Clang!
Sera’s sword collided with a spear, and the ensuing force turned everything around them into chaos.
The aura clashed, sending furniture flying and even shattering the windows.
But there was no time to worry about that.
As the dust from the fallen ceiling swirled, another spear shot up.
Sera hastily adjusted her stance and clashed with the incoming spear.
However, the force felt far greater than she had anticipated.
“Ugh!?”
In an instant, the barrage of spears forced Sera back against the wall, her eyes wide with shock.
She never expected to be pushed back in raw power.
After all, she had reached the mastery level.
Yet here she was, being overwhelmed.
That meant her opponent was also a master-level practitioner.
‘Who the hell are you?’
There might be quite a few master-level players, but ultimately they couldn’t exceed a thousand globally.
Naturally, she would know anyone at the master level in the empire.
As her gaze caught sight of the opponent through the dust, Sera’s eyes widened in surprise.
There stood a woman in her twenties with black hair.
With long, flowing hair and sharp eyes along with a curvy figure, she was calmly glaring at Sera.
“You.”
Sera realized her identity and was taken aback.
Mary Diana, the daughter of the illustrious Diana family that was known as the spear candidates of the empire.
But the shock wasn’t just about her identity.
It was because her prowess was considerably superior to Sera’s.
She was still underage!
A master at such a young age?
Wasn’t that the level of talent also claimed by the empire’s rival, Valheim?
Moreover, Sera was sure the Mary she knew wasn’t at this level of expertise.
‘Was she hiding her strength all along?’
Sera urgently parried the spear that came flying at her once again.
Each thrust bore tremendous power.
It might even be stronger than her own.
At that moment, Sera’s gaze hardened.
Diana or not, it didn’t matter.
If she didn’t fight at full strength, her life was on the line.
As Sizelry’s only sword, she couldn’t afford to die here.
Boom!
In a flash, the crumbled barrier exploded, sending Sera rolling across the ground.
Simultaneously, a red aura seeped from her sword, and Sera’s eyes began to take on a fierce glint.
She was about to unleash her Light Blade.
As the battle dragged on, the aura coursing through her body extracted power beyond her limits.
That was the Rampant Transformation she had mastered.
Once activated, it would lead to severe strain on her body, but there was no time to focus on that.
Whoosh!
At that moment, her opponent seemingly acknowledged the threat, seeking to finish the fight quickly with a flurry of spears.
The golden-hued spear swooshed through the air, just barely dodged by Sera.
‘No way can I let this strike me!’
Thus, she would strain her body, pulling the Rampant Transformation all the more.
Crack!
With that clash, blood poured down from the corner of Sera’s mouth.
At the same time, her muscles bulged like a beast as her clothes ripped apart.
In tandem with explosive power, her sword surged toward Mary.
The Rampant Transformation.
Now was the moment for the Blood Rage Release.
Clang!
Sera found herself frozen in place.
Drip, drip—
At the same moment, blood gushed from her mouth.
Sera’s eyes trembled violently.
It was because her heart had been penetrated by the spear.
She hadn’t seen the spear’s movements at all.
‘Gah, kill!’
She realized that the force that pierced her was a skill.
It was Mary’s skill, Accel.
A skill that drastically heightened physical speed.
“So, it was this much…”
Although she had heard about Mary’s skill, she never imagined it could attain this level, to the point where even her Rampant Transformation couldn’t keep up.
Meeting a master-level foe, Accel exhibited its absurd capabilities.
Sera was certain of one thing.
If she kept growing and reached the next stage beyond master level, the Emperor level, there would be no one in the world capable of stopping her spear.
“Sera Betella, rejoice in dying for the empire.”
As her vision blurred and blood cascaded down, Mary’s voice echoed in her ears.
Simultaneously, Sera recalled the crow’s earlier words.
‘Play dead, huh?’
Now she was truly dead.
And with that, Sera’s consciousness flickered out.
＊ ＊ ＊
Piercing through Sera’s heart, realizing that she had ceased to breathe, Mary withdrew her spear.
Catching Sera’s collapsing body in her arms, she let out a sigh.
Though her body felt a bit achy from using Accel, it was still bearable.
While she might not have reached her previous level, enduring this was a must when facing another master-level practitioner.
‘Has it really been a year since I received this memory transfer?’
After her memories were transmitted, she immediately joined up with her closest companion, Sigrid.
Fortunately, Sigrid’s own memory transfer had gone quite well.
The two hastily sought out Arthur.
After all, they wanted to find their beloved hero and protect the world together.
However, for some reason, Arthur was nowhere to be found.
It had been just that night when he had asserted he would wait at the location where he had reincarnated.
‘Where on earth has Arthur gone?’
Mary bit her lip in frustration.
Despite searching the entire empire for days, Arthur was nowhere to be seen.
Moreover, for some inexplicable reason, Abella was also missing.
When she inquired about the Red Magic Tower, they reported that even the tower had suddenly lost its presence.
‘What on earth…?’
What was happening?
At least with Sigrid, she could be calmed down with the thought that he would return quickly.
Otherwise, Mary might have succumbed to despair over Arthur’s disappearance.
‘All I can do now…’
Was to assist the Third Princess Sigrid and become the strongest spear.
That’s precisely why she had killed Sera.
Sigrid was currently out on another business trip.
Thus, Mary had to carry out the task that Sigrid had entrusted fully.
For the future of their empire.
Thud, thud—
At that moment, footsteps echoed.
When Mary looked up, a hulking man with scarred features appeared.
He was none other than Ebelasque’s thirteenth corpse.
Now holding Sera’s heart, it was Mary who had made the request.
As the heart entrusted to her by Sigrid, Ebelasque couldn’t defy her orders.
He obediently placed Sera’s corpse into a bag after following his previous instructions.
Then, he slung the bag over his shoulder and prepared to turn away.
“Wait a moment.”
In that instant, Mary called out to the thirteenth corpse.
Hearing her sudden voice, the corpse paused for a moment.
It was a corpse, yes.
Yet there was someone controlling it—Ebelasque.
Sweat dripped down Ebelasque’s forehead as her heart raced.
Could it be that she had been found out?
Mary continued, “By the way, I haven’t heard who participated in this dance tournament.”
This dance tournament had a participant in the form of a Night Crow.
On the surface, it was supposedly to follow the orders of the Second Prince.
The Second Prince had aimed to gather his factions, revealing his dominion over the Night Crow.
And he had selected this dance tournament as the stage to do so.
Of course, it was a pre-prepared design that Sigrid and Mary had concocted beforehand.
They wished to showcase clearly that the Second Prince had seized control over the Night Crow throughout the empire.
Thus, having Sera kill Sizelry, they intended to frame the Second Prince as the one who dispatched the Night Crow to eliminate Sizelry.
Naturally, they had fabricated all the necessary reasons for the Second Prince to kill Sizelry ahead of time.
Once Sizelry was dead, the Second Prince’s fate would be entwined, and he would undoubtedly face a prison sentence.
“Well, it seems I have a good guess about who the corpse from the tournament is.”
That’s why Mary was aware that the Night Crow had made an appearance at the dance tournament.
The problem was that she hadn’t yet received information about who the Night Crow member was, as she had been busy with other affairs.
“Is it the boy with the crow?”
Thus she inquired for confirmation.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
A prompt response came from the thirteenth corpse.
“Smart of you. The crow is deliberately drawing attention to make it seem like a Night Crow. Ah, must be Sigrid’s order. There’s no way you’d possess such good sense.”
While her words dripped with sarcasm, Mary only chuckled lightly.
The thirteenth corpse remained expressionless, leaving Mary with an icy feeling.
“Now you can go.”
After briefly nodding his head, the thirteenth corpse walked away.
While the figure of Ebelasque tensed, Mary didn’t harbor any doubts toward her.
After all, as long as she was holding Ebelasque’s heart, there was no way she could betray her.
‘By the way, Ebelasque has her eyes on a cute boy.’
Mary suddenly recalled the boy named Kradd.
It surprised her how Ebelasque, typically surrounded by grotesque corpses, would hold onto such a cute one.
‘If only he weren’t a corpse…’
She briefly pondered, then shook her head to clear her thoughts.
It seemed she had been apart from Arthur for far too long.
Looking back at her buried hopes rekindled her past fondness.
‘Arthur, please appear soon.’
With that wish in mind, Mary began to move again.
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