Chapitre 71: Fall of the South Kingdom (6)
"What did you give her?" Lucien asked.
"Guess," Yllana dangled out the remaining two pouches on her hand.
"You gave her 'that'? Will she consume it?" Lucien saw that she was still holding the explosive and antidote pouches.
"We'll see," Yllana placed back her hood and bandaged her wounds. At the corner of her eyes, she could see Azimuth giving a weird look at Lucien. "Keep your potions for emergencies. I can manage this much." She gave Lucien a small smile. Not the confident smile, nor the -thank-goodness-you-came-right-on-time kind of smile, but the smile that assured him that she knew what she was doing. Something in their eyes made a conversation all on their own.
Just as they were about to get out of the gate of the imperial palace, Grandma spat out a mouthful of blood and stopped. She raised her hand to them. After taking a breath, she fished out something out of her pocket and handed it over to Yllana. It was an egg-shaped yellow stone as small as a quail's egg. Yllana furrowed her brows. "Grandma, this isn't the time for presents." She whispered.
"You better stay alive. Everyone will be looking out for you." Grandma was almost wheezing out her words. The wounds on her body were almost healed. Lucien passed a small vial of red liquid to her. Grandma grabbed his hand in a tight grip then whispered, "Guide her."
"This rescue mission is for you. Not-" Yllana pushed the stone back to grandma.
"Shhh. No child. It might be too late if I give this later to you," Grandma Era insisted and made her store it in her space ring for now. "Take me there," She pointed out in a small room.
They sneaked past the guards and entered the room. When they opened the door, they scrunched up their noses and tried to cover it. The smell of incense, blood, and perfume mixed inside the closed room. Lucien lifted a finger and the air inside gathered in a small ball of cloudy mist on his palm. He flicked his finger and poof! It disappeared.
"Be quick grandma," requested Leon, tagged as the winged teenager in the banished village. His long legs tell why.
Azimuth stayed behind Lucien whereas the two others stayed as beside the door. "Master," he pointed out the window. They all looked at the place where Azimuth indicated. In front of the palace, hundreds of thousands of people stood still and unmoving. There was an eerie atmosphere about them.
Yllana looked closer. "Their eyes…" Their eyes were grey, lifeless. There was no emotion in them. "These are the citizens, aren't they?" She felt her chest tighten. Her hands clenched into a tight fist.
"I can undo what those three witches have done here. But after this, the emperor will surely know that you are already here. He knows…" Grandma Era tore the sleeves of her robes and opened the window slowly.
The creaking sound alerted them, and their hands were about to reach her and pull her inside when Lucien blocked them all from the window.
"What are you doing?!" Yllana glared at him.
"Only a witch can undo another witch's spell,"
They were dumbfounded. Leon and Vannie (the other young man) gaped in shock. So, Grandma Era is a…
"But what will it cost her to undo a spell?" Yllana gripped on Lucien's sleeve.
He lowered his head and did not answer. Yllana could feel that something will go wrong. Call it gut feel, call it a presumption, but Grandma giving her a stone out of the blue is something uncalled for in the middle of a rescue mission.
They watched her whisper in the air on the balcony. The wind started to swirl around Grandma's feet. Dried leaves and small pecks of dust danced in the whirling wind. No one could understand the language that she was muttering just like the language that the witches blurted out earlier to fight Yllana.
When Grandma started to chant louder, the wind blew stronger and stronger until small rocks also floated around her up to her waist. Her hair began dancing with the wind too.
"She started already?"
Lucien's eyes narrowed as he glowered at the man donned in purple and gold armor. "Both of you, protect your Mistress," he commanded the stunned half-bloods on the door. They quickly leaped on Yllana's side.
Darion's four guards also walked inside the room and pointed their swords at the intruders. The four Holy Knights with him brandished their swords.
"You want to start the competition against her now? I declared her mine first before you did, right?" Darion snickered at Lucien. But the dark mage did not even give him a reply. He wouldn't waste such precious words on him.
"And you expect that I'd be someone as docile as your other women?" A shadow loomed over Yllana's face hiding her expression from the crowd.
"Hehe…that will not make the plot interesting now, would it? As expected from the prophesied Accursed One." He bit a corner of his lip and looked at her up and down. Lucien felt his blood curdling from the rage he was suppressing. Leon and Vannie felt their bodies being pulled down on the ground by an intense force. They quickly fell to their knees and felt beads of sweat form on their faces. But before their breaths quickened from the pressure, two huge hands held their shoulder and somebody else's life force entered their cores. They relaxed and the pressure lifted a little it that they could stand.
"Hey, damned emperor! My eyes are up here!" Yllana's eyes were glowing a bright red. Something changed in the one of her voice that surprised the men with her. "And you…" she eyed the Holy Knights at the back of the emperor, "Your sworn duties are for the people of the kingdom, not just one stupid person! I hate conceited people the most!" The red lines at the corners of her eyes slowly spread longer and glowed with her eyes.
"She's awakening." Azimuth and the others caught Lucien's whisper. They all looked at him in surprise. What kind of awakening would an Accursed One be in a situation like this?
As the wind in the balcony developed into a whirlwind, inside that room, another kind of power was starting to emerge. The Holy Knights formed a barrier to protect their emperor. Lucien kept blocking the window. Azimuth and the four others stayed on Yllana's side, eyeing the Knights opposite them.
Her bandages fell off from her body. Her wounds healed in the blink of an eye. And there was a disarming smile on her lips. She was not the kingdom's most beautiful one, but there was a kind of allure in her aura that draws them to admire her.
"I hate people who think they know me. I hate it when they try to dictate what my future holds."
This time, she didn't shout. She called out her silver sword. Inside her head, she heard a series of words waiting to be called out. "Hehehe, one by one…I can't call out those techniques in one go," she chuckled. Azimuth noticed something wrong with his Mistress and he gave Lucien a look.
Lucien shook his head slowly. 'If she has to grow stronger, now is the perfect time and opportunity.'
"Sanguis,"
Crack!
Red lines appeared in the middle of the sword. The Holy Knights looked at each other. Was that a technique? A spell? She was holding a sword but it seemed like she just chanted like a…mage?
'Dual-class' They lifted their swords and shields. One of the knights tightened his grip on the hilt but started to tremble when Yllana walked towards them. Her eyes did not waver. Her sword stayed low on her side. Her eyes were dyed in the color of blood. As they stared longer into them, they felt their hearts tightened into an invisible grip.
Swoosh!
Blood splattered on the left wall. One knight's head fell on the floor. Yllana was still holding the sword in the air, but she continued to walk. The other knights couldn't stand still and charged head-on. Azimuth took a step but Lucien gripped him from his shoulder. His dark eyes never left her figure.
Another swish of her sword landed on one of the knight's leg catching her sword in his flesh. She was about to turn around when another knight had the chance to strike her shoulder. Near her right chest, the knight plunged his sword fiercely with both hands. She glanced at the last knight.
Slash!
Blood dripped on her cheek. One of her hands was holding her sword the other was holding another sword…the sword's bled. The knights stood rooted on the spot. As much as they wanted to hear her scream in pain, she didn't. Her face was devoid of any expression now. And she wasn't even looking at them.
They followed her line of sight. And there they saw their emperor, gritting his teeth as he looked back at her.
"Don't kill her! I want her alive!" He bellowed.
Crack..crack….the metal divided into two in her grasp. The knight saw his sword break and stepped back. Their eyes widened in surprise. Yllana tugged on her sword. She did not even bat an eye as she pulled on the flesh carelessly. Her shoulder was bleeding profusely. Lucien's gaze turned colder and colder. His fists clenched at his sides and nerves started popping on his neck and hands.
"Yllana," he uttered.
She only turned her head a little to his side, but she continued to swish and slash her silver sword around the three knights until the three were almost out of breath. Her body started to heal itself every after a few slices from the knights. When the cloth from her shoulder fell off a bit, the three knights saw the sign of a lion and a number one between its paws.
'The mark of the North Kingdom!' They looked at each other. She is the North's Number One Holy Knight! The demon king slayer!
Their skin started to crawl. Bit by bit, their hands started trembling. One of them shook his head ferociously and called out, "Heaven's Berserker!"
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone