Reduced to a dull and feeble version of itself, with spiderweb cracks throughout, the Qi shield threatened to collapse.
Glass-like shards tumbled down the steep dome with hollow clinking.
"Huff... Huff..."
Levi ignited his mental energy, causing a slick black flame to form before him. A translucent wave of the same color spread out, lowering the surrounding temperature.
His voice rough, Levi said, "Come", with difficulty.
Following a feeble gesture, the earth quaked, quickening the shield's collapse. Glittering blue particles fell from its center, prompting the crumbling's spread.
A dull light popped out from the ground before streaking toward Levi and stopping before him.
Dulled by the mental energy coating, a blue palm-sized crest shone.
Lifting his arm, Levi paused. The blood on the ground evaporated into a red cloud before surrounding him and vanishing. He then plucked the crest from the air with slight difficulty, ignoring the spots of blood still clinging to the ground.
"Tsk, that hurt like hell. For this kind of nonsense, two years was too short a break."
Levi's fingers trembled as he clenched and released them. Noticing an object beside him, his eyes gradually drifted.
"... Huh? What happened?!" He rushed to pick up Aria, twitching. She stood with his help, but soon after, a shocking pain crippled her.
"Tsk!" Levi took control of her blood, using it to inspect her body. "... How the hell did that happen?! You-"
"I... think my dan... tian is breaking..."
"How very observant of you!!"
Levi took the necklace from inside his robe and grabbed the ring while muttering, "mushrooms", as beads of sweat on his forehead swelled.
...
A few minutes ago.
"Finally sitting still, are we? I had thought you'd lost the capacity."
Following the entrance of a well-dressed lady, overwhelming sweet scents wafted out.
Sitting on the only piece of furniture in the room, a person observed their bandage-ridden wrists, expressing no intent to respond.
These two, as the only occupants of the elegant yet empty room, controlled the mood between them. So when the sitting figure gave no response, the courteous atmosphere crumbled to gloom.
"... How disrespectful must they be for a child to stay silent following the words of her mother?"
"Careful… As this kingdom's lady, such fibs could devastate your image."
"Fib?"
Along with her folding fan, the woman's smile hit the ground with a resounding smack.
"What fib?! Do you mean to say that your upbringing by me is fiction?!"
"'This kingdom'?! For how many years has 'this' kingdom provided for you?! Now you believe that you are above us?!"
"... You misunderstand, Aunt. That you brought me up in place of my mother, 'our' late queen, is an unshakable fact. That I, however, am required to refer to my biological brother as 'cousin' though we are of the same father, might cause some... confusion in the minds of lower folk. Therefore, I strived to 'assist' you in remembering your important image."
"Nerezza!"
A sharp smacking sound echoed throughout the room, softer with every resound.
"It is a known fact that his highness did not fancy your mother, my elder sister, but as the throne's inheritor, tradition demanded that his future wife excelled in the ways of martial arts and cultivation!"
"No one expected complications to riddle your birth, leading to her passing!"
"Because of her outstanding talent, your mother became our queen, and I who joined the royal family with her followed as his majesty's concubine. Following her tragic death, I took it upon myself to bring you up with my only son, as my daughter, to allow my sister to rest without worry. With love and care, I toiled day and night for you both! How could you be so indifferent as to insinuate that I paid you no heed?"
Nerezza, having re-centered her face, looked down at her wrists like before.
"Having you refer to him as 'cousin' was for other... unimportant reasons. Leo has always been kind to you, as have I. That it troubles you this much to favor him now, as the cultivation world has weathered him so, baffles me to no end."
"... Do you know?"
"Know what, dear?"
"... The 'favor' my cousin is asking."
"Naturally. 'Tis why I'm convincing you."
Nerezza lifted her head, taking in her foster mother's looks for the first time in 4 years.
"You... look the same... so... how is it you changed this much?"
"Speak up, dear. How am I to understand if you don't explain?"
"I'm talking about the fact that your son wants to marry me off for cultivation resources!!"
Nerezza grabbed the chair's arm and flung it at the wall as lightning trailed behind.
"About how you know about it, but still think you can convince me to do it!"
Flinching, The Lady retreated a step.
"... Y-You... To think your cultivation would improve so much... I've never had a significant aptitude..."
"How did you become like this, hmm...? Huh?! From a mother who shared love without prejudice to what?! A person who gripes about gender importance?!-"
The ground shook after a light boom.
"What on earth is going on?! Don't tell me Leo has gotten into some kind of trouble-"
The woman turned to exit the room, but a lightning bolt flashed past her, blasting a hole in the wall. Lightning crackled as it crawled across Nerezza's body. "We're not done yet!!"
"You would dare-"
"Shut up! It's my turn to talk!" The electrical output increased.
"Eek!"
"When I was younger, every day you would reassure that I could do whatever I want! That I could chase any dream I had! That even though I was a girl, I still had that freedom! But then what?! You try to coerce my father behind my back?!? To arrange partners for me without my knowledge?!? 'For the kingdom's gain'?!"
"... AND SO!?!" The lady bit her lip.
"Were you the only child cheated in such a way, dear?! How many young ladies before you, how many misses of prominent families watched their homes shrink in the distance with tear-blurred gazes as their parents sent them off, calculated smiles carved on their faces?! All ladies of status have experienced this stage in life. Or will experience it! Because that is how this world works! So why would you be any different? Why would you believe your stage would not come?!"
"Because you made me believe!!" Nerezza's shoulders rose and tightened.
"Because you, mother, promised me that such a thing would never happen...!!"
Water droplets splashed onto the ground.
The Lady stared at her, at a loss for words. Following a loud boom, the room shook, causing her to tumble.
"Ah!"
"Careful!" Nerezza caught her wrist in time.
Regaining her balance, the lady snatched her hand away. "Release me!", she said.
Nerezza stared at her empty hand.
"Right..."
"... Don't act as if it was only me at fault. As women, we will all experience this at some point. Later, as a parent to a daughter of your own, what will you tell her? That she can never be free? Such a thing would destroy the child! At least when they're older, processing such a thing would become much more practical..." The Lady fidgeted.
"No... You're just using your experience as an excuse to let your child suffer alone because you aren't brave enough to help them through a tough period in their life..."
She flinched at those words. At her silence, Nerezza chuckled softly.
"You know... When I left on that army ship, I had a plan..."
"To repay the soldiers who helped me, I married a local sect master, who in return allowed them a certain amount of freedom…"
"What?!? You married?!"
The lady's finger trembled as she pointed. Nerezza didn't reply.
"T-Then... your brother won't be able to compete with the other princes with their cultivation rates... A person from such a sect would scorn even the most prestigious woman if she was no longer pure…"
Watching the lady bury her face in her hands, Nerezza kept silent.
"... All I wanted was for my son to reach the heights I couldn't... Sniffle! I didn't want someone to overshadow him as my sister did me... But your aptitude had always been exceptional... Sniffle-But as a mother, even though I loved you like a daughter, nothing would change the fact that you weren't... Added to the fact that you're a girl, as you grew, I invested more in the child that society had deemed more precious... Because even if it was selfish, even heartless, I wanted my child to shine brighter than anyone, including you... Sniffle! Now, with only a useless arm left, how is he to shine at all... Can you tell me...?"
As her mother wept, a dull pain pulsed through Nerezza's chest.
"... So I wasn't a daughter in your eyes... but an obstacle."
After a brief silence, she continued the recount of her time on the Cloud Continent.
"But even though I had married, I had no intention of, nor did I give myself to anyone..."
The Lady looked up at Nerezza, wide-eyed.
"-Because that would have defeated the purpose of leaving here."
"My plan was simple. I would hide in the shadow of that man until my trail had gone cold, and the soldiers left. And afterward, I would leave that continent too, because if someone from here knew where I was, I couldn't sleep comfortably."
Nerezza sighed with a languid look.
"But someone destroyed my plan… That same someone then brought me along, providing another shadow large enough for me to hide under and wait-"
"Was it the person who cut off your brother's arm?!? Leo brushed me off when I questioned him about it... I only barely heard him growling about how he wouldn't let someone off!"
"... Although we found issues with each other at first, we soon resolved them. And I found that he wasn't as bad as I first thought... So my thoughts of leaving wavered."
"... And after staying with him for a bit... I met a strong person... Who, although ill-treated by life, carried on living with a smile."
"So I stayed... For both of them... But I knew that you people would never leave me alone... so when... When..." Nerezza's fingernails were on the verge of cutting through her palms as she clenched her fists.
"You... Fell in love...?"
"... And then, what I dreaded had happened... Your son, my very own brother, appeared in the same place as that person I left to greet after two years... On such a massive continent, he was in the same town..."
"And what did my brother say to me after four years...? '... Senior brother has been lacking a play-thing lately, so come with me'. What a tear-jerking reunion! He didn't even hide the reason for such a greeting. That taking me to this Senior brother of his would earn him medicine to fix his crippled arm, along with a few cultivation resources..."
Nerezza lifted her head, laying her gloomy gaze on The Lady.
"Imagine the heartbreak I felt then, and now, after seeing how the once two most precious people in my life viewed me all this time."
"N-Nerezza... Please understand! Your brother-"
The door flew open and slammed into the wall.
"Leo...? W-Why are you-"
"Nerezza, you bitch!! You called that bastard here, didn't you!?!" Having just kicked the door in, the spear-wielding prince, Leo, stomped into the room with bloodshot eyes.
"... What are you talking about?" Nerezza cast an empty gaze.
"Stop playing dumb! I'm going to fucking kill you!!"
"Leo, please calm down! Your sister can still-Ahh!"
"Get out of my fucking way!!!" The prince threw his mother to the ground. Nerezza glanced down before meeting her brother's mad eyes.
"... I treated you as a brother before, even when you lifted your hand against me. Please think carefully before you act this time..."
Her words seemed to have enraged the prince further as he broke into a sprint. His running was awkward because of his newly missing arm. Before Leo could close in on Nerezza, beside the door, the wall shattered as pieces flew into the room. A black flash cut through the thin dust cloud, shooting toward Leo. It lifted him off his feet, sweeping him across the room before slamming him into the wall.
The dust slowly settled, revealing the prince's figure. With blood dripping from his chin, he gripped a golden hilt as best he could, but couldn't muster the strength to pull its black blade from his torso. This blade pinned him to the wall securely, making it impossible to remove it with his semi-useless arm.
"Do you ever learn?"
Nerezza's eyes widened at the familiar voice, but even more surprising was the person swiftly moving toward her. A soft poof echoed through the room as she caught the dashing figure in her arms, stumbling a few steps backward.
"... Aria...?"