Chapter 25: Sophia
Earlier at the Palace
"Greetings to Her Highness!", the guards at the palace gates announced after seeing Miara step out of the carriage.
"En, Ella come with me, I need to go find my Father as soon as possible.", Miara responded then turned to Ella.
"Yes, Your Highness", Ella responded with a bow.
They began walking through the palace and where just about to make their way to the Throne room when they saw something flying towards them.
"Baby sister!!!!", A voice suddenly shouted.
"Agh", Miara groaned the moment she heard the voice and braced herself. Ella also took a few steps to the side as if preparing for something.
No sooner than they responded a green flash of light crashed into Miara! Falling to the ground she didn't have any time to recover before the voice started again.
"Sophia, I...can't...breath.", Miara who was being tightly embraced by her elder sister struggled to speak.
"Oh, I'm sorry I simply couldn't help myself hehe", Sophia stuck her tongue out while still holding Miara. However she kept looking at Miara with a strange look.
"...What? I need to see Father soooo, If you don't need anything...", Miara said with a smile as her sister keep staring at her.
"Baby sister....what's with this cloak", she suddenly asked.
'Chance!!!'', Ella who had been standing the side suddenly yelped in her head.
'Her Highness Sophia loves her sister! If I can get her to support her and Aaron my dreams will come true!', Ella began scheming again as a glint appeared in her eyes.
'T-this...it was a...gift.", Miara began speaking failing to notice her voice had become softer and a light blush appeared on her face.
Sophia seeing her sisters behavior was surprised to see her usually elegant younger sister acting so coyly. Ella wanting to strike while the steel was hot suddenly spoke up.
"We met an amazing young man during our trip Princess Sophia. He saved our lives and gifted that cloak to Her Highness!"
"Eh?! What happened? Explain!", Sophia suddenly grasped Miara shoulders and begun shaking her. Her emerald eyes where beaming as she stared at her younger sister.
"Ella! Agh...fine", Miara suddenly shouted at Ella but once she saw her winking at her she understood what she was intending.
She began telling her sister of how they ran into an Earth Realm Qi beast during their voyage and that almost half her guards had been killed trying to protect her.
"They'll all be treated well, as well as their families", Sophia said while gently shaking her head. Had she known that such a accident would occur she would have sent more powerful guards to guard her sister. However, hindsight is always 20/20, there was no undoing what was done.
"Yea, however right when we though it was over...", Miara started only to have Ella jump in.
"An Angel descended and saved us!!!", she shouted as her eyes glazed over thinking of Aaron.
"An Angel?", Sophia gave Ella a strange look. However when she cast her eyes back on Miara she was shocked to see her blushing.
'Oh my God, Too Cute!!! But what's going on?! Is this really my baby sister?!' , Sophia gawked at Miara's behavior.
"Ah, has father told you about the young man who appeared in Viridian City?"
"Yea, I've heard. Apparently he possess a Platinum Bloodline and rare Ice Qi...Don't tell me?"
"Yea, just as the Leopard was about to strike he stopped it."
"Really? But I've heard that he was only around 15?"
"Sister Sophia, he was amazing! His name is Aaron and he was much more impressive than father made him out to be! He's kind, smart, and possess incredible power!", Miara suddenly began rattling off about Aaron. The more she spoke the more energetic she got.
'N-Nooooo!!!! She's been captured!', Sophia watched her sister rattling off and immediately knew that she had taken a liking to Aaron. But how could she allow that?! This was her baby sister! She had seen countless young men try to woo her yet all failed. This was her first time seeing her sister actually speak so highly of someone. A man at that!
"That's not all Princess Sophia", Ella suddenly said with a vicious look in her eyes.
"He's stunningly handsome! I've never meet such a handsome man! It was as if he was dropped from The Heavens!", she starting gasping for breath as she described Aaron in detail to Sophia.
"Is there really someone so beautiful in this world?", Sophia questioned suspiciously. Ella had basically described Aaron as the perfect being, she couldn't believe that there could be such a person.
"Is what she said true?", she turned to Miara and asked.
Miara hearing the question couldn't help but have her face go even redder. All she could do was meekly nod her head. Even she couldn't deny that she had never seen anyone with an appearance like Aaron's.
'Bastard! What have done to my sister?!", Sophia raged in her heart. How dare a young man get her sister to make such faces?!
"Where is he?", she asked calmly.
"He came with us to the capital but had to visit a friends so we went our separate ways.", Miara responded innocently.
"He's at Baron Morgans Estate", Ella suddenly added.
Fwwwshh!
In front of Miara and Ella, Sophia took to the air without warning!
"Ella! Why would you tell her that? You know how she is!", Miara gave Ella a look as if she had been wronged.
"Please forgive me Your Highness but trust me if we can get Princess Sophia on our side then everything will go as planned!", Ella said while maintaining a calm expression. However she was unable to hide the excitement in her eyes.
".....Arghhh", Miara could only stare at Ella in frustration but couldn't find the words to refute her. She then looked towards the sky.
'Sorry Aaron, hopefully she wont be too rough.', she could only mumble in her heart.
Baron Morgans Estate
"Ashur! Kill him! I'll take full responsibly!", Aston screamed into the sky.
They were in the capital and to have someone killed so openly would cause him troubles but he didn't care! Aaron had to die!
Aaron who had taken to the sky had basically pushed his observation haki to the extreme. The moment Ashur attacked he would enter his elemental form and try to evade the attack. He had an idea that he wanted to try out and could only hope that it would succeed.
"Young man, I don't know who you are but you've already killed and Elder of the Deep Wave Sect and injured my Young Master. I hope you're prepared to face the consqune...!" Ashur couldn't finish before Aaron made his move!
"Five color strings!"
Aaron suddenly charged at Ashur and swiped towards him!
"Whats he doing?", the Baron watched as Aaron swiped at Ashur who was at least 50 ft away. He couldn't understand why he would attack from a distance with just his hands.
Ashur however felt something flying at him, he couldn't make out what it was but he felt it rapidly approaching!
"Strange...truly a strange ability", He calmly responded and quickly thrust his arm outwards towards the incoming attack!
Clang!
Fwwwssssh!
Aaron's strings made contact with his armor causing sparks to fly everywhere. Ashur's Armor was Grade 8 and couldn't be damaged by ordinary means however on his armor now where 5 perfectly straight white scratch marks.
"W-What sort of attack is that?!", the guards shouted
'Was that how he was able to cut off the elders and Aston's arms!', Amber thought to herself as she watched Aaron. His attacks literally came from no where!
Ashur was the most shocked! His armor had actually been damaged! Even if they were only superficial it still caused him to be surprised.
'Sharp! Whatever he's attacking with is extremely sharp!Not only that, it's also invisible and without Qi!'
Although he knew Aaron was no match for him due to his intuition he still couldn't underestimate his strange abilities.
'Agh~ I can forget about catching him off guard', Aaron sighed to himself.
Ashur stared at Aaron for a moment before suddenly vanishing.
"W-What!", Aaron was stunned! Ashur had literally just vanished, his observation haki was pushed to his max but it was too late to dodge!
Bang! Bang!
Ashur struck Aaron's back with a fist and sent him flying towards the ground. However, the feeling that he had when punching Aaron caused him to look at his fist.
'What's with his body? It felt as if my punch went right through.'
"Aaron!", Veronica shouted in horror after seeing Aaron crash to the ground. She hadn't even seen Ashur move! He had literally just appeared behind him without warning!
Gulp
"Is he still alive?"
"Even if he is, he must be injured. That was an attack from a Sky Realm cultivator!"
The guards gulped after seeing Ashur's attack.
"W-What the hell?!?!?!", a guard suddenly pointed towards the area where Aaron had crashed.
Ice! All over the ground was shattered ice!
"W-Whats going on?!"
"Ice? It's just like last time?! What sort of ability is this?"
"Look! The pieces are moving!"
In front of Ashur and everyone's shocked gaze the ice on the ground began giving off a thick white mist and piece could be sen growing and piecing together at an astonishing rate. Within moments the ice had begun forming the shape of person, it was Aaron!
"D-Demon!" Aston shouted in horror as he stared at Aaron reforming his body! This is what had happened to him earlier!
Was he really human? How could a human be made of ice?! He had literally been crushed to pieces!
Ashur's eyes suddenly changed as he stared at Aaron's body completely covered in a thick frost only his golden eyes shining through. However, he had noticed something the others overlooked. At the corner of Aaron's mouth blood could be seen flowing out. He had been injured.
"Brat, what sort of technique is that?", Ashur questioned.
Although he had only used the slightest bit of Qi, he figured it would be more than enough to kill Aaron. What he failed to notice was that right before his fist made contact, Aaron had begun turning that area into ice, allowing for it to pass through. However he couldn't dodge completely in time and so ended up being injured.
Aaron simply stared at him.
Ashur scoffed and once again began to move. However Aaron was prepared this time! The moment Ashur took his first step Aaron moved!
"Geppo!"
Bang!
He quickly took to the air with Geppo instead of his strings due to it being quicker for short bursts. The moment he made his move Ashur had already appeared where he was standing, he was once again surprised by Aaron's skills.
'None of his skills use any Qi, could he be using some sort of tool or treasure to mask his Qi?', he quietly thought to himself.
"Rankyaku!"
Aaron shouted as he begun madly kicky towards Ashur. Blue beams of light flew towards Ashur from all directions as the sound of explosion could be heard. Aaron was moving all over the place suing Geppo in attempt to confuse Ashur. However, in front of one in the Sky realm he might as well have stood still.
Ashur scoffed at the incoming attacks and his body began glowing with a dark yellow light.
Earth Qi!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The attacks landed on his body and literally shattered the moment they made contact with his Qi!
However before he could make another move he felt a sense of crisis!
"Overheat!!!"
Fwwssh!!!!
Aaron suddenly flung his arm back and what could only be described as a red hot whip emerged from his hand! Thrusting his hand forward it shot towards Ashur at dazzling speeds!
"To think you would possess such terrifying attacks! Good!!!", Ashur didn't dare neglect this attack. Even if it couldn't threaten his life he felt it would still be bad to let it make contact! He could easily dodge but he was Ashur! One eyed Ashur! He did not cower! He did not run! A vicious smile appeared on his face and he pulled out his Claymore, the bright yellow markings engraved on the blade began glowing as he raised it.
"Cleave!!!" , he shouted as he brought his sword down!
BANG! FWWWSSHH!!
Split!
The attack had been split in half! The two split pieces shot off in either direction!
However just at the moment Ashur had begun to bring his sword down his body suddenly went tense!
His body was stuck in place! He couldn't move! He scoffed and was about to break whatever was binding him when something terrifying happened. His body began freezing!
"What is this?!", he suddenly shouted.
Different parts of his body begun to rapidly have ice forming over them without any warning!
"Ahhhhh!!!", A bright yellow Qi burst from his body breaking the shackles restraining him and blowing away the forming ice!
Aaron was smiling from ear to ear as he watched. He had figured since he his strings were and extension of his body he could channel his ice through them. He was excited to see it work but knew that he still had no chance against Ashur. He decided this would be the best time to escape! He quickly used Geppo along with Sky's path and began madly dashing away!
"You think you can escape?!" Ashur suddenly gave chase and appeared in front of Aaron.
"Shit! He's too fast!", Aaron couldn't understand how a human could move at such speeds!
"At first I had planned on killing you but I've become interested in you. To be able to freeze opponents from a distance without warning as well as your other abilities, I believe the Duke would be quite interested in learning your secrets. I'll ask you once, will you come peacefully or should I cut off your legs and arms and take you back myself? ", Ashur suddenly spoke.
Aaron's attacks and methods were unlike any he had seen before. He knew that killing him would be a waste, perhaps they could glean something from him and end up stealing his secrets!
"You'll find that no matter how many times you cut me I'll simply recover!", Aaron shouted hoping to bluff Ashur.
Ashur simply smiled and began raising his sword again, he had already noticed that Aaron could be injured. No matter what sort of profound technique he practiced there was clearly a way to bypass it.
A yellow light once again began emitting from his sword., he suddenly vanished from everyone's shocked views and appeared behind Aaron! He swung his swords towards is legs, a bright yellow Qi dangerously emitting from it.
"Shit! Not like this!", Aaron suddenly began turning his entire body into ice as he leapt away!
"Hahahaha!", Aston laughed manically as he watched Aaron about to have his legs severed.
"It's over!", Baron Morgan also noticed that Aaron simply couldn't match Ashur.
'To think such a bright star would fall so soon. Truly a shame.', he sighed in his heart.
However just as Aaron was about to be struck a loud harrumph sounded.
The trees in the manor suddenly gave off a bright but soothing green light before all of the branches shot up towards Ashur at break neck speeds!
"Heart of the Forest!" , Ashur suddenly shouted in horror and turned to defend the incoming attack! His Qi grew even heavier as the light being emitted became 5 times as bright.
BANG!!!
A massive explosion sounded out the moment the branches and sword made contact!
"Ahhhhhh!!!!"
Everyone shouted as the shock wave blasted them all off their feet! They had no idea what was going on! The days events had been to shocking!
"What happened?!" Veronica suddenly shouted after getting back on her feet.
Looking up she saw something inconceivable. In front of Aaron stood one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. She had light brown skin, her black hair was tied up in a bun and reached her shoulders, she wore a luxurious green silk gown that had leaves embroidered on it with golden silk. The gown brought out her feminine charms as it hugged her curves. However what made her stand out was the thick green aura being emitted from her body as well as those emerald green eyes!
Everyone present gulped as they stared at this lovely young woman in the sky but none dared get any ideas. They knew it exactly who this was! The second eldest daughter of His Majesty and a sky realm cultivator!
Her Highness, Princess Sophia!