Chapter 223
Things were getting worse and worse for Kyrin.
Axel was gone, and Aki had gone unconscious after having a weird change in her eyes.
She had her admitted to the Royal Sanitorium, but somehow, even the best Menders of Atlantis, who can be considered the peak of healing throughout the world, were somehow unable to even determine what had happened to her.
So, having no choice, Kyrin had teleported right into Mahoutokoro, in order to find out exactly what had happened to her goddaughter.
Unfortunately, even the healers of Mahoutokoro seemed to have no idea about the situation she described.
Kyrin was sifting through various scrolls in the Library when Sealing Ninjutsu covered the place all of a sudden. Bright flames lit up every corner of the place as Yujiro appeared in front of her with a cane in his hand, now unsheathed to reveal a sword.
"You have some NERVE, coming here after what you did."
Kyrin was extremely frustrated. "Old man, I really don't have time for this." She said, continuing her search.
"Where is she?! You had no right to take her!" said Yujiro, his voice rising along with the magic in the surroundings.
"And you had no right to keep her! She's an adult!" Said Kyrin, unleashing her own power. But then, she sighed. "Listen, I need your help. Something… something happened to her."
The magic output stopped as soon as Yujiro heard that. "What happened?"
Kyrin faltered. "I… I don't know. Her eyes started bleeding, and… a pattern appeared. Now she's unconscious."
Kyrin didn't notice, that Yujiro turned pale as soon as he heard Kyrin's description.
"This is it," said Kyrin, showing him the memory through her e-brace.
Yujiro slowly closed his eyes. "She… really did it."
"What? You-You know what it is?!"
Yujiro nodded, looking 10 years older. "I had warned her against it. And frankly, I thought it was just a myth."
Kyrin was getting scared now. "What… What is it?"
Yujiro was silent for a moment, looking lost.
"It's the Shinigan…"
"Eyes of death."
….
In a meeting room, the head of all Septises, along with the leaders of all divisions were gathered on the urgent summons by the Princess.
Just yesterday, they had received reports that the Royal Aircraft had actually flown into the Altina Trench, the enemy territory.
Panicked, everyone had started reaching their contacts, trying to confirm whether the Princess had indeed personally ventured into the enemy territory.
The Kingdom is currently working on a delicate balance, with the existence of Princess Antilla holding it all together. If something were to happen to her, the Kingdom would plunge into chaos. So, everyone naturally had complaints about this risky move by the princess.
They couldn't understand just what kind of emergency it was that made the Princess take such a huge risk.
But the very next day, the Royal Aircraft returned and a red-level meeting was called. Red signifies the highest level of importance, and anyone who fails to attend will face serious consequences.
With various complaints in their bellies, the leaders arrived to attend the meeting.
But, just seeing the Princess pushed them into silence.
The usual gentle atmosphere was gone, and so was the ever-present angelic smile. Right now, the Princess radiated a sharp aura that demanded absolute obedience. Tendrils of blue revolved around her, as if wanting to strike anyone who dares to offend her.
"Aslot Regius Varnox… is back."
That was all she said. And it was enough to explain her rage. But such a news was naturally met with a lot of skepticism.
"Impossible!"
"Isn't he dead?"
"I was there when he died!"
"This is a waste of my time."
Such is the nature of those in power. When something that can truly threaten them arrives, their first reaction is submerging their heads in water.
Aslot the Betrayer was a truly fearsome existence. His means were endless. Even though the people here are confident in their strength, none would dare face him in a one-v-one.
But the Princess didn't stop there. "Not only is he back, but he also has control over the Royal Relic and an endless amount of power through the blue markings."
Boom
Now the room was positively boiling. Aslot… with Royal Relic?
That's insanity.
Add in an endless amount of power from the blue markings?
That's chaos incarnate.
There was a gulping sound. No one spoke recklessly this time. Even an idiot can tell that this was most likely the truth. The princess doesn't have enough time to concoct such dangerous news.
But still, now it was more about hoping it was false rather than believing it.
"Princess… surely—"
Antilla didn't even wait for the person to finish. She waved her hand and a holographic projection appeared in the middle of the meeting table, almost appearing real.
It showed the aircraft of the Relic Wielder Division flying the Deeper layer of the Trench when suddenly encountering a silhouette floating in their way.
With any warning, the Silhouette raised a silver Trident.
—Zip—
And the aircraft was torn right from the middle.
What followed could only be called a one-sided beating of the entire Relic Wielder Division, at the end of which all of them fled through various means.
No one rushed to say anything this time. The faces of everyone present had turned completely white as they tried to digest the shocking revelation.
Relic Wielder Division… That was the Relic Wielder Division!
A group of the Kingdom's strongest, most elite warriors, harnessing the power of Relics.
It was the Kingdom's sharpest sword, meant to pierce the enemy's throat. But just now, they witnessed the downfall of that Relic Wielder Division with their own eyes.
"He was… too powerful… too overwhelming," said Ender in the ensuing silence. "He first targeted those of us who could pose a threat to him. After that, we're just clams waiting to be picked."
"What are we going to do?" Asked one of the Division heads.
The rest of the leaders seemed to have no idea. If even the Relic Wielder Division got defeated like that, then there's little they can do even by gathering all of their forces.
"The Relic Wielders must be rescued as quickly as possible." Said the head of Flame Septis.
"General and Tenebrous… these two are our only hope now." said the head of Wind Septis. He had gotten some idea of Aslot's current power. And if there was anyone could even stood the slightest chance against the current Aslot, it's the General and Kyrin Tenebrous.
"I propose preparations for the doomsday protocol." another division proposed.
The Leaders had already begun panicking. The memory was definitely real. They had confirmed that several times while watching the unrealistic video.
And even though they couldn't confirm whether the blurry silhouette was THE Aslot himself or not, they knew that it had the Royal Relic and was far more powerful than what they could handle.
So now the atmosphere in the meeting was turning more and more chaotic as the leaders came up with increasingly radical ideas to deal with the current crisis.
But. the Princess still didn't react. Rather, she played another video. This one started with an already injured Ender being defeated by Tronis.
That's right. Before arriving, Antilla had Estris recover the complete series of events for detailed analysis on Aslot's powers.
Seeing the person in the video getting beaten, everyone cast glances at Ender, who was sitting alive and well with them, wondering how he didn't die.
Ender shrugged. "The power they can draw from the Entity has increased. And I was still suffering from the Royal curse."
That shut everyone up as they quietly watched the video as Ender, now defeated, asked Tronis how they managed to get the Relic.
Tronis gladly revealed how they ambushed the Princess and the Kraken's Traitor and how they separated her from the Royal Relic with the help of a mysterious person who she didn't expect to be on their side.
The first thing they picked up from this was: The rumors seem to be true. The Crown Princess did have some kind of relation with a Kraken member.
The other thing they noticed was that the mysterious person who helped Kraken against the Princess must be Aslot himself. No one else should have the ability or wits to rival the Princess.
Finally, Ender fainted. But, instead of killing him, Tronis started calling someone out while looking into blank space.
Suddenly water appeared in the air, soon followed by a pair of glowing blue eyes. The natural thought was that it was the Princess, who had finally arrived to rescue Ender.
But then, the person turned out to be—
"It's him?!"
"Isn't that…?"
"Chris Martin?!"
It was Chris Martin, the kid who had been getting famous lately with his impressive trial and the fight against the monster hoard.
"How…?"
How could Chris Martin the outsider have those Royal blue eyes and the water affinity?
"Because…" Said Antilla. "His real name is Axel Regius Arhunt, son of Atlana Regius Ignis and Tristan Arhunt."
!
Hearing that, everyone felt like having drunk a huge glass of bear. It was too much to swallow.
The Crown Princess… actually had a child?
Furthermore, she had a child with a member of the traitor Arhunt Septis?
And if that is the case, then wouldn't this child be… the next successor to the throne?!
It really was too much to swallow.
"Now, questions are forbidden until the end of this memory." Said Antilla, her tone allowing no concession.
"...."
Everyone had a ton of questions, but with the Princess's cold order, they could only choke on them as they watched the video, not wanting to miss anything.
This was the Crown Prince. Of course they had to judge him. The eyes of the leaders were now glued to the video, not wanting to miss anything.
They watched in surprise as Chris—no, Axel, the Crown Prince actually fought evenly against Tronis who had been using the blue marking.
"At that age, he can already fight evenly against Tronis!"
"This is really…"
"Such high awakening… How?"
"He really is, the son of Crown Princess."
Everyone was surprised. They naturally know that bloodlines are notoriously difficult to awaken. So, they couldn't understand how Axel had managed to raise it so much even when staying outside the kingdom.
Has Princess Antilla been secretly raising him outside to protect him?
That would explain why did suddenly gave him citizenship.
But then, why send him to the Trench?
The questions kept increasing as everyone watched with rapt attention, until… Tronis used his final card, creating a huge sphere of raging energies.
!!
"What?!"
"Despicable!"
"He has to be stopped!"
Suddenly, the crown prince got engulfed in a deadly attack, taking everyone out of their trance. But when the dust settled, they saw—
"Isn't that…?!"
"Coral Armor!"
"Theron?"
"What is Eight doing there?"
A lot of questions were popping up, but again, they got no answer. As the explosion went away, Axel crawled out of the coral armor and began setting his bones back into place through a process that looked very painful.
"How does HE have that?"
Tronis seemed to have the same question, but instead of answering, Axel just straight up killed him, not giving any chance of a cliche comeback.
And just like that Tronis, one of the Kraken's Big Eights was gone. At the hands of someone so young.
Looking at Axel who stood over the corpse of Tronis with water surrounding him, the Atlantians could only feel the majesty of a king from him.
But after that, Axel's knees buckled as he sank due to the pulling force in the Gravitational field and clutched his head tired.
It was only then did they realize that the victory didn't come without cost.
"It couldn't have been easy, enduring all those energy fields." said the head of Lightning Septis, a bit worried. He now knew that Axel was actually family, as they were distantly related, and had also saved his son Ender. "What do you think, Artis?"
"Frankly, I am amazed he is conscious. He definitely needs treatment after that fight." Said the old man Artis, head of the Healing division. "His internal organs must have suffered serious harm. His bones were forcefully dislocated and re-attached within seconds. That is also going to have some after-effects. He might also overdrawn his magical limit."
In the video, Axel took some much needed rest. But, no sooner had he started resting, he suddenly got up and started to flee.
"What… What is he doing?"
It was odd that instead of resting, Axel suddenly started to run away as if being chased. But soon enough, they found the reason, as the familiar silhouette wielding a Trident materialized in the air.
Ooooooooooohhhh
A collective gasp escaped everyone's mouth as they saw the scene. The betrayer actually caught the Crown Prince!
Seeing the Crown Prince's power at such a young age, they had just begun to see a future of having an all-powerful king and thinking of ways to curry favor with him, but suddenly, those dreams were shattered.
"Wait, you aren't Antilla?" Said a raspy murmur that sent chills down their spines. "Tell me, boy. How do you have the Royal bloodline?
Seeing this, Antilla bit her lips until they bled. She was also seeing the full series of events for the first time. And what actually happened turned out to be far worse than what she had expected.
Not only did Axel have to fight Aslot, but he had to do so right after the fight with another overseer, which he had won with great perseverance.
Furthermore, it seems that the reason Aslot came for Axel was because he thought the water affinity he felt belonged to Antilla.
"May mother ocean have mercy."
"He's got no chance."
"I hope he doesn't suffer."
Aslot was also called the kin-slayer. He was behind the death of the Queen, the disability of the King, and from what they just learnt, also the death of the Crown Princess. Of course he wasn't going to let this new Crown Prince live.
But hearing all that only made Antilla more mad.
"No one is allowed to say a word until it is over," she declared coldly.
Silence descended in the meeting room as everyone waited for the Crown Prince's death.
But… what followed…
Was the most epic, brutal, thrilling, and unpredictable battle they had ever witnessed.
By the time it ended, everyone just sat there, too stunned to react.
...
A.N.: Powerstones! Today and tomorrow!
Axel returning in two chapters
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