The man's face is getting paler as seconds tick by. His mana was drained rapidly. The blue fire that raised carnage in the town subsides. The wreckage left is devastating. Kyra doubts fairy nomads will be able to live in the city again.
Kyra stared down at the man struggling against the vines. His struggle noticeably weakened the more the vines sucked his mana.
"What did you do to me?"The healthy face and robust build of the man are subsiding. It was like he had been malnourished for twenty years. His hair thinned out until he went bald. His cheeks grew hollow and his clothes looked bigger on him.
Kyra can only shake her head. "I did not do anything." She paused. "It was the vines who did it."
Honestly, Kyra did not understand the proximity of her power. She did not know she was capable of doing this. It was obvious it wasn't only the mana being absorbed by the man. It was life itself.
At the last breath of the man, he sent one last bone chilling glare to Kyra before he turned into skeleton. His bones break each other apart until they crumble and spread into ashes.
Kyra does not know what to say. Should she laugh because she won? Or should she be scared because of the horrifying power her attributes hold? The grotesque transformation of a strong Fire Demon into dust left a shadow in Kyra's heart.
Just what is this power?
The thick vines have bulging stems that seem to burp in satisfaction. A beautiful white lotus flower blooms from one of its stems. The vine holding it sent it upwards – right at the level of Kyra's eyes.
The lotus is twice as large as a human face. Its center is blood red. It's like a red gem was implanted in it. Kyra watched it bend lower toward her. Then the vines suddenly vanish in a blink of an eye, leaving the white lotus behind.
It floated in the air, landing perfectly safe on Kyra's palm. Small needle vines spread on her fingertips, affectionately rubbing her skin. Kyra raised her brows.
She was right. Her power actually has consciousness on its own. She caressed its petals and the lotus flower closed its petals, solidifying its vines, then naturally formed a lotus bracelet on her wrist.
Kyra seems to lose the suspiciousness she feels towards the vines. Even if it had consciousness, it regarded her as the owner. The very thing she was thankful for.
If this power has the strength to singlehandedly kill demons, then maybe…. Maybe it can defeat her father. Maybe this is the power she needs to rescue her mother out of here.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace.
The Fairy King is taking out the portal key he had in his possession. He's facing the strong metal gate that he'll use as a means to open the gate of the human world. There were four hundred royal guards with him. The Fairy King had an earlier engagement with the mortals.
The power to completely defeat the Ice Demon and other high ranking demons it brought to the fairy realm rests with the humans he invited inside. He was about to insert the large shimmering blue glow portal key when suddenly, the name he hadn't heard being called for decades floated in his ears.
"Kennedick Burkhardt!!!"
He stopped, stunned, and turned around to see his wife, heatedly glaring at him in front of the ranks of his royal guards.
"Why are you here?" he coldly asked. "Did you finally decide to come out of your prison cage?"
Katherine Burkhardt, the rumored Fairy Queen who chose to live in solitude, has finally come out into the open.
"What are you doing?" She answered his question with another question.
"Did that foolish daughter of yours release you?"
"OUR daughter." She corrected. Her eyes make everyone in the courtyard feel like they will be boiled alive if they are being stared like that. But the King acted as if there was no murderous wife trying to kill him with her eyes.
"I ask you, what are you doing with that portal key?"
The Fairy King and Queen, both exuding killing intent against each other, make the atmosphere so suffocating that the four hundred royal guards are tempted to turn around and run.
"There's nothing you need to know. Why don't you go back to your pavilion? " The first to look away is the Fairy King. He turned to face the gigantic metal gates. Latching the portal key to the key hole.
"Stop!" A wave of light magic caused the wind to send a high pressured destructive force into the courtyard, bending the nearby trees, rattling the wooden carriages. The sand in the ground caused a high rise tornado that almost blinded the four hundred royal guards.
All the fairies present were shocked. Even the other figures who were present in the courtyard to accompany the Fairy King were also stunned. They thought the Fairy Queen lived in solitude because she had lost her powers.
How come she still wield light magic?
The portal key in the Fairy King's hand cracked, some chipped away into his feet.
"Whatever you want to do, you must stop it now." She warned. The Fairy King snickered. A black mist rose in his palm and surrounded the portal key. When it disappeared, all were stunned to see the portal key was as good as new.
"Stop meddling in business you know nothing about, my queen." A cold shiver rose in the Fairy Queen's spine when he uttered those last two words.
"Know nothing about?" She asked incredulously. Her pink silk dress grazed a pool of mud, causing the hem to get dirty and soaked.
"Have you forgotten the very reason why the Fairy Lords vanish from our lands? The ultimate cause of the destruction that eliminated their race? We Elven Fairies were lucky to have an ancestor with half the blood of a Fairy Lord to survive the chaos. Or where would we be now? "
It was the Fairy King's turn to snicker. He faced his wife directly.
"Is the past more important than the future? Do you think if the Ice Demon and his demon companions successfully conquered our lands, we would still have the leisure time to worry about our future? "