- "My Sir! It's too late! We can't do anything, let's run away while we still have time"
- "Leave me Vargas! I have to go get them"
- "Prince, understand! His family is dead!" – Feeling those words like a stab against his chest, Maximiliano collapsed on his knees crying with bitterness while hitting the sandy ground with his fists until his knuckles were injured.
Receiving the few soldiers who were beginning to arrive on the scene, Vargas brandished his sword protecting his master's back. Screaming euphoric to get him out of the trance in which he was immersed due to the pain of losing his beloved.
Feeling the cold brush of metal against his cheek, the prince swelled with fury and lashed out at the soldiers of the coalition army, slamming his rapier into their chests while kicking them away to clear his way along with Vargas.
That man who for a brief moment felt the warmth of hope, that cold that penetrated his heart soon began to make him lose all traces of courage for life. Letting himself be carried away by the frenzy of battle, the blood angel rose once more over his enemies before the gaze of Vargas, who cried out with one voice for the glory of the warlord who had returned from the dead.
"Death to you bastard dogs! The traitors to the royal family must pay with their lives!" – With the stupor of adrenaline running through his veins, Vargas followed his lord in that crimson sea that opened before them by the wave of the sword. Instilling courage among the inhabitants, who taking everything they had at hand, began to defend themselves against the invaders, who did not believe what was happening before their eyes.
- "Whoa! Where is the ship you arrived on?"
- "Yes my lord, the ship is right in front!" – Finished pronouncing those words, a scarlet silhouette fell like a volley of fire on the ship, splitting it in two, amid the screams of the crew that was blinded by the edge of a scythe that glowed like ruby.
- "Ha, ha, ha, ha. Who would have thought? I knew if I followed that subtle scent in the air I would be in for a pleasant surprise. But look here, my dear fiancé who I thought was dead!" – Taking steps through the air as if they were jumping, the woman in scarlet armor waved the blood scythe created by her lineage ability. Followed by the corpses of the crew turned into puppets.
- "Damn psychopath! Are you the person behind the attacks on this city?"
- "Oh wow, what a way to refer to the woman you were about to marry. You break my heart" – Placing her hand on her chest, tilting her head with a mocking expression on her face, Berenice waved her weapon threateningly as she continued walking, cutting any meat that came her way.
- "You did not answer my question?" – Grinding his teeth while maintaining a stoic expression on his face, Maximilian held the handle of his sword tightly as if he expected to hear from that woman's lips the words that would serve as the starting signal for his attack.
- "One moment? I think I remember that you left that day with a woman and you abandoned me. What was it called? Oh yes, my friend Aurora. I must admit that it broke my heart that you cheated on me with her. But I am someone who has a merciful self and I forgive easily. How is she? – With a malicious smile on her lips, Berenice looked at Maximiliano out of the corner of her eye, searching for a hint of fury in his expression.
- "Answer me, damn it!"
- "And what if I did? Don't tell me she was here when I started my attack. Did she see the fireworks? I hope he was in the front row" – Laughing like a maniac, Berenice did not notice at the time that the skillful gentleman moved right in front of her with a red glow in his pupils, similar to hellfire. Receiving a direct hit against the breastplate of his armor, throwing it into the air until it fell to the ground.
With his mana flowing uncontrollably through the atrophied nerves, Maximilian stopped hearing any sound save for his racing heartbeat. With bloodshot eyes as he released his wings surrounded by an aurora of energy swords encircling him.
- "Wonderful! For the first time you show me your true feelings, those that you hid behind the rock facade that you used before everyone. That turns me on, makes my belly tingle; but I'm sorry, I'm already a married woman" – Changing her expression to a more sober one with hints of anger, Berenice launched herself fully against Maximiliano. Trading blows at a speed that was hard to follow with your eyes.
Before Vargas' astonished gaze, under that darkness of the starry sky, countless undulating sparks between scarlet and purple tones escaped from that battle, launching gusts of wind that raised the loose sand on the street floor.
- "I'll kill you!"
- "Try it, sweetie! Although it is more likely that you will die first. You have not seen yourself in the mirror, you are not even the shadow of the powerful warlord you were years ago. You're just an imitation of a man who can barely stand up."
- "Like your father?" – Upon hearing those words, Berenice became enraged to the point that her power exploded in a roar that shook all the buildings around her. Splitting the houses in two due to the gusts of air, which took the lives of the spectators who were still incredulous behind the walls.
- "It seems that strikes a sensitive chord"
- "Shut up, unhappy!" – Taking control of the corpses of the villagers, Berenice threw them like an army against the prince, who little by little felt that his mana flow began to slow down with each puppet he destroyed.
- "I have you!" – Behind one of the puppets, with her face disfigured in madness, Berenice appeared before Maximilian nailing her left hand into the knight's chest, holding his beating heart in the palm of her hand.
- "I finally have your heart! Sure, not the way it should be. But a result is a result" – When the fierce maiden squeezed the prince's heart, he gave a cry followed by a flow of blood that came out of his mouth.
- "My Sir!" – Vargas, who was still on the ground, could only be a spectator of the martyrdom to which Prince Maximilian was subjected. Unable to get up because of the rubble that crushed his legs to the ground.
- "Look what a faithful servant you have. I can even get to feel a little envious with that level of devotion that your men keep for you. But don't worry, you won't be alone in the underworld for long, I'll send them with you soon. You will even be able to see that mixed-race bitch" – As if the spark of a detonator had activated a bomb, the heart that had stopped for a few seconds, began to beat with such force that it burned in Berenice's hand.
- "What the hell is this?" – Unable to believe what she was seeing, the duchess looked at that man over whom until a few seconds ago she gloated invincibly; but now, a different being emerged in a ball of crimson fire like a bloodthirsty demon.
The blood that was stagnant on the floor, flowed like a spring to the sphere of fire enveloping him until it evaporated into the air. While the fire shone more and more as if a sun illuminated the dark night.
- "It can't be, it's impossible" – A burst of light and sound covered a vast area of the city of Theseus, as if a bomb had been thrown. After that, give way to a silhouette in the mist, which walked imposingly with its wings spread like a burning crucible.
With his wounds healed and his arm restored, magma-shiny armor covered his entire body, leaving only his fiery red eyes visible behind the tail of his helmet.
- "I did it, my lord did it! That is the second awakening of the royal family!"
- "What the hell are you saying?" – Without giving her time to finish her sentence, Maximiliano struck a forceful blow on Berenice's abdomen, who felt her armor break into pieces, exposing her flesh while leaving a groove on the ground.
Stripped of her body armor, unable to articulate her mana strings to control the puppets, her immortal soldiers fell to the ground leaving her vulnerable at the mercy of what was no longer mere man.
- "Monster! You are a monster" – Whining as she crawled on the ground trying to escape her predator, the Duchess seemed a different person compared to past territorial incursions.
Turning from predator to prey, the proud woman screamed for help as Maximilian grabbed her right arm, lifting her off the ground, squeezing her wrist until the bones broke completely. Making her scream in pain to the point that she felt like her throat was about to rip out.
-"Pity, have mercy on me!"
- "With which hand?"
- "Sorry?"
- "I asked with which hand did you give the signal to launch the first attack? Was this what he was holding?"
-"Were you there? How were you? But if you're holding it" – Without warning, Maximiliano closed his fist tearing off Berenice's right hand, who fell to the ground holding her stump in the middle of a pool of her own blood.
- "Please! Somebody save Me!" – Materializing a sword of blood, the prince raised his hands in the air over the maiden, preparing to deal the final blow against her fragile humanity.
- "Die" - At the moment that the point of the sword was about to pierce the woman's body, a snake bit her shoulder, pulling her just a few seconds before the weapon stuck into the ground.
- "!Demetrio! You came for me!" - Grateful to the man who had come to her rescue, Berenice's hand sought her face to give her a caress, being withdrawn with a slap while she held his gaze full of indifference.
- "This is supposed to be one more capitulation without setbacks. But look what you have done, the prince we had to eliminate is now a Lichen lord."
- "Lord Lichen?"
- "Stupid bitch! Don't you even know the final evolution of your race? All races have an evolution known as the second awakening. We Aspirtenes have the basilisk form, the strongest evolution of our species. You also have yours, but to get it you must experience a very strong trauma that brings you to the brink of death."
- "Then I?"
- "Yes, damn idiot. You and your damn games, you caused the fucking prince to acquire a form that not even I can face at this moment" – Demetrio's body trembled with fear as he contemplated Prince Maximilian, feeling that every second became an eternity while the heir disgraced, he walked through the sand leaving a trail of fire in his footsteps.
- "We must go"
- "But we have not captured the city"
- "With a female demon, we must escape while we still have time. Also, Lucretius informed me that he had a close sighting with Prince Remius on his way to the city. So let's put this down for now and head back to camp."
Raising his hand to throw a mana gem onto the ground, Duke Demetrius and his wife were engulfed in blinding light as they disappeared into thin air.
- "Glory to the last son of Antioca!" – Shouting cheers for his lord, Vargas writhed in pain under the rubble, being helped by the prince, who, leaving behind his transformation, took the soldier on his shoulders and walked towards the shipyards. To take the ship that would originally serve as an escape route for him and his wife.
In the middle of the calm sea without a single wind to starboard, the prince remained silent looking at the coast where the city burned in flames. Reflecting that glow in her moist pupils, shedding one last tear for that love that had been torn from her arms. Harboring in his soul a desire for revenge, which drove him with each oar while they were lost on the horizon bound for the island of Kaidos.