Once I sent the infiltration party on its way, Rea and I teleported into the Great Hall of the Palace. Freya smirked as she saw us, and chaos immediately broke out.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty, but may I enquire as to why there are a couple of commoner brats interrupting our important conference?"
"It is just as Baron Arzin has said, Your Majesty. We should remove the scum when it floats to the top."
"My, my, Baron Delinde. You've understated the situation. Not only should we remove the scum, we should absolutely obliterate it."
"Count Chalcen speaks well. It was my small-mindedness that failed to understand just how much scum can infect."
At this moment, Jessa and her team emerged from the shadows, each one arresting a noble.
"Hey! Just what do you think you're doing, lowly servant? This is the Nobles Conference!"
"A bunch of filthy [Nocturnes]! This is why I advocated genoiciding the lot of you!"
"Jessa, Martis. Please bring them to their holding cells posthaste."
""As you wish, Your Majesty.""
"What is the meaning of this! You would mutiny??"
"Aah? Me, mutiny? I am the Empress of the Empire. Loyalty to the Empire is loyalty to ME. What's wrong with obliterating the scum, as you so kindly elaborated on before?"
"You...you!!"
"Jessa, Martis. Immediately. Before-"
The great doors to the Great Hall were thrown open. A truly terrifying aura spread from beyond the door. They had arrived. The [Sword of Daceli]. An elite, fully S-ranked squad which formed the basis of Daceli's stability (or indolence). From my own detection abilities, there were 18 of them. This would be a hard battle.
"No one is leaving this room."
As the leader said that, the space in the room itself froze. Then, black wings erupted from under her uniform.
This was bad. Very bad. I didn't think that a [Vallen], of all people, would be the leader of the [Sword of Daceli]! While I could use [Void Supremacy] to circumvent her
She turned to me, slightly surprised.
"Oya? Another [Vallen]...? No, you're not totally a [Vallen]. Something a little different. I'd love to dissect you. And...it seems you're not affected by my [Spatial Domination], huh? But, it's only you. Everyone else is restricted. Let's see how you do when I have so many hostages to play with-"
A spray of blood erupted from her chest. She looked down at it, then at me, then back down at it as if completely surprised by the fact that she could be wounded in this arena.
"Ooh, you're a dangerous one. If it wasn't for my defensive skills, I might have just died there."
Her voice was now severe, any trace of brevity lost. I simply smiled.
"I knew it wouldn't kill you. So I made sure that it would."
"...huh?" her eyes narrowed, then widened.
"Poison! And you've even layered protections on the poison so it's not so easily cured, huh..."
"[Sword of Daceli], hear my order. While I recuperate, kill every rebel in this hall."
""""Ha!""""
I smirked, feeling a little less stuffy after the biggest threat was temporarily incapacitated. Now...it was time to hunt.
In two minutes, there were six dead S-rankers, courtesy of my new {Subskill: Primordial Curse} and {Subskill: Eyes of the Void}. Finally recognising just how much of a threat I posed, the remaining members fell into a formation and approached fighting me that way. This was much more of a difficult situation. While I was dealing with their vanguard, the rearguard would buff and heal them, while the midguard offered cover fire. If I attempted to attack anyone but the vanguard, I would end up surrounded. Without a doubt, this was the hardest battle I had ever fought in my life.
At any moment, the attacks that came my way could kill me. And thanks to the [Guardian]'s
And after another two minutes, it was done. Poison damage had been increased to 12,000 per second. In another 50 seconds, he would die. Now, I needed to ready my other skills for when the leader got up again and I had to face more than ten S-rankers in quick succession. I intended to take them out as quickly as possible. After all, they were my prey. People gave so much more EXP as compared to monsters. Perhaps it was because the amount of mana that monsters had was largely stored in their [Mana Cores], whereas people simply bled their mana as they died. I could see it. Having killed a number of them, as they died I could see their mana begin to flow towards me. Once the flow was complete, I would receive a report from the
It was at this moment, however, that I received a request to allow my squad to pass through. I gave my consent, since I had planned for this to end soon. However, in the brief moment that my attention was drawn away, I witnessed something truly horrifying.
{Spatial Rend} was being cast on Rea's heart.
I screamed. The world turned red and black and white.
Before I knew it, I was by her side, holding her lifeless body, her mana beginning to flow out towards her killer, the [Vallen] leader. In a moment of desperation, I placed her into a {Void Storage}, which stopped the flow, but all I could do was kneel numbly in the place where Rea's body had been.
-Conditions have been met...-
"Ahahahaha, so that girl was your weak poi-"
Rea. Dead. My family. My first friend. A girl who loved me purely. A person that I treasured.
Gone.
"Hey, are you listening to-"
I felt a heavy impact in my gut, and dimly felt myself flying through the air, careening into a wall.
Rea. I thought of her smile, her innocence, and how I vowed to protect it.
Her life, so simply lost.
Her smile, now gone forever.
Was there a point for me to keep trying?
"Oi, little girl, are you just a wooden doll now-"
Cold steel slashed me somewhere. I can't tell where. All I can feel is the numbness, the rage, the emptiness, the tears that won't come.
I felt myself sinking, engulfed by the feeling that everything I loved and treasured had just been ripped away from me.
My Rea has been taken from me. So I will take everything from you.
My vision finally cleared. I looked up at the [Vallen] who was clearly mocking me, although my ears were still somewhat ringing from the effort.
"Well, now you're boring. So just die."
She jabbed her sword towards me. I held up my hand and grasped the blade as it punctured my palm, stopping it an inch away from my face.
"You killed my Rea. Now I will return it to you."
The blood dripping from my hands contained mana. My mana. Mana that I could manipulate as easily as I could blink. Still holding her sword, I shakily stood up, never breaking eye contact with her. Fear began to collect in her eyes, realising that I was probably about to go berserk. Before she could do anything else, however, I whispered.
"{Blood Armament}."
The blood that I had shed, the blood from the dead elites that had become stained with my mana rushed towards me, creating a form-fitting cage that enclosed the [Vallen]. Blood thorns grew out of the bars of the cage, piercing her skin and delivering pain and poison directly into her bloodstream.
She screamed. It was like music to my ears.
"[Void Domination]."
And the whole hall was dyed in black.
Three seconds later, light returned. Every single elite was dead. Their bodies were mangled and crushed beyond recognition. Blood, bone shards, and viscera were splattered across the floor. It would have even been difficult to tell where one corpse began and the other ended, if it was even possible to call these remains a corpse at all. All of them were dead... all except for the still screaming [Vallen]. I gave her my widest smile, and told her, "I will now break every bone in your body, followed by every organ. Then, I will kill you.
Even though her [Spatial Domination] had been lifted, no one in the hall dared to move. Everyone stood frozen, rooted to their spot as I began the most cruel and agonising torture anyone had probably ever witnessed in that hall.
The screaming ended after twenty minutes. Even though I wasn't done with all of her organs, she would probably die now that she had lost consciousness. Plus, my intrigue was gone. I wasn't interested in causing her pain any more. The momentary soothing of my grief was as fleeting as her life. I finished her off, then received her EXP.
Looking around the room, I realised for the first time that I had a captive audience.
"Oh, you guys were still here? Anyway, the rebellion has succeeded, as you can see."
"A-Ava-san, ano..." Freya stuttered and trailed off.
"Ah, Freya-sama. I have a question and a request to make of you."
"Y-yes! W-what might it be?"
"You don't have to be so scared. They suffered for hurting Rea. None of you have ever done poorly by me, so you may rest assured that I will not simply go on a killing spree. After that cathartic exercise, I am quite in control."
"U-um, alright," muttered Freya. Although visibly terrified by the scene before her and still shaken to her core, she exuded the grace of the Empress once more and recovered.
"Ava-san, what might I be able to do for you?"
"First, a question. Where on this planet has the most in-depth research on runes, ancient magic, and the like?"
"Ah, I don't believe research is conducted into runes and ancient magic any more, but there are archives in the library of the Royal College Academy of Avena. It is a continent, but the whole continent is ruled by the Kingdom of Avena. The Academy itself is basically a large city. Only nobles and royals may enter for study, though. They believe that only nobles and royals should have access to such knowledge. In their words, the commoners would merely squander it."
"I see. Then, my request. Scrap everything I said before the rebellion. Instead, I would like you to bestow me with a noble title and send me to that Academy."
"That's entirely doable. I could easily bestow you with the title of First Princess. There is also a teleportation formation in the Palace that runs on Ancient Magic that can be tuned to the hall for receiving transfer student requests in the Royal College Academy. Although...may I ask what you're planning?"
I smiled, a true smile this time, and said, "surviving doesn't mean not dying. It can also mean surviving beyond death itself."
"Ava-san, you..."
"I only need to learn the runes for [Temporal Magic] in order to revive Rea. I will stop at nothing and brook no protest to this."
"I don't intend to stop you. I have seen how much you care for her and how much weight she holds in your heart. You have helped me to reclaim my nation. I will spare no expense to help you reclaim your heart."
"Thank you, Empress Freya."
"It is my wish also, Princess Ava."