"I am grateful with all my heart that you are a good person and that my younger children think so highly of you… that is to say, now everyone here can be considered your friends." Although she said that, her expression did not change at all.
As he didn't respond, she continued speaking. "Ever since you arrived at my palace, I have not stopped looking for any information about you and your origins."
"..."
"But I didn't find anything about you… it's like you don't exist"
"Is that bad?"
"Not at all, instead, it means that the possibility that you are an assassin spy who was sent by a foreign country or a group of mercenary bandits is ruled out."
This news reassures me a little...
"But…" He interrupted my thoughts. "The original sentence was never undone: the crime of breaking into my palace. You should know by now that the most important people of every continent live in this place."
So... it all comes down to that...
As I thought this, my heart began to pound unexpectedly and my sweat was visible. Everything was going wrong, and an unpleasant feeling was growing in my chest.
"Zaphyris-sama..."
"I hope you understand, Lucius."
After thinking about it for a bit and calming my trembling voice, I cleared my throat. "What are you planning to do now… Zaphyris-sama?"
His look said it all.
"Your trial will begin now"
She decided to execute me on the same day I would be granted independence.
An ice arrow shot out at a terrifying speed and grazed my right arm. "Ugh." I had managed to dodge its trajectory by instinctively leaning to the side, but I wasn't confident of dodging the next spell without the help of luck.
"Ahh"
The pain gradually increased, and warm blood began to flow down the entire arm.
With basic healing holy magic, I began to heal the wound while recoiling in dismay from its overwhelming power.
My body is shaking...
"Lucius! You are accused of espionage, breaking and entering, and stealing information from the Northern Quaramis Palace! I, Ice Empress Zaphyris Quaramis, will atone for your crime with death by my own hand!"
After those words, she summoned several small ice cannons that were fired towards me. Their speed and power were incomparable to the previous times.
Zaphyris would do it without a doubt.
"Flower of Rejection!" I had summoned the strongest defensive spell at my disposal.
The ice flower repelled all the attacks, but that was not Zaphyris's objective: while I was defending myself from the cannons, I noticed that she was already next to me preparing another spell to counter my defense.
She now attacked and moved at a terrifying speed.
I won't be able to defend myself!
In a desperate move, I jumped with all my strength and performed a pirouette to avoid receiving Zaphyris' blow at point-blank range. For some strange reason I managed to dodge that attack, but a third spell came from the ground: a thick ice pillar came out from the ground and hit me with such force that it knocked me out of its range as I crashed into a wall of the training field.
After healing my wounds, I started running away from Zaphyris while defending myself from all of her ranged attacks.
"Why don't you attack me? You won't be able to keep running away forever, Lucius."
"Please stop this!"
"Why should I do that?"
"I have no bad intentions!" I said, trying to get my words across. But it turned out to be in vain.
I didn't know when she moved but she disappeared leaving a curtain of smoke.
What was that? A new spell?
Zaphyris disappeared, he couldn't sense her presence or her next attack and all he saw was the ice-covered ground that stretched out due to the low temperature of the environment...
Hey?
"Winter Hell," Zaphyris said in a voice that echoed throughout every corner of the frozen training hall.
This ability... could it be... His Field of Mastery?
Suddenly I found myself engulfed in a field of ice and finally found Zaphyris behind me.
Before I knew it, the ice from his Domain Field had already touched my legs… and the next thing I felt, was my upper body falling towards the ground while my legs remained frozen in the same place.
"Aaaaaaahhhg!" A painful scream came from within me.
The pain was indescribable, and the cold burned my bones. The bleeding would not stop, and the pain made me vomit with tears of suffering.
I had lost my composure and fell into despair.
As I lay on the ground trying to back away, I began to cast all sorts of spells that were repelled without much effort.
Zaphyris was getting closer and closer to me with the same terrifying poker face.
Spells of ice, earth, fire, water, dark magic... none could stop her.
I knew it from the beginning... it would be useless.
"Aaahg! Get away!"
With my last efforts, I used electricity-element spells and fired a ball of electricity that absorbed energy from around it. The overload released an explosion that shattered the surrounding ice aggressively.
Zaphyris was taken by surprise and quickly defended herself against that strange spell.
Shit! Nothing works!
"It seems I have underestimated you, Lucius," was his cold reaction after everything I did.
I had no strength left and was slowly losing consciousness. My cold, bloody body was no longer responding at all.
Is this... really my end?
Will I die this way again?
"Tell me, Lucius... Where do you come from and who brought you here?"
Without answering his question, I quickly began to prepare another explosive electrical overload attack and pointed my hand towards Zaphyris.
But she pointed her right hand at me, casting a spell that left me without the will to continue fighting.
"Spiritual Deprivation"
A clump of ice shot out from his hand and entered my right arm... or rather, it penetrated my spiritual circuits and undid the spell I had cast...
Impossible... my power...
Did it freeze my spiritual circuits?
"Huh...?" My bewildered reaction left me speechless.
I was witnessing my end.
"Ahhhrr! You're a witch!"
She didn't even listen to my insults and cast another spell that tore off my right arm.
The nauseating, inexplicable pain spread throughout the place. "Aaaaaaahhhg!"
"I'll tell you one last time, where do you come from and who brought you here?" With those words, she conjured another ice arrow that aimed for my head.
There's no point anymore...
I have failed Goddess-sama...
Being considered a hero or a messiah is something unworthy of someone like me: I died miserably in my previous life and I am about to do the same now.
I had my doubts about all this from the beginning. I didn't want to admit it but I knew something was wrong.
I was tricked and they played with my damn feelings.
I refuse to accept that!
Anger and pain coursed through every fiber of me and with a vague hope, I raised my shaking left arm pointing towards Zaphyris.
"Oh? You still have the willpower to fight to the end," said the damned vixen, who finally let out a satisfied smile.
I didn't have much left: I kept spitting blood and I had already lost a lot of blood; my circuits were not responding completely and I was about to lose consciousness... but I wanted to die fighting until the end.
"Dieeee!" With a desperate cry, I channeled every last drop of spiritual power left in my body and launched the first attack that crossed my mind at that moment.
The spell went off and had the expected effect.
"..." Zaphyris's expression had disappeared.
Now she was speechless... or I meant, everyone in the room was in awe.
My last spell had penetrated Zaphyris's right arm, undoing her ice spell.
I had used 'Spiritual Deprivation' a spell that was considered Zaphyris's most powerful weapon.
"… How did you do it?" She asked with a stern and scary expression.
"..." I didn't have the strength to continue speaking. I couldn't anymore.
As I didn't respond, Zaphyris continued to mutter to herself. "I understand."
After that, she conjured an ice spear with her left hand and shot it towards me.
That was my last memory of that moment...
At least I would like to apologize to Goddess-sama: I am not a hero with the destiny of saving the world, rather, I am one incapable of saving myself.
I am the hero with the destiny of always dying for being weak...