In a split second, I had isolated all of them, relishing their varied expressions of surprise as they watched my terrain creation reconstruct itself piece by piece, transforming the world into a lush tropical paradise, encircled by towering mountains.
Naturally, I had to put a stop to the boulders hurtling towards their targets like a rampaging herd of angry birds, given that the battle had already concluded. As for Ag'na...well, fortunately, there was only one Ag'na left for me to worry about.
What is she doing? Curiously, I wondered what Queen Mavena was up to as she strode purposefully towards the barely-breathing form of Ag'na, having abstained from participating in the skirmish.
"Hey, Ag'na" I called out to him, unable to keep myself from speaking up.
"What do you want?" He snapped back irritably.
"They're threatening to run a stick through your butthole" I replied bluntly.
"What? Haven't they won? Why would they--?" Ag'na's head jerked back as he turned to look at the screen, confusion etched across his face. Then, he growled and turned to face me, his eyes blazing with fury. "You! Have you no shame?".
I ignored his angry words and pointed towards Queen Mavena, who was approaching his battered body. "Look at her. do you know what she is trying to do?" It was no mystery that the acclaimed Miracle Queen, who had abstained from participating in the battle, had something mysterious up her sleeve.
Maybe it was because I didn't respond to his question with a snarky reply, or perhaps it was due to the fact that he was becoming more accustomed to my character, but he slowly turned his head towards the screen to scrutinize the movements of the Miracle's Queen before finally providing a reply.
Unfortunately, my anticipation was met with disappointment as he responded with a burst of laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Regardless, I questioned, "So you know what she is trying to do?".
He nodded his spectral head, a beastly smirk spreading across his lips. "I know exactly what she's attempting" He replied. But his smile quickly faded as he continued. "Unfortunately, none of it will work. The soul that inhabits that body is merely the mindless and feral half of me, which will reunite with me the moment my body dies".
"Say something that I can understand".
He turned towards me and began to streamline his explanation. "When I was imprisoned in her castle, she extracted my scales and blood to create potions, and low-grade artefacts, and to protect her kingdom and its borders. This rendered my 'Frozen sacrificial cocoon' ineffective, as she uses my body to restock whenever she needs to".
Okay, that got dark quickly.
Although Ag'na was a beast, I strangely found myself not viewing him in the same way that I did in the beginning. It was a different feeling than how I viewed Bones, but perhaps that was due to the fact that I had watched Bones grow from an ordinary ship rat into a formidable comet-sized ball buster.
With Ag'na, I saw him more like Mad John. Despite this, there were still certain criteria that he would have to meet if he wanted to become a part of the crew.
He paused for a moment, seemingly waiting for me to digest what he had just revealed. Then, he continued with a growl in his voice. "However, enslaving me was not her main goal. Her main goal was to turn me into her puppet, to control me completely. But I am a beast with a strong affinity for mind, ice, and snow. So when that failed, she had another plan for me".
"And what was that?" Even though I could feel his anger after every syllable, I couldn't help but ask.
He snarled in anger as he replied "To kill me and force my soul into eternal servitude, making me her familiar or summon".
Damn! Even though I knew that she had something in her closet, I was stunned by the sheer cruelty of Queen Mavena's plans. I glanced at the screen, which displayed Queen Mavena casting intricate pentagrams with different colours and runes, each one large enough to cover Ag'na's body. Then, I looked back at Ag'na's immaterial form, filled with a mix of pity and anger at his plight.
I wanted to clarify, so I said, "So you mean that right now, she wants to trap your soul?".
"Yes… However, because of your interference, my soul was split, with one part being trapped in Bones alongside my inheritance, and the other still trapped in my body" He explained. "Regardless, once my main body dies, my soul will rejoin back together, leaving her with only a dead carcass, so you could say that she is in for a big surprise" My eyes turned back to watch the scene on the screen as a knowing grin appeared on his beastly face.
My brows furrowed. "And what if your soul doesn't rejoin together? What if she manages to get the other half of your soul?" She was called the Miracle Queen, and with a name like that, even plot-armoured warriors would have to stand on their toes in case she pulled some kind of unknown miracle out of her ass.
"My soul has already rejoined since the moment my skull was crushed, so whatever efforts she wants to make are her own business" He expressed. (f)reewebnovel.com
I was just about to open my mouth to respond when it suddenly snapped shut. 'Why didn't you say that from the beginning?' I thought, tiredly. I couldn't believe that it was Ag'na, of all people, who had just taken me down an imaginary rollercoaster.
And his obliviousness and disregard after all that he had just said was impeccable.
"As for any anger or hatred I may have felt towards her, it's all in the past since I am already dead. A deceased beast, revered or not, has no ties to the land of the living" Ag'na continued, turning over to the other side and closing his eyes to rest. "So, while she's done wasting her time, I ask only that you allow my corpse not to be desecrated" He added, his voice trailing off.
Oddly enough, this is the first time that Ag'na has ever begged something of me, and what's even more surprising is that I actually plan on following through with it.
Hmm, I think I should double-check my criteria once more to see if he has ticked off any of the requirements on my list.
…......
Why isn't it working?
What did I do wrong?
Why --
As her mind trailed off, her magical energy flared, and another rune was created over the corpses of Ag'na. But to her stupefaction, out of all the spells she had cast, none of them had worked. Not even one of them had shown any signs of the amount of effort she had put into this.
She tried again.
Failed.
And again--
Failed.
"Queen Mavena, is there a problem?" Asked Prince Beck, panting as he tried to recover his magical energy.
"I too would like to know if there is a problem" Said Prince Murdock, prompting Queen Mavena to cast a sidelong glance at him and Grand Duke Liam, who had arrived and stood beside his nephew.
With a deep sigh, she uttered, "It's not working".
A moment of silence encased their conversation before it was abruptly shattered by the Grand Duke's voice.
"Then...does that mean we can't recover our lands?".
Queen Mavena nodded, her expression grim. "It seems so" She said with another heavy sigh. "Ag'na may be dead, but the calamity he has left us with will remain forever".
….......….
As Queen Mavena's voice echoed across the silent space, I couldn't help but wonder--
But before I could even begin to articulate my thoughts, I was swiftly cut off. Ag'na answered as if he had been waiting for my question.
"To buy time for my escape and avoid being killed, I told her that killing me would not stop the 'Frozen Sacrificial Cocoon'" Ag'na explained. "So, she continued to harvest various parts of my body, allowing me to plot my escape. That was until you arrived, rewrote the past and tore my soul from my body".
I nodded, slowly starting to make sense of his explanation. Now that the battle was over and I had gained insight into the conflict between Queen Mavena and Ag'na, it was time to leave.
Since Ag'na was dead, my next immediate task was to deal with Captain Crimson Eye and his fleet. With the thought of Toothless and Annabelle still fighting back against them, I sent a thought to Bones and said, 'We are leaving'.
After that, I immediately broke my terrain creation, stored Ag'na's body in my 'Temporary Space Storage,' and watched as their stunned faces immediately processed the fact that they weren't in my world anymore.
Queen Mavena was the first to survey the desolate, frigid expanse, littered with the carcasses of magical beasts, and interrogated me with a steely gaze. "Prince Wyatt, what is the meaning of this?" She demanded. "Where is the corpse of the sleepy behemoth'?".
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