Chapter 60: Mother and Daughter Against One Man
A golden beam of light dashed out of the central golden tower when two colorful Prims flew by it.
Small starlike leaves rolled at the sight of the clicking walls of the tower as the golden beam of light exploded in the sky above and turned into countless pieces.
The clicking sounds of cloth and boots echoed as Agatha and the nineteen mages stopped at the Inner Sanctum of the Duke’s Grand Citadel.
Faint embers drifted around them when reflections from the white marble pillars and the golden tapestries flashed on them.
Agatha’s eyes glowed faintly when she walked forward and saw the Aegis, a giant sphere of molten gold light, floating above the council table. ’Are they...’
A cold lump formed in her throat as she stopped. Hot air rushed from her lungs when memories of the Aegis and its historical usage flashed behind her eyes. ’Why?’
The faces of all nineteen mages dulled in an instant when they lifted their gazes and saw the Aegis with one phrase drifting through their heads. ’That’s the Aegis that powered the city’s defense system.’
Agatha’s heart pounded heavy in her chest when she remembered how the ancestral men who had once ruled got erased and wounded beyond measure when the mechanism was once used.
Her chest rose and fell when she blinked and focused on thirty of the highest-tier noble women in the city surrounding the council table.
Agatha lowered her gaze and slowly bowed when she saw them raising their hands and linking their essence with the Aegis in a ritualistic circle.
Strands of her white hair whipped across her cheeks when a wave of pressurized air blasted from the threshold at the back.
The shambling sound of fluffy cloth erupted near the entrance as Isabella stepped inside the chamber through the double doors. Sparks followed her like gold as she took slow steps toward her mother.
The hems of her fluffy cloth fought against her shoulder as she bowed her head slightly. "Mommy."
Her tight silver robe squeezed against her body as she straightened. She shifted a warm glance at Empress Diana, then smiled at the floating sphere, the Aegis. "Mom, the Southern gate has fallen."
Silver strands of Empress Diana’s hair sliced through the air as she snapped her head back and blinked. "So easily?"
Her eyebrows furrowed from a glint of fear as she shifted glances from her second daughter’s charming face to the twenty-nine noble women who were equal with her, except she was the empress.
"Mom, don’t be sad." Isabella’s chest rose as she shifted her gaze toward the secondary guard mages who were stationed near the pillars. ’I knew they wouldn’t even stand a chance of protecting the gate.’
A faint bone-crackling sound erupted from her as she shook her head and walked to Empress Diana’s front. "Mom, let me take your place and make them circulate the Aegis."
The clicking sound of metal echoed as Empress Diana moved a step back with a faint smile on her face. Her purple armor robe rustled as she placed both palms at her front and moved one step aside. "Don’t force yourself if you can’t, Isa."
Her face twisted in a mix of terror as she eyed Agatha, the second in command to Shallot, and the remaining mages standing at the far end with their heads bowed. ’So, it’s true...’
Just as Isabella stretched her right hand toward the floating Aegis and made its glow double, a loud bang shook the walls of the Sanctum chamber.
Agatha’s combat armor squeezed against her body as she clenched her fist and faced the trembling walls.
Debris rained down on all twenty mages, the thirty high-tier noble women, and Isabella, fogging the chamber.
Dying bird cries filled the sky as a mixture of red, gold, and black glow danced across the golden dome.
Rootlike cracks lingered on the golden dome for a second before it splattered and gave way for Levi and his counterparts.
Agnes lowered her head in shame. Just as Levi glanced at her, she grabbed her daughter’s hand and pulled her into a run, escaping through the closing gap on the golden beam.
The gravel beneath Senna Drae groaned as she lunged to chase after the witch and her daughter.
The blades of her black jagged dagger sliced through the hitched air and carved a thin cut line through the space at her front. But she stopped when Levi shook his head at her. "Don’t."
Hot air hissed out from between Senna’s teeth as she stood still with the dagger held in a ready-to-throw stance.
A faint hum lanced through the compound of the palace like an earthquake. Feathers from the crying and fleeing Prims rained on the compound as Levi and his four concubines walked toward the Grand Council Tower.
The moment they stopped in front of the heavy entrance of the tower, Levi smiled. ’Let’s see how they welcome us.’
Strands of wine-colored hair slipped through the air and flashed on Levi’s face as Maya Sirius stepped forward and placed her palms on the wood.
Metal screeches echoed as every bolt and nut came loose without a struggle and caused the doors to fall down on their own.
Moving past the wreckage to the heavy mahogany doors of the sanctum, a crack echoed.
Red glows seeped out of Maya Sirius’s eyes. When she cracked them open, the indestructible door exploded into millions of splinters.
The hems of Levi’s trousers and cloak billowed behind him as he walked through the splinter smoke. "Well, well, well."
His elite vanguard filed in right behind him when the translucent panel flickered open.
[Warning: Aegis at 85% Combustion Capacity.]
[Target: Empress Diana and her daughter.]
[Attraction: Absolute Control.]
[Inversion Potential: Total Dependency / Complete Submission.]
[Desire Level:]
[Isabella: 20%]
[Empress Diana: 8%]
[Empress Diana’s terror is rapidly shifting into an extreme psychological fixation on your dominant power.]
’Mother and daughter against one man. Huh.’ Levi ran a hand down his face, then grinned. ’This is going to be fun.’
