"HOW CAN you call it stealing when I have legitimate Quinzel Blood flowing in my veins?"
Rufus took a deep breath, and it was effective to keep himself calm.
[It's alright. That's not my brother. I can beat him.]
"You're not reacting the way I hoped you would, Duke Quinzel," the replica said in a disappointed voice. "I thought you'd lose your mind by now."
Rufus scoffed. "You're trying too hard to appear cocky, but it's not working. You only make yourself look pathetic. But if you really want to learn how to taunt your enemies properly, I suggest you take a lesson from our Princess Neoma. She's fluent in sarcasm and mockery."
"I would, but Princess Neoma is already dead," the replica said, still trying to act haughty. "It's a shame the Imperial Princess died before I could even see for myself if she was really the most beautiful girl in the world."
Pfft.
"As if we'd let you lay your filthy gaze on our Princess Neoma."
The replica tried to open his mouth, but Rufus was quicker– he threw his sword at the enemy, successfully stabbing him in the throat.
"ARGH!"
The replica couldn't move even if he wanted to.
After all, while the noisy punk was running his mouth, Rufus had already controlled the Shadows around him to immobilize the enemy.
"You look like my brother, but your similarity ends there," Rufus said while approaching the replica. "And so what if you also have Quinzel Blood in you?"
The replica glared at him while pulling out the sword in his throat.
[So, he still has the power to move his arms, huh?]
Rufus noticed that the wound in the enemy's throat immediately closed up.
[Ah, so he has fast regeneration?]
"Kill him!" the replica yelled angrily while waving his hand. "Kill that bastard first!"
Rufus just scoffed, summoning his own Shadow Beasts to deal with the Shadow Monsters that the replica had brought there.
His Shadow Beasts were Ancient Beasts that his ancestors had slain in the past, keeping their shadows as a prize. As a result of getting their shadows stolen, those Shadow Beasts had been serving the Quinzels since time immemorial.
[The elite Shadow Beasts are already owned by Hanna, though.]
Hence, Rufus could only summon the less stronger ones.
Even so, his Shadow Beasts were still stronger than the Shadow Monsters that the replica had brought there.
"You're embarrassing," Rufus said, slicing the Shadow Monsters who tried to get in his way. "Don't ever tell everyone again that you have Quinzel Blood in you. People would think our family is weak because of a disgrace like you, Mr. Replica."
"Hah! People praised you for being kind and gentle," the replica said, finally breaking free from the Shadows that Rufus used to suppress him earlier. "But I see that all of those rumors are nothing but lies."
"Not only you're weak despite stealing our blood, but you're also not that bright, huh?" Rufus asked, disappointed once again to see someone with his brother's face acting so weak and na?ve. "Do you think I'll show kindness and mercy to bastards who have hurt my family again and again?"
The crows tried to kill Hanna many times.
The crows used Gavin's body for their cruel experiments.
The crows almost turned Amber into a reanimated corpse.
And, just recently, those crows put Princess Neoma into a comatose state.
Rufus' gold eyes glowed menacingly. "I'm not wasting my time on a weakling like you."
Fortunately, he could focus on the replica.
Jasper Hawthorne was leading his men to fight the monsters and the Shadow Monsters.
"Hah! Just so you know, I was created after the crows have perfected the exact replica of Gavin Quinzel during his prime!" the replica said smugly, pulling out a sword of Darkness from his own shadow. "I am Gavin Quinzel during his prime!"
"So what?" Rufus asked indifferently, slicing off the replica's head with the Mana-covered blade of his sword before the replica could even lift his sword of Darkness. "I've long surpassed my brother."
He didn't stop there, though.
To kill an enemy with a fast regeneration, Rufus had to slice the replica's body into tiny pieces as if he was just chopping wood.
It wasn't like the replica didn't fight back.
The replica simply couldn't move because Rufus was faster.
Moreover, his own shadow was literally holding back the replica from moving.
"This is impossible," the replica said, his head still "alive" despite being severed from his body. "Your shadow is supposed to be weak since the light in the world has already dimmed after the Darkness took over the sky…"
The replica wasn't wrong.
After all, the strongest the light was the stronger the Quinzels's shadows become.
However, Rufus' Shadow Manipulation Technique was weakened due to the lack of light.
That didn't matter to him, though.
"Have you forgotten my other title?" Rufus asked, raising his sword before stabbing the replica's head with it– causing the noisy punk to scream in agony. "I'm the empire's greatest Swords Master at the moment."
It was a title that his Brother Gavin had in the past.
That title belonged to Rufus now.
[Let's finish this now.]
"I'm sorry, Brother," Rufus said while looking at the replica. "I'm going to borrow the technique you created before."
He covered his entire sword with his Mana.
Since their Mana was a form of Darkness attribute, his entire sword was soon swallowed by what seemed like Darkness.
Then that Darkness spread and created a ring on the ground.
To be precise, a Black Hole.
Rufus smiled at the replica who looked confused at what was happening. "If you have fast regeneration, then I just have to kill you before you heal yourself."
And then the Black Hole swallowed all the severed body parts of the replica.
"No!"
The agonizing scream of the replica was soon swallowed by the Black Hole.
And, just like that, not even a piece of the replica's hair was left.
[I did it,] Rufus whispered to himself, clenching his hands. [I wonder if Hanna has succeeded in making the Black Hole her own technique…]
***
[UNCLE Gavin, why did you invent such a complicated technique?]
Hanna complained lightly.
But it was okay since she was almost there– she was close to finishing her own Black Hole.
"It's a little different that the Black Hole I learned from Father, though."
Yes, she asked her father if he knew anything about the Black Hole since she didn't have her memories of the first timeline.
Her father was shocked when she mentioned the Black Hole.
She still remembered her conversation with her father after her engagement ceremony…
<"Father, does our family have a technique called 'Black Hole?'">
<"The Black Hole was the incomplete technique that your Uncle Gavin invented when we were young, sweetie. But my brother didn't get the chance to finish the technique since he got busy when he became a Sword Master. People are naturally afraid of Darkness attribute users, so your uncle opted to use his sword to protect the empire in order to not scare the citizens.">
Hanna was surprised when she found out that the Black Hole was an invention of her Uncle Gavin.
She thought Hanna of the first timeline invented it herself.
But that didn't mean she couldn't own her Uncle Gavin's technique.
<"Father, please teach me the theory behind the Black Hole. Since it was incomplete, then do you think Uncle Gavin would mind if I try to complete it on my own?">
<"I'm sure my brother wouldn't mind. After all, your Uncle Gavin taught me how to use the Black Hole because he created the technique for our family. But I didn't get the chance to develop it since I also chose to focus on being a Sword Master. However, if it's you, I believe you'll be able to finish what I couldn't.">
<"Thank you, Father.">
<"The technique that your Uncle Gavin came up with is actually simple. The Black Hole isn't meant to be an attack, after all. It serves as a barrier– a barrier that allows us to hide even from the eyes of the gods around us. But I can't do it.">
<"You can't do it, Father?">
<"I'm not good at creating barriers since my Shadows are too aggressive. Hence, when I tried to complete my brother's Black Hole, I ended up using it to swallow up and banish anything or anyone caught up in it.">
Hanna stopped reminiscing when she felt blood drip from her nose.
[Ah, a nosebleed.]
She couldn't stop, though.
[Just a little more…]
She focused until Neoma, who was trapped inside the ice coffin, was inside the ring of Shadows that she made.
And then the Black Hole slowly yet surely swallowed up the ice coffin.
Hanna coughed up a chunk of blood while closing her hands tightly until Neoma and the ice coffin were completely swallowed up by the Black Hole.
[I did it.]
She was ready to drop to the floor because her body went numb from pain.
However, she didn't.
Her back hit someone's solid chest.
"You should rest," Lewis said, carrying Hanna in his arms. "You did well, Princess Hanna."
Huh?
Hanna was shocked when she realized that she was in Lewis' arms. "Hey, you don't like physical contact. You can put me down now."
Lewis didn't listen to her.
He just walked towards the bed, then he put her down. After that, he tucked her in as if he was tucking a child in bed. He even gave her a handkerchief for her nosebleed.
[Yes, our Lewis is dependable.]
Hanna smiled after thanking him for the handkerchief. "I didn't peg you for someone who brings hankie with him, Lewis."
"Princess Neoma taught me to carry a handkerchief with me all the time," Lewis said while opening the lid of a vial. Then he handed that vial to her. "Drink this, Princess Hanna. It's a rejuvenating potion Greko made for us."
"Thank you," she said, then she drank the potion in one gulp. "You can train with Queen Lisica and Lord Rustin, Lewis. I'll be fine here."
"Don't want."
"Lewis, I'm sure Commander Ruto has a reason for summoning the two Silver Foxes here," she said gently in order to convince Lewis to listen to her. "You need to be stronger for Neoma. Once she returns, I'm sure she'll put an end to this war. You need to have the power to stand with her during that time as her Guardian Knight."
"Ah," Lewis said as if he had just realized that she was right. "Okay, I'll train with them."
Hanna smiled and nodded. "Good boy."
"No?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm not a boy," Lewis said, sulking. "I'm a man."
[A fine man at that… wait, no. I'm engaged to Nero. How could I find another man attractive?]
Hanna slapped her cheeks when that indecent thought crossed her mind.
No, she wasn't cheating on Nero.
She was just simply appreciating Lewis' good looks.
[Did Neoma's penchant for handsome men rubbed off on me?]
***
"IT'S GONE," Helstor said in disbelief, leaning against the back of his seat when his tired body collapsed. Keeping up his human form was hard, after all. "Princess Neoma's presence disappeared along with Hanna Quinzel and Lewis Crevans'. My eyes can't find them."
"It must be Hanna Quinzel," Callisto de Luca said, growling as he continued to inject potions in his body. It was to keep his new physical body from melting like the wax that it used to be. "Only the Quinzels have the power to hide from gods. Rufus Quinzel isn't as talented as Gavin Quinzel, so it can't be him. However, the Crown Princess was born gifted."
"That's why you should have listened to Regina and killed Hanna Quinzel when you had the chance to do so," Helstor said. "But no, you insisted that Hanna Quinzel is the only woman fit to be Prince Nero's empress."
"The blood of the de Moonasterio and the Quinzel go well together," Callisto argued. "Emperor Nikolai was born from a female Quinzel, and he was the strongest de Moonasterio in history before his children were born. I was hoping Nero and Hanna Quinzel's future son would be more powerful and talented than the current emperor."
"Too bad Hanna Quinzel turned out to be as annoying as Princess Neoma, huh?"
"Oh, shut up."
"We need to get rid of Emperor Nikolai before Princess Neoma gets revived," Helstor said, getting up from his seat. "It's hard to swallow up the sun since the Eastern Continent is being protected by Lord Levi and the Sun Goddess at the moment, so let's start with the moon."
It was easy to destroy the Western Continent right now since Lord Yule wasn't there to protect his territory.
[But the fact that Lord Yule disappeared is making me nervous for some reason.]
"Alright," Callisto said, finally calm. "Give me Emperor Nikolai's divine power before you kill him."
***
"YOU WANT me to eat that?" Neoma asked, pointing at the so-called Eternal Flame at the mouth of the "dead mountain" where Drystan brought her and Ruto. "Well, it does look appetizing."
The 'Eternal Flame' was a huge rainbow-colored flame.
Yep, it had all the colors in your typical rainbow.
"Don't take this lightly, little princess," Drystan scolded her quite sternly. "That flame has been here way before I was crowned the King of Hell. It wouldn't be a test if swallowing that up was an easy feat."
Neoma licked her lips. "I'm not taking this lightly, but that Eternal Flame really looks like cotton candy. I can't help but find it tasty-looking."
Yeah, her brain and appetite were probably broken or something.
[I even find Darkness appetizing.]
Could it be Neoma was actually a glutton?
Her appetite must be a bigger problem than her vanity.
Tteokbokki, now in his baby dragon form while lazily draped over her shoulder, sighed. "Thug princess, don't just eat anything that looks delicious."
"It's safe to eat," Neoma said. "After all, Ruto isn't stopping me."
Ruto turned to Neoma with a hesitant look on his face. "That's the flame that you used to burn the world in the first timeline, Neoma."
Oh.
[Now it doesn't look appetizing anymore…]
***
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