893 NERO'S VILLAIN ERA (2)
NEOMA was ready to beat Crimson to a pulp and knock some sense into him.
After all, it was the only way to bring back her Tteokbokki.
However, Neoma soon forgot about her violent plan when Crimson, still in his human form, suddenly let go of her throat just like that. Then he fell to his knees while clutching his chest tight. It looked like he was in pain.
"Hey, what's happening?" Neoma asked worriedly. It didn't matter if Crimson just tried to choke her to death a few moments ago. There was no way Crimson could kill her, even if he tried anyway. "Are you hurt? But I haven't beaten you to a pulp yet."
"It hurts…" Crimson said, huffing. Then he hugged himself and shut his eyes tight– his body sprawled on the ground weakly. "The crazy Crown Prince is killing us…"
There could only be one crazy Crown Prince in the empire.
"Nero?" Neoma asked, shocked. She got down on her knees to match Crimson's eye level. "What is he doing? How can he hurt you?"
"I don't know," Crimson snapped, obviously not in a good mood because he was in pain. "But I can tell that your crazy twin brother is stabbing me all over my body– and he's enjoying it! What's with you and your knack for doing the craziest and most ruthless things?!"
Well, Nero had always been a cray-cray.
<nulli>[But I thought he was less violent now than he was in the first timeline.]
She was worried about Crimson, of course.
But she couldn't deny that she was more worried about Nero at the moment.
<nulli>[I'm here and I won't let Crimson die, so I'm less worried about him. On the other hand, I don't know where Nero is and if Dahlia can control him.]
Tsk.
"We really need to get out of here," Neoma said, then she turned to Crimson. Without much thought, she carried her in his arms. The Soul Beast was flustered, of course, and tried to get down. "Hey, don't move too much. I thought you were in pain?"
"But this is embarrassing!" Crimson complained, his entire face red from embarrassment. "How could you pick up a 185-centimeter grown man like I weighed nothing?"
"Well, I'm a de Moonasterio so I'm damn strong."
"That's not the point!" Crimson complained, covering his face with his hands. "How dare you humiliate the great God of Wrath?"
"I'm greater than you~"
"Shut it, thug princess."
Hmm?
"Is that you, Tteokbokki?"
"No," Crimson said, removing his hands from his face. "But the pain disappeared when you touched me. What did you do, Imperial Princess?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Is it because your soul has some healing effect? It seems like your special divine power spared me from your twin brother's murderous and merciless long-distant attacks."
That sounded plausible.
"I'm tired," Crimson complained, closing his eyes while leaning his head against Neoma's shoulder. "I'll just kill you after I wake up, Imperial Princess."
Pfft.
"Goodnight, Crimson," Neoma said, smiling while shaking her head. "I'm sure you'll be back as Tteokbokki once you wake up."
<nullb>***
MONA was startled when William suddenly fell to his knees while clutching his chest tight.
It was clear that the Grand Spirit was in pain.
She was confused because William was just sitting on the chair next to her bed while reading a book when it happened.
"William, what's happening to you?" Mona asked worriedly. "Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere," William said, groaning in pain. "It feels like I'm being stabbed everywhere."
"There are only a few people in this world who can hurt a Grand Spirit like you, William," she said worriedly. "But even for those people, it's impossible for them to attack you when they're not within the right range."
"It's Nero."
"What did you say?"
"Nero seems to be on a rampage," William said, his jaw clenched hard. "It seems like he's killing all the Soul Beasts in the Cage."
Mona covered her mouth with her hands when she gasped. "Why would my baby do that?"
<nullb>***
"ARGH," Nikolai took a deep breath while clutching his chest tight. "What…"
He wasn't able to finish his sentence when he felt another pang in his chest, forcing him to let out another painful groan.
"Your Imperial Majesty!"
It was Geoffrey Kinsley who tried to run towards him.
But the Paladin was forced to stop when, out of nowhere, Nikolai's Soul Beasts appeared and fell to the ground.
All the Soul Beasts were in their human form, and everyone was obviously in pain.
Nikolai was shocked when he realized that his soul threw out the Soul Beasts, causing the Soul Beasts to come out without being summoned.
The pain in his chest was gone, but he didn't feel good about it.
"What's happening?" Nikolai asked worriedly. "Why are you all in pain?"
"It's Prince Nero, Master," the Azure Dragon, the de facto leader of the Soul Beasts, said in a weak voice. "The Crown Prince is killing all the Soul Beasts in the Cage."
Nikolai's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"
"Prince Nero's ruthless attacks are destroying the Cage, too, Master," the flaming Vermilion Bird added while taking deep breaths. "Our souls are connected to the Cage, hence we receive the same attacks that the Cage is receiving from Prince Nero…"
To say that Nikolai was shocked would be an understatement.
Nero was supposed to save the Soul Beasts, so why was his son going on a killing spree in the Cage?
<nulli>[Did he snap and lose to his Lunacy again?]
"Your Imperial Majesty, does the task that Prince Nero is supposed to do in the Cage have an element that might trigger Prince Nero's Lunacy?" Geoffrey Kinsley asked carefully. Obviously, the smart Paladin also thought that the Crown Prince had snapped during the test. "I don't see why Prince Nero would suddenly lose it, unless his Lunacy was triggered."
"I don't remember."
"Hmm?"
"Actually, none of us remembers what exactly happened to us in the Cage when we tried to free the Soul Beasts," Nikolai confessed weakly. "We just know that it was dangerous, but the details were blurry. If I remember what exactly the test was about, then I would have given Nero some advice before he left."
But he remembered that there was an incident that almost made them go crazy.
Ah.
Was that incident the reason Nero snapped?
Nikolai clenched his hands tight. "I shouldn't have told Nero to free the Soul Beasts…"
<nullb>***
"AH, FATHER is right~" Nero said cheerfully while stabbing the hell out of the fake Nero Roseheart. Blood splattered all over him. In a normal situation, it would have bothered him. But right now, he was having too much fun to care about his appearance. "It feels good to stab your enemies with your hands."
It wasn't his Lunacy talking.
He was genuinely enjoying it.
It also helped that the fake Nero Roseheart was weak and slow. The fake tried to block his attacks with his weak barriers, but just one hit from his ice daggers and the barriers already collapsed.
To be honest, it wasn't that exciting to kill a weakling.
Even the other Soul Beasts could barely block the ice daggers that he was controlling.
What made it fun for Nero was the feeling of his ice daggers piercing through the fake Nero Roseheart's flesh.
<nulli>[This is why Father enjoyed using his Holy Sword like a butcher's knife.]
Ever since he was a child, he already knew that he had a cruel and sadistic side in him. He only suppressed it because Neoma didn't like it.
But his twin sister wasn't here right now, so he thought it was okay for him to let loose.
"You're crazy!" the fake Nero Roseheart yelled when he fell to the ground while bleeding all over. "How could you do this to me and the other Soul Beasts?"
Pfft.
Nero laughed, taking a short break while wiping the blood off his face with the back of his hand. "You're not a Soul Beast, you fake bastard," he said while looking down at the fake Nero Roseheart. "You're a de Moonasterio."
The fake Nero Roseheart looked shocked and opened his mouth to probably deny Nero's accusation.
But it was too late for that.
The fake Nero Roseheart's pink hair had already turned white, while his blue eyes had turned ash-gray.
"See?" Nero asked, laughing. "I know a de Moonasterion bastard when I see one."
<nullb>***
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