Chapter 263 - THE END OF A LONG NIGHT (1)

WHEN NIKOLAI opened his eyes, he was greeted by the worried faces of his Soul Beasts in their human form. The ones who were hovering over him were North (the Black Tortoise without the black serpent) and West (the White Tiger.)

"Your Majesty…" North and West said at the same time. Then, they both moved away from him and kneeled after leaving a decent space between him and the two. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright," Nikolai said, then he got up. He realized that he was lying on the cold and hard ground all this time. And he also belatedly realized that he was still inside North's shell-like barrier. Ah, right. "What happened to the Devil?"

"The Devil ran away after being bitten by Center, Your Majesty," North said. 'Center' was the name of the black serpent that was often with the Black Tortoise. "But Center was poisoned after he sipped the Devil's blood so I sent him back home. We apologize for failing to end the Devil's life."

"It's alright. If the Devil was easy to kill, the ancient gods wouldn't have made a temporary alliance in the past just to seal his power," he said. "I'm just glad that none of you were hurt."

He could feel the Vermillion Bird and the Azure Dragon inside his soul.

And the two seemed alright.

"Thank you for worrying about us, Your Majesty," North and West said while bowing to him.

He just nodded as an acknowledgment. Then, he stood up and looked up at the sky. He was relieved to see that the barrier that hindered him a while ago was already gone. But upon looking at the fortress ahead of them, he noticed the gloomy and sinister aura lingering in the air.

Moreover, he could instantly recognize the source of that aura.

"Neoma is angry," he whispered to himself, then he turned to his Soul Beasts. "What happened while I was unconscious?"

"Princess Neoma has earned the wrath of the sleeping gods, Your Majesty."

For the first time in a long while, he actually felt nervous after hearing what West reported to him just now. "What did Neoma do this time?"

West actually took a deep breath first before speaking. "Her Royal Highness formed a contract with the Devil and opened a new Hellgate."

He was rendered speechless.

Neoma did what…?

"Moreover, Princess Neoma committed mass murder," North added in a solemn voice. "Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness killed all the people running the camp. I'm not certain but the technique that the princess used seems similar to the Devil's Banishing Technique."

The Banishing Technique was one of the abilities that the gods sealed to stop the Devil from getting more powerful.

But honestly, it didn't matter who taught his daughter that kind of technique. The fact that Neoma had an affinity to the Devil was enough to turn the empire upside down.

If the old geezers in the palace heard what happened, they would definitely bark at him again. Worse, if the citizens of the empire found out that the Crown Prince had an affinity to the Devil that once destroyed a huge part of their territory, they would surely protest and might even request "Prince Nero" to be removed as the heir to the throne.

[I should clean this up before we leave the mountain.]

"Let's hurry up," Nikolai said, then he turned his back on the Soul Beasts and headed straight to the fortress. "We need to silence all the witnesses that saw Neoma go berserk."

***

GAVIN, while watching Neoma in the shadows, smiled when he saw everyone kneel in front of his daughter. All his precious agi did was release her anger in the form of an aura. And yet, everyone around her was pushed down until they were on all fours.

Yes, including Princess Nichole and Saint Dominic Zavaroni.

[Ah, even Lewis Crevan wasn't able to stand my agi's aura. I thought he would be able to endure it since I acknowledge his strength. But I guess even if he's strong for a young fox, he's still nothing compared to my precious Neoma.]

Lewis Crevan needed to be stronger if he wanted to protect someone more powerful than him.

Anyway…

Aside from forcing everyone to kneel, he also noticed that those people affected by his daughter's aura were having difficulties breathing.

[I'm so proud of you, Neoma…]

His thoughts were cut off when he noticed that there was someone hiding in the shadows like him. That person was standing across from him while hiding behind a post.

From the silhouette, he could tell that it was a child.

Moreover, he could also feel that the child was staring at him as if they were keeping an eye on him. He didn't want to say this but the child's gaze was intimidating.

It was thrilling yet annoying at the same time.

[Hah. A child that can withstand my daughter's aura? And the fact that they could make me feel threatened…]

It was probably Ruston Stroganoff who returned to his original form as a child.

That child was dangerous.

At that moment, Gavin decided that he should separate Ruston Stroganoff from Neoma.

***

NEOMA felt like everything happened all at once.

She hasn't recovered yet from the shock of seeing Madam Hammock's heart being ripped out of her ċhėst by her Aunt Nichole when she saw Saint Dominic Zavaroni throwing his scepter as if it was a spear. Then, much to her horror, she realized that the one the saint attacked was Juri Wisteria.

That snapped her out of her trance.

But once she came back to her senses, she was once again filled with fury.

This time, she felt like she had better control of her anger compared to how she handled it earlier. She didn't lose her mind. Although she couldn't say that she was calm, she could tell that she wasn't being carried away by her feelings now.

Her heart was hurt, but her mind was clear.

"I thought I was the only one insane here," Neoma said in a low and cold voice, her eyes were definitely glowing red by now. "Just what the hell is going on here?!"

She realized that none of the people could answer her because they were on their knees.

And judging by the way they held their throats while gasping for air, it seemed like her aura that was mixed in the air was suffocating them. She didn't mean to do that and therefore, when she calmed down, the suffocating aura that she released by accident disappeared.

As soon as it did, she moved and came at her Aunt Nichole and the saint.

"Greko, treat Juri and Madam Hammock!" Neoma ordered the young Healer when she moved past him. "Now!"

Mini Skewer didn't have enough power to transform into a huge scythe now.

Since Tteokbokki was back inside her soul, albeit not being himself at the moment, she was still able to borrow his power.

First, she covered her whole body with the Red Dragon's scales.

Then, the nails in her hands turned sharp, hard, and literally hot. Anything and anyone that she would touch at the moment would definitely burn or melt. It was the first time that she was going to use that technique so she wasn't sure.

[I hope this is enough to damage Aunt Nichole.]

She thought she wouldn't be able to reach the former Princess Royal when Saint Dominic Zavaroni, for some reason, literally blocked her way as if he was protecting Princess Nichole.

But much to her delight, Lewis came to ȧssist her.

Her son kicked the saint in the face and sent Saint Zavaroni flying. Lewis disappeared on her side. He probably continued attacking His Holiness so he wouldn't get in her way.

[Good job, One-kick Lewis!]

"Aunt Nichole!" she yelled angrily at her aunt. She was in mid-air and her fist was ready to kiss the Princess Royal's face. "I'll interrogate you later but for now, why don't you sleep for me?!"

Her punch landed on her Aunt Nichole's face.

But she immediately withdrew her hand when she was burned. Then, she was pushed by a strong energy that the Princess Royal launched at her. Thankfully, she was able to safely land on her feet.

[Dayum, Aunt Nichole's flame is fuċkɨnġ hot!]

When she raised her head to look at her aunt properly, only then did she notice that her Aunt Nichole was being protected by a Black Phoenix behind her. The thing that she punched earlier wasn't the Princess Royal's face– it was the Black Phoenix's burning steel-like wing.

"You're not the only one here who could play with fire, my dear niece," her Aunt Nichole said with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. Of course, the Princess Royal was beautiful. But even though she was weak to pretty faces, she wanted to punch the smirk off of her aunt's face at the moment. "Come at me and let's see who's better at controlling fire, Neoma."

"You're probably better at controlling fire since my Tteokbokki sucks at teaching me stuff," Neoma said while standing up and cracking her knuckles. "But Aunt Nichole, I'm sure as hell that I'm better at you at getting mad."

***

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