449: Victory and Dread
Only now did Chris manage to get on his feet after his encounter with Annie’s hamaxe.
“Uhhh,” Chris moaned as he opened his eyes. The blast from Ember’s attack threw Chris against a nearby pillar and knocked him back into consciousness after his troublesome encounter with Annie’s hamaxe.
Chris came to his senses just in time to see the charred murderous princess collapse at Ember’s feet. His spirits lifted, if only for a moment, the word “victory” flashed in his mind, and Chris dared imagine that he and the others might actually survive this nightmare. But just as Chris got to his feet, willing his body up, roused by his spirit, he heard the voices of two more people coming from the entrance.
“C-can’t be,” Chris gasped when he saw who the newest arrivals to the battlefield were and his hope of a good outcome evaporated.
“My foolish little children,” Queen Merillia slightly shook her head in disapproval. Her luscious violet locks floated gracefully but even during those subtle swings the Queen’s left side of her face remained obscured by her thick, impeccable hair. Rather than being worthy of shampoo commercials, the no shampoo was worthy to touch Merillia’s so as to not sully what was perfection.
“Just look at what you have done,” Merillia slowly looked around and opened an ornate fan to fan herself a gentle breeze as she stepped forth into the blood-smeared oven that the combatants created. However, rather than look displeased as her words would indicate, Merillia’s tone and subtle smile indicated a slight amusement.
“A powerful explosion created by imbuing a fire clone with not only her fire magic but also the surrounding flames,” Noel hypothesized what he observed. “All that raging energy she collected and compressed into a body-sized vessel, far too small and volatile to contain such power. Correct?”
“No,” Ember’s reply was short.
“Strange,” Noel tilted his head and disappeared.
“She yet lives,” Noel said as he inspected Annie, appearing at her side out of nowhere.
“Kh?” Ember took a step back from the sudden appearance of the small feline servant before she managed to subdue her surprise.
“And by ‘she’ I mean both Dauf and Annie,” Noel continued. “Dauf took the brunt of the blast, thus I do not expect he will be able to return to his fighting form any time soon, but it is thanks to him that the Fifth Princess was not reduced to a pile of ash.”
Noel raised his head, looked at Ember, and said, “After analyzing the burns on the Fifth Princess, I believe that you lied. As for the other fool—”
Noel disappeared only to reappear beside Asuna’s twitching, mind-broken body. Beatrice knew what was coming when Noel disappeared, yet even with all her speed, she was able to jump away from Noel only after he was already at Asuna’s side.
How fast is he!? Beatrice’s heart filled with dread. She did not spare a single thought toward this deadpan catkin servant back when she first saw him visit Princess Mary. But now, after running laps around average Purple Cape soldiers, matching two Princesses in speed, yet not being able to even follow Noel’s movements with her eyes, brought a new perspective to the petite, feeble-looking servant of the royal family.
“The Fourth Princess is also here,” Noel informed. “And by ‘here’ I mean in our realm, alive, although not nearly as well as you or she would prefer. The same cannot be said for Kasper, however. I do not sense his presence any longer. It seems that this so-called Beatrice, The Hero That Was Promised, The Savior, managed to completely and utterly shatter his very spirit. And I suspect that it might have something to do with the remaining bleeding stump that fell off Asuna’s private place.”
“Well, well, well, would that mean that congratulations are in order then?” Merillia folded her fan and put it away to slowly clap for Beatrice. “Congratulations, ‘Savior’! You managed to banish a demon! And we’re not just talking about a few inconsequential demonlings that my fool of a husband sent you to hunt. A true demon! With thoughts, hopes, and dreams of his own. And you crushed him all the same like he was just another mindless demonling! Truly, a hero!”
As she spoke, the Queen’s smile seemed as bright as she would have on her daughter’s birthday.
“Tell me, how did it feel?” Merillia asked Beatrice. “To crush a demon’s spirit that is. Was it exhilarating? Perhaps a sense of fulfillment? Maybe sadness? Arousal? Were you excited to move on and do the same to my other child?”