"DID YOU find my evil mother-in-law?" Tilly asked Luna and Roarke who appeared in the couch across from her. The two returned when the carriage she was in just left the ballroom. Now, they were in their way to the temple where her meeting with the emperor would carry on. This time, Nia would be joining them. "Where is she hiding?"

"Luckily, Elis Ripperton just dropped her off in House Hayward's mansion," Luna said. "It seems like she doesn't have any intention to hide."

"Still, we can't underestimate her," she said. "If she's not hiding, that only means she's capable of protecting herself."

"Spirit guardians like her don't usually die as long as their masters are still alive," Roarke reminded them. "If you want to kill a spirit guardian, the most effective way is to kill their master."

"Kiho is Yumi's "master" so I'll find another way to make that b*tch suffer," Tilly said firmly. "Also, I want to prove that my hypothesis is right so you better bring the White Snake to me later."

Luna and Roarke bowed to her at the same time. "As you wish, Supreme."

***

WINTER knew that his little body couldn't handle the amount of Mana that he summoned.

Even though he knew how to use his ice, he was still trapped in a child's body. But he ignored the limitations of his physical body because he wanted to kill Lucina Morganna. And most of all, if he wanted to survive from her Black Flame, he needed to go all-out.

And so, he used his most powerful technique in the past: Winter Blizzard.

Yes, I named it after myself.

Anyway, the Winter Blizzard was a technique that was effective to use in a closed space like the room they were in. He covered every entrance and exit with a thin but strong layer of ice, then he summoned a tremendous ice storm. But instead of snow, it poured ice daggers in there.

Of course, he wouldn't get hurt while Amilo was safe inside the ice cube that he made a while ago.

In short, only Lucina Morganna would get attacked by the ice daggers.

"Curse you and your ice Mana," Lucina Morganna said while trying to melt the ice daggers coming at her mercilessly.

To be honest, he was kind of surprised to see her using the Black Flame clumsily.

If Lucina Morganna knew how to use it properly, she could have burned down the whole annex building with just a simple fire blast. In the past, a mere ball of Black Flame was enough to stop his ice storm.

Well, he didn't know why it seemed like she didn't know how to use her (stolen) power, but he wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of that.

He stomped his foot on the floor hard. Then, a thin layer of ice started to cover the floor. When it touched Lucina Morganna's feet, the ice immediately started to freeze the woman. She panicked so instead of melting the ice daggers falling on her, she used the Black Flame to melt the ice around her waist.

What a waste of such strong flame.

Well, good for him.

He raised his hand, effectively stopping all the ice daggers in the room from pouring. Then, he gathered all of it in his hand until it became an ice sword.

Without wasting a minute, he immediately attacked Lucina Morganna and stabbed her in the stomach. He wanted to pierce the blade through her heart but she threw a ball of Black Flame at him. He had to duck it, and so he was only able to stab her stomach. But to make it more painful and to make sure that it would hit her vital organs, he twisted the sword inside her.

Lucina Morgana screamed in pain.

He wasn't done yet though. This time, he covered the sword with ice so that the insides of Lucina Morganna would freeze too.

Goodbye, my former ex-stepmother.

Just when he was sure that Lucina Morganna would die by his hands, a blast from his side distracted him. Since the ice covering the whole room had melted, the Winter Blizzard also stopped. But that didn��t end there.

Julian, who was holding a flaming sword, came at him.

He had no choice but to pull out his ice sword from Lucina Morganna's stomach to hit Julian's blade with his own.

"Traitor," Winter hissed at him. "I shouldn't have trusted you."

"I'm sorry, Winter," Julian said in a voice filled with pain. Then, he turned to Lucina Morganna. "Go."

Lucina Morganna, who was stopping the bleeding of her stomach with her hands, nodded at Julian and began to vanish in a thick, black smoke.

No!

He threw ice daggers at the woman before she completely disappeared, but Julian melted the daggers with his flame.

"Are you freaking kidding me right now, Julian?" he snarled at his "brother." Sadly, even if it was true that they had different mothers, it wouldn't change the fact that this traitor was still his sibling. But he didn't want to accept that. Not after he let Lucina Morganna go when he almost had her dead! "You saved that wench!"

"Please understand, Winter," Julian begged him in a voice filled with pain. "Lucina Morganna is still my mother."

"Even if your claim is true, she still tried to kill me," he insisted with clenched jaws. "You saved the person who wanted your own brother dead!"

"I know but I wouldn't have let her kill you," he said while shaking his head. "Instead of killing my mother, can't you just arrest her? I'd rather see her in jail than see her die by my own brother's hands."

He shut his eyes tight.

Julian is beyond saving. I don't care if Lucina Morganna is his real mother or not. At this point, it doesn't matter to him anymore because he's obviously attached to that wench already.

To be honest, that realization hurt.

He tried to be open-minded because his mother told him to be kind and understanding to Julian. Also, he even thought that having a brother wasn't that bad. But now that Julian betrayed him, he didn't want to be mature about the situation anymore.

I'm sorry, Mommy. But at this point, I don't think Julian sees us as his family. To him, only Lucina Morganna matters.

Winter opened his eyes as he summoned a stronger wave of his ice Mana.

This time, he felt his insides being squeezed in a painful way. Every muscle of his tiny body also started to hurt. That was a clear indication that he was reaching his limit.

Still, that didn't stop him from creating another Winter Blizzard.

He succeeded, but he coughed blood.

"Winter, stop it," Julian said in a worried voice. "You're hurting yourself!"

"Shut up," Winter said coldly. "If you don't want to freeze to death, summon your strongest flame and fight me."

Obviously, his brother didn't know what to do.

It seemed like both of them had been too focused on one another that they didn't notice that someone else had entered the room.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

His father's angry voice and heavy aura was enough to dispel his Winter Blizzard and Julian's flaming sword.

Yes, his dad managed to nullify their powers with just his aura.

Scary.

And Julian really looked scared of their father right now. "F-Father, let me explain…"

Winter wanted to snarl at his brother but he suddenly coughed blood once again. He felt so weak that he was sure he was going to hit the floor. But it didn't happen because his dad immediately caught him and carried him in his arms.

When he looked up at his father, he fully expected him to look angry. But much to his relief, his daddy looked worried instead.

"Winter, what happened to you?" his dad asked worriedly. He could even see panic in his father's eyes. "Why are you coughing blood? Who hurt you?" His gaze went past him to look at Amilo. When his dad turned to him again, the angry look on his face was back. But he could tell that he wasn't angry at him. "Who attacked the mansion?"

Winter knew that being a snitch was petty and low of him, especially if he was going to tell on his own brother. But a traitor brother didn't deserve his mercy, right? "It was Julian, Dad," he said. Amilo lost consciousness even before Lucina Morganna showed up so he was sure the jewel maker couldn't tell the truth to his dad. "Julian wants me to leave the mansion."

His dad looked shocked by his revelation.

I'm sorry for lying, Dad.

He secretly turned to Julian to see his reaction.

As expected, his brother looked shocked by his blatant lie. But in the end, it seemed like he accepted it because he knew that he deserved it.

"I'm s-sorry, Father," Julian said in a shaking voice. "I-It's all my fault…"

Yes, take accountability. That serves you right for taking Lucina Morganna's side.

"Winter, Julian," his dad said in a cold, and angry voice. It seemed like this time, his anger was directed at both him and his brother. Worse, the room was immediately covered by his father's stronger ice Mana. "Why are the two of you lying to your father?"

Winter gulped in fear and when he turned to Julian again, he saw that his brother was just as afraid as he was.

We made Dad angry.

***

***

SOLENN smirked when she saw the lazy saint's back.

She got separated from Jameson when the "ants" started to attack them. Of course, she left the small-fries to the Keepers and went where the "barrier-maker" was hiding from. She was a little relieved that it wasn't the Golden Tiger. Although she was confident with her Mana, she knew that fighting a Beast God wouldn't be easy.

Anyway…

The thick smoke around the area was enough to deceive strong Mana users. But of course, as the daughter of the Fire Archmage, that kind of trick wouldn't work on her.

Without so much ado, she sneaked up on him and kicked his behind literally.

And she kicked the saint with a flaming foot.

"Ouch!" Saint Forrester complained, then he turned to her with a glare. "What the…"

The saint trailed-off when he recognized her.

"Hello, Your Holiness," Solenn greeted the saint with a bright smile. "The Supreme told me to beat you to a pulp so…" Her cheerful façade slipped of when she cracked her knuckles. "Please pardon my rudeness."

***

NOTE: I am considering not to update daily next month because of the low numbers of my privilege readers. Since I don't reach the target numbers of priv readers anyway, I will just not join WIN-WIN next time. Which means I can take a break. Hehe.

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PS: You may send gifts if you can. Thank you~

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