‘I can’t move!’

Sancha wanted to conjure her barrier, but the suffocating aura of the Headless Soldier literally made her immobilized. It was the case for everyone but Feylord, who was fighting- but slowly losing- against the Angel Troup.

She looked at the other guests: Archmage Frederic’s face was red as he tried to chant an incantation, a muscular and unfamiliar Southerner was gritting his teeth and trying to free himself, an orange-haired young woman was on her knees and clutching her head while groaning from the pain.

Even the Royal Knights, at least the ones not killed by Leiu, were unable to do anything. They could only watch as the ‘assassin’ drifted away and soon disappeared from view.

Elyna, like all the other servants, escorts, and knights, felt the tremors and shock wave coming from the main terrace.

She knew that the inevitable happened, but what made her not go help Feylord was the voice of the Demon in her head.

‘The Night Adjudicator is here. Leave at once!’

She felt a force press against her then try to take control of her body. The Demon was trying to make her leave, but she resisted it.

‘This is way out of your league, girl. Leave this place or you will die.’

‘Get out of my head!’

‘You will regret this.’

At last, the Demon stopped interfering, which allowed Elyna to move again. She saw a knight dragging his Mistress to safety, but soon after, the wall was destroyed and a figure rolled on the ground.

The Headless Soldier let out a bestial and unsettling roar, its aura going out of control.

A shiny and thin barrier appeared in front of Elyna, who saw the frightening entity turn around and face her. It seemed about to attack her only to stop at the last second and charge toward something gliding away in the air.

It left a clear mark on the stone ground as it jumped in the air and sliced down with its sword.

Elyna breathed a sigh of relief and was about to heed the Demon’s advice, but when she caught sight of Roger and Estos Sanguis running away while surrounded by their own knights, she changed her mind.

‘This is my chance.’

The maid collected her thoughts, took deep breaths, then proceeded to follow after her targets. She was going to use this chaos to achieve what she came here to do.

Julie did warn her not to act recklessly, but a chance like this might not come again.

…

11:02 PM

“It’s… gone.”

Sancha felt the pressure lift, her sweating body finally free. A large magical barrier protected her from the Phoenix Flames. As exciting as the situation in the terrace currently was, Sancha wanted nothing to do with it.

Julie’s older brother was burning the entire place to the ground while the Angel Troup fought strategically and delivered timely and accurate blows to slowly wear him down. Some of them were slightly burnt by his fire, but that didn’t stop them in the least.

‘The Heirloom?’

When the black ring around her finger vibrated, Sancha’s surprised deepened. She turned around and looked at a specific direction, her figure instantly springing into a lightning-fast sprint.

She was so preoccupied with her ring that she didn’t see calling out and then chasing after her.

…

Not even five minutes after Leiu had escaped with Julie, the Angel Troup was done subduing Feylord.

He was chained in the same magical formation that had previously, yet briefly, bound the Nameless Knight.

Unfortunately, unlike the person he had helped, Feylord wasn’t as monstrously strong.

The Angel Troup took to the sky and shot toward the Headless Soldier, which kept chasing after its target.

Meanwhile, dozens upon dozens of Royal Knights flooded into the obliterated terrace, completely surrounding Feylord Lernon.

Archmage Frederic took the lead and weakened the youth, but the Phoenix Flames still burned brilliantly, unperturbed by the Light-aspected chains binding its wielder.

“What… now?” Muttered Feylord as he breathed heavily, his eyes slowly closing due to severe mental and physical exhaustion.

The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was the arrival of another Archmage, one who was able to extinguish his flames using a small yet potent wave of Water.

South-West of Azakin City(Imperial Capital), near the Dwarven Canal

“It’s still after us!”

Julie’s crimson curtain faded into nothingness as the last of her energy was spent. She had swiftly carried herself and Leiu out of the city and into a relatively secluded wilderness.

“I will deal with it, stay back.”

The two could see a pillar of raging scarlet aura rising in the air.

“The Imperials will also come. We can’t stay here!”

The girl, albeit more mature than those the same age as her, was panicking and unable to think straight.

Fear, anxiousness, confusion, surprise. Emotions overwhelmed her psyche, especially after so many things happened at once.

To think she escaped Azakin City with the infamous Dark Knight.

Leiu glanced at her but didn’t give any response. He raised his hands and clenched them into fists as the Headless Soldier was soon about to reach them.

A couple of seconds of tense silence followed, interrupted by the arrival of a rather unexpected entity.

“I will hold it back.”

A creature of death, wearing a shredded long robe and holding a long decayed scythe manifested from thin air.

The Grim Reaper spoke with a deep voice as its eyes focused on the Dark Knight.

“Rebelling, Reaper?”-Leiu

“I am doing what is right. When your Primordial Darkness returns, know that not all of us were involved.”

Just as it spoke those words, several other Grim Reapers appeared. There were too many of them, spawning around like ghosts and charging toward the Headless Soldier.

“...”

In the end, the young man turned around and motioned for Julie to follow him. He slowly walked away, no longer bothered by their pursuer.

11:14 PM

“Sto…p!”

Estos Sanguis was struck by a rapidly moving dark-golden barrier. He wanted to protect himself and cast a barrier of his own, but he was too late.

Roger, his elder brother, managed to avoid Elyna’s attack and swiftly back away to safety.

“So you are the one with the Heirloom. What did you do to my son?”

Unlike his sibling, Roger was much calmer as he inspected the maid.

“Hmpf! A mere commoner dared to cover what is ours!”

Roger conjured a Sanguis Barrier that clashed with Elyna’s, causing booming sounds.

She was less efficient and using her new ability, nevertheless, the power of her barrier was significantly stronger than Roger’s.

Like Estos, he was hit directly and, thereafter, flattened by the shiny barrier.

Elyna showed no hesitation, clearly about to crush him to death.

Before she could do so.

Defend, girl!

Thanks to the Demon’s warning, Elyna was able to call her barrier back just in time to stop a tree-sized glowing fist.

“You were with that damned crazy kid.”

Sancha had a wide smile on her face as the magical fist changed shape and transformed into a normal Sanguis Barrier, one which shone with a mix of orange and yellow. Even at a glance, it was apparent that her own Barrier was considerably stronger than her uncles’.

“As much as I’d like to see you kill those two shitheads, it isn’t the right place. I don’t suppose you’re willing to peacefully come with me?”

In response to Sancha’s words, Elyna controlled her Barrier and willed it to shoot forward.

Like shattering glass, the maid’s dark-golden barrier was destroyed as soon as it clashed with Sancha’s. The disparity in strength was simply too much.

Thereafter, Elyna felt a sharp pain in her back as, surprisingly, a second barrier from Sancha hit her with enough force to blow her in the air and then crush her into the ground with an audible thud.

“I don’t know how you activated the heirloom… and I don’t care. I need it back.”

Sancha began approaching Elyna but soon stopped when a rapid and relatively large figure dashed from a nearby corridor and punched her barrier.

“You are?”

Daren picked up Elyna’s body while sweeping his eyes across Sancha and her two uncles.

“Do you nobles like oppressing the weak that much?”

“This has nothing to do with you, Southerner. Let her go and walk away.”

Daren smiled back and then shouted atop his lungs, “We need help here! Help!”

Sancha frowned, her two barriers forming into fists and flying straight at him. Fortunately, several protective spells appeared around him.

Several Royal Knights and Court Mages came in.

With the chaos unfolding in the terrace, they had more important matters than to deal with foreign aristocrats. Still, they couldn’t allow Sancha to act so brazenly while she was in the Imperial Palace.

They didn’t know who Daren was, nonetheless, they jumped in to help. Their main duty right now was to provide safety and security to all the guests.

“Miss Sancha, we kindly ask you to leave the palace until this situation has been dealt with.”

Sancha glared at Daren before snorting and leaving. Even though she wasn’t able to take Elyna with her, it was more than enough to know that the Heirloom was not lost, as she had previously suspected after repeatedly failing to find it in Wilsden.