Volume 3, Chapter 0 – Prologue

Volume 3: Bloodstained Imperial City

As the members of the Blackrose Family began collaborating with the Windward City defenders to purge the remnants of the Divine Punishment Holy Church within the city, another battle was raging fiercely on a snowfield just outside.

One side of the battle was the Fourth Princess Fengling, who was leading the vanguard of the Snownight Empire’s Fourth Army and her personal guards toward Windward City. Originally, after learning that Windward City had been attacked by the Divine Punishment Holy Church, Fengling had hurriedly led the vanguard to provide support. However, during their journey, they unexpectedly encountered a group from the Divine Punishment Holy Church that was withdrawing from the city. Consequently, a large-scale conflict inevitably broke out between the two sides.

Although the Fourth Princess’s side held the numerical advantage, the members of the Divine Punishment Holy Church were nearly all elites, including two seventh tier Archbishops, making their overall combat power roughly equal. The battle instantly reached a stalemate, but fortunately, after a period of fierce fighting, the team led by Fengling finally defeated the members of the Divine Punishment Holy Church at a grievous cost.

At that very moment, a bolt of purple lightning suddenly descended from the heavens…

Boom!

The roar of thunder was accompanied by the flashing and raging of dazzling lightning. Under the assault of another thunderstorm, the magic power shield in front of Fengling shattered abruptly, and the aftershocks of the lightning struck her delicate body without any mercy. In an instant, her armor shattered, and intense pain caused Fengling’s face to contort as she was sent flying by the impact, crashing heavily onto the nearby snow. Her staff fell to the side.

“Cough, cough!”

After coughing up two mouthfuls of blood that stained the snow red, the Fourth Princess forced herself to endure the pain radiating from her chest. Using the last of her strength, she barely managed to raise her head and look toward the purple-haired witch surrounded by lightning, who was wantonly slaughtering her guards.

“Talovise, you… why?!”

Indeed, the seventh tier powerhouse who had arrived with the lightning was none other than Talovise, a Marshall of the Snownight Empire and one of the members of her brother Xue Tian’ao’s harem. Fengling had originally thought the woman had come to provide reinforcements. To her surprise, this woman had suddenly launched an attack on her and the surviving soldiers on the battlefield. Although her relationship with Talovise was not good, Fengling had never expected the woman would actually dare to make a move against her.

A sense of profound shock filled Fengling’s mind, and her light purple eyes trembled uncontrollably. “No! Stop it!”

Amidst Fengling’s desperate screams, purple magic power surged as a massive magic circle appeared in Talovise’s hand. In the next moment, the high-tier magic, Mashara Chain Lightning, was suddenly unleashed.

Boom!

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Accompanied by the roar of thunder and under Fengling’s sorrowful gaze, the personal guards who had gathered beside her instantly let out tragic wails. They were swallowed by the purple lightning and turned into charred corpses that emitted white smoke, falling desolately onto the snow.

“Ev… everyone…”

Intense grief welled up in Fengling’s eyes, replaced immediately by an unparalleled rage. Her bloodshot eyes locked onto Talovise as she demanded sharply, “Why? Why are you doing this?”

Hearing this and having finished off everyone except the princess, Talovise, with demon horns atop her head, walked slowly toward Fengling with a seductive posture. “My apologies, Princess, but I am doing this for your brother, for the Crown Prince.”

“W-what did you say? Brother ordered you to do this?”

“Hehe, of course not.” Talovise covered her small mouth and let out a provocative laugh. “Don’t you know how His Highness Xue Tian’ao feels about you? How could he possibly make a move against you?”

“Then… is it you?”

“Yes.” Talovise admitted it without hesitation and kicked Fengling, who was trying to grab her staff to counterattack, several meters away.

After coughing up more blood, Fengling, who had completely lost her ability to fight, could only lie helplessly on the ground. The only thing she could do was stare fixedly at Talovise with eyes full of rage and killing intent. If looks could be turned into swords, Talovise would have been sliced into a thousand pieces by now.

“Then… why…”

“I already told you, it’s for Prince Xue Tian’ao.”

“W-what?”

“It is common knowledge that His Highness has an interest in you. Although he does not care for worldly ethics, the subjects of the Empire certainly do. After His Highness’s plan succeeds next month and he becomes the Emperor, he will very likely take you as one of his imperial concubines. Such a transgressive act would surely have many negative impacts on the public’s perception and could be used by enemy forces to harm His Highness. I know I cannot persuade him to give you up, so the only way is to make you leave, Princess.”

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With a cruel smile, a spear of lightning slowly condensed in Talovise’s hand. “In addition, I must reduce my competition as much as possible. For the revival of the demons, I must ensure His Highness Xue Tian’ao focuses his attention on me as much as possible. Only then can I secure more benefits for my people from this ‘Chosen Son’ in the future.”

“To put it bluntly, aren’t you just competing for favor…”

“Hmm, you could say that. So, I’m sorry, Princess.”

“You damned bitch…”

“Seriously, even at a time like this, you still have such a foul mouth.”

A murderous glint flickered in her purple eyes as Talovise flickered in front of Fengling and kicked her hard in the chest. Struck by the heavy blow, Fengling was sent flying and crashed into a carriage nearby, knocking it over.

Two small creatures on the carriage poked their heads out with slight displeasure. As for Fengling herself, she was already heavily injured, and Talovise’s kick added injury to injury. Finally unable to bear the immense agony, she fainted.

“Oh, she actually fainted just like that?” Talovise raised an eyebrow playfully. “Forget it, I don’t have an interest in torturing people anyway. For the sake of our acquaintance, I’ll give you a quick end.”

Thinking this, Talovise walked slowly toward Fengling with the lightning spear in hand. A cold killing intent appeared in her purple eyes. “Farewell, Princess.”

Talovise raised the lightning spear. However, just as she was about to pierce Fengling’s chest and frame the Divine Punishment Holy Church for it, the purple-haired woman suddenly stopped and looked forward in confusion.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, a cute little white wolf and a small gray bird trotted in front of Fengling and looked at her with ‘displeased’ eyes.

‘A snow wolf? And a Radiant Spirit Bird? Why would such rare spirit beasts appear here? Were they the Princess’s pets?’

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“Little ones, if you don’t want to die, get out of the way.” Talovise even made a gesture to shoo them away, but the two little ones did not appreciate it and remained blocking her path.

“Hmm? It seems they really are the Princess’s spirit beasts. In that case, I have no choice…” With a sigh, Talovise suddenly hurled the lightning spear! Violent lightning raged and magic power surged as it roared forward. Faced with such powerful lightning magic, these two weak spirit beasts and the princess they were protecting would surely be turned to ash, wouldn’t they?

However, in the next instant, Talovise stood frozen in place.

Under her disbelieving gaze, the lightning spear filled with violent magic power was suddenly caught in the mouth of the little white wolf just before it hit Fengling. It was then crunched into magic particles and dissipated into the snowy wind.

Talovise’s mind went blank, and countless questions suddenly appeared in her head. “Th-th-this… what kind of joke is this?!”

Why was her attack, which contained the power of a seventh tier expert, so effortlessly crushed by a spirit pet? But before Talovise could figure out what was happening, a terrifying aura—a crushing, irresistible aura—suddenly entered her field of perception. It caused the Imperial Marshall, who had been composed just a moment ago, to show an expression of incomparable terror, and she even retreated several steps involuntarily.

In the reflection of Talovise’s eyes, those two small and cute spirit beasts suddenly erupted with earth-shattering, terrifying power. Their bodies began to expand, transforming into mountain-like, terrifying existences that stood before Talovise.

The d-d-demon king tier?!

Boom!

After a loud noise, the snowfield returned to silence.

Some time later, as her strength gradually recovered, Fengling, who had been unconscious for a long time, slowly woke up from her confusion. Her consciousness began to take control of her body once again.

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Opening her eyes and looking at the battlefield now covered in white snow, Fengling endured the pain in her chest and barely sat up, rubbing her hazy eyes. After that, she looked down at her body in utter confusion.

‘I… I’m not dead? She… Talovise… didn’t kill me? Wh-what’s going on?’

Countless questions filled Fengling’s mind. Then, the Fourth Princess looked around, trying to find any sign of Talovise. After all, who knew if that wicked woman intended to continue toy with her before she died? However, after looking around, Fengling found nothing. The snowfield was as silent as death, with not a trace of Talovise.

But while there was no sign of Talovise, Fengling noticed the two small spirit beasts lying in front of her, seemingly waiting for her to wake up.

“You two little ones, you’re still here?” Fengling couldn’t help but cry out in surprise.

The two little ones, who had only followed her because she fed them, had not left even after the two battles. Despite being so weak, they hadn’t been scared away. At this moment, amidst the snowy wind, Fengling couldn’t help but feel a hint of warmth.

‘There really seems to be no trace of Talovise. What exactly is that woman trying to do?’

Fengling was completely puzzled, but remembering what was said earlier, she felt a sense of foreboding. Speaking of which, that woman seemed to have said that her brother would become Emperor next month? Could it be? He plans to make a move against Father? No, that won’t do! She must, she must hurry back!

Thinking this, Fengling dragged her exhausted body up and stood, looking toward the capital, Sky Dome, with complex emotions. Then, having made her decision, Fengling crouched down again and patted the white wolf pup’s head.

“By the way, you two little ones, why don’t you come back with me? Winter night is approaching, and weak little cuties like you won’t be able to survive on this snowfield…”

In response to Fengling’s proposal, the two little ones glanced at each other and seemed to reach a consensus, nodding their heads in an adorable manner that made Fengling smile. But just as Fengling was about to pick up the little white wolf and the little gray bird to find the main force of the Fourth Army, the little white wolf suddenly let out a meaningful burp.

“Hmm? You little wolf? Did you eat something just now…”