Chapter 30: Uncovering

Inside the abandoned, spacious warehouse, a battle the world had never seen before was taking place.

A princess and a baby dragon against a demoness.

Both sides were bruised and wounded, but neither showed signs of backing down.

Shina observed the demoness carefully. It had been established that she controlled that invisible force with the movements of her fingers. Though it took some time, Shina managed to learn how to coordinate her attacks with Remi right after dodging the invisible force.

In the blink of an eye, the princess leaped away from where she stood. The ground cracked, caving in from the sheer force of the demoness’ power. If she hadn’t moved from that place, she would have been squashed!

The demon’s finger flicked. Remi, with the help of his little wings, darted away from his spot, too. As the ground shattered, he landed beside his master… or mother.

“Atta boy, Remi!” Shina exclaimed, the pride in her tone overshadowed the pain.

The little dragon jumped around in joy.

“Let’s do our best, okay? Let’s show Dheinyrus how strong we are,” she added with a fire of determination in her eyes.

“Let’s show him we don’t have to rely on anyone else!”

Remi roared in agreement.

With that, the battle went on. After dodging the invisible attacks, the two advanced, threatening to barrage the demon with back-to-back blows.

Shina and her dragon attacked from both sides. With relentless pressure, they were able to corner the demon.

Acknowledging that any movement the demoness did could be the catalyst for their downfall, they stayed alert, straining their nervous systems to react to the most undetectable attacks.

For a moment, she thought they could actually win.

Her blood ran cold when the demoness paused.

“Play time’s over.”

Without any warning, something hard crashed violently against Shina’s body. It was something solid, an object with a rigid shape, but couldn’t be seen.

She flew again, her consciousness almost faded when her back hit the wall. The empty barrels in the warehouse cushioned her fall at least a bit.

’W—What was that?’

Pushing herself from the ground, she saw Remi fighting by himself.

’I need to… get up.’

Swinging her hand, the demoness controlled the invisible object to bash the dragon away. Remi rolled on the ground a few times before coming to a stop. The dragon’s wings had multiple wounds and broken bones.

Shina forced herself to stand. After opening another vial, she drank the last of her liquid mana.

Unlike the Luxiers who naturally had complete control over mana, a Venilon like her had to drink a substance called arcanium, an ingestible form of liquid mana, in order to use magic. A regular human that was not a Luxier or a Venilon couldn’t use magic even if they drank this substance. However, there was an alternative.

Their religion, Rite of Sacrifice, allowed the regular people to pray to the god of mana, Fosnad. By doing so, they were able to use standard spells in exchange for one body part of their own.

The stronger the spell, the bigger the flesh they had to give up. And so, almost no one used this alternative except for the Theocheirós. Having a strong connection to the divine, the gods always required less, almost non-existent price for using their power.

Luckily, being a Venilon, Shina only had to endure the bitter taste of liquid mana to use this power.

“She’s going to block any attack. I need to get closer to her without getting caught,” she muttered to herself.

Using thunder magic, Shina turned into a streak of lightning that traced a zigzag path. In her wake, attempts to crush her by the invisible object could be seen on the shattered concrete floor.

The demoness followed with her eyes the bouncing streak of light all over the building. Shina was so fast that the enemy couldn’t read where she was going to be in the next second.

Just in time when her mana was about to run out, Shina ended up behind the demon, a perfect angle to strike from!

As she was about to stab the demon in the back, the demon turned with a terrifying smile. A set of claws met Shina’s path and she had no choice but to block it.

“You stood no chance.”

All of a sudden, Shina couldn’t move. Gasping, her eyes opened wide as she felt a hard grip on her arms and legs from something that couldn’t be seen.

Like that, the princess was suspended in the air, unable to resist.

“How does it feel to have all of your hope stolen from you? You thought you could win only to be slapped with the brutal reality.”

Shina’s gaze remained defiant, unyielding even in this situation. She failed to prove to Dheinyrus that she was worthy of freedom, and that was disheartening. But at least, she knew she was safe with him around. There was no way he would let her just be captured.

“But don’t worry, we will not kill you… yet,” the demoness said, laughing.

“You’ll be coming with us for now.”

“So you’re behind all this,” Shina growled.

“You were controlling the terrorists in the empire to capture me.”

The demoness replied with a creepy smile.

“That’s right.”

Snickering, Shina barked back.

“You seem to be forgetting that I’m not alone. This battle is not yet over.”

As she stared down the demoness, she thought to herself:

’Yes, that’s right. Dheinyrus is with me, I’m sure he can defeat these demons.’

The demoness looked behind her, towards the silent scion of divinity. He stood there motionless all this time, calmly observing the turn of events.

“Oh? You think he’s going to save you?” the demon asked.

“Naturally,” Shina responded without hesitation.

“He was merely testing my abilities to protect myself, and then he will decide whether to let me have my freedom or not. I’m frustrated that I failed, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The demoness raised an eyebrow.

“You think that’s the reason why he’s not doing anything?” she asked.

“What else could the reason be?” Shina replied.

The demon laughed at her words.

“Have you ever seen this man fight?”

That question left Shina pondering. No one had ever seen Dheinyrus display his powers, and the only indications of his strength were the otherworldly results of his works.

He defeated a dragon when he was two years old, saving the empire from the famine. Shina could barely even lift a sword at that age!

When he was ten, he wiped out an entire demon encampment. The empire would have spent billions of vhals just to stand their ground against those creatures, yet he obliterated them alone.

When he was twelve, he defeated a great serpent that threatened to dominate the empire. That serpent killed thousands of soldiers over three days, but when Dheinyrus took the matter to his hands, it was resolved in one night. The serpent’s skull was still displayed in Shina’s father’s treasury.

When an ancient behemoth of destruction awakened from its slumber, no one was able to defeat it except Dheinyrus. According to rumors, it took him one punch in the air and the colossal beast collapsed to the ground under Dheinyrus’ might.

But thinking about it now, Shina had never seen Dhein in action.

“You haven’t, have you?” the demoness mocked.

“There is a rumor going on in the demonic continent, you know? A rumor that the heir to the strongest clan in the world is a fraud.”

Shina’s eyes widened at the ridiculousness of her statement.

“I guess you’re just that stupid, then. How could he be a fraud with all the things he has accomplished?” Shina mocked back.

The demoness playfully responded with a grin.

“No one has ever seen him use magic, or even engage in combat. Those feats could easily be a stroke of luck or a magnificently staged act. In the end, there’s no evidence of his power whatsoever. I think he’s just a fraud.”

Shina let out a shriek when the demoness tossed her to the side.

Then, turning to Dheinyrus, the demoness added:

“In fact, I’m going to prove it right now.”

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