Zion watched as one of the soldiers reluctantly handed over his sword to the dhampir princess, who didn't even glance at him. Her eyes filled with anger only stuck at the queen's face the entire time as if she were going to kill that girl with her mere glance.

At the same time, Zion heard a few soldiers gossiping in a low voice. Since he was hiding near the alley entrance, he could hear the conservation clearly and got a gist of what was happening right now.

"Why did Queen Odina trouble herself like this?" The soldier was feeling aggrieved and sighed. "She should have stayed in the palace! Why did she have to leave that place, especially the ancient tree? Didn't she know her powers would start decreasing with the distance between herself and the ancient tree? She's the queen who has connected her soul with the tree! Other than herself, no one can channel the spiritual power to others!"

"Why would she have to channel the powers now? Did you forget that she can't do that anymore?!"

"Of course, I remember. It's just that I clearly remember that it can only be her!" The soldier boasted as he spoke about the queen with a hint of spark in his eyes. "Don't you remember what the ancestors had recorded in the scroll? They clearly said that the first person born out of the ancient tree was the only one who could connect with the tree. It was said that this tree had appeared here from the heavens and was capable of transmitting universal energy to everyone else!" This soldier's eyes glistened with delight as he talked endlessly about the queen and ancestral history of the elves. "Then that person chose an heir before passing away and gave all of his powers to that person. Ever since then, this power has been carried on for generations!"

"Why're you repeating this like a three-year-old?" Another soldier looked disdainfully at his friend and said, "You already know that the queen has been unable to transmit the spiritual energy to others, don't you? That's why we stopped using our powers and live like those worthless humans who don't know anything about magic!"

Zion's ears perked up at that. He was curious about this thing and why even the queen stopped transmitting the powers.

The soldiers still conversed, not noticing that a particular human heard everything from the shadows. "The queen has the power, then why is she unable to transmit anymore? It's been some two or three months already!"

Zion's brows furrowed when he heard about that. Wasn't that the time when he arrived in this world? His lips pursed automatically as he began mulling. Did this have anything to do with his arrival?

Another soldier hit the shoulders of the one who just spoke now. "Are you doubting our Queen?"

"No!" The soldier panicked. "I was just asking when this would end! If only we could use all our powers, this dhampir girl wouldn't stand a chance in front of us! The queen wouldn't have to force herself out of her shelter."

"That's true. She even announced to the world that she couldn't transmit the power anymore only because the ancient tree had cursed them all. Unless and until we clean up this murder case, the tree would continue to resist giving us powers!"

"If only we knew of some other shortcuts to raise the power!"

"Look!" One of the soldiers spoke suddenly. "They've already started fighting!"

That's when Zion noticed that the princess was making some hand-signs as Qi flowed out of her body and formed a protective layer in front of her body. Then he watched her using another set of familiar hand-signs that helped to insert Qi inside the sword in her hand.

The queen, who was also not standing ideally, chanted a spell that ignited her sword with Qi as it was covered with a thunderbolt. Electrical sparks continuously lit up the entire sword that made it shine throughout time.

The entire alley brightened up, and even the area covered with darkness appeared clearly in the light. The only relief was that Zion, who was hiding at the alley entrance, was still covered in the darkness. Still, he shifted back and hid more behind the garbage box before he glanced at the fight again.

The two ladies in the alley surrounded by the elf soldiers seemed to be glaring at each other in anger. They raised their swords in unison as the queen stared at Lia coldly before opening her mouth. "Ready?"

"Always." The dhampir princess replied as she stared sharply at her opponent.

Then the bodies of the two of them flashed and collided.

Zion's eyes stuck at the two figures in amazement, especially when he saw Lia's prowess. He had seen her fight with others, and he had even been her opponent many times, but this was the first time he could see how fast the dhampir princess's speed was! It almost felt like two flashes collided and separated in the milliseconds that made it hard for him to figure out who was who.

But Zion could still tell that the flash that had electricity flashing constantly was Odina, so the other one must be Lia.

At this time, even the soldiers who were watching the fight couldn't help but sigh. Zion's ears perked up. Although he continued to see the fight, he could still hear the conservation clearly.

"Her Majesty has become so weak. She can't even take down this despicable dhampir."

"If you had told me a month ago that the queen would fight with a dhampir like this, I wouldn't believe it." The soldier spoke with a touch of nostalgia in his voice. He looked at the scene of fighting with his eyes narrowed. "Why did this dhampir have to be different? We always thought that these people were our friends."

"Their entire kingdom got destroyed by an imposter." Another person spoke. "Perhaps this girl isn't from the side of King Rhesus, but the enemies."

"That explains why she's so cruel! The royals from the Vanne kingdom could never even think of killing so many children like this! I would rather die than believe such things."

Zion's lips twitched at that. He could already imagine what Lia would have said at this time after listening to this conservation. But he sighed and watched the two girls fight to their death.