At night, the Royal City was still brightly lit.

Her Royal Highness Princess Nana was going to be holding a court ball tonight. Such news in these troubled times made a lot of people wonder.

The ball was for the Princess's sixteenth birthday.

There was a court banquet for this birthday just ten days ago, but because Princess Nana was feeling unwell at the time, they didn't host a ball.

This ball was to supplement it.

But many famous people in the Royal City knew that this ball definitely wasn't ordinary.

Almost all of the bigwigs were invited.

Apart from the King, who probably wouldn't show up at the ball as he had been feeling unwell recently, everyone else was invited.

The Shrine's High Priestess included.

...

"A ball?"

In the Shadow God Palace, Capella sneered while looking at the invitation card in her hand. "Her older brother is facing punishment and she's still in the mood to dance?"

"Who doesn't know about the Royal Family's matter? It was said that Prince Aragon and Princess Nana had an excellent relationship. But with the current Nottingheim family, the emergence of the first Queen in history shouldn't be ruled out." An attendant on the side respectfully explained, "In my opinion, she intentionally invited you because she wants to preserve the Nottingheim Royal Family's bloodline."

Capella muttered, "Or perhaps she wants to bet everything?"

The attendant shook his head. "The old King is already unable to do so, and no matter how able Princess Nana is, how big could the waves she creates be?"

"Aragon volunteered to be a prisoner and is now locked in a Divine Spell water prison. Even if he wants to escape, it would alarm the four Great Priests."

"With the four Great Priests joining hands, he definitely wouldn't be able to escape."

"But Lady, if you really aren't interested, you naturally don't need to pay attention to it."

Capella calmly decided, "Say that I'm not feeling well."

The attendant slowly nodded. He was about to bow and notify the person behind the door, but surprisingly the always unwavering High Priestess suddenly changed her mind. "Hold on!"

"I'll go."

"That Nana girl isn't that simple. The powers she won over in secret might not be stronger than her older brother, but she also has some forces of her own."

"These past few years, the old King apparently intentionally gave her some power. He probably foresaw that result."

"They certainly don't dare to have a fall out with the Shrine, but what Aragon did definitely provoked the Shrine. If she really wants to preserve a bit of the Nottingheim's bloodline, I might as well go take a look at how she curries favor with us. And if not, tonight is also a good opportunity."

"The Nottingheims ruled Arborea for so many years, so ending the rule now isn't too strange."

After saying this, she leisurely got up and looked at her gown.

"I'll go change."

"...When was the last time I danced?"

...

Outside the Shadow God Palace, the supreme High Priestess was waiting in the carriage as it moved slowly toward the Royal City.

The King's road which had been built straight from the Eastern Snow Mountain was very smooth and safe.

It would take at most fifteen minutes to reach the Imperial Palace.

But these fifteen minutes were enough for Marvin to make a move.

In the dark shadows, the Night Walker quietly acted.

His movements were erratic, but the final goal was that Shadow Shrine!

The Shadow Priestess was the Shadow Prince's Apostle, and even if she didn't have the strength of a Legend, each corner of the Shadow Shrine was within her perception!

She ordinarily waited inside the Shrine, rarely going out.

And Marvin's plan this time was to draw out the High Priestess at all cost.

The Princess' ball was only a smokescreen.

Of course, if the Shadow Priestess didn't leave the Shrine, Marvin still had another plan.

'The first step was very smooth. This High Priestess is truly paranoid,' Marvin sneered, as he suddenly sped up and brushed past the two guards.

The two men didn't notice anything.

This was the advantage of 180 Stealth.

With Eriksson's Brooch, Marvin was confident in facing against the Shadow Shrine.

He had to be quick!

The Princess wouldn't be able to stall for too long!

Marvin quickly travelled through the Shadow Shrine based on his memories of the place.

Soon, he bypassed a group of Priests and arrived at the prayer hall.

Countless candles were arranged in the middle, with the statue of a masked man, the Shadow Prince.

A shadow flickered on the statue.

"Glynos…"

Marvin looked coldly at the stone statue carrying Divinity. But the stone statue didn't notice anything.

Eriksson's Brooch could even cheat a Heavenly Observer, let alone a statue with a detection spell on it!

Marvin didn't linger. He went around the prayer hall and found the entrance leading downward.

This was the Divine Spell Prison.

All kinds of prisoners were locked up downstairs. Most of the prisoners were very dangerous.

And this flight of stairs was also defended by all sorts of experts.

From what he knew, the strongest there should be those four old bastards.

Before they guarded the last layer of prisoners, they had guarded this flight of stairs for who knows how many years.

The entire Divine Spell Prison had a total of six layers.

Marvin easily slipped into the prison.

He needed to pay attention to everything here.

Even if detection Divine Spells couldn't find Marvin, if he tripped an alarm, it would be troublesome.

'I don't have much time.'

He wiped his sweat and directly skipped over the first three layers.

A criminal like Aragon would certainly be in the 4th or 5th layer water prison.

And as expected, he found the naked Aragon in the 4th layer water prison.

There were a lot of whip marks on his body and the lower half of his body was soaking in a green liquid. A pair of handcuffs bound his wrists tightly.

This layer had six guards defending it.

Each guard was a level 15 Paladin.

Marvin walked over quietly.

"Ready?"

The voice was very faint, only entering Aragon's ears.

The Prince suddenly raised his head.

The six Shrine Paladins noticed something strange at the same time. One of them demanded, "What are you looking at?"

"Filthy thing going against God's desires! If not for the High Priestess' command, I would use the God's Fire to burn you!"

Aragon raised his head and gravely watched those Shrine Paladins before saying, "Give me a sword."

The six Paladins froze before laughing their heads off. "Is something wrong with you? Why would we want to give you a sword?"

But at that moment, a cold light flashed in the darkness.

"Clang!"

Sounds of shattering could be heard as Blazing Fury chopped off the shackles!

As the Paladins watched in shock, Aragon took a sword and walked out of the pool of acid.

His expression was as calm as ever.

"There won't be a Shrine after tonight."