34 days after the explosion - Duke's room

"I mean that they practically have all the Empire in their possession"(duke)

What the duke just said didn't sit well with the prince. Since the duke couldn't lie, this meant that the duke believe this to be the truth, and if he played his card right, he may have accomplished it

"What did you do?"(prince) asked, a little worried of what he may find out

"let's just say I have been busy this last few days"(duke)

"Stop gloating and speak duke or I will break some fingers just for fun"(prince)

"Fine, I want to see your reaction anyway. while you were playing around this last 2 weeks, I have been working hard in destroying our war potential"(Duke) gloated his accomplishment

Like the prince thought, the duke had been messing around while he was gone

"how bad is it?(prince)

"Well, I managed to take down all the forts near the border to the Zergeit empire while enslaving all their garrisons. It was pretty easy since I send "reinforcements" to each one after the attacks, drugged their food and let the Zergeit soldiers inside while killing any resistance. Only two forts were lucky enough to survive the surprise attack, but one ended up being taken down anyway while the other is in siege and without a way to communicate since it was the first thing we destroyed in the attacks"(duke) said while been pretty pleased with himself

And it was worse than the prince thought since he never imagined things would be that bad

"Wait, what about the general? did you do something to him? he should have realized something was fishy by now"(prince)

The moment the prince mentioned the general, Aria realized something could have happened to his father. So far she had been quiet since there wasn't much she could do, but things were different if her family was involved

"IS MY FATHER OK!"(Aria) screamed while she approached the duke with a worried expression

"He is fine, he just couldn't act because we had his daughter prisoner. By the time we couldn't prove we had you with us, it was too late. He should be in a cell somewhere since I didn't want to kill such a useful man"(duke)

Aria felt glad the moment she found out his father was alright. Problem was that as soon as she realised what the duke did to him, the murderous eyes and killing intent she emitted couldn't be ignored by the prince, especially when she started to move in the duke's direction

"WAIT! I STILL NEED HIM!"(prince) desperately tried to hold her back

"LET ME KILL THAT BASTARD! HOW DOES HE DARE DO THAT TO MY FATHER!!!!"(Aria)

Prince used everything in his power to stop her, but even though he tried hard and even used his inner mana, he wasn't a match against a talented person with years of practice

"SIS, A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!"(prince) was desperate

He had no choice but to relay in the wild card called sis

"Fine"(Rebecca) stopped reading her book and gathered some mana

A moment later, Aria was sleeping on the floor like a baby and the prince was sweating all over the place. The mad dog had been really hard to hold back, and prince wouldn't have lasted much longer with her strength

As for the duke, even though he almost died, he regretted a little she didn't succeed in her attempt. He didn't want to die, but slave collars usually stopped you from killing yourself, and chances were that his future would be worst than dead. Besides, he lived a pretty good life without any regrets

What di surprise the duke was what the prince did

"Wait a minute, why can you use mana!?"(duke)

Duke knew that the prince couldn't use mana in any way(everyone knew), so seen him holding back Aria meant that he could use inner mana, something that should be impossible for the prince. The duke didn't realise the first time since he was knocked out before he could understand how it happened, but this time he saw it clear as day

"Uh? what are you talking about?"(Rebecca) heard something unbelievable just now

As for Rebecca, since she ignored the prince most of the time there, she never saw him use his inner mana. Sadly for her, even though she was THE expert in outer mana, she didn't know anything about inner mana since she couldn't use it herself.Sadly for the prince, not knowing and not wanting to know were to different things

"He just used mana. How else could he stop that crazy girl?"(duke)

"Is that true?"(Rebecca) directed her gaze at the prince

"We are in the middle of an important discussion, don't change the subject duke"(prince) tried to avoid the question

He couldn't lie about his inner mana, since his sister may kill him later if he did, but he also got the feeling that if he told them the truth, things would get complicated

"IS.THAT.TRUE!?"(Rebecca) insisted

"Sis, he just told us that most of our forces are in Z possessions, let's not get sidetracked"(prince) tried to keep things on track

Sadly for him, her sister wasn't interested in that

"You have 5 seconds or else...."(Rebecca)

"Sis! this is important"(prince)

"4"(Rebecca)

"can't we leave it for later?"(prince)

"2"(Rebecca)

"Wait, and the 3!!!!!???"(prince)

"1"(Rebecca)

"Fine! I can use it I can use it! happy?"(prince) gave up

He knew that once his sister had her mind on something, nothing could stop her. He knew it was foolish to try, no matter how important it was he succeeded

"how?"(Rebecca) approached the prince and increased the intensity of her stare

"You won't stop until I talk, right?"(prince)

"HOW!?"(Rebecca)

It must be said that be said that the reason Rebecca was so interested was because she couldn't use inner mana. It was for her pride that she worked so hard at outer mana, becoming the best in the world probably since she had no hope in inner mana. But as a mana expert, she was ashamed that she couldn't use it herself, and she even tried to find ways to use it herself, unsuccessfully

As for the duke, even though he didn't need it himself, finding a way to use inner mana without been born with the ability was the discovery of the century, and anyone would be interested in that. It was like finding a way for animals to talk, even though you can talk yourself, granting the ability to others could be extremely useful

"With a potion I made"(prince) reluctantly confessed

"No way!"(Rebecca/duke) denied at the same time

"HEY! F-CK you guys, I don't care if you believe me or not, it's the truth"(prince) was offended at their absolute denial

"there is no way you could have made a potion for inner mana, you probably awaken it by growing up or something "(duke)

"exactly, there is no way an idiot like you could do something like that"(Rebecca)

".................. are you done with the insults? I would like to keep with the interrogation if you guys don't mind"(prince) managed to keep his cool for now

"Wait wait wait, this is too important, you can worry about the Z idiots later"(Rebecca)

"yes, what She said"(duke) was glad, any excuse to change the subject was welcome

"Sis, you do realize that we are close to being completely conquered, right?"(prince) was beginning to question why someone like that had so much power. Life really wasn't fair

"Who cares, If they cause me any problems, I will just completely obliterate them. A way to learn inner mana is something no one else accomplished before!"(Rebecca)

The funny thing was that even though it sounded completely insane that one person could fight against an entire kingdom, the prince and the duke suspected that she could do it

"If you don't believe me, what do you want me to do?"(prince) really wanted to punch her in the face right now. even 10 years old brats were easier to manage than her

"tell me how it happened, I may find a way if I recreate it and if that doesn't work, I will just dissect you or something"(Rebecca)

For some reason, the prince didn't doubt that she would do it, or the duke for the case

"WAIT! calm down, it really is a potion, I already tested and it works" in animals(prince)

"You aren't lying, right?"(Rebecca)

"No!"(prince)

"You do know that if you are lying you will get dissected, right?"(Rebecca)

"yes!"(prince)

"So, how can I get one of those!?"(Rebecca)

"I have 3 of them already made"(prince)

"WHERE!"(Rebecca)had insanity in her eyes while looking at the prince

He knew that if he didn't hand them to her, she would use her magic to find out anyway. As for the reason he had 3, it was to sell them in the underground auction if he ever needed money. Why 3? the 3 would be sold separately one week apart, and since the first one wouldn't be sold at a high, it would work to prove it is authentic. The second would be sold at an even greater price and the final would be brought at an immeasurable price since it was the last hope of everyone there. Well, at least that is how the prince thought it would go. Later he would release 1 periodically

It was his wicked plan to get a lot of money, and it was still his escape plan if everything went down the drain. But before he needed to use his escape plan(that would be used soon if this didn't work) the prince thought of a good idea

"I will give them to you with one condition"(prince)

"You do know I can extract it out of you, right?"(Rebecca)

"I know I know, I just want your help with the invasion, nothing more"(prince)was sweating a little

This made Rebecca hesitated a little. She didn't want to be used by the prince, and she could get the information with or without his consent, but what he was asking was reasonable

"Fine! but if it doesn't work....."(Rebecca)didn't need to say the rest

"IT WILL WORK IT WILL WORK!"I hope!(prince)

"Give then to me now!"(Rebecca)demanded

"can we do it after we finish with the duke?"(prince)

"N.O.W!"(Rebecca)

"OK!!!!!!"(prince) gave up

He told her his workshop address and the safe combination with an explanation to how they looked and how to take the potion

The moment he finishes, she opened a portal and left the place without looking back

".........................."(duke/prince) watched how easy she opened a portal and left the place in a mix of shock, reluctance and relief

"well, where were we?"(Prince)