Anne never thought she would see Jack again and though she told herself she didn’t want to, a part of her did, so she could make amends and forget about him. Never in a thousand years, however, did she expect their little reunion to become so botched. A horrific experience she’d likely never forget.

Curse that man, that worthless, spineless peacock of a Dog Emperor. What ruler lets his subordinates trample over him like that? He dared to place blame on others? What an Emperor, what a shining exemplar of strength!

Anne truly despised that man with everything she had. At the thought of his face, her entire being went numb and cold, as if she was the incarnation of hatred itself. What the Imperials did that day was inexcusable. It was almost to the point where she thought she might become a Demon.

After tonight, her worries of that happening both halved and doubled at the same time. The Emperor, she had to admit, was not the only one at fault. An entire cabal of Imperials plotting against humankind was not what Anne had expected to hear, but how was she supposed to trust what that man had to say.

Especially after he openly admitted to wanting the humans to fight his pathetic war so he could discard them again when they were done. Emperor Cahck had even Transmitted to her in his ear-shattering voice that he wanted to trade ‘one native land for another’.

Anne shook her head and twiddled her hair as she followed behind Bia’xx, as his guard was called, and Jack to the Rei Ui’s carriage. It was ridiculously frizzy after being held down on the carpet like that and her eyes were red and swollen. It was somewhat embarrassing, but she couldn’t really bring herself to care all that much about her appearance in the end.

They had all seen her pathetic side today, anyway, crying like a beggar on the side of the street. Anne supposed she would just have to live with the shame and move on. On the bright side, she may have brought her people an opportunity to be free once more, with the catch that many would likely die for a cause they didn’t and shouldn’t have to care for.

‘I mustn’t dwell on it,’ she thought. ‘There’s another problem that needs my attention.’

A much more relevant problem, at least at the current moment in time. Jack ‘Professional Wastrel’ Cal Mira, the man due to become her lawfully wedded husband.

Arranged marriages are something one might expect at some point in their life, but to be strong-armed into it to such an extent… it wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. All she wanted was a normal husband and a normal life in her little village.

Not to say Jack was particularly ‘bad’, but she had doubts about his character. It wasn’t like she thought he was an evil person per say, she barely knew him. but their seemed to be two Jacks. The serious Jack who showed himself to her the night of the festival, who was an exemplar of chivalry, and the regular Jack, who sucked.

Well, he wasn’t so bad all around, just a little rough around the edges. But her biggest complaint in the end came back around to his family, his Clan. She wasn’t even aware the Emperor had a child, so they probably prevented the public from knowing what happened to Jack at all.

He said himself he didn’t know if his title as prince was still legitimate, but she supposed that confusion was replaced with frightening certainty. Jack was to be the next Emperor of the Southern Empire. At least if his father had anything to say about it.

Empress Anne Cal Mira, huh? She quite liked the sound of Empress, if not any of the responsibility which comes with the title. However, the second part was something she despised.

Silence reigned as the group dragged themselves into the carriage. The carriage that would take her to yet another strange and lonely place. She looked over the exhausted, pale Jack. He wasn’t looking anywhere in particular with his similarly swollen eyes, only into empty space as they set off.

Now that she got a good look of him, he seemed in a right state. Heavy bags hung under his eyes, sweat drenched his hair and face and his breathe was shallow and irregular.

Today must have been hard on him too. Physically and mentally. Jack must have had his own qualms about marrying her especially at the command of the man she could tell he hated just as much as she did.

Raw emotion in such quantities in a person’s eyes and voice was hard to conjure up on a moment’s notice; he must’ve been holding on to that for a long, long while.

‘I wonder what his story is.’

Everybody had their own demons, such were the words Anne had not too long ago uttered. Deep in her gut, they resonated more than ever.

‘I’ll know when he wants me to know,’ she reasoned. ‘I shouldn’t keep secrets from him either, couples with secrets between them never tend to last long.’

A couple… it hadn’t settled in yet, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted it to. If this was a nightmare, she would like to wake up soon, please.

Pinching herself hadn’t worked the last three times she had tried it, so she wasn’t going to go for a fourth. Unless…

‘Ow!’

Nope, useless.

So, she turned her attention elsewhere, distracting her with thoughts like how quickly it went dark in the winter. It was early morning but a few hours ago. Apparently, further south, there were six months of straight darkness during wintertime. She wondered what that would be like. Outside the window, there was nothing but pitch-black. Was it like that?

Anne never liked the city at night. It was full of miscreants and criminals during the light of day, so she didn’t want to even imagine what sorts of things happened at night.

She sighed. It was no use. The itch at the back her mind that she had betrayed her people and royal legacy wouldn’t go away.

‘What would father do?’

At the very least, she believed her father would do the same as she did, albeit with more style and grace. The thought took some weight off.

An abrupt bump took her out of her reverie but not Jack’s as they went downhill. This part was especially quiet, not a single voice or person could be seen through the alleys or main roads and all the torches were blown out.

It was unsettling.

A place usually filled with so many people was bereft of any sign of them. How strange.

Bia’xx was as stone-faced as ever, her expression barely changing from the Bloodline Suppression of a God Realm Cultivator, so she hardly expected her to be bothered about being in a city at night.

Though, did she have any reason to? Not only was there an elder at the 6th level accompanying them, but both Bia’xx and Anne herself were at the 7th level, and it wasn’t like Jack would be useless during an attempted mugging or something of the sort.

It would probably be preferable to send only him to fight in such a case. Level 1 or 2 gangsters weren’t even funny to think of as threats, so it would be valuable energy control training for him. Well, it wouldn’t do for him to hit them too hard and blow them to bits…

Some poor sod would have to clean that up.

Bia’xx’s eyebrows lifted slightly, as if curious.

“I feel a slight disturbance in the air. Very faint energy. Do you?”

She looked at Anne and the elder, who both shook their heads.

“Strange.”

“Boy, I sure hope assassins don’t come after our invaluable political asset.” Jack mumbled just loudly enough for his voice to carry outside.

“Are you intentionally trying to jinx us?” Anne asks.

“Hehe.”

“I suppose—”

Bia’xx’s eyes shoot open, and she grabbed for Anne and Jack in a blur.

[Inverse Lock]

As a bubble of pale blue light surrounded her, the carriage shattered to pieces in a near instant, splinters and blood flying all over her protective shield.

Blood…?

Anne had no idea if she was upside down or not as she crashed down to the ground, tumbling within the shield like a ragdoll. After plunging down the decline for what seemed like an eternity, she came to a stop. Was she on flat ground? Instinct suddenly screamed at her to move despite being unable to see.

Rolling sideways just in time to watch a dagger slice through the protection like cheap butter, the strike carving a slice into the hard concrete. Anne dazedly flitted open her eyes to see a blurry hooded figure, but there seemed to be something blocking her from seeing anything else.

Blue light wrapped itself around the dagger and then the figure, the energy suddenly ignited flames all over the man. Bia’xx’s Technique?

No sounds left their mouth as the assassin took the dagger and stabbed into their own throat. What? All they had to do was activate their Aura to combat it. Surely making yourself known is a better alternative to death. Or perhaps, for them, it wasn’t.

As the corpse smacked the ground limply, the blurriness of the figure disappeared. A man?

Before she had time to inspect it another dagger coated in dimly glowing blue stabbed at her throat. Releasing her Aura, she grabbed the man’s wrist, the edge inches away from her.

‘He’s strong! What do I do?’

Seeing a contest of strength in her current state was a losing battle, she lifted her back off the floor and in a worm like movement, headbutted the man in the nose. A satisfying crack ringed out in the cold night air in rhythm with clashing blades.

Quickly standing, she surveyed her surrounding, an empty lot surrounded by conveniently empty houses and empty alley ways. No one will be coming anytime soon. No matter, she would put these fools in their place herself.

Anne’s green Aura bubbled chaotically into the night sky, ruffling her robes, and reaching whole metres in length and width before coming back down to earth and coalescing at her clenched fists. Power flowed through her every muscle, strength which sent tremors into the very earth beneath her.

“Now let’s see you try and out-strength me.” She growled.

She punched her two fists wrapped in an emerald sheen together and they rung loudly like a bell, sending shockwaves through the air.

[Infinite Fist]

Her Clan’s ancient Martial Technique passed down to her. Perfect gloves around her fists. Anne was confident they were stronger than any close-range fighter her stage and level. It had been a while since she had last used it. Was it against Cura’xx in a spar? No. No time to be getting distracted.

It was time to be letting off some steam.

The assassin stood and pulled a short sword from his sheath, then struck a guarded stance.

‘He’s planning to take me head on. What an idiot!’

Anne smiled as she began circulating as much energy from her Dantian through her body as possible. Releasing her Aura once more, though a much calmer and thinner one, she got ready to rush forward before she sensed the assassin release his own.

Something which wouldn’t even phase normally had stopped Anne in her tracks. Her instincts screamed of an attack coming from every direction. Left, right, up, down, behind, in front. Murderous intent irradiated from the man. Intent to slice and stab her throat, belly, arms and legs all at the same time.

An illusion? Advanced Intent Manipulation? She couldn’t tell. Not that she would have time to. Leaping forward, six versions of the man went for her. No time to guess which one was real. Inches away, six blades could have took her life.

‘Now!’

From the ground on which she stood; six concrete spikes skewered each of the illusions in the stomach. The fakes would dissipate, and the real one would become a kebab. Which was why it was so surprising when all six illusions faded into the air.

‘Did he run? No, why would he?’

Scanning her surrounding as hard as she could with her spiritual senses got her nowhere. A Concealment Technique? Unfair.

‘Behind!’

A sphere of light sped at the back of her head. A normal blast as far as she could tell and didn’t want to do more damage to the area than she needed to by dodging, so she punched it out of the air. On impact, the charge exploded with a massive bang.

Very attention grabbing for an assassin.

Taking an instinctive breath was a mistake as it filled her lungs with dust and ash from the energy. The urge to cough scratched the back of her throat. Hold it in.

‘How distracting. I’m not used to things like this.’

With a wave of her hand, the cloud was blown away into the air. Using Earth Energy at the same time as using an active Pure Energy based Technique was far more exhausting than anything she had pulled off in the past. Perhaps it was a bad idea.

The taste of iron filled her mouth from her chest as she coughed, blood overflowing down her chin. Just as killing intent enveloped her once more.

‘From above.’

Quickly dashing back, she scarcely managed to avoid being skewered herself. The assassin rushed in with a flurry of blows and Anne countered with her own rush. Bladed edge met harder-than-steel energy gloves in a haze of constant attacks.

Thick energy covered the two of them. It seemed like the assassin no longer cared for remaining stealthy anymore. Every movement sent a shockwave through the air and made large cracks in the ground. Chipping away at her energy reserves like that may have been a smart move if it were someone else.

But she wasn’t some random woman. She was one of the Vaia Royals. All the boons and Techniques one could ever ask for were in the palm of her hand. Rather, the blood in her veins.

Yet more swathes of energy gathered at her right fist. She would put her all into this one.

[Devastate]

Her knuckles flashed white as they crackled through the air and directly shattered the blade, striking the man in the sternum. No blood.

Only dust.

Turning around as quick as she could she let loose another strike before anything could happen.

[Devastate]

This time, it was a direct hit. Smashing through the short sword like glass, Anne fist shattered the man’s Aura and broke through his jaw with a thunderous snapping noise.

Flying backwards, the man crashed through the clay walls of a nearby house. Whoops.

‘I’ll apologise later if anyone lives there.’

A sigh of relief spilled from her mouth along with a little more blood. All she needed was a bit of rest and she’d be fine. She wiped her chin with her sleeve to find her hands were shaking through the opaque spheres of energy.

This was the first time she had to fight for her life since the day of her village’s destruction. It was no surprise she was a little shaken up.

‘I need to find the oth—’

Death. Death was behind her. More assassins? She had stopped paying attention. There was no way she could turn around quickly enough. Craning her head, she saw cold, dark eyes and a silver sword sharpened by blue radiance.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she prepared to say goodbye.

‘I’m sorry, father, mother. I let my guard down.’