“Hold on, wait!” Vivia begged for mercy, “Spare me, spare me… of your worthless attempt at trying to protect me!”

“Apologies, princess.” The guard designated to personally look after her lowered his head, “But the King demanded I, as the captain of our strongest battalion, personally watch over you for the duration of the castle’s storming that is happening just outside. This is not something we can discuss, I’m afraid.”

“Aww, come on! Dad literally put me behind three layers of protection! There’s no way someone can just barge in here, no matter who they are!”

“Ugh, I don’t wanna be in here either, y’know…” The guard muttered.

“What was that just now, captain?”

“N-Nothing! In any case, just sit tight until the people outside solve everything.” He then thought to himself, “To think those rebels actually had it in them to ask the other continents for help. Not a sliver of pride in them…”

“Hey now, are you underestimating the power of connections?” Vivia asked, “Apart from giving up, I honestly didn’t expect any other way for them to try and get revenge on us. Though, a part of me did hope they’d just peacefully accept defeat.”

“Cheh, did you get attached to them after all that time you’ve spent under their care, princess?” The guard joked, “I had a lot to explain to your father because of that stunt you pulled, and the only reason I’m still alive is probably because it actually worked.”

“Right? I found the plan crazy even as I thought it up, honestly.” Vivia stuck her chest out.

“Then why?” Asked the guard.

“When your opponent, or rather target I should say, is known for his crazy ideas, then the only way to beat him is to come up with something even crazier. From all the things I’ve heard about him, Lune isn’t someone you could beat just with any run of the mill idea.”

“Right, that General… Apart from it being miss Silvia’s request, was there any other reason to go after him? In other words, was a war really necessary?”

“Oh pish, did you really think we’d waste so much money and manpower just to kill one man?” She chuckled, “You say you’re the best of the best among our troops, but you’re really dumb, aren’t you?”

Stiffening his face to the point where a vein had popped on his temple, the guard counted to ten internally before answering, “I am afraid that I don’t yet understand the nuances of your machinations, princess.”

“Of course you don’t, you’re not royalty, after all.” She became all smug, “In short, we just used Lune’s bounty as an excuse to start the war and take over Entropa. Simple as that.”

Finally realizing that, the guard felt a strong sense of nationalism kick in as he kneeled before his princess. With just one move, the Carmen Royal Family had not only fulfilled Silvia’s wish to kill Lune Grimheart, but they had also put themselves in a favorable position wherein they had all the rights to take over the entire territory of Trivis Numerica, with future plans of furthering Carmen’s territory to an even bigger size once that’s over. In short, the guard was currently witnessing tactical perfection spring forth before his very Eyes.

“So you needed all those boring ass steps just to accomplish all that?” I talked through the steel doors separating us, “Grim would’ve spread the country’s territory to the entire world, even without all your fancy Royalty privileges!”

Not one second after I had loudly proclaimed that, the steel doors clicked open, and I waltzed straight in to face the two. Terrified, confused, angered, anxious, smug, all of these emotions could be seen emanating from them, to the point where I didn’t even need to use Analyze anymore to even see them.

“H-Hey, Ed!” Vivia hid behind her guard, “Long time no see! H-How’d you find the password to the doors?”

“Don’t call me by any nicknames, I refuse to speak to you anymore than I already need to.” I spit at them, “But I feel like my hard work here deserves some praise, so I’ll humor you and explain. A bit of Analyze was all it took to see the password clearly spelled out before my very Eyes as I snuck my way in past the guards. Though it did cause one hell of a headache…”

“A headache? That means he’s weak! Go get him, guard!”

“A-Ah, right away, princess!” The guard lowered his helm over his face as he went to charge at me.

Heh, when compared to Meil, this guy is too slow! Using Analyze, I could… huh? N-No, his thoughts, they’re…! Crap, Meil might be faster, but the reason I could always read and evade his attacks was because he always thought carefully about his next move, but this guy just completely shut off his brain the moment he began the attack! Not good, how the hell do I know where he’ll strike from?!

“Hyah!” He went for an overhead blow, immediately feinting into a side strike, “Gotcha!”

“Get the hell away!” I shoved him to the side after the blade just barely grazed my arm, slicing a bit of my arm in the process, “Argh! What the hell is the point of this armor if it doesn’t do jack shit against a sword?! Fuck, this hurts! Ow, ow, ow, ow… OW!”

“Heh, you just waltzed in here like you own the place, but when I went to attack you, you didn’t even pull out your weapon!” The guard taunted, “Pray tell, oh amazing soldier, just what do you plan on besting me with?”

“This?” I reached for my pocket before shooting him with my gun, “Really dude, you’re in a war. Never bring a sword to a gunfight.”

“Guard!” Vivia yelped, “Shit, I knew he was dumb, but this seriously takes the cake… Oh well, nothing we can do about it now, he was bound to die sooner or later anyways with that useless pointy stick of his.”

“That’s a rather harsh thing to say to the man who was designated to protect you, princess.” I turned to point the gun at her, “Speaking of, you don’t seem the least bit scared of staring down my AFP’s barrel. What’s with that?”

Glancing between my Eyes and the AFP that was staring her down, she finally sighed before sitting down on the floor without a care in the world. What’s she plotting? There’s no way she’s gonna give up without any plans on fighting back.

“I give up without any plans to fight back.” She said in a disinterested tone, “No use in struggling when I’m unarmed, I’ll just get myself killed that way.”

“And what makes you think you won’t get killed if you don’t struggle? You’re a horrible person whom I have a personal vendetta against. I intend on delivering the harshest punishment I can to you.”

“Exactly, and just simply shooting me here and now doesn’t exactly fit that description.” She reasoned, “Instead, I’d imagine taking me alive and torturing me before you off me is more geared towards your plans. Still, tortured is still better than dead, and I’m sure dad will just free me after a while anyways.”

“The King will?” I chuckled, “Again with the baseless optimism. Seriously, the chances of your father even being alive are miniscule, given Meil is the one taking care of him as we speak. You won’t have anyone to save you.”

Wondering what her true thoughts on this were, I cast Analyze as I carefully read through her mind. Word after word, the sentences had begun to form, slowly but surely. In the end, her mind had already accepted death, if I’m understanding this right, but she knew that the Carmen family had already won for some reason. And that reason was…

“Your little sister?” I tilted my head, “You’re thinking that this tragedy will set her on the path of revenge, and given her Yellow Eye color, you’re thinking she’ll mature to be an even better ruler than your father.”

“Eh?! Reading my mind isn’t fair!” She pouted, “Well, nevertheless, you’re right. Aria’s potential as a ruler is incredible, but she lacks maturity, still playing with toys despite her age nearing ten years old. For a Royal, that should have been a bygone era in her life long ago.”

“Ten years old? Grim and I still ate dirt at that age, so I don’t quite get what you mean here.”

“Ew! Seriously!? Ugh, and to think you and that Anna still got hitched somehow. Man, I feel super bad for her, having to constantly kiss such a dirty mouth. Ugh, just imagining it is making me sick…”

“O-Oi! Quit imagining whatever you’re imagining! Are you forgetting that I can see all your thoughts?!”

“Hm? What’s this? Are you saying my tame imaginary images are making you blush? Oh my, I wonder just what kind of reaction I could get out of you if I unleashed all of my most depraved fantasies at once?”

Without even giving me a moment to react, the goddamned pits of degeneratory hell had opened its claws and engulfed me fully. What the hell is… ew, ugh! The fuck…!? No! Don’t do that! No wait, what the hell are Grim and I doing there?! Ugh, disgusting whore, stop imagining all of us like that… CECILY?!

“Blergh!” I threw up in front of her, on account of not being able to handle her delusions, “That’s it! Just for that, I’m taking away your thinking privileges!”

“Humu, whatever do you mean-?” She teased, not even noticing me running up to her at the speed of sound to knock her out.

Now lying on her back, her clothed yet still somehow erotic bosom at full display, the fantasies have finally ceased. Phew, I never thought someone could use my own Iro Ability against me like that, was she always such a pervert? I swear, half the objects in that delusion I haven’t even heard of before. Seriously, what the hell is a chastity belt, and why the hell did she make me and Grim wear them?!

“Well, that’s that, at least.” I sighed as I picked her up, “Though I don’t think I’ll be able to face Cecily for a while after this. Geez, screw this damned perverted princess, making up all sorts of adulterous scenarios for the lot of us...”

Carrying her limp body like a sandbag over my shoulder, I couldn’t help but think of just how light she was to carry. Usually, unless someone is balancing themselves on you, their weight is a lot heavier due to your combined center of mass being thrown out of whack. But no, she’s super light, despite her bazongas. As if she’s…!

“Unf!” I bit my lip as I endured the pain of getting stabbed in the back, “You’re awake?! Ow, what the hell did you stab me with, bitch?!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, keeping a knife on your hip isn’t all that smart, Ed. In this scenario, you were practically begging to get stabbed with it.”

Falling to the ground, I couldn’t even push her away from me as she slowly sat up over me, pinning me to the ground. Shit, I got too careless…!

“You damned slut…! Argh!”

“Did you forget already what my specialties were?” Vivia put her face close to my ear to whisper as she lodged the knife deeper and deeper into my back, “One was acting, and the other was backstabbing.”