Another contender arrived some time had passed since Ciel had bagged the Bckwing.

  Er Long investigated the scene. The corpse of Hepto, once featured on wanted posters with a sky-high bounty, y in a bloody mess on the sand. The men in bck gathered around him, each absorbing the sight of the dismembered Exterminators, clearly torn apart by Nuan's hands. However, among those five dead weapons, one had been blown apart by a destruction spell, and another was—

  "Poisoned, then shot by a high-energy weapon," the Second Prince commented on the sole corpse which tickled his intellect. "Whoever did this found a poison that worked on an Exterminator." He turned toward Hepto's remains. "And the same poison seemed to work against a high-ranking member of the Bckwing too."

  "Sir," one of the men in bck approached Er Long. "What shall we do next?"

  "What else?" he replied. His lip lifted into a gleeful, monstrous smile, revealing inhumanly perfect teeth. He could feel his blood pumping in anticipation. "This is exciting. The information is accurate: Nuan found a truly powerful helper." He issued his next order with an expression of joyful bloodlust. "Recall all resources we sent after those decoys. The real one must be around here."

  ---

  In a ravine not far from Er Long's force, Ciel's group marched through the graveled soil, forging ahead toward their destination.

  "Four hours left," Xia said, walking beside him. "We're going to make it."

  "Don't jinx it," Ciel shot down her hopeful suggestion. "The decoy pns have been ruined. Everyone and everything will be converging on us."

  His words had barely left his lips when the air rippled before him. Like a curtain, the atmosphere peeled back to reveal the Yulong Empire's royal guard led by the First Prince, holding a ceramic mannequin's head and admiring it like an interesting curio.

  "Brother Yi Tong," Nuan halted to a stop.

  The schorly First Prince stood before the assembled guard in armor carved with the likeness of a golden dragon, scrutinising the object he held as a philosopher. "Quite an ingenious piece of technology you employed," he tossed it to the floor. "You scattered these face-changing decoys in several other cities to divert our attention, while making your way to the capital." His eyes narrowed on the steely inventor in a b coat. "This technology is several generations above our curve. There is no way for you to be a normal person."

  There the smartest of Dragon Scions confronted the Lord of Union. "Who are you and what retionship do you have with the Bckwing?"

  Ciel's answers were cold and simple, "First, you should ask your father for that. Second, how about the retionship between predator and prey?" He gestured with a nonchant wave of his hands. "Tell your brigade to move aside. I have a meeting with your God-Emperor."

  All at once the royal guards' ptoon pointed their spears at him.

  "I am afraid I can't do that," Yi Tong said. "As the head of the court, I cannot allow a stranger to stir chaos in this nd of peace. It is our duty to maintain order--"

  "My god, your father has truly failed at every level," Ciel's answer, pin pricking the shocked First Prince’s mental bubble. "Don't tell me you believe you are some kind of hero trying to keep the empire secure. There is nothing I could do to stir up Mandrake's house, you idiot." He then delivered the most crushing blow. "How sad; even his children have no trust in him."

  Yi Tong and Nuan heard Ciel's words loud and clear; both found it strange to their ears. The man's speeches opened up the insecurity they wanted buried. For all that time kowtowing beneath their father, they had never truly seen him as a man, but a force of nature who could come down on them at any moment. The royal guard behind also shifted with great hesitation, feeling disturbed by this man's sheer familiarity with their god.

  "He is an ultimate being existing beyond the clouds," the First Prince bellowed the statement which had become a first principle truth after years of repetition. "How dare you cim to understand the Emperor?"

  "Ultimate? You must be kidding me," Ciel retorted. His eyes dissected Yi Tong's self-esteem. "You are just using Mandrake as an excuse to channel your perception. Don't accuse others of failing in something you've never tried."

  Knowing any more discussion was pointless, Yi Tong cut straight to the demand. "What do you know about the Bckwing? What kind of secret do you hold?"

  "The same thing your dad already knows, so just go and ask him, moron," Ciel said. "Move aside, I am not in the mood to beat up the kids."

  Yi Tong's response was simple: BLUE MAGIC RANK IV: OCEAN

  The heavy Blue Mana came down like mist, summoning a flood upon the ravine. The royal guards charged as one while Ciel's party scattered against the tide.

  "Ciel," Xia gnced worriedly, pouring White Force into her spell. "Can you make Nuan a Celestial Bride?" she bit her lip, squeezing every word out. "It will be--"

  "No," said the Lord of Union, firing an Ether rifle at Yi Tong. "We can still handle this."

  "Celestial what?" Nuan's question was drowned in the rapid tide of water.

  Yi Tong ducked beneath the beam of Ether, barely comprehending the barbs being traded in the chaotic melee. In the distance, he saw an entire squad of royal guards descend upon Nuan, who struggled to combat several of them at once.

  She blocked a punch from one, intercepted a kick from another, and counterattacked with an uppercut that flipped one more on his back. But no matter how many she repelled, more kept coming. Waves of water roared around her, nearly sweeping the girl off her feet.

  Before her allies could be overwhelmed, Xia tossed in her support spell.

  WHITE MAGIC RANK VI: SANCTION

  But before the light of White Magic shone upon the earth, a Blue counter-spell shot out from the First Prince.

  BLUE MAGIC RANK V: NULL

  The drowning energy in watery blue engulfed the white sun sailing overhead, and drowned it. Meanwhile, the royal guards charged at the two women. Ciel observed how the situation had gone sideways and grabbed a grappling gun from his coat. With a press of a trigger, he unched the head at the rocky wall and reeled himself out of the royal guards' attack range.

  As Ciel escaped out of the carnage, two other maidens were facing the battle of their lifetime. They were besieged by both the First Prince's mastery over the water and the relentless royal guard. Nuan successfully knocked a man out with a mighty punch and severed spears with a kick cd in Aura Bde, but soon got swamped beneath the tide of a well-disciplined royal guard and water sweeping beneath her feet. Dragged under the wave, the Dragon Scion struggled to recover as water started making its way into her lungs.

  "We cannot hold this back," Xia yelled. Her soggy body receiving another cut she rapidly healed with her spell. "Just make her a Celestial Bride." The waves rose to her waist, nearly knocking her beneath it; meanwhile, the royal guard began surfing upon the water with their Aura-cd feet, maniputing the water tension to walk on water surfaces. Several more bdes stabbed her in the back and arms, drawing blood with their barbed heads.

  "Absolutely not," Ciel tossed several explosives in the direction of the main problem. "That will just create more problems down the line."

  Said problem, Prince Yi Tong, wove his water conjuration spell, sweeping all those beads and tossing them elsewhere to explode, but the destruction was enough.

  Nuan unleashed her defensive technique, the AURA SPIN, from beneath the waves. She cdded herself in the repulsive yer of Aura and flung opposing attacks back in a spin. The force unleashed blew back both floods and royal guards waiting to pick her off piecemeal. This sudden motion also generated waves, unbancing her comrade's assaints and allowing the First Bride to recover.

  Bleeding from various stab wounds, Xia's head, dizzying from combat, heard a "thunk". She blinked at the sword thrown by her husband.

  "Use that to even the field," Ciel began to fire his ether rifle at the first prince. "I have a pn."

  "You dimwit!" Xia yelled, but grabbed the sword to fight. Her healing and strengthening magic empowered her every blow. "Why don't you just kiss Nuan and win this stupid battle."

  "Kiss me?" Nuan yelped as she also began skating over the waves with a water-walking technique, toppling one man after another. "Why?" she asked with a gape.

  Instead of replying in words, Xia fought back with renewed fervor to avoid answering that question. The sword of shining metal, lighter than aluminum but stronger than steel, fshed. Each blow and draw of blood carried her conflicting emotions. One cut on a wrist of a wide-eyed royal guard bled with her frustration at Ciel's obstinacy. Another thrust at one man's knee represented her possessiveness. Performing the water-walking techniques, she sshed and hacked through spears and armors, imagining doing the same thing to her rival. More royal guards began focusing on her, but she needed it. She punched them in the face with one hand, wanting to vent out the fact Ciel might be right, while a shining bde down another shoulder represented her unwillingness. Her fist, and fear from the bottom of her psyche, formed into a binding spell that impaled another speechless enemy in pce.

  She would have gone on a longer rampage. But the enemy Prince finally cut his losses, and summoned a tidal wave rge enough to sweep everyone off their path.

  The waves crushed and sloshed across the ravine, rising high enough to sweep Ciel from the safety of his perch and stretching wide enough to engulf all the combatants in a gurgling roar.

  Every combatant fighting, dragged and soaked, washed away further down the ravine where they groaned and vomited water in utter dizziness.

  Yi Tong almost smiled at this critical advantage, if not for a wet Ciel transferring behind his back and jabbing him with anesthetic. The surprised First Prince fell down. His schorly mind stumbled as it failed to know how this enigmatic man ambushed him, until he saw one of the explosives he tossed away. Thereby, he realized, those thrown were not explosives at all, but some special markers for this teleportation trick.

  Ciel pointed his rifle at the head of the paralyzed prince, as the royal guard watched in dread.

  "Don't you dare move," he warned.

  Yi Tong watched his paralyzed men, then leered at the cliff face. Something was wrong; his hidden troops should have swooped in by now.

  Then something nded behind the hostage situation like a brick to pi?ata.

  Prince Er Long emerged from the cloud of dust erupting from his dynamic entrance. He lifted his hand, and within his grasp was a face of one bleeding exalted royal guard's captain: Yi Tong's ace in the hole.

  "Quite cowardly, older brother," the Second Prince decred. "Laying down an ambush for your little sister to ensure she doesn't escape this ravine. How ruthless and boring! But no worries, your pn has failed."

  From the top of the cliff, Er Long's faction of men-in-bck emerged to turn the straightforward confrontation into a three-way brawl.

  "Now let's have some fun!" yelled the battle-maniac running toward them.