Fwoom!

“Ah! Hot!” Roselia cursed as she kicked up a piece of rock to makeshift a shield from the blast of flame directed at her.

Her clothes were literally on fire now and it was getting harder and harder to move around due to the absolute devastation that happened in the ballroom.

“AHAHAHAHA!!!” The Fire man laughed but his voice was unintelligible. It sounded more like a screeching toad being boiled alive than human speech. 

Roselia knew this was a bad match up for her. She can't get close at all or else she risks burning herself. Other nobles may consider her a rough housing barbarian type of woman but she still cares about her appearance and she would not risk a burn on her face. 

Fortunately, she didn't spend years on the battlefield just developing her fighting skills. She also nurtured her battle sense and she could tell that whatever this Fire Guy was doing was nothing but a last ditch hail mary.

He was actively using his life energy as fuel to make his flames stronger, thus burning his body and soul in the process.

All she had to do was outlast him and she’d have the victory.

Although she avoided each fire ball and fire blast thrown her way as best as she could, she couldn't help but feel that there was something odd somewhere.

She dashed through the walls, slid between debris, and rolled on the cracked floor all to avoid fireblast after fireblast the Man chucked in her way.

She looked around. What was it that felt off?

Her eyes darted from top to bottom, left to right, and in any other direction to find the thing that felt strange.

Suddenly, the hairs on her neck tingled and her feet moved on their own as she bent forward and dodged feathers, sharp as knives, shot at her.

She turned her back and the Crow woman had awoken from being knocked out.

Roselia clenched her fists. That's what was off, their knocked out bodies were missing the entire time and she didn't notice.

That must mean…

Smoke began to fill the entire ballroom once more and the view she had of everything suddenly grew dimmer and dimmer until all she could see was gray clouds all around her. 

It was the Old man. He was awake too.

She began to cough as the smoke conducted all the heat generated by the Fire Man and turned the very air hostile and unbreathable.

“You made one crucial mistake.” The Fire man spoke from within the cloak of smoke, his figure lit up by the fire burning his body. “The three of us were made specifically to defeat you, Grand Duchess.” He spoke her title with so much venom that Roselia felt worried for the first time in this battle.

“Well…” The Grand Duchess couldn't back down now, however, “Try me.”

She closed her eyes for she was about to use something that she hadn't fully mastered yet, no matter how often she trained it.

Her body felt lighter and lighter, slowly her arms began to feel like noodles, and her body feeling hollow. A skill she had struggled to use for so long but now she had no choice but to try it.

With the smoke filling the entire bottom half of the ballroom, a figure burst from the top. 

Floating.

Flying.

Roselia had turned herself less dense than air.

She had now achieved flight.

The Fire Guy’s eyes widened as this apparently was not in the set of skills they thought she could do. 

The Crow Woman in a moment of panic flew to try and fight her head on and although Roselia wasn't experienced in air combat, she dodged the talons of the Crow Woman and grabbed her by the wing.

“I’m not gonna let you guys escape this time.” The Grund Duchess’s eyes were filled with fury. In an ear shattering crack, she snapped the wing of the Crow Woman and bent it at a horrific angle before throwing her to a nearby pillar.

The Fire Guy grits his teeth. “You!” He called to the Old Man. “Make the smoke go up!”

The Old Man began to channel the smoke to lift himself up but a sharp blade suddenly came from the other side of the ballroom and embedded itself right in the Old Man’s chest.

The smoke that filled the room slowly dissipated.

“What!?” The Burning Man glanced in terror at his fallen comrades.

They had just risen but they were taken out once more almost immediately.

He turned his gaze to where the blade was thrown from and there it was. A man with pitch black hair, staring at him with such contempt it could pierce a hole through him.

What's more the man’s eyes weren't of a normal color. It was a deep crimson red.

“MILLO!” Roselia yelled in shock from atop. “What are you–” She saw his eyes turn red and a lump formed in her throat.

 

“Rosie!!!” Another Man’s voice called from behind Millo, it was Joseph, The Grand Duke, who was still here… for some reason.

“JOSEPH!?” Roselia yelled more in confusion and shock this time. “WHY AREN'T YOU AT THE EVAC CENTER!?”

“Uh…” Her husband was at a loss for words. He glanced down to the earth but something snapped his eyes back on her. “Wait a second…YOU'RE FLYING!? YOU FINALLY DID IT!?”

Roselia felt her heart skip a beat at the moment. So he did remember all the time she was practicing this. He was watching her the whole time.

“Oi.” The Fire Man glared at all three of them. “Don't go off in your own world. I’M STILL HERE TO KILL ALL OF YOU!”

He launched a wave of flame towards Millo and Joseph.

Roselia panicked and flew to them as fast as possible but the flames suddenly split apart like it was some liquid substance instead of heat and plasma.

“What the!?” The Fire Man recoiled in surprise.

The fire he shot was being cut in half like the Dead Sea. 

“You…” Millo glared. He was the one who cut the fire wave in half. His body, coated in a white aura that grew and grew in size. His eyes turned redder and redder and his nose began to bleed.

“What are you–” The Fire Man couldn't finish his words as Millo vanished and reappeared right in front of him. A knee then connected to his chest and shot him back straight into a pillar that cracked in half. “Ack!”

Millo once again looked like he teleported across the wind and appeared right in front of the burning man. 

The Fire Man couldn't believe what was happening, how could someone like this guy be touching his body without getting burnt? There was no way getting near him wouldn't feel hot but this guy was getting close like it was nothing.

Millo spared no time as soon as he cut the distance between them into practically nothing, he also raised one of his blades, shaped like half a gardening shear, and slashed right in between the man’s torso.

“RAAAAGHHH!!!” The man yelled. He was about to be killed but he wasn't gonna let himself die alone. He was gonna go supernova and explode himself so that he could take this demon down with him. “I'm not letting you go!” He raised his arms and embraced Millo with all his strength. “DIE WITH–” 

He couldn't finish his words again. His head was suddenly popped like a balloon. It was Roselia who did one final kick that burst his head into pieces.

The burning man’s lifeless body crumpled onto the floor. His fire slowly disappeared, leaving only a charred and putrid corpse.

Millo took heavy breaths. His blades dropped to the floor and his stance grew weak as he wobbled in his place.

“Whoah there!” Joseph rushed forward and caught Millo’s body that fell over. The Gardener seemed to have passed out.

“This stupid kid.” Roselia floated down next to them and touched his forehead. It was burning hot. He had a fever. Roselia wiped the blood off of her little brother's nose and took a glance at her confused husband. 

“Rose…”

“Yeah…” She pursed her lips.

“What was that?” 

Roselia sighed and looked the love of her life in the eye. “It's a curse…a curse that flows in the blood of Azarolla.”

…

“Agh!” A Kingdom Soldier fell to the floor as a red spear pierced through the side of his body.

The Crown Prince recalled the blood spear back to his hand as behind him, Teresa Montgomery, the handmaiden of Lady Alejandra, shuffled to open the door into the library.

“Lady Teresa, get them to open it!” Ben grit his teeth as the Kingdom Soldiers he knocked out are standing back up again. Ben felt something was off with these guys. No matter how hurt or how much stronger their opponent is, they run straight on without fear. 

Another soldier rushed to him and he slammed the blunt pole of the spear into the helmet of the Kingdom knight. 

Ben felt strange fighting them. It's like they weren't humans who can think for themselves.

“They’ve opened it! Your Highness!” Teresa called to him and gestured to the doors opening. 

Ben had to defeat these grunts fast so they could take these people to safety. He dropped his spear on the ground and let it turn back into a puddle of blood which then snaked over to the feet of the soldiers.

It hardened like glue and kept the enemy from moving forward. Ben focused and his body began to emit a white aura.

He dashed quickly between all of them and knocked them out one by one by imbuing his hand with Spirit and letting them pass out.

Ben has fought many soldiers before but somehow this whole time fighting these grunts has been completely different. Almost as if he was fighting marionettes.

The grunts fell like flies to the floor knocked out after one strike to the nape.

“Your Highness?” Teresa glanced back at him and the Prince returned the gaze with a smile.

“How are they?”

“One injured, three men, and two women. Except for the injured man, the rest are okay.” Teresa explained. “We have to get them to safety soon, especially the hurt soldier.”

“Please save him.” One of the women said. She was a young looking maid in her 20s. “He was the one who protected us until we got trapped here.” She begged Teresa, her eyes were teary and she knelt down clutching Teri’s dress.

“We’re here to save everyone.” Ben stepped into view and everyone immediately bowed their heads to him…well except Teresa.

“Your Highness!” One of the male staff said. “You’re here.”

“Yes.” Ben nodded his head. “You, Men. Take the injured Knight and carry him to the Evac area.” He glanced at Teri, looking for her answer.

The lady sighed and spoke, “We’ll take you there, don't worry.”

Ben smiled and nodded and the people all went to help the hurt Knight. 

“Thank you!” The maid bowed her head in tears. “Thank you so much, Your Highness.”

Ben sighed and tried to keep a straight face. “It's fine. Now go help the others.” He ordered her and she briskly nodded her head before rushing off to the rest of the staff.

“You're awfully humble, Your Highness,” Teresa spoke and Ben blinked.

“Did you just…tease me?” Ben glanced at her, a bit confused.

“Merely a statement.” The girl shrugged and headed inside the library to help the staff.

“She truly is a strange one.” Ben stared at Teresa’s back and was enamored by the maid's strange behavior. “Lady Alejandra, your staff truly are spectacular.”

He looked out into the empty halls. “This Kingdom ambush ruined my plans but if I manage to save the Lady in trouble…I might just be able to salvage it.” 

“Your Highness!” Teresa called from inside.

“On my way!” Ben replied and took one step inside the library before he suddenly felt his feet off of the ground, then not a few meters away in front of him was a bookshelf that drew closer and closer until he realized too late and crashed into it in a violent manner.

“YOUR HIGHNESS!” Teresa screamed and the rest of the staff panicked as heavy yet gentle footsteps found their way into the library.

A man had a calm expression on his face, “I see…” He said. It was the same man they saw earlier, who talked about looking for something. The Vice Captain.

“What are we gonna do?” One of male the staff shivered in fear.

“I can't fight.” The other one spoke.

“Miss…” The maid earlier who begged, pulled on Teresa’s dress. 

Somehow even though she was the youngest one there, she felt the most responsibility to help everyone. Teresa bit her lip and reached over, picking up the injured knight’s sword before standing up and pointing it towards the Vice Captain, who raised an eyebrow towards her.

“Young Lady, do you even know how to use that?” He mocked without changing his serious tone.

“I’d like to say I can.” Teresa glared at the Vice Captain, who finally smiled with a maniacal grin.

The Vice Captain drew his own blade and pointed it towards her. “Then I’d like to see you try.” 

Outside the library, following the trail shown by the ring on Teresa’s fingers, was Alejandra and the three other people with her finally nearing the Second Garden.

“My Lady,” Maddison, in her orange wig and suit, smiled at Alejandra. “We’re almost there.”

“I know.” The Lady kept herself poise as they followed the Emperor through the Imperial Palace. “Is there something you wanted to say?”

“I’m afraid not, My Lady.” The disguised witch shook her head.

“Then stop staring at me.” The Young Lady spoke frigidly to which Maddison only chuckled but complied with her request.

They finally reached the entrance of the second garden. From the inside, the garden seemed a bit small, with a small fountain, some flower beds, and a couple of trees. It wasn't comparable to the first garden in any way but it still seemed to be well taken care of.

“I applaud your gardeners, Your Highness.” Maddison complimented the Empress who, despite the current situation, puffed up her chest proudly.

“I am indeed quite proud of how I made this garden work despite the smaller size.” She said with zeal and confidence.

“Apologies, however.” Maddison turned her gaze towards an empty spot in the hallway. “I’m afraid we’re soon about to turn it into a mess.”