~Adrian PoV~

From the corner of my eye, I could see Feon entering the premises. I quickly applied Troll’s Regeneration on the damaged clones. Their wounds started healing themselves at a visible rate. We were back to tip-top condition, but my mana reserves were beginning to drain heavily.

 

I quickly took out a mana potion from my satchel and guzzled it down, but before I got halfway through the bottle, an icicle spear shattered the bottle in my hand. I turned my vision to Riela’s sister, who was looking down at me with an intimidating stare. 

 

“Done with your break? Let’s get this farce over with.” As she said that, mana started to concentrate above her hand. Another Ice Spear started to form, but this one was much larger than the earlier ones. Its size was as big as a decently sized tree, and it’s appearance… was utterly ferocious.

 

Sharp edges jutted along the pole of the spear, giving it a savage feel to it. The cold mana twirled around it as if it could control magic on its own. Her eyes had become an eerie blue despite looking the same, filled with a vengeful feeling. 

 

“Ice Spear”, she solemnly said as the very air started to vibrate. An icicle pole of destruction was unleashed, ready to exterminate our group. No words needed to be expressed, we immediately spread out again, trying to avoid the area of impact.

 

The spear seemed much slower than before, but the destructive force hidden behind it was frightening. The cold air swirled around it, almost like a miniature tornado. I repeatedly chanted Aegis Shield, preparing for the collision. 

 

BOOOOOOOOM!

 

A loud explosion could be heard, icicle shards flew far away, further than the eye could see. The earth was razed and dirt and ice mixed into smoke. For a moment, we couldn’t see anything around us. But I already knew the result. I could feel the connection between a few of the clones disappearing; the answer was obvious.

 

“Air Blast!” I cast, clearing away the smoke surrounding us. As I expected, two of the clones couldn’t manage to dodge in time, and their bodies evaporated into ashes of mana. 

“Hmm clones, interesting… No wonder you guys had such familiar physique. So one of you guys should be Feon, right?”

 

I was a bit surprised when she managed to figure out Feon’s identity, it seemed that she had done her research. I needed to stall her, so I tried to converse with her, it would help us buy Feon some time. 

Though usually when it came to confronting someone, I was incredibly meek. But this wasn’t just some stranger I didn’t know about, she was my arch-nemesis. For Riela, I wouldn’t back down against her. I needed to be brave if I wanted to save my prince.

 

“How come you know about Feon?” I asked in a shocked voice. She looked at me with a mocking smile, as if she enjoyed playing with us.

“When I first met her, she was trying to contaminate my dear brother. If not for my brother’s wishes, I would’ve gotten rid of her right there and then. Of course, I kept in mind her name, and I knew she would be coming to interfere with our love.” She exclaimed in a smug tone, her pupils seemed to turn into hearts when she talked about Riela.

 

When I heard that, I felt betrayed. Feon had tried to make a move on Riela? Riela was mine, how could she try to corrupt my prince! Though I tried to suppress it, my rage was starting to show on my expression. 

 

“Ahahaha, you didn’t know that? I thought you were both trying to share Riela like some harlots. Too bad for both of you, Riela only loves me. Haven’t you considered why he hasn’t even tried to contact you yet?”

 

While I was writhing in anger, she tried taunting me. Obviously, she was enjoying pouring salt into my wounds, but this still worked in my favour. I wished she would keep talking down to us because before she would realise it, Riela would be back to embrace me.

 

“You were the one behind it, Riela wouldn’t just leave me like that.”

“It seems you have a hard time accepting the truth, well whatever. It’s not like you will get to see him again.”

 

“Don’t lie to me, I know you always kept him surrounded by guards and restricted his freedom. You wouldn’t let him 5 meters away from yourself, always clinging to him. Don’t you realise how annoyed he felt by your presence?”

 

“You stalked us? I knew roaming in public was a bad idea. I need to convince dear brother, otherwise more problematic pests would come in between our love.”

“Stop talking about your love, it is sickening me. You just imposed your feelings on him, accept the facts.”

 

“Oh? I don’t want to hear that from some child suffering from gender dysphoria, why don’t you just leave us alone and go do it with your “Feon”.”

It was clear that she had looked into my background as well, that comment frankly managed to irk me.

 

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear that either from some incestuous sister who is obsessed with her brother. I bet that you never knew his whereabouts because he ran away from you. He isn’t even interested in you at all.”

 

For most of my retort, she seemed pissed, but when I had gotten to the latter part, laughter started leaking out of her mouth. I watched in confusion as to why she began laughing; something was wrong.

 

“Oh? But I already took Riela’s first time. He was just soo amazing.”

My heart stopped for a second when I heard those words, but I slowly regained my composure. She was surely lying about that. There’s no way possible that Riela would do it with his sister.

 

“There are limits to lying, you know?” I said, scoffing at her.

She didn’t say anything but continued laughing at me. I knew she was just playing a psychological attack, but this conversation has produced a nudging sense of possibility in the back of my mind. Numerous doubts were growing in my head, I wanted to clear away my doubts with Riela as soon as possible.

 

“It’s your choice whether you want to believe me or not.” She smirked and said that in a derisive tone. “Well enough with the chatter, let’s finish this ordeal already,” she snarkily said before making another hand gesture.

 

Mana gathered again like before, creating the same fierce spears. This time I didn’t commit the same mistake and focused my buffs on mobility instead of defence. In front of such firepower, any form of protection would be meaningless.

 

The clones and I spread as far as I could and acted as if they were attempting to raid into the mansion. One by one they got felled by the frosty spears. Until only I was left standing.

“Hah, what futile effort. What are you even trying to accomplish with just running around like idiots, no one is coming to save you. Though your friend turned out to be more cowardly than I anticipated, all 4 of them were clones? I almost feel like pitying you.” She ridiculed me, acting as if she was sympathetic.

 

I acted defeated, unable to raise a single voice. But inside I was celebrating my victory, If my estimations were correct, Feon would get to meet Riela soon.

“I would’ve gotten rid of you, but I have better plans. How do you think about being imprisoned on the other side of the world, somewhere where you could never meet again with Riela? You will spend the rest of your days repenting and working for some local tribe, while I will be the one keeping Riela safe and sound.”

 

She was truly an evil incarnate; only the likes of the most wicked women could think like that. How dare she try to separate Riela from me, laugh all you want because the last laugh would be mine.

 

As she was acting all arrogant, she stopped abruptly. She stared at the thin air in front of us, wait impossible… could she see… I quickly broke off all buffs from Feon, but it was too late.

She immediately rushed into the mansion, ignoring my presence entirely. I hadn’t expected this monster to be able to perceive the mana threads from my buffs just through her normal senses. That kind of a ridiculous act you would only expect to see in fantasy novels.

 

I could just pray now, I hope I had stalled her for long enough. 

“Godspeed Feon, I hope you managed to reach Riela by now…”