“Big brother…”

“It’s alright. You did well.”

“Cough! Di… Did you see? I made a barrier of force, big brother.” Baris offered Davey a weak smile.

Davey knew that Baris was trying his best to not worry him. Baris was only 14, a child who should be sobbing from the immense pain, but he was being so thoughtful. Davey felt his heart sink. If he hadn’t helped Baris the night before, Baris would have died in this battle. And Baris wasn’t a mere stranger. He was Davey’s younger brother, the only person standing on Davey’s side in this desolate palace.

“Go and rest.”

“Agh…”

After sending Baris away on a stretcher, Davey headed up to the battlefield. “Baltian.”

Davey’s dream was to live a happy, healthy, and peaceful life like everyone else. This was a small dream of his, because he had never lived for long in both his past and current life, and he wasn’t really alive during his time in the Hall. Therefore, Davey could not show off his abilities too much; even the most outstanding person would not be able to survive by making everyone else their enemy.

‘They say a cornered stone meets the mason’s chisel.’ In all honesty, Davey currently had an unfathomably large range of skills. He could very much be considered a possible threat in such a situation, where most of the people in the palace were his enemy.

Approaching Baltian, Davey released his cold killing aura. Still, the knights were quick to stop him by pulling out their swords. Prince Baltian no longer looked human, his hideous appearance resembling a monster, so even the knights themselves had swiftly stepped away.

“You will be in danger if you come any closer. Please back away!” The knights spoke firmly to Davey before turning away.

Davey ignored the knights and simply stared at Baltian. He thought it was no use trying to speak to Baltian, who had already lost his mind. ‘He’s irritating. How should I get rid of him? Should I rip him into shreds, even if I have to go to war with Boltis? Or should I do something else?’

As Davey was contemplating, Baltian no longer stayed still. With bloody tears dripping from his red eyes, he charged toward Davey. “Croak!! Grrrowl!!”

“Stop him!”

“Do not let Prince Baltian get close! …Keuhuk?”

The force of Baltian’s charge…was too strong for even the skilled knights to withstand. Slice! Baltian sliced the knights who stood in his way with his red blade energy and rushed toward Davey.

“Brother!!” Winley, who was following Davey, screamed.

When everyone thought it was too late to stop Baltian…a girl with windswept blond hair barged onto the battlefield. She swung her sword toward Baltian as she pulled Davey back by the shoulder. “Move.”

[Longsword. Mountain Split.]

No longer looking as indifferent as before, the petite girl standing at about 155cm tall lost her cool. She stabbed Baltian with the huge sword, which was almost the same size as her.

Boom!! A large vibration spread, and the magic-protected stone floor shook strongly and slightly cracked. As the girl struck down on him with an immense weight, Baltian collapsed onto one knee. He smashed into the ground with that single blow.

“Grrowl!! Grr…” Baltian let out a loud, monstrous roar. Perhaps the attack was quite effective.

The ‘Sword Princess’ Illyna de Pallan, who showed up with a blue energy surrounding her entire being, furiously glared at Baltian. She then squinted with resentment. “Vampire…” Losing her cool, she sent Baltian flying with a powerful kick.

As Princess Illyna’s attacks were quick and powerful, even the knights, who were waiting to strike back, couldn’t stop her. She was far more skilled than any of them, so it made more sense for them to help her hunt down Baltian than try stopping her.

Grrrowl!! Baltian struck back with a monstrous roar, but Princess Illyna overpowered him like a beast. Still, the monstrous Baltian could no longer be called a prince.

“Her… Her Highness is superior! Help her contain that guy!” When Baltian began running amok, the knights concentrated and raised their swords along with Princess Illyna. The mages, who were taking care of the battlefield, quickly began casting attack spells. The priests, who were standing by to treat any injuries, squeezed out all of their holy power to pressure Baltian.

Everyone thought that the monstrous Baltian could not run anymore wild than this… Croak. Baltian was forced to the end of the battlefield, then he pulled out an eerie jewel from near his heart.

‘Blood Polis?’ Davey guessed that it was the vampires’ sanctuary. Baris was already carried off on a stretcher, but Winley was still here. Without thinking about what the jewel was or what it did, Davey instinctively moved to hold Winley in his arms and released his own powers.

Immediately, the terrifyingly red jewel from Baltian’s heart began emitting an intense light. The light transformed into a fog as if it were a living thing, and soon consumed everything in its wake.

* * *

It didn’t take long for the blood-red fog to overwhelm and engulf the entire stadium. Like how ashes from a volcano instantly covered everything in a split second, the red fog had the area entirely surrounded.

There were only two sources of light in this blinding fog: Princess Illyna, whose body emitted a faint light as she was down on the ground, and Davey, who had casted his barrier of force with his will and blocked the fog. This meant that only three people were conscious right now.

If there were ‘Swordmasters’ here, they might have been perfectly fine, but the Duchy of Felicity did not have a ‘Swordmaster’.

And according to a treaty from the agreement of the Alliance of Nations, ‘Swordmasters’, who were basically human weapons, were prohibited from leaving their countries unless there was a special exception. Thus, there weren’t any ‘Swordmasters’ from other countries. All the knights present were still less skilled than Princess Illyna, even at their best.

There also weren’t many ‘Swordmasters’ in the continent in the first place, so there was a very low chance that they would have come here.

“Cough, brother…?” Winley coughed as breathing was painful. She looked exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days.

“It’s okay, Winley. Everything’s fine.”

“Bro…ther.” As her consciousness gradually slipped away, Winley just closed her eyes.

“Just rest. Everything will be okay once you wake up from a nice dream.” Speaking calmly, Davey carried Winley in his arms before gently laying her down in one corner. Then, Davey frowned with his hand out. ‘Move already. If you act lazy again, I’ll mix you with the devil mana.’

Whoosh! With a piercing sound, a faint white light moved along Davey’s fingertips.

Davey had three kinds of powers: mana, devil mana, and holy power. They all had different qualities, and this was a change only given to those who reached a certain level and were enlightened enough to be able to communicate with mana. It was a level of enlightenment much higher than ‘Master’.

This boosted Davey’s efficiency, got rid of any rebound effects, and could bring out more power than he had. However, Davey’s current body was maintaining a rather abnormal balance. Even before, his mana was already quite unique.

Devil mana had qualities fit to be described as psychotic. If the power could speak, it would probably say, “Use me right now! Or else I’m going to scream!!” And since it begged for usage, it had the fastest recovery and highest efficiency.

On the other hand, mana was a little more sassy and had a very irritable personality. Still, it moved with precision if Davey expressed his will.

Finally, there was holy power, which was unbelievably sluggish. This damned holy power was so lazy, it never listened. Holy power never moved unless some pressure was put on it, like Davey was doing right now. It moved only if there was a special medium, which wasn't any different from soothing a dog with a treat.

‘Level-4 Holy magic, the Blessing of Brilliance.’ Davey casted a spell, so that the effects from the ridiculous ‘Blood Polis’ wouldn’t be able to reach Winley for the time being. He proceeded to cast even more holy magic spells, since he wasn’t satisfied. “Sigh…” Davey sighed in relief only after a large amount of his holy power flowed out and surrounded Winley with an intense light.

Winley, who seemed to be in a lot of pain, started to look better. Her complexion returned to a healthier color.

The stadium was full of people, and they were all in a state of withering from the effects of ‘Blood Polis’. However, Davey had no reason to care for them as well. Moreover, with his current holy power, it would be insane to attempt finding each and every person and casting a protection spell on them.

Davey could only use level-4 holy magic with his holy power right now. The lowest level was one, so level-4 wasn’t a low level; it was similar in level to a 4-circle magic spell.

Keeping quiet, Davey looked at the two other conscious people. He slowly stood up. He glanced at the blond girl, who was wheezing while supporting herself with her broken sword. Her blond hair was no longer as vibrant and it was scattered. Her eye-catchingly beautiful face also turned pale, though she still looked as beautiful as before. ‘They say that first impressions, mostly based on the face, go a long way… Damn lookism.’

Wheeze… Pant… Princess Illyna was already at her limit, barely able to sustain herself with the energy flowing out of her body. It was difficult to expect full power from her.

Of course, Davey didn’t need Princess Illyna’s help. He silently approached her and placed his hand on her back. Princess Illyna flinched, but her breathing returned to normal once Davey’s mana flowed into her from his hands.

“Fall back once you start feeling better.”

“Wa… Wait…! You?!” Princess Illyna looked at Davey in shock when she noticed his presence. Even as she was wheezing, she couldn’t believe it. “You…. How are you totally fine?!”

The intense blood-red fog made it difficult to make out anything in the surroundings. Anyone who breathed it in were withering and collapsed, including the exceptionally skilled knights who were able to use mana. However, Davey was fine.

Princess Illyna wasn’t stupid, so she knew of Davey’s tragic story. He was the prince who slipped into unconsciousness after an unfortunate accident and could not come around for six years. Of course, she probably first heard that when she arrived here, but she did believe Davey was a weak, powerless prince after the incident at the banquet too.

“Beats me.”

“Cough! I don’t know why, but stay back. This isn’t something that you can resolve.”

“Oh, it’s not something that I can resolve?”

Princess Illyna urgently shouted, “Right now, luck can’t resolve this, like it did at the duel during the banquet! These guys are part of the bloodline of the Nobles of the Night; the Demons of the Night that remained in the ancient books. You’ve probably heard of vampires.”

‘Of course, I’ve heard of them. I’ve met vampires of a certain level and fought them hundreds and thousands of times.’

As Davey silently listened to her for a moment, Princess Illyna forcibly raised her sword and blocked Davey even when she couldn’t control her own body.