48

When Lusia saw Vanessa appear, she was stunned at first. Then her gaze dimmed, turned ice-cold, full of wariness and distrust.

That was not how you looked at reinforcements.

“What are you doing showing up now?” she said, her voice frosty.

Leon was taken aback. Lusia’s reaction was almost the same as his.

“This boy called Leon is your disciple? He really inherited your rebellious style, huh? Look at your good little student trying to assassinate our king!” Lusia added.

“Yeah. Leon’s a reckless idiot.” Vanessa stepped in close to Leon—and then, unexpectedly, she turned her back to him and faced Lusia, standing side by side with Leon—!

“But my disciple is mine to punish. You don’t get a say.”

Huh—? The wavering scales of victory suddenly tilted—!

Leon almost thought he was about to go 1v2—against the continent’s strongest swordswoman and the strongest adventurer at the same time!? Winning would’ve been impossible!!

And then the outcome turned everything on its head.

Just seconds ago, he’d thought Vanessa’s arrival was definitely bad news…

Lusia, however, didn’t look surprised at all.

“You!” She stared coldly at Vanessa. “You’ve been going against our king for so many years!”

That blackened look in her blue eyes didn’t quite fit her delicate, cute face—but you couldn’t say it wasn’t a little moe.

“Finally waited until our king was in danger so you could kick him while he’s down?”

“I hate men who keep a harem,” Vanessa replied flatly, like she’d just dropped a huge info bomb. “Lusia, even now, His Majesty Ivan still hasn’t married you.”

Lusia exploded in an instant. “Shut up! Our king is the future king of this nation—! Of course he has his own plans!”

“Your birth isn’t as noble as Ariel’s or Tridiss’s, but if he pretends he doesn’t see everything you’ve done for him—”

“Our king sees it—!” Lusia leveled her knight’s sword at Vanessa. “I’m his final line of defense! As long as I can protect him like this, I don’t need anything else—!”

Right now, though, Lusia was facing the continent’s strongest swordswoman—times two.

“I won’t let you hurt our king! Even if it costs my life!” Lusia said. She gave a cold little laugh and pulled a potion from under her cloak.

What the hell is that potion!?

“Stop drinking that stuff!” Vanessa shouted at her. “Your body hasn’t grown in five years!”

Lusia clicked her tongue and laughed, biting the cork off with her teeth. Then she chugged the alchemical potion in one go!!

Vanessa let out a sigh. “You’re really beyond saving.”

Lusia flung the empty bottle away. Her body swayed as she endured the potion’s early side effects, and then a blue whirlwind exploded around her!!

“I’ll stop you. No matter what. I swear it!” Lusia laughed through her teeth, twin streams of blood like tears running from her eyes.

A girl like this… it was hard not to feel a little sorry for her. You didn’t even want to look directly at those bleeding eyes.

“Hey, disciple.” Vanessa drew her twin thin blades, Devotion. “We’re going in. Have you actually practiced the Twin-Blade Secret Arts?”

“Yeah. Of course.” Leon drew the Light Roar Sword and the Mystic Silver Sword, one in each hand. His heart was pounding—this was the first time master and disciple stood on the same side!

Their backs, their stances—they were almost identical. Not just master and disciple; they were more like brother and sister…

“After she drinks the potion, her speed, strength, and senses all triple. But her vision gets worse. Take the chance and finish her in one go!”

Lusia swung the Viper Sword, “unleashing” it into its whip-sword form. The blade’s path had already been dazzling before; now, tripled, her attacks were almost impossible to read.

The floor was instantly slapped full of cracks, everywhere. There was practically nowhere left to land a foot—!

Everything within the Viper Sword’s range was shredded to bits—stones blasted into the air were cut again and again midair until they turned to dust!

Leon and Vanessa charged straight at Lusia. The two of them unleashed the Twin-Blade Secret Arts at the same time—!

To the eye, their sword trails twisted together like a ball of tangled lines, slamming into the “giant ball of lines” woven by the whipping Viper Sword.

In the blink of an eye, all the trails vanished.

The Viper Sword’s long, whip-like blade got caught and “tied up” against Leon’s blades, jammed there—!

“W-What—??” Lusia’s shocked expression froze on her face.

In the next second, Vanessa flashed through her blurred vision—Lusia’s world went dark—

And she collapsed.

Lusia fell on her back amid the wrecked floor, blood tears still flowing. Through her fading sight, she saw Vanessa walking up to her—

Without a word, Vanessa raised both swords and drove them through Lusia’s palms, pinning both hands to the ground. The pain in that instant was enough to make her mind shatter.

“Ah…!” She barely let out a groan, gritting her teeth. The potion had tripled her sense of pain too.

“Why didn’t you just kill me with one strike? Do whatever you want to my corpse!”

“I’ve already severed the tendons in your palms. You probably won’t ever be able to hold a sword again. Spend the rest of your life as a normal girl.”

“You!!” Lusia tried to move but couldn’t. She could only glare up at Vanessa with pure hatred. “You two! Just wait! One day I’ll come back for revenge!”

“…” Vanessa knocked her out with a smack of the sword sheaths.

With that, the Royal Knights were completely wiped out.

Your Highness the First Prince, are you feeling this?

To be continued.