12.5: Her true strength

When I regained my consciousness, I could hear an entity I couldn't identify was on the other side of the room, already getting up. By the sound, it seemed heavy. I opened my eyes, and indeed, there was a huge golem of stones before my eyes. I slowly got up and began circulating my blood. "Eev." "Akatsuki, I know right now the only thing you want to do is to sleep, but how about you kill that monster first?" "I know... Can I do it though?" "Yes. [A] would be able to more or less crush it, but right now, you are quite similar to [A] in sheer strength, right?" She was right. After my special cultivation¹, I should be indeed around his level of strength.

Enough with the talking. I jumped to the golem and punched its core. Without realizing, azure flames² ignited from my punch, and time began slowing down. When my punch connected with the golem, it became ashes immediately. "Er... What?" I looked at my hands. Time flow became normal, and those flames were vanquished, but I know what happened. "Eev." "Congratulations. You have refined your blood well enough as to produce a little bit of phoenix's fire, and you might be able to feel now the energy of time³."

"Yes, but now it is time to..."

As I was talking, a voice suddenly interrupted me.

"Wait a minute." The voice seemed to come from right in front of me, but I didn't see anyone there. Furthermore, the voice was almost a whisper, so for a moment, I doubted my ears.

"Wait a minute, please."

The second time confirmed that it wasn't fiction that my brain created due to fatigue. "Who is there?"

"I am a Spy from the Himitsumashi, your highness. I have been here for years, awaiting the right time. Now, we might have a chance to bring down the empire."

"Wait, wait, wait... Highness? Bring down the empire? Right time? Explain yourself."

"Yes your highness.

To begin with, You are not in the core of the Blood Empire. You were there sometime before, but now you aren't. 6 years ago, the Blood Empire attacked the Lunar Kingdom. The Lunar kingdom was before a part of the Ouma Republic, but there were people who said they wantes to leave. The Ouma Republic President decided to give them permission to vote, after all, the Ouma Republic works by 'democracy', so not allowing them to vote, would be a contradiction to the system.

In the referendum, 'Leave' won by a large margin, and so, they became a kingdom of their own. Even if it's called 'kingdom' There is actually a bit of democracy in there, but that's no longer important. The blood empire attacked and trampled over the Lunar Kingdom in one night. Sadly for them... The Lunar Kingdom is a special region. They have a lot of resources, and they are very loyal once they are convinced. And very stubborn. There were riots every week, until now, 6 years later. The imperial army killed many people as examples, but they didn't stop. And now, six years later, they are beginning to think about killing off all the residents and make good offers to make the unemployed residents of the empire migrate there and take the jobs of the slaughtered ones.

All the countries are against this. All of them. They think that it's too brutal, and that if the empire does that to the Lunar Kingdom, what might happen if the empire shows up at their doors?"

The voice stop to take a breath and resumed.

"All this time, dealing with the riots has been keeping at bay a part of the imperial army. Many people of both sides have died. However, if the riots were to dissappear... Their army would go, and the blood empire has the strongest army in all the continent. Their country is rich in minerals, and their people, due to their shortage of food, are usually very wild and decisive. If they have to do something, they do it without asking or hesitating. If now you were to give them food and be able to train them correctly... They might become unstoppable.

All the countries know that, so all of them are preparing their armies to invade. Moving forces is quite a long task to do, so they will need about... 1 month? 2 maybe? But when that happens, we might be able to set you free, and allow you to kill the king... A proper revenge, if I say so myself."

"A proper revenge?" "Yes. You were a princess in the Himitsumashi. However, those savages kidnapped you when you were just a baby, and for a long time we have thought you were dead. But now you know you weren't... My time is running out. In some time, the king will choose a "Slayer", an assassin to kill the people that may get in the way. You must become that Slayer, your highness. And when you are ordered to kill someone, don't kill them. Render them unconscious and bring them to the cart that I will use to carry you there. Then we will make a plan with them to finally bring down the empire."

"Me and [A] will become "slayer"s?" "I... guess? She didn't specify that..." "She?" "The other spy who has come with me... I am sorry, I need to cut it out now!" And the voice was gone. It was then that the somniferous gas began filling the room. I lied down and closed my eyes. I am princess... Sounds good. Very good.

¹: There is a second type of cultivation called "Bloodline refinement". It basically makes the body way stronger, gives supernatural powers, and in the end, it gives the practitioner a beast form, a human form, and a demihuman form. When beasts cultivate their bloodline, they also get a humanoid form due to it being very dexterous with hands and having a high survival rate. Usually, when there is a city of beasts, they all stay in human form to avoid recognition. If two beasts with a human form have a baby, the baby has a human form but lacks a beast form. Instead of a beast form, their bloodline is still that of a beast. Our dear [A] still doesn't know about this, but he will. Not soon though.

2: Not the same blue flames as the ones from the battle. Another kind of flames.

3: When Shiro and Kuro explained [A] about the elements, there is much talk that they skipped. The true gimmicks of the elemental cultivation system will be explained in due time.