Chapter 70: The 14th day (4)
<Changxi Tears>, the Princess' arte, was never meant to be used for direct confrontation. Much like Adela's ultimate Arte, <Changxi Tears> was fundamentally a support skill. Anyone who was subjected to the dim light radiated from the moon shaped object conjured by the skill would experience an intangible force restricting their movements while constantly sucking up their Nen. Although the skill might prove effective against average fighters, individuals who possessed a vast quantity of Nen or who have strenuously trained their entire life would easily overcome it. One of such being was the one who stood before her now, with black sparks of lightning covered his whole body, not only to protect it from any incoming offense, but also act as an artificial enhancement that significantly boosted the stats of its user. Yllaes of the Shilna Clan, first born son of the former Shilna Clan Head, older brother of the apparent heir, the strongest being in the Vernys Confederation, was simply too powerful for Yllaner's skill to subjugate. And the Princess knew this, for she quickly created a distance between themselves before drawing her large bow in hands.Although both her brother and she belonged to the <Ranger> class, the fighting styles of the two siblings were completely opposite from one another. Due to the overwhelmingly offensive capability of his Arte, Yllaes had solely focused on range attacks that imbued with crushing power, while Yllaner's style was much less powerful yet extremely more tactical. That tactical focus though, was useless given the situation she was in: facing an enemy head to head.
「You could have avoided this twisted fate, Yllaner. Yet, you chose to abandon our homeland to chase after Kyles」lamented her brother as several rays of black lightning emerged from his body before quickly striking toward his sister. Despite some of the lightning rays were stopped short on their tracks by the aura arrows the princess released from her bows, more than half had easily reached their intended destination before exploding loudly, enveloping the princess. 「...I tried my best to end this quickly. I hope you did not feel much pain from that. Just take your eternal rest, Yllaner. I promise I will shoulder the responsibility of uniting the Vernys Forest under the Shilna's rule… my foolish sister.」
「Don't worry, Yllaes sama.」A familiar voice called out to the confident prince before the dust settled, revealing the wavy black hair man, whose hand held tightly onto his trust great sword. 「I can assure you Yllaner did not feel any pain. After all, I had promised you to protect her from any harm, even if it came from you.」
「... Kyles...」Called out Yllaes.
「...」The Princess was still in disbelief, looking at her beloved standing right in front of her. 「Kyl chan...」
「Sorry, Yllaner, for being late.」The hero gave her a sincere smile before turning around and traded a menacing look at the Prince.「Yllaes sama, what is the meaning of this? Why would you raise your hands against Yllaner?」
「... because I'm just like her. 」Yllaes admitted 「Just like how she had chosen you over this forest, I have chosen to protect this forest over her.」
「What nonsense are you talking about?」Kyles frowned. 「You know Yllaner. She would never abandon Vernys.」
「You don't understand, Kyles.」dismissed the Prince. 「The head of the Shilna is not just an empty title. It requires every fiber of your body to focus on the tasks of holding the confederation together while resisting the imminent encroachment of the Yin Empire. The clan head should never worry about anything but the fate of the clan and the forest. She knew that, yet she willingly chased after you.」
「Chasing after me?」Kyles turned around, only to see the Princess's resolve seemed to waver, as if Yllaes had touched her nerve. 「I don't know what happened here, in the territory of the Vernys Forest, nor do I know what's going on between you and Yllaner...」The hero turned to face Yllaes.「But you're wrong, Yllaes sama! Yllaner is not solely just the heir to the Clan. Despite how much you wish for her to be an emotionless being who could only dedicate and sacrifice her life for the forest, she's still simply a girl with her own thoughts and desires. She's not a soulless puppet or automaton with no feelings!」argued Kyles. 「Despite so, she's still trying her best to bring forth the best future for this forest! Please, stop whatever that you're doing, we can still...」
「It's useless to convince me to stop, Kyles... Though, I guess it works out in the end since at least with you here, I can send both of you to the afterlife. You can keep my foolish little sister company then.」declared Yllaes, with his black lightnings formed into a sharp javelin in his hand. With all his might, the Prince violently projected the weapon made up entirely by his own lightning, aiming at the hero. Knowing if he dodged it, the attack would strike Yllaner, who was standing behind him, the hero bravely sprung forward. With his Arte already activated, several white birds made up of pure energy swirled around the hero before gliding straight at the lightning arrow, causing another huge explosion. Soon afterward, the hero swiftly emerged from the dusty cloud, the big sword in his hand determinedly crashed down at the elven Prince. Although missed, the attack crushed the ground beneath the Prince, causing large cracks to form before the ground itself crumbled, forcing Yllaes to levitate himself up onto the air with his lightning.
「To think, the same child who chased after my shadow has grown this much.」commented Yllaes with a regretful tone. 「Had I been forceful enough and removed you from Yllaner's life, things will not turn out like this.」
「Nii chan!」screamed out Yllaner as she released a few other arrows aiming at her brother. 「Everything that happened here was never Kyl chan's fault! Don't try to deflect your own mistakes onto others. This mess right here is caused by the stubbornness of both you and I. Kyl chan is simply a bystander caught in this.」
「... I guess you're right...」agreed Yllaes while casually blocking the incoming arrows. 「But, just like how you cannot recall an arrow that has been released, I cannot stop now. Like I said before, Yllaner...」The Prince raised his arms, conjuring up countless lightning arrows pointing down at his two targets staying on the ground. 「By the end of this conflict, one of us will perish.」At his signal, the deadly arrows mercilessly rained onto Kyles and Yllaners. Though, knowing Kyles' power, he knew, such an attack would not be able to end this battle.
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The earth shattering confrontation between Kyles and Yllaes raged on for what seemed to be hours, with each other trading their signature attacks back and forth. By now, Kyles had also taken it to the sky, riding on the back of a large, white eagle that was made up of his holy aura while Yllaes still relied on his black lightning to levitate himself in the air. Despite being backed up by the Princess from the ground, little by little, the veteran hero slowly found himself fighting on the defensive as the Prince's attack kept on overwhelming the man.
「Kyles kun, why keeps up with this desperate struggle?」called out Yllaes though the hero simply remained silent, his eyes stayed vigilant, watching out for any hidden attacks. 「Judging from your sloppy swings, you could barely hold on to your sword. It's a given since I heard from my spies that you fell into a coma after dealing with that Chaos infected creature back in Lorian after receiving a grave injury...」The Prince glanced at the hero's rib, where a large stain of blood has been continuously soaking through his shirt for at least the last ten minutes. 「It's a miracle that you're still alive. Even if you're in your peak condition, you could only at best fight me to a draw. What can you do now, standing so close at death's door?」
「That does not matter, Yllaes sama...」Kyles wearily grinned, though his vision has started to get blurry. 「As long as I still draw breath, I will protect Yllaner with all my life.」
「... Is that so?」Yllaes nodded, flashes of long forgotten memories of him watching over his little sister playing with Kyles on the flower field starting to come back to the cold hearted man. 「... Your unwavering devotion to my sister...I think I just remember why I let you get so close to Yllaner although I knew better.」said Yllaes. 「Maybe, just like Yllaner said, everything is truly my fault.」Despite being a ranger class, who should have fought his opponent at a distance, the Prince suddenly closed his distance against the weakening hero, much to Kyles' surprise. Both his hands were now cladded in black lightning, resembling Kakashi's Chidori. With such speed and force, even if Kyles were to strike him with his sword, the elven prince would easily break the hero's weapon with his bare hands. 「That means that I myself need to rectify that mistake by ending you right here, right now, Kyles!」screamed out Yllaes
「Stop it, Nii chan!!!」begged Yllaner as she released her arrows, though her brother easily dodged it while preparing to deliver his lethal strikes at the barely conscious hero.
「Tsk...」Frowned Kyles, knowing he got nothing to stop the Prince's sudden attack.
CLANG! Before Yllaes knew it, his attack was stopped short before it reached the hero's heart, for a small, semi invisible shield was now placed in front of him, blocking the deadly attack.
「Who?」
「This is…?」
「It's me, Kyles.」A familiar voice called out from behind.「Thank you for holding out this long… and sorry that I'm late.」
「Kibadios?」The hero turned around, only to see the hybrid in his incubus form, his two bat wings spread out intimidatingly.
「Yes. You did well, Kyles. It's over now.」The hybrid approached the hero before he finally collapsed onto Kibadios, knowing that with the hybrid here, Yllaner would be safe.
「Thanks… Kibadios...」Muttered Kyles.
「An incubus-ogre hybrid… you're one of Yllaner's guards that I was informed about?」
「Indeed I am.」smiled the hybrid, then with one swing of his wing, creating a small shockwave that caused the Prince to back off. Taking the opportunity, Kibadios swiftly glided downward with the injured hero on his shoulder.
「Kyles!」The Princess hurriedly ran to the hybrid and carefully supported the hero off of Kibadios. 「Thank you Kibadios! I thought you were unconscious...」
「Yes, I was, but thankfully, I woke up in time.」smiled Kibadios before turning toward Yllaes. 「Don't worry, Princess. For holding out this long, this is now you're win!」
「What are you talking about?」Yllanes was confused. 「Be careful, Kibadios. My brother is just as strong as Kyles. And there are other Hyakki Yagyo's captains to worry about. They were fighting against Ryuu kun...」Yllaner turned toward the place where the giant eastern dragon that was Ryuu used to be, only to find a calm, quiet scenery that greeted her. 「Wait.. Where are they?」
「... What is the meaning of this?」Yllaes finally descended down onto the ground. 「Why did the Hyakki Yagyo stopped fighting?」
「That's why I said it's all over.」grinned Kibadios. 「Ashura of the Hyakki Yagyo has decided to cease carrying out the contract with you, given that you are no longer able to "pay."」
「... That's preposterous!」shouted Yllaes. 「They had already knew the source of Orcan was taken over by Yllaner's forces, yet they chose to fight in order to demonstrate their power to the Yin Empire's spies. There's no way they'd stop.」
「True.」Agreed Kibadios. 「Once a contract is formed, the Hyakki Yagyo would fight until the very end to fulfill such a contract… But the moment the Orcan mine was taken over, the original contract between you two was rendered invalid, since you're no longer able to pay them. They did agree to help you deal with Yllaner after knowing the mine was no longer yours, but such a promise was not bound by a contract. It's only oral promise between you and Ashura. Did he not tell you that if he does not feel like it anymore, he'd unilaterally end his support for you?」
「... He did.」
「Turn out, I was able to successfully make a deal with him and he agrees to finally stay out of the Vernys Conflict for good.」revealed Kibadios.
「How?」The Prince finally realized his only chance of winning over his little sister had slipped away from his grasp. 「How could you convince him?」
「Seriously, not in a million years would I enter into such a deal with that type of person...」Kibadios' expression suddenly turned sour. 「But in the end, it's the only way for him to end his meddling in Vernys Forest.」
「Kibadios?」Yllaner was also curious. 「What did you do?」
「Well, you see...」
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「What are you talking about, Maia senpai?」The dragon kin, who had finally transformed back into his humanoid form, was surprised at Maia's appearance at the battlefield and her message to him. 「How can he...」
「It's true, it's true!」In front of him, Ashura was grinning ears to ears. 「Kibadios is such an interesting individual, I can't help but convince him to agree.」
「You heard it right, Ryuu chan.」Maia was still reluctant.「For Ashura dono to withdraw his support for Yllaes, Kibadios sama has agreed to be Ashura dono's sworn brother. That means he's now part of the Hyakki Yagyo… Hyakki Yagyo's second in command, in fact.」
「「There's no way it's true, right, Ashura sama?」」A few of the captains simultaneously voiced their doubts on what they were hearing.
「No no, she's telling the truth. The interesting hybrid that Gilga mentioned is now officially our member.」
「But… How can it be? This must be a trap that yonko is luring us into, Maia senpai!」Ryuu glared at the giddy Ashura.
「...I don't know the details either, Ryuu chan… But at least Kibadios sama did not think it was a trap. I don't know what does it mean, but he was saying that Ashura dono is sincere in wanting him to be his sworn brother since Kibadios sama reckoned Ashura dono's a Chuunibyou.」
「...What's a Chuunibyou?」