"Don't play dumb, she's not from a rich family!" one of the guards shouted, her voice charged with indignation. "Larissa is the King's daughter!"
Ren almost lost control of his light claws. Cold sweat began running down his back as the pieces clicked into place in his mind, the connection with Julius, the resemblance he had noticed but ignored...
'Oh no.' The thought hit him like a hamr. 'Did I just rough up a real princess?'
Ren swallowed hard, rembering how roughly he had manipulated her mana flow.
"Was that your objective from the start?" the guard pressed, her wolverine growling nacingly. "The artifact? Or perhaps you saw an opportunity to capture one of the girls? Or all three?"
The wolverine began circling them while her companion continued: "The King's daughter and the heiresses of two of the kingdom's three most important families aren't just any target... we have many ways to recover them. Did you think you could simply take them and run?"
"No! It's not what you think!" Ren shook his head frantically, his voice echoing off the tallic walls. "It's a misunderstanding! I just…!"
The distraction cost him dearly. The wolverine seized his mont of panic to charge with all its might, sending him flying against one of the tal walls with a resounding crash.
Min and Taro exchanged a brief look before simultaneously throwing themselves to the ground, their foreheads hitting the tal with a hollow thud.
"We're so sorry!" they shouted in unison, faces pressed against the cold floor. "We had no idea!"
"I thought they were just normal noble girls!" Min whimpered, his snake coiling nervously around his arm.
"I believed royalty never left the castle!" Taro added, his voice trembling. Your next read awaits at My Virtual Library Empire
Larissa seized the mont to break away from Min, running toward where her guards waited. Once they had her behind them, the agents' deanor changed completely.
"Enough gas," the wolverine guard growled, her beast tensing for attack. "Ti to end these filthy spies."
With Taro and Min prostrate on the ground, practically defenseless, the guards saw their opportunity. The wolverine launched itself at Taro, his armor would only protect him from fatal damage for so long.
The other guard moved like a shadow toward Min, her mineral claws gleaming with lethal intent.
Min didn't even have ti to look up.
Ren, barely recovering from the previous impact, saw the claws descending toward his friend.
Sothing ignited inside him.
His mushrooms pulsed with unprecedented intensity, feeding pure light into his crystalline defense.
He leaped with all his strength to the limit.
The light claws in his hands stretched, reaching greater length while barely managing to interpose between Min and the attack at the last mont.
The clash was brutal. The guard's mineral claws shattered on contact with Ren's concentrated light, brilliant fragnts raining onto the tallic floor.
The guard retreated, her eyes wide with surprise as she stared at her destroyed weapons.
Ren's gaze hardened.
He had now understood it truly, part of him already knew, but now it was much clearer... for these girls, this wasn't a ga or mischief.
They were deadly serious and would kill without hesitation.
Without a word, his hand shot out to the disard guard's wrist. With his enhanced strength, the grip was implacable as he spun her and slamd her against the tal floor with an impact that resonated throughout the structure.
The other guard reacted instantly, her wolverine charging forward. But Ren already knew every detail of that beast and was prepared, his mushrooms flashed with blinding light, directly into the beast's sensitive eyes.
The wolverine, three ters of muscle and fury, still charged blindly. Ren dropped to the ground, his light claws intensifying as the beast passed over him. With a fluid motion, he cut along the wolverine's unprotected belly, its weak point.
The beast disintegrated from the massive damage.
Without losing a mont, Ren dissipated his claws and turned toward the downed guard before she could fully summon her beast again. His fist, charged with disruptive mana, connected with her stomach.
He couldn't manipulate her flow delicately as he had done with Larissa, but he could cause moderate damage to deny her the capability.
The beastless guard and manaless Larissa tried to attack him from behind, but their punches and kicks bounced uselessly off the hydra's crystalline scales.
"Taro!" Ren shouted while maintaining his position over the other guard. "Cover them in living mineral!"
Taro, finally shaking off his stupor and seeing Ren truly angry for the first ti, nodded. His Living Tunnel responded imdiately, living crystal flowing to immobilize the three girls before they could attempt another attack.
♢♢♢♢
With the three girls firmly wrapped in living mineral, Ren finally had the chance to explain himself.
"You know what?" he began, running a hand across his face in frustration. "I just wanted to explore what I felt down here. You're the ones who ca to ruin my day and…"
"Don't lie, Yino spy…!" the guards started shouting, but Ren stepped closer and raised his voice above theirs.
"ENOUGH!" his shout resonated through the tallic structure. "I'm sick of you not letting speak! And in case you haven't noticed, you're not exactly in a position to talk... So you're going to LISTEN!"
He approached Larissa, leaning until his eyes, burning with indignation, were inches from hers. The princess tensed, unaccustod to anyone invading her personal space so boldly.
"You have a mineral fairy, don't you?" Ren asked, his voice more controlled but still intense. "Then like Luna, you have the perception ability, you can sense when soone lies through mana flow too?"
Larissa's eyes widened in surprise. It was true, her beast could detect the fluctuations in mana that occurred when soone lied. It was an ability she shared with her cousin Luna... But how did he know?
Larissa nodded tentatively.
"Then use it," Ren challenged her. "See if I'm lying when I say I have nothing to do with Yino."
Larissa closed her eyes for a mont, her mineral fairy partially manifesting. The mana fluctuations around Ren were clear, crystalline… he was telling the truth.
"And I'm not interested in kidnapping princesses either," Ren continued. "Not you, nor Luna when I see her with her blue hair spying on sotis..."
"Oh," Larissa interrupted, a small smile forming on her lips. "Actually, Liora is the one who always spies on you. Luna only watches you during classes."
"My lady!" the guards protested. "You shouldn't reveal…!"
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