SON OF THE HERO KING

[Loki’s Mansion]

“Zehn! Behind you!”

Drei did not hesitate to send two curses in order to save his companion.

<<Slow>> <<Confusion>>

“Huh?”

The moment Zehn saw Drei launch those spells, she immediately felt the threat of death behind her and used all her power to move a little toward the right.

*Swoosh*

Blood splashed, while one arm flew in the air,

“*Tch* I missed.”

Zehn paid no attention to the new voice and slowly looked at her left arm, or rather what was left of it.

As if waiting for her to remark on it, the pain finally hit her at full throttle.

Gritting her teeth, she jumped backward, while letting a trail of blood behind her, and managed to avoid another nearly deadly hit.

Sadly for her, not completely, as a blade made out of shadow cut a ghastly gash on her stomach, tearing her robe open along the way.

“Kuh!”

Vomiting blood, she used her remaining arm to cover the wound as much as possible and keep her organs in.

It has been a long time since she had been so gravely wounded.

‘Those shadows aren’t normal.’

Even though she had been taken by surprise, the body of a vampire and her constant reinforcement should have made it impossible for her to be so easily wounded.

Moreover, ‘My healing has slowed down.’

In terms of regeneration speed, vampires were second to none. Even more so for her, a daywalker.

Her arm aside, the wound on her stomach should have already begun to heal, but it showed no signs of it.

With her brows covered in sweat, Zehn observed the new intruder with wariness and shame warring on her face.

A brown-haired woman wearing a black skin-tight uniform showing off her ridiculously voluptuous body.

“Who are you!?”

Even though Zehn did not recognize her, both Drei and Sol did, and gasped at the sight,

“Milia?”

Drei’s mind immediately connected the dots. Even after fighting the crown’s shadow, he had wondered where she could have been. It seemed that he got his answer,

‘She used her shadow power to meld with Sol’s?’

He shivered, not in fear but rather in delight, at the thought.

This was a level of control that even most magical beings born with the shadow attribute could never reach.

And not only that, ‘This speed, this strength. She is without a doubt a Duke or near that level.’

Milia, a cow woman who should have not even been able to use magic.

A woman whose destiny should have to simply have a simple life like most of her brethren, never to do anything of importance.

A rank D with basically no other redeeming features aside from her erotic body.

Such a woman had reached a level that even A rank magical beings might never reach in their whole lives.

‘Hahaha~! We were fucking right! The genesis theory was without a doubt the right way! Sister, can you see this!?’

At first, he had been somewhat disheartened because even after observing the crown’s shadow by using Berthold’s body, he never really managed to get a confirmation since Milia was happier playing the maid than fighting.

As for the rest of the crown’s shadow, while more powerful than normal, were also not particularly impressive either, aside perhaps Ketia whose power was unstable.

But now, all his doubts vanished.

This moment of exhilaration was so high that even the pain from his wounded soul and pride as well as the dire situation they were currently in seemed to be nothing more than trivialities.

Still, their situation was rather bad now.

Aside from him who could discard the current body he was using at any time, the other three should be unable to use the <<Dimension shift>> engraved on their rings by their leader.

The cause should most likely be the <<Holy territory>>.

At this rate, even if Neun succeeded, it would be useless.

It was then,

[Drei. What happened to you?]

A cold voice sounded in his mind, more precisely in the mind of his body back in their headquarters. This way of communication went at the speed of thought and as such was the most useful in situations where each moment counted.

The moment the body fighting Lilith had been destroyed, even his main body suffered from that soul-searing pain.

This of course didn’t escape Nihil’s attention.

[Neun contacted me. She managed to recuperate the item. But she mentioned being unable to activate the shift function. How is the situation on your side?]

Drei hesitated a little before answering honestly. He knew how much his leader hated being lied to,

[Bad. Really bad. The last body I have is too weak to use anything but some little curses to stall the enemy.]

[...I see. Then, I am coming.]

[No! You should send Ein or Zwei. You know very well that if you show yourself, you will be locked on by those goddesses. Who knows what could happen?]

[That does not matter.]

[Nihil? Nihil! Fuck.]

Drie cursed again, before calming down his emotions.

Using mortal shells always made controlling his emotions more difficult.

Thankfully, even though this conversation seemed to last long, in the real world, only an instant went past.

Turning toward Zehn, or rather her right arm, he was relieved that her ring was still on.

“Zehn. Be ready. You need to bail out.”

Zehn showed a surprised expression before the shame and humiliation that had been brewing after being wounded overtook her.

“Drei! Are you for real!? How could I leave while swallowing this insult!?”

She couldn’t accept the fact that after everything, after all those preparations, all she succeeded in was serving as a diversion against a prince who hadn't even reached the Duke level.

The worst? She had nearly lost her life at the blade of some unknown assassin.

It didn’t matter that she could heal all her wounds if given enough time.

It didn’t matter that it was the result of a surprise attack.

She could not accept the fact that a proud daywalker like her would suffer such humiliation,

“Drei, I will…”

“Zehn.”

Drei only spoke one word. He was already worried about how Nihil was risking her life to act. He wouldn’t let some worthless pride make this act of her useless.

The repressed anger in his voice was clear. The temperature in the surroundings immediately dropped by several degrees and Zehn woke up from her fury.

She understood very well that there were limits not to cross. Gritting her teeth, she lowered her head in defeat,

“I understand.”

“If so, then withdraw now. I will use this body to buy some time. The boss should come soon.”

“...!”

Zehn immediately paled. She understood now why Drei was so pissed.

Deciding that further comments would only make the situation worse, she immediately turned around and began to leave.

“You think I am going to let you go?”

Sol, refusing to let her escape like this, rushed toward the fleeing Zehn.

He didn’t understand what was happening, but he knew that the situation was turning to their advantage.

At least, now that he had Milia’s support, it shouldn’t be a problem to keep those people alive.

At the same time, this made him understand something.

He had always fancied himself as a selfish prince which, admittedly, he was in a way.

He thought that abandoning some people to protect people close to him was a sign of this selfishness which, once again, was the truth.

But he was wrong on one thing.

True selfishness wasn’t just giving up on something to keep something else.

No, true selfishness was--wishing to have the best of both worlds even though you understood that it was completely and utterly unreasonable.

Some people would call it naivety, while others would call it idiocy.

But Sol understood that no one could be more selfish than someone naive.

Naivety was the expression of selfishness. The expression of greed.

But naivety alone could only take you so far. You also needed the power to back it up.

As such, only someone who had the necessary power could obtain everything he wanted.

This was the simple truth of the matter. Something simple and yet so difficult to achieve.

He could now understand Lilith’s words.

The difference between a naive fool and a hero of justice was their strength — the strength to back up their words.

Sol didn’t want to be a hero. Even now, if his life had really been threatened, he was sure that he would have stopped caring about the hostages.

But he also knew that deep down he was still extremely naive, even though less than he had been a few months ago.

He still had so much to learn. So much to experience.

The path before him was still very long and he had to take one step at a time in order to become a man he could be proud of.

Thinking about all of this, Sol felt something click in him.

He knew that he was now only one step away from unlocking his own zone. He just missed a little something.

But now wasn’t the time,

“Milia! We will discuss why you followed me later. For now though, Protect them.”

“...Understood.”

<<Zone:Melancholia >>

A dreadful atmosphere filled the room as the shadow under Milia expanded and covered all the nobles in the surroundings.

Malicious bloodshot eyes opened and bestial growls could be heard.

Milia’s zone was a pure offensive one in theory.

If she didn’t focus, all those people surrounded and bound by her shadow would immediately be devoured like snacks.

Seeing this zone, both Drei and Zehn got the confirmation that Milia was indeed at the level of a Duke.

“I will remember you. The next time we meet — I will kill you.”

Leaving those words, she then grew bat-like wings and flew upward.

‘Do you think you are the team rocket?’

Scoffing inwardly, Sol gathered all his mana toward his mouth and fired a pure beam of mana toward her.

Earlier during his fight against Drei and Zehn, he had not used any large-scale attacks because of the hostages.

But now, he did not need to worry anymore.

<<Dragon roar>>

A great blast of energy, even more powerful than the one he had used against Setsuna, rushed toward the flying Zehn but,

“Haha, sorry little prince, not on my watch.”

<<Bone cage>> <<Corpse explosion>>

*BOOM*

The result of the collision blasted everything in its wake, and even Zehn, who was slower because of her wounds and the holy territory barely managed to escape, though, with her back scorched.

Still, thanks to his perfect timing, Drei managed to redirect most of the damage that would have most likely brought down the defenseless Zehn.

Of course, the crumbling walls and roof were the proof of how powerful this attack had been.

“You!”

Sol’s anger skyrocketed as he turned toward the man that had to keep bothering him with all those spells since the start of this fight.

He was then startled to see the body slowly break down, as blood poured down from the crack,

“Sigh, this body is seriously trash.”He jokingly complained.

“Even if you escape, your companion will not.”

Milia, who was still binding and protecting the nobles in case anything happened, murmured on the side.

She had already understood that this man was most likely a necromancer and that the body in front of them was just a fake.

Sol added on the side, “Indeed. Now that Camelia activated the holy territory, it should mean that everything is about to end.”

Even though he didn’t know what was happening, with the roof and a part of the wall blasted open, the golden dome covering the city visible was enough explanation.

“Ah~! Hahaha~! I admit that we really got done in this operation. The prince was stronger than we thought. The witch had escaped the confinement. The saint did not fall. The maid hides quite deeply and the queen was a fucking beast.”

Drei continued to laugh out loud, “This was without a doubt a near-complete fiasco.”

Sol narrowed his eyes, “As I thought, your main goal was never to capture or kill me, right?”

“Heh, do you think I am the kind of stupid villain that will expose all our plans and allows you to make more preparation for the future?”

“...”

“Cat got your tongue, huh? Well, it doesn't matter.”

Then he raised his head and looked above,

“At the end of the day, we are nothing more than chess pieces moving under the playful gazes of some bitches. Seven hundred years ago, while my sister and I were dying after being branded as heretics, I swore that I would destroy this world with my own hands sooner or later.”

His eyes were filled with madness as he stretched his arms wide, “Now! Let’s welcome the one that will sooner or later usher a new order! Nihil!”

At that very moment, an ominous sound resonated high in the sky.

*Crack*

-----

(AN: Sol should understand now, that talk is easy, while actions aren’t. He still doesn’t have the breadth of experience necessary to sacrifice people for his own being. Is it a good or a bad thing? Frankly, it’s hard to say. The discussion with Lilith about naivety and heroism happened in CH 45.)