Chapter 1169: Herald Of Destruction

With the Queen’s mind short circuiting, Alice figured it was probably better for the Queen to test everything out by herself rather than taking someone else’s word for it.

Therefore, Alice simply gestured for the Queen to connect herself to the array in order to test out its effectiveness for herself.

With a hesitant expression, the Queen eventually took where Alice had pointed and ’connected’ herself to the array.

In that instant, her vision of the world expanded.

Her senses reached further than usual. Time slowed down, every movement was captured in full clarity.

*Drip

Blood rolled from her nose as she hadn’t expected so much information to be transmitted at once.

Both Solana and Yuna moved but the Queen raised her hand to stop them.

"I’m fine. I just wasn’t ready. Is this what you see all the time?" She turned her gaze towards Alice.

Though her physical eyes was looking at Alice, her mind was also capturing the location from a multitude of angles.

"Not exactly. This is more so surveillance. My usual perception isn’t that extreme." Alice shrugged.

"Wait, usual?" The Queen frowned.

"Yeah. When I fight I use something called Vision. It’s an enhanced version of Zone and it allows me to capture the entire area I fight in with perfect clarity. When paired with Cayla, I can even read the flow of energy. It’s simply a matter of having my physical body keep up to what I see." Alice admitted.

Vision was very powerful but also very stamina intensive.

Even for Alice, if a battle drags on, she’ll have to carefully control when Vision is active. To constantly flip it on and off in order to preserve as much stamina as possible.

While the Queen couldn’t fully imagine the capabilities of vision. Just experiencing what this Array granted her gave her good enough of an idea to not question further.

Disconnecting herself, she took a deep breath and calmed down her mind.

She could feel a tether hovering near her.

If she wanted to, she could control her energy and latch onto the tether easily and reestablish the connection.

Unsure as to whether or not this was intended, she glanced at Alice and got the answer she needed.

After all, Alice was already starting to tidy up the connection point of the array.

Now that the Queen had initiated the first connection, subsequent connections would be much easier.

"I’ll let you sort out the whole logistics thing. Ask me about casting and I have answers for you any time of the week. But I know nothing about logistics and transport routes." Alice chuckled.

Nodding her head, the Queen got to work immediately as she passed on some authority to both Yuna and Solana, allowing them access to the grand array.

The first thing out of Solana’s mouth was, "Honestly if someone weak connected to this, I wouldn’t be surprised if they died from brain death. Just nothing but pure overload." Which naturally earned her a slap from Yuna.

But with the Queen now getting the slight help she needed in order to jump start the entire operation, Alice found there to be no need to remain here any longer.

There were still three major tasks she needed to carry out after all.

Thus after giving the Queen a quick run down of the situation, Alice made her way to the original gate that they entered this realm from.

At first she thought Solana would be busy with the things happening here, but upon further reflection, Alice understood that Solana’s main job was to act as their ’guide’. Surveillance in other words.

Stepping through the gate, they finally returned to the surface only to be greeted by...

"I hope you enjoyed your tour of the Elven Realm." Damien, the prince of Extalia, gave a small wave as he leaned against the corridor as the group exited the gateway.

Without her filters, it was obvious that she was confused and sceptical about his appearance.

Her face scrunched up while flicking a glance to Solana who raised her hand as if to say she wasn’t the one who did it.

"It wasn’t Solana don’t worry. It’s just a... little trick of mine to see a couple of things." Damien smiled, closing one of his eyes as he stared at the group with his pure blue eye.

Then, after a brief moment, he stood up and stepped away.

"Since you came back rather quickly, I assume that’s because there are things you still wish to do in Extalia. Otherwise, I see no reason for you to be back so soon. And since that’s the case, why not allow me to play the role of the gracious host? I’m sure my privileges as the prince will be of use to you." He chuckled. Just as he was about to walk, he froze when he came face to face with Alice.

Well... upside down Alice anyways.

She hovered above him, her hair falling downwards as her eyes stared into him.

There was a look of distrust on her face.

"Why? I’m sure your father can do plenty as the gracious host. Arguably more than you. So why go so far? Is there something you want me to do? If so, stop beating around the bush."

Damien stared at Alice for a moment, the smile slowly faded away as a look of seriousness appeared.

"Because I know what you can do. I know what you are willing to give up in order to achieve your revenge. And I won’t pretend to say that Extalia had no involvement since we benefitted greatly from the Zenia family’s achievements.

"So I want to do everything I can in order to help Extalia avoid the fate of becoming a flaming ruin with no hope of survival." Damien admitted bluntly.

The Extalia royal family was somewhat concerned about the Zenia family when they started producing blood in mass quantities in a quality that could not be justified.

The blood was too well refined and produced in such volume that no legal reasoning could be used to prove their innocence.

Yet when the victim was a single ’beast’... It was hard for the family to say no.

Especially when the blood was helpful to the nation as it allowed medical research to advance by leaps and bounds.

The research produced by the ’beasts’ sacrifice was far too good to give up.

So Damien wasn’t about to say the Royal family was innocent since they also technically gave the green light for this.

No one expected such a choice to backfire in such dramatic fashion.

In front of him now stood a woman, who despite her small stature, was the incarnation of destruction for the nation.

She is someone who will stand in a sea of flames as both the Zenia family and Extalia burned to the ground around her.

After seeing her for the first time, Damien had a nightmare the night after.

A harrowing sight he could not forget even now.

Hell, his back was covered in cold sweat having come face to face with his destruction.

There were parts of his mind that screamed at him to avoid facing this demon. To step away and hope she doesn’t look towards his direction.

But he knew that doing so was simply giving up the opportunity to rectify the Royal family’s mistakes and carve out a new path out of this field of destruction.

Even if the hope was slim, even if he needed to make some sacrifices, Damien’s job was to convince Alice not to kill all of them.

Alice narrowed her eyes.

"Am I that scary to you? I’m sure there are Lords who can threaten the same."

"Yes you are that scary to me." Damien smiled helplessly. "I can shrug off the threats of Lords with Lords of our own. But you’re beyond that. You killed an Apostle without having the authority of a Lord. I think that achievement speaks for itself.

"Even if you cannot completely forgive the Royal family for allowing your suffering to continue, please give us the chance to make amends. Please do not kill the people who rely on the Extalia name.

"If someone must take responsibility, please let my life be the only one. Even if it may not mean much."

Alice scrunched her face up.

Her killing intent leaked out as Damien started to tremble but he didn’t avert his gaze.

He was scared. Very much so. But his responsibility was to not look away in this moment!

He should not avert his gaze from the consequences of his actions.

Like sentencing a man to death, no matter what, he had to watch it to the end.

The weight of life should be fully engraved into his soul. He should feel uncomfortable every time it happened. Especially now.

This fear was natural.

It meant he was still human and that there was something humane left inside him.

"Don’t get too stressed out. I’m not gonna burn down Extalia and drag innocent people into things." Alice grinned, patting his shoulder.

"Well... I say this but I can’t guarantee how I’ll feel in the moment. Maybe I’ll feel murderous impulses. But what I can say is that I’ll keep the innocent in mind. Of course, that may or may not extend to the Royal family itself. You weren’t directly involved but you’re not completely uninvolved." Alice exhaled as she floated ahead of Damien.

"So do your best to drag yourself into my good graces. I’m just barely merciful enough to give you guys a second chance."

Hearing this, Damien lost strength in his legs as he felt the tension leave his body.

Though it wasn’t a guarantee, at least the herald of destruction was willing to give the Royal family a second chance. That was the best he could’ve hoped for...

Truly.