Chapter 385: The Prince Attacks

"Well, well, this is impressive, your stealth skills might just be on the same level as my sister’s," Irnina commented, looking at Beatrice with great curiosity while keeping her guard up next to the bed.

Even among all the dragons on the continent, she was widely regarded as having the greatest instinct for detecting hidden presences around her. And yet, that demon woman had been able to completely outsmart her inside the very same room without anyone noticing exactly when she had entered.

"She was here this whole time?" Solaris doubted with a certain tension in her voice, remembering every single thing they had just discussed regarding her brother’s unsettling slanders.

Beatrice maintained a serene posture in her spot, observing the three members of the Ignis nation with absolute calm, as if being surrounded by them represented no danger whatsoever to her integrity.

"I was listening from the moment this intruder set foot in the cabin, although I must admit his isolation barrier was a good attempt for someone of his level," Beatrice spoke in a tranquil tone, looking directly at Lighter.

"This is indeed a problem, now that she heard our entire conversation I cannot let her walk free," Lighter said, furrowing his brow upon finding himself exposed in such a manner.

When Lighter realized that Beatrice had heard every word of their private conversation, he decided not to ask any more questions and launched himself forward with a direct attack to silence her. His right fist, completely engulfed in intense flames that illuminated the room, shot straight toward the demon’s face.

"Don’t do it, you fool!" Solaris shouted, trying to stop her brother before he unleashed a fight inside the camp.

But the blow never reached its destination. The prince’s flaming fist stopped dead in the air just a few centimeters from Beatrice’s face, completely blocked by an invisible barrier that absorbed all the force of the impact and instantly extinguished the fire of his attack.

Only by looking closely at the small space between Lighter’s fist and her unmoving face could one notice the thin steel threads, as fine as human hair, stretched taut in front of the demon without yielding a single millimeter.

Lighter opened his eyes in total bewilderment upon feeling the clash against his knuckles, just as surprised as the rest of those present in the room. Solaris took a step back involuntarily, with her eyes wide open and her face pale; never in her life had she seen anyone stop a direct attack from Demon King Rohan’s second son with such ease.

The idea that her older brother’s brute strength could be contained in such a simple manner simply did not fit in her mind.

"In addition to breaking into private property without permission, you attack the host? Such nerve," Beatrice said with total tranquility, without showing a single drop of sweat from the effort or having moved a single centimeter from her spot.

"But how? Get this garbage out of my way!" Lighter stammered with rage, still processing the block while feeling a sharp burning sensation on the skin of his knuckles just from having brushed against that material.

The young prince tried to pull his arm back and gather energy for a more powerful strike, but Beatrice’s threads reacted immediately to the slightest movement of his body.

In an instant, dozens of almost invisible strands moved through the air, wrapped tightly around his body, and abruptly lifted him off the wooden floor. Lighter was left suspended in the middle of the room, with his arms pressed firmly against his sides as the steel threads squeezed his torso, leaving him no room to maneuver.

"Agh! What the hell is this?! Unhand me at once, damn you, do you have any idea who I am?" Lighter complained, squirming high up, letting out a loud groan of pain when the threads tore his clothes and began to embed themselves into his flesh in the face of his useless struggle.

"I know exactly who you are. An intruder, that is all I need to know."

Beatrice did not even change her expression; she merely lifted a finger of her hand slightly and suddenly increased the tension of the bindings, causing the metal to press harder against the prince’s ribs and knock the air out of his lungs.

"Ghh...!" Lighter groaned, gritting his teeth with his face contorted in pain, feeling how the cold steel cut the skin of his arms and chest without his demonic resistance being able to prevent it.

"I would highly recommend you stop moving and keep quiet if you value your life. Simply by closing my hand, I could cut you to pieces," Beatrice warned, looking up at him from below with absolute coldness, making it clear who had total control of the situation.

A few steps away, Solaris clenched her fists tightly, unable to look away from her restrained brother as he cried out in pain. For the first time, she felt genuinely uneasy in the presence of the overwhelming power emanating from that woman.

"This... this is nothing to me, do not underestimate me!" he said through gritted teeth, breathing with great difficulty due to the pressure on his chest as he slid out a hidden dagger he kept concealed up his sleeve with his fingers.

Despite having his arms pinned against his torso and feeling the threads tear his skin with every movement, Lighter made a desperate effort with his wrist and drove his dagger against the bindings to cut them, but the blade shattered upon the first impact with the metal.

"What?" Lighter exclaimed in disbelief upon seeing the fragments of his broken weapon fall to the floor.

In response to that pathetic attempt to free himself, Beatrice turned her wrist slightly and tightened the ring of threads around him even further.

"Argh! Damn it, it hurts, stop!" Lighter screamed, shutting his eyes tightly because of the pain that coursed through his entire body. The pressure of the threads pierced the skin of his arms and thighs further, causing small drops of blood to begin dripping down his clothes while he hung helplessly, unable to concentrate his own fire due to the physical torment.

"Now I understand..." Irnina murmured, observing with great curiosity; the fire dragoness had remained neutral behind Lighter up until this moment.