Chapter 386: Threads of Darkness

"What a pitiful sight. Did you really think such an ordinary toy could cut my threads?" Beatrice commented with evident disdain, keeping the prince’s entire weight suspended in the air without the slightest effort.

Behind them, Irnina, the fire dragoness, narrowed her eyes as she noticed the true nature of the technique that had completely subdued Rohan’s son.

"Those are not simple steel threads, she applied her own manifestation of darkness onto them. That woman is very strong," Irnina said seriously, observing how Beatrice kept the prince suspended, bleeding, and immobile with a simple gesture of her hand.

"Manifestation of darkness? Is she a demon queen?" Solaris mentioned in total disbelief, knowing full well that such a level of mastery only belonged to the most powerful demons on the continent.

"I already found it strange that your leader left and put only a human in charge of this settlement, but if the Demon King left so calmly a while ago, it’s because he had someone like you watching over the camp, isn’t that right?" Irnina asked without looking away from Ryan’s subordinate.

But then she made a quick gesture of denial to correct herself.

"No, the human on the lower floor is also quite capable."

"Are you talking about the mage who forced me to take a bath...?"

"Yes, both that human and this demon woman knew the moment the prince broke into this room."

"Stop talking already, and fight her!" the prince interrupted, agitated.

Solaris raised her guard. But before she could do anything, Irnina spoke.

"Stop, Lady Solaris."

"But..."

"My Lady Solaris, tell me something, do you currently believe you could defeat me?"

"You know full well I cannot win against you, Irnina."

"It’s good that you acknowledge it. That’s why I’m telling you to stop. That woman is on the same level as me, and so is the mage downstairs, who seems to be waiting for the slightest hostile movement on our part before deciding to act."

"What are you saying...?"

But while Beatrice effortlessly kept Lighter suspended in the air, she rested her eyes on Irnina and Solaris without showing any intention of attacking them as well.

"Please, stay right where you are; the two of you are still our guests," Beatrice said calmly, making it clear that her problem was only with the intruder who had sneaked in.

"Do you seriously still consider us guests?" Solaris asked with evident doubt in her words upon seeing her older brother trapped in such a violent manner in front of them.

"Of course," Beatrice replied while smiling kindly at the princess. "You haven’t done anything against us yet."

Above them, Lighter continued to suffer under the pressure of the steel threads squeezing his body and preventing him from moving a single millimeter.

"I don’t understand. If you knew I was here, why didn’t you interfere from the beginning?" Lighter spoke, his voice broken by pain and the effort it took him to breathe.

"Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to know what your purpose was in coming. Was it an order from the king to attack us, or did you just want to see your beautiful sister? Whatever the reason, I wanted to make sure before acting," Beatrice explained, revealing the reason she had waited hidden, listening to the entire conversation.

"I see..." Irnina murmured, understanding the precaution Ryan’s subordinate had taken before revealing herself in the room. "But why are we still guests? At the end of the day, we are responsible for the prince still being here instead of having kicked him out immediately."

"So far, neither of you has done anything to break our agreement, and he didn’t come here on Demon King Rohan’s orders either. I am acting under the assumption that the agreement between our kings still stands. Or am I mistaken?" Beatrice questioned, staring intently at both women to confirm what Ignis’s true stance was at that moment.

Solaris swallowed hard before responding, feeling the pressure of having to give an answer that would prevent a major conflict with Kowarre. She turned to look at Irnina for a moment and, realizing that the situation was still not beyond repair thanks to Beatrice’s disposition, took a step forward.

"Y-yes, it’s true, and I apologize for my foolish brother’s behavior, but... he is still a prince of Ignis... what do you intend to do with him?" Solaris asked, setting aside her pride to try and intercede for Lighter.

Hearing how his younger sister lowered herself to apologize because of him in front of the enemy completely infuriated the second prince.

"Don’t talk about me as if I’m going to stay like this! This is nothing to—" Lighter shouted with rage, trying to force his muscles against the bindings once more before his voice was suddenly cut off.

"Will you shut up for a while? My only order was to watch from afar, but this idiot decided to cross the line on his own," Beatrice replied serenely, while above them Lighter continued to let out groans of pain every time he tried to fill his lungs with air against the pressure of the threads.

"Don’t listen to her, sister," Lighter intervened. "You must fight now. If I break free from these threads, between the three of us we can win."

Seeing her brother’s suffering, Solaris took a step forward, though she stopped immediately with obvious doubt. In such a compromising situation, she didn’t know whether she should intervene to help her brother, or cling to fulfilling Demon King Rohan’s word not to fight against the people of Kowarre.

Although sisterly affection wasn’t what drove her actions at that moment, she wasn’t sure how to act when faced with such a lopsided situation. Would this unexpected intrusion by Lighter break the agreement between both nations? Probably. All these thoughts crossed her mind as she saw they had no advantage against that woman.

"Do not take another step, Lady Solaris. Just don’t do anything," Irnina ordered quietly, stepping in front of her master, understanding that attacking Beatrice would be a fatal mistake for both of them.

The dragoness’s sensible words caught Beatrice’s attention. She glanced at Irnina out of the corner of her eye, acknowledging that at least she understood the disadvantage they were facing.

"But Irnina..." Solaris said helplessly, having to restrain herself while listening to her older brother’s cries of pain.

Above, trembling from the cuts on his body and the lack of air, Lighter lifted his head heavily to look at the face of the woman who was torturing him with such ease.

"Agh... ah... I remember you now..." Lighter murmured, his voice cracking with pain as his eyes widened upon finally recognizing his captor.

"Do you know this demon, brother?" Solaris asked, surprised that he had any connection to someone so strong from Ryan’s group.

"Don’t you remember her? Agh... she... is the demon who refused to attack in the Varlylon dungeon, the one I personally left on the brink of death for her disobedience..." Lighter explained, panting through gritted teeth as the threads squeezed his throat and chest tighter with every word he forced out.

Upon hearing that detail about what happened near the dungeon some time ago, Irnina opened her eyes in surprise as she remembered that event.

"I hadn’t recognized her with this very different power, but now I remember. She was pretending to be your sentinel at that time, Lady Solaris," Irnina commented, looking at Beatrice in astonishment due to the massive leap in strength she had made since then.

"What are you saying? Someone with that power... wanted to be my sentinel?" Solaris questioned, unable to believe they had despised and left for dead a demon capable of using a manifestation of darkness.

Lighter, in pain from his wounds, stared fixedly at Beatrice with fear in his eyes.

"You’re doing all this for revenge, aren’t you?" he asked in a whisper, thinking his time had come to pay for what he did to her in the past.