BXBX NOVEL Chapter 207 Feast Day Pt.X
ELRIEK POV
During the feast, Elriek’s brother moved towards their father shyly.
“How have you been, Rondel?”
“Excellent, father!”
He sounded like a cadet in training talking to his commanding officer.
“Hoho! Good to know. Is there something you need?”
“Father, as it is Feast Day. I wish to partake of the custom where the eldest son holds the [Royal Trident].”
Elriek stopped eating her meal and took a surprising interest in what her stupid brother had to say. The king’s eyebrow went up.
“Oh? The [Royal Trident]? What would you want to hold this thing for?”
“I simply wish to get a feel for it, since it could be me holding it later today.”
“Pfft.”
Elriek put her hand over her mouth to hide her giggles. Even the king broke out in laughter.
“Oh… you’re serious. Ok then.”
The king cleared his throat and stopped his laughter. The spear floated gently into Rondel’s hands at the will of the king.
“A spear for a big man, or woman.”
He added at the end and winked at Elriek.
“I remember always wanting to hold the trident when I was about your age as well. You’re 88, right?”
“Yes, father.”
Rondel scanned the staff and pressed his hand against the shaft. Slowly, his hands wrapped around it and locked the spear in a tight grip.
“The trident feels… alive.”
“Yes. There are rumours that the trident carries a soul within it. They say the soul will guide its owner to the best possible future.”
“Is that so?”
“Naah, it’s all a bunch of hogwash. Don’t believe in stupid stories some old people spout. Isn’t that right, honey?”
“That’s nonsense, my king. That trident is a gift from the goddess. The texts say there is a soul in it that will only awaken once in the hands of the chosen leader.”
“Oh bull.”
They went on to argue about the existence of a soul in the weapon. Honestly, Elriek was surprised her father would argue with the concept of a soul being in a weapon. Atlantis being the kingdom of magical development, it shouldn’t have been a stretch for the king of such a city when he heard of souls in weapons.
While they went on to debate, there was weird chuckling from Rondel.
“Excellent. I’ve been waiting for too long.”
“Huh? If you have had your fill, give me the trident.”
The king stopped his argument to focus on his son, probably because he was losing.
“I refuse.”
The princess shot a sight a glare at her oldest brother. He held the [Royal Trident] in his hands, lifted up for everyone to see. He laughed maniacally, causing quite the disturbing scene in front of everyone.
The king had a similar expression to the princess.
“What are you doing Rondel? Return the trident. Now.”
“No!”
He refused the king’s order and backed up with the trident. Some of the members that backed him up formed a protective barrier around him. Some went out towards the people observing them and others went towards the king and Elriek.
“Do it now, Darius!”
At his command, the 113th prince stood up and spread his arm forward. All those that served him rushed to subdue the people standing outside the feast hall.
“Guards! Cease my foo-”
“Hahaha! Have you forgotten? He who holds the trident controls the fate of Atlantis. That is why it’s also called [The Pike of Destiny].”
The king paused in his tracks and growled. All of the guards that served directly under him weren’t moving. They were completely frozen, as if they were statues.
Of course, it was because the spear allowed its owner to have absolute control over all the citizens of Atlantis, except the members of the royal family. For this reason, once a new king takes the throne, all their siblings are forced to take on certain artefacts that allow for them to be controlled as well.
“What is the point in this?”
“The point? Isn’t it obvious? It’s because I’m supposed to be king. Yet here we are, with that little snobby brat on the verge of taking the throne! I won’t stand for that.”
He raged and pointed the trident at her. The king scoffed and eye rolled.
“You’re both still immature brats? See why you can’t get the throne?”
The king rested on his seat and folded his arms. Elriek noticed that the king and priestess were having a telepathic conversation. During this, the king rested himself like he was not even a part of the entire situation.
She also noticed that the servants of the temple were not interfering in anyway. Rather, they simply observed from above at a distance where they wouldn’t get directly involved in the whole matter. For some reason, even though this wasn’t a part of her plans, she felt amused.
Elriek smirked at the scene and her brother caught this.
“What are you smiling for? I’m going to rip you to shreds. You think you can walk all over your older brothers and sisters like we’re trash? Manipulate and mould us into doing your bidding because you are father’s favourite?”
“Oh, shut it, you sore loser. Return the trident to father before you make a bigger mess of things. Or Nanek will punish you.”
At the mention of Nanek, Rondel instinctively looked at the collection of second and fourth generation siblings who were oddly standing still and glaring at him. It caused him to feel hesitation, knowing just how terrifying that particular collection was.
Survivors of the 4th generation and the entirety of the second generation that used to be monsters as well, standing there, not saying a single word.
He then looked back at Elriek.
“Where is he even?”
“Brother Nanek? He’s partaking in peaceful diplomatic issues with SharkFang.”
“What?”
“what’s that supposed to mean, Elri dear.”
The king showed concerned interest. Elriek switched to her cutesy act.
“Oh father, I’m sorry. That was the surprise Nanek was going to show us. He was going to forge friendly relations with Daxia.”
“Huh? How? She’ll kill him.”
“Don’t worry. Nanek thought it all through.”
Both of them started having their own conversation, ignoring Rondel’s presence. Of course, this was done intentionally to annoy her brother beyond reason. She could see him losing his cool while grinding his teeth.
Her plan was to force Nanek into helping Daxia out with the fight against Exsuole’s invading forces. Of course, she had planned out most of the events that happened, but it was shocking to her to see Rondel involved in this whole situation.
The question on her mind now was who roped Rondel into this. He was too stupid to have plotted using the trident for his own personal gain. He was definitely on orders, but she couldn’t think up of anyone who would be doing this.
If she thought about everyone, there was absolutely no one with any holes in their stories, that closed off her circle of people. Then there was… no.
‘They wouldn’t dare…’
She came to a realisation. The only people who could drastically alter her plans to this extent were her very own benefactors. The Secret Council.
Why would they betray her at such a time? She’d done as they asked of her and even more.
She couldn’t think like that. The Secret Council never betrayed those who followed their orders to the letter, let alone someone they wanted to include in their circle. This had to be someone else. Someone she wouldn’t even think of.
Again, she looked at her brother, then at her father. Her eyes kept darting between the two, then she calmed down after seeing her father’s overly lax smile.
“Ah…”
The sound just escaped her lips.
“Is something the matter?”
‘Of course… only the master of the trident can use its power to control the Atlantean citizens.’
“Absolutely nothing father. Rat-”
WRRREEEWWWWWW! SKIIIIIIIT! BOOOM!
BOOOOM! BOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!
Multiple explosions sounded off in the distance and the barrier started ripple violently. The star whales that were swimming about were alarmed immediately, crying out loud in fear like the wild beasts they were.
“Mana bombs? But Hinotori got them all.”
Osveta muttered from her side, on high alert.
“It’s not from inside the dome. The pillars were hit directly.”
Elriek corrected his misconception of their situation.
“What!? But no one can beat the pillar men.”
“True, but if the pillar men placed the bomb on the pillars themselves, that wouldn’t be the case.”
Osveta’s fur stood on their ends.
“Princess… what’s with that expression?”
She looked at him, confused by what he meant. Unawares of what her facial expression was. A nervous laughter broke from her lips as she bit her finger nail.
“How?”
“H-How?”
“How did they accomplish this? I thought of it, but there was simply no way to get the pillar men to plant the bombs. This is… me?”
“Muhahaha! As you can see, father! I have set the pillars to explode. If you won’t accept me as king, I will just wipe Atlantis off the map.”
“What!? Brother! We didn’t agree on this!”
Darius spoke out. Apparently, Rondel never discussed this part of the plan with him. He attempted to grab his brother, but a guard cut off Darius’ arm simply for getting so close.
The prince started to scream in pain and backed away. His maids came to attend to his arm immediately whereas his guards formed a wall and charged at Rondel.
Rondel smirked, then several beams of light shot down from above, killing the guards. All the mages in above the hall were shooting off spells.
“Huh? T-the mages too?”
Osveta’s voice trembled, aghast at the prospect.
“Of course, you idiot mutt. Who even allowed a fishman in Yorul? Surrounding yourself with such filth will only make you more pathetic, sister.”
Rondel gestured towards her.
“Behead the prince-”
Before he could complete his sentence, a portal opened above him and from it, came two angry beasts battling each other. One was covered in a dark black aura and the other had a red aura encasing his body.
Both were going at it, claw against spear. Each block, parry and hit of theirs caused a tremendous wave, but the civilians could not even react to it, being under the influence of the [Royal Trident].
Elriek snapped her fingers and Yokino appeared, setting up a massive barrier around the princess, the king and the priestess.
“Sheesh, I wish you wouldn’t snap your fingers like I’m some kind of subordinate.”
“You don’t want that information?”
“Sorry boss.”
“What is Hinotori doing? She was supposed to be preventing this sort of situation from happening.”
“The bombs? Yeah, he’s on it.”
“He?”
“She’s going to prevent the explosion, so she asked me to protect you.”
“She asked you to protect Garand, didn’t she?”
“And you.”
“What a believable tale.”
“Your highness.”
“Sister.”
Two extra voices came in and to her side, Sunalla and Nori were coming closer with a barrier around them.
“Huh? Susu? Nori? How aren’t you under their control?”
“A trick the Grand Court Mage taught me.”
“Garand isn’t under their influence?”
“No.”
“Then why isn’t he doing anything about this!?”
“Um… you know that old coot as much as I do. He’s probably in his workshop doing something else.”
Sometimes Elriek wondered what the point was in having a Grand Court Mage who didn’t even bother with the protection of the kingdom. Things had escalated far beyond what had been planned for and even Elriek found it strange that she was keeping her cool for so long.
“That expression of yours is quite scary.”
Nori said to her then looked at the two fighting. It was Daxia and Nanek. Knowing Nanek, she had estimated he could go half an hour against Daxia before dying, so she sent him out there to calm her down since she would be agitated.
“This all part of your plan, princess?”
Nori asked in a sarcastic way. She glared at his highly mocking statement. The senior court mage shuddered and tried to turn himself invisible.
“The pillars being attacked were never a part of the plan, were they?”
Yokino asked, looking at the crippling dome and mighty waves of power that traversed the dome’s surface.
"What are we going to do?"
"This is bad."
“Your highness?”
“Elriek. We really need a solution right now.”
Elriek kept receiving numerous requests for solutions from those around her. Of course, she had imagined that such a scenario was possible. She had experienced such a scenario and it was horrible. Absolutely disgusting and it led to her siblings.
That was why she planned. She would always plan everything step by step, come up with back up plans and take the tiniest opportunities that showed themselves. Yes, she could think on the spot in lots of moments, but in this kind of situation, where there’s so much at stake, she froze up.
Just like five years ago, she was not sure what to do. In her moment of confusion, only one person’s image came to mind. As he helped her when all her plans fell through by creating impossible situations, Elriek came to think of him as her personal saviour.
Just as she was about to cry out his name, hoping for another one of his impossible miracles, there was a monstrous shriek that forced even the star whales to stop moving about rapidly. They completely stopped any and all movements.
The two monsters that were fighting stopped and simultaneously, every single living being looked to the top of the dome, at the centre.
A translucent beast was screaming at the dome. It was large. Bigger than the dome itself and it held on tightly to the dome, letting out horrendous cries that made everyone shiver to the very bone.
The beast’s translucent body was a dark purple and it resembled a creature Elriek was all too familiar with.
Hinotori.
<A/N: LOL, Elriek found Christ in Hiro. Please give me your power stones, reviews, comments and golden tickets! 50 reviews this month!
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