Chapter 0090: Yue’s Demons (1/2)

Hellfire engulfed the earth. As far as the eyes could there were burning embers that threatened to devour anyone and anything in sight.

There were countless cries of the people that were being burnt in this scene of pandemonium.

At the center of this hell-like scene, there was a beautiful doll-like girl, in the center of that scene of pandemonium. She had golden hair and crimson eyes that matched the crimson frilly dress that she was wearing.

"You monster," There was a cry.

A monster she was. She stood alone against an army of five thousand strong and ended them all in utter annihilation with not a soul left to escape.

…

"It was a splendid battle, your Majesty."

A middle-aged man wearing the army general's uniform offered the princess a cup of water.

"Thank you Ulbado. But these men were not trained. It was clear they were a mere diversion for our main troops."

The general, Ulbado, looked at the princess he served fondly. The princess was strong, she was the strongest vampire in Avatarl. Possibly the strongest mortal in Tortus.

From the time of her birth, she had an unbelievable amount of mana and a monstrous affinity for all types of magic.

She could directly visualize spells and cast them without the need for chants of magic circles.

She was as far as the definition could go, a Monster.

"How is my uncle faring?" She asked.

"I'm fine, Aletia. The battlefield was taken care of with ease." Her uncle, Dienleed smiled at her with warmth even though he was wreathed in a murderous aura from the battlefield.

"That's good."

"And young lady what were you doing going to the battlefield while still wearing your dress?"

Aletia's smile stiffened.

"Your regeneration seems to have made you grow conceited I presume."

"That's not true."

The princess that massacred thousands and was considered nothing but a monster had tears welling up in her eyes.

It was as if a child had been caught pulling a prank and wanted to escape punishment.

"Sheesh, you worry me too much Aletia." Her uncle's smile was filled with genuine warmth.

"I need a favor from you Aletia," He rubs her head fondly.

"Anything uncle."

"Would you please die for me?"

…

She turned around to see a maw of blue fire almost devour her whole.

Yue barely dodged it, but her right arm was gone as she let out a soundless scream.

Not due to the pain from the loss of her arm, but due to the pain of the betrayal that she was reminded of from that vision.

As the flashback disappeared from Yue's view, she saw herself but not quite.

It was a copy of her face, with black hair and golden eyes. Her clothes were also opposite in color from Yue's. The copy was wearing a black one-piece dress, with white stockings and white boots.

"You look pretty tacky don't you think?" Yue made a snarky comment as her arm regenerated to distract herself from the vision as she was hurled through the air due to the point-blank Sapphire Serpent.

She used gravity magic to balance herself while flying in the air. Her clothes had blue embers burning on them and one of her sleeves was completely gone.

She was glad that Masashi had enhanced her clothes using creation magic otherwise she'd be fighting her shadow naked. Which, while not being an actual problem, would be extremely embarrassing later on.

As Yue was stabilizing herself in the air, the copy sent another composite gravity magic spell at her.

"Heavensfall!"

"Obsidian Vortex!" Yue cast another gravity spell to defend herself now that she was ready.

Although the fight started with Yue at a disadvantage, she was quick to get some momentum back.

Yue cast her favorite spell at the copy who was now also flying in the air.

'Draconic Thunder'

"Fufu, Draconic thunder," The copy stretched out its arm and cast the same spell.

The dragons clashed and caused the thunder to warp together and morph into a singular sphere of gravity magic that was the core of each of the dragons' forms.

When the morphed cores exploded into a huge blast of thunder Yue pulled back while casting ice spears.

'Ice Javelin'

The copy countered with its barrage of ice javelins.

They both had the same prowess and thought process.

Their spells were the same, their attack patterns, and their intensity was also the same.

"You seem to be faring well, considering how I showed you those visions of your past."

"I don't like the way you talk."

"Isn't that how you used to talk, Aletia?"

"Don't call me by that name." Yue throws a black hole at the copy.

"Make me…" The copy taunted Yue while sending its black hole to stop Yue's attack dead in its spot.

Yue increased the level of the fight and started multi-casting all kinds of elemental spells.

Wind blades, Ice spears, Fireballs, Earth spikes.

All sorts of attacks were thrown at the copy with no regard for Mana by Yue.

She was able to do this because she had a trump card to instantly recover her mana to full capacity more than once.

It was also because using so many spells was keeping her mind occupied. She didn't want to think about the memories that she'd repressed for three centuries.

'This fucking dungeon just came and ripped out those memories from the depths of my heart.'

Everything that she'd seen in those visions was true. Up until the last words said by her uncle.

'I was guarding my mind against spirit magic but I guess this dungeon's trial is better than my current skill.' Yue didn't like that the dungeon was better at spirit magic than her but she wasn't going to while about it.

She was going to pummel her damn copy to the ground.

Although that was her intention, Yue was losing the initiative. The remainder of her repressed memories was interfering with her usual rhythm.

This reduced her performance from being at its peak. It would be fine in usual circumstances but against a perfect copy of herself with all her skills, it was proving a huge pain.

Especially since she realized how unfair of an opponent she was. Automated regeneration along with unbelievably destructive spells and the ability to easily multi-cast them. She was truly like an unkillable cockroach.

'Although Masashi and Mai have natural regeneration that's pretty close to mine. Those two are even worse cockroaches than me.'

"You piss me off."

"Don't forget. I'm you. Fufu" The copy teased Yue while they continued their destructive attacks at each other.

Her copy spoke in a specific tone and prosody that was reminiscent of royalty. Over the centuries Yue had realized how ridiculous this kind of speech sounded.

'God how annoying.'

"You can trust no one Aletia."

The copy kept goading her while it was perfectly countering each of Yue's attacks.

"The uncle you trusted with your life, Your retainers, Ulbado, and the others. They all betrayed us. What more proof do you need that no one can be trusted."

"You spent so much of your childhood just fighting and fighting for your country. But where did that bring you…?"

Yue went silent and was brought into another flashback.

…

Ever since Yue was twelve, she'd been going to the battlefields in the war-ridden world of Tortus.

She'd witnessed thousands of deaths. Killed the same number, if not more.

Although she'd been through so much since the tender age of twelve, her love for her country kept her going. She kept on working hard to make her country prosper and stay peaceful.

when she turned seventeen she was crowned as the ruler of the vampire kingdom. Her father, Lambert, willingly abdicated the throne to her since she was so popular with both the countrymen and the foreign forces. She was Avatarl's nuclear deterrent

Three years after her coronation.

Ever since she was crowned as the ruler of Avatarl all of her trusted retainers had started keeping some distance from her.

Even her beloved uncle had started treating her as if she was a plague on the world.

She, who was considered a diving miracle to stop the constant wars of Tortus, was ostracized by those whom she trusted the most. And the worst part was that she didn't even know what she did wrong.

"Will you let us take care of it then, your Majesty?"

"Yes, you may."

"By your will. I'll take my leave then."

"Um… Uncle?"

Dinleed turned back. Nowhere was that fond smile he always had when he looked at Aletia. Her uncle, who was more important to her than even her parents, had completely turned his back on her.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"I was just thinking, maybe we could eat dinner together. We haven't spent much time together in a while, and I could use your advice."

"Is that an order?"

"Huh? No, of course not..."

"Then my apologies, but I must decline. Many matters require my attention."

"I see..." Yue's disappointment is evident in her tone.

"Good day, your Highness," He leaves hurriedly as if spending another second in the same room as Yue was loathsome for him.