Chapter 87 – Royal Showdown

"Ikarus, relax yourself, you'll grow wrinkles if you stress yourself out"

Petra can obviously sense my tension seeing those three right now, does stress actually give you wrinkles? It seemed like a joke but unsure if it actually does or not now, at least thinking about something stupid has made me relax a little.

Anyways, the two royals finish speaking to everyone, walk down into the room and are immediately hounded by a crowd of nobles, no chance I'm going over there to talk with them, have next to no reason to speak until my blade finds their throats after all.

"So what do we do now then? There's only so much eating I can do to pass the time"

"Heh, unfortunately we'll just have to wait a little longer"

It a tad boring seeing that both of us have basically been ignored by nearly everyone excluding the knight and priestess but it's not that bad, soaking up to these snobby nobles was never a plan. I would like to do something other than just stand around eating though.

It very quickly seems something else has come up, more specifically someone has come over to us.

"Oh, are you the bird brother invited to the party? Erm... what was your name again?..."

Exiting barging through the crowd is the princess Media, why has she come over here to us? Is she hungry or something? And she just called me bird, I'm guessing she knows about the phoenix thing but bird isn't enough to make it obvious to everyone. I mean, I'm pretty sure some people call females close to them bird or is that a Northern thing? Or was that lass?

Forget it, nicknames are something I struggle with, I'd like to come up with something for Petra but the only thing I can think off is Pet, I'm not calling Petra Pet despite it being a shortened version of her name. Distracted again, not the time or place for this right now.

"... Don't answer! Let me get a drink and we'll chat for a little while!"

She then rushes back into a different direction towards a waiter serving champagne, grabs three glasses and comes back to me and Petra, she seems a little bit of a clutz just watching what she did there. Anyways, she's now returned so it makes sense to at least great her.

(Petra) "Happy birthday to your highness"

(Ikarus) "Yeah, happy birthday princess"

Petra is always good at playing the part of someone in awe of the royals after all, I really would find it hard to greet someone as majesty or highness but that's just partly down to stubbornness and also down to having parents that would let me get away with a lot. Respecting humans isn't anything they'd ever want me to do.

"Please, you two don't need to treat me as such, there's already a crowd of boring nobles so having two commoners here lighten it up! Here take these..."

She gives us the champagne glasses and continues to speak, I'm not really sure what to say here to hopefully she leaves as fast as possible. Also unsure if my ability worked there, she seemed honest about it being boring but something about the way she said commoner made me irk a little.

"... So what brings you here? Why did yo-"

Unfortunately for her, a women's voice echoes through the crowd behind her calling the princess's name.

"Media, someone's asking about you"

"Seriously? Can't you answer for me?"

"No, I don't know everything about your life"

"*Sigh*, useless idiot, I'll talk with you two a little later, see ya!"

And that's the princess gone back into the crowd, what a slightly weird situation that was, even Petra looks a little unsure what just happened.

'At least that's gotten rid of her now and we've gotten a drink out of it'

As soon as I take a sip of the champagne looking drink, a voice screams at me just before I have the chance to swallow it.

[<DON'T SWALLOW THAT... ahem... Aesa would like to inform -user- that swallowing that drink is a bad idea>]

'Damn it Aesa!... Wait, is this poison!?'

[<Didn't completely analyze substance but held liquid definitely has something that might knock or make -user- sleepy, risk is too great for any test especially right now>]

Hang on, that fucking princess has literally given me a drink that is drugged!? The nerve on that bitch! I'm going to enjoy killing her later on if this is how she treats guests, we haven't even spoken properly and this is what she does?

Before I do anything else, I take Petra's glass of champagne out of her hand without saying anything and I subtly spit out the alcohol back into the glass, it's a good thing she didn't drink it and I'll make sure to tell Petra what just happened in a sec. I seriously can't get over how something like that was literally just tried against us! We've got to make sure we whisper during this so I make sure to get even closer to her.

"Petra, don't care about the prince but make sure the princess suffers badly"

I'm sure it was her, just the look on her face tells me all I need to know, unsure how she even did it but maybe she carries around a vial of something to drop into drinks? Other people have drunk that champagne and look perfectly fine so I think it was her doing.

"Something wrong with the drink?"

"Yeah, it's definitely laced with something, no idea what but Aesa made sure to tell me before I drunk it, it should be alright since she told me just in time"

Then I saw something, only for a split second that no one else noticed in this entire place, pure rage and terror coming from Petra. Like I said, the aura didn't even last a split second but I'm sure I also saw her eyes turn very slightly black as well. That's only the second time I've seen her eyes go like that, the first being back in the giant dungeon when she went full power mode, it's a fucking good thing she can control herself that well.

"Petr-"

"I'm fine Ikarus, just make sure you finish both for your level, I'll make sure to make it extremely painful beforehand for her"

That's the first time I've heard Petra say something like that, I can't deny her feelings though, that fucking bitch just tried to drug me. I really want her to suffer as well now so her reaction if anything is making me fall for her even more.

No Ikarus, it's not the time for that, we're in public. I'm not too proud to admit I felt the urge to kiss her right now but we really do need to be careful, I'm pretty sure I've seen a priest or two here as well, that's definitely not a scene would should create in public right now. At least it's a good thing I'm getting urges like that so we will be able to progress even further very soon, hopefully.

So... seriously, what do we do? You'd think after having the princess come up to us maybe some nobles might be a little interested to know who we are, I'm starting to think there's either a massive class gap or Petra's the culprit here, maybe she pissed off the lower ruling class? I think she would've already told me if she had done something like that so doubt it.

'Sighhh, we really are outcasts here'

In the end, me and Petra just spend a bit of time making small talk with each other alone. Thankfully, enough time has now passed and Jekyll should be doing his role very soon. I'm still unsure where the emperor even is, you'd think he would've shown up for his daughter's birthday but maybe the bastard has already dealt with him? By the sounds of it, he also has contacts inside the palace but this seriously is starting to be concerning.

"Look Ikarus, things are finally happening"

Off towards the other side of this room, Jekyll decked out in a red military uniform similar to Nathan's seems to be whispering in the ear of the prince, he should be telling him there's a slight problem in one of the back rooms that requires his immediate attention, no idea what he actually said but he seemed like he'd have a clue on what to say.

And good enough, the prince speaks to the small crowd around him, then leaves to go up the stairs with the mage following him behind. Jekyll having achieved the first task goes to do the same with the princess closer to us in this crowded room.

"Seriously!? Why the hell do I need to go?"

I can't hear a single word Jekyll is saying, should be pretty obvious why down to the whispering.

"*Sigh*... fine, I'll be back ever so shortly, brother is being an arse"

And that's all three sent off to go up the stairs, it's now time to slowly follow behind. Just before we get to the stairs, Jekyll gives us a nod while as he passes us, his job is now mostly done, he better have done the rest of what he said he would do otherwise this will go shit. At least we've planned if it does though.

Me and Petra both make our way up past the crowded stairs, then continue into a long corridor on the upper floor that still seems to have a few nobles loitering around.

(Petra) "Sixth room on the right"

(Ikarus) "Yeah, he was pretty adamant on that"

The further we continue and whisper to each other, the less and less nobles we come across and just as Jekyll promised, there isn't a single guard in sight around here, wouldn't this have looked a little suspicious to the royals? Forget it, we've found the door now and they are definitely inside the empty unused room as planned.

We both get to the door in question and before entering the partially opened door, we listen in to the conversation going on.

"... What the actual fuck is wrong with you Alistair!? I told you not to invite people who aren't approved by me and yet half this fucking hall is!? Seriously though, what gave you any idea that inviting those two boring fucks would be a good idea!?"

"You mean Nathan and Lotte? It seemed like a happy occasion so why not invite them? He is my knight after all and she is the shining light of the empire, apparently... Might as well get as many people as possible to celebrate my lovely sister's birthday"

"Don't be doing that bullshit with me brother, I swear you do this type of crap just to irritate me!"

She really sounds to be having a temper tantrum, we really should be going in but Jekyll did say beforehand that no guards would be assigned to this area for a while. If that's true, then we really have no need to rush, at least for now but I really want to hear their conversation even if Petra wants to go inside right now.

"I'm surprised you aren't complaining about that phoenix being here Media"

Even the mage is talking to the whiny bitch that tried to drug us as well now.

"The orange haired one? Nah, she's got a nice piece of ass, wanted to play with her if I had the chance but I don't think she drunk it unfortunately"

She wanted to play with me? Fuck, I really don't want to know what she had in store, I can't wait to kill her now...

"You tried... to drug... the dragons daughter!?! Are you fucking mad sister?"

"Hmph, to think you tried to drug them both, are all the women in this family this stupid?"

Even those two know that was a terrible idea, I'd actually have another reason to ask my parents to burn this place down now.

"Nah, it was just the orange one, really don't see the big deal since she would've forgotten it the morning after... would've liked to hear her screams but whatever... *Sigh*, would've been better to just skip this year and spend the night doing something fun"

It might be better for Petra to take her on, hoping she'll be able to inflict more pain on her before she dies. Reason I say that is just looking at her, Petra might be about to blow a fuse even more than me right now.

"*Sigh*... fine then Media, why did Jekyll ask us to go here anywa-..."

When the prince asks that questions, it seems like the perfect opportunity to make our entrance entering the room. While we were listening though, me and Petra both prepared our weapons during the conversation and have stored away the heels we had on, my vampiric blade longs for blood in my hand and Petra's sword seeks vengeance for all dragons in hers, she doesn't care about dragon vengeance but that does sound pretty cool.

"Ikarus and... Petra, w-what are you two doing?"

'The prince even has a slight stutter now, status'

[Name: Alistair | Species: Human | Level: 292]

[Health 9,700/9,700]

[Stamina 9,212/9,800]

[Magicka 9,700/9,700]

----------

[Name: Leone | Species: Human | Level: 325]

[Health 8,000/10,000]

[Stamina 7,102/7,500]

[Magicka 15,000/15,000]

----------

[Name: Media | Species: Human | Level: 474]

[Health 10,000/10,000]

[Stamina 28,139/30,000]

[Magicka 7,400/7,400]

[<Before -user- asks, target Alistair has levelled 19 times since -user's last status check 500+ days ago. Target Leone has not levelled once>]

'Fair enough... fuck me though, that princess's level is even higher than those two even if her stats are kinda stamina weighted... I need mine to compare them to, status again'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 98]

[Health 17,000/17,000]

[Stamina 4,569/5,000]

[Magicka 17,000/17,000]

'This could be a challenge; I'm really going to need Petra's help here'

I invested the rest of the four thousand points I had left halving it into health and magicka just before we came here, it's obviously not being doubled right now because of my enchanted clothing not being on, that's another reason I hate this fancy dress but at least I still have my abilities as well. If we do this to plan, Petra should be taking the two strongest on herself, she could probably do all three if she really wanted. Keep in mind, she also is going to holding herself back as well trying to keep them alive for me to land the last hit, I really don't deserve her and I know this.

Now that we're staring them down though, Petra places a hand on the exit of this empty unused room and looks to be a magical barrier has formed behind us, only it seems to be made of black fire than the other barriers I've come across. Pretty sure that's the first time I've seen that, makes sense to stop anyone joining us like a guard for example.

Nearly thought it was a rune from that elven dungeon we completed a while ago, turns out those runes don't work in this main world so that's why I never brought it back up. No idea what magic or ability she's using right now though.

"Hmph, not all that surprised something like this might happen, honestly a little proud on how far you've come little Ikarus. It was bound to eventually happen and you've even brought that bat with you as well"

The mage actually has a smile on her face realizing what we're about to do, is she a masochist as well as being a witch? You stand no chance against Petra despite how powerful your magic is supposed to be and... how dare she call Petra a bat in a nasty way!? That's my thing and that was only ever accidental!

(Alistair) "Leone, what the hell are you talking about?"

"If you had done your research instead of just relying on your own arrogance, then maybe you could've found out who Ikarus's lover is, I guess this explains why no guards are here as well... Jekyll, you sly fox... No matter, it's too late now... don't mind me phoenixes, do your work and we can talk a little after"

It was just after she finishes speaking that the two royals fully realize the weight of the situation they're in, both of their faces have dropped realizing they might as well be fucked here. They may not know Petra's true strength even if they listened to the phoenixes comment but if the mage who serves the empire isn't willing to help, then something is truly wrong.

Hold the fuck on though, is the mage really not going to fight back? I want to kill her as much as the other two but if she's refusing to fight back, then would I be in the wrong? Fuck if I care, I'll just kill her afterwards, at least it's now easier for Petra not having to deal with two of them.

Petra doesn't even seem that surprised from this realization, don't tell me she knew this would happen? Not asking that right now, more important things are on the horizon, Petra's eyes have just turned black as well.

(Alistair) "Hold on Leone, you're bound to me, remember? You can't just let the last of the bloodline die out like this, can you?"

(Media) "Yeah, you can't just leave us undefended like that!"

Did both of them rely on the mage that much? I know she basically is the right hand of the empire but they seriously are in complete shock right now.

"Things have changed now that the old bat has returned, you two are both on your own here. This isn't a refusal of orders before you say brat, it's impossible to force me to take a stabbing for you and never forget, you're not the last of your bloodline"

We really need to start this fight now, I still kinda want to let them finish their conversation beforehand for some reason though. She did just imply the bastard might be involved in this somehow.

"A power play... that's what this fucking is!? *Sigh*... forget it, you already know what will happen if don't protect me Leone, I hope you're prepared"

I mean, we would've done this still without the bastard being involved but I think they're close to finishing now, Petra might not be able to hold herself for much longer though.

"Hmph, of course"

Now that the prince seems resigned to his incoming fate, it now seems like someone else might want to talk their way out of this.

"Heh-heh... you didn't hear what I said before you entered, did you Ikarus?"

"Yes princess, I very much did"

I can't help but have a slightly pissed off smile while answering the somewhat scared looking princess, must've gotten that smile from Petra or mother but don't care where it's from. The princess changes her reaction very quickly though.

(Media) "Damn it, I fucking knew this would backfire one day!... Heh-heh, I bet this could be fun!"

(Alistair) "If you think this will be easy Ikarus, I warn you, I'm not going down without a fight"

'Let's go then'

To be continued... once again, sorry!