Chapter 136: Off the Leash

It was the dawn of the third day of the invasion. Both the Empire and the Kingdom held strong, but Auroria was doing much better. They had more mages of all ranks, and they were much more militant, allowing them to fight off the beast much smoother.

The Empire had suffered heavy casualties in all of its strongholds but one. Except for Soothing Light's stronghold, every other fortress suffered immense casualties.

She had only been able to offer that deal because the cat was a space user, and it had not killed a royal just yet. The Empire disliked everything non-human, and the cat wasn't even a mage but it was strong, and its elemental powers would be useful.

Of the other strongholds many mid and high rankers had died. Among the casualties were even three Archmages, and twenty-five royals as well as most of their personal protectors.

The army was in shambles, and the Hunters were as good as extinct, but humanity had served one more day.

The seven surviving royals now stood one step closer to sitting on the golden throne, but only two of them still had any fight left in them. The first prince of the Empire, Perseur Hemperyngs was one of them.

He was the closest thing to a crown prince the Empire had. He had achieved Rank Eight, and unlike his siblings, he never considered himself above the common man. He also did not arrive here with his other siblings, as he had already been stationed at one of the strongholds as a Major General.

The man was strong, vigilant, and determined to protect the civilians behind the fortifications, as well as his own soldiers. He also provided help to the Hunters whenever he could.

The other survivor, who still cared about the crown, was Veronica. She was only at the Seventh Rank, but unlike her brother, who was well above his hundreds, she was in her late twenties.

She also held the title of Second Princess, not because of age, but because she was the second most supported candidate. She had no support in the army as the whole institution supported her brother, but she had the full backing of the Empire's only Magus, as well as from the Academy.

"We live to see another day people. When we get back to normalcy, I am buying you all as much booze as you can take." She said, hyping the crowd up.

She knew she was losing to her brother, and so she did the only thing she could think of, she made herself an icon for her people. She was a woman of the people, at least in their eyes, and as such, they wanted to see her on the throne.

"Come with me Lady Hemperyngs, you are required elsewhere." A Space Grand Mage came to pick her up. The same happened to Perseur, and they were both led to a mountain inside the Empire, where old man Silver was waiting for them.

"Sir, how may we help you?"

The First Prince asked. He knew the Magus wasn't on his side, but he never resented the man for his choices. If he lost to his sister, then he would focus his full attention on helping her become the best Empress she could possibly be.

The old man looked at him and sighed.

"This is why I don't support you, boy, you are a good person. Politics is for filth like your sister over there." He said as he pointed to Veronica.

The woman nodded without a hint of shame. She knew why the man was supporting her, and quite frankly she didn't care.

"I have some good news and some bad news, and as tradition dictates, I will start with the bad news. Your father is a traditionalistic pig, who would rather run the Empire to the ground than to see a woman on the throne." He said, with clear disgust in his voice.

The prince protested as he held some respect for his father.

"Shut up boy! Do you know what he wanted to do? He wanted to wed you to Diana, to 'use the mongrel to for her intended purpose'." The Magus said, and both of the royals looked at him wide-eyed.

They knew who Diana was, Veronica, because she had a lot of ties to the Academy, and Perseur because he knew all of his siblings.

The practice of inbreeding was frowned upon, but otherwise completely legal in the Empire, mostly because old and powerful traditionalists still lived and ruled it.

"I take my words back, he is scum. How do I prevent this, if you need me to give up on my right to succession I will." Perseur said without a hint of hesitation, making Veronica curse him out in her mind for the millionth time.

'How did such a decent men get to where he is goddamn it. If it was anyone else I would not have hesitated to have him killed already.' She thought.

Veronica, as well as most of the royal family, loved the First Prince. He upheld his morals from the day he was born, and never made compromises when it came to doing the right thing.

Even someone as shrewd as his sister couldn't bring herself to harm her big idiot of a brother.

"Don't worry boy, you don't have to do anything. I took her in as an apprentice, but that only bought her a few years at best. The bastard actually asked The Sun to send her on a trial, to see if she was worthy of the Royal name. Gods are creatures of laws, and so our God agreed, but he told me how I could screw up your dad's plan." The old man laughed menacingly.

" I had her partner up with a little brat and had them form a temporary partnership bond. The idea was for her to hide as his 'partner ' for a few years, and by then she would have been strong enough to refuse his orders." He said, rage and regret taking over his voice.

"But the brat actually fell in love with her, and overwrote my contract, offering her a permanent one, and that dumb girl actually took it. So now your sister is married to a child, and thanks to them technically being in a trial, I couldn't interfere." He said, as he kicked the mountain, and shattered half of it. The Magus was truly pissed.

The two royals looked at each other not knowing how to respond to any of this. Before long Veronica just asked what both of them wanted to know.

"You sound like that isn't the case anymore, why don't you just separate them?"

Silver was about to respond when a man with green skin and answers showed up and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Because interfering in the love life of our kids is wrong, and because, Ra used his one command over me and my sister already. And if I so much as feel him trying something funny, this old man will never come in touch with anything silver ever again." Eleftherios said with a laugh.

Ciaran and Diana had not only passed their trial, but they also did it with a year left. The Sun God was more than a little impressed, so he fully supported their relationship.

The space Archmage teleported next to the two royals and took them aside.

"Don't mind both of them. They might not look it, but they were fellow disciples of Ra long ago. My name is Verdania, and you were chosen for the very important task of babysitting our kid. More specifically, making sure he and Diana do not do anything they aren't supposed to rush into. And yes, we are that kind of meddling parents, but our kid is not even twelve yet so shut up." She said, very agitated as she was simultaneously watching kids cuddle while talking to the royals.

The prince and the princess were lost. They understood what these people were asking of them, what they didn't know was why the Magus was allowing them to walk all over him.

"Sir, um, are you… are you Eleftherios, the healer?" Perseur asked, his mouth dry.

The dryad just looked at him, not expecting to be recognized.

"Yeah, I am also the God of Life, and more importantly, the Master of Ciaran Clades, the boy you will be looking after." He said releasing his power in full. He wasn't as strong as Ra, but he was very close to him. And Silver was nowhere near this monstrous level of power, so his knees gave in and he fell down.

"I don't appreciate the fact this old weasel put my disciple in such a peculiar position, and I was planning to slather you all, and ask Ma for help if Ra decided to help." He said shocking everyone, even Mother Nature who was eavesdropping.

"But my boy has found love, and I am a supportive person, very forgiving too. So how about it kids, do you want to save your family by paying for this man's sins?" He asked, with a smile extending from one ear to the other.