Ley's Madness (5)

Hey guys, Aidka's here.

It has been a long time since the last time I made an announcement, but I guess it's finally time to share my situation.

Firstly, I want to apologize for the lack of releases during the last year. There were a couple of reasons behind it, but still, I think you deserve an apology.

Honestly, I like writing. I remember I wrote my first story when I was a child. It was a silly tale, inspired by the first Harry Potter movie I watched, but I was really happy when I wrote it. This love continued as I grew, and finally, a couple of years ago, I started writing Fourth Prince during college.

Unfortunately, life is not only about hobbies. After finishing college, I got a job, and it meant that my free time was reduced considerably. Even so, I still continued writing. At some point, I was writing around 30 chapters every week in my free time after working.

As a result, I started to feel really burned out. 

Honestly, during the last one hundred chapters of Fourth Prince, my life had turned into waking up to work, coming back in the afternoon to sit on my computer to write, and then going to sleep. Writing had become another job.

I still enjoyed writing, but when the responsibilities in my job increased, my free time decreased, and my motivation went downhill.

Even so, I still love writing. That is the reason I tried posting a couple of chapters every month despite everything.

Fortunately, the pressure on my job has reduced lately, and I have more free time again, thus, I'm planning to resume the regular releases.

My plan is to focus only on one series (this one). I don't think I have the motivation to work on two series at the same time as before.

Am I going to drop Science/Magic then? No, of course not.

I plan to release one of two chapters of S/M occasionally until ending it. It may take me one or two years, but still, I don't want to leave it incomplete. I plan to do the same with the side stories of Fourth Prince.

About the schedule, it will be five chapters every week starting next week, but it may increase depending on the earnings of P@treon.

Finally, I want to give a huge thanks to the few people who continued to support my P@treon even though I was not posting. It was just a few bucks, but that is part of the reason I don't want to drop any of the series. I don't want to disappoint your trust in me.

I'm really thankful for your support, and with a bit of luck, we will see more regular releases from here onwards.

Love, Aidka~

...

When I found Ley and saw her attacking Andrew and Karime, I knew something had gone terribly wrong.

She was the same little sister I knew. Her black hair, beautiful obsidian eyes, and petite body were the same as I remembered, but something was different.

Something… ominous was coming out of her.

"Brother!" She exclaimed when she saw me. Her eyes lit up in joy, and her ice-cold expression melted into a sweet one. "Did you come to find me?"

I nodded while walking toward my spear.

"Of course. How can I stay put when I hear my little sister asking for help?"

"Hehe, that makes me happy. But you don't need to worry, as you can see, I'm fine."

"Yeah. I can see." I forced myself to smile, but I could hardly hide my killing intent.

In fact, Andrew and Karime, who were behind me, had turned slightly pale due to it.

"It's great that you are here, brother. Now we can spend the rest of the dungeon dive together, just the two of us. It will be really fun."

"It will." I smiled softly and extended my hand to her. "Let's go, we need to hurry up if with want to get first place."

"Okay." Ley smiled brilliantly. "But first, why don't you move aside, brother? I must kill these two first."

I fell silent.

"… Must you really do this?" I asked a brief moment later.

Ley stared at me for several seconds before smiling bitterly.

"I thought you would understand, brother."

"…"

"That bitch, she dared to play with your feelings and almost caused your death. She deserves to die."

I could feel Karime stiffening behind me.

"That was not her fault. It was just a coincidence."

"Don't defend her." Ley's eyes turned cold. "Could it be that you still like her? Yeah, that must be."

"Ley…"

"As expected, I am right. She must die."

"Ley."

"Anyone who tries to take my brother from me must die!"

Mana erupted out of Ley. An amount unimaginable of mana surged out, flooding the surroundings with her aura.

I grabbed my spear and released my mana too.

"Are you going to fight me, brother? Because of that bitch?"

"I don't want to fight you. Just come with me, we don't need to pay attention to them."

"I will, but first, I must kill her."

[It's useless, she has been contaminated too deeply.] The demon spoke in my mind. [The seed has amplified her negative emotions to the extreme. Her jealousy and obsession with you will make her act irrationally.] 

I gritted my teeth in rage.

That bastard. How does he dare to do this to my sister?

[Calm down. Your priority now is to subjugate her.]

'I know.'

"Andrew, it looks like I will need your help."

My best friend grinned.

"Of course, so, what is the plan?"

"Simple, just help me to reach her."

"Understood."

"Are you determined to stop me, brother?" Ley asked with a heartbroken expression.

"I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter." She shook her head and glared at Karime with hatred. "Everything is her fault. Once she is killed, everything will return to normal!"

Extending her hand, she released a torrent of mana toward her.

Andrew jumped in front of me and swung his sword to cut it. At the same time, I charged with my spear and attacked her.

But Ley just extended her hand in my direction and my movements stopped. She then swung her hand aside, throwing me against the ground.

I hurriedly clad my body with mana to resist the blow.

"Ugh."

Even so, I felt all my internal organs shaking. 

[Be careful!] The demon warned me, and an invisible attack descended from above to crush me.

I reacted quickly and kicked the ground to dash aside and avoid the attack.

In the meanwhile, Andrew was being targeted by several invisible attacks while the alligators jumped at him between the attacks.

Fortunately, Karime was helping him to stop the alligators using barriers of ice, but her sporadic interventions only made the situation a bit more manageable.

'When did Ley become so powerful?' I asked myself in disbelief.

[It's due to the seed. It looks like it's especially compatible with her skill and has allowed her to take her powers to a whole new level. You will need to be careful while fighting her.]

"Understood."

After replying to the demon, I charged my sister again.

She once more tried to use the same method to stop me, but this time I was ready. 

I managed to sense the invisible attack thanks to [Understanding] and filled my spear with lightning, using it to deflect the attack.

Next, I unleashed [Killing Aura] on her to create an opening.

As long as I managed to stiffen her movements for even a brief instant, I could use that opening to get close to her.

But to my surprise, Killing Aura was completely useless.

Instead, I felt something rushing through it to invade my soul.

[Cut it off, now!]

I don't hesitate and cut off the strand of consciousness.

My back was filled with cold sweat. 'Was I almost contaminated by the seed?'

[Don't use soul-related abilities on her. You could get infected too.]

I grunted in understanding and jumped aside, evading another attack.

"Does it mean I can't use any of Confidence's derivate skills?"

[Understanding should be alright as long as you don't come into contact with her, as for the rest, it's best if you don't use them.]

I clicked my tongue.

Confidence was a core part of my fighting style. If I can't use it, my combat power is reduced by a lot.

And judging from the situation, just using my other abilities is not enough to subjugate Ley.

In her current state, Ley was strong enough to fight the three of us by herself, moreover, she was not at a disadvantage.

Quite the opposite, as the battle continued, she was slowly gaining the advantage.

I felt as though she was growing stronger in real-time.

I looked around the battlefield while avoiding Ley's attacks and took a deep breath.

"Demon, I think I will have to break my promise."

[Are you planning to use them?]

I nodded.

[You know the consequences, right?]

"I do."

The demon fell silent for a brief moment before sighing.

[Do it, then. Leave the consequences to the future you to worry about.]

I chuckled.

"Sounds good."

In the next instant, the two tattoos on my body lit up.

"Saphire, Scarlet, I need your help."

[Mm!] 

[Meow~!]

And my two partners joined the battlefield.

...

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