Richard was still busy crying over his father and brother's corpses. Although he did have a bold and self-centered personality, he never disliked his brother nor his father.
Unlike many other royals who would scheme and fight to be the prince instead of their sibling, Richard had no such thoughts. Even his father never remarried after his mother's death. Even though it led to Richard having a bit of a self-centered and bold personality, in short, they were a happy family.
He moved his palm towards them, wanting to caress their hair one last time. But the moment his fingers touched his father's head, it separated slightly, revealing a horrifying truth: they had actually been beheaded.
Richard's eyes widened in terror, and he cried out even more loudly, his screams of agony echoing through the room as he ignored his surroundings completely.
But Scarlett and Xao were definitely keeping an eye on everything. They could feel the malicious gazes and the dark thoughts brewing in many of the people present in the room.
"I don't think we should let him stay here much longer!" Xao whispered slightly, her voice tense.
Scarlett nodded, her own senses on high alert. "I think so too!"
They waited for another half an hour, hoping to give Richard time to let out his sorrow. But even after half an hour, he was not showing any signs of slowing down at all. It was like he had an endless amount of tears and sorrow stored inside him.
Scarlett felt genuinely puzzled, wondering how she would ever be able to pull Richard away from this.
But before she could say anything,
BAM!...
A big hole suddenly formed in the ceiling of the throne room. A man with golden hair, violet eyes, and a weird outfit descended through the dust and debris. He was, without a doubt, Vladimir himself. He held his legendary gravity sword, 'Caseoh,' in his hand, ready to swing.
It felt like time itself had slowed down. Instead of blocking or attacking back, Scarlett's instincts screamed at her. She immediately grabbed Xao's hand and ran towards Richard, touching him on the back.
"Teleport!" she whispered, and the next second, they disappeared into thin air.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Vladimir stopped himself by sliding on the floor for a few meters, his sword kicking up sparks.
"Shit, they got away!" he stomped his feet in pure anger.
The others in the room looked at him in both shock and caution. But before anyone could say anything, they all froze in place, not moving at all, as if time itself had stopped.
And the next second, from the hole that Vladimir had made, Vesilisa suddenly appeared, dashing down with incredible speed.
"No point. They got away. But she must have teleported to either DreadHaven or Darwitz!" Vladimir said with a frustrated sigh.
But Vesilisa looked at him with an angry face. "I came here because of you! Don't just go and attack so recklessly, you might have ended up dying instead!" she said, her voice full of frustration.
"What do you mean die? Did you not see how she ran away?" Vladimir said defensively.
"Only because she had things to protect!" Vesilisa shouted, her voice sharp like a teacher scolding a student. "Otherwise, Igris wouldn't have been defeated and captured so easily!"
She had no intention of coming here to attack Scarlett. It was only because after hearing about Igris being defeated and captured by Scarlett, Vladimir had made this reckless decision. Vesilisa calmed her anger and let out a long breath. "Orihime got killed too. It seems anyone related to her is kinda special!"
"How about we attack DreadHaven instead?" Vladimir suggested, a hopeful look on his face.
"You wanna fight the first demon king?" Vesilisa's lips twitched as she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Vladimir immediately raised both of his hands in surrender. "Oops, I forgot!"
For the Holy Knights and Vladimir, their combined power could defeat other demon kings and even hold back the third demon king, Asmodeus. As for the second demon king, his territory wasn't on this planet, so it was more likely that he wouldn't care much about it. And by the time he did, it would be too late.
One of the core reason why the Holy Knights and Vladimir had been waiting until now was none other than the first demon king, Avion.
"Don't worry. We have collected enough souls," Vesilisa replied solemnly. "Once the ritual succeeds, the true goddess of time will take care of the first demon king and provide us our reward for all our hardships."
"I can only hope. The souls are only in the millions. Can that really please a true dragon?" Vladimir asked, his voice filled with doubt.
In return, Vesilisa shot him an angry glare, her eyes intense. Vladimir immediately looked away and tried to change the topic.
"W-what about Arthur? Did he kill Auren and get revenge for Thomas?" Vladimir asked, trying to sound casual.
Vesilisa shook her head. "He'll arrive there by morning. And as for whether we kill him or join hands, it will depend on his answer!" she replied, her voice emotionless.
At first, Vladimir nodded, but then he immediately felt puzzled. "By morning? Can't he just cut space and go there directly?"
Vesilisa was about to say something, but then she felt puzzled herself, as if realizing how strange the words sounded.
"Umm... He said, he wants to aura farm!" she slowly replied, a bit awkwardly.
"Aura farm? What's that?" Vladimir asked, completely confused.
"I don't know. Must be some otherworldly word that we can't understand!" Vesilisa replied, feeling just as awkward.
Vladimir sighed and waved his hand. "Resume the time."
Vesilisa did the same, and everyone in the room started moving again like nothing had ever happened. Vladimir raised his hands and clapped loudly. "Everyone, give your attention to me!"
As everyone's gazes landed on him, he activated his unique skill.
---
Meanwhile, Scarlett teleported back to Aoto's room. Although the room had been almost completely destroyed during the start of the fight between Orihime and Aoto, Aoto had used his unique skill to restore it to its original form, along with all his belongings.
Seeing the hasty face of Scarlett and the tense face of Xao, Richard, who was still on his knees, felt his sobbing slow down at the sight of Aoto and the others.
"Why did you teleport me? At least you should have let me bury them!" he said while stuttering, his voice thick with grief.
Scarlett only sighed. She knew Richard didn't even know that Vladimir himself had shown up there.
"So where do I start!" Scarlett said, her voice heavy. She then began to explain what had happened at Almeida.
Richard fell into a deep silence. He gloomily stood up, walked to the bed, and sat on the edge of it, looking down at the floor with empty eyes.
"And we still don't know what they are trying to do?" Aoto added, forcing a dry, humorless smile.
"And it is pissing me off so much!" Scarlett clenched her fist in anger, her frustration boiling over.
"Honey? Thank you so much for saving me!" Irish said, running dramatically towards Scarlett and completely ignoring the tense situation. She hugged her neck and leaned in close, her eyes closed, clearly expecting a kiss.
But Scarlett slightly dragged her face away. "It's not the time or place to kiss, haha," Scarlett whispered awkwardly, trying to gently push her off.
Irish immediately backed off, understanding what Scarlett was trying to say.
The atmosphere grew even more awkward with each passing second. This was especially true for Li Feng. Other than Scarlett and her sister Xao, he didn't know anyone, and he wasn't on good terms with Scarlett either. He was clearly feeling very out of place.
But his eyes were locked on Irish. "So this is her human wife? Black hair and black eyes. She is very beautiful indeed," Li Feng thought to himself. At this point, even Li Feng mistook that Irish's hair and eyes were pitch black.
"I need to report this to Sister Reiza as soon as possible. She's going to face even more tough competition soon," Xao thought quietly to herself, thinking something very similar to Li Feng.
Meanwhile, breaking the awkward silence, Ingrassia added, "How about we meet my father? Maybe we can ask something to him. He is a king, so maybe he might know something. Not to forget, we also need to report this matter to him!"
"Good idea!" Aoto and Chiyoko added at the same time.
They went to the royal palace of Darwitz and directly met the king in his personal room. Ingrassia began to talk about what had happened, keeping it short and to the point. As the king heard it, his eyes couldn't help but widen.
"Will I get attacked too? Is there any chance for me to survive a Holy Knight?" The thoughts alone made him shudder. As he thought this, Ingrassia placed her palm on his thigh. The sudden touch almost made him jump up, but he held himself still.
"Father, do you know anything about why this is happening?" she asked.
The king looked at her and at everyone else present in the room and shook his head. "Both the captain and vice-captain of the Holy Knights are from Almeida. The king might have known something, but now it's useless!" he sighed and looked down.
"Nothing to gain here too!" Aoto sighed in disappointment.
Li Feng also wanted to say something, but fearing Scarlett and Xao, he didn't dare to say anything.
"Umm... Can you all leave for a minute? I need to talk something with Lady Scarlett in private!" the king said nervously, rubbing his palms together.
"Umm... okay!" Ingrassia slowly agreed and stood up. Since Scarlett didn't say anything, they took it as a yes, and with her, everyone followed outside of the room.
The king closed the door and came to Scarlett. "Umm... I was actually thinking, it would be wonderful if Darwitz and DreadHaven would collaborate to face Vladimir. In the future, maybe we can have trade agreements and peace treaties as well!" he said while looking around nervously.
Scarlett raised one eyebrow doubtfully. "And how come you became so generous?"
"Haha, I'm not being generous. Maybe in return, you can protect me for the next few weeks. You know, a king needs to survive for all the agreements to be valid!" he said with a dry laugh and gave a half-assed excuse.
But Scarlett didn't give it any more thought. "I refuse. I got other important works to do," Scarlett said and started walking towards the door.
The king immediately followed her in a panic. "Wait a minute! Not you, then send at least one of your strongest subordinates to protect me," he said in a hurry and panic.
"C'mon, this place is like your first home. We let you stay here safely, enrolled you into the academy, you studied, you made friends... it is like a homeland," he added.
The moment Scarlett heard it, her footsteps stopped, one step before the door. Seeing her stop, a smile appeared on his face. "Yes, we are like a distant family. Think about your best friend Aoto. I'm his future father-in-law!" he added to further manipulate her.
But then Scarlett turned back. Her eyes were furious as she walked quickly towards him and grabbed him by the neck, hurling him into the air like he weighed nothing.
"What bullshits are you spouting, you old fuck?" she said angrily.