Shane's words made Sern snort. Her heterochromatic eyes gleamed coldly in the sunlight. She took a step forward, but the guards gathered in front of the Princess blocked her path.
“Halt!”
Swords unsheathed, the guards formed a semicircle, pointing their blades at Sern. The captain of the guard's face was grim, his voice laced with clear anger: “Knight! Attacking the Imperial Princess is a grave crime. You had best surrender immediately!”
However, Sern acted as if she hadn't heard a thing, taking another step forward. Her greatsword dragged along the sand, its tip carving a straight furrow through the yellow dunes.
“Sern.”
The Princess's voice came from behind the guards, cold and aloof. She had already drawn her own sword, pointing its tip directly at Sern. “If you take another step forward, you will be making an enemy of me. I hope you think this through.”
The Princess's gaze was exceptionally cold, her violet eyes devoid of any emotion.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the camp plummeted to absolute zero.
It seemed the Princess's words had actually worked. Sern did not advance any further. The tip of her greatsword remained planted in the sand. Standing in place, her gaze first landed on the Princess's face before slowly sweeping across the countenances of the surrounding guards.
Finally, the corners of her mouth curled upward into a slightly eerie smile.
Sern raised her left hand and clenched her fist. On the skin of the back of her hand, a silver-white rune began to glow. It was woven from intricate patterns of vines and flames, its edges radiating a soft golden light that lent it a sacred aura.
“She's going to summon her spirit companion!”
The Princess clearly recognized the rune on Sern's hand. Her pupils contracted, and she immediately barked an order to the surrounding guards: “Stop her!”
But it was clearly too late. The sky suddenly lit up as a brilliant beam of light descended from above, like a massive pillar connecting heaven and earth, enveloping Sern completely.
A beast's roar echoed from within the pillar of light, low and majestic. Faintly, a massive silhouette seemed to emerge.
Everyone instinctively took half a step back, clenching their teeth as their eyes remained glued to the pillar of light, waiting for the massive creature to step out.
“Grr-aoo...”
Yet, accompanied by a childish roar, a tiny creature hopped out from the center of the light.
Everyone froze in disbelief.
Before them stood a tiny white tiger barely half a meter long. Atop its round, chubby head was a short, golden horn, and two white wings were tucked neatly against its sides, every feather looking incredibly fluffy.
Its limbs were short and stubby. With every step of its soft paws, it left a tiny indentation in the sand, its tail tip swishing back and forth behind it.
The Princess blinked, looking at the spirit companion in surprise. To her knowledge, Sern's spirit companion was supposed to be a giant white tiger seven or eight meters long, which had played a major role in tearing down that city years ago.
But this thing in front of them?
To put it politely, it might be a spirit beast cub; to put it bluntly, it looked like nothing more than an ornamental pet.
Furthermore, it wasn't just the Princess—Sern was also dumbfounded.
She stared down at the little creature bouncing around her feet, a trace of bewilderment in her eyes. For as long as she could remember, her spirit companion had never changed its form. But now...
“Aoo!”
The little tiger looked up and let out a soft yip at Sern, then lowered its head and began rubbing it against her trouser leg, its little tail wagging like a blade of grass in the wind.
Sern froze. She could feel that the presence and consciousness of her spirit companion, White Fang, remained unchanged, but its size was less than a tenth of what it used to be, and its energy fluctuations were so weak they were almost illusory.
The Golden Sea. In an instant, Sern realized the issue had to be the Golden Sea. But right now, she couldn't afford to dwell on it. She gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to bend down and pet White Fang. Pointing her finger at Shane in the distance, she ordered, “White Fang, attack that necromancer.”
The little tiger tilted its head, seemingly processing the command. Then, it lifted its short legs and sprinted toward Shane.
The Princess watched it run past her feet, holding back the urge to intervene.
She knew that rather than fussing over the spirit companion, it was better to focus on capturing Sern. Once Sern was subdued, the issue with the spirit companion would resolve itself.
Therefore, she raised her sword and pointed it at Sern without hesitation. “Everyone, suppress Sern Lancaster with everything you've got!”
The guards moved in response, seven or eight of them advancing simultaneously, closing the formation.
But Sern's expression didn't change. She pulled her greatsword from the ground and swung it in a circle around her, the sheer wind from the blade forcing the foremost two guards back half a step.
She didn't counterattack, choosing instead to constantly shift her footing to evade. At the same time, her gaze remained locked onto the white figure rushing toward Shane in the distance.
Shane watched the little tiger bounding toward him, his cheek twitching slightly.
However, he didn't dare let his guard down in the slightest. Despite its fluffy, harmless appearance, he sensed an incredibly massive energy fluctuation from the cub. To him, it was no different than dozens of kilograms of mobile explosives.
%S%Raising his finger, Shane fired a Ray of Fear directly at the little tiger.
The dark green beam shot precisely toward the little tiger's face. Yet, the moment it struck its head, the cub simply shook its head and easily shrugged it off.
It didn't work?
Shane's mouth twitched. He immediately raised his hand to summon two skeletal hounds while backing away to open up some distance.
The two skeletal hounds burst from the sand, baring their fangs as they lunged at the little tiger.
However, with a crisp crack, the skeletal hounds crumbled into dust the instant they made contact with White Fang, their remains swept away by the wind.
Troublesome!
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Shane prepared to summon two more skeletons. But White Fang was faster than he had anticipated. Kicking off the sand with its four little legs, its tiny body leaped high into the air, soft paws outstretched, flying straight for Shane's face.
With no way to dodge, Shane could only raise his hands to block. Then, a warm sensation pressed into his palms.
Shane found himself holding the little creature up. Its front paws clung to his hands, its entire body suspended in mid-air, exposing its soft, pink belly right before his eyes.
Shane and White Fang stared at each other, both human and beast momentarily dazed. White Fang was the first to react, squirming its chubby body, but Shane instinctively tightened his grip, preventing it from breaking free. It could only kick its hind legs helplessly in the air.
“Aoo!”
White Fang let out an incredibly indignant howl, baring its few undeveloped, tiny fangs at Shane. Its pink tongue poked halfway out of its mouth, which, paired with its huffy expression, made it look inexplicably adorable.
Seeing that the little guy couldn't break free from his grip, Shane took the opportunity to glance over at the Princess. He found that Sern was still entangled with the guards, unable to break away for the moment.
It seemed he was safe for now.
Just as this thought crossed Shane's mind, his hands suddenly felt empty. White Fang vanished, and Sern, who had just been surrounded by the guards, suddenly appeared right in front of him.
She raised her greatsword high, a smug, triumphant look on her face as she bellowed, “Die!”
The greatsword crashed down. With no time to think, Shane could only raise his arms in an instinctive block.
He raised his arms in front of his chest. The Ring of the Exiled on his wrist was exposed, colliding directly with the descending blade of the greatsword.
Clang!
The deafening impact made Shane's eardrums ring, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
But immediately after, a cold, mechanical voice rang in his ears: “Destructive action toward the punishment device detected by prisoner Shane Leynas. Violation of the Exiled Management Regulations. Commencing punishment.”
In the next second, pale electrical currents erupted from the metal band, instantly swallowing both Shane and Sern.
Rate on N.U.
