Vol 3. Chapter 113: A Daughter’s Dilemma
“Mmm...”
Little Liyu pursed her lips, and a conflicted, uneasy expression immediately appeared on her small face.
According to the original plan, Xue Tianao was supposed to be eliminated by Xiao alone. However, considering that the Child of Destiny might possess numerous hidden trump cards, Xiao had prepared several contingency plans before carrying out the operation. One of them involved having the sisters Limo and Liyu join the fight and beat Xue Tianao senseless together.
Naturally, Limo and Liyu were more than willing to seize an opportunity to brutally beat up the Child of Destiny, or even directly erase this existence who threatened their mother.
But despite their willingness, they were also extremely hesitant.
After all, because the aura of divine power could greatly stimulate the ferocity of Abyss Demons and potentially cause them to lose control and launch hysterical attacks, Yumo had warned Liyu and the other children long ago that they were not allowed to attack the Chosen Ones without permission.
When they had informed Mother about this plan, they had only told her that Xiao would personally take action.
Although Mother was usually adorably cute, incomparably gentle, and very easy to talk to, she absolutely hated having to repeat herself. If she had told you something many times and you still refused to listen, then Mother would no longer show you any mercy. For example, Second Brother, who had repeatedly gone out looking for fights, and Big Sister Limo, who spent all day thinking about eating Braves, had been subjected to ‘severe punishment’ more than once...
Afterward, their butts had been so red!
Liyu knew this very well.
But just now, after Xue Tianao summoned two demigod alchemical puppets, Liyu had still resolutely charged forward. After all, in her opinion, if they could successfully eliminate this existence who threatened Mother's life, then even if her butt got beaten raw afterward, what did it matter?
Thus, Liyu released the Shadow of Silence Power within her body and transformed into her ‘Deathwing’ form before charging onto the battlefield.
Judging from the result, Xue Tianao was finished.
Their objective could be considered accomplished.
However, after completing the mission and listening to Xiao's words, Liyu immediately began feeling anxious again. Before taking action, she had sounded so righteous and fearless, completely unafraid of ‘death,’ but now that it was over and she realized that she might actually have to face punishment from the ‘feather duster,’ Liyu instinctively became uneasy...
Moreover,
if she thought about it carefully?!
Hadn't Mother just eliminated Xue Tianao not far away? Now that Xue Tianao was gone, wouldn't Mother come rushing over very soon?!
At this thought, Liyu sucked in a breath of cold air and lowered her head to look at her body, which was wrapped in tattered cloth.
‘Oh no. I feel like... I'm doomed...’
At this moment, Liyu discovered, almost on the verge of tears, that her body reeked of blood...
Not only the Child of Destiny's blood, but also the blood of a large number of other soldiers from the Imperial Capital.
Her own condition was one thing.
The bloody scent coming from Big Sister Limo was even stronger. And it wasn't just the smell—there were even traces of blood left at the corners of Big Sister Limo's mouth...
What did that mean?
Wasn't it obvious?
If Mother came over right this second, they wouldn't even have time to clean up the evidence of their crimes!!!
For a moment, Little Liyu's adorable emerald eyes were filled with a sense of ‘tragic resolve.’
Looking at the little wolf cub in her arms, who knew absolutely nothing about what was happening and was even happily delighted after eating her fill, Liyu couldn't help giving her a speechless look.
Raising her hand to rub the little white wolf, who was currently sticking out her tongue, Liyu helplessly let out a long sigh.
“Big Sister... You actually still dare to sit here smiling...”
“Meowu??”
Hearing Liyu's words, the little white wolf tilted her head in confusion and looked at her younger sister, her crimson eyes filled with bewilderment.
At that,
Liyu had already given up on trying to explain. Instead, she hugged the little white wolf tightly and anxiously looked ahead, toward the place where she could sense Mother's aura. While waiting for Mother to arrive, Liyu's mind began racing as she considered how she could reasonably argue her way out of this.
She even wondered...
whether, if necessary, she should sell out her big sister...
‘Meowu??’
Perhaps suddenly sensing a chill, the little white wolf's ears abruptly perked up. With a start, she turned around and looked at her younger sister behind her.
However, after waiting for several seconds, Liyu frowned.
Because at that moment, the Demon King-class little girl suddenly realized that Mother didn't seem to be coming over at all?
Her aura had remained in the same place the entire time?
“Hmm? What's going on?”
Confused, Liyu couldn't help turning to Xiao beside her with a pleading look.
“Could it be... because Mother personally killed the Child of Destiny? Maybe she's too conflicted about it?”
In response, Xiao merely shook his head helplessly.
“It's possible, but who knows?”
As he spoke, Xiao helplessly glanced sideways at the two sisters, whose bodies were covered in blood.
“Anyway, Lady Yumo doesn't seem to have any intention of coming straight over. You two might as well use this opportunity to clean yourselves up and think about how you're going to explain yourselves.”
“Mm... That's true.”
Seeing that Yumo hadn't come directly over and caught them red-handed with evidence of their crimes all over their bodies, Liyu was confused inside, but she still couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
However,
when she saw Xiao turn around to leave, Liyu curiously asked,
“Xiao? Where are you going? Aren't you going to report the results to Mother?”
“What's there to report? Besides, just to be safe, there are still some things outside the city that I need to take care of.”
“Outside the city? Hmm?”
Hearing this, Liyu frowned slightly.
“But what about inside the city...”
“There's no need to worry about the city. Lady Karina, your big sister, will take care of everything. Now that Xue Tianao is gone, that old bastard won't be able to stir up much trouble either.”
As he spoke, waves of grayish-white magical power rippled around Xiao. With the support of flight magic, he suddenly transformed into a gray meteor and shot toward the outskirts of the city.
“Mmm... All right.”
Muttering softly, Liyu thoughtfully looked in the direction of the Imperial Prison.
To completely dismantle the Snow Night Empire's power, killing the Child of Destiny alone wasn't enough. The Grand General, who was supported by countless citizens, also had to be eliminated. At this moment, that Grand General should, according to plan, be underground fighting Big Sister Karina.
Although her own Third Sister was currently fighting the true strongest person in the Snow Night Empire, Liyu felt no disturbance whatsoever in her heart and wasn't worried in the slightest.
She knew very well just how powerful her big sister was.
Rather than worrying about Karina,
she would be better off spending more time thinking about how to argue her case with Mother.
No, wait, not argue her case—explain herself...
Otherwise, her butt was doomed.
At this thought, Little Liyu couldn't help shuddering all over. She reached behind herself and rubbed her soft, pale little butt, which was still perfectly unharmed for the moment.
--
Meanwhile,
inside the Imperial Prison, a bizarre scene was slowly unfolding.
Under normal circumstances, a battle between two top Eighth-Tier powerhouses would be enough to devastate heaven and earth. If they fought underground, the shockwaves from their battle would cause unprecedented landslides and earthquakes. Skyvault above them would undoubtedly be reduced to ruins in an instant amid the terrifying tremors.
However,
at this moment, after the first few exchanges had ended, the entire interior of the Imperial Prison had fallen into an eerie silence. It didn't resemble a battlefield where two supreme experts were fighting in the slightest.
Yet within this silent Imperial Prison floated an enormous fireball blazing with raging flames.
Other than that, there was no sign whatsoever of either Karina or Luokefei anywhere on the battlefield.
Saiboke-Baniya, who was silently watching the show from not far away, remained completely indifferent. With graceful composure, he picked up his teacup, brought it to his lips, and gently took a sip.
Compared to Saiboke-Baniya, the dozens of Black Rose Family members who had just arrived as reinforcements were completely bewildered. They stared in confusion at the group of their colleagues sitting on the ground drinking tea, with Saiboke-Baniya at their head.
After the corner of his eye twitched for a moment, one brown-haired man who looked like a squad captain finally couldn't resist asking,
“Um, Lord Saiboke-Baniya? Didn't you say Lady Karina was... was fighting that Grand General?”
“She is.”
Saiboke-Baniya replied calmly.
“Look. Isn't she right over there?”
As he spoke, Saiboke-Baniya pointed toward the enormous blazing sun floating not far away.
“Huh?”
Those words immediately left the brown-haired man completely bewildered. After carefully sensing the situation around the fireball, the man became even more confused.
“Um, just this fireball? Isn't this something Lady Karina left behind to keep you warm, Lord Saiboke-Baniya? After all, your health really isn't very good. You're old and frail.”
“...”
Saiboke-Baniya's eyebrow twitched slightly.
“If you don't know how to talk, then don't...”
“S-Sorry, Lord Saiboke-Baniya... This subordinate was only curious. Isn't this... isn't this just a mass of fire Lady Karina left behind? There aren't any powerful aura fluctuations at all, and I can't sense that old bastard Luokefei's aura either.”
“You people were... from the batch trained more than twenty years ago?”
“Hmm? Y-Yes.”
“Oh. No wonder.”
Saiboke-Baniya nodded to himself, leaving the brown-haired man utterly confused.
“Hmm? Lord Saiboke-Baniya, I don't quite understand what you mean... What happened more than twenty years ago?”
“Nothing. It's just that by the time your batch began training, Lady Karina had already left the Great Winter Forest. You've never seen Lady Karina before, so it's only natural that you'd ask something like that.”
As he spoke, Saiboke-Baniya slowly put down the teacup in his hand and raised his hand to point toward the blazing crimson sun ahead.
“That is Lady Karina's Domain, ‘Scorching Hell.’ It's an ability that can drag an enemy into her Domain, pull them into her own independent space, and then beat them senseless inside. Although everything looks perfectly calm from the outside, there's an entirely different world inside.”
“I-Is that so?... Hmm? But if that's the case, doesn't that mean Lady Karina is fighting alone inside that space? Her opponent is the Grand General! Back then, he was the one who repelled Lord Piere! Can Lady Karina really win?”
“...”
Hearing this, Saiboke-Baniya turned his head and gave the young man behind him a speechless look.
“Repelled Lord Piere, huh...”
Mmm...
Come to think of it, there did seem to be such a story circulating within the Snow Night Empire...
But repelled?
The people of the Snow Night Empire really had no shame, did they?
Back then, Lord Piere had clearly fled with his tail between his legs because Lady Yumo had lost her temper...
What the hell did that have to do with Luokefei?