ON the east side of the imperial capital of Celaeno, there stood a building shaped like a dome. Usually, it was used as a venue for whatever large events the city had going on, but today, it was being used as a battlefield for the duel. It was a colossal structure, and it had enough space to accommodate a sizable number of spectators.
And today, inside that gigantic structure sat a middle-aged man with fierce, red hair and a thick mustache. It was Lord Rockwell Elestial, the individual credited with the advancement of Celaeno as a developed nation, as well as being well-known for his underhanded ways of granting any and every one of his daughter’s requests.
However, at that moment, his face was deathly pale, and he was clutching a large handkerchief in both hands.
“Cornelia, my sweet… How…? How did it turn out this way…?” he sobbed.
Why would my daughter duel the crown prince?
When he first heard her idea to duel Sirius, he’d laughed. He genuinely thought she was joking, so he laughed. Laughed. Now, he couldn’t laugh even if he tried.
Naturally, he thought it was a terrible idea for her to duel Prince Sirius. He’d made arrangements for Cornelia’s withdrawal, but Sirius’ response to her challenge came even quicker. He’d gladly accepted her challenge. When Lord Elestial had read his letter, overwhelming dizziness assaulted him.
He wasn’t the only one who was uncomfortable with this whole situation, either. Some spectators had wide-eyed, frightened looks in their eyes, while others’ clouded over with anxiety. Among them was Raven, clutching a small vial of medicine for his stomach. He’d been sent by Uranometria to watch the duel in his place, seeing as he couldn’t leave the palace for any amount of time, but Raven wasn’t pleased about it.
“Yeesh…we can never tell Marialite this happened. She’d be distraught,” he muttered.
In the middle of the battlefield stood two figures. One was a beautiful young man with doll-like features and silvery hair, while the other was a gorgeous woman with vermillion hair and cat ears.
The murderous glare they shared was almost palpable. Crowds of spectators were leaving the building, unable to bear the taste of bloodlust they exuded. However, in between their furious glares, a thin, white bubble of light enveloped each of them.
“I thought I said these wouldn’t be necessary,” Sirius frowned, slapping the inside of the bubble with the palm of his hand in displeasure. They were exceptionally strong magical barriers cast by Uranometria himself.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Cornelia quipped. “To think all it would take to win is to destroy your barrier first… I see that His Majesty can be quite the coward. I would have killed you,” she spat, glaring at the barrier that encased her.
“There’s one thing I must ask you,” Sirius called out. “What do you want Lady Marialite for?”
“It’s not that I want her,” she cackled. “I simply wish to make her my toy to play with. And, besides, I can’t deny that I’ve always wished I could face off against the Celestial Dragon for real.”
“I won’t let you have her.”
“But if you win, I shall gracefully authorize your marriage to Lady Marialite. Even so, I won’t go easy on you simply because you’re royalty.”
“I won’t hold back an inch, either,” he vowed. “I took an oath, after all; I will make her happy.”
“You’re quite the persistent one, aren’t you?” Cornelia said with a look of disdain. “If you’re not careful, Lady Marialite will get sick of you before long.”
“Shut up, you wicked woman,” he growled. “Lady Marialite will end up hating the likes of you long before that ever happens.”
The spectators were bewildered by what was unfolding before them. For one thing, if Cornelia wanted to marry Sirius, she was making an enemy of the worst possible person—the man himself. And he was really concentrating on the fact that she’d specifically chosen not to fight Marialite.
If her goals hadn’t changed, then why would she alter her plans to destroy Marialite?
“Before we begin, Cornelia, I’ll give you one piece of advice: try not to die.”
The moment he finished his sentence, a terrifying maelstrom of electricity whirled around Cornelia. It coiled around her like a snake, threatening to close in on her as a thunderous roar rumbled through the air.
The same thought ran through the entire audience’s minds at that moment: we’ll be trapped under rubble by the end of this.
“C-Cornelia!” Lord Elestial cried out, jumping to his feet. He leaned out of the skybox and tried to drop down onto the field, but Raven stopped him.
“You’ll get zapped alive if you go down there right now,” he warned him coldly, putting a casual hand on his shoulder. In all honesty, if Lord Elestial got caught up in the fighting and got hurt as a result, he couldn’t care less.
“Silence! What sort of a parent would I be if I simply sat by and watched my daughter be killed?!” he barked in anger. Raven shrugged indifferently.
And what sort of a parent constantly caters to their daughter’s cruel, self-indulgent attitude without ever teaching her how to properly behave?
“I’m not sure you deserve to call yourself a parent, to be honest,” Raven scoffed.
“Excuse me?! How dare you criticize me! I am more than you will ever be! After this, I’ll have His Majesty throw you in prison!”
“Yeah, yeah, sure ya will,” he yawned. “Besides, your daughter ain’t so delicate as to let something like this defeat her.”
As though to prove his point, the tornado of electric energy surrounding Cornelia was dispersed by a sudden flood of water bursting out from the inside. Emerging from the chaos, Cornelia wore a fearless grin on her face as she summoned several wolves made of water from the palms of her hands.
Aiming for the throat, the wolves leaped at Sirius, but they were wrenched back down to the ground again when a mass of fresh, green ivy sprouted forth and coiled around their legs. They writhed and wriggled, but before they could escape, the ivy soaked up their water-formed bodies until eventually, they vanished.
Sirius’ eyes shifted, the color of his irises turning blood red as he focused on the fight.
Yet, despite the huge amounts of energy, both of their barriers remained unscathed.
“Hehe. How very impressive, Your Highness,” Cornelia chuckled. “Perhaps I really will have to start getting serious.”
“Surely you should be concentrating on the fight rather than using up precious time and energy to antagonize me,” Sirius said with a quirk of his eyebrow. “You might get so caught up in talking that you won’t notice me breaking your barrier.”
When it came to prattling off villain-like phrases, they were both as bad as each other. Sirius, in particular, was insinuating a lot more than was immediately apparent—but Raven could tell that meant he was planning to attack her and frame her death as a terrible accident.
That’d be bad. Really bad.
“Lord Sirius!” he called out in a panic. “This duel’s not gonna end with anything worse than a couple of scratches! Remember?!”
“Don’t meddle in your master’s affairs, Raven,” he growled.
“Don’t just play the ‘master’ role when it suits you!” he groaned. “Ugh. If you harm Lady Cornelia even a little, I’ll tell Marialite exactly what you did. You got that?!”
Sirius’ expression remained fierce, but Raven did notice his shoulders flinch a little.
It’s working.
“If she finds out you hurt someone in this silly little fight, she’ll be furious! No matter who your opponent is!”
Sirius fell silent for a moment, pursing his lips in deliberation.
“…Listen, Cornelia,” he began. “If I break your barrier, make a run for it as quickly as you can. Otherwise, I’ll make certain you have no future ahead of you.”
“My—are you genuinely scared of that fiancée of yours? That’s priceless. All she does is stand there with that idiotic smile plastered on her face,” she spluttered in reply.
“Lady Cornelia,” Raven said, turning his attention to her. “You’re no exception. If Marialite hears that you hurt His Highness, she definitely won’t let it slide. Remember that, yeah?”
“You needn’t worry,” she smirked. “Once I penetrate Prince Sirius’ barrier, I shall gracefully end the duel there. I can’t be leaving any scars on a prince’s face now, can I?”
Thanks to Marialite—who wasn’t even there—it appeared as though they could avoid any bloodshed. As soon as Raven sat back in relief, Sirius conjured a huge black cloud above his head, the wispy outlines of it sparking with brief flashes of violet lightning when an electrically charged dragon swooped down from it.