Meanwhile, a similar shadow appeared at Cornelia’s feet, and a wolf several times bigger than the first one she summoned came jumping out of the darkness. Its body was covered in crystals of thick ice, and its icicle-like fangs glinted where they poked out of its snout.
The dome echoed with the roars and growls of the two beasts, and shards of ice went flying into the audience each time they clashed. The wolf latched onto the dragon’s neck with its huge, powerful jaws, but the dragon easily detached it with a swipe of its gigantic wings.
“Urgh…” Cornelia moaned quietly, staggering a little. A devilish smile remained unchanged on her face, but even so, her moment of weakness didn’t pass Sirius by.
“You’re far too easily incited,” he smirked. “You unleashed too much energy. If you keep on summoning beasts after such excessive use of magic, you may burn out completely.”
“A good opponent doesn’t worry for their enemy’s health,” she huffed. “Besides, you’re in the same position as me, are you not?”
“Am I?” he grinned mischievously. “How about you try me and find out? I’ll be happy to indulge you.”
At that moment, something in Cornelia’s gaze changed. In response, Sirius abandoned his taunts and instead continued speaking to her with a composed, gentle tone.
“But even if we keep on going, you have no chance of winning. It’s time to give up now, Cornelia.”
“I shan’t. I despise losing. Especially when I have something in my sights,” she insisted.
“What is it your sights are set on, then? The throne? Another toy to play with? Or—”
“You talk too much, Your Highness!” she cackled. At some point, a wolf had snuck behind Sirius, and was now charging at him at full speed to break through his barrier.
However, in the split second before its icy fangs reached him, an icicle came flying down from the night sky and pierced straight through the wolf’s armor of ice. Sirius didn’t even have to turn around to look at it; their fiery gazes remained locked as the wolf whimpered before disappearing into thin air.
“Unlike you, I have the capacity to deal with a pathetic beast while speaking. It’s not difficult,” he said with a smug smile.
“No… I won’t give up yet…” she snarled.
She tried to shoot fireballs from the palms of her hands, but all that came out was a wispy, thin stream of smoke. Her breathing grew ragged, frustration and exhaustion clawing at her; her magic energy had run so low, she couldn’t even produce fire anymore.
Eventually, she collapsed to her knees, her body weakened. Sirius let his eyes close calmly.
“If you want to attract Lady Marialite’s attention, you should come up with a better plan than this. All you need to do is say you want to be her friend, and she’ll—”
“Shut up! I don’t want anything of the sort!” she cried, her high-pitched voice echoing through the stadium. As soon as she did, the dragon perching on Sirius’ back emitted a huge strike of lightning, and the barrier surrounding Cornelia shattered.
The spectators leaped to their feet and cheered.
“Yessss! He did it!” Raven beamed.
“Oh, Cornelia… My darling daughter…” Lord Elestial sobbed.
“I think you should speak to your daughter a little more often, Lord Elestial. Properly,” Raven said, leaving his words to sink in before strutting away from the stands and down to the field. He ran over to Sirius, who was just walking towards the exit.
“Aw, I knew you could do it! Not the duel, I mean—the fact you managed to beat her without turning her into a bloody mess!”
“I did consider finishing her off, though,” Sirius admitted.
“Yeesh, you’re scary…”
I take back what I said. When it came to Marialite’s safety, he couldn’t really trust Sirius to hold back.
“Do you really think we should end things here? You could’ve punished her for her actions a bit more.”
Sirius turned to look back at the battlefield in consideration. Cornelia was still crumpled on the ground, hanging her head in disappointment.
“…No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Let’s get out of here.”
“All ri—”
An explosion deafened them, a rumbling reverberating through the air. Several pillars of fire began to climb into the air one by one all across the field.
“Lady Cornelia?! Is she still tryna fight back?!”
“No,” Sirius shook his head. “Raven, evacuate the spectators as quickly as possible.”
“What…?” he floundered, peering around the stadium to try to come to grips with the situation. That was when he saw it; a look of astonishment on Cornelia’s face, and a man standing next to her, cackling scornfully.
“You picked a fight with the prince, of all people, then suffered such a crushing defeat…” he sneered. “You’re pathetic, my lady.”
Cornelia stared up at him in shock; it was the butler who once served her.
“Wh-What are you doing here?” she croaked. Her body was heavy from exhausting her magic, and she couldn’t muster the energy to stand. All she could do was glare at him, while he shot a hair-raising grin at her in return as he snapped his fingers.
Yet another flurry of flames shot into the air right next to them.
Spectators screamed at the top of their lungs, and soldiers hurriedly attempted to usher them out of the building. Lord Elestial was among them, desperately shouting his daughter’s name and throwing torrents of water onto the battlefield. However, his magic was ineffective against the ever-growing flames, and the soldiers ended up dragging him out of the building.
“It is no use, my lord. This is fearsome magic; it will remain on the field for several days, rooting itself into numerous spots across it. Its effects are immense, thus you will not be able to quell the flames with such reactive techniques,” the butler commented.
“Silence! Answer my question at once!” Cornelia hissed.
“Watch your mouth, you bitch!” he snapped.
Her mouth fell open, and she couldn’t help but cower. She’d never, ever been spoken to in such a foul-mouthed manner before. Of course, she realized that most demons in the country spoke ill of her behind her back, but not once had they insulted her to her face like this.
He reached out to Cornelia, where she trembled on the ground, chuckling as he did so.
“It’s true that I lived a life of luxury thanks to working in your service. Even so, everyone’s got their limits. There’s only so much nonsense I can take.”
He thrust a hand into Cornelia’s hair and pulled. Her face contorted in pain and the fire of hostility and anger in her eyes gradually grew weaker, replaced by a mixture of despair and fear.
The soldiers were conjuring huge, magical tidal waves in order to quell the flames, but they saw very little effect. In fact, the flames only seemed to rage even stronger, and it looked like it wouldn’t be long until the entire dome was razed to the ground. The blisteringly hot wind took their breaths away, and gasping for air sent a burning pain down their throats. It was like being trapped inside a huge oven.
If she was still inside a protective barrier, Cornelia probably could have withstood it. However, since Sirius had already smashed it with his attacks, she had been left completely vulnerable.
“Do you realize what a kerfuffle you’ve created? You must be insane to involve His Highness in such violence,” she said with a bitter laugh.
“The prince has already been forcibly removed from the building—even though he was trying to save you. Ah, how pitiful.”
“I never asked him to save me,” she huffed.
“Rude to the bitter end, I see. Oh well—that’s not my concern anymore. Now that I’ve had my revenge, I can die in peace,” the butler sighed with relief. He’d put many lives at risk to fulfill his goal; if he were to be put to death for those crimes, he would rather end his life now. He laughed, filled with a twisted sense of achievement.
Dark patches entered Cornelia’s field of vision, and the man’s cruel laughter seemed to grow distant. Lulled by the promise of silence, she began to fade out of consciousness.
Perhaps this is my comeuppance for living so selfishly. When that thought crossed her mind, her fear eased somewhat.
In pursuit of a desire never to be fulfilled, she would turn to ash.
What a miserable fate… I can only hope Mother will be there to welcome me.