Hiding not too far in the mountains, Varian heaved a sigh of relief. He was waiting for the perfect moment to attack. Preferably when the two fought.
When the princesses agreed to non-interference and went on with their own work, he was both outraged and disappointed.
But given the reality of the situation, he had to take a great risk. There's a small chance of winning and a great chance of losing dying.
Yet, when he really thought about it, he realized something he had overlooked.
If he used the period when Samantha was in a critical phase, she would have to pay at least some attention to Fortune Anvil and wouldn't be able to fight properly.
In that short period, he'd have to focus on Xeola. And he didn't even need to kill her. He just had to snatch that damn ring away and kill that soul before it could wake up.
As he waited for Samantha's project to enter the critical phase, the soaring aura of the soul from the ring began to disturb him.
He could wait a few more seconds when Princess Snow would be more involved in work, but he feared the possibility of the soul waking up.
"I'll attack Xeola. Enigma, assist me from behind. Use all your powers. Sarah, assist me at an opportune moment."
He had given them the instructions and readied himself to lunge forward, to throw himself into danger and strike Xeola.
It was then that a red line appeared on the horizon and Prince Robert clashed with Samantha.
'Damn it!'
Varian felt a chill down his spine. A few seconds of change would've led to a world of difference.
'That bastard was also hiding nearby. He should've also wanted to take both of them down.
Samantha would be most relaxed when she's finished. If he attacked Samantha then, he could've killed her instantly.
But he attacked impulsively and exposed himself…'
Robert must've felt the need to stop Samantha from her making that change. Even if it meant his death. Or his goal, whatever it was, stood directly against Samantha's.
Varian shook his head and signalled to the women.
Boom! Boom! Bang!
The fight was happening in the vicinity of the anvil but the treasure was unaffected by the dangerous aftermath.
The princess continued to gather the divine auras and pour them into the ring. As long as her mission was fulfilled, she couldn't care less about anything else.
It was then—
Baaang! The sound of space splitting open rang.
A purple pattern shone on Varian's heart, forming an armor enveloping his body. The silvery ring on his finger distorted the space-time, allowing him to reach Xeola in an instant.
And the sword Requiem flared with red light, the tip of its blade aiming right for the princess' forehead.
Once struck, the sword would fill her body with the power of death and weaken her soul, incapacitating her.
Varian used all the artifacts and moved at his full strength, all to end this battle as soon as possible.
But the one being ambushed, Princess Xeola smirked instead of being panicked. "Was waiting for you."
A glowing silver shield appeared between the sword and her head.
Clang! The world seemed to pause for a moment before a powerful explosion swept the surroundings. The flowers swayed violenty with the wind but did not suffer damage.
The glow of the shield lasted only for a moment before it dimmed.
Kacha!
Xeola was about to jump back when two foreign forces acted on her simultaneously.
Her soul shook briefly and she lost control of her body. Despite that, her body, solely guided by instincts, continued to move. But the flow of time around her distorted, slowing her down.
The aura around her soared, resisting the changed time flow. Yet, even in the face of such abundant aura, the foreign power still managed to slow her down.
Requiem pierced through the metal and its tip dug into the princess' forehead.
"Damn it!"
She had anticipated his attack, prepared for it yet failed to stop it.
'His treasures…he's been hiding his power!'
The shield shattered and Xeola's face was revealed. With a sword sticking in her forehead and blood dripping down, she looked on the verge of defeat.
A mistake.
Wring! Four earrings materialized on her ears and hummed. Varian's sense of sight, smell, touch and sound all vanished.
The world went dark, still, plain and quiet.
It was a scary state to be in. Thankfully, he had already fought against her once and steeled himself for this.
But there was more.
Wring! With a hum, One more earring materialized.
The desolate world was still there.
But simultaneously, in Varian's mind's eye, he began to see something else.
He saw Xeola to his left, smelled her scent from right, heard footseps from front and sensed the change in flow of wind from behind.
Xeola was more dangerous than he anticipated.
Not only could she blind the senses. She could also confuse his mind by creating the wrong input.
This was a very strong natal treasure. She might be able to win against most, if not all, geniuses in her subrank.
'Such a genius…chose to hide herself. All for this day, huh.'
But even her genius proved useless in front of a man who made the word look like a joke.
The power of space-time rippled from him and the live map of the surroundings etched into his soul perception.
It's like a graph, with all sorts of lines representing the space-time curvature.
Fortune Anvil, due to its massive divine energy, distorted the curvature. Even if he tried to, he coudln't ignore its glaring presence.
But he also found the princess he was searching for.
Her presence, as she's a peak rank 8 was also very noticable.
'Xeola!'
The Princess was now attacking Sarah, who ambushed her when the princess tried to kill Varian.
'Now's the chance!'
Varian's aura soared and his senses locked onto the ring that's floating nearby.
Boom!
He shot forward.
