"Double the reward?"
Viviana took a moment to pinpoint the direction of the voice and looked up, only to see a light-armored knight with bronze skin standing atop the branches of the Silver-frost Forest.
"I am searching for the prince of our Qingxi Kingdom. How exactly do you plan to give me the reward I desire?"
'111, is this guy really giving out doubles?'
If the grail knight could actually give her two Fausts, Viviana would certainly hoist them both over her shoulders and bolt without a second thought.
What would be the point of fighting? She would already be in heaven.
The grail knight leaped down from the treetop, sized Viviana up, and scratched his head in frustration.
"So you are from the Qingxi Kingdom. Hiss—that makes things difficult. The Lady personally requested that I bring the Qingxi prince to her, and I cannot bear to spoil her mood."
As expected! That Lady of the Lake was after the prince!
Upon hearing this, Viviana's magnificent purple eyes instantly sharpened.
She knew that as soon as the prince stepped out, countless seductive vixens would throw themselves at him; she could tolerate someone like Selena.
Though she found her annoying, Selena was at least someone Faust originally intended to interact with, and she genuinely liked the prince.
But where did this Lady of the Lake come from? Was she also lusting after Faust?
The pale-blonde girl threw back her hood and ignited her blade with luminous flames.
Under the reflection of the brilliant golden glow, Royce also saw Cinderella's breath-taking beauty, which, against the backdrop of the snowy forest, formed a picture of chilling elegance.
He couldn't help but praise her, "What a beautiful girl. If I were younger, I would have pursued you regardless of the cost. Unfortunately, I am already deeply in love with the Lady, and my heart has no room for any other woman."
The grail knight drew his twin blades, crossed them before his chest, and lightly kissed his glove.
"Grail knight Royce. I dedicate this victory to my beloved, the source and sanctuary of my soul—Lady Azure Maiden!"
Viviana's beautiful eyes lit up at the sight.
'This ritual is quite nice. I'm stealing it!'
She mimicked Royce's movements, gripping her rapier firmly and pressing a kiss from her cherry-pink lips onto the hilt.
"Viviana Roselin. I dedicate this victory to my beloved, the source and sanctuary of my soul—Faust!"
Royce paid no mind to the pale-blonde girl's imitation. He maintained a faint, lingering smile.
"From the looks of you, you follow the path of the 【royal guard knight】? Your rank doesn't even seem to be at the level of a 【hero】 yet. Tsk tsk... To be able to slaughter those beast swarms like you did before, do you possess some other heritage?"
"Forget it. Regardless, you cannot be compared to me. The power of a 【grail knight】 is beyond your imagination. We who have drunk from the holy grail are worlds apart from you, even if we both follow the path of the knight. Bullying the weak is truly tedious."
Royce spoke incessantly, seemingly unable to stay quiet.
"Unlike Dathrohan, I don't actually like using the 【Knight-God Stance】. How should I put it... the compatibility with the mecha isn't great. Weaving through forests and wilderness, dancing on the edge of a blade—that is my style..."
Viviana turned a deaf ear to Royce's idle chatter, merely holding her sword with one hand as the flickering, distorted luminous flame sword rested against the snow.
In the moment before the grail knight noticed, the pale-blonde girl's gaze suddenly shifted, and she whispered in a voice only she could hear.
"It's high noon."
At this very moment, it was the stroke of midnight. The authority of 【one night's dream】 reached its absolute peak. An unparalleled desire surged within Viviana's chest—the desire to see Faust.
Then, she channeled that longing into the scene before her.
To reach the side of her beloved, she had to clear away the obstacles, and Royce was the obstacle she had to eliminate.
【Physical Sanctity】, 【Blazing Lake-Light Fire】, 【Ultimate Intent Arrival】, 【One Slash, A Thousand Strikes】!
In an instant, Cinderella wove together layers of spells and occult relics. Whether they were things she had seen before or not, as long as they could possibly be manifested, she bestowed them all upon her blade. The already dreamlike blade became exceptionally radiant.
Then, the girl's figure vanished from the spot.
"!!!"
Seeing the afterimage burned into his retina, Royce immediately felt his skin crawl.
A chill rose from his spine and shot straight to the top of his head. The grail knight instinctively tried to parry, but his movements were a fraction too slow.
Squelch—
Accompanied by the sound of something tearing, Viviana's figure appeared a hundred meters away on the opposite side.
The over-specified spells and occult relics wrapped around her blade mostly shattered, and even the pale-blonde knight girl herself spat out a mouthful of blood due to the speed exceeding her body's physical limits.
But these losses were worth it; the damage Viviana dealt was remarkably substantial.
Royce clutched his slashed throat in disbelief as blood geysering from his carotid artery stained the snow beneath his feet red.
"You... hiss—how did you..."
Due to the air leaking out, the grail knight could not speak a complete sentence. It seemed like a fatal blow, but Viviana did not relax in the slightest, silently watching Royce.
【Fairy's Blessing】 was an inherent mystery trait of the 【grail knight】. Simply put, this blessing granted a grail knight extreme immortality, let alone a slit throat.
Even if his head were severed or his spine ripped out, as long as his mana was not exhausted, he could be saved!
In just a few breaths, Royce released his hand, the wound on his throat already completely healed.
However, the playful smile on the grail knight's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by an unprecedented gravity.
"That strike... how did you do it?"
Such ferocious speed that even he couldn't react to was not something a common mystery trait could achieve.
After flicking the blood off her blade, Viviana pointed the tip of her sword directly at Royce.
"Because of love. My love for the prince is enough to make me omnipotent."
"Haha, love? I see. What else could it be?"
Royce laughed loudly, tensing his entire body as he gripped his twin blades with one in a forward grip and the other reversed.
"I take back what I said. It seems this won't be an easy job. I'll have to go all out."
After a second of eye contact, both figures vanished simultaneously the next moment.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The golden luminous flame sword and the cold, sharp silver twin blades clashed in high-speed strikes that the naked eye could not track. The afterimages of the knights flickered through the shattered Silver-frost Forest, each collision accompanied by sparks that momentarily brightened the dark sky.
Boom!
Like racing bolts of lightning and thunder, the shockwaves caused by their collisions shattered the hard rock layers. Any stray aftershock could uproot massive cedar trees and crack the earth.
And if one observed closely, they would find that Royce was the one who was faintly at a disadvantage!
【One night's dream】 was simply too brutal!
At least until dawn, Viviana could suppress the grail knight by giving her all. Therefore, she intended to completely crush her enemy during this time!
Rate on N.U.
