Royal Princess of Blood

Mashai failed to see the truth — no, perhaps he was just disregarding it. It was ‌perhaps incomprehensible to him that there were just some things out there you shouldn’t fight against. Despite how many allies one might have. But this was not only because of his own foolishness but also because of his own ignorance.

Will the people be punished for their transgressions if they were ignorant of them? Perhaps. But it all depended on the executioner of such punishment. Gods, judges, those with power. Your fate would be in their hands. Mercy, or none. You wouldn’t know completely.

Others would only get to learn in the moment. And this was one of them. A reckoning. Where there was no going back.

His eyes were hurt, blinded by the sudden flash of bright light. No one was spared; even her allies might even be affected. It was like she didn’t care about anyone in the area at all. Still, whether or not that attack affected her allies didn’t matter. For she was about to show these ninjas their own doom.

Before Mashai could even respond to her sudden blinding trick, he had heard his men in pain. No, they were just momentary. He forced his eyes open to see his enemy. With tear-filled eyes, he looked to the side, to his allies, and to where she was. And what he saw was bloody.

She had struck down a couple of ninjas, their blood spattered in the air as their throats were slit cleanly. Before they could drop to the ground, she instantly arrived right next to another ninja and cut his throat.

The ninjas were unable to defend themselves. They were stunned by her bright flash. They also couldn’t rely on sound, as the girl moved with absolute silence. Her speed was startling, she may be as fast as the master. She killed multiple ninjas in such a short amount of time. When she was done on one side, she continued on the other.

She went past Mashai, but instead of attacking him, she merely went past him. As she did, their eyes met. And she was gone. She just disregarded him as if he were completely irrelevant, not a threat to her at all. Was that supposed to be an insult? Or was it just how she was? To her, he was just insignificant. But why? Why not strike him if he were too easy to get? Was it to show him something? To prove something? What?

She went on to kill another ninja. Mashai gritted his teeth, and despite his aching, blurry eyes, he stepped forward, and rushed at her. He thrust his blade, attempting to strike her from behind. However, the moment she killed a ninja, she casually shifted to the side and dodged his attack. At the same time, she lifted her leg and kicked him violently in the stomach.

Mashai coughed out in pain. He was dumbfounded. Her speed, her reflexes, were beyond him. He couldn’t even defend himself from that simple kick.

A ninja rushed behind the girl, but she quickly moved beside him and stabbed the side of the ninja’s neck, followed by a casual kick to the back — one could hear an audible sound of a cracked spine. She then turned towards Mashai with a blank expression.

“Is this all that the new leader of the ninjas can offer? I’m not impressed.”

“S-Shut up!”

He charged at her, but she dodged again and slashed the back of his leg. However, instead of something fatal, it was merely a light slash. Nothing that would greatly disrupt his movements. What was she doing this for? Why let him live this long? She could have killed him already many times over.

More and more ninjas came and attacked her altogether. Mashai observed for a moment. The ninjas she was facing were supposed to be excellent, deadly. However, they had not landed a hit on her at all. It was almost hard to believe what he was seeing. He couldn’t comprehend that someone could be this strong.

No, he had already known someone who was — his master. However, for some reason, he just couldn’t accept that this girl was that powerful. It was just incomprehensible to him. He admired his master so much. For Mashai, he was the strongest. There was just no way that someone as young as she could defeat his master. She must have used some tricks or been helped by someone.

To think even a group of ninjas couldn’t kill her. Feeling frustrated, Mashai charged at her. But the girl ignored him, merely dodging his attacks and went on to kill another ninja. More and more ninjas perished right in front of his eyes. They couldn’t even fight in the way that they were trained. They were not given the chance. They died too quickly.

This doesn’t make any sense.

How could someone so young be so strong? It was a complete anomaly, it shouldn’t be something that existed.

Their blades met, and the girl raised an eyebrow.

“Honestly, very presumptuous of you to take his place when you’re only this much.”

“You know nothing!”

“I know enough.”

She moved to his back in a swift motion and shoved the bottom tip of her dagger on the back of his head. Mashai dropped to the ground, groaning in pain, feeling a bit dizzy. It was then that he noticed that the ninjas who had come to help him were now all dead. The place had also grown quiet, peaceful. Mashai panted as he looked around, his heart felt heavy. The situation felt unreal. He felt cold, feeling the coldness and the stickiness of the soil. He felt disgraced.

“Sounds like the battle’s over,” the girl said. “Quick, isn’t it?” She casually walked in front of him. “What you did here was nothing but a suicide mission.”

Mashai slowly stood up. “I-I’m not done yet!” He charged at her again, using all his magic to strengthen his body as much as possible, pouring as much magic into his blade as possible.

But the girl parried his blade with her own magic-enhanced blade and stabbed him in the stomach.

“Agh…!” The blade did not hit anything fatal, but he was bleeding. Still, that shouldn’t be enough to stop him with the Physical Enhancement that he had. And that was why the girl stabbed the back of his legs, causing him to fall to the ground.

“I applaud your will to get revenge. I relate to that.” She crouched before him. “However, you failed. You lack the power to achieve it. But I guess that’s just how it is, huh? You always need power.”

One cannot have revenge without strength, without power. One cannot kill a swordsman without overcoming his skills. Revenge without strength was just nothing but an empty wish.

“Every person has a right to vengeance. But not all have the capacity to fulfill it.” She pressed the tip of her blade to his forehead. “You, on the other hand, made it worse for yourself and others.”

Mashai clenched his fists. He just wasn’t strong enough. He was told how powerful she was, he was warned not to go after her. And yet, he still did. Why?

“You were so confident that altogether you could defeat me. Did you perhaps calculate it based on your master’s strength? Not a bad way to measure. But you made a mistake. That old man is not my equal.”

“W-What…?”

“His only advantage was his illusion magic. Without that, I could have defeated him way earlier.” She held out her thumb and index finger, making a small gap between them. “Maybe I was a tad bit stronger than him.”

It all became clear to Mashai. He acknowledged that she was strong. But he failed to comprehend how strong she was exactly, and he failed to consider that she could be way beyond him and his allies altogether. She was a natural predator to the ninjas. No, a natural hunter to any of her prey. He had made a mistake. He was overconfident. He let his emotions get the better of him. His will to get vengeance and his arrogance clouded his judgement. He should have listened to the others, to leave it alone.

But that was just how it was sometimes — regrets come at the end.

It was so frustrating. His choice was utterly foolish.

“H-How… How are you so powerful…?”

She leaned in a little closer and whispered. “Give an assassin magic powers, you’ll get me.”

Huh?

He couldn’t understand what she meant by that.

She leaned back. “The Nightshades Clan ends with you.”

He was about to lose, but he knew he shouldn’t take it lying down and do nothing. And therefore, he grabbed his blade and thrust it towards the girl before him. However, her blade was quicker.

***

I stabbed the damned ninja in the head.

Motherfucker really tried to give out a last struggle.

Oh well, at least it was over. Honestly, they shouldn’t have tried doing something like this, just a waste of time. I could have used it to rest. But then again, it was nice to know that I essentially destroyed an organization of ninjas with this one. And I was quite pleased with that. My disdain knows no bounds!

Still, they were really quite weak. The ninjas back on Earth gave me more of a struggle than they did. But I do have magic. I could only imagine if some assassins back in the organization got magic like I have, that would be a bit worrisome. I would not like to fight someone like that.

“Finally done?” Taneva asked as he casually approached me. “You really like playing with your prey, huh?”

I frowned. “Do I?”

“Yes.”

I shrugged. It was entertaining to play around sometimes. But not like I do it all the time. Just to the people who deserved a little bit of humiliation. “Did we lose a lot of guards?”

“Not really. Why do you want to preserve them anyway? Don’t tell me you care.”

I clasped my hands together. “Oh, but I do care~. I don’t like seeing people die. Life is sacred and must be preserved. As a princess, it pains my heart to see blood spilled,” I said with innocence and sweetness.

Taneva glanced at the dead bodies around me. “Suuuureee… Okay, now I have to really ask. Are you really a cold-blooded killer?”

“What kind of question is that?!”

“It’s just… things just don't seem to fit, you know.” He shrugged. “You were supposed to be some kind of saint. No way in your entire life could cause you to just… casually kill so many people. Unless you were a psychopath from birth—”

I threw a magic-coated dagger at his left shoulder, stabbing him in the flesh. It was nothing fatal to anyone, but it would hurt. He looked down in surprise.

“That ticked you off?” I aggressively drew back the dagger through the magic strings. “Ow!” He staggered forward. “What was that for?” His blood spilled on the ground as the hole in his shoulder started healing.

“Don’t call me a psychopath,” I said straightforwardly.

I am not a psychopath, never a damn psychopath! Don’t call me that. Never. I don’t lack a heart.

“Then what the hell, Estelia? You don’t make sense.”

“I’m not a psychopath.” I clenched my fists, glaring at him.

Taneva sighed and shook his head. “... Alright, I’m sorry I called you that.”

“... I’m gonna go and check up on everyone. They might need healing.” I walked away.

“Aw man, that didn’t kill me… Nothing fatal at all…” I heard him mutter.

I lost my cool there…

It felt like I was falling more and more into my own indulgence. Not good, not good at all. I was getting more spiteful and wrathful, and it was unbecoming of me. I really needed an outlet. But destroying the ninjas was satisfying, though. It was fun.

But not good enough. I needed to do what really mattered.