Royal Princess of Blood

I looked at my glowing, cracked hand as the crew started running. We could see a few monsters that seemed to be coming towards us. Needless to say, I was the cause of it. I normally didn’t feel some kind of aura or energy when the crack first appeared on me. But now it was different.

I could literally feel some sort of intangible force oozing out of the cracks. Some sort of strange energy that gave me goosebumps. Although I thought there was nothing too special about it, it would seem it was different for everyone, or everything else. This was divinity, something that should be, I don’t know, savored, cherished, or adored. Because it’s divine, after all. So I was surprised that the monsters here wanted to harm me because of that. Could it be that they were threatened by it?

At any rate, this crap has been causing a whole lot of trouble for everyone and me. Why couldn’t things just be easy?

“How far are we?” I asked Velar. I didn’t know how long we’d been traveling, so I had to know how much farther we were from our destination. And I certainly hoped we were almost there, this situation was becoming too hard and more dangerous.

“Taneva mentioned it’s not that far off. Been traveling for days. We should be there soon.”

“... I hope so.” If this went on for longer, I don’t think I would survive. I could endure, yes, but we all had our limits — even I had mine. There’s a limit to how much I can cling onto life. Even my grip can weaken.

There were monsters that got in our way, but the others quickly took care of them. The issue was going to be if the monsters got to surround us in all directions. Not that it would mean certain doom, but would only make things annoying. That was why we had to run, didn’t want to get overwhelmed by numbers. But it would seem that Taneva was worried about something else. Whatever… I couldn’t think too clearly right now. I was having some sort of brain fog. A result of being on the edge of the cliff, sort of say. Too weak, dying.

However, some time later, Taneva stopped in place, wearing a worried look on his face. Then, he looked towards the distance, the far distance, with widened eyes. I could see that he was worried.

“What is it?” Hartwin asked warily.

Taneva took ‌a sharp breath. “Trouble.”

I shifted my gaze towards where he was looking, narrowing my eyes. It was then that I saw something dark moving. And it was moving fast. It got closer faster than I expected.

What the—

I was about to jump away through sheer survival instinct when Taneva moved between us and the flying object. The object crashed to the ground before us, the powerful impact causing a wide shockwave that scattered dust and debris in the air. Velar quickly backed away.

“What is it?” Velar muttered under his breath.

The dust slowly scattered, the thing that crashed towards us was gradually revealed. When the sight became clearer, my eyes widened in both surprise and confusion.

What the fuck is that?

It was a winged creature — and this creature itself was familiar. Taneva was blocking its claws with his spear, wincing as he held it off.

Wasn’t that the Striding Husk thing…?

A strong ass monster, which turned out to be some sort of angel that was hunting me. So why the hell was it here? Was it the same one from before?! No way, Taneva killed it already. And what the hell, did they get an upgrade? It looked a little different compared to the one before.

There was no way this was the same one…!

Then, the monster’s eyes slowly shifted towards me, and a chill ran down my spine. That sort of glare was different compared to the last one, this one felt more… alive.

Shit, shit! Keep that thing away from me!

“Run!” Taneva shouted, a hint of panic in his voice. “It’s the same one as before!”

What the fuck?!

“Goddess, you shall escape no longer.”

I was shocked, it was speaking more coherently now. Like, what’s with this sudden change? What the hell happened? I had no idea, but I knew we had to get away from it as much as possible. And therefore, Velar and the others started running as fast as they could. But with the might of a divine creature, it wouldn’t do much. That thing could close the distance so quickly if it needed to.

I saw Taneva draw back his spear and swing it at the dark angel. However, the angel had more leverage, and it blocked Taneva’s spear before it released a wave of dark energy from its wings. It engulfed Taneva, covering his sight, before the angel’s wings struck through him.

“Ugh!” Taneva glared at the angel. “You’re supposed to be dead!” He swung down his spear, but the angel blocked it with its bare hand — the magic coating was damaging its hand, but it didn’t appear to care at all. It then stabbed its claws into Taneva’s chest and gave it a wide twist. “Aaaagh!” Taneva uttered in agony as blood gushed out of his body.

“A mere mortal… cannot slay the divine.”

“I… am no mortal.”

“But a human… nonetheless.”

The angel lifted Taneva up through its claws, and both its wings struck through his body. The dark energy radiated intensely and ripped through his flesh, reaching even his internal organs. It looked like an agonizing experience — despite being immortal, even Taneva felt pain. The angel then threw him away with great strength.

Its attention then turned towards us. With a flap of its wings, it launched itself towards us with incredible speed, scattering dust into the air as it moved. It was rapidly getting closer. But the three Cursed Children quickly got in its way and stopped it.

Nira clung to its feet, while Galik attacked from behind, then Heneis thrust his claws into its face. But their attacks did little damage to it.

“Futile.”

The angel grabbed Nira first by the head and crushed it before using her as a bat to slam against Heneis. The force was so powerful that it utterly crushed the bodies of both people. The angel casually threw Nira away and attacked Galik. It moved so fast that the latter couldn’t evade fast enough, and the angel struck him in the chest. With him stuck within its claws, the angel swung its other claws and severed ‌Galik’s head from his body. Even going into their fog form was useless, that thing was covered in dark energy, which was likely some form of magic.

The angel dropped the body and turned its gaze towards me.

What the fuck…

This was not looking good. It was shocking to witness it easily defeat those guys, they were our big guns in any combat situation. This was even worse when we first encountered it. I glanced at both Velar and Hartwin who were still running. But with the monster’s sight directed our way, they might as well be ants before that monstrosity.

The angel started moving towards me; I needed to act fast. I glanced at Velar. Even with Velar between me and it, it would be completely pointless, useless. It could easily walk through Velar like nothing, he wouldn’t be of any use as a meat shield at all. None of these normal humans would be. The Cursed Children as shields would have been a different case.

Therefore, for future use, and in the determination that I’d survive this encounter, I had to spare the useless shields. It was not easy to find followers who would give their lives for me, I will not lose them in something useless.

I cast magic, and a blast of wind blew and separated me from Velar.

“Princess?!”

I also used the wind to move myself away, just in time where the angel stood on where we just were. The angel directed its gaze at me.

“As ordered, you shall be destroyed.”

I gritted my teeth and directed my hand at it. “Go fuck yourself.” I fired a blast of magic at it. It dodged and moved into my side. Instantly, I summoned a shield and blocked its attack. The shield vibrated as it received the hit.

Fuck, it was even moving like an actual person now.

Completely different to when it acted like a beast from before, driven only by instincts. That aside, it hit really hard. I poured a whole lot of mana into that. Had to adjust the mana used after I used it against the monster from before. But it was overpowering me. I saw its wings rise.

I was about to summon another shield when Taneva suddenly jumped in and slammed his spear down on it. A small shockwave erupted, showing the sheer power behind that attack. Velar and Hartwin were about to move in and assist, but Taneva stopped them.

“Stay away! It will kill you instantly!”

With a burst of wind, I dashed to its side and pointed a finger at the angel. A powerful lightning strike shot out from my finger and crashed against the angel, causing a powerful blast upon impact. I couldn’t see the damage through the dust when a burst of dark energy erupted from the angel’s wings. It tore the ground around it.

I quickly leaped away to safety, and I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head as my vision became a blur for a moment.

Dammit, I really shouldn’t be fighting at all.

But not like I had any other choice but to try. That thing was too strong and fast, running away was just not possible at all. Taneva thrust his spear, shooting a wide and powerful Armament Magic, but the angel used its wings to block the attack before subsequently moving in to engage him. It swung its claws at him, and Taneva was being pushed back as he tried to deflect those attacks, but some still got through his defenses and landed.

It was then that the Cursed Children came in and joined the attack. The angel, however, was unbothered.

“Pests.” It spun around while expanding its wings, the wave of dark energy ripping through the Cursed Children, while Taneva cast a shield to block it.

Once the angel stopped, I quickly cast a blast of cold magic towards it. In an instant, it was completely covered in firm ice, freezing it in place. Taneva then leaped back in the air and drew back his spear, at the same time, darkness covered his spear. The shape of which seemed similar to a dragon’s head.

He then threw it at the angel. The dragon’s shadow devoured the angel, erupting into an explosion of darkness upon impact. The shadow ripped through the ice and the ground. But it was a strange magic spell, as I heard no sound at all, like the silence of the abyss.

However, Taneva was not the only one intending to land a lethal strike. As the darkness engulfed the angel, I held out my hand and concentrated mana into a small ball. It was a dense ball of magic, but not as big as the last one — too big and it would hit everyone in the area, and making it as big as the last one would cause tremendous damage to myself.

Once the darkness dissipated, I instantly fired the ball of magic towards the angel. A ball of blinding white light erupted, causing a wide burst of wind that scattered dust and debris in all directions. I covered my face to protect myself.

A short moment later, once the light faded away, I looked toward the angel to see the result. And my eyes widened in shock. It covered itself in its wings — I noticed damage on the bones of its wings, but when it opened up, there was no significant damage to its body. Except for the spear that pierced its chest.

However, it didn’t seem too bothered.

“This corruption… sacrilege… But… if I can complete my mission… so be it.”

What the fuck…

I glanced down at my hands, both of my hands had cracks on them now. I could feel my strength fading away. I was only moving through adrenaline and sheer willpower. But I didn’t think I’d last long at this rate. I put as much power as I could safely into that, but it didn’t even do anything. Maybe I played it too safely…?

Why the hell does this thing have to be here…?

The angel then grasped the spear’s pole and slowly pulled it out. But it didn’t discard it, and instead it wielded it.

You've got to be kidding me.

Golden light then engulfed the spear. The angel faced Taneva, and the latter quickly pulled out a sword from his inventory. At the same time, the angel stepped forward towards him and thrust the spear. Taneva frantically used his blade to block it, but a burst of golden light flashed for a moment, and there appeared to be some force in that as Taneva staggered backward.

In a smooth motion of a skilled warrior, the angel swung the spear upward from the bottom. It struck Taneva and caused another small explosion of golden light, and it launched Taneva high in the air, his body torn by the small golden explosion.

The angel swung its spear towards him, sending a wide slash of golden light that ripped Taneva’s body apart. Without giving him a chance to breathe, the angel flew up into the air, moving above Taneva. Then the angel slammed down its golden spear. Taneva used his blade to block the attack, but he was sent crashing down back to the ground, leaving a crater on impact.

“Face divine punishment.” Golden light shone brighter on the angel’s spear as it descended.

Taneva quickly got out of the way before he got hit by the angel’s plunge attack. But suddenly, the angel pointed the spear at him simultaneously. What followed was a beam of bright golden light that went through Taneva’s upper body. It was only for a moment, but I was speechless to see the result of such an attack — Taneva’s upper body was vaporized. And his lower body just dropped to the ground. It just knocked out Taneva of all people, utterly unexpected.

The Cursed Children moved in, but the angel swung its spear and unleashed a wave of divine power that obliterated them into pieces.

Once its obstacles were clear, the angel turned towards me.

“Princess!”

Velar and Hartwin rushed towards me. But I held out my hand. Them guarding me would only be pointless, they’ll die in an instant.

“Guess to succeed, I’ll have to make some sacrifice.” I took a deep breath and drew out a pair of daggers. “You want me? Come and get me.” I didn’t want to go all out to preserve my life. But I’d die anyway if I don’t fight with all I got. Then, I might as well fight. But I had no intention of dying. Not at all. Never.