The Useless Prince Is A Gangster

Outside of the dome.

Everyone was staring at the huge second blast happening inside the dome. This blast was more violent and overwhelming than the previous one; surviving in that mana dome seems impossible.

The Duchess Maria stood silent, looking at the blast, and slowly, her hand loosened on Vivien's tiny hand.

The little girl looked up at her mother's face, her grey eyes widening in fear. Maria stood frozen; she wanted to run towards it to save her son, but she couldn't.

"Mother… are they—"

Before she could finish, Maria fell to her knees and started crying. Her hands trembling, her breath comes short.

"No… no, no, no…" she whispered, gripping the earth as if she could hold herself together. "Not my son… not my children… please…"

Her son echoed throughout the clearing; the nobles stood silently, not knowing what to do.

Vivien dropped to her knees beside her mother, tears gathering in her own eyes.

"M-Mother…" she choked, gently touching Maria's arm.

Alric couldn't find any words to comfort his wife. Although he believes in both of his sons—especially Leonhardt. He still couldn't shake off the worry.

He's a father after all.

He just stood there watching his wife uncontrollably.

♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢

A few minutes after the blast, everything's a disaster.

The cave had collapsed, sealed under the tons of stones. A thick plume of black mana curled up through the cracks like smoke.

Distance away from the cave, deep inside the woods, Rin was on the ground.

She slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry, and struggled to take a breath.

She slowly sat up on her back, clutching her head in pain. She looked around and saw the fire burning everything in the distance; she felt the heat touching her skin even from far away.

"What… happened?" She muttered under her breath. For a moment, she couldn't remember where she was and what was happening.

Then her pink eyes widened with realization.

She spun around, panic rising like a choke in her throat.

"Leonhardt!" she shouted.

Fear clawed through her chest as she couldn't find him. Smoke was burning her lungs.

She got up on her feet slowly and forced her weak legs to move around to find him.

"Leonhardt!" She called again, louder this time.

She walked through the smoke, coughing, shielding her face from the scorching air. Every second without finding him made her more scared.

"Leo… please…" she whispered.

Then she saw something that made her pause mid-step, her breath hitching, her eyes widening.

There, a few feet away, was the burnt body—Leonhardt's body. The body was burnt red and bleeding, and Rin couldn't find any trace of him breathing.

"No…" she whispered, running towards him.

She crouched on her knees behind and turned his body around only to get even more horrified. His body barely recognizable, his face burnt on one side and dirt black on the other side.

"Leonhardt!" She cried, grabbing his shoulders. But he's not responding.

"No, no, no—wake up!" Her voice broke. She tried to use her healing magic, placing her hand on his chest, trying to force mana onto him.

But it's getting rejected; there's no pulse on his body. He's dead already.

"Leonhardt… Open your eyes. Please…" Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with ash. She clutched his burnt body in her hands tightly.

"Please! You promised me…please don't die." She whispered. A sob wrenched from her throat, then another, until she was screaming her grief into the burning sky, her body shaking as she clutched the ruins of the boy she loved.

Then, something within her shattered.

A violent, invisible mana erupted from her; a wave of raw, untamed energy blasted outwards in a perfect circle. The dust, smoke, and pebbles around scattered away, and trees were ripped off through their roots by the force.

The encroaching flames were snuffed out for a hundred feet in every direction.

She's still clutching his body in her cries, holding tightly like it may bring him back.

"Please! Don't leave me, I beg you!" She whispered.

"LEONHARDT!"

For a moment, it's only her and her sobs.

Then—

"You killed him!" A chilly, cold voice whispered from behind. Rin slowly got her face away from his body and turned around slowly, spotting a figure standing a few feet away from her.

That figure was ominous, cloaked in a black dress, her hood hiding her face.

"Ashtarya," Rin muttered, her tone changed into something deeper.

"You're always in the way." Ashtarya hissed, raising her hand towards Rinz, gathering the swirling dark mana into her palm. "Always between us! Always taking him away."

"You killed him," Ashtarya repeated, her voice cracking with unhinged emotion. "So now… I'll kill you."

The mana in her hand grew denser. "And with your divine power, I'll bring him back, Ersyn!"

She shot the mana towards Rin, and it blasted.

The smoke cleared up, and Ashtarya narrowed her eyes.

A mana shield stood in front of Rin, protecting her.

Rin gently placed Leonhardt's body into the ground, fate not even giving her time to grieve.

Tears in her eyes stopped abruptly, her face changing from despair to rage in a second. She's not Rin anymore, she became someone different, someone deadly.

She got up to her feet and stretched her hand.

Ashtarya sensed something from behind and turned to see a massive boulder hurling through the smoke towards her.

She simply raised her hand and blasted it in a second. The debris scattered around the battlefield.

Then she turned back only to be greeted by Rin a mere foot away. Violent mana swirled in her palm like a storm in a glass sphere.

"I was never in your way, Ashtarya." Rin muttered, her pink eyes burning with pure rage. "It was you always getting between us."

Mana exploded from her hand, ripping through the ground as she swung her arm. Ashtarya crossed her arms to block, but the force still sent her skidding back, boots dragging trenches in the dirt.

Rin didn't stop. She charged again, mana blasting from her feet, launching herself forward like a cannonball.

Ashtarya flicked her fingers, and countless dark spikes materialized in the air, shooting straight toward Rin.

Rin spun mid-air, her mana slicing the spikes apart in a shower of sparks.

Her landing cracked the ground, and she vanished in a blink and reappeared right in front of Ashtarya.

Rin's fist, wrapped in volatile mana, slammed into Ashtarya's abdomen. A massive shockwave erupted, sending Ashtarya flying through a half-destroyed tree.

The shockwave destroyed the entire forest for two hundred meters.

"I'll make sure you'll stay dead this time." Rin sneered. She raised her hand again, mana spiraling faster, brighter, and hotter.

But as the dust cleared, Ashtarya was gone.

Rin's breath caught. She spun, sensing a pulse of killing intent behind her.

Ashtarya's hand snapped around her throat. Rin was lifted off the ground effortlessly, her feet dangling, her nails clawing at Ashtarya's wrist. Her kicks were weak, useless.

The ominous being began draining her mana.

"Did you forget you're just a mere mortal now?" Ashtarya whispered, leaning closer to Rin's face. "You were high on yourself when you were a goddess, weren't you?"

Her grip tightened, crushing Rin's windpipe.

"Now you're going to die again, Ersyn… but this time as a mortal."

Rin's vision blurred. Her hands fell limp.

"Sorry to say, but you're wrong." A cold, childlike voice interrupted her revenge session. Ashtarya froze and turned around.

A little girl, no less than ten years old, stood behind her barefoot, her divine white dress fluttering in the smoke-filled wind.

Her calm red eyes locked on the Ashtarya, emitting pure disgust.

The ground cracked beneath her tiny feet.

Ashtarya's green eyes widened. "Y–You…"

The little girl tilted her head ever so slightly. "You dare lay your filthy hand on my mother?"