Chapter 97: A Desperate Prince

After the meeting with Luna, I summoned Yukime to the Don Jon Tower again so we can discuss the information I obtained as Claude. I'm unfortunately back in my usual sofa but not for long, for I plan on going out again later. Usually I would be smoking and sipping wine for style but in front of Yukime, I don't have to do that. I don't even like smoking and wine to be honest. I just consume them for style. I actually prefer apple juice. Yukime beamed with admiration once I told her what was discussed in Mitsugoshi.

"Your position as Claude is really useful at times like this, my lord." Yukime praised me.

"Indeed. But now we need to make our next move to make the Mitsugoshi Affiliate Program fail before it even launches. I have a list of merchants who have already signed up to the program and I need you to select some thugs who will be sent to threaten those merchants into leaving the Affiliate Program. Put John Smith on the job as well." I ordered. But Yukime frowns slightly when I mentioned John Smith.

"Actually… Mr. John took a paid vacation recently."

"What? Paid vacation?"

"It's… one of the things I promised to provide him when I recruited him. I'm very sorry, Lord Claude." Yukime apologized while bowing her head.

"Hmph. No matter. Unlike the bank robberies, I doubt his expertise will be required for this job. Ordinary thugs should be enough to threaten a bunch of lowly merchants."

"What about Shadow Garden, my lord? You said they are the actual owners of Mitsugoshi. It is possible that they would interfere."

"Then I suppose it won't harm to send expendable thugs to see if Shadow Garden would interfere or not. We'll make our response if they did interfere."

"I see. I have another report, my lord. Princess Iris has led many raids on your slave markets, drug dealers, soup kitchens, etc."

"I'm all aware. I was there when they discussed it and have preemptively instructed those places to send all the money in their treasury to the Don Jon Tower before the raid could commence. But it is still troubling that I'm losing more and more sources of income."

"What do you plan to do, my lord? Without John Smith and the Boar, we are lacking in elites who could take on Princess Iris, Annerose Nichtsehen and Beatrix."

"I'll send one of the Seven Wraiths and the guard dog."

"Guard dog? Oh, that man. I see. But, my lord? Won't sending one of the Seven Wraiths make them suspect the connection between Don Jon and Necromancer?"

"Oh, don't worry. I won't make this an official mission. I'll just give a nudge and he shall move on his own initiative. That should serve as an excuse to disassociate his actions from the Necromancer, covering the connection between the Necromancer and Don Jon." I said while grinning. Yukime seemed to nod in understanding.

"I see. Because a certain someone is on the move, the prince would make his move as well." Yukime remarked with a villainous smile.

"Indeed."

"But can he defeat her? Last time he tried to-"

"He doesn't need to. In fact, he shouldn't actually meet his target in order to cause as much chaos as possible to the others. I'll handle the rest myself."

"Won't that endanger the life of Princess Iris? You still need her to become your wife in public after all."

"She will survive. She's… a bit similar to him after all."

"Oh, my lord. How devious you are. If you don't mind, I have a suggestion concerning other individuals." She said with a devious smile.

"Let's hear it." I allowed her to speak, curious of what evil plans she has in store.


Claude has identified the place where Garter, the president of Garter Corporation and the leader of the MCA, is currently hiding and I sent Annerose to arrest him. Beatrix continued to work with us in hopes of encountering Alpha. Marco and Glen, the two people I trusted most amongst my knights, also lead their own teams to attack places where Don Jon's crime syndicate operates.

Claude and Alexia wants to join but I insisted on letting them stay because they needed rest after working so hard and I needed to contribute Claude also didn't allow his sister to go after her meeting with one of Necromancer's minions.

I led my team to raid another one of Don Jon's slave markets, which are places that I find most disgusting among all others. It also helps me identify which noble families are complicit with human trafficking in my kingdom, allowing me to place them under scrutiny even after they immediately disown the individuals who are caught in the slave market I raided. So far they mostly belong to families who are part of or affiliated with the Thirteen Night Blades, the cancer that has infected Midgar for generations and are currently my family's biggest political opponents.

If only dealing with them is as easy as snapping twigs.

My team moved under the cover of darkness to surround the area around the building where the slave market is hidden. But before we are able to move in, we are interrupted by screams... screams of my own knights.

"What happened!?" I shouted at one of the knights who came from the direction of the screams.

"Your highness! An unknown man just came and slaughtered our men!"

"Where is he!?" I asked the knight, but instead of him, an unknown voice answered.

"I am here." I turned towards the voice to see a white haired elf man wearing black coat with gold linings. He carried a curved blade with unknown runes carved on it which is dripping with the blood of my men. His aura is terrifying. He's not someone that ordinary knights can handle.

"You men should proceed with the plan! I'll handle this man!"

"But your highness!"

"Just do what I say!" I shouted and the men obeyed, leaving me alone with the elf man.

"Where is Beatrix?" The man asked.

"Who are you!?" I replied with a question of my own while putting my hand to my sword's hilt, which is sheathed on my hips.

"I am Arrinoth. And you will tell me where Beatrix is."

"And why should I tell you?"

"Then you shall die." He said before lunging towards me with his blade in hand. I brandished my own blade to block his strike, which is strong enough to throw me a few steps away.

"Hm. You're not half bad. I shall warm myself up with you before killing Beatrix."

"Hmph! I'll have you know that I trained under Lady Beatrix!" I said while pointing my sword, which is the very same Artifact I wielded during the chaos at the Bushin Festival, at him. The sword used to give me nightmares about me killing my own people when I went berserk after my father was killed but after a while, I was able to wield it again… and I have to in order to give me an edge against those monsters even a little bit.

"Hoo… All the more reason for me to kill you then. Not to mention you also carry an Artifact. This battle will be one to remember." He remarked with a bloodthirsty smile that chills me to the bone.

He lunged towards me again and I blocked his strike once again, this time staying in place. I pushed him back and this merely made him chuckle. "Heh. Not bad. But not enough." He said as he licked his blade psychotically.

"Let's see how you handle this!" I declared as I poured my magic into my blade, though this time in a more controlled manner compared to back then. The sword's runes glowed red in response to my magic, sharpening its edge and cutting power.

"Good. That's the spirit!" Arrinoth said as he did the same with his own blade, causing it to shine with a yellow hue.

We both lunged at each other and let our blades clash. The clash caused not only shockwave to destroy the ground around us but also caused sparks of electricity to fly out, destroying all in its path.

He sensed my hesitation on unleashing the full extent of my powers, afraid of causing damage to the city like I did after my father's death. To taunt me, he intentionally pours more magic to his blade and pushed me back.

"What's wrong!? Is that all that Beatrix has taught you!?" He said as his blade is engulfed in as much destructive magic as my blade did that day, bringing back the memories… the nightmares…

Distracted by my thoughts, I almost failed to react as he sent a slash with his sword, which is coated with huge amount of destructive magic that allowed him to reach me from a distance, destroying the streets and some buildings in the process.

"Ha ha ha ha!" He merely laughed, revelling at the destruction he caused. I really am facing my worst nightmare.

How did that Shadow Garden member handle me when I went berserk? How did Lady Beatrix handle me at my lowest during our spars? The answer is simple… they were patient. I need to try and emulate that in order to stop him.

He swings his blade again, bringing destruction in its path. I covered my blade in more magic and tried to intercept his blade before it completes its swing… and I managed to stop it, dispersing the destructive aura coating his blade, though the dispersed magic gave me several cuts around my body, not to mention how heavy the strike was... It's a miracle I could withstand it at all.

"Hoo… not bad. Not bad at all. But can you do it again?" He said as he unleashed enormous amount of destructive magic on his blade again and began swinging. This time I have to dodge as I'm not recovered enough to block another strike of his, resulting in the destruction of several buildings. The chaos unleashed by his blade is bringing more panic in town, just like during Alpha's fight with Don Jon a week ago. Dammit!

"Hah! As I thought!" he taunted as he chased after me with his shining blade in hand. I need to be quick in order to strike him down!

While he continued chasing after me, I turn back immediately and swing my blade at him. He managed to dodge it but with the length of my blade extended by the aura covering my blade, I managed to draw blood, albeit only a small cut on his cheek.

He took a drop of blood from his cheek with his fingers and stared at them. "Impressive. But you lack the power to truly harm me." He licked the blood on his fingers with a sinister grin when he said that.

We both lunged at each other again but instead of our blades clashing like he expected, I borrowed some of Claude's move and feinted my swing into a thrust, which he could barely react to, giving him a gash on the left side of his torso.

"How dare you!" He shouted angrily and poured greater magic into his sword and swung at me. I dodged again but his swing destroyed several more buildings.

"How far can you keep up without letting more houses destroyed!? Ha ha ha ha!" He laughed maniacally as he kept swinging and destroying buildings.

I had to keep dodging because I sensed that his swings are now stronger now that he's angered. I could've matched the amount of magic he unleashed but… the trauma of that day still lingers and it didn't allow me to unleash my full power out of fear of harming my people. But I have a way to defeat him without overwhelming power, thanks to Claude and Lady Beatrix.

I waited for an opening and when I saw it after he finished a huge swing, I took it, thrusting my blade once again and stabs my sword on his stomach.

"GHAAAGHH!" He gagged as he coughed out blood. But my gambit had its cost, namely giving him an opening to slice my stomach open with his blade, which thankfully isn't coated in his enormous magic this time, otherwise he would've sliced me in two instead.

"Uaghh….!" I gagged and coughed blood myself as I saw my guts spilling out of my stomach… the same way my men did when Don Jon killed them… Is this… how it ends…?

"Damn bitch! How could a weakling like her… Uaaghh…!" I heard him cursed as he retreated from the scene. I fell down the ground while clutching my open stomach, trying to keep its contents inside… but with the amount of blood that kept spilling out…

Alexia… Claude… Father… My kingdom… My people… I'm sorry…

I've failed you all…

I closed my eyes whilst preparing myself to meet my end. But…

"You will not die this day, Iris Midgar." I heard a voice… I opened my eyes and through my blurry vision saw a figure clad in black approaching me… His face obscured by the hood he wore but his red eyes shined through the darkness…

"Shadow…" I muttered before passing out. The last thing I saw was a purple light.


"Uuughh…!" Impossible! That weak princess…! Her powers are so much weaker than mine! So how… How did she cause so much damage to me!? I arrived at an empty street and leaned my hand against the wall while clutching my bleeding stomach.

"Your hunt not successful, Arrinoth?" I heard an annoying mutt's voice taunting me from behind. I turned back and saw the mutt Adra grinning so smugly.

"You yourself haven't started your hunt, you mutt!" I fired back at him while glaring at him hatefully.

"Aww… don't be like that, prince! My hunt is in progress I would say! Still, that princess has improved, hasn't she? You two are quite alike in some aspects so I think you should learn from her example. Perhaps you can grow stronger that way."

"You shut your mouth, dog! I will grow stronger my own way!"

"Haah… Your stubbornness is what made you so easy to manipulate. Just one word about Beatrix and off you go to hunt her! You even went the wrong direction! Or maybe that's what he inten-"

"I said shut the fuck up! Aghh…!" I shouted once again before falling to my knees.

"Need some help?"

"I don't need your help, dog…" I rejected his offer. I stood back up and continued on my way to the nearest teleport circle in order to return to the base… with the annoying dog following me closely behind.

I must grow stronger… so I can prove that I am the strongest elf warrior… and make my father pay for what he has done to me!


I stood in a rooftop of a building to watch the battle as it occurs.

I see that the battle between Iris and Arrinoth is over now, though it did attracted a lot of attention given how flashy Arrinoth tends to be, though I didn't blame him. I too favour destruction spells from time to time. Iris has learned her lesson and no longer resort to overwhelming force now, though that could be attributed to her trauma as well, but she defeated Arrinoth as I predicted. I was about to go and heal her when she fell unconscious but I didn't expect Shadow himself to come. Looks like I didn't need to save my future wife.

Ah. My prey has come, no doubt in response to the chaos that Arrinoth brought. I jumped from the roof of the building I stood in and landed in front of her and the knights assigned to accompany her.

"Greetings, my lady. I'm afraid I can't let you pass. A man needs to earn his keep after all." I greeted them. The knights recognized me and began brandishing their blades nervously. In contrast, Beatrix's face remains calm as usual.

"L-Lady Beatrix! Be careful! He's Don Jon!"

"Don Jon himself has personally come!?"

"How could the boss himself!?"

"Idiot! There's nothing to be afraid of! She's the Goddess of War after all!"

"Lady Beatrix is the strongest one of all!"

"You're right! Don Jon is finished!" The reminder of Beatrix's identity gave the knights some hope… hope that doesn't exist.

Beatrix pointed her sword at me and began asking the question I can see coming from a kilometer away. "You. I heard you met an elf girl whose face looks like mine."

"Indeed I have. I fought her a week ago near the Mitsugoshi building." I answered. That got her attention.

"Where is she now?"

"Who knows? Perhaps you should ask Shadow Garden… assuming you survive this encounter." I taunted but she remained unaffected.

"I see. Thank you for the information. Now I shall cut you down." She said as she brandished her katana looking sword. I could've sworn I saw the corners of her lips twitching upwards slightly. I responded by unsheathing my hidden blade from my cane.

She's definitely looking forward to this. Heh heh heh. Let's have some fun, Goddess of War. But I need to make this quick! Can't let Shadow interfere after all!


Author's Note:

Arrinoth's backstory has been teased. For once Iris isn't the one using overwhelming power against her opponent.

HundredMasks: with how things are going, Don Jon's empire is bound to fall, not his fault really, it's just that they're basically surrounded and being ganged up on my multiple factions and multiple geniuses, so the act of maintaining a businesses facade won't be kept up for long

Answer: He won't go down without a fight. And even if it did fall, he has plan B.

A-Yellow-Liz: Wonderful chapter as always! Have you considered making a discord server? If you do end up making one, I'd definitely join it as a fan of the work lol. My day gets brighter when I wake up to a new chapter getting released.

Answer: Thanks. I'm glad you're interested but I fear I may be too inactive if I made a discord server so I have no plans to do that at the moment.

Bolvar57: Al fin hizo la conexión, había demasiadas pistas. Nagash no ha tenido batallas, ¿Tiene poderos de putrefacción? Me refiero que con un hechizo los enfermo y una vez estan lo suficientemente debiles sus cuerpos atacan a lo que mueva mientras ellos son prisioneros en sus cuerpos. Ya existe esta enfermedad maldita y es muy poderosa y útil, eso me recuerda podría haber envenenado el agua de la ciudad antes.

Answer: The Necromancer has some curse spells but he haven't used them in a long while due to favouring destruction spells. He will use them more soon. Also, I have plans for zombie apocalypse.