87 Your Blood Is Quite Nutritious

Thales' brain stopped working for three seconds before he could think again.

'Inside this is…

'A Mystic?

'Are you serious?!'

Thales still had fear lingering in his heart when he recalled the Air Mystic and his 'human ball'. Then he exhaled, "Fortunately, he is sealed in it…"

Katerina Corleone looked at Thales' reaction and frowned deeply.

Serena, on the other hand, had a smile on her face as she shook her head and licked her lips. "You have misunderstood me."

Thales lifted his head in confusion.

"This Mystic was not 'sealed', but imprisoned."

"Sealing lasts forever.

"As for imprisonment," Serena stared at Thales' ghastly expression and pointed towards the black coffin beneath him as she chuckled, "that Mystic can be released at any moment."

The moment she finished her speech, Thales lowered his head in disbelief as he stared at the black coffin beneath him. He felt its cold temperature.

'Release?'

Soon after, his face was filled with terror. He jumped off as swift as a clap of thunder, like he was sitting on an ejector seat!

If Jines was there, she would have probably felt very gratified that her training finally showed results.

He urgently leapt off the black coffin and fell onto the snowy ground. He just wanted to be as far away as he could from that black coffin! 

"Are you crazy?!"

Thales yelled at the giggling Serena in anger and confusion.

"How could you keep something—where a Mystic could get out of anytime… for a whole month!"

Serena laughed nonchalantly.

"This is nothing. The Corleone Family has guarded this secret for more than six hundred years.

"Otherwise, why do you think our Night Queen would be willing to travel thousands of miles across the sea and bring along the elite Sacred Blood Army?

"This was the Corleone Family and my father's promise to the Blood Spike Empress that year. It concerns the Corleone Family as well as the Night Kingdom's life and death!"

Thales listened to her speech in a daze.

His brain started to work by itself.

'More than six hundred years… This is a suspicious number.

'Blood Spike Empress? Such a familiar title.

'This is not right.

'Throughout the Peninsula, almost all of the countries' leaders have different levels of power from the archdukes to the kings. However, the only people who were known as emperors were those from the Ancient Empire and the Final Empire's emperors, correct?

'Why would there be an 'empress'? Could it be one of the Empire's many emperors from ancient times?

'It is possible, after all, the Blood Clansmen' life span…

'Wait a minute.'

Thales suddenly quivered.

It was not his first time hearing this title.

Thales' brain revealed a memory from a long time ago.

It was from the scariest enemy he had ever met— the mumblings of the Air Mystic.

"Accidents, accidents. Haha. I am starting to understand Empress Hellen's source of strength."

The Blood Spike Empress.

Empress Hellen.

Their titles were both empress.

Also… the life and death of the Corleone Family?

Thales furrowed his brows in deep thought.

Right at that very moment, Katerina cut her off with a cold voice, "Enough.

"These are all the family's top secrets. They cannot be announced to the public."

Serena laughed happily as she pouted at Thales. "That is right. But now, he already knows about it. What do we do?"

Thales felt his skin crawl when he looked at Katerina's purple eyes that had switched to him.

Her eyes were pure, sparkling, enchanting, and also… overflowing with murderous intent.

"It seems like you know what a Mystic is," the queen said coldly, "How unfortunate."

Thales shuddered all of a sudden.

"Wait!" Thales was confused and flustered as he glanced at the smiling Serena. Then, he switched his gaze towards the murderous Katerina.

'This is bad.

'Wait, no.'

"The secret must be guarded," Katerina could be heard saying slowly.

Thales' brain started to operate at a crazy speed that surpassed his usual thinking rate!

The Night Queen stared at him quietly as her right hand started to transform into pure white, sharp claws.

"Wait a minute!" Thales was anxious as he struggled against the ropes that tied his hands.

The next moment, Katerina's figure disappeared from his sight.

Thales instantly felt the shadow of death looming over his body!

…

Two enormous, pitch-black monsters with huge wings collided face on into each other. They did not slow down even in the slightest bit before the crash in the air.

*Bang!*

It felt as if the air shook in that moment!

The smaller monster shuddered. He let out a muffled groan, and trembled as he flew backwards.

The bigger monster got the upper hand. He utilized his ferocious fist that was covered with spurs and sharp claws. With a ton of force, he struck hard against his opponent's left chest!

Blood flew and splattered everywhere!

"Do you want to compete with me in terms of strength, citizen of the Empire?" Hestad asked fiercely in his transformed voice.

Chris roared angrily as he held onto the wound on his left chest. He flapped his huge wings to rapidly fly backwards.

But Hestad had no intention of letting him go.

Hestad's True Form was more inclined towards a dark brown color. Compared to his opponent, he was more violent and bigger in size, his spurs and sharp claws were even sharper, and his pitch-black skin was fully-covered with a hard, external shell. From afar, he looked like a black warrior covered in full armor.

His thick and heavy wings were stirred up strong gusts of wind as he lunged at Chris.

True Form Chris clenched his sharp teeth tightly against each other and lifted up his arms to block the attack.

*Rip!*

Sharp claws tore open Chris' right arm.

Blood once again gushed out violently.

"We know each other too well, and we both know how this battle is going to end!" Hestad roared and bared his sharp teeth while he continued to attack. "Every battle we had before the throne always ended in my victory!"

His claw pierced through Chris' right shoulder. Chris cried out in anger and in pain as black blood oozed out, drenching Hestad's palm.

Hestad flapped his wings and restrained Chris, who was too weak to move. Then both of them fell towards the ground with astonishing momentum!

Immediately afterwards, he clenched his right fist and threw a punch forward without holding back!

*Boom!*

He used his extremely powerful fist and knocked Chris to the ground!

Huge cracks appeared on the snowy ground due to the explosion caused by their scary strength.

Snow and dust dissipated entirely, after which the sinister figures of the two Blood Clansmen's True Form were revealed. The bigger figure was firmly pinning the smaller figure to the ground.

The strong Hestad used his fist to press against Chris as he coldly said, "See, it's precisely this kind of ending.

"No one can block my power, and no one can break my armor—it is the perfect balance between attack and defense.

"How can you even stand a chance?"

It seemed like Chris' injuries were extremely serious. His chest caved in due to Hestad's brute strength.

But surprisingly, his cheeks were still moving, and he gave out a broken smile even though he was dying. "Yes, I still remember the Night Wing King praising your ability.

"'Strength, speed, resistance. The simpler the ability, the deadlier it is.' That was what he said."

Chris coughed out a mouthful of black blood as he laughed and said, "Battle Wing Hestad Corleone and Flash Wing Simon Corleone respectively led the Sacred Blood Army's shock troops and reconnaissance soldiers. Under their joint hands, they were almost unbeatable in the frontlines of the war in the peninsula…" The old butler closed his eyes and sneered lightly

Hestad's expression slowly changed.

"But you were Dark Wing Chris Corleone and His Majesty's most trusted military counselor as well as assistant. Do you remember that?" Hestad's expression turned cold as he cut off the old butler.

"Along with the logistics official Red Wing Lee Corleone, we were the Night King's Fearsome Four Wings. Our name intimidated every country in the Eastern Peninsula!"

Hestad clenched his teeth and trembled as he looked at Chris. His eyes were filled with hatred.

"Three hundred years ago, we were His Majesty's strongest wings. We followed him over the Sea of Eradication and went on an expedition on the other side of the world!

"During that era, we owned the Sea of Eradication's east bank and twenty percent of Eternal Oil's rations, as well as fifteen percent of the Eastern Peninsula's Crystal Drop Ore!

"Grand Banquet Hill's Five Clans would send in letters every single month in hopes to maintain their status and join the Night Wing King's troops! Even Wild Vast Mountain's Silver Wolves, Sele Prairies' Red Wolves, Desert, Glacier, and also Black Mountain's Three Great Orc Tribes, would all send someone to express their sincerity towards His Majesty!"

Chris sighed sadly when he heard these things, whereas Hestad clenched his teeth. His sinister face was filled with an eerie coldness. 

"During the Peninsular War, even the two extremes of the Eastern Peninsula, Mane et Nox Dynasty and Hanbol did not recklessly overlook Night Kingdom and how powerful His Majesty was. They looked upon him as the supreme commander of the allied armies while they curried his favor in fear!

"We once worked as one and crushed Eckstedt's main forces along with their pride into pieces at Arunde Castle! His Majesty personally took the King of Wrath's head!

"Back in the day, we tore the dwarfs' armors apart and turned their weapons into scrap metal. We also trapped the Sacred Tree Kingdom's Elf Army in Beacon Illumination City! 

"At Arunde Castle, we killed all of the reinforcements from Constellation and Camus until not a single one of them was left!"

Chris, whose chest had caved in from the strike earlier, was strenuously gasping for air as he closed his eyes tightly.

"At Prestige Orchid Snowland, all of us gathered behind His Majesty's flag, with Chara, Kaplan and also Midier, the three most outstanding heroes of the Western Peninsula, or even the entire human history. We launched the world's most magnificent battle, the Final Battle of Historical Poetry after the Battle of Eradication!

"From the Battle of Eradication, the start of that hellish battlefield, until the eve of the Fourth Peninsular War… we had always fought together with His Majesty… for an entire four hundred years!"

Chris lowered his head and sighed.

Hestad's red pupils were flaming with rage and hatred. "But you, you damned citizen of the Empire, you betrayed the Corleone Family after His Majesty's death!

"How dare you!

"Chris Corleone!

"Without His Majesty granting you your rebirth, your last name, and your power...

"You would have only been a small lieutenant general of the Final Empire. You would be waiting for your death with your eyes closed in a pile of dead people!

"Chris Tammul Linka!

"Without His Majesty, you are nothing!

"How dare you betray him and surrender to the murderer who killed His Majesty!

"How dare you!"

The two sinister Blood Clansmen in their True Forms were panting harshly as they remained silent for a while.

At this moment, Chris, who was lying on the ground, suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and he involuntarily laughed.

"Ah, since you mentioned that tyrant, there is one point that you still do not know." Chris licked the blood at the corner of his lips and lifted up his pitch-black head. His expression was full of derision. "Do you know why the Night Wing King always yelled 'stop' when you got the upper hand every time we fought?"

Hestad brought his opponent closer to his sinister face and laughed. "His Majesty feared that a loser like you would be crushed by my fist?"

"No." Chris' expression became solemn.

"He was afraid that if we continued fighting, you would…

"Be killed by me."

Hestad was momentarily stunned. He then opened his bloody mouth and laughed loudly with his abnormally robust True Form voice. "Kill me? How? With your special Corrosive Power?"

He lifted up his palm that was covered with Chris' blood. "Your strongly acidic blood… is very effective in dealing with others. But unfortunately, it can never corrode my True Form Armor.

"This is an absolute fool-proof defense!"

Chris was restrained by Hestad. He did not reply and only laughed.

A cold chill suddenly ran down Hestad's spine

'What is going on?

'What cards does he have in his hands exactly?'

Nonetheless, Hestad still clenched his fist and aimed at Chris' head.

A few hundred years of army life made Hestad Corleone decide not to hesitate over his old affection towards his comrade. He was prepared to completely take Chris' life.

…

How long was zero point one seconds?

Thales would tell you that it was long enough for him to close his eyes and roar one single word!

And so, the moment when Katerina, whose killing intent was clear and obvious disappeared, the transmigrator closed his eyes and yelled, "Covendier!"

Wind rushed by his face.

Thales squeezed his eyes shut as breathed harshly.

"Ha… Ha…"

He opened his eyes a little.

Katerina's black and scary sharp claws could be seen an inch away from his face.

"What did you say?" Katerina narrowed her enchanting, beautiful eyes as she slowly spoke.

'I-I managed to escape from this disaster.'

Thales was panting uncontrollably as he asked in nervousness, "Was it Covendier?! Was it Zayen Covendier who told you the news that Serena was in the fleet of carriages?"

"You know quite a lot." Katerina snorted lightly as she spread out her sharp claws. "In that case, you should be dead even more."

Thales saw his own life flash before his eyes and he felt his skin crawl. He could not manage to care about his intonation as he immediately blurted out the words he had just finished thinking about. He did so in one breath, fluently, and without any pauses in between.

"Surely he did not tell you that this fleet is actually an important diplomat group from Constellation this fleet is heading to Eckstedt and within this group there is Constellation's only heir after you kill me you will get yourself into a huge pile of problems am I right?!"

After Thales finished blurting out these words in one single breath, he continued to pant. He was drenched in sweat as he collapsed and sat down.

Katerina widened her purple eyes, implying that she was shaken!

"Jadestar Royal Family… heir… was it not… twelve years ago…" she mumbled to herself, but immediately figured out something.

The Night Queen slowly retracted her sharp claws.

*Clap!*

*Clap!*

*Clap!*

A round of applause could be heard beside them.

"As expected of my ally." Serena, who had been watching for a long time was clapping with enthusiasm. She was smiling happily. "However, Prince Thales, how are you so sure that she is not specifically here to kill you?"

Katerina's eyes once again became solemn as she turned to the young-looking Serena.

"In order to ensure my safety, from the second day of the journey onwards, I no longer wore the Nine-Pointed Star insignia or emblem. Oh, by the way, you can find a Nine-Pointed Star brooch in the left pocket of my shirt." Thales sighed.

Katerina took out the brooch from his pocket and immediately furrowed her brows together.

"As for this… queen, she never revealed any intention of killing somebody. What she said was, 'Kill them all'. Even the start of the war was incited by you, Serena." Thales smiled bitterly as he said, "I just figured it out… All twenty of you, a team of elites with supreme abilities, whose identities are considered sensitive information, travelled across the sea to be here. Without local forces and support, how could you easily get across the border? The only Constellation noble who has connections with the Corleone Family and is able to provide ships that belong in the family…

"Can only be the Covendiers."

Katerina slowly exhaled when she listened to his words. She looked at the Nine-Pointed Star brooch in her hand with her icy gaze. "Damn you, Covendier.

"The friendship between the Corleone and Covendier Family, Blood Fangs and Tricolor Iris Flowers ends here," she slowly said.

Thales finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed like his life was temporarily secured before this strong and powerful queen.

Katerina held the brooch tightly in her palm and muttered, "The people from the Covendier Family only told us that the traitor of the Corleone Family was currently in the carriage fleet up north. They only said that it was Constellation's supply transportation fleet to the Northern Territory, but never mentioned that it was the second prince's diplomat group… It seemed like they did this on purpose.

"After we got off the ship, we stayed in their encampment the entire time. We do not even know that Constellation has gotten a new heir."

Thales' expression changed as he said angrily, "That was such a huge matter that the whole of Constellation knew about it, down to the very last detail! Why did you not check and confirm the matter on your own?!"

However, Katerina did not reply him. She just turned her head sideways and moved her gaze away from him.

'Eh?'

Thales was confused for a moment. 'She seems a bit… embarrassed?'

"They have no way to confirm this!" Serena was laughing beside them. "Katerina's forces and supporters were all in the Sacred Blood Army. She is one hundred percent a Military Queen!

"Chris was in charge of the Corleone Family and Covendier's interactions, the spies in the Western Peninsula as well as communication channels in the Western Peninsula… But, when he suddenly betrayed her and switched to my side…"

Under Katerina's grim expression, Serena spread her hands happily.

"Katerina became blind and deaf to every bit of information about Constellation."

Thales suddenly came to a realization. "That was why you chose to take refuge in Constellation."

He immediately thought of something as he turned towards Katerina.

"Queen Katerina," he used honorifics as he spoke, "Zayen… I am referring to Duke Covendier… When did he reveal Serena's whereabouts to you?"

Katerina stared coldly at him. After a while, she opened her mouth and said, "We just reached the Western Peninsula more than a week ago and went into Eternal Star City six days ago.

"Covendier informed us that he found traces of Corleone's traitor at noon four days ago." Katerina's face was clouded with gloom, but her appearance that would provoke tender affection from people made her look like an adorable beauty who was currently sulking.

"Their proviso was: In order to not leak any information and thereby tarnish Iris Flowers' reputation...

"We had to kill everyone who travelled alongside Serena.

"We had to ensure that not a single person was kept alive, whether they be children or the elderly."

Serena's whole frame shuddered. "Ah, if I had known earlier that you made this promise, I would not have gone through such trouble…" However, she immediately came to a realization. "But then, if that supreme class woman is here, you would probably have no way to kill him either."

Thales lowered his head and sighed.

When did the Duke of Iris Flowers begin to have a desire to kill him?

Even if he acted at this point and was able to draw a clear line with the Corleone Family after this incident, he would still leave some traces behind. This would cause more troubles in the future, would it not?

'Zayen… why did he make this clearly stupid decision?

'After he tried getting answers from me with a few words during the morning we met, his attitude suddenly became extremely odd —now that I think about it, he was trying to find Serena's whereabouts. Also, he brought along…'

Thales' eyes lit up.

"It is that old soldier, right?" Thales lifted his head and slowly asked.

"Probably, without his knowledge, some sort of tracking device had been planted on him.

"You do not need to chase after our fleet because Zayen knew that Genard would do his very best to follow me. As for you, you only had to follow this old soldier.

"You were very far away from me, so no matter how many scouts and sentries my soldiers arranged, they still could not sense your presence.

"So long as you kept away from the Central Territory and the suzerain of the fortress, whom you could possibly run into every few days, and enter the desolate birch forest," Thales sighed as he concluded, "you could start attacking."

Katerina's eyes lit up.

"For a mortal creature, you are very intelligent, and you have quick response, especially for a mortal creature your age."

"Right, I thought so too." Serena was beaming when she cut into the conversation. However, Katerina and Thales glared at her with an angry gaze at the same time.

Serena shrugged helplessly and revealed her tiny fangs. "Alright, since I did not accomplish my goal, I have to take matters into my own hands."

The next moment, Serena's small hands transformed into red sharp claws as she bared her fangs and pounced on Thales swiftly!

Thales shuddered, but both of his hands were tied, so he could only kick the snowy ground with all of his strength to move backwards.

*Dong!*

The snow exploded and scattered into the air!

The frosty cold snow crashed into Thales' face, and the prickly sensation made him shut his eyes.

Thales opened his eyes and saw that Serena's tiny red claws were just a few feet away in front of him.

But this time, she was held back tightly by Katerina.

"Since just now, you were making every possible effort to lure me into killing him," Katerina said coldly, "Do you still have the delusion of seizing the throne in your heart even though you are already in such a situation?"

The tiny Serena grinned. "What, can I not do so?

"I am the number one candidate to inherit the throne compared to you, number two. I am still a place above you!"

"Very well," Katerina raised her other hand and said dryly, "Since I already do not have any hopes of catching you alive anymore...

"I should directly change my rank into number one!" Katerina shouted furiously, and her sharp claws went straight for Serena's heart!

As for Rolana, who was standing beside Serena, she was staring coldly at the situation. There was no sign showing that she intended to interfere with things.

Nonetheless, at the very next moment, an incident that made Thales extremely shocked and confused happened.

The torso of the young-looking Serena torso visibly inflated as if she had suddenly grown up and all of her clothing tore apart. She transformed into a curvy and sensual looking, coquettishly beautiful woman. She was almost as tall as Katerina. Her red eyes and silver hair were incomparably enticing. 

At this moment, this coquettish beauty had an enchanting smile on her face. She held onto Katerina's pure white sharp claws effortlessly!

Katerina bared her fangs and roared angrily as she thrust her other set of claws towards Serena!

However, it was as if the coquettish beauty had also predicted her attack, and Serena held onto Katerina's hand tightly!

"Your strength is still so weak, crybaby." The coquettish beauty was shaking with laughter like a sprig with trembling blossoms.

Thales was suddenly jolted!

"Ugly-faced woman," Katerina said with her voice filled with anger and hatred, "you natural born deceiver!"

"You… When did you recover your actual strength?!" Thales looked at the coquettish beauty with red eyes and silver hair as he cried out in surprise.

"This is impossible! You-you only sucked my blood twice!

Under Katerina's solemn gaze, the grown-up version of Serena, who was naked and showed no signs of embarrassment, blinked her bewitching eyes and gave him an alluring smile. "Oh, about that… your blood is quite nutritious."