Chapter 20: Item Testing, Princess at the Door

The next day...

Prince Vritra was in his chambers, staring at his reflection in the full-length mirror. But this time, it wasn't to admire his own beauty──he wanted to test something else. He glanced over his shoulder at the young lady standing behind him.

It was his loyal secretary, Ghislaine Lumont.

"Oh Ghislaine~ come help me test something."

The white-haired young woman blinked a few times and pointed at herself.

"M-, Me, Young Master?"

She knew she was the only one in the room, but whenever he made a request like this, it usually didn't end well.

Prince Vritra gave her a teasing smile.

"Well, I don't see Neron here, so of course I mean you."

Ghislaine sighed and slouched her shoulders.

"Okay, fine... just please, don't blow me up again."

"Oh, quite the contrary."

"Hm?" Ghislaine tilted her head.

Prince Vritra smirked. "You'll be trying to blow me up..."

"Eh?"

Without much thought, Vritra held out his palm and created a semi-translucent dark orb that quickly expanded to fill the entire chamber. Suddenly, Ghislaine found herself standing in a vast, empty space with only Vritra beside her.

"W-, Woah! What just happened?!"

She exclaimed and widened her eye with amazement as she looked around in shock.

Vritra sighed and lowered his head, slightly exasperated by her over-the-top reaction.

"This is obviously [Spatial Magic]. The one I just used is a type-4 phenomenon called [Warped Horizon].

"Inside this dome, space is stretched and expanded up to a 150-meter radius. Objects and entities like us appear smaller from the outside due to the spatial distortion.

"But from within, everything looks normal, though distances are deceptive, allowing me, the caster, to manipulate spatial perception of others."

As she listened to her young master explain, Ghislaine couldn't help but make small noises of awe, as if she had never seen [Spatial Magic] before.

Vritra raised an eyebrow.

"You're acting like you've never seen [Spatial Magic] before. I know I don't use it often, but Neron's used it enough times for you to have a decent understanding of how it works."

He wasn't entirely against the idea of Ghislaine being amazed just because he had used a type-4 phenomenon so casually.

After all, it wasn't the first time his subordinates exaggerated their reactions to highlight his greatness. But if they were in battle and she reacted like this to a type-4 phenomenon, it would be embarrassing, making it seem like such a low-level spell was a milestone for him.

"Well, actually..."

Ghislaine put a hand on her small, smooth chin and hummed thoughtfully.

"I mean, yeah, I've seen that old fart Neron use [Spatial Magic] plenty of times, but he mostly uses it for boring stuff like pulling out some cake he stored for you in his pocket dimension or something."

The dark prince nodded with a smug face.

"Alright, Ghislaine!"

With a wave of his hand, dark energy swirled around Vritra for a moment, and then he was cloaked in [Imperial Dragon Combat Aura].

After that, the dark energy vanished.

This was normal, as [Combat Aura] shouldn't be seen with the naked eye. If it were visible, it means it isn't dense enough, making it much easier for an opponent to find weak spots and achieve a flawless victory.

"I'll use a type-4 phenomenon, Young Master!"

It was the strongest spell in her arsenal.

Ghislaine held out both hands and focused her mana.

... Huuuuu

Soon, hydrogen gathered at a point and formed a wind-like sphere. Then, with a burst of mana, she unleashed a massive eruption of blue-hot flames.

kraaa────KOOOOOOOM!

The entire warped space trembled as a massive, streaming wave of flame surged towards Vritra. The flames were so intense and powerful that they completely overshadowed him.

This was type-4 phenomenon [Scorch Cannon!]

However, as soon as the attack came, Vritra darted toward the wave of flames like a bullet piercing glass. In both cases, the obstacle was shattered.

BOOOOOOM!!

The flames scattered into flakes of fire, and Vritra appeared unscathed on the other side of the attack.

"Heh, this ring is quite powerful..."

With his Fiendcelestial strength, Vritra was confident that very few people could actually hurt him, much less kill him.

"TH-, THAT...!"

Ghislaine put both hands on her red cheeks, her eye wide as she stared at the graceful presence of her beloved prince.

"THAT WAS AMAZING, MY PRINCE!"

Her cheeks became even more red.

Vritra simply smiled. "What else did you expect?"

knock! KNOCK!

Two moderately loud knocks sounded on the doors of Prince Vritra's chambers.

Standing outside and waiting for a response was the beautiful Princess Luciana. She held a tray of delicious treats and wore a small, uneasy look on her pretty, moon-shaped face.

『This will be my first time speaking to him...』

What will the dark prince do? She could only wonder.

━ ━ ━ ━

(T/N): There will be second chapter today.