Duke Lucan -his phantom- looked like a youth with an intense gaze. He radiated power along with his hostility. This man stood at the top of a duchy in Latias, one of four. As the throne of the king was currently empty, there was virtually nothing above his status in Latias. The Level 5 power he possessed set that statement in stone.

That same person was snatched like a snake on the talons of an eagle.

That was what Viers hoped to say, but it was not so. The phantom was resisting quite grandly but Dia was no slouch either. Both were not true Level 5 but their power was very far above Viers and Marvin’s.

Viers hoped Marvin was stupefied that his ace in the hole got smothered so quickly. It would make him easy prey. This battle had gone long enough and the villain paid no small price to wage it. The sooner it ended the better… but it seemed being pushed to the brink manifested some sort of competence in the pampered prince’s mind.

While holding down the wound on his chest, Marvin dashed toward the sealed Starfang. He tore the Divine Weapon from Dia’s seal of roots and vines. Because Dia had to fight with Duke Lucan, her attention shifted from the seal. It gave Marvin the opportunity to release the fearsome greatsword.

“Not good!” Viers cursed.

“Haaaaaaaaaah!”

Viers was a split second too late. Marvin put his remaining strength into the sword and by brandishing it Marvin tore a dimensional hole in the Biome.

From the rift, Viers could see the volcanic landscape. The rift was connected to the real world. Marvin, seeing it as his light at the end of the tunnel, jumped into the spatial pathway.

“Tsk!”

Viers gave a glance at Dia’s direction. He couldn't see her, but the blasts of powerful energy informed him that the battle was still ongoing. He couldn't rely on her.

As Viers resolved to give chase, Clarissa spoke to him.

“Wait, Viers. Are you insane? That’s a dimensional rift! You can get lost in the emptiness between dimensions!“

“Leave it to me! I have a good feeling about this”

Viers followed after Marvin through the rift. Time was short. There was no telling how long the rift would stay open. He left Clarissa, Dia, and Faiya behind. What came next was no smooth teleportation that he was used to. The trip was violent. It felt like he was being spaghettified from entering a black hole. He saw things. Of people, of places. All of them were too blurred for him to make sense. He focused on his destination and deployed his Unreality Field in maximum power to survive.

After an uncertain amount of time, because time was wibbly-wobbly inside the dimensional rift, Marvin flew out from a tear in reality like a human cannonball, seconded by Viers.

The two struggled to get up. The trip was not safe by any means. Viers was disoriented. Marvin was stronger than Viers but he was also heavily injured. They arrived back in the Archion Volcano but Marvin had paid a heavier price.

Viers was already on his feet while Marvin was still on the ground. The prince realized that. Viers’ footsteps were instilling him with a sense of dread. He crawled towards the one thing that might have saved him: Starfang.

How could this happen to me? Even if the earth turned upside down, this shouldn’t be possible!

“Urrgh…”

While Marvin was moving like a bleeding worm, leaving a trail of red behind him, he saw feet in front of him. He looked upward and saw a familiar face.

“Solany… Good! Kill the man behind me. Kill him now! Explode his head to bits!”

It made sense. The gods wouldn't allow him to be defeated. Marvin’s pupils contracted as he smiled with assured glee.

Solany had already removed her safety glasses. Even though she looked to be in pain with one hand holding her head, Marvin’s senses told him she had no major injury. She should be able to defeat the fatty with ease.

Viers did not approach carelessly. Even with the prince seemingly defeated, there was no telling what method he had left. The appearance of the mind Pathseeker was also a cause for concern.

Solany escaped from his mind quarantine horror zone by splitting her consciousness into little pieces. It was a risky move, bordering suicide. It surprised Viers. He didn't think Solany had the skill to recover from that. He thought she would at least have her mind reduced to that of a baby or worse, become a vegetable.

Solany looked far from a hundred percent. She looked like someone who hadn't slept for weeks and then woke up with the deadliest migraine in the world. Despite that, there was a sort of calmness in her behavior. Viers picked his move carefully. Unlike the desire-driven Marvin, Solany was a calculating one.

Solany laughed. Loudly and full of scorn. Marvin’s face was the very picture of confusion.

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“To think this day would come so soon…” Solany turned her eyes to Viers. “Prince Marvin went missing today and he has never been seen again. I don't know what happened to him. Promise me this, stranger, and he’s yours.”

Viers’ face was different from before. Solany didn't know him. If he spoke, it might have given his identity away. Truly silence is golden.

“Wha-!? Solany, this joke isn't funny!” Marvin grabbed Solany’s ankle. “Kill him! He’s done this to your husband!”

Solany kicked Marvin on the chin.

“Husband? I’d sooner die!”

“I-I-I don't… Don't you love me!?”

Viers wished he could have a seat and a bowl of popcorn. Like anyone else, he enjoyed a good drama.

“Oh please, you treat me as your toy!” Solany’s hidden feelings were unleashed to the open and it was as intense as a volcano. “The reason I can bear all those times you touch me is because I imagined you as someone else.”

Marvin’s eyes widened.

“Y-you! To think, you’re still… With-”

Solany kicked him again to silence him.

“You’re not worthy to be a king. Never have. Only one person is worthy of the Latias throne, and it is not you. I’ll leave you to your fate. It brings me unspeakable joy that I’ll never see you again.”

Solany used a high-speed movement to grab at Starfang. She almost got her hand on it, but Viers stopped it by standing between her and the Divine Weapon.

“That sword is an heirloom of House Lucan. My House.”

Viers wiggled his index finger left and right; his way of saying no. He didn't want to use his voice. The Dark Moon Greatsword was his spoil of war! Like hell, he would let her leave with it.

Solany raised her Victa.

Viers did the same.

Solany lowered her output. She was outclassed in Victa, and something else. It was the soul but she didn't know it. What she did know was the man in front of her defeated Marvin. There was no significant injury to him either. She had no chance.

Begrudgingly, Solany accepted the sword was unrecoverable and left, choosing self-preservation. Her figure faded like a mirage. Viers' senses told him Solany was retreating for real.

Marvin looked like a man whose soul had left his body.

The rustle of Viers stepping closer brought his soul back in.

“No… This can't be possible. I’m destined to become a king, to reach divinity and rise to become a god!”

Viers’ hand started to glow dangerously. He didn't speak because he didn't wish to raise any death flags. Viers charged his lightning to the very limit that a human could endure.

Viers’ electric judgment on Marvin cometh.

“I won't be defeated by the likes of you!!!”

Marvin’s injury was deep and he had no power left to create his oil shield, still, Viers was on guard for Marvin’s tricks. Nevertheless, he couldn't react in time when Marvin reflected his own lightning back to him using a sword of glass.

“Aaaahh!”

Viers screamed in pain. The great power he brought to bear against Marvin was reflected onto himself.

“Yes, yes, yes! Be defeated by your own power! Disappear!!!”

“Aaaaaahhhh!”

Viers sounded like an animal in a slaughterhouse.

“I am the zenith in my generation, the one who will become the legend amongst legends. Fall and periiiiiiiish!”

And then the lightning… fizzled out.

Marvin was still making an elated expression, thinking he had turned his defeat around, still holding his sword of glass with both hands as if his life depended on it.

Viers simply stopped.

“What? You think dialing down my own lightning is beyond me or something?” Viers replied to Marvin's stupefied face. “Idiot.”

Viers utilized his lightning like a certain Sith Lord. However, that guy zapped himself a lot. He became a victim of his own power in episode 3, episode 6, episode 9. Learning by example, Viers made sure he wouldn't be fried to humiliating defeat when someone reflected his lightning back to him.

Viers still wondered to this day how such a stupid thing could happen. Nothing excuses bad writing.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Fool me thrice… Well, some say idiocy couldn't be cured.

Past evil emperor aside, finally Marvin tried to blow himself up by taking a powerful poisonous bomb; a sign of desperation. This time Viers anticipated it from Marvin's soul fluctuation and gave him an uppercut. That cut Marvin’s brain-to-body connection. Next he pressed his palm to Marvin’s chest. He placed a seal on his soul.

“I was… meant for more…”

Viers placed another four seals on him before Marvin fell down facing upwards with eyes rolled back.

Viers sighed. It was finally over.

“Sweet dreams, childish, foolish, arrogant young master… For when you wake, you’ll have your destiny.”

***

Viers went back to the Biome after everything was over. As expected there was quite a bit of damage to the realm but it was over now. He didn't stay long. He checked up on his allies, left Marvin under the highest security, and went out again. He had to make an alibi.

“Avel! There you are. Where were you? I was worried sick. You’re still injured… Eh? Your injuries are much better now.”

“Apologies for making you worry, Highness. It’s my Profound Codex, but it’s a bit complicated so I had to leave for a few hours.”

Asking about another’s Profound Codex was considered rude because it was deeply personal. Viers just used it as a convenient excuse.

“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. The healer said Alfred will come through.”

“That’s good news.”

But bad for me.

Croix’s face darkened.

“He also said Alfred would lose his power. He was pushing himself too hard…”

Now that’s good news.

Viers replied in his heart, meaning it this time. On the outside, he expressed sympathy.

Should Alfred lose his Level 4 powers, Viers would become Croix’s most powerful vassal. He would be forced to rely on him more.

It meant Viers would have more hooks in the prince.

Good news indeed.