"Haven't you learned your lesson yet? Even if you're a dragon, I can still beat you down!"

With Arick's precedent, Cyra naturally grew more confident and showed no fear of the newcomer. Seeing Mirium instantly charge right in front of her, she simultaneously raised her finger and pointed it at the opponent again.

However, this time the effect of Source Magic was really underwhelming. A beam of light about as thin as a chopstick flashed from her fingertip, accurately hitting the target but only causing a slight pause in Mirium's movements in mid-air.

After a dazed moment, seeming to realize this move didn't really harm her much, Mirium didn't hesitate to charge again. Seeing this, Cyra hurriedly tried to dodge aside, but how could her close combat skills possibly compare to the opponent's?

After a few exchanges, Mirium easily grabbed Cyra's wrist with just her left hand. After some struggle, Cyra's two arms were pinned behind her back in no more than ten seconds.

Just like that, Cyra was easily subdued! The speed was a stark contrast to her previous overwhelming instant defeat of Arick, her resistance process even seeming inferior to an ordinary six-winged angel.

However, this result didn't surprise me much. The surrounding environment was almost completely depleted of light elements by Source Magic. As a race extremely dependent on light elements, without a sufficient supply against such a formidable foe like Mirium, Cyra would quickly be at a disadvantage. Not to mention she had just recently ranked up to six wings and hadn't fully mastered her new powers yet.

"Mirium!"

At the very moment Cyra was completely subdued, Fernando beside Adrian suddenly shouted a reminder.

Seemingly realizing something, Mirium shuddered and grabbed Cyra's chin, coldly taunting her.

"Heh heh, this little face is quite pretty. Didn't expect the angel race to produce such an exceptional jumper in rank!"

"Speak! What is your relationship with the Pope, and where is he? I don't believe that thousand-year-old bastard actually died!"

"If you have the guts, let her go and fight me one-on-one! Bullying a newly ranked up angel, what skill is that!"

Seeing her face being squeezed to near deformation by those claws, I was afraid Mirium might directly twist Cyra's head off in a rage, so I shouted across loudly.

"Humph, if not for Adrian protecting you, with your level of skill, even two or three more wouldn't be my match!"

But she responded very disdainfully to my provocation, still with an arrogant demeanor.

"I also don't know what happened to Arick. That he was defeated by this kind of thing, could it be we were all affected by the illusions angels are skilled at?"

"Where is my eighteen meter long Water Abyss Sword?!"

This really angered me...It hadn't been that long ago, had she already forgotten who exactly had wasted her right hand? However, no matter how much I looked around, I couldn't see the Water Abyss Sword that had previously fallen on the ground anywhere.

Strange, this personally crafted exclusive weapon of mine, whether it had disappeared or not was very clear to me. I could sense the Water Abyss Sword nearby, but I just couldn't see where exactly it was.

Unfortunately, with my current abilities I couldn't create a second one like Nicola could, which was really vexing! I had finally revealed my blue-winged form, yet lost my weapon...

Without the Water Abyss Sword, of course I would be no match for Mirium. Just as I was thinking of trying to summon the weapon from a distance, Adrian suddenly spoke up to stop me.

"Feliciana, don't cause more trouble! Mirium is actually quite reasonable. As long as Cyra stops resisting, I can guarantee her personal safety going forward! After all, such a suddenly rank-jumping angel is really rare to see..."

"What do you mean cause trouble!"

I almost had an aneurysm hearing that. Such words might have had some weight before, but now that Cyra had killed Arick, the demonic side definitely wouldn't let it go. Even if Cyra didn't die, she'd have to lose some skin at least. I absolutely couldn't just watch.

And Adrian too, everything was fine except he insisted on cooperating with demons! This was what I found most unacceptable. Yet now he was actually helping the demons talk, which was even more maddening.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Get out of my way! Cyra is my friend, I must go rescue her!"

I angrily pushed him aside, extremely displeased.

"If you say anymore, don't blame me for being impolite!"

But Adrian didn't say anything else, nor did he continue to come after me. Instead, Fernando suddenly blocked my way again, solemnly warning me.

"As the vice-chairman of the Dark Council, I Fernando can guarantee that rank-jumping angel is very worth studying. We've said We won't harm her life for now, and we will keep our word! Since the King of Parristol has made it clear to you, if you don't listen and go further, don't blame me for really taking action!"

Studying?

No way! Although Mirium didn't seem to intend to immediately kill, seeing her restraining Cyra and flying further away, it looked like she was heading towards another building in the distance. What if something bad happened after Cyra was taken by the demons? I couldn't help growing more anxious.

"Get lost!"

Throwing a water bullet at Fernando recklessly, I simultaneously turned to try and force my way past him.

"So you're really an angel who can use water magic? This is the first time I've seen it in my long life. But those few pairs of blue wings are quite special..."

Facing the incoming water bullet, Fernando didn't even bother dodging, actually revealing a faint, barely noticeable smile. The magic hit an extremely faint-colored shield about ten centimeters from his body, then completely dissipated.

This seemed to be some little-known body protection technique, yet it also appeared quite different from conventional protective magic. After careful observation, I finally noticed a few tiny insects hovering around his body, forming layers of barriers with unknown properties. My water bullet had been blocked by these barriers.

But rescuing people was the priority, I had no time to worry about these now. Seeing that the magic had successfully drawn his attention, I leapt out several meters, intending to take off. But suddenly Fernando raised his left hand towards me while standing in place.

"Come forth, Binding Seeds!"

A plant seed inexplicably appeared in the palm of his hand, then immediately began germinating at visible speed, growing...

In less than a second, it had rapidly grown stems and leaves, lunging straight at me.

"What is this?"

I was stunned for a moment before randomly drawing a longsword to slash at it. But the instant the blade touched the stem, a side branch unexpectedly grew from the bottom part! So even if one part was cut off, it was futile.

Those tender stems and leaves may have looked delicate, but they moved around like animal tentacles. Once they touched my body surface, they wildly grew further, endlessly branching into vines. No matter how hard I slashed, I couldn't cut them all!

Soon, I was completely bound from head to toe and fell helplessly to the ground, immobilized.

"You'd better conserve your strength. This is a special plant that can only propagate and evolve in certain areas of the Dark Continent. No matter how strong you are, you absolutely cannot break free!"

Fernando seemed very satisfied with his handiwork, even asking Adrian behind me:

"How's that? You just saw it yourself, I didn't lay a single harmful hand on your Queen. No more objections now, right?"

"......""

To be honest, I really hoped Adrian would help me like before. But after looking at me fallen on the ground, he hesitated for a long while before finally sighing and resignedly saying:

"Well, let her suffer a little lesson then!"

"What kind of thing is that to say..."

I was enraged, truly enraged! Tears started uncontrollably flowing down as my heart ached terribly. Was this betrayal?

I never expected Adrian to treat me this way. I had trusted him so much before! But then a vine snaked over and sealed my mouth shut, rendering any further shouting futile. I could only make feeble "wuu wuu" noises.

"Go!"

Just as I was lying there nearly despairing, Mike's furious roar suddenly came from the other side of the throne room. Brennan, with his striking red hair, shot out of Chromos Tower like a cannon ball.

It turned out that while I was tangled up with Fernando, they were also secretly making a big move over there. Utilizing Mike's brute strength, Brennan became a human cannonball, launching into the air with the distant flying Mirium as the obvious target.

Could they also be trying to rescue Cyra?

I suddenly felt a bit excited, but also worried and puzzled.

Hadn't Brennan been taken down by Mirium before? How did he recover so quickly? And he didn't seem injured at all - who had healed him?

Eleanora was still lying unconscious due to her poor constitution, so it couldn't have been her. I looked around but couldn't find anyone else.

Strange, it seemed like someone was missing...

Speaking of which, where was Alfreed? Could he be hiding somewhere behind me out of sight?

Brennan alone definitely wouldn't be enough to stop Mirium. After forcefully throwing out the redhead, Mike immediately stomped the floor and leapt up, following right behind Brennan out as well.

With his astounding strength, it wouldn't be difficult for the two of them to catch up to Mirium in a short time. But what would happen next was hard to say.

After all, the opponent was a dragon race who could fly! But these two didn't have wings, so once airborne they'd have nowhere to brace themselves. If they couldn't achieve total victory, then inevitably they'd end up falling straight to the ground.

Of course, with their abilities they probably wouldn't die from the fall. But then this so-called rescue attempt would be completely meaningless! I didn't think Mirium's level would allow her to be caught off guard so easily.

"What are they doing?"

Fernando's thoughts were probably similar to mine. He glanced at their meaningless actions with some surprise, but didn't give chase, only casually asking beside him.

"Who knows? You're well aware humans just like to resist against the odds, never giving up..."

Adrian just shrugged nonchalantly. Then he quickly walked over, scooped me up and carried me back to the throne, opening the monitor as he said:

"So Feliciana, why bother with all this? If you just listened to me, there wouldn't be any trouble, right? Trust me!"

Since Mirium was too far away to see clearly now, observing through the monitor was the most direct way.

Hearing his words, I couldn't help my heart skipping a beat. Not just because he had mentioned the word "trust" again...

In that split second when he picked me up earlier, I seemed to have inadvertently noticed two arrow shafts left beside the crater Mike's launch had made.

If one of them was the arrow Adrian had previously shot at Mirium, there should only be one, right? Not only was the location wrong, but squinting carefully, I could vaguely make out the fading word "heal" on one of the arrow shafts. As for what was on the other one, I couldn't tell at all.

Could it be...?