Crown Prince Brody of Heath ran across the bakery toward the three lesser nobles in the back, his hand on the hilt of his still sheathed sword. He went past the line of Princesses with a smug attitude that showed he believed they would not dare attack him. And he was right. For the wrong reasons.

Claire was not a combatant. Pearl was busy keeping her eyes on the other two royals by the door. And Dawn was fighting in the information dimension. She was the only one that had full awareness of almost everything in play, at least on their side. All the pieces they set and prepared for. Two of them would show their worth now. She saturated the empty area around her with Ether mana. From it, she kept shooting motes of it to disrupt the frantic spells Sierra kept trying to cast. But Brody just crossed that cloud.

The first piece was revealed when Ether mana greedily clung to the high-energy high-organized mana around the Prince, consuming itself to bring that mana to a higher level of entropy. In layman's terms, dissolve it into basic raw mana. The awfully expensive enchanted items Brody was carrying and the spells currently active on him soon fell prey to the neutering properties of the Ether mana. Dozens of faint sounds like glass wind chimes being rung and broken in no particular order or harmony covered all other sounds in a cacophony of despair.

Brody kept pressing on. He firmly set his good leg on the ground and lunged forward, his sword drawn in a swift and practiced movement to either attack or harass the people on the back. Cythrel raised her arms clad in ornate mithril bracelets up in an attempt to defend herself from the incoming aggressor. The light blue cores dotting the flowers engraved on the bracers glowed fiercely.

But before the enchantment could take form, Aidan lurched, gagged and bled from the ears, nose, and eyes. He started to throw up and only Sora quick reflexes avoided having the not-so-dignified scion of the God-Slayer fall into a heap on the ground. Skippy was thrown up to free her arms. The dragon just took wing and hovered in place. Blood mixed with bile splashed around Aidan.

Brody saw it with his peripheral vision and smirked. He focused his eyes on the elf, looking at the bracers with interest. The sword free and already up high, he firmly planted his previously wounded leg on the ground to show that rabble of commoners their proper place in the scheme of the world. His overhead swing was powerful and the elf would probably not survive it.

But the leg didn't hold. The bone splintered with a crunchy sound and then a squelch and a splutter as the weight of his own body forced the calf bones out through the skin. The Prince's momentum drove him forward still and the cores on Cythrel's bracers shone. Brody crashed on something invisible as if an unbreakable glass pane was set in front of him. His sword also hit it with a dull thud and the Prince unceremoniously fell into a heap or more precisely slid down that slightly angled invisible pane into a heap on the ground, blood freely flowing from his exposed fracture. His sword was released and it clattered next to him.

"Stone Bones," Dawn explained. "It seems he was using the Stone Bones spell to temporarily fix his fracture."

Cythrel smiled and looked at her bracers. Anyone could tell she loved them already. The little elf looked at the Prince on the ground and snorted. She drew her foot back and kicked him once near the eye. After that, she used a spell to take his sword away.

"Sylph's Hand."

And just like that the two men in the bakery were incapacitated and bleeding. The baker had fled minutes ago when the insults started to be thrown around. He could rebuild his bakery but not raise from the dead. One could argue that Brian was present but he was by the door frame, not properly inside the room.

"Brody!" Cried Sierra, worried for her brother. "You murdering scoundrels! This was a trap! Brian do something!"

The Princess kept trying to cast spells, signs of mana exhaustion already visible. Dawn got impatient because of Aidan's condition and Lumina's bloodlust doing a number on the young man's body and decided to send the whole cloud to wrap around Sierra.

"How can it be a trap if we weren't aware of your arrival, we didn't invite you here and you were the ones to barge into our party?" Claire asked, appealing to the visiting Royalty's common sense. One could probably point out that it was a fruitless endeavor, as they had close to none.

"Brian, be a man and defend your brother before he is slaughtered by these barbarians and fed to the dragon!" Sierra scolded her brother.

The cloud of Ether reached her and once again the sound of enchantments breaking and spells dissipating as Ether devoured those high-energy constructs rang in the air around Sierra. She gasped and trembled for her dear life. She thought the sound was the prelude of what happened to Brody and shrank a head as she backed off and leaned against the wall.

"Brian!" She screamed.

The slow Prince decided to act finally and started to cast a spell.

"Magma —"

His mana gathered around him, taking in the glowing reddish-orange tint of Magma mana. He never got to finish his spell, his concentration broken.

"Old Faithful's Wrath!"

Pearl lashed out. If they wanted a spell battle, she was glad to indulge. The spout of boiling water that erupted behind Prince Brian lifted the man and bashed his back against the door frame, cracking the wood. It would be fatal if Pearl didn't use the spell at the lowest power. The impromptu geyser stopped abruptly and the Prince unceremoniously crashed face first on the wooden floor of the bakery.

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"Brian!" Sierra screeched in panic, her vocabulary cut awfully short. The Princess' legs failed her and she slid down the wall, the skirts and petticoats around her legs blooming like a flower on the ground. The Prince coughed and wheezed and Sierra screamed again. "Guards! Guards! Kill them!"

Claire shouted over Sierra desperate shrieks. "Princess Sierra, call off your Knights. Any aggression in our Realm will be dealt with swiftly."

Sierra wailed for the men to attack at the top of her lungs. The Knights from Heath filed into the room, followed by three of Sierra's personal maids. One of the knights stopped to help Brian back on their feet and the others spreading and charging. The faint cloud of Ether ate their armor's enchantments and dissipated. More sounds like broken glass rang.

"Defend the Crown Prince!" The lead Knight with a captain's pauldrons shouted. He unsheathed his sword and charged. The others did the same and followed him.

The three Princesses were not worried about being attacked. It would be the epitome of stupidity and these Knights were trained to pick their targets. But that meant that the three lesser nobles at the back and their dragon were fair game. Especially because they were the ones nearer Brody. One of the Knights next to their captain shoved the table away to make way and suddenly wobbled and crashed down. The captain also just fell flat forward. The Knights one by one followed their leader on a heap of armored bodies. It would be funny if the situation wasn't that tense or if the Knights were...

Breathing. Charge a soul mage capable of silent casting at your own peril.

Claire shot Dawn a glance and the boy in a girl's skin pretending to be a Princess just nodded. Dawn put a hand on Claire's arm and gently pushed her backward.

"Get in the back, sister," Dawn told the Princess. "I got this handled."

Claire exited the room through the backdoor with Cythrel and Sora. The two girls were helping Aidan move.

Back in the bakery's main room, Sierra wasn't finished. The Princess, feeling safe among her handmaids started to run her mouth. "You! You! It is all your fault! Lumina the Queen of Besmirch you oathbreaker wench! You want to murder us all! I told Brody that a psychopath like you that got Orian executed, you are now killing us all you wretched man-hater! Kill Lumina! Kill her!"

Two of the handmaids produced daggers and dashed toward Dawn. She sighed and glared. Both of them lost their footing and collapsed on the floor. They were not moving. Or breathing.

"Shut your trap before you get any more of your supporters killed, Sierra. Just shut it. Or maybe you want to keep your hysterical episode going until one of your brothers exsanguinate. I'm fine with that."

Sierra looked at the handmaids and back at Dawn with wide-eyed eyes. "Are they de-dead, Lumina?"

"Come and check if you are so concerned" Dawn waved a hand dismissively. "Pearl, could you please staunch Brody's bleeding leg? The limb is ruined anyway."

"With pleasure, my friend," The petite Princess grinned. She was going to enjoy it. Brody was barely conscious as Pearl wove her spell with theatrical flair, her arms wreathed in flame. Maybe Sierra shouldn't have invoked the memory of Prince Orian. The thought of those maids raped made Pearl's heart clench and her rage like searing embers.

"Cauterize."

Brody's broken leg burst into flame and he wailed in pain. The smell of burnt flesh and hair mixed with the aroma of bread and made Pearl regret. The leg was burnt entirely, a sizzling mound of flesh sealing the stump.

Dawn waved at the Knight that was carrying Brian to the carriage, "You, bring the Prince here so I can heal him. It is more than he deserves but let nobody say that Yutis' royalty is not merciful." Her voice carried an imposing tone, a command that could not be defied. It sounded like good old Lumina. Dawn made good use of the pilfered memories.

The knight brought Brian back and Dawn wove a hand. She chanted her spell, Healing Light on both Brian and Brody. The last surviving Knight carried the unconscious Princes into the carriage while the handmaid helped Sierra move.

Outside, a crowd of curious bystanders was watching the scene unfold. Lots and lots of academy students too, including Brian groupies. Dawn got outside and stood in front of the carriage. The driver was scared and the knight took the footman stand after everyone was inside. She took her stand and flared all of Lumina's majesty.

"I won't forgive another heinous attack disturbing our peace from you again. Once again, Let nobody say that Yutis' Royalty is not merciful. Keep your Princes in the carriage and make way to the castle. My fellow Princesses and I will meet you there. Leave it here before I regret letting you live."

One of the Yutis' own guard squad was nearby. The sergeant cried, "Make way for the carriage!"

Dawn saw an opportunity. "Sergeant, escort that carriage and make sure our guests are safely delivered at the castle. And someone sends word to the guard to pick up the bodies of those foolish enough to raise weapons against me in there."

The carriage departed slowly with the guard squad jogging at its sides to protect the precious cargo. Pearl got out of the bakery and into the streets. Dawn smiled and waved, Pearl returned the gesture in kind. The blurb of the crowd was drowning any sounds. It was impossible for them to talk. Claire and the rest of the crew showed up right after Pearl.

Dawn walked to check on Aidan's condition, visibly worried. All an act, of course. Now with Brody away from them, Aidan could push Lumina back in control. But he was still blooded. Dawn used healing magic just for show. Cythrel had already fixed him with her Mending Mist.

A few minutes later the master baker appeared and threw himself to the ground, groveling before Dawn and Claire. Pearl stood a bit to the back with Aidan and the girls. Dawn knew they had to help the baker or his business would be ruined. She crouched next to him and helped the man back on his feet. She showed her hand and the baker took it, kissing the air above her hand. She nodded and complimented him on his baking skills. With the endorsement of the princesses, he would be set.

"Let's go. We must arrive at the castle before our guests. Everyone, hold hands." Cythrel frowned. "Skippy, you latch to Cythrel's back."

Dawn and Aidan cast Invisibility and Sky Wings on all of them. They flew to the castle and soon gained over the slow-moving carriage with the Royals from Heath.

During their short flight they made an assessment of the confrontation. It went better than they expected. Brody now hated Aidan and Cythrel and probably Skippy as well. He'd be willing to negotiate to get a shot at them. He lost his leg and he'd need regenerative magic. Dawn would be glad to indulge if it meant she got to use magic on him unimpeded. Now all they needed to do was to give Brody the biggest motivator to make sure he would be unable to think straight.

It was time for Aidan and 'Lumina' to fall madly in love with each other. A forbidden romance between a lesser noble and a bethroted Princess.

They would make Brody mad with jealousy and possessiveness. He would be driven to the point where he would give anything for the opportunity to get rid of that rival. And after he bit the bait, he would be damned.

"Worry not, guards, for it is me, Lumina that return." Dawn warned before unceremoniously lifting the invisibility over the crew. They landed on the courtyard. Danw and Claire left everyone with Pearl and made a beeline to report what happend to King Helios.

The visit from Brody wasn't going to be a pleasant one for anyone.