The Border snow night was bone-chillingly cold to the marrow, but the air outside the Royal Parliament was exceedingly suffocating. Kieran stood on the highest balcony of the Parliament, his black robe embroidered with gold thread billowing in each gust of whirlwind. He had just concluded a heated debate with the Old Aristocracy faction regarding the division of power at the border, his handsome face overflowing with exhaustion and coldness.
Clang! Clack! Clang!
Rapid and ear-splitting magic bell sounds suddenly tore apart the solitary night. The highest-level alarm sound reverberated through every alley-corner of the Ice Kingdom palace, transforming the silent winter night into a chaotic, violent mess.
"What happened?" Kieran turned around, his ash-gray eyes flashing a bone-chilling murderous intent.
A Black Guard retainer frantically charged forward, kneeling and bowing his head onto the stone floor, his voice trembling unable to hide his panic:
"Your Majesty! A massive crisis at the main palace! Your Majesty's bedchamber... the bedchamber is burning furiously in a strange white flame!"
"The bedchamber?" Kieran narrowed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed tightly. "Where are the Palace-guarding Mages? Why did they not immediately use water magic to extinguish the fire?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty... it is impossible to extinguish!" The retainer chased after his hurried footsteps, bead-like sweat pouring continuously despite the bone-chilling air.
"All Water and Ice Mages have released all their mana, but that fire is no ordinary fire! It is corroding and incinerating even their magic!"
"A bunch of useless fools!"
Kieran rasped a deep voice, his footsteps already rushing away like a wind-tearing black shadow. In his mind immediately appeared the old face of old woman Hester alongside the treacherous gaze of the High Pontiff.
He had just left for less than a watch-hour, and the Church's scum-dogs ultimately could not hold their patience and took action. They dared to kindle fire burning the Emperor's bedchamber to destroy the seed they considered a "filthy bump-mark"?
When Kieran landed on the courtyard space in front of the bedchamber, a terrifying scene struck his eyes.
The splendid gold-plated bedroom now transformed into a miniature volcano. A pure, brilliant, and violent snow-white flame was erupting through the smashed stone-arch window frames. Dozens of royal Mages were continuously chanting spells, creating magical ice rivers pouring into the room, but the instant the water magic touched the white fire boundary, it immediately evaporated into dry smoke clouds then completely vanished.
"Your Majesty! You cannot approach close!" The Chief Mage ran over frantically blocking the path.
"This fire possesses a terrifying magic nature, it corrodes every type of element..."
"Step aside!" Kieran violently swiped the Chief Mage flinging him to one side, his voice cold like ice-snow. "Who allowed you all to step back? All of you get out behind for me!"
He looked at the snow-white fire swirling licking through each granite wall section. With this terrifying heat degree capable of incinerating even magic, that emaciated mortal person had certainly transformed into a handful of black-gloomy ash. That thought made Kieran's chest ache with a strange contraction.
"I have not permitted you to die..." Kieran gritted his teeth whispering.
Without a bit of hesitation, Kieran shrouded his whole body with a thick layer of Dark Magic then lunged straight into the snow-white fire storm eye. The heat inside the room far surpassed every imagination of his. All brocade, feather mattresses, gold-plated tables and chairs had transformed into ash-dust. Kieran narrowed his eyes searching for the girl's body-figure amidst the thick white smoke.
And then, the footsteps of the Ice Kingdom Emperor completely froze.
There was no burnt-black corpse at all.
Lying right in the center of the room, right on the granite base that had been melted, was the girl. The snow-white flame swirled flowing out from her own body, enveloping her slender body like a pure light cocoon. The scene before his eyes made Kieran shocked to the point of being unable to believe his eyes.
Her body was not incinerated at all. On the contrary, her skin originally pale, crisscrossed with the Church's ruthless thorn-whip wounds and old scar trails was now slowly healing with a terrifying speed. Her flesh became smooth, emanating a hazy jade light. Beneath her thin skin, deep purple blood veins bulged up, emanating an ultimate ancient magic power. The white fire was swirling flooding into her throat and blood veins, like an ancient beast greedily swallowing clean each remaining magic-poison molecule.
"Ice Tear Poison... and this kind of fire...?" Kieran uttered through his teeth gap, his ash-gray eyes contracting violently.
He recognized the distinct bitter-astringent flavor of the Ice Tear Poison — the magic-poison held by the Church. But the unthinkable thing was that she did not die due to poison, but the blood inside her person was viewing the continent's most ruthless magic-poison as a fuel source to awaken her true self!
"Madwoman... You drank it?" Kieran roared, both suspicious and enraged.
Seeing the girl still delirious in a heat fever, Kieran gathered all his Dark Magic into his hand. The violent darkness condensed into a dark-murky demon hand lunging down, intending to grab her shoulder to yank her out of the light aura.
SIZZLE!
"What?!" Kieran's face drained of color.
Right at the moment the Dark Magic touched the border of the snow-white flame, a crisp explosion sound echoed. The white fire flared up in a furious manner, as if the presence of dark magic had severely insulted its dignity. The sacred fire swallowed clean the Dark Magic in the blink of an eye, incinerating it to ash-dust then relying on the magic-power stream to bounce back!
BOOM!
"Ugh...!"
The terrifying reaction force from the white fire hit straight into Kieran's chest, flinging the mighty Emperor back three long steps on the melting stone base. Kieran lowered his head looking down at his right hand. The dark defense layer had shattered to pieces, and on his hand was a red, burning burn mark left behind by the white fire.
This white flame... could incinerate even his supreme dark magic?
"Snow-white flame... swallowing magic-poison... incinerating darkness..." Kieran muttered to himself, his voice trembling for a rare beat.
"The Ancient Emperor's Fire... Impossible! That species went extinct thousands of years ago!"
A terrifying suspicion erupted and germinated deep inside Kieran's mind. He raised his eyes looking at the woman lying delirious on the stone floor. The white fire around her began to shrink, slowly withdrawing backward into her body through each pore, leaving a completely healthy body emanating a pure fragrance.
Kieran approached close to her with slow steps. The initial shock gradually gave way to a deep and dangerous suspicion. He bent down, extending his burned-pain hand, decisively lifting her slender body up out of the ash pile.
The girl unconsciously squirmed, slumping her head onto his chest. Her breath was still burning hot, but her heartbeat had become solemn and strong like a sleeping predator's. Kieran tightened his arms, his ash-gray eyes swirling deep into her closed-eyed, delicate face.
"A filthy border beggar... could never possess this ancient force."
Kieran lowered his voice, whispering into her ear with all the bone-chilling threat. "Ultimately... what are you? What identity do you conceal before my face?"
The girl in his arms did not answer, leaving only the sound of storm winds roaring outside the incinerated window frame. Kieran carried her stepping through the residual fire, his mind swirling with countless ruthless calculations. He knew that tonight, not only was this bedchamber incinerated, but his entire rule and the Church's were also beginning to be threatened by the dangerous creature currently lying in his hands.
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