The Archangel of Death - Chapter 155

155: Rose Vs Layla 155: Rose Vs Layla Chapter 155 I greeted the man sitting at the corner of the room.

There were other celebrities in the room as well but I purposely didn’t go near them nor did I greet any one of them.

My only objective was to engage with the man in front of me.

Lucius von Deus Lux.

The second prince of the Cortum empire and the second son of the emperor, Orion.

Only two minutes older than his twin brother, the first prince of the empire, the forgotten nightmare, Michael von Deus Lux.

Technically, he should have been the next in line for the throne but he gave up on that and chose to go on a different path.

The path of the grand elder, the brother of the emperor, Zarden.

The path of the empire’s shadow.

To be honest, I didn’t have any connection with this man nor did I trust him much.

In the novel, till the seventh volume, the intentions of this man weren’t clear.

All I know is that he loved his twin brother, Michael, and when Michael came out of the prison and wreaked havoc in the world upon discovering Adrian’s death, Lucius did nothing to stop him even though he had reached the divine rank by then.

The familial love wasn’t enough to gauge the intentions of this man and in my world, knowledge was power and I had none of it regarding this man.

That only made him dangerous, not to mention the fact that he could stand up to the SSS rank blessed on his own despite being an SS himself.

“What?” He asked, his tone uninterested and his gaze didn’t even turn to meet mine.

I didn’t find it offensive and simply asked, “Are you having fun so far?” “Your attendant, Countess Roosevelt, has shown promise but other than her, so far everyone in the tournament was weak, including you.” Lucius gave an honest review of the tournament which could be heard by everyone in the room but only two men had the power to protest, Cornelius and Sirius, who didn’t mind much.

As for the seven kingdoms, I could see Hershey biting his tongue to hold himself back, and the others trying to hold him back as well.

I didn’t really mind his analysis of me because currently, I was weak.

Rose would be the strongest student in the entire academy so his analysis was spot on.

I knew this conversation would be long because the man before me was strict about following the rules and beliefs of the imperial family.

Luckily, the arrangement of today’s matches was different and it was Rose and Layla’s match first so I had enough time to convince this man in front of me.

But it wasn’t like I had a lot of time.

Given Rose’s power, she would be sure to end the match in minutes so I had to move quickly.

“Tell me, what would you do if one of them were to attack me?” I asked in a low voice.

I wasn’t sure if they were listening in or not but I was sure Lucius would prepare something for that.

“Any attack on a member of the imperial family is an attack on the imperial family itself.” He gave a roundabout answer which in the family of the lunatics was quite simple to interpret, ‘Kill them.’ “I get it but what if the circumstances were different?” I asked again.

“The same.” Lucius simply replied.

“What if there was something to be gained?

An opportunity you won’t find anywhere else?” I once again asked, elaborating my intentions.

He turned to look at me finally and with a stoic expression asked, “My answer will remain the same no matter what.” “Just a few moments.

Don’t interfere and then you can satiate your bloodlust after that.” I tried to convince him once again and while doing so, I added one small phrase, “It would benefit the imperial family greatly.” He flinched at my last sentence and finally asked, “How so?” Great.

At least he wasn’t outright refusing so there was a chance to convince him.

“What if I were to tell you that I can get ourselves an apostle, bound to me?” I asked.

He scoffed and said, “To you?

That doesn’t sound like it would benefit the imperial family in any way.” His point was valid.

Just because I had something, didn’t mean that I would share it with the imperial family.

However, it was better in my hands than in the hands of the kingdoms and that was my next point of stance, “Wouldn’t it be better in my hands?

At least they won’t have enough power to stand up to you.” I asked pointing at the seven kingdoms who were trying to show that they were focusing on the match but I could see they were more focused over here.

Lucius also glanced at them and contemplated for a while before he replied, “I interfere when I deem it necessary.” Success!

I celebrated inwardly and replied, “That’s enough for me for now.

Do try to keep in mind that the Imperial family would benefit a lot from this.

A little bit of my suffering is a small price to pay.” I left with these last words and made my way back to the contestant area.

There was only Derrell in the room and I could see Rose and Layla on the stage, standing opposite to each other.

Layla was heavily panting and also injured in quite a few places whereas Rose stood on her side, calm and collected.

Her breath was even and her gait was serene.

Anyone could see she wasn’t even exerting a quarter of her effort in this match.

Everyone could tell that and even Layla could tell that given the frustrated expression on her face gave away how conflicted she felt.

She wasn’t even able to last three minutes against Rose.

As for Rose, I personally knew that she was purposely prolonging this fight.

She could have ended it sooner like she did with Eric but she was taking her time to enjoy it because of the thing between me and Layla.

To be honest, it wasn’t fair to Layla to be treated like this by Rose but I couldn’t interfere like this.

Sure, Layla was a good friend but if I stood up for her, Rose wouldn’t take it so kindly with me.

She barely smiled today, I didn’t want her to go back to being angry with me again for my own sake so for that reason, I would rather make it up to Layla later.

Layla saw no other choice than to use her ice armor skill.

She covered herself in ice and jumped at Rose who didn’t move away.

Instead, she calmly met the incoming fist with one of her own bare fists.

Their fists collided and unlike what everyone expected, there was no reaction from Rose.

She didn’t even budge from her spot or any sign of shockwave traveled through her body.

As for Layla, her ice-covered fist was cracked.

The ice fell and as for her fist underneath, I suspected the earlier crunch wasn’t just from ice breaking.

She was pushed back slightly when Rose spun and delivered a kick to her abdomen, sending her flying back.

Rose then covered herself in lightning and disappeared from her spot.

She appeared behind Layla who was still not showing any signs of stopping, and kicked her in the back only her kick was directed upward, throwing Layla up into the air.

Rose disappeared once again and appeared on top of Layla once again.

Layla could only helplessly take the attack because there was no way she could move mid-air.

Rose brought down a kick to Layla’s abdomen once again and sent her crashing down to the stage.

Rose herself remained in the air for a few seconds as tendrils of electricity kept emitting from her.

Truly a monster.

She had already learned to somewhat become the lightning herself.

I only taught her to feel the lightning, the rest was herself and she was doing an A+ grade job at it and there was no higher grade to give.

It was very impressive given that she couldn’t reach her full potential because of the lack of mana otherwise if she could use these techniques for a prolonged amount of time, she would be pretty much invincible compared to even the blessed higher than her rank.

As expected, Layla didn’t move from her spot for almost thirty seconds.

Her vitals were stable which I confirmed from the system analysis.

She had minor injuries and concussions but nothing life-threatening so she was fine.

“Contestant Layla, non-responsive.

Contestant Rose wins and advances to the final round.” The referee announced and the arena erupted in cheers.

I made my way to the stage and under the watch of Rose, I healed Layla just enough so that she would stop bleeding.

Rose didn’t show any apparent expression on her face but I could tell she wasn’t unhappy which was good news to me.

I healed Layla who was taken away by the staff because she was still unconscious.

I remained on the stage because my match was next.

I was about to pull a very risky move so I needed to prepare myself for it.

If I had my full power, the one not limited because of my soul damage, I would be confident holding myself against an S+ rank however, now that I was under a DeBuff, I would die with one strike from my opponent.

There were other risks as well such as the conditions for my plans not being fulfilled and something.

However, I was sure I would be able to create the necessary conditions for my plan to succeed.

I was sure that Derrell was already unstable because of his mother’s death so I was sure he wouldn’t be that hard to rattle.

“The next match begins now.

Please, the respective contestants make their way to the stage.” The referee’s voice resonated through the entire arena with the magical crystal that acted like a mic.

Derrell appeared on the stage after a while with his bow in hand and arrows strapped to the back.

He showed no apparent emotion on his face.

That was just how he was in the novel.

The apostle who couldn’t feel.

That was the mental condition of Derrell that was holding him from manifesting his apostle powers.

When an apostle awakens their powers, they need to be guarded but no matter how hard the seven kingdoms and Hershey tried, Derrell just couldn’t awaken the divine powers.

He was like that until the third volume when he would figure out the cause of his mother’s death and be reborn as a dark apostle.

I didn’t know the logic very well behind that but it didn’t matter to me.

I knew how to unclog that little wall that was preventing him from awakening.

In the novel, it was done when the truth came out but if the truth came out right now, there was a risk of him becoming a dark apostle so I wasn’t going to use that method.

What Derrell suffered from was a common condition often found in patients who have suffered great traumatic events.

In such cases, the victims would usually block everything regarding the event behind a wall.

Their memories, feelings, and emotions regarding the event.

Everything.

There were many ways to unclog that wall, to make them realize what happened to them slowly, slowly chipping away at the wall.

It was a rational move and most therapists used this method to avoid the mental instability of the patient.

The other method was a little drastic one but a simple one.

Bang at the wall with a bulldozer and make it fall.

The risk was greater, and the success rate was almost 3%, not to mention the unethical precedence of the procedure.

I, however, have a solution for that as well.

Make him realize the situation and make him the victim and the party responsible at the same time.

Besides, I needed his mentality to collapse anyway.

Otherwise, how would I be assured of a loyal servant?

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Bad_Wolf_7811 Creation is hard, cheer me up!

Your gift is the motivation for my creation.

Give me more motivation!