A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
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"Divorce, baby. They're breaking up! Break up! Break up! Break up!" Prince Maximilien taunt while clapping his hands.
Prince Izaac angrily turned to him with his eyes aglow blue. His veins were popping on his face; and though he looked mad, he also looked pitiful because of the way he cries.
"Oooh! He's mad! You wanna fight!?" Prince Maximilien jumped off his chair and drew his guns out, spinning it around his fingers.
"Is this what you want to happen?" Prince Izaac glared at their eldest brother who was looking at him with a blank expression.
"After what I did for her, what my other self did for her, you wouldn't credit me that and spare me a little at the very least? How do you want us to debate about what we deserved to what's not? Did we not equally suffer? Did we not redeem ourselves in the end even though it's too late? I know we were at fault! I know we wronged her! I know we deserved punishment---but to this extent? Answer me: how much more do we have to suffer to make it up to her?"
Prince Valerian glide his eyes to look at his Kuya. Prince Zodiac is still and firm, observing and listening.
"I know our father is not perfect. He's flawed, he's grumpy, he's greedy, he's annoying, and maybe mentally and psychologically ill, but I know him. He's not the best dad but he's doing his best to be one! He lost himself! He's not himself! There's something inside him that we can't name---identify---but it's the reason why he can't be himself! Like you, he used to be a good boy. A sweet, good boy to his mom and dad, a smiley kid with simple happiness---BUT EVER SINCE HE CAME! THAT DAMN GERSON LIOREI! I---I---!"
Prince Izaac pressed his fist against his forehead and paced back and forth to calm himself.
"Was it even truly our fault why it came to this? Why don't we go all the way back in history, when it's just Daro, His Equal, the Matriarch, and his banished mother, hmm? All because of a love triangle, tragedies happened one after another! A FUCKING LOVE TRIANGLE DID THIS! And you're blaming it all to us!?"
Daro looked down, guilty.
"What do you want me to do, nephews? Go back in time? When, specifically? I will change it all. I will use the remaining 30% in me to change everything! Should I jump during their era? Then, none of this---all of this! will be in the future after that. If you're so smart, you would know what I mean. Grandfather paradox. Butterfly effect. Is that what you're expecting me to do!?"
The strongest...broke down and fell to his knees.
"I... I..."
The grand doors creaked open. All heads turned around to see who went in. Daro straightened his back, his face is confused.
"Stop leaving people out, everyone! What's going on?" Princess Lorreign cheerfully quipped as she walk side by side with her father, King Liorei, and Stellandriavia who's a few steps behind them.
They stopped beside the kneeling Prince Izaac. King Liorei looked down at him, haunting...hunting.
Princess Lorreign gasped and flounced to the Princes, "Azarese's children in flesh? Even Zodiac? Wow!"
"Who gave you the right to approach us? Stay away!"
Prince Maximilien pushed her away from him using his foot when she get close to each of them, observing and recognizing them.
Princess Lorreign laughed at his rudeness and twirled around and about until she's in front of the Second Prince.
"The timing is perfect! Everyone is here! But I don't see her? Where's the Ki'zaar and Azarese? I prepared a gift for her!"
The Prinsiaze searched for his grandfather and uncle. He's getting a bad feeling. The Princess...is making him feel uncomfortable.
"Why do you ask?"
Princess Lorreign stand back and straightened her back. Her mischievous smile is telling them something.
"I told you, I prepared a gift for her. Do you want to see? Daddy!"
King Liorei placed his hand on Prince Izaac. He ruffled his hair and the Prince pulled away from his touch. The King looked past his shoulder and gave Stellandriavia a look. She nodded.
The King looked down on Prince Izaac again, then to his father, Daro. Lastly, to everyone.
"This is for her."
He said, and the second after, Prince Izaac found a dagger pierced through his chest. Everything happened so fast. So swiftly, so quickly. A cloaked man passed by them, heading straight to Prince Maximilien with a blade that beheaded him.
Princess Lorreign grinned and used her magic.
Chaos Magic.
She used her chaos magic to paralyze the First Prince and the Second Prince, while Stellandriavia and her sisters bound everyone to the ground.
"W-What's the meaning of this, Lorreign!? Gerson Liorei!?"
Prince Zodiac tried to use his magic but he couldn't.
Princess Aurora, who stabbed her beloved husband staggered as she step back after he looked back and saw who betrayed him.
"I-I'm sorry, Izaac..." She muttered in a shaky, desperate tone with no tears.
The strongest first son of the Second Lady of Heart fell to the ground with his tears of heartbreak running down his face.
Everyone's eyes widened when they recognized the cloak they are wearing after it revealed itself on them.
Whitecloaks.
Princess Lorreign and the sweet Princess Aurora are members...of the mysterious and enigmatic Whitecloak cult.
"Surprise, darlings. Surprise!" The cunning Princess smirked as she control herself from bursting into laughter after seeing their priceless reactions.
"Princess, let's not waste time," the King said and walked to Prince Zodiac.
The enraged Prince was frustrated and could only threaten him with his furious, wide eyes. Prince Maximilien is not moving. He's not regenerating. Even the chair was chopped to half after the slice.
The cloaked man that beheaded him picked the Third Prince's head up.
Emperor Maxism gulped. His heart...feel like it would burst any minute. And when the cloaked man turned around, they saw the lower half of his face, with a part of it 'healing' and 'translucent'.
Emperor Maxism could feel the cloaked man gaze back at him, and it was him who broke it first to order the First Prince,
"Open your mother's vault and release Eowyne."
Prince Zodiac was... They were...
Princess Lorreign blew a soft wind to them, pushing the cloaked man's cloak back to reveal his face.
IT WAS THE SECOND EMPEROR, EMPEROR MAXIGAUFEAS VERNIGNAC-WARLOCK.
Prince Zodiac's eyes flared up the moment he saw the face of his brother's murderer and mother's abuser.
The same motherfucker killed his brother TWICE.
Yet no matter how much he rage, nothing his happening. He can't use his magic. He's completely under Lorreign's bind.
Emperor Maxigaufeas lost his mind from impatience and pointed the sword to the Princes neck.
"OPEN.HER.VAULT. RELEASE MY WOMAN OR I WILL BEHEAD YOU, TOO."
"Hmmm! Hmmm-hmmm!" The First Prince screamed. His mouth was sealed. Making sure that he won't be able to chant a spell either.
King Liorei grabbed the Second Emperor's hand tight. The Second Emperor glared at him, so he glared at him back. More intense than his, much scarier.
The King pushed his hand that's holding the weapon away but the Second Emperor did it anyway. Now, Prince Zodiac's head is rolling on the floor.
Dryllivan Sacremore burst out laughing. Thanks to that, he got the Emperor's attention. He recognized him almost instantly, for it was him who imprisoned them both in Azarese's vault.
Princess Lorreign flicked her finger, sending the Emperor to their lair before he does something to Dryllivan Sacremore.
Using her chaos magic, she lifted the bound and unconscious Prince Valerian and faced everyone.
"Did you think we'll be after the egg?" The Princess chuckled, "This one will suffice for the ritual. It's time for my grandma to return, and this boy will be the key to that."
"Liorei, my son!"
King Liorei's gaze dropped to Daro who's squirming like a worm on the ground, "Don't do this. Let the child go! He's her son. Think about the consequences! She will kill you!"
Princess Lorreign saw her father falter, so she went to him and hugged his arm.
"Go, Dad. Bring the boy. I will handle them."
She opened a portal beside them and passed the Prince to the King's arms. King Liorei stared at the Prince's face.
"Dad, this is for her. For grandma, for your mother. This is the only way. You know, you saw---this is the only way." He touched his face and smiled wryly.
King Liorei strengthened his will and nodded. And without a word, he stepped into the portal without looking back, bringing the Prinsiaze with him.
"Don't be afraid; I'm not going to kill you. Because once my grandma is back, she will."
"Lorreign, how could you do this to us?" Franchetti Xerene questioned her daughter, "Why are you doing this?" she even added.
The Princess pretended to think, then she smiled emptily.
"Do you really want to know, Mom?"
Lorreign brought her mother before her and whispered, "Because I hate you."
Franchetti Xerene was dumbfounded.
She dropped the floating Franchetti Xerene to the ground.
"Not really you, but Voltage and Elektra. Because of what they did to me. To my son. He tortured me. Left me in that basement. Chained my boy and starved him. I had to watch my son die slowly in front of me. I watched how he got thinner each day that I had to tell him to eat me. But it was not enough. I watched him die, then rot, until he's nothing but bones. You don't understand. None of you understand. Ohms is in love with me! He's just depressed because we were caught! But we love each other! If he truly hated me, he won't impregnate me, Mom! But he did! Because he loves me! We had a baby---AND YOU KILLED HIM!"
Franchetti Xerene suppressed her scream when the Princess crushed her hand with her foot.
"I had to pretend that I'm tame to fool you. And it worked, because everyone is a fool. Now, it's my time to attack. And it will kill you. Each of you, all of you."
"Princess," Stellandriavia politely called, "We got him. Everything is ready. We can leave now."
Lorreign smiled like a woman drunk in mad love when Stellandriavia presented the unconscious Ohms to her.
"W-What are you---!? Lorreign, stop it! Don't you even dare touch my son! LORREIGN!"
But none of their threats worked on the Princess as she close the distance between them. She got him in her arms, hugging him, inhaling his scent, and feeling him. His warmth, his body, and his skin.
"You are mine. Not hers, but mine. Only mine, Ohms. Only mine."
She raised her hand to his face, moving her fingers sensually as she alter his mind, reality, and memories with chaos magic to certain extent.
Stellandriavia passed Prince Vars who was done first by Aurora after she stabbed him. Upon stabbing him, it opened a portal that's why they got in. The Empire is protected by barriers to prevent the intrusion of Whitecloaks.
The mother he knows now is the Princess and not Azarese.
Ohms Xirquit opened his eyes and they were flaring red at first. It only turned to his natural eye color when he's fully under her magic.
"Darling," Ohms Xirquit called in a low, husky voice. He's still weak, that's why he fell on her.
Princess Lorreign chuckled, "Careful, Hun. You will crush our son."
"VARS IS NOT YOURS! OHMS, WAKE UP! YOU'RE UNDER HER CONTROL!"
Franchetti Xerene tried getting up but Stellandriavia's wind magic pinned her down.
Ohms Xirquit sent a disgusted look to his mother, "I know you're strongly against our relationship, but I didn't know that you'd be crazy enough to say that."
Their hearts fell. Princess Lorreign wickedly grinned at them, secretively.
"Son, believe us! Free him, Lorreign! What have you done to my son!? Return Vars! He's not your son!"
Ohms Xirquit, annoyed by their voices, opened a portal leading to their lair, "Let's go. We got everything we need. Stellandriavia, we leave the rest to you and your sisters."
"No... No! Ohms, believe us! NO! LORREIGN! STOP! OHMS!"
The portal swallowed them and the last thing they saw was Princess Lorreign's annoying winning grin.
"His Equal---"
The person they thought could help them was already asleep and imprisoned in a chaos ball. Solana was nowhere to be found around her, but they saw a Whitecloak taking her.
Stellandriavia nodded at her sisters and did what they were tasked to do.
The palace fell silent as chaos magic erupted, twisting through the grand halls like tendrils of shadow. One by one, the inhabitants---from the lowest servants to the Royalties and Earthlings---froze mid-motion, their bodies turning to cold, unyielding stone. Each drew their last breaths. Expressions of terror, defiance, and despair were immortalized as the magic ensnared them, binding their very essence.
A shimmering, time-freezing barrier descended upon the palace, encasing it in a sinister stillness. Outside, Whitecloaks stood in a grim circle around the area of the Palace, their chants resonating with unnatural harmony, sustaining the barrier with their essence. The air grew heavy with dread, the once-lively palace now a mausoleum of petrified souls and bodies trapped in eternal stasis.
The barrier that's keeping them had been broken, and they did the same thing to the Ki'zaar who's hibernating as he incubate the egg. Their main target was really the egg, yet they couldn't pierce through the Ki'zaar's scales. They couldn't find a hole even because the Ki'zaar was completely curled up like a ball to protect the egg. So, they froze and turned him to stone as well.
A hundred Whitecloaks were tasked to keep him under that state to make sure that he won't wake up. Princess Lorreign also put layers of the strongest chaos magic on him and manipulated his dreams and imagination as reality. Because surely, once he break free from it all, their plans will be delayed. Or it will never happen at all because he will kill them.
The timings were truly perfect. The Ki'zaar is fully under their control. Azarese is in deep coma and it will take her time to regenerate after giving birth naturally to a dragon egg. She's the greatest threat to them, that's why the magics they cast on her were stronger than the Ki'zaar and the rest. The strongest.
It's worth all the wait. Finally, oh, finally. Lioran, the Deity of Darkness, is coming back to where she belong.
They thought they got everyone in the Palace. They thought everyone is in the Palace, but they're wrong.
Because Franchette is outside, hunting and running, and her brothers were chasing after her to bring her back home.
Also Prince Vyldread who's having the fun of his life as he burn and shoot blackholes and lasers to monsters at the Other Side where he was sent to.
Lastly, Cecilia. Though she was told to bring other people from House Xirquit, she chose to work alone for convenience. Now, the moment she felt the tingles and the feels of her instincts and gut, she knew she had to return.
Now, it will be on them to save the others.
But how?