novelraw Chapter 263: Pure Love (Two-in-One)
Chapter 263: Pure Love (Two-in-One)
Even though the temperature at this moment was just right, even though the atmosphere at this moment was passionate, the further she walked, the colder Alajina's body felt. It was as if she had abruptly been brought back over ten years to when she walked in the rear courtyard of her mother's palace.
The passionate sunlight around her turned into the sky full of wind and snow of the Northern Border at this moment. The shallow pools of light on the ground also abruptly thickened by more than just a layer, turning into heavy accumulated snow that just submerged the middle of Alajina's calves.
Alajina's figure, which was even taller than men, seemed to suddenly shrink at this moment, becoming that five-year-old child wearing cotton clothes with a slightly red little face.
"Father!"
In the huge rear courtyard of the vassal king's palace, her fragile shout carried far within the courtyard, causing the continuously falling snowflakes in the sky to sway. The surrounding lake surface and trees covered in cold frost didn't grow mouths to respond to her, so she had no choice but to gasp for breath while pacing deeper into the courtyard.
She knew that her father had never liked staying in her mother's bedchambers; he especially loved coming alone without attendants deep into the courtyard to be by himself.
Whenever young Alajina woke up from her afternoon nap and extricated herself from heavy studies and combat training, she would always act like a cowardly boy, chasing after her father's figure.
That year, the winter weather in the Northern Border was exceptionally cold, just as if the Frost Phoenix was angry and wanted to punish the crimes of the Northern Border people; a heavy snowfall rarely seen in a century fell within the borders of the Sardin Matriarchy.
Ignoring the dissuasion of the attendants inside the palace, the young Alajina gasped for breath while running alone towards the depths of the courtyard to look for her father.
The rear courtyard of the palace raised many ferocious beasts loved by her mother, the vassal king. But even those strong predators were tormented by such severe cold weather into hiding beneath rockeries and bushes, only opening a pair of eyes to watch the Alajina running in the snow."Father!"
She ran until she was truly too tired, so she propped her hands on her knees and shouted loudly at this empty courtyard once again. Her continuously heaving chest seemed to want to expel the last bit of hot air from within her chest, and her young body grew increasingly exhausted because of this, uncontrollably wanting to collapse in this ice and snow.
"Alajina?"
But right at this moment, a response suddenly came from the small pavilion by the icy lake in the distance. That familiar voice ignited her heart like a match; she hurriedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and ran in that direction.
Finally, she saw her father sitting in the corner of the pavilion.
He was a gentle gentleman with white hair, his entire body wrapped in a thick fur coat. His face was handsome, but always revealed a bit of sickly paleness and melancholy.
Just now, he seemed to be staring at the freezing lake surface outside in a daze. It wasn't until he heard Alajina's calling voice that he blankly awoke from that absent-minded state and turned his head to look at the petite girl constantly panting outside the pavilion.
"Alajina, weren't you taking an afternoon nap? Why did you come over?"
He slowly stood up and extended his hands towards Alajina outside the pavilion, letting Alajina, who had sprinted all the way, crash into his embrace.
The men of the Sardin Matriarchy were frail, and the body of Alajina's father was even poorer. It was unclear whether it was due to a long-term innate sickly body or the day-after-day torment from her brutal mother, but regardless, he couldn't even withstand the momentum of Alajina pouncing over at this time. After taking her into his embrace, he unavoidably sat backwards and leaned against the edge of the pavilion again.
Her father wrapped the young Alajina in the fur coat on his body, avoiding the bone-piercing cold outside. Feeling her father's calm heartbeat, Alajina experienced unprecedented peace of mind, continuously nuzzling in his embrace.
"Father..."
"I'm here, Alajina."
"What were you looking at just now?"
Her father opened his mouth, waited for a long time, then shook his head and smiled as he replied.
"...I wasn't looking at anything, just came out for some fresh air. How was your afternoon nap just now, did you sleep well?"
"It was okay... just missed you a bit."
"Is that so? Then do you still miss me now?"
"I do~"
Alajina didn't say anything else; she merely buried her head, staying stuffily in her father's embrace.
Inside the fur coat, her azure irises landed on the obvious blue-purple marks on her father's neck and arms. Although young, she seemed to already understand exactly what had happened.
Her hands tightly gripped the clothes beside her, as if wanting to snap her enemy's neck.
Her father felt her tension and anger, and gently reached out to place her hands in his embrace to let her relax.
This seemingly wasn't enough; he suddenly thought of something, reached into his coat, and took something out.
"Right, Alajina, I have a gift I want to give you..."
"Alright, alright... Hey, what's this?"
Alajina popped her body out from his embrace, only to see her father holding a metal necklace inlaid with an azure gemstone. That necklace had been held in her father's hand for a long time, and the warm temperature covered the original icy coldness of the metal. So when it was placed in Alajina's hands, the necklace was already warm.
"This is an accessory left behind by your grandmother. I'm giving it to you now, as a token of love for when you marry a husband in the future... If one day you encounter a specially beloved gentleman, then give this item to him as proof of your affection."
Alajina blankly evaluated this exquisitely crafted necklace in her father's embrace. Waiting for a long time, she earnestly placed the necklace in her coat and nodded.
"I will safeguard it well."
"Mhm, good girl."
Alajina's father nodded, smilingly reached out, and stroked the white hair on Alajina's forehead, making her comfortably narrow her eyes.
But precisely in the gap of enjoying her father's gentle movements, Alajina suddenly detected something. Outside, someone seemed to be staring at them. That gaze was implicit, never penetrating the warmth between father and daughter, only lingering alone in the sky full of wind and snow outside the pavilion.
She raised her body slightly from the fur coat and looked outside the pavilion. Only to see that outside the pavilion, across the frozen lake surface, a very tall girl who resembled her two or three parts was leaning behind a tree, quietly watching her and her father.
Alajina knew that girl; she was her ten-year-older half-sister from the same mother.
Heliana Hammond.
...
...
Her thoughts came to an abrupt end here, and Alajina's footsteps simultaneously stopped at the doorway of a tavern Pakhz usually frequented when coming to Patlusion Island.
Only to see the tavern, which was exceptionally lively even during the day ordinarily, was peculiarly quiet at this time. From behind the half-closed door came a slight pungent odor permeated with alcohol.
Something's wrong, something has already happened...
Is it the Naris people Fisher spoke of?
Could they have already discovered Fisher, but why come looking for Pakhz first instead of him?
She furrowed her brow slightly. The phantom of the Ice Prince Sword in her hand simultaneously projected into the position of her hand. A burst of piercing cold air erupted from the position of her feet, pouring towards the interior of the tavern, and her perception also extended into the tavern along with the spreading ice.
The frost entered the interior of the tavern like an extra sensory organ for her, and she very quickly sensed the rough situation inside.
Scattered wine bottles everywhere, bodies lying unconscious on the ground, a mixture of alcohol and blood flowing on the floor. Pakhz still lying on her side in the corner of the tavern, senseless, gripping a musket in her hand. Behind her lay old Jack, the Naris old man Fisher brought onto the ship...
And finally, a pair of giant human figures standing in the center of the room.
As Alajina sensed the position of that human figure, an extremely dangerous feeling instantly surged into her heart. With extremely fast reaction, she hefted the Ice Prince Sword and violently retreated. The moment the cold air surged, a quite thick ice wall instantly condensed in front of her, attempting to block the attack assaulting from inside like a storm.
"Boom!"
"Crack!"
The explosive sound of wind and the shattering sound of the ice layer rang out simultaneously. Alajina's blue pupils shrank slightly, looking in disbelief at a hand easily passing through the ice wall and subsequently stopping in front of the blade of the Ice Prince Sword.
That hand was entirely covered by pure silver armor, engraved with feather-like decorations on top, making that extended hand look like a human hand yet also like the sharp claws of a legendary Phoenix.
The next moment, that large hand suddenly backhanded and tightly seized the Ice Prince Sword in Alajina's hand, leaving her unable to advance or retreat. The frost attached to the Ice Prince simultaneously spread along the opponent's armor, yet the opponent seemed to not perceive the cold in the slightest.
"Phoenix Knight?"
Alajina spoke somewhat surprisedly, clearly recognizing the identity of the owner of this armor, but what answered her was a disdainful cold laugh.
"No, more than just a Phoenix Knight... also your elder sister."
As that disdainful voice came from behind the ice wall, that extended hand also abruptly clenched and retracted. Following closely, the other hand extended and violently threw a punch at Alajina in front of her. That punch passed straight through the hole in the ice wall she punched through just now and smashed ruthlessly into Alajina's face.
"Bang!"
As a giant force transmitted over, Alajina's entire person uncontrollably flew backward, crashing into a shop on the other side of the street.
The loud noise of the battle was very quickly noticed by the pirates and merchants walking on the street. But sensing the terrifying low pressure here, they wisely chose to flee here and report the situation to the local gangs or pirates...
But clearly, even if they did so, absolutely no local faction on Patlusion Island would be foolish enough to come and interfere with the battle here.
The ice blocks formed by the cold air were roughly torn apart by the woman who just walked out of the tavern. The tall figure walking out from the tavern obscured the sunlight falling from the sky dome, forming a heavy shadow named "Heliana" in front of Alajina, completely covering the entire street.
"Heliana!"
Alajina supported herself on the shattered wall of the shop and walked back onto the street. Bright red noseblood flowed from her violently struck nose just now, but she reached out and wiped it seemingly without caring at all. Subsequently, an unprecedentedly piercing cold intent popped out from her eyes as she looked at the bear-like woman slowly walking out of the tavern before her.
Heliana Hammond was the first daughter born to her damned vassal king mother and her original husband, a full 10 years older than the youngest Alajina. At the same time, she was also the daughter who looked most like her mother.
Alajina, who committed the crime of matricide, madly hated everything about the Hammond family, hating that hell that led her gentle father to destruction. Towards this elder sister she had rarely met, she would naturally treat equally without discrimination.
Just as Blair said: once both sides knew of each other's existence, they would relentlessly want to put the other to death.
Feeling the cold air spreading from Alajina's body, Heliana's pale blue irises reflected Alajina's face. That face seemed to completely overlap with a certain person in her memory, causing her to be slightly stunned for a second.
But very quickly, she forcefully dispelled that figure surfacing before her eyes, and placed the helmet she hugged in her arms onto her head, changing her originally rugged face into the appearance of a mithril-crafted Phoenix bird head.
The helmet isolated the person she couldn't dispel in her heart, turning her heart cold.
"I thought the Alajina who did such a monumental thing back then would have become so very powerful, so very brave... In the end, still a disappointing child, just like the cowardly woman who would only secretly run away crying when beaten in training back then!"
"You should also be glad you weren't in the palace when I killed that scum, otherwise you should also be suffering eternal torment in the underworld with her right now."
As soon as Alajina finished speaking, several Phoenix Knights wearing identical armor rushed out from the tavern behind Heliana, each holding a straight and thin dueling sword in their hands, slowly moving to surround Alajina.
"Traitor Alajina Hammond, immediately surrender and return to the country to accept the Co-Ruler's trial..."
Before the words of the Phoenix Knight in front of Alajina finished, a large hand extended from behind her and pushed her aside. Heliana single-handedly hoisted a hammer flickering with bizarre radiance, and a cursing voice came from beneath the Phoenix bird head mask.
"What's with the pansy bullshit, get out of my way!"
"Lady Heliana, but..."
As the heavy hammer in Heliana's hand was hoisted, a bizarre suction force erupted from the hammer's surface. The surrounding rubble and her target Alajina simultaneously flew uncontrollably towards Heliana's direction, just as if they were taking the initiative to deliver their own heads.
Relic, 【Black Hole Hammer】.
Among the Phoenix Knights, only those knighted as "Great Knights" or above by the Co-Ruler could obtain bestowed relics. And a Phoenix Knight reaching this step was not a simple process; historically, the knights who could be called "Great Knights" numbered no more than a hundred.
To match such special glory, the relics bestowed to them by the Co-Ruler were generally not mundane items, as could be seen from this Black Hole Hammer.
Facing that hammer strike with its terrifying aura, Alajina's expression was grave but not panicked in the slightest. The formal dress on her body, stained with some dirt, clung tightly to her body. Following her, she did a beautiful spin in mid-air as she flew out, and the Ice Prince Sword also passed by Heliana's giant hammer rubbing against it like a protective armor.
"Buzz buzz!"
The erupting frost made Heliana's joints, which she attempted to move, become extremely sluggish, but alas, her strength was truly too great. The instant she held the hammer with both hands, the movement speed of that giant hammer also reached the extreme, very quickly catching up to Alajina's figure attempting to dodge the hammer strike.
In mid-air with nowhere to dodge, Alajina's pupils shrank slightly. She had no choice but to try her best to minimize the damage, protecting her head and chest with both hands, gritting her teeth preparing to forcefully endure this violently assaulting hammer strike.
"Screech!"
But right at this moment, a gale from the snow mountains of the Northern Border violently swept over from the end of the street. The fierce wind made Heliana's hammer-swinging action waver. The moment the spark flew from the flint, a streak of cyan lightning violently darted out, grabbing Alajina and taking her out of Heliana's attack range.
"Boom!"
Everything that happened just now was mere milliseconds. The next moment, Heliana's giant hammer that swung at nothing ruthlessly swept past her front on the street. The giant force spread along the street as if wanting to sink the entire island. The explosive roar mixed with strong suction force transmitted along the air and the ground, and the resulting aftershock completely blew away Aoxi and the Alajina she carried, tumbling a few times before landing on the ground in the distance.
"Cough, cough..."
"Alajina! Stand up! You inflexible coward, a pitiful wretch hiding in father's embrace!"
Having swung and missed, Heliana remained unforgiving, hefting the war hammer in her hand and continuing to charge in Alajina's direction. The Phoenix Knights behind her were just about to follow, when they suddenly heard a dense sound behind them like bees rapidly flapping their wings.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
The Phoenix Knights turned their heads to look, only to see two or three constantly flapping wheels of light on the empty street rapidly sprinting towards them.
Three-ring magic, Bee's Dance.
"There's an enemy attack!"
That Bee's Dance, capable of cutting through steel, struck the Phoenix Knights standing behind Heliana in an instant, but only caused a sharp friction sound to erupt on the surface of their armor, completely failing to penetrate their defenses.
In the orthodox countries of the West Continent and the Northern Border, there generally existed combat units named "Knights". And due to the unique historical and cultural characteristics of different countries, they each also had different strengths and weaknesses.
Naris's Royal Knights excelled at collective combat, and were simultaneously the knightly order that coordinated best with modern firearms; their various stats were very balanced.
According to Fisher's rank classification method, in a standard six-person knight team, the average rank of each person was roughly around the third to fourth rank, considered the most conventional category among the knight levels of various countries.
And the average physical quality of Northern Border women was far superior to men from other countries. The average rank of the Phoenix Knights, renowned for their physical quality and sophisticated equipment, was definitely quite a bit higher than the knights of Saint-Nazareth, likely hovering around the fifth rank.
Fisher's designed Bee's Dance only had the power of three rings; naturally, it couldn't penetrate their armor. However, he had never originally thought of using Bee's Dance to deal with them in the first place.
"Fisher?"
This abrupt attack instantly attracted the attention of everyone present. Aoxi and the Alajina wrapped within her wings looked up simultaneously. Through the little dust just raised by Heliana's attack, they saw a bizarre man wearing a white shirt with a cloak wrapped entirely around his head sprinting madly towards this side.
Aoxi's cloak was a bit short for Fisher, and it was very inconvenient to run with. To conceal his face, Fisher had no choice but to wrap that thing directly around his face.
Aoxi recognized at a glance that the cloak on Fisher's face was her own intimately worn item. Seeing this scene, she didn't know what she thought of, and her face became slightly reddened.
And Alajina beneath her wings opened her mouth. The next second, she gently reached out and pushed aside the abnormally-faced Aoxi beside her, stood up, and shouted loudly with considerable worry towards Fisher in the distance.
"Fisher, wait, be careful!"
The pure Alajina at this time only placed the safety of her sweetheart in the distance as her primary concern, so she wouldn't care about other matters, not even noticing the strange expression of her loyal guard Aoxi beside her.
The Heliana in front clearly realized the intimate relationship between the face-wrapped man behind and Alajina. She gently licked her lips, turned her head to stare teasingly at Alajina in front of her, and said to the Phoenix Knights behind her.
"Capture that man for me. I will strip off his clothes right in front of this cowardly woman's face and properly properly toy with her man, letting her see what a real woman is..."
Eimhart, standing on Fisher's shoulder in the distance, heard this sentence, and subconsciously wanted to answer "There's such a good thing" on behalf of this bad man Fisher. But after he popped his head out and saw Heliana's bear-like figure, he immediately fell silent and silently shrank back behind Fisher's shoulder...
Alright, even Eimhart, who had prejudice against Fisher, had to admit that this guy Fisher merely had slightly strange tastes, normally liking to "research" demi-humans, but he was absolutely not blind enough to confuse humans and animals.
But the main person Fisher didn't have any reaction upon hearing it. He had never cared about verbal threats from enemies. He only closed in on the direction of the Phoenix Knights, while simultaneously rapidly analyzing the combat power level and carried items of the surrounding Phoenix Knights.
No magic, and only the leading woman has a relic. That guy should be Alajina's elder sister Heliana, then these Phoenix Knights should be able to be dealt with...
"You bastard!"
Fisher was still thinking, but unexpectedly, Heliana's trash talk that was like verbal masturbation surprisingly completely enraged Alajina behind her.
Influenced by her father, Alajina gradually grew into a lady completely different from her mother, and also the most traditional type among the Sardin Matriarchy.
Such Sardin Matriarchy people were both loyal and pure towards love and lovers, extremely hating bastards who destroyed others' feelings and intervened in others' love. Otherwise, when first encountering Fisher, Alajina wouldn't have immediately and decisively let go upon hearing that Fisher was married.
And Heliana's "NTR"-like statement instantly enraged Alajina, this pure love war god from the Sardin Matriarchy. Before anyone could react, terrifying cold air poured out from Alajina's body like an avalanche.
But she didn't summon the phantom of the Ice Prince, nor did she use other weapons. She gritted her teeth and suddenly hugged the waist of Heliana in front of her barehanded from behind. Under the astonished gazes of everyone, she violently took the bear-like Heliana and charged towards the tavern in front.
All along, in Fisher's eyes, Alajina was like a gentle noble young master. Such an impression would always make people feel she was more like a valiant lady, thereby forgetting the fact that she was actually a sturdy woman from the Sardin Matriarchy.
The ladies of the Sardin Matriarchy were brave and skilled in battle, fond of using combat and dance to resist the wind and snow, and when fighting in melee, they usually struck more ruthlessly than people from other countries.
"Lady Heliana!"
"Bang!"
Alajina hugged Heliana and abruptly barged about with her all the way, crashing into the wall of the tavern beside them. The fierce impact transmitted inwards along Heliana's armor, making her subconsciously raise her hand and smash down on Alajina's back wanting to break free. But no matter how she struck, she couldn't make the enraged Alajina let go.
The next moment, Alajina had already pressed her to the ground, ruthlessly smashing punch after punch onto her face.
"This made you anxious, Alajina? Come on! Let me see what ability you have to protect your man!"
"Heliana! You bastard! Stay further away from him for me!"
That Phoenix bird head mask was beaten into a dent by Alajina's punch, and along with it, the vision through the helmet's gap also became quite blurred due to the twisting of the metal.
"Buzz!"
The whine of metal sounded within the tavern, and the large hole abruptly appearing on the wall at the doorway also caused people outside to feel lingering trepidation.
The street outside bizarrely quieted down, only Eimhart, who watched the whole process, turned his head to look at Fisher beside him with some lingering fear. With trembling lips, he warned him.
"Hey, listen to me, Fisher, after we finish the matters here, let's hurry up and leave that ship! That captain of the Sardin Matriarchy is not a pushover. We misjudged before, actually thinking she was a harmless good-natured person; this kind of person is the most terrifying! If your relationship with other women is discovered in the future, the outcome of this strike won't be any better than being caught by Elizabeth of Saint-Nazareth, I dare guarantee it!"
"Shut up."
"...I'm doing this for your own good, don't be unappreciative!"
Eimhart's unpleasant drake voice accelerated the briefly paused rhythm outside again. Aoxi violently flapped her wings on the spot and floated up from the ground, and the Phoenix Knights also drew their swords pointing towards Fisher and Aoxi constantly approaching this side.
Patlusion Island, which had been quiet for unknown years, suddenly became exceptionally lively today. The commercial street here on the island, the tavern where the Naris people lived on the street in the distance, were all like this...
Oh, and the nearby sea area.
In a place where everyone couldn't see, several standard military warships were constantly approaching Patlusion Island. On their masts uniformly hung a flag with a light blue background and white clouds as the main symbol.
Such a flag appeared extremely unfamiliar even to experienced and knowledgeable pirates. Seemingly to prevent anyone from not recognizing the meaning of this flag, a line of vocabulary was specially written in Northern Border language below that flag.
"Mya"
Those were the ships of the Snow Cloud Commandos from Mya.