Crisis
Crisis
The third princess setting out from the palace without a guardian wasn't completely unprecedented, but with the current turmoil in mind, it was impossible for them to not take some precautions just in case.
Being responsible for her safety most of the time, the white-cloaked guardian had naturally followed her from a distance.
Of course, not having her permission, he stayed just far enough to be able to respond to a distress signal, but not close enough for the princess to be alarmed if she found out.
The royal guards by the side of the princess were trained from a young age to be completely loyal and obedient, so there was no need to be too worried.
But there were two exceptions under which they could disobey their masters.
The first was when someone higher up the chain of command gave them a contradictory order, and the second… was when the life of the one they were protecting was in danger, but they insisted on rushing to their death.
Naturally, as soon as the captain of the royal guards caught wind of the possibility of the Temple of Shinra's involvement in the case that the princess was pursuing, he couldn't help but be alarmed.
Naturally, he had no idea that the purple-haired girl had caused such an idea to be accidentally' leaked on purpose, but even if he knew, that would hardly change anything.
This enemy was not only formidable, but also extremely mysterious. There was no way to be sure that they could protect their princess when they didn't even know their opponent's true strength.
Naturally, the report had to be passed on to a higher-up, regardless of what the third princess wished.
When he had first received the report of the third princess getting into a possible conflict with the forces of the Temple of Shinra, the guardian had been a little skeptical.
After all, while it was true that they had a conflict with the Lavinian Empire, the Temple of Shinra hadn't yet directly attacked any of their critical territories or royals in person.
It wasn't yet clear to them what the Temple of Shinra's reason was for being so 'timid', but the emperor seemed to believe that they must be waiting for their 'Lord' to come out in person.
Of course, given the eccentricity of the pinnacle existences and the rumors of the ongoing conflict between the two, the Lavinian royal family was happy to believe that such a day might never come.
But no matter what the guardian thought, he still rushed to her location right away.
And it was fortunate that he arrived when he did, because he wasn't sure what sight he would see if he had been just a little bit late.
The third princess wasn't without life-saving items, but they were all national treasures that could only be used once, and their effects weren't really guaranteed.
After all, while the royal family's artifact appraisers may be good, they were far from perfect. There was still an element of luck involved in the process of feeling out an artifact's functions and coming to a conclusion without using it directly.
Depending on such things to protect herself from an attack that could turn a royal guard to slag within moments, armor and all, would have been the same as walking on a tightrope across a windy cliff while wearing a blindfold.
The more he thought about it, the more infuriated the guardian became.
In all these years he had been protecting the third princess, no one had come so close to harming even a single hair on her head. But today, this red-robed buffoon had very nearly succeeded in taking her life!
Without waiting for an explanation from his opponent, the guardian immediately used one of his strongest moves from the start, crossing his arms in front of his chest before he sent a criss-crossing blade of white light shooting toward the shocked deacon.
Naturally, while the red-robed man didn't know his opponent's identity, he could still feel the terrifying aura emanating from the attack. "Get in the formation!"
The initiates who had been startled into action quickly tried to form a circle around the deacon, who had already thrown out the yellow jewel in front of him.
Evelyn didn't think that the initiates would be faster than the white-haired guardian's attacks, and they really weren't, but the glowing jewel seemed to have created a barrier in front of the regrouping men, completely blocking the white blade lights.
Maybe it wasn't meant to be used for such a purpose, however, because it soon shattered after blocking just a few blades, but it was enough time for the deacon and his initiates to prepare what they needed to do.
With a small white disk floating at the center in the deacon's hands, the rest of the initiates seemed to have joined him together to form a giant, illusory monk, taking the positions of fists, feet, knees, and shoulders.
The deacon himself was situated at the 'heart' position first, but slowly floated up into the head, and the 'monk' finally opened its eyes, easily swatting away all the blade lights that flashed in his direction.
The guardian couldn't help but be shocked. "What kind of formation is this?!"
He could clearly tell that the deacon was much weaker than him, and the initiates weren't even strong enough to stand a single blow from the royal guards, so how could they combine together to resist his attacks with such ease?!
The 'monk' laughed boisterously upon seeing the perplexed look on the guardian's face. "What, have you never seen a top-tier formation in this backward empire? Oh well, you should be grateful, then, that you could see such a magnificent sight before your death!"
The guardian had just been debating whether he should just take the princess and leave, abandoning the idea of arresting the one who tried to take her life, but he never expected the other side to focus on him first!
Gritting his teeth in rage, the guardian couldn't help but turn to the purple-haired girl in the barrier as he tried his best to block the 'monk's' frenzied fists in mid-air. "Princess, please leave this place for now and get back to the palace! I'll hold him back!"
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