Chapter 557: Confrontation Of Princes!

"YOUR MAJESTY!!!"

Cries erupted from every corner of the square as the officials, soldiers and attendants who had been standing at a respectful distance finally reacted.

Several rushed forward instinctively, while others froze where they stood, their faces drained of color as they stared at the sight of Damian standing before the little girl with a golden dagger buried in his chest.

The civilians beyond the barricades erupted into confusion, their earlier cheers completely replaced by screams and frantic shouting. Flowers that had filled the air only moments earlier now lay scattered across the red carpet as people pushed against one another, desperately trying to understand what had happened.

Blood rolled slowly from the corner of Damian’s lips as he lowered his gaze toward the golden blade plunged into his chest. His expression remained unnaturally dull despite the situation, and that strange calm immediately made several of the people rushing toward him slow down.

They expected a mortal wound. Instead, only a few drops of blood dripped onto the red carpet.

Damian was still standing.

The realization spread through the people nearest to him, and their frantic movements gradually stopped. The dagger had pierced his skin, but barely.

Hagrid, still trapped inside the body of the little girl, noticed it as well. His innocent expression twisted into one of disbelief as his small hands tightened around the golden dagger. He pushed harder, using enough strength to tear through the flesh of a Demi God, yet the blade refused to travel any deeper.

The top of the dagger had broken through Damian’s skin, but something beneath it seemed to resist the weapon completely.

"How.... How is your body so hard... This is a dagger forged by Lord Lazarus himself!" Hagrid gritted through clenched teeth, his little face becoming increasingly distorted as he poured more strength into the attack.

Damian slowly raised his eyes toward him. There was no fear in them. There was barely even pain.

His pitch black eyes stared directly into Hagrid’s shaking gaze before Damian calmly answered, "The strength of the weapon doesn’t matter if someone weak wields it."

"What did you say?!" Hagrid growled, his voice sounding completely unnatural coming from the little girl’s body.

Damian’s expression remained cold. "If I was weak enough to be stabbed to death by a weakling like you, do you think I would have defeated Duke Dantalion?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Hagrid’s face twisted in shock. The disbelief lasted only a heartbeat before anger consumed it. He was a Demi God. He had lived long enough to stand among the most powerful beings in the realm, yet Damian was speaking to him as though he were nothing more than an insignificant insect.

Hagrid’s grip suddenly loosened.

Swish!

He immediately jumped backward, abandoning the dagger as he attempted to escape Damian’s reach. His small body had already begun moving away when Damian’s hand shot forward and seized his arm. Hagrid’s eyes widened as Damian’s fingers tightened around his wrist. For the first time since the assassination began, genuine fear appeared in his expression.

Damian pulled.

Pffft!

"Gaaaaaah!" Hagrid’s scream tore through the entire city square as his body was violently dragged forward.

Blood exploded across the red carpet as Damian ripped his arm from its socket with such overwhelming force that the little girl’s body could no longer maintain its disguise.

Hagrid was thrown several feet away, tumbling across the platform before crashing onto one knee. His form began distorting violently as the transformation collapsed around him.

His small body stretched upward, his features twisting back into their original shape until the disguise was completely gone. His white and red hair fluttered wildly around his face as he knelt there, one hand clutching the bloody stump where his right arm had been.

His chest heaved violently with every breath as he stared at Damian, who simply walked toward the podium with the same empty expression he had worn before the attack.

Damian reached down and grasped the golden dagger still protruding from his chest. He pulled it out without hesitation, barely reacting as fresh blood rolled down his robes. He examined the weapon for a brief moment before casually bending it between his fingers.

With almost no effort, he snapped the dagger in half as though it were nothing more than a cheap ornament. The broken pieces fell from his hand and struck the carpet.

"This was not a demonic weapon. If it was, I would have sensed it," Damian said calmly, more as though he were thinking aloud than speaking directly to Hagrid. "So, to get it past my radar, it was forged with gold blessed by your prince. It’s sharper than an average plain weapon, but it’s still a normal weapon with no unique properties."

He casually tossed the broken pieces aside and looked toward Hagrid.

His expression hardened. "What was the purpose of all of this? To destroy one of my hearts? Do you honestly need such an advantage to deal with a Demi God?"

Damian slowly raised his gaze toward the heavens, his eyes becoming cold and calculating. "Do you honestly need such an advantage to deal with a Demi God?"

His voice carried across the square, and for a moment, nobody understood who he was speaking to.

Then the sky moved.

Buzz!

The clouds above Velmora began to twist unnaturally. The atmosphere itself seemed to buckle as the heavens sank downward, forming a massive distortion that spread across the sky.

The pressure was so immense that countless civilians collapsed to their knees, while soldiers and officials instinctively raised their heads toward the phenomenon. The distorted heavens gradually formed the enormous face of an elf, its expression cold and imposing as it stared down upon the entirety of Velmora.

"YOU WERE AWARE OF MY ARRIVAL?"

Lazarus’ voice shook the realm.

Every face in the city immediately paled. Lazarus, the Sin of Greed, was actually here.

The realization spread through the city like wildfire. Murmurs erupted among the civilians while ministers and officials exchanged disturbed glances. Some immediately lowered their heads, while others stared toward the heavens in disbelief.

If Lazarus had personally descended upon Velmora like he did during Lin Qui’s time, then the confrontation between the two princes was bound to happen.

Damian merely snorted.

"Did you think your tricks would go unnoticed?" he asked disdainfully before shifting his attention toward Hagrid.

His gaze moved briefly toward the distant figures of Hazel, Racheal and Ruby before returning to Hagrid. "Most of your clan members are dead, their corpses piled up in a ditch. And what is left of your pathetic family is surrounded. We are hoping they try to revolt now so that we can have justification to completely eradicate the Kitsune, Nagen and Succubus clans from this universe. My girls will be the last and only surviving members of your pathetic families."

Buzz!

Hagrid’s expression twisted violently with shock.

For the first time, everything began falling into place.

He finally understood why he had not received a single message from his people after receiving the notification regarding the court investigation into their families.

His attention immediately shifted toward Hazel, Racheal and Ruby, who remained in the distance. Their expressions were cold as they stared at him, and none of them offered even the slightest reaction to his suffering.

"You let him do this to our families?!" Hagrid roared furiously, his voice filled with disbelief and rage.

The three women did not answer. They simply stared back at him with murderous expressions.

Lazarus remained suspended within the heavens, his enormous face staring down at Damian. Unlike Hagrid, he showed little interest in the fate of the three clans. His attention remained focused almost entirely on the human standing beneath him.

"YOU KNEW OF MY ARRIVAL, YET YOU DIDN’T FLEE OR BEG FOR HELP FROM OTHER PRINCES?" Lazarus asked, genuine surprise entering his voice.

Damian suddenly laughed. It was loud, almost amused, and carried a monstrous edge that caused several people watching him to shudder. His black eyes remained fixed on Lazarus as his smile widened.

"I TOOK YOUR WOMEN. NOW I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE YOUR LIFE, INHERITANCE AND REALM. WHY WOULD I LEAVE?" Damian retorted with an amused expression.

The entire city fell silent.

For several seconds, nobody seemed capable of processing what they had just heard. Damian was supposed to be the one being ambushed by a God. He should be trying to desecalate the situation not escalate it!

The enormous face pressing against the heavens twisted into an ugly frown.

"HUMAN... YOUR LITTLE WINS HAVE LEFT YOU DELUDED. I WILL SHATTER THAT DELUSION!"

BANG!

The heavens shattered violently.

The enormous elven face fractured apart as though the sky itself had become glass. Pieces of distorted space tore away, revealing the endless void beyond. A tremendous suction force immediately erupted from the opening, pulling dust, flowers, loose debris and anything not firmly anchored toward the heavens. Soldiers struggled to maintain their footing while civilians outside the square screamed in terror.

Amid the chaos, a figure emerged from the shattered sky.

He was more than fifteen feet tall, his enormous frame suspended effortlessly above the city. Long golden hair flowed wildly around his face, matching the brilliant golden robes wrapped around his body. His golden eyes burned with an overwhelming divine presence as he slowly descended through the opening.

His arms remained folded across his chest while the shattered sky behind him gradually began reconstructing itself, the fractured space slowly sealing as though reality itself were desperately trying to repair the wound created by his arrival.

Lazarus stared down at Damian.

"You will pay for your delusion with your life," Lazarus hissed viciously.

Damian crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the God hovering above him. There was no fear in his expression. If anything, his eyes seemed almost amused.

"Don’t be foolish, old elf. You tried and failed on Earth. This time will be no different." Damian’s smile slowly widened as his black eyes locked onto Lazarus’ golden gaze. "The only difference is this time, your greed will cost you your life!"