Chapter 467: 467 A Powerful Princess

Chapter 467: Chapter 467 A Powerful Princess

“What is the situation with Thornvale?”

“Animals were panicking. Livestock broms from pens. A few unconscious people. No casualties, thank the gods, but…” Rohan looked serious. “That wave was felt, my lord. Deeply. I’ve never seen anywhere this quiet.”

Michael exhaled slowly and rose from his chair.

He moved to the window and glanced out at the sleeping town below. Even with his enhanced vision, there were barely any lanterns lit. The streets were silent. No dogs barking. No night guards chatting.

Dead quiet.

He had seen it too—on his way in.

“Keep it that way,” Michael said finally. “Tell the people it was a mana anomaly from deep within the Everlong Forest. No threat to the town. Just wild magic surging again. That happens sometimes near high-mana zones.”

“You think they’ll buy that?” Rohan asked.

“They don’t need to,” Michael said. “They just need to believe I’ve got it under control.”

Rohan’s mouth twitched.

Michael smiled faintly. “Captain, right now your job is to calm the crowd. Mine is to make sure there’s nothing to fear in the first place.”

“Understood, Viscount.”

Rohan gave a crisp bow and turned to leave.

Just before exiting, he paused.

“…If anything changes,” he said over his shoulder, “you’ll let me know?”

Michael’s gaze lingered on him for a moment. Then:

“Of course.”

The door closed with a soft thud.

Michael stood there for a long moment, eyes scanning the horizon through the window. Somewhere beyond the hills, the Everlong Forest still whispered.

He just didn’t know if anyone else would come investigating.

*

Deep within the Everlong Forest—roughly a few minutes after Michael had fled the scene—a thin ripple tore through space like a blade slicing silk.

A figure stepped through.

No sound.

No flash.

Just stillness—followed by her presence.

The woman hovered midair, a dozen meters above the ruined clearing. Her eyes scanned the land below, glowing faintly against the night as though tuned to some higher spectrum of reality. Her hair, loosely tied back, drifted in the breeze like a banner of moonlight. She wore no armor, no weapons. Only a deep blue cloak.

To any observer, she seemed young—early twenties at most.

But the pressure that coiled around her like an unseen tide said otherwise.

A predator disguised in beauty.

Princess Priscilla.

One of the few Great Tier beings in the kingdom capable of facing a Rank 3 Awakened alone.

Right now, however, the princess was frowning.

Her gaze swept the devastated clearing. What once had been a peaceful glade surrounded by dense trees was now a scar upon the land. The center had collapsed into a shallow basin, where the soil was cracked and blackened. Trees around the area were warped—twisted into grotesque spirals as if something had forced them to grow in reverse, then forward again in one breath.

The very mana in the air crackled like splintered lightning.

And it was still healing.

Space around her shimmered faintly, like waves on a hot road. Threads of mana slowly stitched themselves together at the edges, as if the world was trying to forget what had happened here.

Space around her shimmered faintly, like waves on a hot road. Threads of mana slowly stitched themselves together at the edges, as if the world was trying to forget what had happened here.

But she knew.

“This wasn’t natural,” she whispered.

She descended slowly, hovering just above the burned earth.

Her boots didn’t touch the ground.

The land here still hissed with residual energy.

The aura around was messy.

Very messy.

.

She closed her eyes and reached out with her spirit.

Dozens of signatures echoed through the clearing. Most were faint, barely a trace left behind. But a few…

Her eyes snapped open.

Her heartbeat kicked.

“What… is this?”

There had been more than one being here. Not just strong—formidable. She counted at least a hundred residual mana traces, but only five carried weight.

These had touched the edge of Law.

That’s what frightened her.

This wasn’t deep within the Everlong Forest. It wasn’t in one of the forbidden zones.This was the outskirts.

And yet…

Power akin to hers had appeared here.

She felt it.

The brush of Law on her skin. It tingled like frost and flame wrapped together, prickling across her arms.

She inhaled sharply.

She turned slowly in the air, her cloak drifting with the wind, eyes searching the ruined trees for a trail—any trail.

Nothing.

Whoever caused this… was gone.

The mess in the air also made it difficult to trace anything.

At least the land would heal eventually.

Princess Priscilla was tired.

With her brother gone—having marched to the north to oversee the sealing of the legendary ruin—the responsibility of watching the kingdom had fallen entirely to her. The capital demanded her presence. The nobles pushed her to assert dominance.

She didn’t have time to chase shadows.

She looked back toward the heart of the clearing.

The center still pulsed faintly.

“Great Tier” she murmured, brows furrowed. “But not just one. Five?”

She exhaled and rose slightly higher, crossing her arms beneath her cloak.

She hadn’t expected this.

Her gaze hardened.

“I need to report this.”

But to whom?

Her brother was a bit unreachable.

He was even weaker than her.

The Princess floated silently for several minutes, staring at the dying embers of the broken glade.

Then she raised a single hand.

Mana crackled at her fingertips—fine and sharp.

A formation etched itself into the air.

When the spell faded, the princess turned her back on the glade.

She drifted upward, then vanished once more into the same ripple of space that had brought her here.

The forest was silent.

***

A/N:

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