Chapter 646: Melee

"Giggle... so this is what they call the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, huh?"

That coquettish, crisp laugh covered the moving moans. The empress, who had been galloping through the clouds, jolted awake on the spot—her beautiful dream snapping open into a chill so sharp it bit to the bone.

But before she could make any move, a pair of soft, slender jade arms had already wrapped around her waist. Those playful, delicate hands gave a light lift—and in one easy motion, fully gathered her soft, proud curves into their grasp.

A wickedly gorgeous face rested lightly against Celicia’s shoulder. With her head tipped to the side, she brazenly admired the empress’s startled shock at being openly offended.

"Showing up early isn’t as good as showing up at the right moment, don’t you think, Your Majesty?"

Off to the side, Liya’s watery eyes were wide open. She stared without blinking at the fragrant, indecent scene, swallowed hard, and thought to herself: no wonder this senior had made her end up like that in bed last time. Facing the empire’s empress, she didn’t show the slightest fear.

Even Muen, pinned beneath them, was stunned. He hadn’t expected that even at a moment like this, there would still be another powerhouse—and that Senior would suddenly charge in like this.

Now then... where was the outcome of this "great battle" even going to go?

"You!"

Faced with Anna’s blatant molestation, the empress flew into instant rage. Terrifying Imperial Authority crushed down, as if to force everything to kneel.

But at the same time, pure moonlight spilled in through the window. Under that moonlight, the darkness in the entire room seemed to come alive—like boiling water in violent reaction—pushing back against Celicia’s suppression.

"The Moon’s Authority?"

Celicia snorted coldly. "You haven’t fully digested it yet. And besides, this is only part of that Authority. You think something like this is enough to resist me?"

Anna had obtained the Moon’s Authority earlier than Celicia had mastered Imperial Authority, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» but this was, after all, the empire. As the emperor—no, as the one who bore Imperial Authority—she possessed an innate suppression over her subjects.

Just now, she’d only been caught off guard. Now that she was prepared, she would definitely make this even bolder, more lawless wildcat pay the price!

Celicia reached out and made a grasping motion in the air. Endless, majestic radiance gathered in her palm. A terrifying aura spread out, and in the next instant she would completely suppress the one daring to profane the emperor!

"Mm~"

But at that moment, Celicia suddenly let out a sweet, muffled hum through her nose.

Her brows knit tightly. Her waist curled in on itself, and her body, as if it had lost balance, simply couldn’t hold the radiance in her hand. Instinctively, she braced herself against Muen’s chest.

Her breath carried a fragrant warmth as it came in quick little gasps, like she was forcibly suppressing something.

"Y-You... what are you doing?"

Celicia glared down at Muen in shame and fury, because in that instant, Muen had suddenly started acting up—speeding up—making her lose control and fly back up into those hazy clouds again.

This bastard... was he doing it on purpose, trying to watch her embarrass herself?

"N-No, it wasn’t me."

Under Her Majesty’s deathly pressure, Muen covered his face with an oddly bashful expression.

"It’s—my waist moved on its own!"

"You!"

Celicia clenched her silver teeth, her face frosted over, ready to draw on her Authority again and deal with this unruly thing along with everything else.

But... how could the other predator right at her back possibly let such a golden opportunity go?

"Got you—there’s your opening!"

The moment the Authority wavered, the roiling darkness surged again. Anna’s hands clenched hard, sinking deeply into that softness.

Authority was pried open again. Celicia couldn’t even spare the attention to wrench free of the hands wreaking havoc on her chest. She tried to steady her mind and seize the initiative once more.

"Mngh!"

But that certain someone who claimed his waist was moving on its own sped up again!

The crack in her focus grew wider and wider. Waves of pleasure washed over the empress who still refused to yield—and at a time like this, Anna behind her naturally wouldn’t stop her assault.

"As expected of Your Majesty—your capital is really not bad."

"Let... go...!"

"Oh? Oh? Now you can only threaten with words? Where did all that swagger from earlier go?"

"You... don’t let me find a chance..."

"Heehee... compared to your mouth, Your Majesty, the other parts of you are much softer."

A flushed tide of excitement spread across Anna’s enchanting face. She blew a breath of hot air into Celicia’s ear, then suddenly giggled.

"Come on—call me ‘sister.’ If you call it nicely, I’ll let you off."

"You... dream on!"

"What’s so bad about it? You were supposed to call me ‘sister’ in the first place, weren’t you?"

"Ab... absolutely not!"

"Is that so? Then it looks like this ‘sister’ has to teach a junior a lesson."

Anna’s hands moved with dazzling agility.

Lightly gathering, slowly plucking, brushing, then picking again.

Hooking upward, stroking downward, spiraling left and right.

In an instant, those hands were like the finest string maestro alive, taking flexibility and precision to the extreme. Even Liya—who had deep musical training—couldn’t help widening her eyes in shock all over again.

"Ugh!"

"How is it? I learned all of this from a certain bad person. You’ve felt it before, haven’t you?"

"At this level... you’re dreaming..."

"Is that so? Then what about this—Your Majesty hasn’t tried this kind of thing, has she?"

"...You... I... I absolutely won’t..."

"Still not admitting defeat? Then what about this?"

Anna toyed with her more and more excitedly, her movements faster and faster—so fast they were almost leaving afterimages.

Celicia’s waist, which had been curled tight, slowly straightened bit by bit. In the end, the arch of her pale foot suddenly went taut, her beautiful eyes lifting as if she were about to look into that lofty world above the clouds.

"Yi-ya!"

A decadent, wonderful sound—far beyond anything before—finally spilled uncontrollably from those soft pink lips.

"Yi-ya?"

Anna blinked, and stopped moving.

"Yi-ya?"

Muen stealthily parted his fingers.

"Yi-ya?"

Liya twisted—and discovered that the restraints on her body had already automatically released, because Celicia had no spare focus left.

"Oh my, oh my."

Anna tapped her lips and giggled.

"Your Majesty’s reaction... is really especially cute~"

"..."

The air fell into a strange, eerie silence. Muen quietly closed his eyes again.

And a rich, rosy flush began to bloom across Celicia’s cold, beautiful face—until even her earlobes were red.

"You...!"

Celicia whirled around in shame and fury. She didn’t even care that she was still connected to Muen; she didn’t even bother with Authority. She lunged straight at Anna.

But in her just-drained state, how could she possibly be a match for Anna at full strength? Instead she was pinned, able only to vent her anger by tearing at the other woman’s clothes with a few techniques evolved from swordsmanship.

The two women tangled into a knot. Fabric flew. Spring light spilled everywhere—making the scene even more fragrant and indecent.

And Liya, newly freed, her small face flushed with both shyness and excitement, hurried over.

"Me too—I’m getting my revenge!"

Liya joined the battle.

However, she didn’t directly jump into the war between the women. Instead, she went to one end of the bed and—under Muen’s completely dazed gaze—sat down right on his face.

"I... I can’t really hold it anymore. Muen, help me first..."

Liya wriggled, bashful as she spoke.

"..."

At that moment, feeling the suffocation gradually closing in, the anger Muen had been bottling up finally became impossible to suppress.

You come when you want, you do what you want—what do you take me, Muen Campbell, for? A tool for venting desire?

If this can be endured, what can’t be? In the face of this casual oppression, he had to resist!

That’s right—resist hard. Teach these people who didn’t take him seriously a lesson!

A few minutes later...

"Mm, yes, right there... Muen, you’re amazing..."

...

...

"What? Her Majesty isn’t here?"

That night, outside the rest quarters the academy had specifically prepared for the empress, Ariel frowned at the royal female knight in front of her.

"But it’s so late... where could Her Majesty have gone?"

She looked up at the sky. A bright, pure moon hung on the horizon, like a lover’s eye.

"I don’t know."

The female knight answered stiffly.

"Her Majesty hasn’t returned here since the afternoon match ended. I’m only stationed here as usual. I don’t know where Her Majesty went."

"Oh... I see. Thank you."

Ariel left, disappointed.

In order to share the joy of victory as soon as possible—and also for her plan to raise affection and steal someone else’s wall—Ariel had waited for the nurses to leave, then immediately came to look for Celicia.

But... she hadn’t found her.

"At a time like this, where could she go?"

Ariel stroked her chin, thinking.

"If she didn’t come back after the afternoon match ended... she wouldn’t have gone to visit Muen Campbell, would she?!"

Ariel’s gaze sharpened as that utterly unrealistic idea popped into her head.

"No, no, no..."

She immediately rejected it.

"Putting aside the odds—if Celicia really went, how could she not come back at this hour? She can’t possibly be spending the night in a ward!"

"Looks like she really just has something she’s busy with."

Unable to figure it out, Ariel could only give up, for now, on the plan to use the dead of night to draw closer. She trudged toward her own ward with her head down.

But as she passed the ward corridor...

"Ah—who?!"

She stumbled and nearly fell. Ariel spun around sharply, staring into the darkness with wary eyes.

Or rather... at the leg that had stretched out from the darkness.

"Hm? What is this?"

Ariel frowned, eyes narrowing. Only then did she see that in the corridor’s shadow, there was... a female knight lying there?

"Strange. Why would a knight be lying in a place like this? And that uniform..."

Ariel’s mind tightened, and she suddenly realized: that uniform belonged to Celicia’s royal personal guard!

One of her guards was down here—did that mean Celicia had run into danger too?

Ariel quickly scanned her surroundings. In the end, her attention landed on the ward door in front of her.

It was almost the same kind of ward she had stayed in earlier. There was a small viewing window in the door for doctors to check inside—but you had to get close to see clearly.

Yet before she even leaned in, Ariel could already sense it: behind that door, several extremely terrifying forces were tangled together!

"No way... Celicia..."

Ariel’s heart jumped into her throat. She approached with extreme caution, rose onto her toes, and looked through the viewing window. What she saw was—

Inside the ward.

The melee had long since entered a new stage.

A certain yellow-haired bastard who had endured humiliation for a long time had finally seized control after the others fought themselves to exhaustion. He was no longer letting anyone "bully" him at will.

So now the scene was no longer a war between the empress, the Swordbearer, and the Saintess, but—

Muen with one hand stroking Celicia, who was nearly completely bared, while sharing a deep, passionate kiss with Anna, while Ariel’s best friend Liya was beneath him, rising and falling...

"W-What...?"

Ariel’s eyes reflected that unbearably fragrant, indecent image, and she murmured in disbelief without even thinking.

So familiar.

So unbearably familiar.

The Liya in the room and that senior named Anna—she had already seen them during her last accidental viewing.

But this time...

"Why is Celicia also...?"

Ariel couldn’t understand.

Celicia was so proud, so cold, like a snow lotus that could only be admired from afar and never profaned.

So why... why would she submit herself to a mere yellow-haired bastard, and even participate in such a ridiculous game?

In an instant, it was as if she heard a crystal palace shatter. A violent pain slammed into Ariel’s chest.

It wasn’t only the shock of seeing the scene—it was also the grief and fury of realizing that after working so hard for so long, everything had been futile.

She won the match, but in the end, the one who truly won was still the yellow-haired bastard.

"Damned Muen Campbell..."

Ariel’s teeth nearly ground to pieces with hatred. Her fingers clawed at the door, and she wanted nothing more than to charge in and beat that guy to death—

But in the end, she didn’t.

Because she knew that even if she killed the yellow-haired bastard, it wouldn’t bring back hearts that had already left.

...

Inside the ward, the few of them continued their mindless absurdity. Because after Ariel’s sudden intrusion last time, Celicia had developed the habit of casually sealing the room to isolate sound and presence, they didn’t notice Ariel outside at all.

Ariel wanted to leave right away, but for some reason, she still stayed for the moment—burning every scene into her mind as her hand, without her noticing, reached beneath the hem of her skirt...