Hadrian Dante was the person I feared most. He killed toroks with a flick of his wrist, and since that day, I had given him meat and resources to gain more power. According to Aiden, he had also bought the third evolution core that Aiden brought back to civilization, and there was no doubt that he had earned more resources since then.

  Hadrian, like me, had a patron god, and according to Aiden, he had the most powerful patron guarding Dronami—a tenth evolution god.

  I’m not sure how strong Alendrias was compared to Brindle—but a tenth evolution god was the point at which gods stopped being measured. There could be a wide or little difference, but either way, their fight would destroy planets. That was who was standing behind this man.

  That wasn’t all. Hadrian Dante was the Scion of the Dante family despite not being part of the main line. He was a bastard child, born from a courtesan. Yet he killed the old Dante Scion, who was over fifty, at age twelve and hadn’t slowed down. Since that day, he earned Alendiras’ patronage and was showered with resources. And I was certain that the financial success of my Areswood endeavors had only increased his strengths. Investors from the Five Domains were doubtlessly lavishing him with high-level treasures in hopes he could conquer the forest.

  Of all the people I met, he would be the worst.

  Now, he was standing in front of me, eager to fight me.

  “You’ve been looking forward to this?” I asked. “Holding my parents hostage while you bully someone who has only been here a few years?”

  Hadrian sent me an amused smile. “If you’re expecting me to feel shame or remorse, you’ll find none. I’ve merely put you into a position to fight me—that’s all. If you win, well…”

  He glanced at the bloody mess of corpses. Then, he moved his eyes up my bloody boots, tracing my curves as he examined the blood on me.

  I hated it.

  Hadrian was remarkably attractive, and his confidence was charming. Women want someone like him to look at them like that, and I wasn’t immune. The only reason I didn’t shiver reflexively was because my family was on the line.

  Just thinking about their situation filled me with ire.

  “You’re sick,” I said.

  “I’m sure I seem that way to you,” he said. “But I feel the same way. Your people are weak. They haven’t faced true conflict since birth. They crumble under work requests. They sob over minor losses. The thought of violence makes them ill and they cry, citing laws and customs that don’t exist. Your people make me sick. But you…” He glanced at my boots and then at me in an implied elevator gaze. “You’re something else.”

  “The fact that you held my family hostage to flirt with me is remarkable,” I said.

  “Give it a century, you’ll see it differently.”

  “You’ll be lucky to live till tomorrow.”

  He chuckled. “See this? This is what I like about you.”

  “You don’t think I’m being serious, do you?”

  He smirked. “Of course not. As you’ve said, you’ve only been here for a few years. That said, I’ll have to worry about you a couple years from now. So… unfortunately for you, that means I’ll have to kill you right now.”

  I laughed. “Oh… well that’s unexpected. I thought you were the type to win fair fights.”

  He smirked. “Oh, I do. But do you know what I enjoy more?”

  “What?”

  “Living. So forgive me, Mira—but I think I’ll enjoy my mediocrity while I’m still alive.”

  I sneered at him.

  “Though I suppose…” He flashed me a bright smile. “You can join me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Marriage.”

  I scoffed. “What?”

  “Marriage. You do know the word, yes?”

  “I do! I’m just shocked. In what universe would I marry you? You just kidnapped my parents!”

  “A universe where you survive and obtain life-long protection for your family. A universe where you can enjoy the benefits of your god with the unlimited resources my family can provide. A universe where you can visit here once a year to obtain your resources.”

  I wanted to snap at him—but I couldn’t. I understood what he was saying.

  “Or you and your family can die here,” he said. “I’m throwing away my pride and desires to protect my life. The question is, will you?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I reflected on his words and said, “I have a question.”

  “Yes?”

  “What happens if I kill you?”

  He flashed me a charming smile. “Well, you’ll still have to save your family. But you’ll obtain the chance to do so. Right now, you’re going nowhere.”

  I looked around at the dead or dying soldiers on the ground. They were witnesses.

  Hadrian looked at them and chuckled. Then he lifted his hand and dropped it. Suddenly, hundreds of ice spears I had forgotten about during the conversation crashed onto the groaning soldiers like hail. Each spear cut through the soldiers and through the dirt before shooting dry ice blasting outward. Kline grabbed me by the collar and bounded a hundred feet to avoid the tidal wave of ice.

  I shook when it was over, looking at thirty meters of foggy ice that had killed everyone.

  “Those were your people!” I screamed.

  Hadrian scoffed. “Must you parrot your beliefs? We’re different. And the things you find so abhorrent about me are the same things that have made me the celebrated Scion of the First Domain.” He took a step forward and the ice cratered under his boot, sending cracks shooting out twenty feet in all directions. Then he took another, and I heard a sickening series of snaps as it did the same.

  “Let’s make something clear, Mira,” he said as a sword formed out of the ice. He grabbed the claymore with regal elegance and took another step. “I’m not a citizen of this domain. I’m not a husband. I’m not an ambitious laborer like your father. I’m this world’s future ruler—a future god.”

  Fifty-foot ice spikes shot out of the ground around me, trapping us in a tunnel of ice. I could feel the frost nipping at my skin, and I suddenly wished I had worn a coat.

  There was no way that I could kill this man. His power was overwhelming.

  And yet…

  I made promises to this forest. It’s people. My people.

  And those same people made promises to me.

  Right now, Reta and the Drokai were doubtlessly watching. As Reta said, announcing their presence would result in endless conflicts, but I was confident that if I fought… if I died to protect my parents in this forest… they would protect my family.

  Hadrian couldn’t survive all of them.

  And even if they didn’t—I couldn’t do anything but live my life the best that I could. I created Wraithwood to protect my family. I pursued power to protect them. I was fighting for them. I was doing my best to fulfill all my obligations.

  And that was all I could do.

  Now, my final obligations were before me—to protect this forest and my family. So I laughed and said, “I think you’re disgusting—but I also have to thank you.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

  “For killing the witnesses.”

  , I silently ordered.

  Kira snapped into my body as I charged with Kline and his clones.

  Hadrian didn’t see Kira, so he scoffed. “Are you serious?” He flicked his hands, and ice blades shot into the portals that Kline made, killing three clones at the same time.” Then he lifted his sword to meet my machete, but when the machete struck, it dissolved as an illusion. The real machete was invisible and only a second off. So when he released his guard, the machete slashed through his sword.

  Ice confetti exploded as he grinned. “That’s—”

  He didn’t say a word before Kira separated from my elbow and shot a blade at him. He barely dodged to avoid having his neck slashed. The blade cut through his beautiful face.

  He was stunned. “What—”

  Kline attacked from the back to cut him off. He lifted his hand, and ice cut through Kline—but it was a clone. Kline’s real body sent Phantom Claws at Hadrian.

  Hadrian barely blocked with an ice wall in time, but Kira increased the pressure. She had separated from me completely, and I had created an illusion of her.

  To his shock, her soul force sheared through his ice as if it wasn’t there.

  “What is this?” he yelled as he flew backward.

  She attacked from the front, and Kline and five clones attacked from the side.

  Hadrian must have felt mortal danger because he lifted his hand, and hundreds of spears formed in the air. But I was ready for it. I had brought a portable ward to protect the Spatial Divider in my backpack, and I pulled it out during the fight. I activated it just in time to safeguard Kline and me from the onslaught of falling ice spears.

  The ground around us turned bright white, but the barrier stood strong, melting the ice. And once it did, I saw Kira continuing to fight him.

  “What the hell are you?” Hadrian yelled as he flew backward, bounding over the frozen corpses of his fallen comrades. He kept going backward, closer and closer to the Bramble.

  I got on Kline and rode forward with the barrier active. Kline warped left and right, avoiding ice spikes jutting from the ground. I almost got there, but Hadrian screamed, “Enough!” and the whole forest exploded with white ice. It was so abrupt and powerful that it froze the barrier in place.

  Next came spikes underneath the barrier. I dodged one, but one stabbed my foot, and my body froze in a chain reaction. I turned and saw Kline had been piked through his chest, and he was freezing in real time.

  Hadrian avoided another attack from Kira and yelled, “Pull her back, or he’s dead!”

  My eyes filled with murder, and Brindle’s coldness came over me. I turned to him. “Counteroffer,” I said. I never said what. Instead, I had Kira suicide charge. He lanced her with an aura-wrapped sword, successfully injuring her, but she pushed him onto The Mouth’s plaza. The second he took a step, I lifted my hand, and trees and roots and vines shot out and grabbed Hadrian.

  He screamed in pain as poison paralyzed him instantly.

  The flora around the pathway was the deadliest of all—instantly lethal.

  I released a pulse of aura, and half the ice around me cracked and exploded. It was enough to release my foot, and I used it to kick the spike piercing Kline. It cracked and released him.

  I looked at my leg. It was black and red from instant frostbite—but it started healing itself.

  I thought.

  Hadrian saw the same thing and said, “What the hell are you?”

  “I’m not sure anymore,” I said. “All I know is that you’re damn unlucky. You fucked around in the wrong place with the wrong person without the right information. And now you’re going to die.”

  I lifted my hand.

  “Wait!” he screamed.

  But it wasn’t enough. I clenched my fist, and all the vines snaked and twisted and strangled him. Within seconds, his body turned black and blue and rotted as I collapsed on the ground, wheezing and holding Kline, who was still alive. His body was unthawing, and the Cailain regenerator elixir was taking root and healing him. Thank God.

  As Hadrian’s skin peeled and the ice thawed and my tears dropped, the illusion dissolved around me.

  The ice and spikes, and spires were still there, but Hadrian and the Bramble disappeared. I looked down, hoping it all was an illusion, but it wasn’t. I was still frozen and burned, and Kline was still wheezing. The ice was real and frosty.

  Real magic—but the rest was fake. I could see endless miles of grass in all directions. As for the trees, I felt all around me—

  It was all made of aura—just like the trees in Harlock Forest. That was a lesson I brute forced instead of learning—and I suffered for it.

  “Acceptable,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

  Hey there! Sorry about the confusion about the link. Readers were really impatient, so I deleted the first chapter, and the read-through rate doubled instantly. Here's the updated link. New chapter out!