Half Prince ½ Prince Vol 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The b.l.o.o.d.y Overlord – translated by Akakuroi

“Come on everyone, break down the city gate!” I shouted with all my might. Besides inspiring the warriors from Infinite City who were pus.h.i.+ng the battering rams to break down the gates of Moon City, I also had to raise my s.h.i.+eld in order to block all the arrows showering down from the city wall and swing my sword together with Nan Gong, Wicked, and others to keep away the waves of players coming to s.n.a.t.c.h the city away from us after we’d done the hard work of killing the NPC guards.

There were countless brave warriors of Infinite City here. Some were desperately ramming the gate, trying to bring it down faster in order to proceed with conquering the city and even more were on the ladders trying to scale the city’s walls, ignoring the showers of arrows as they climb. The blood of the warriors almost stained the whole wall red.

The mages at the back of the army only had two things to do: casting spells and gulping down mana potions. From this I could tell how successful Yu Lian and the others were at training the mages. If it wasn’t for the fear of having to pay a huge sum of money later for the reparation of Moon City, the mages alone could have blasted the whole city apart. However, in order to keep Moon City as intact as possible, they could only use medium and lower level spells to blast the NPC guards off the city wall.

During the battle for the city, the NPC guards were nothing. The real trouble was the players coming to s.n.a.t.c.h the city away. Not only was the number huge, they were coming along in unending droves. What was even more unbelievable was that players who had become a pillars of white light and flown away a scant minute ago were now running back fearlessly for a second round. The situation was in a such ridiculous state that apart from the warriors pus.h.i.+ng the battering ram that was tearing down the gate and the mages in charge of blasting the NPC archers off from the city wall, the rest of us had formed a semi-circle in front of the Moon City’s gate to prevent other players from sneaking into the city amidst the confusion.

Luckily Yu Lian and Phoenix had come up with the plan of making the army of Infinite City wear the same uniform instead of their normal gear. If it wasn’t for that plan, we never would have been able to tell our allies apart from our foes.

With Nan Gong fighting on my left, Wicked on my right and Wolf-dàgē at the back to heal, I hacked the players apart like there was no tomorrow, following my “kill and you get exp, kill more and you get more exp” rule. When one came I’d kill one, when two came I’d kill three! Eh? …Oh, I accidentally killed the spectators at the side who were just watching? Sorry…

“Prince! The gate will be down soon, so hurry to it now! You must be the first to enter the central tower and break the city gem!” Gui yelled as, under the protection of several warriors, he ran through the dangerous shower of arrows, magic spells, and clashes of swords and spears.

“No problem!” I shouted back. After signaling to Nan Gong and Wicked to head for the city gates, they immediately nodded and moved forward with me.

“Pure. White. Inferno. Rhapsody!” I roared, das.h.i.+ng towards the already cracking gate. With that, a blast of flame immediately burst out of my Black Dao. Unlike the normal fiery red flame, the flame that surged out this time was a blazing white fire of the purest heat.

Why were the flames produced different now? Actually, not only the color of the flame had changed, but the shape of my Black Dao was different as well. As it turned out, the gem Lolidragon gave me the other day—the prize for killing Celestial—was a gem that could increase a weapon’s fire affinity. When I affixed the gem on Black Dao, the weapon had changed drastically. The original pure black sword blade and scabbard were now adorned with patterns of flame. When I held the Dao in my hand, a gauntlet would automatically appear, covering the whole of my right arm. The thin blood red armor was so strong that up until now, there was no weapon or magic spell I’ve tried that could cause any damage to it.

After coming in contact with Pure White Inferno Rhapsody, just about nothing could survive. Hence, the cracked gate simply shattered into pieces of wood. When everyone saw that the gate had been broken down, there were sounds of alarm coming from the players, but there were even more ear-splitting cheers from the army of Infinite City.

However, I knew this had yet to end. As long as the city gem remained intact, the city wasn’t in the bag. I looked at Nan Gong Zui and shouted, “Zui, hurry and take me to the central tower!”

After I saw Zui nodding at me, I turned around towards White Bird and ordered, “Guard the gate well and don’t let anyone in. Tell Gui to lead archers and warriors up the city wall and prepare to defend the city.”

White Bird nodded to me. I immediately turned to follow Nan Gong Zui to the central tower without looking back once.

With Nan Gong Zui leading us, we soon found the central tower. I broke the central tower door with another Pure White Inferno Rhapsody and then followed the stairway straight to the top of the tower, where the city gem was located.

“Prince, go on, we’ll look out for you,” Wicked said calmly.

“Right,” I said. Just as I was about to slash the city gem, I caught a glint of silver light from the corner of my eyes. I immediately turned around to defend myself, and the sound of clas.h.i.+ng blades reverberated throughout the central tower.

Nan Gong Zui and Wicked, who were originally guarding at top of the stairs, whipped their heads around, shocked. I, on the other hand, was totally unsurprised as I came face to face with yet another a.s.sa.s.sin dressed in black fitting clothes. This time, it’s probably a male a.s.sa.s.sin.

A pity for him though, for I was no longer the person I had been before. In these two weeks, the number of a.s.sa.s.sins targeting me was so numerous that from the moment I opened my eyes I was prepared to face the a.s.sa.s.sins. Since it was them who initiated the attacks and I was merely defending myself, I had no worries at all about getting my name on the wanted list. Moreover, after having to face so many sneak attacks in every single day, one definitely becomes frustrated. Naturally, abusing these a.s.sa.s.sins became my daily pastime. As a result, my level skyrocketed, not to mention how much they had trained me in my reflexes and agility.

Although my level was still not as high as Neurotic who had gone back to the Western Continent, I was already level eighty-six. This, along with my superb, inhuman reflexes trained by the a.s.sa.s.sins… Even Neurotic might not be able to beat me.

My eyes shone with the glint of excitement, the glint of meeting a strong opponent. After all, the a.s.sa.s.sins nowadays were really too weak and were totally not comparable to the previous female a.s.sa.s.sin. From the conclusion of the Foreign Affairs department, those weaklings were probably not the female a.s.sa.s.sin’s accomplices. However, I’m sure that this person in front of me, who was dressed in the same tight black bodysuit, was her accomplice.

“Rwaahhhh!” I gave a low bellow and charged towards the a.s.sa.s.sin. The rapid exchange of blows between our swords was so satisfying that I forgot about everything around us.

“I think Prince has utterly forgotten what he’s here to do.” When Nan Gong Zui’s voice floated into my ears, I instantly and automatically pretended that I hadn’t heard it.

“Never mind, just let him fight. The situation outside the city is under control and according to Broken Sword who stayed behind to protect Infinite City, those who went to attack Infinite City are just some n.o.bodies who want to create a minor disturbance.” Upon hearing Wicked’s words, my tiny little bit of conscience immediately disappeared and I fought even more enthusiastically with the male a.s.sa.s.sin.

The male a.s.sa.s.sin knew that the situation was definitely against him. He was unable to overpower me, plus he saw that Nan Gong Zui and Wicked were just chilling on the sidelines. It seemed that he has no desire to drag out battle either, as with a back flip he jumped onto the window ledge he had entered from and prepared to leave.

When I saw this, I immediately shouted, “All of you are so strong; why do you want to a.s.sa.s.sinate me?”

After a silent pause, he replied coldly, “It’s because you’re much more dangerous than any of the others.”

I’m dangerous? Which part of me is dangerous? It’s not like there’s a sign saying “Dangerous beast, do not feed” hanging around my neck. Although coming near me now might mean getting slashed into halves due to my reflexes, that was all trained by you a.s.sa.s.sins and not part of my original personality. I scratched my cheek helplessly, unable to understand how I was dangerous.

“I wonder how long it’ll take for Prince to remember that he’s actually here to break the city gem…” Nan Gong Zui finally softly asked Wicked after watching me frown to myself for a long time.

Looking helplessly at me, Wicked replied, “That’s too hard a question, I have no answer for you!”

After a while, I finally snapped out from the ‘you’re dangerous’ remark and back into reality. After throwing an embarra.s.sed look at Nan Gong Zui and Wicked, who were now reading the newspaper and drinking tea off to the side, I started striking the city gem and was on the verge of singing “Hey ho, hey ho, pull the radish1” …No, I mean I just calmly hit the gem.

While striking the gem, I listened to Nan Gong Zui’s report on the situation of the two other cities. Leisurely drinking tea, he said, “Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing have already researched the other players who took down the other two cities. Basically, they are all within our limits and nothing we can’t handle. After the Moon City is stabilized, we will proceed with conquering both the Sun and Star City.”

“Isn’t monopolizing all the cities too much?” I continued hitting the gemstone while unknowingly voicing the complaints that other players had.

Zui picked up his teacup and started sipping gracefully while Wicked took his turn to explain. “We have no choice,” he said. “If we don’t conquer the Sun and the Star cities, then as soon as they get a foothold, they will definitely attack us. In order to guarantee Infinite City’s safety, conquering all three major cities in the Central Continent is a must.”

“I see… But won’t people be dissatisfied in the long term if we monopolized these cities?” I questioned.

“Don’t worry. After the patch, players will be able to purchase their own piece of land for development. They still can build their own cities; we are only conquering Sun, Moon and Star cities in order to save the time and money needed to buy land and construct a city.” Zui explained, putting down the teacup.

“Oh,” I replied in acknowledgement and turned around to continue hacking away at the gemstone. It was still intact even though I’d been striking it for a while. Just looking at it I felt impatience welling up in my heart like a fire and blazing pure white flames billowed out from the patterns on my Black Dao again.

“Hyaaaaa!” I charged at the gem and started slas.h.i.+ng at it erratically, constantly shouting, “Let’s see if you’ll break this time!”

With a final BOOM, the gem shattered into powder and dispersed into the air, causing me to inhale a few mouthfuls of powder. Coughing profusely, I waved my hand around to clear the dust. I turned around and tell Zui and Wicked that we could leave, only to be confronted with two “powder men”, both kneeling on the floor holding their teacups motionlessly. White powder covered them from head to toe and only two pairs of eyes were left untouched, looking helplessly at me while constantly coughing up more powder.

After breaking the gem, deafeningly loud cheers could be heard the moment I stepped out of the central tower. Thousands of people gathered outside the central tower and from their attire I could tell they were all Infinite City’s warriors. Holding my Dao high above my head, I happily cheered with them. As I walked down the stairs, all of the Infinite City’s warriors suddenly charged towards me and tossed me up, throwing me up into the sky over and over.

When I saw how highly Infinite City’s warriors regarded me, I was extremely touched. I started fooling around and partying with everyone until they became too tired to move, before making my way to tour the sights of Moon City, the city which we had just acquired under my name.

“What took you so long when you were hitting the gem? We almost fell asleep waiting for you outside,” Lolidragon followed me and complained unhappily.

Scratching the back of my head apologetically, I replied, “I met an a.s.sa.s.sin. Plus, this a.s.sa.s.sin probably is the accomplice of that female a.s.sa.s.sin from the first time.”

“What?” Upon hearing that, Lolidragon immediately stood up straighter and asked seriously, “How strong was he?”

“On par with the female a.s.sa.s.sin from last time,” I replied honestly. If Nan Gong Zui and Wicked weren’t at my side, it was doubtful who would have won the fight.

Frowning, Lolidragon paced back and forth. “How is this possible? Since the number of elite players with that level of skill are so rare, it’s almost impossible to find them on the Central Continent anymore; we have ruled out most of the possible suspects.”

“What about players from other continents?” Feng Wu Qing suddenly popped out from nowhere and cut in.

Both Lolidragon and I looked towards Wu Qing in confusion. Would anyone actually travel all the way to another continent just to a.s.sa.s.sinate someone?

With a wave of his fan, Feng Wu Qing said charmingly, “If there are people who want to take over the whole continent, then there’ll be people who want to take over the all of Second Life. In order to achieve that, getting rid of the infamous and strong spokesperson of Second Life, Central Continent’s b.l.o.o.d.y Overlord, Prince, is of the utmost importance.”

“I see, so that’s why I’m more dangerous than others?” I muttered to myself.

“In that case, the suspects are the overlords of the four other continents?” Lolidragon asked as she furrowed her brow.

“Overlords of the four continents?” I asked with a bit of excitement. Neurotic should be the overlord of the West Continent right? I wonder what the other overlords are like…

Without a moment of hesitation Lolidragon replied, “The Smiling Overlord of East Continent, Winter Triumph. The Carefree Overlord of West Continent, Neurotic.”

“The Undying Overlord of South Continent, Undying Man; the Floral Overlord of the North Continent, Northern Flower; and of course, including you, the b.l.o.o.d.y Overlord of Central Continent, Prince,” Wu Qing added in perfect synchronization with Lolidragon.

I was utterly stunned by what I had just heard. Why do all the overlords sound so strong?

“Who could the suspect be?” Lolidragon considered carefully.

“It definitely can’t be Neurotic and his men,” I replied resolutely. If they wanted me dead, they could have just let me die in the Valley of Wandering Nymphs instead of helping me.

“We are ruling the West Continent out then. It seemed like we’ll need to thoroughly investigate the overlords of the North, South, and East continents,” Lolidragon mumbled.

“How are you going to investigate? You can’t even PM between different continents. Are you going to spend ten plus days just to travel back and forth from one continent to another?” Feng Wu Qing replied in disapproval.

Without holding back, Lolidragon pinched his ears with all her might, allowing me to see the wondrous sight of my flirtatious brother crying out in pain again. At the same time, Lolidragon shouted into his ear, “We have Suns.h.i.+ne’s flying carpet!”

Ignoring Wu Qing’s look of suffering, Lolidragon said to me, “I will go with this guy to the different continents and gather information. Prince, be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t get myself killed by a.s.sa.s.sins,” I replied while waving goodbye to Lolidragon.

Mouth twitching, Lolidragon said, “That’s not what I meant. I mean, don’t abuse the a.s.sa.s.sins so much or the Human Rights a.s.sociation will come knocking on your door!”

“I’ll…try.”

With help from Suns.h.i.+ne, Lolidragon and Feng Wu Qing travelled between continents. During this time the people of the Infinite City didn’t slack off either. Upon entering Moon City the Military, Finance, and Construction departments immediately started working. They repaired the damage caused by the war, built more essential facilities that the city lacked, and arranged the guards and army for the city. In fact, it got so busy that I had no time to look at anything else and at one point I nearly wanted to leave once and for all. But I had already made a decision to become a good overlord. How could I give up halfway now?

Thus, apart from the times when Sun and Star city were attacked—at which point I would take advantage of to go train a little by secretly killing attackers—most of the time I was just battling with the huge pile of paperwork submitted by each department. After I graduate from university, I might have an extremely high potential of running for the job of city mayor.

“It’s decided: I’m going to develop the Moon City into an art and cultural hub,” I stated my vision with clenched fists as I watched the peaceful scenery outside the window.

The very next day, I told Yu Lian-dàsăo my decision. She only thought about it for a moment before she agreed to fund it. Then I cheerfully went to look for the Construction department, and told Gui and Fairsky, “I want to transform the Moon City into a city of art and culture. Furthermore, Yu Lian-dàsăo has already agreed to fund the project!”

However, Fairsky just ferociously grabbed my collar and bit out through gritted teeth, “You just sent my darling hubby Suns.h.i.+ne away for a tour around the world, leaving me here alone waiting for him, and now you’re going to increase my work load? Are you tired of living and feel that the number of a.s.sa.s.sins targeting you is not enough?”

“Ah? This will increase your work load? But after conquering the Sun and the Star cites, I still want to turn the Sun City into a commerce city and Star City into a world of entertainment!”

Hearing that, Fairsky let go of my collar and stared blankly. “Are you really Prince?” she demanded disbelievingly. “No, no, that’s impossible; Prince would never be so clever. You must be an a.s.sa.s.sin who’s disguised as Prince. Spill it, where’s the real Prince?”

Oi! What kind of att.i.tude is that?!

“Prince was always very clever. He is so wise that he looks dumb to other people,” Gui said, making goose b.u.mps immediately appear on my skin.

“Anyway I’m leaving this matter to the Construction Department. I’m going to the Military Department to see when we can attack the Sun and Star cities.” Humming to my own tune, I skipped happily towards the Military Department.

Behind me, Fairsky muttered, “Why is this guy so happy? He has so much administration work to do, not to mention that he gets attacked by at least three a.s.sa.s.sins per day and still has to worry about conquering the Sun and Star cities … Could it be that he is so busy that he’s gone crazy?”

Gui replied frankly, “Recently, the standards of the a.s.sa.s.sins have been rather high, and Prince was really happy to fight with them. And every a.s.sa.s.sin is being ruthlessly taught a lesson by Doll’s Chain, Endless Torture after the fight, so Prince…”

“I see, so it’s because he gets to release his s.a.d.i.s.tic tendencies…”

“Zui, Wolf-dàgē, are you guys here?” I stuck my head into the Military Department office and looked around. Indeed, aside from Broken Sword who was in charge of training the soldiers, everyone was there.

A hand landed on my shoulder, accompanied with a ghostly voice, “Why didn’t you mention my name?”

Keeping up my smiling face, I turned around to face Wicked’s gloomy expression and said, “Good morning, Wicked!”

“What is it, Prince?” Wolf-dàgē smiled and walked towards me, ruffling my hair with his hand as usual.

“I wanted to ask when we can attack Sun City and Star City,” I said frankly, not hiding the glint of eagerness in my eyes.

“Actually, both Sun and Star City are willing to surrender to us provided that we agree to their conditions,” Nan Gong Zui replied. “We have already discussed the conditions with Star City and there should be no problem; I was going to tell you about it later. The Star City players’ only demands are to have the biggest estate in Infinite City for free, and that after joining the army of Infinite City they should have at least have the post of team leader. These conditions are really simple and should be easy to fulfill. But as for the Sun City… Their conditions might be a problem.”

“How so?” I asked. But even if there really were problems, I didn’t really care. If we couldn’t reach an agreement, then we’d just initiate a war. Right now I’m completely unafraid of war!

Nan Gong Zui went silent. After a moment Wicked continued, “It’s Fan.”

“And a few teams that are hostile towards us,” Wolf-dàgē added. “Perfect Princess Team, Team Phoenix, h.e.l.l’s Murderers, and another person sponsoring them that I’m not familiar with. I heard he holds some grudge against you too. He’s called Huang Wei.”

I was taken aback by what I heard. Huang Wei came to the Central Continent too?  Frowning, I mentally prepared myself, for their conditions of surrender must be related to me and definitely related in a negative way as well. “What are their conditions?”

The three of them went completely silent as Wolf-dàgē took a frighteningly long sheet of paper from the table and pa.s.sed it to me.

I took it and began reading from it, “One: Let Prince disappear forever from Second Life; Two: Rip Prince’s stomach open; Three: Gift Prince to me, Perfect Princess; Four: After killing Prince up to a thousand times, bring Lü Jing back to me; Five: Return Fire Phoenix back to me, and then throw Prince and that d.a.m.ned meat bun into the sea to feed the sharks…” Without any expression, I tore that piece of paper full with nonsense into pieces. In a stern and commanding tone, I asked the Military Department, “When will the troops be ready?”

“We need to take hold of Star City first and then we can send the troops out a week later,” Nan Gong Zui reported.

“Then in one week, someone is going to be in big trouble,” I said as I clenched my fist fiercely.

A week later, I rode on top of a horse, pacing back and forth before the army of Infinite City while staring at the far-off walls of Sun City. According to my a.s.sessment, the number of archers on the city wall was far less than the numbers of NPC archers sent out by Second Life when we first tried to conquer Moon City.

“Looks like the battle for conquering the city this time will be a piece of cake…” I muttered to myself.

“But Fan isn’t an average player. You can’t be sure that this isn’t a trap,” Nan Gong Zui reminded me concernedly upon hearing my muttering. “Fan holds a deep grudge against you and it’s possible that his target might be you alone. Prince, you must be careful.”

That’s right; Fan definitely isn’t someone who would allow himself to play an insignificant role. Rousing myself a little, I replied, “I understand, I’ll be careful.”

With that, I pulled the reins and changed the direction of the horse to face the warriors of Infinite City while holding my Black Dao high above my head. Everyone remained silent, waiting for my words. I roared, “Take down Sun City! Unite the Central Continent!”

Upon hearing that, everyone was excited into a wild frenzy. A chant that burst out from the mouth of Infinite City’s warriors was so loud that it nearly shook me, their city lord, off of my horse. “Unite the Central Continent! Unite the Central Continent! Unite the Central Continent!”

I kicked the sides of my horse, riding straight in the direction of Sun City, and shouted, “Charge!”

“The city lord…is leading the attack…” Wicked pressed his hand against forehead as though he had a headache.

Nan Gong Zui looked on, equally helpless, and said, “Shall we hurry up and catch up with him?”

Besides the archers on the city wall, the Sun City defense line consisted of three rings of warriors surrounding the city gate. But this was exactly what had my blood boiling with excitement. I could swing my precious Black Dao however I wanted to my heart’s content, something that I definitely could not enjoy on daily basis.

“Heeeeh! Yaaaa!” I held my s.h.i.+eld high above my head to block the arrows coming from the city wall as my other hand continuously slashed at one soldier after another. At first I would still get a few cuts here and there, but the priests in the back were so efficient that the moment I got a tiny little cut, over ten white healing lights would land on me.

The mages on the city wall couldn’t hurt me either. Although I couldn’t see them, I could guarantee that there were at least ten protective s.h.i.+elds above my head. When Nan Gong Zui and Wicked caught up with me and both stood by my side to protect me, I smiled faintly. It’s time to go into total offensive mode!

The horse seemed to sense my excitement too, for it followed my lead and galloped back and forth amongst the enemy, allowing me to kill to my heart’s content. After a few charges the area around me started to empty. Curling my lips in dissatisfaction, I was about to say a few provoking words to the enemy to see if anyone would be agitated enough to come and let me cut him up.

Then Nan Gong Zui’s helpless voice rang out, “Prince, stop playing. The city gate is already down, hurry up and enter the city!”

“Ohhhh…” Looking at Zui and Wicked who were both panting, I thought of how tiring it must be to cover for me just now. Feeling a little guilty, I didn’t dare to continue playing anymore and rode on toward the city gate.

After entering the city I looked around, trying to locate the central tower.

A shadow suddenly landed before my horse and with a glance I realized it was actually Kong Kong. He had probably watched too many ancient j.a.panese dramas, for he was actually dressed like a ninja. Not to mention that he was kneeling on one knee with his hands clasped together as he reported to me in a reverent and respectful tone, “My lord, the central tower is just up ahead to the left. Please follow your humble servant.”

With a roll of my eyes I asked, “Did you take the wrong medicine today?”

Feeling slighted, Kong Kong curled his mouth a little and twisted his index fingers together uneasily. “What’s wrong? Isn’t this what they do in comics?”

Another person who’s addicted to comics! I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at his actions, so I said, “Whatever makes you happy is fine, as long as you can take me to the central tower.”

“No problem my lord, please follow me.” Switching back into ninja mode, Kong Kong pointed in the main direction of the tower and started running. I exchanged a glance with Wicked and Nan Gong Zui who were now commanding the troops and then everyone followed us, proceeding toward the tower.

After a short while the central tower was right before my eyes. As expected, the rest of the army was guarding it, just like the tactic we used when Fan attacked us.

“Whoa, everyone’s here.” I was a little surprised. In front of the central tower, I recognized many familiar faces: Perfect Princess Team, Team Phoenix, h.e.l.l’s Murderers, and Huang Wei. One thing all of them had in common was that they looked as though they couldn’t wait to tear me into pieces, chew me up, and spit me out. Weird, where’s Fan? I felt a little confused by his absence.

“Prince, you’re the first man who dared to look down on me! I’ll definitely make you pay!” Perfect Princess said while biting on her handkerchief with eyes full of resentment.

“Prince! This time I swear I’ll roast you into barbeque!” the leader of h.e.l.l’s Murderers bellowed. If I remember correctly, I think he’s called the Blood-soaked Demon King?

“Return my darling Lü Jing back to me!” Huang Wei’s glittering old fas.h.i.+on look had yet to change.

“Prince, if you don’t hurry and return Fire Phoenix to us, you’re dead!” shouted a group of pretentious men in white s.h.i.+rts and white pants. You could tell they were the Team Phoenix with just one glance. However… What was the speaker’s name again? How come I don’t have any impression of who he is?

Feeling a little embarra.s.sed, I asked, “I’m sorry, the leader of Team Phoenix, but I truly have forgotten what your name is. Would you please tell the readers yourself?

Upon hearing that, the men in white…no, I mean Team Phoenix, revealed expressions of devastation and disappointment, and cried to the sky, “Of course you won’t remember our names, because the author never gave us names at all!”

I was dumbfounded. So they didn’t even have names! How pitiful. I shook my head and said, “What a pitiful team. Since you don’t even have names, I’ll send you guys away first.” Twisting my lips up into a wicked smile, I uttered a few orders to Nan Gong Zui. Zui immediately signaled to the warriors of Infinite City behind us and the attack began.

“All of you will regret writing that d.a.m.ned request,” I said with a ferocious look. I’d overlook that you wanted to throw me into the sea to feed the sharks, but you even included my cute lil’ Meatbun! Fine then, I’ll let you have a taste of Meatbun’s power!

Taking out my cute lil’ Meatbun, I told him, “Meatbun, come and help your mama beat some evil people.”

“Evil People! Mama, there’s evil people?” Meatbun looked around eagerly with its big watery eyes.

“Yup, there, right in front.” Grabbing hold of Meatbun, I turned him around to face the team that didn’t even have names, yet would have still dared to throw Meatbun into the sea to feed sharks, aka the Phoenix Team.

“Evil People!” Meatbun suddenly broke free from my hand, a bamboo copter appearing on its head as it flew into the sky. After making a seven hundred and twenty degree turn in the air, it shouted, “I stand for love and justice!  In the name of Meatbun, I’ll triumph over evil!”2

Doll…just what have you been teaching Meatbun? Facepalming, I was too sad for tears.

“Love and Justice’s Fermentation Final Blow!” Meatbun suddenly shouted a move I’d never heard of before. I looked at Meatbun curiously, amazed that it had gotten another new skill. That’s my Meatbun, with a wisdom level of ten.

Meatbun then closed its eyes tight, looking like it was concentrating as hard as he could, so much so that its cheeks became inflated… No, wait, not only were its cheeks inflated, but its whole body was increasing in size! I watched with a dropped jaw as Meatbun got bigger and bigger, larger and larger. Soon, Meatbun filled the sky like a huge cloud, covering the whole area with its shadow. Weird, how is that Bamboo copter supporting a meat bun of this size?

By this time both enemies and allies had stopped in their tracks and were staring dazedly at the gigantic meat bun in the air. Someone even muttered, “Oh G.o.d, how long will it take to finish eating a meat bun of that size?”

Just what move is this? I suddenly had a very bad feeling about it and immediately shouted, “All Infinite Warriors, fall back now!”

But it was still too late as, without any warning, Meatbun fell suddenly from the sky. When it landed there was a ma.s.sive booming sound and the earth shook as if there was a level nine earthquake. As for me, facing the meat bun wall which was less than five centimeters away, I broke into a cold sweat. What a terrifying blow, not even sparing our allies! If not for my luck, would my body be even five centimeters thick now?

“So Meatbun was never fermented before,” Wicked suddenly said from beside me.

Shocked, I looked towards him… He’s, telling a joke? Wicked is telling a joke? That can’t be possible!

Frowning, Wicked pressed his hand against Meatbun’s thick wall and concluded, “The ratio of the size of Meatbun before and after the fermentation is too abnormal. No yeast can ever ferment and turn such small dough into this size.”

Is…is this considered a common problem between all science students?

By this time, Meatbun had changed again. It slowly shrunk back to its normal size before hopping back into my hand, looking exhausted. After a while, Meatbun could no longer keep its eyes open and started sleeping soundly. I had no choice but to stow it back in my bag.

Looking back at those unlucky souls who got squashed, I calculated that around eighty percent were from the enemy and another twenty percent were people from my side who had charged in front. They were all now lying flat on the ground. The initially smooth ground now had countless human shapes imprinted onto it. Frowning, I asked, “Infinite Warriors who were squashed please report, how much HP was lost?”

A warrior, who was wearing uniform from our side, lifted up a trembling hand and signaled a number five. With an equally trembling voice, he said, “Fi…fifty percent!”

How terrifying… Those who hadn’t gotten squashed, including me, were all shocked.

“Prince, hurry and go to the center tower. I will help to block the enemy,” Nan Gong Zui said urgently.

Looking at the flattened enemy who were now starting to squirm, I agreed and rushed with all my might towards the center tower.

“Mages attack the tower gate, and be careful not to hit the lord!” Wicked bellowed.

Before I reached the tower gate thunder bolts, fire b.a.l.l.s, and ice bolts were being thrown randomly at the tower gate, causing a huge commotion. As I reached the tower gate I yelled without any hesitation, “Pure. White. Inferno. Rhapsody!”

With that, the tower gates fell apart and I quickly rushed up the stairs. I left the responsibility of protecting my back to Zui and Wicked, since getting the city gem was my main responsibility. Upon finally reaching the top with great difficulty, I jumped up and into the tower. However, besides seeing the city gem, I could also see that another weird scene was about to unfold.

“Why the rush, Prince? Why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea?” Fan asked calmly, giving me a friendly smile while brewing a cup of tea.

I frowned and my right hand cautiously reached for my Black Dao. “What are you planning?”

“Nothing much, I just have a little request for you.” Fan put down the teacup and slowly stood up. He threw his sword aside and it landed in the corner as he stood, unarmed, to show that he posed no threat.

Uneasiness rose from my heart. Just what is Fan planning to do? Even though he has thrown his weapon aside, maybe there are others lying in ambush nearby? With that, I immediately started scanning the surroundings from the corners of my eyes.

Smiling faintly, Fan said, “Don’t worry, there’s no ambush waiting.”

“Just what do you want?” I calmed myself down. Even if there was an ambush, I was not afraid of him.

“I want you to return Phoenix to me,” Fan replied in a serious tone.

“Phoenix?” I repeated blankly, a little confused about the situation.

“Ice Phoenix!” Fan said reproachfully. “I admit that in the past, I did not treat her well, but humans never learn to treasure the things they have and instead take them for granted. Only when they lose it, do they learn how important it is to them.”

Looking extremely lonely and bitter, Fan forced a smile at me, “Prince, will you please return Phoenix to me? I know that you never cared about her. To you, she’s even less important than Wicked and Gui. If that’s the case, why are you still bringing sadness to her?”

I stood there blankly, Fan, who treats women like clothes, is actually saying this kind of thing? I became very suspicious. My thoughts must have been reflected in my expression, because before I said anything, Fan had already opened his mouth to reply.

“Please believe me, I’m really serious this time! Please return Phoenix to me and stop hurting her feelings! Let me bring her happiness!” Fan shouted agitatedly.

“I’ve hurt her feelings?” My expression dimmed. That’s right, I almost forgot; last time I had made her cry and after that the case wasn’t settled either. Since I haven’t seen Phoenix. Thinking back to it now, I started getting really worried. Where could she be now?

“Is the number of times you’ve made her cry any fewer than the number of times I have?” Fan asked coldly.

“I…” I sighed. “No matter our situation, let Phoenix decide this herself. She’s not an object. She should make her own decisions.”

“You…!” Anger and hatred were immediately written all over Fan’s face. Did I say anything wrong? I was utterly confused.

“Thank you, Prince,” Phoenix’s voice suddenly appeared. Surprised, I watched as Phoenix walked out from behind the city gem. “Although you still don’t love me, at least you didn’t push me away to others.”

“Phoenix!” I cried out blankly.

“He doesn’t love you, don’t you get it?!” Fan abruptly ran up and tightly grabbed Phoenix’s shoulder. Phoenix was shocked by his actions, but her facial expression soon became one of pain.

“Let go of her!” I dashed up and punched Fan aside.

Lowering her head with shame, Phoenix said timidly, “I’m sorry, Prince. When Fan said that you were just treating me like a burden and guaranteed to me that as soon as he asked, you would immediately unburden me onto him unconditionally, I… I couldn’t help but want to know if that was what you’d really do, so…”

Shaking my head, I replied, “That’s okay, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have said those words to you previously.”

“Prince!” Fan stood up. The initial look of gentleness and deep affection was now replaced by ferociousness.

Without waiting for him to finish, I said, “You disappoint me, Fan.”

Upon hearing that, Fan stood in his place, surprised.

Gritting my teeth, I asked in the coldest voice I could manage, “I was actually looking forward to you leading troops to face me. Yet in the end, you still chose to use Phoenix against me?” Just how long does this guy plan to use Phoenix’s feelings? Is letting go of a girl that hard?

“You’re dead! This time, I definitely won’t let you off.” Lifting my Black Dao, I threateningly approached Fan step by step.

“Wait, Prince!” Zui’s voice suddenly rang from behind me. I turned around to see Zui wearing facial expression that was even colder than mine. Inside those eyes of his there were no emotions at all. “Go and shatter the gem, Prince. That’s your responsibility. As for Fan, that’s my responsibility!”

“I understand,” I said with a nod.

I decided not to care about Zui and Fan’s battle. If calculating how to make use of a woman is what Fan is thinking about all the time then the result of this battle is too obvious, so why do I still have to watch it?

Holding my Black Dao, I turned around to face the gem. Just when I was about to ruthlessly initiate the first blow a spell suddenly hit the gem. I turned around to see that it had actually been Phoenix’s spell. Does…she want to s.n.a.t.c.h the city? Did Fan actually successfully make use of Phoenix again?

Just when I was still entangled in my own trail of thoughts, Phoenix smiled and said, “Let me help you to get rid of most of the gem’s HP. Don’t worry, I will definitely leave the last hit to you, Prince. I don’t want to end up with a city out of the blue.”

“The last hit? I thought I would have to deal all the blows personally?” I asked blankly.

Surprised, Phoenix said, “Of course not! If that’s the case, wouldn’t it take up too much time? It’s fine as long as you get the final hit.”

Veins started popping on my head. It seemed that last time when I was desperately hitting the city gem two people were slacking by my side, drinking tea!

With a cough, Wicked said, “About that, we only learned about it after conquering Moon City ourselves.”

“Well then come and help!” I glared at one of the two people who had been drinking tea at that time.

After destroying the gem, everything was covered in dust and powder again. But this time, learning from past experiences, Wicked had already ran away to hide, leaving behind me, who had to strike the last blow, and Phoenix, who knew nothing about the whole experience, to suffer in the powder.

“Finally, the Central Continent is now united as one!” Suddenly feeling relieved, I smiled from the bottom of my heart.

Footnotes

1 Hey ho, hey ho, pull the radish: A famous nursery rhythm about how everyone’s coming together and working hard to pluck out a gigantic radish from the ground. The lyrics basically go like this: Hey ho, hey ho, pull the radish, hey ho, hey ho can’t pull it out, hey ho hey ho, little granny, faster come and help me pull the radish… (repeat, with different people helping each time, from granny to sister/brother to cat/dog.)

2 “I stand for … triumph over evil!”: A famous quote from the manga series “Sailor Moon”, often said by sailor moon when she’s fighting.