Chapter 157: Elif, Lucifer, and Ivan

Since the next closest city was a decent distance away and would take some time before we arrived, I opted to use this moment of peace to cultivate, considering I hadn't been able to do any of that this entire day as we'd been searching for that Angel.

While cultivating, I began to search through the sea of near-infinite knowledge, trying to find any information that would increase my understanding of the Dao of cultivation, which wasn't easy, considering even if I happened to discover useful information, I'd still have to comprehend it, and that alone could take up to weeks.

However, while cultivating, I suddenly felt something deep within myself tremble, and as time passed, its trembling only began to get more intense; retracting my divine sense back to my body, I sent it deep within myself, searching for the cause of such trembling, yet what I found surprised me.

'So this is the origin of such trembling.' Thought Elif as he viewed his mysterious intent that was trembling in the depths of his very being.

I was very much confused as I've noticed over the years the only time it ever trembles or shows activity is in response to my will, which was weird since currently I was pretty calm; granted, I may be a little annoyed, but that shouldn't have been enough to affect my intent.

'No, I'm not the cause for the trembling; it's something else, someone else. Someone else with the same mysterious, pure, and powerful intent as I.' Pondered Elif with a slight smirk as he recalled his divine sense from the depths of his soul.

"How far away are we from the city?" Asked Elif with an expression of excitement, something Illumia noticed.

"We're nearly there; only a few more minutes, Your Highness." Replied Illumia, curious about Elif's excitement, as she knew it was infrequent to see Elif genuinely excited.

"Hmm, you seem excited, Your Highness; did something good happen with your cultivation?" Asked Marley, her words garnering Idonea's attention.

"No, nothing happened with my cultivation." Replied Elif while gently shaking his head.

"Then what's got you so excited? It's not every day we see you so excited about something." Said Marley, the three ladies sitting opposite Elif filled with curiosity.

"Heh, you'll see Marley, and soon at that." Stated Elif with a smirk as he looked out the window of the speedy carriage while his intent continued to tremble.

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"Your Highness, we've arrived." Stated Illumia blandly while looking at several guards wearing armor with the Heavenly Empire emblem.

Hearing Illumia's words, I opened my eyes and looked out the window while eyeing the city, though since Ivan was here, I did expect to see a few people from the Heavenly Empire. I was just confused as to why there were so many guards; from the looks of it, he seemed to have isolated the entire city.

'Maybe that's how he searches for the Angel? Well, I don't care about that angel anymore; I'm looking for the person who is the cause of my intent trembling so intensely.' Thought Elif as he ignored the guards down below and exited the carriage.

"Your Highness." Said Mandy and her guards as they gave Elif a slight bow.

Nodding to them, I approached Zulo and Zala; after patting their incredibly fluffy manes, I ordered them to stay outside before signaling everyone else to follow me as I headed toward the city. As we approached the city, I noticed a massive line of people wishing to enter, though the Heavenly Empire guards denied access to everyone.

'Wonder how they'll act before my presence?' Pondered Elif as he skipped the long line and neared the entrance gate, his presence already noticed by Ivan.

Once I arrived just before the entrance gate, which two guards were managing, I figured they would deny me access, yet I was wrong as they merely gave me a stare before ignoring me, something I was slightly taken aback by.

"You're not going to stop me?" Asked Elif curiously as he eyed one of the guards.

"Prince Ivan had already ordered us to allow you passage, Prince Elif." Said the guard respectfully, though his underlying meaning filled Elif with amusement.

Hearing his response, I merely nodded before ignoring the guard and entering the city; when inside, I enveloped the entire city in my divine sense, and in doing so, I found Ivan's location, and unsurprisingly, he was in a brothel.

"So, how do you plan to seduce Ivan?" Said Elif with a smirk as he glanced at Idonea, who merely sighed while staying silent.

Chuckling at Idonea, I shook my head while walking in a different direction as I wasn't interested in Ivan; no, I was interested in the person with the same intent as mine, and it wasn't Ivan.

While walking, I noticed everyone's expression portrayed confusion, most likely because I wasn't heading toward Ivan's location, but I didn't say anything and continued walking until we finally stopped before an Inn a few minutes later.

"Hehe, found you!" Declared Elif with a smile as his intent trembled non-stop.

"Come out; I'm sure you also wish to meet the person who caused your intent to tremble." Said Elif with a light smile while projecting his voice as he materialized a large purple palm just above the inn.

After waiting for a minute and not sensing any movement coming from within the inn, I clicked my tongue and launched my palm toward the inn, yet just before it collided with the building, an intense white light penetrated through the roof of the inn and pierced my palm, destroying it in one attack.

'Ho, impressive. Granted, I hadn't used my full strength, but it's the first time I've encountered someone capable of destroying my Royal Elf's Palm with one attack.' Thought Elif with an excited smile as he eyed the cloaked figure rising through the hole in the roof.

"There were innocent people nearby; you would've killed them with that attack." Said the cloaked figure as they floated toward Elif's location.

"Finally deciding to show yourself, though, for the record, I planned to stop the attack just before colliding with the building; I had no intention of killing anyone." Remarked Elif calmly as he slowly approached the cloaked figure while fanning himself.

As we stood opposite while observing one another, other than him being shorter than me, I wasn't able to determine much from him since his cloak repelled my divine sense, though I did notice he had a blue pendant hanging from his neck.

'One rumor we heard was that the supposed Angel carried with him a blue pendant.' Thought Elif with a slight smirk while eyeing the cloaked figure.

I wasn't that convinced the person in front of me was the rumored Angel from that alone, so out of curiosity, I used the Elven Body Flicker to close the small gap between us. Once I was standing less than a meter before him, I reached forward, intending to yank his cloak off. However, to my utter surprise, he was actually able to react even when I moved at my fastest speed, which is something no one other than Elaine has done; still, he wasn't fast enough to evade my hand, and in one swift motion, I yanked his cloak off.

"The rumored Angel!? How did His Highness know?" Questioned Marley in astonishment as she eyed the large white feathered wings with golden markings.

"He didn't; look at his expression." Commented Illumia calmly as she glanced at Elif's widened eyes.

"So, it was just a coincidence?" Muttered Idonea, though she found it a little hard to believe.

"Ho, to think you were the rumored Angel everyone's hunting, though I suppose it wouldn't be appropriate to call you a rumored Angel." Remarked Elif in surprise while eyeing the angry Lucifer as he dropped the cloak.

As I was about to speak, I sensed a mighty presence descending from the sky; looking up, I spotted a man wearing luxurious clothes while a medallion with a sword symbol hung from his waist.

'Ho, does Ivan really think I will just let him take the Angel after I'm the one who found him?' Thought Elif with an amused smirk as he eyed the man.

"Thank you for your help in locating the Angel, Prince Elif; I'm sure Prince Ivan will be very pleased with the news." Said Kalen with a slight smile while immobilizing Lucifer with his vastly superior cultivation base.

"It's no problem; after all, it was quite easy. I've only been searching for less than a day. Though I'm not interested in gifting Ivan the Angel, this is unique." Said Elif lightly with a sly smile while glancing at the frowning Kalen.

"I don't wish to make things complicated, Prince Elif, but while you may have unmasked the Angel, it was done in Prince Ivan's territory, so by all means, this Angel is rightfully his." Replied Kalen with a frown while eyeing Elif.

"Oh, my apologies. I didn't know this was Ivan's territory, but then again, territories are only ruled by the strongest, and since I'm present, it's now become my domain." Declared Elif with a smirk while disregarding Ivan, which angered Kalen, though before he could reply, Elif seemed to be past talking.

"Illumia, if you could please." Said Elif with a snap of fingers, to which Illumia's eyes snapped open; a smile appeared as she eyed Kalen in the distance.

"I understand, Your Highness." Replied Illumia with a slight bow as she walked past Elif and headed toward Kalen, who now had a dignified expression.

Seeing Illumia approach the man, I was honestly very interested in observing two people of their caliber fight; though, it seemed it would have to be put on hold as I saw Ivan land on the ground beside the man, though his harmless smile seemed unnatural on his face for some reason.

"I don't know what's happened, but now that I'm here, I'm sure we could work something out by speaking, Elif; beings of noble statuses, such as ourselves, don't need to resort to fighting whenever we disagree over something." Stated Ivan with a harmless smile while trying to calm the tension in the air.

'Tch, I don't like how he calls me by my name as if we are equals.' Thought Elif, feeling annoyed already from Ivans' presence.

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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/JXqGGDbc (Note: this link only lasts for one week)

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 172: Returning Home) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 53: Apprentice Swordsman For A Reason) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 83: Freyja's Fight) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]