OPPOSING RIVAL

Meanwhile, at the vast prairie in the northern march of Grimcloud Forest, an army of hundreds of armored knights were combing through the open green field and painted the grass red with the blood of red goblins, thousands of them.

The warriors mercilessly slaughtered the monsters with their swords and spears as they marched through the prairie, which had been cleared from the enchanted white mist by a strong gale.

Watching over the one-sided battle was an armored woman whose hair was as golden as the sun and eyes as purple as the most beautiful iris flower. Planted right in front of her and used as a support like a staff was a magnificent sword emanating with immense aura.

"Enjoying the onslaught, my princess?"

Flying down from the sky was a young silver-haired man with a pair of glimmering golden eyes.

"Mister Wizard," called the woman to the hovering man. "I see you're enjoying this spectacle as well. Don't you wish to join the fight?"

"And miss myself an opportunity to witness firsthand the action of the Golden Corp? I think not, Your Highness!"

"Does my army really that impressive that you had to hold back on killing these many preys?" asked the woman with a flirting smirk.

"Why, yes, my princess!" replied the man. "The Golden Corp is known to be a group of knights that were handpicked by the brightest Little Sun of Terraluna. The skill of one of their members rivalled a hundred men in the Imperial Army's First Division! They are simply an army with no parallel!"

The woman chuckled at the silver-haired man's barrage of compliments. She then stared at the soldiers fighting the red goblins beyond her.

"Do you think they'll be enough to bring me to the throne?"

"Oh they are powerful, my princess. I admit that!" said the silver-haired man. He continued to stare at the mighty armored knights on the plain with condescending eyes. "But they are merely tiny pebbles in comparison to the titanic boulders you'd need to form a firm foundation for your reign as the new emperor."

"Are they now?" responded the woman softly with one brow raised. "I suppose you'll be guiding me to these boulders you mentioned?"

The silver-haired man reached for the woman's hand.

"Guide you I shall, my princess." said Lucius while giving the back of the First Princess's hand a gentle kiss. "When in fact, one such boulder is lying there in the basin that sits at the center of Grimcloud."

"And so you've told me, Mister Wizard." replied TItania, giggling at the man's words.

"My, I hope I'm not intruding."

A golden magic circle suddenly appeared beside Lucius and Titania. From it emerged Desmond.

"Lord Edelweiss, you're done with your scouting?" greeted the First Princess with an inquiry.

"Indeed, Your Highness." replied Desmond as he reached for a map from inside his blazer. "I've surveyed the forest and detected the movement of our rivals."

Desmond threw the map to the air and it magically hovered in front of the three, letting them all to observe its content.

While pointing to the map, the Edelweiss family head gave his report.

"The Third Princess, the Third Prince, and the Fourth Prince just arrived at their designated areas and just begun exterminating the monsters." stated Desmond. "The Second Princess and the First Prince, however, are already halfway through with their quest. At the rate they were going, they will both reach the basin within six hours."

"How about Aristo?" asked the First Princess. "How's he doing?"

Desmond burst into a chuckle upon the mention of Aristo's name.

"The Doomed Prince? Why should I bother looking for him?"

"You didn't scout the Second Prince's area, father?" asked Lucius.

"We all saw at the Dracon Fort that no mage was accompanying him. He has no chance of surviving the forest!" said Desmond with great confidence. "I'm sure his corpse is already rotting somewhere at the border of Grimcloud. Immediately killed once he entered the mist."

Titania tilted her head and furrowed her brows slightly.

"I don't know, Lord Edelweiss. That brother of mine has this tendency to survive. Like a cockroach." said the First Princess. "I got this feeling that Grimcloud won't be enough to doom him."

"Even if he managed to survive the goblins, do you really think the Doomed Prince will stand a chance against the Mist Guardian, Your Highness? Does he actually stand a chance at this battle for the throne?" asked Desmond with an evil smirk. "He's not a factor worth considering in your journey to the throne, Your Highness. He could barely survive on his own as it is."

"Father's right! There's no use to think about the Doomed Prince! He can't do anything to further you away from the throne, my princess." supported Lucius. "Father and I…especially I…will make sure of that."

Seeing their words of assurance, Titania smiled at her two supporters.

"Then I shall take you up on your words, men of Edelweiss."

The First Princess then take a look back at the map.

"So, Lord Edelweiss, surely scouting wasn't all that you do while you were out and about surveying our rivals?"

Desmond devilishly smirked at Titania's question.

"Why, of course not, Your Highness!" replied the man who put his children to a battle to the death. "I might had scared some of the goblins in Grimcloud and caused them run toward the other Little Suns. Because of that, I believe each of your siblings I scouted before had to fight against a couple more thousands monsters than they were supposed to face against."

"My, my! Great initiative, father!" complimented Lucius. "That should buy us a few hours ahead of the others to reach the basin."

Titania suddenly pulled her sword from the ground and walked down the hill.

"Well, we shouldn't waste Lord Edelweiss's effort, now, should we?"

The First Princess walked amongst the hundreds of knight and raised her free hand to the air. Signaling the warriors to cease battling and to retreat and form a defensive line.

Due to Titania's order, the hordes of red goblins resumed their march once more. Thousands of them. They were all coming for the golden blonde-haired woman standing at the forefront.

Seeing the huge wave of monsters charging toward her, Titania raised her sword. The blade was suddenly engulfed in a fiery blue blaze.

With a confident smile and gaze of a hunter on her face, the First Princess charged forward and leaped to the air. She spun her body and slash her sword sideway. The fiery blue aura on the blade was then thrown off the steel and formed into this titanic blue tsunami. It travelled from the air, unto the ground, and devoured the thousands of red goblins charging at the First Princess.

Once the blue calamity vanished, what was revealed in its place was something no less of a wonder. A crescent-shaped gorge was carved on the vast grassy plain which the thousands of red goblins used to stand on. Wherever the blue tsunami vanished into, the monsters followed it as well.

Having eradicated the horde of monsters standing on her path, the First Princess stared back at the two Edelweiss mages standing atop of the small hill.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get to the center of the forest before my siblings gets there!"