Chapter 43

The moment Aneta affirmed her need for power, she felt something like a transparent barrier pressing down on her body.

Startled, she took a step back, and what came to her was a clear sense of rejection, as well as the certainty that this mysterious barrier was created by someone.

Her gaze naturally shifted to Erez, whom she considered the owner of the barrier. As if to confirm her sudden certainty, the necklace around her neck began to pulse faintly.

‘Could this necklace be the Glory of Miracles?’

Aneta inhaled sharply at the emerging thought. Her heart pounded in sync with the pulsing of the necklace.

There was no need to consider any other possibilities. This was the only explanation that could account for the strange phenomenon she was experiencing.

As she placed her hand on the necklace, the pulsing grew more intense.

The evidence was sufficient.

All Glories share common traits:

One, the activation of a Glory’s power requires contact with its owner.Two, a Glory is an ancient heirloom within a noble family.

The necklace of Elena that Aneta was currently wearing fulfilled both of these conditions. Convinced of this without a doubt, Aneta turned her gaze towards the barrier looming before her.

If the owner of this barrier was indeed Erez, then this instinctive sense of rejection must be the power of the Glory of Control.

‘I must break it. I can break it.’

There was no being that could withstand the ability of the Glory of Control which neutralized all other glories.

Despite her awareness of that fact, her instincts spoke before her reason, and Aneta unwittingly created an image in her mind of breaking the barrier.

She did it without a second thought as if remembering how to use an object she had handled for a very long time.

This unconscious action, as natural as the flow of water, had an immediate effect on the reality in front of her.

The barrier began to tremble as if vibrating.

The frost-like cracks then spread, and the barrier soon shattered, its luminous fragments raining down from above.

However, it was evident that only Aneta could see this, as no one else reacted. No one was injured by the shards that flew up.

Aneta blinked in confusion. She couldn’t even guess what had changed about her.

After breaking the barrier, she was free from the oppressive weight that had been pressing down on her, but that was all. Initially, the only thing she had been able to see was the barrier surrounding her, and even after breaking it, the others had not regained the powers of their Glories.

Aneta realized that this was the limit of her ability.

‘I didn’t expect to reach the limits of my power before even understanding it.’

Aneta clicked her tongue in frustration.

That’s when it happened.

Clang! Clang!

A particularly sharp metallic sound pierced her ears. As her scattered senses were gathered by the ringing akin to an explosion, she saw Tereza blocking two swords simultaneously.

“Damn it!”

The assassins cursed, putting more strength into their blades, but their opponent was no ordinary fighter.Despite the force exerted by the two assailants, Tereza didn’t show any sign of being overpowered. With a powerful thrust, she deflected their swords, causing the quiver of arrows, the Glory of Penetration, on her back to fall to the ground.

However, the Glories are beings that cannot be touched without their owner’s permission. Ignoring the quiver, Tereza focused on fending off the attacking enemies.

Instead, it was Aneta whose gaze was drawn to the fallen quiver.

As the quiver lay at her feet, the voice that had stirred her before returned with the wind, compelling her again.

[Grab the quiver.]

There was no time to question the reasons. Aneta now surrendered herself to instinct.

Believing that the desire for power had called upon the voice, she assumed that a fitting strength had been granted to her.

Trusting in this, Aneta used a shard of the vase she had kept to tear off the cumbersome hem of her dress and kicked off her shoes.

As Aneta stood barefoot on the ground, a look of confusion spread across Serce’s face, and it didn’t take long for it to turn to alarm.

“Wait, Aneta. What are you doing…… You can’t go that way!”

“Don’t follow me, Serce. If you come too, it will only get more dangerous.”

Leaving behind the startled Serce reaching out to her, Aneta sprinted towards the quiver.

Even as she caught a glimpse of Carlos’s shocked face from the stage, she didn’t stop running.

The closer she got, the more intensely the quiver and her mysterious power resonated.

It seemed that the assassins were indeed targeting the heads of the Glorious Houses. The moment they spotted Aneta, they were blocked by the shadows assisting Tereza.

When Aneta reached Tereza, who was fending off the attackers, the resonance grew even stronger.

As Aneta bent down to grasp the quiver, Tereza, who had just knocked away an assassin’s sword aimed at Aneta, had a startled look on her face, but still righted her stance to protect Aneta.

“Aneta, what’s going on?”

Tereza didn’t scold Aneta for her sudden action. Instead, she calmly addressed her while shielding her back.

“I’ll explain later, Tereza. I’m sorry, but I need to borrow the quiver and arrows.”

As the rightful owner, Tereza could sense the quiver responding to Aneta’s words. The amethyst adornments, which had lost their luster when the powers were blocked, regained their brilliance the moment the quiver touched Aneta’s hands.

A Glory responding to someone other than its owner.

She had never heard of such a thing being possible, but here it was, before her eyes, Aneta.

Tereza signaled to the shadows, creating a brief opening, and unhesitatingly passed her quiver of arrows to Aneta.

“Since it’s you, Aneta, I’m lending it to you. You understand, right?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Tereza knew that Aneta Adenauer wouldn’t take such actions without a significant reason. Trusting her instincts, Tereza made the unusual choice to lend her glory. She then deflected another incoming attack from an assassin.

“I have a rough idea of what you’re trying to do with the quiver, so don’t worry and just go for it. I believe you can do it.”

Hearing similar encouraging words from Tereza and the quiver itself, Aneta shook off her lingering doubts and pulled an arrow from the quiver.

In the meantime, there had been several attempts to attack, but they had been repeatedly thwarted by Tereza, who would not allow them to approach.

The priority was to protect the Emperor at all costs.

With trembling hands, Aneta aimed the quiver at the assassins threatening the Emperor’s life.

To avoid piercing her allies, she had to target the edges of the area where the assassins were gathering.

Drawing the bowstring did not require as much strength as she had expected. Aneta guessed that it was a consideration of penetration, for otherwise, a person like her, who was far from physical might, shouldn’t have been able to pull it back properly.

While she was skilled at throwing and hitting targets, shooting arrows was an entirely different matter.

Carefully aiming at the edge of the group of assassins, Aneta released the string.

The arrow soon multiplied into hundreds, tearing through the air. Like a swarm of blackbirds, they traced a shallow arc as they descended. The sharpened arrowheads swiftly pierced the flesh of the assassins.

As Aneta lowered her arm, she watched the assassins groaning in pain, clutching at their impaled bodies. The arrows, however, had not reached the exactly intended targets due to her lack of strength. But Aneta was still stunned by the realization that she had truly manifested the Glory of Penetration’s power.

She had been confident that she could achieve the impossible, but accomplishing it left her dumbfounded. Her heart pounded as she fully realized the impact of what she had just achieved.

“Incredible! I suspected you might manage, but to manifest the power!”

It was Tereza’s hearty laughter that snapped Aneta out of her daze. Others, too, began to recover from their shock at witnessing the unbelievable scene.

The hall was filled with a different kind of chaos now, but the unfazed Tereza spoke as she kicked aside a fallen assassin.

“Keep going. I’ll guard your front.”

“Understood.”

As the assassins’ attention was drawn to Aneta’s ability manifestation, Tereza’s movements became even more frantic in deflecting their attacks. The shadows joined in the defense, allowing Aneta to fire another volley of arrows.

Just as the initial display had not been a mere coincidence, Aneta’s second shot again traced hundreds of parabolic paths, piercing the enemies.

There was only one noble who did not seem to be in awe of the undeniable spectacle.

Erez Bauter

Before the confrontation began, he noticed that one of the assassins was pointing toward Aneta’s group, realizing they were the targets.

Without considering their commonality, he acted impulsively. His sole desire was to eliminate Aneta. The fate of Serce and Tereza was irrelevant to him.

In the end, Erez used his powers of control, unaware that the Emperor was watching him. He intended to prevent anyone from protecting Aneta.

However, unexpected events kept unfolding.

Erez was shocked and furious to see that Aneta, who was supposed to have no powers, had ignored his power of control and manifested them.

As Erez gritted his teeth while glaring at Aneta, the shadow of death came upon him as well.

One of the assassins found him belatedly.

Blinded by jealousy, Erez was grabbed by the hair by a rough outstretched hand and yanked back violently.

The other nobles who had been in front of him had long since fled in panic at the approaching assassin.

“Argh!”

Unaware that the target was the owner of the glory, Erez screamed in horror when he saw that it was the assassin who had been using force against him.

It was at this critical moment that Erez made a fatal mistake.

The power of control was lifted by the intense fear felt by the owner.

As Erez’s screams echoed, the temporarily sealed abilities of other nobles returned. Russell, who had been observing everything from the podium, immediately sensed the change, and his eyes gleamed dangerously.

Russell, who had been watching everything from the podium, had come to grips with the whole situation, as well as the reason for Erez’s hidden abilities.

Meanwhile, the person who saved Erez, who was being held in the hands of the assassin, was a shadow dressed as a nobleman.

The shadow treated Erez with the attitude that he didn’t care if he was hurt or not, but Erez was able to be rescued unscathed thanks to his unhesitating response.

Russell, having achieved his goal and witnessed Aneta’s unexpected display of power, decided it was time to end the situation.

“Carlos, Louise. Withdraw the knights. I will handle the rest.”