The Cursed Princess: The Long Journey | Book 1 | Vol 1-8 | (Original Series)

Volume 4 Chapter 4: Missing Sea King?

Previously: He walked over to the jewellery stand and bought a ring with a ruby gem in the center. "Lana doesn't need the necklace anymore. I need to move on and get over the past. I have a promise to keep." He approached Rose with a slight shine in his lavender eyes. She turned around only to catch a glimpse of a small shine of happiness in his mesmerising eyes. "What's up, Vlad?" He held out the two pieces of jewellery with a neutral expression. "What's this?" She tilted her head to the side. "The entrance of the city has air bubbles but the rest of the city and the country doesn't. So I enchanted these things with special rune sigils. And today is your birthday." She lit up with happiness. "Awww, thanks for the Birthday gift!" He helped her put on the necklace. She put on the ring and then heard a faint sound of cheering in the distance. She looked into the direction of the sound and saw lights changing colors up ahead. A few blocks away from their current position. "What's that, Vlad?" He looked over where she was pointing and saw flashes of Lana pulling him into that direction on their first date. "It's the Coral Stadium. It's a place to earn money, special rewards and combat experience." She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the Arena stadium. He didn't move an inch. "Let's go check it out! I bet we will gain great information from the people. And I have a few things I want to try out!" He looked down at her longingly with a somber look in his eyes. "I'll be in your shadow if you need me. Let's see how strong you are against real opponents. I'll send my shadow echos out and gather information that way." She ran into the direction of the stadium as soon as he seeped into her shadow. "She's different. We are a team. We are a duo. She relies on me, vise versa. History isn't going to repeat. There will be another outcome as long as I keep it together."

Rose walked into the bubble barrier of water. Her first opponent was a Horned Rabbit. "They aren't normal, be careful." "How are they different, Vlad?" "They have cybernetic legs with multiple small nexus cores. Their fur is silver-grey because they are artificial and their glowing bright scarlet eyes are cybernetic engraved with time acceleration rune sigil. They can process things faster than the average Beastman and they might be able to…" She scoffed annoyed with his words. "Don't you have faith in your student? I've got this, just watch me." He sighed softly,"Right, give them hell." She clenched her right hand into a tight fist. "Right!" The announcer singled the fight to start.

In under a minute the rabbit leaped up into the air and got inches away from drop kicking Rose in the face. Rose's head was down but it slowly move alongside her body. She opened her mouth and blew out a thick bubble of air. It changed form into a ball and chain. It wrapped around the rabbit neck and slingshot his body backward. He stumbled backward trying to gasp for breath. Their cybernetic eyes widened at the sight of Rose zipping back and forth. She was fast, really fast. "All water is my under my control. My body is as fluid as the water I touch. I can travel through water so fast that it looks like I'm teleporting. I call this new magic "Mana Field" I can do it with my wind magic. Infact i've been using it already. What do you think, Vlad?" He was impressed with her creating her own type of magic but he's not that surprised. She's not from this world originally, her ideas don't seem crazy anymore. He chuckled in both of her ears as she inched closer to her opponent. "I've created a monster." "Aww thanks for the compliment. But you just enhanced an already existing monster into a devil." Rose created blades of water encased of spiraling wind from her air bubbles. She threw one into their left cybernetic eye. She drove the last blade into the rabbit right eye and straight through into their brain. But unfortunately for rose their brain was cybernetic as well. She was kicked in the gut just as the rabbit broke free from the wind chains. "Well that's not good." She stopped her from hitting the wall for the barrier charger with electricity. "It seems like I might have to use my sword." She reached up and grabbed her Azure sword hilt. But then she hear Vlad's voice telling her not to use it. She retracted her hand and stared down the enemy. "Rely on me." "What do you mean?" She looked at her left and saw a phantom limb made out of the Void element. "Vlad, what's happening!?" "I'm lending you a arm to use temporarily." "I didn't think you could do this, that's awesome!" "Enough fan girling, you have a fight to finish." She crouched down and covered her right hand in Zephyr. Which is her combo of wind vortex and cyclone of water. She dashed towards the rabbit and zoomed towards them. Even faster than before, Vlad's temporary burner arm was a sign of their close knitted bond. Rose wasn't fighting alone and had his full support. The rabbit leaped towards Rose and went to kick her in the heart but didn't even touch her. She made her body as fluid as water and avoided all the danger. She grabbed the rabbit face and crushed their skull like a tin can with Vlad's Void hand. She was declared the winner of her fight to the Death. She returned to the tunnel and was greeted by her next opponent. He was a Water Orc, a very rare sight to see these days. "You aren't half bad kid but I'm not scared of a little mystery. I'm going to crush your skull and claim your strength as my own. I hope you at least fight as I devour you." She glared daggers at him as he walked into the bubble barrier for his next fight.

Rose went to the cantina to get a drink and grub to refuel her energy tank. "What was that guy's deal?" "He's from the Water Orc Clan. They absorb the magical power of the living things they consume. They are usually a warrior-only clan full of fight junkies. They crave to fight tough opponents so they claim their physical and magical power for their own. They live underwater and have gils on their necks, shoulders, and sides. Some have traits of other sea folk since they take some of the physical traits of what they consume." "That's gross, Vlad I'd rather not be eaten today." "Don't you worry, I'll support you the best I can in the next fight. We use this fights to practice working in tangent with each other as one entity." "Sounds like a plan, I can't wait to discover more things we can do together in battle." She completed her food and rushed towards the bathroom before she fought again.

Vlad closed his eyes and released a small copy of himself to go and check out the castle's throne room before Rose's next match starts. His copy sneaked past the guards of the castle and when he arrived at the throne room. Shun was nowhere to be seen. Something was terribly wrong, where could he possibly be located? Ever since becoming a Condemned his connection to his old friends was severed. After he was no longer a human champion but a Vampire condemned. Vlad retrieved his other self and then got ready to assist Rose in combat. He was finally comfortable to call someone a companion. He didn't want this feeling to go away anytime soon.

Rose stepped into the Arena barrier and held up her two arms with a confident smirk across her face. She took a strong step forward as she said in her head,"Let's go, Vlad!" "Right!"

To be continued...