"HEALERS!" Both Andrew and King Bredia screamed as loud as they could.
"Move" suddenly a melodious voice sounded through the battle stage.
The Royal guards immediately tensed up looking at the hooded figure slowly descending from the sky.
In the mid-air, the figure removed the cloak to reveal her angelic face. Looking at the face in the giant mirrors, hundreds of gasps sounded in the arena.
"Lailah Alden" Ashton's brows raised up. After landing on the battle stage, she walked towards the princess.
"STOP!'' However, the Royal guards shouted at her to stop. They didn't know who this woman was. They perceived her as a threat to the king.
In a blink of an eye, a majestically crafted veena materialized in her hand.
Ding!
Her rosy slender finger played one string as a powerful sonic wave hit the Royal guards. The Royal guards flung away from the battle stage as though they were hit by a powerful storm. The wave only targeted the Royal guards, hence, the others remained on the battle stage.
"Who are you?!" King Bredia asked with a shivering voice,
"Lady Alden" Andrew shouted as a mix of relief and joy hit his core. He heard Noah talk about Lailah's healing powers.
"GUARDS!" King Bredia's mind went black seeing the purplish body of his daughter. He didn't want anyone else to harm his daughter. He was acting crazy in others' eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, King Bredia. You asked for healers and she's the best'' Ashton finally opened his mouth,
"The wielder of Angel's veena, Lailah Alden" King Bredia felt a chill running through his spine. He had heard about the Legend of Lailah Alden but never thought he would see her in real life.
Finally, a small sliver of hope emerged in his heart. Ignoring all the shocked faces, Lailah walked straight towards She knelt on one knee beside Katherine. The Princess's rosy smooth skin had completely turned purplish. Her body wasn't twitching as it was a few moments before.
Lailah placed her hand on Katherine's forehead and closed her eyes,
"Please… please save her" Andrew mumbled while sobbing like a little child.
"This whole this is too stupid, overdramatic, and illogical" Michael thought inside,
It was not as he would have married her on the spot. He had everything figured out. He would have rejected the king's offer to marry the princess and then, the king would have been forced to either postpone Katherine's wedding or choose Andrew, the second finalist as the groom. It would have worked out if it wasn't for Andrew and his group's little idiotic scheme.
While Michael was thinking how stupid they were, Lailah opened her eyes.
"She took one of the deadliest poisons in this world, the venom of a five-headed serpent" Lailah sighed,
"That's problematic" The King and Andrew's turned their gazes towards Ashton to see him also sighing.
"Problematic is too weak a word, she's at the death's door"
"No shit" Michael chuckled inside but as she heard his mind voice, she gave him a death stare. Michael just winked at her as she quickly turned her gaze away from him.
"You…you…can save…her right?" Andrew's voice was breaking up in overwhelming sadness. He could barely utter these words through the lumped throat.
"She took the venom of the female five-headed serpent. I can keep the poison from killing her for an hour maximum. If you want to save her, you need to find a male five-headed serpent, get its venom, make an antidote and give it to her. All within the hour of time"
"Guards!" the king shouted for the royal guards. They still couldn't pick themselves from the ground or fight the dizziness after being hit by Lailah.
"Take everything you need and bring me a male five-headed serpent!" the king shouted the order,
"It's not that simple King Bredia '' Calvin shook his head. He didn't feel pity but pretended to be sad. Michael could see through Calvin's facade. Calvin might have put on a grieving face, inside, he couldn't care less about what happened to the princess.
"Five-headed serpent is a rare creature which can only be found in the deepest pits of the Fire Realm. Even if someone goes the Fire Realm within an hour by some luck, finding it and killing it within an hour is impossible"
Just as King Bredia would shout at Calvin for being negative, Ashton also sighed,
"He is right. It's impossible"
"I don't care if I have to send an entire Bredian army to the Fire realm. I will not let my daughter die here" King Bredia held Katherine's close to his chest,
"Even if you find everything in an hour, brewing the antidote would take longer than an hour," Lailah said. Andrew and King Bredia felt their hopes die within them when they heard Lailah. She was the best healer in the world yet even she didn't seem like she could save Katherine.
"No no no…Katherine…you can't leave me…you all I have left in this world" the King cried. Many commoners couldn't help shedding tears looking at the scene. It was a tragedy and everyone felt sad.
"Unless you have me"
Suddenly they heard Ghost's voice as everyone turned to look at him.
Michael smiled, flicking his wrist as a chair appeared on the battle stage before him. He sat on the chair backward and looked at the king, Andrew, Lailah, and the Winstons.
Sitting in front of the king without asking his permission was a crime in Bredia. It was a sign of disrespect towards the king. Thus, the king could imprison Ghost if he wanted to.
However, Michael knew when to back off and when to show his claws. The king would do anything for his daughter. At this moment, Bredia wasn't the king, it was Ghost.
"How far will you go to save your daughter, your majesty?" He asked the king with a smile,
"What do you mean?" the king was confused,
"Let me rephrase my question" Sitting on the chair, he flicked his west once again. The very next moment, a glistening silver vial appeared in his hand. Looking at the vial, Lailah opened her mouth, decided not to speak anything, and closed her mouth. A long time ago, Ethan and Diana found a five-headed serpent poison antidote in a ruin. They could tell that the vial in their son's hand is several times purer than the antidote they saw. There was no doubt in their minds that the vial in Ghost's hand could save the princess's life. If it was Noah, they knew he would have given the vial no matter how priceless it was to the princess to save her life. GHost's smile on his face made them doubt he would give the vial without getting something in return.
"What price would you pay for this? The antidote that can save your daughter's life"
"That's…how…what…" The king mumbled as Andrew stared at the antidote without batting an eye. He was speechless.
"Wow, that's really the antidote" Calvin's words brought King Bredia out of his confused state. Once again, the light of hope emerged in everyone's heart.
"Give me that!" The king reached his hand out,
"Tsk tsk tsk" Michael shook his head,
"Are you telling me that the princess's life is worth nothing?"
"GUARDS!" The king's fury exploded within him. He shivered as he called for the royal guards. This time, they were only a few meters away from the battle stage.
Suddenly the vial cracked in Ghost's hands. The King and Andrew's hearts skipped a beat seeing the cracks forming in the vial. With a little bit more pressure, they knew the vial would crumble into pieces.
"NO!" Andrew shouted.
"I will give you everything…please…give her the antidote"
"Shut up Andrew. You have nothing to give me. This is between me and his majesty"
Lailah didn't even try to talk to GHost. However, her heart was aching to see how heartless he was.
"He can't be my child's father," Lailah said to herself. The hopes of changing him into a better person slowly began to die inside her. Despite what he did to her, she wanted to give him a chance for the sake of her child. She knew how hard it would be for a child to grow without both parents. She didn't want her child to feel that pain but it seemed like her child would be better off without Ghost as the father.
Michael knew nothing about what was going on inside Lailah's mind. His gaze was on the king.
"How could you play with your daughter's life again, your majesty? You know this vial is so delicate. What if it got destroyed when your royal guards come running to me with their heavy armor"
"What..do…you want?" King asked, gritting his teeth. Although he was burning with anger, he knew that his daughter's life was more important than his anger. The king was willing to pay any price to save his daughter.
"You…she's dying" Emelda couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore,
"You're holding her life as a bargaining chip. How..how" She began to stutter in anger,
"Could you be so…so… heartless?"
"Me heartless?" Michael tilted his head,
"Just a few minutes ago, Her Royal Highness tried to kill me. You all heard what she said to me. Still, I'm willing to give the antidote to her instead of keeping the antidote a secret, I almost died getting this. And you're calling me heartless"
The entire arena knew he was holding the princess's life as a hostage. No one in the right mind would believe he's not a cold heartless bastard. Yet he talked like a kind generous person. Many people were looking at him with their mouths wide open.
"Your Majesty, I only want you to keep your word. I want what's rightfully mine and a few other things. I don't want to make the princess's life cheap, it's not fair" Michael was having fun with the king. He couldn't care less about what others would think about him. The Princess tried to kill him, the king stood there watching Katherine spew hurtful things, Andrew tried to take away what should have been his. Michael wanted everyone to pay the price.
"Throne doesn't make you a king, power does' ' Michael snickered inside, looking at the helpless desperate king in front of him.
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Any idea what Michael would ask from the king?
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