In the Lioncrest Kingdom, unrest was brewing. Rumors were flying that the first Prince, Henry Charming, was dead.
No one confirmed these uprising rumors, the royal family simply stayed silent about it despite the questions.
In the throne room, King Maximus is sitting on his throne, calmly listening to the reports of the knight in front of him.
"….We still have no clue where this rumor originated from. We have double-checked and even triple-checked the First Prince's crew and they're all clean and silent. It also couldn't be Liam and his Retinue as they've already departed the day they arrived."
Finishing the report, silence ensued across the throne room, King Maximus' cold stare and posture could make almost anyone piss their pants in fear.
"Deny these rumors. Tell them that the Prince is still very much on a long voyage. We will keep this news to ourselves until we confirm what really happened." Once the order was delivered, the reporting knight did a salute and left the throne room.
Now the only ones left were the King and Queen along with the two princes and a Princess.
Out of the three siblings, only Samantha was staring at her own nails with extreme boredom. Clearly not interested in the matter of her older brother's supposed death which she definitely has no knowledge about.
On the other hand, Timothy and Alexander were frowning. King Maximus was just coldly staring at the air while the Queen, who had been the most anxious and agitated these past few days looked calm.
"Something's wrong…" Timothy murmured to himself, his brows creasing more and more as time passed. Beside him, Alexander was just smirking, he didn't care about anything else.
He plans to let Timothy worry about such minor things while he focuses on converting most of Henry's noble allies to his side. As for the Grand Duke, even though it'll be hard to convince the old man, nothing in this world stays impossible forever.
Sooner or later, that man will have no choice but to accept Henry's death and find another Prince to support.
'But it won't be enough. Master Elias's support is a must. If I can't have his support, either I take him out of the board…or I find someone better to replace him.' Alexander's eyes gleamed in ambition. He finds the latter much better and easier.
'Looks like I'll be following my older brother on a voyage. Surely, there are many other wizards out there willing to become a Kingdom's personal Court Magician, right?'
While Alexander's mind was churning with plans, Timothy was different. He's formulating ways to truly maximize the effect of Henry's death and to make sure there will be no loose ends. Obviously, he's the one who spread the rumors through various channels and people, making sure it won't be traced back to him.
He doesn't care about Alexander's plans. In Timothy's mind, his brother is an idiot and barely even graduated from the Academy and if it wasn't for his identity as the Kingdom's second Prince, he would've failed and repeated.
As for Samantha, as long as she remains neutral and uninterested in the throne, Timothy will spare her. The only problem he might encounter around is Lily, the youngest of the siblings, who might cause a lot of trouble considering how close she is to both the King and the Queen themselves.
Not to mention, Henry's fondness with the little girl made her more popular and adored by the Lioncrest citizens.
Perhaps his only problem right now is the reaction of his father and his Queen. Especially the latter, she's not supposed to be calm and collected. Timothy wants her to spiral out of control, to go crazy over her son's death, and ruin her reputation.
Only through that way would Timothy have one less problem down the road. But if it's not gonna work, he might as well take matters into his own hands.
'It doesn't matter. With my intelligence and wits, no one in this Kingdom is my match. Sooner or later, that throne will be mine and none will be able to stop me.' Timothy's eyes gleamed in fiery determination.
———
In the middle of a forest, two horses were galloping forward, the one in the front was the dark horse while the white one was following closely behind.
On the saddles were obviously Henry and Elsa, both wearing hoods and trying to act inconspicuously.
Right just above them was surprisingly Too-Too the owl. Before leaving, Henry asked for a favor to have Too-Too follow them to their destination, just so Henry would be able to deliver letters to Anna and Kai while receiving letters from Polynesia.
It didn't take long before they halted in place, the horses skidding on the ground to a stop. After hours of constant riding without rest, they finally arrived at an earthly place—stone grounds, jagged rocks, and boulders, and finally, no sign of greenery for at least 10 kilometers in radius.
Henry scanned their surroundings and uttered, "This should be a good place, what do you think?" He turned to Elsa and saw her doing the same.
She was startled at first by the sudden question before replying with a nod, "It's good I guess. It's spacious and doesn't have any trees."
Henry agreed with her. That's exactly why he chose this place. Of course, there's another but hidden reason behind it, however he won't be telling her about it for now.
"You remember the place, Too-Too?" Henry raised his hand and called for the flying owl in the sky which dove and perched on his forearm.
The owl sighed heavily, "Polynesia should be doing this, not me. But yes, I memorized the directions. I'll deliver letters for you from time to time." With that being said, Henry watched him fly away.
After securing their horses by tying their reins on iron tacks Henry hammered on the ground, they approached the center clearing. Henry spread his arms wide and took a deep breath.
"You gotta love nature for her beauty, don't you think?"
Elsa seemed hesitant about what to say at first, eventually settling in with a nod of her head.
Henry noticed this and continued, "That's why you gotta love your powers, Elsa. Don't fear them. Magic is part of nature and nature is part of magic. One cannot exist without the other."
"Let's do this then. Show me what you've got. Just make sure not to overdo it." Henry confidently challenged her, hoping it would help her overcome the fear of using her powers.
"I-I think we should rest for a while." Her attempt was simply met with Henry's deadpan. He knows she's trying to escape her fate and that's not why they came here.
"Look, Elsa. I understand you're having second thoughts now. That's normal when you're already in front of something that you've long decided on. But you gotta get through this or do you want to stay locked in that room forever? Live a life with constant fear of losing control?" As he approached, her anxiety became palpable, and her eyes were darting around.
"Kai and Gerda won't live forever to take care of your needs. Anna's patience is the same, sooner or later her curiosity will lead to unpredictable outcomes." Seeing how she shifts her body uncomfortably, Henry decided to strike while the iron is hot, "The more you delay, the more inevitable it becomes."
She then closed her eyes, steadying her breathing before opening them back up, this time it's filled with resolve, "Alright. Let's do it. I'm done concealing them."
A grin creeps up to Henry's face, "Now that's what I'm talking about."
Taking distance from her, both Henry and Elsa prepared for what was about to come.
Henry cast several fireballs all around him, counting up to almost 15 in quantity. Of course, the quality is not far behind, they're larger than before and also brighter—an indication to its high levels of heat.
"Your move," Henry called out.
Elsa took a deep breath before stretching her arms forward, her focus turned deep and she tried to imagine the ice forming and releasing from her fingertips. Just like how she used to when she was a child.
"Don't conceal it. Go feel it." She murmured under her breath, a deep contrast to what she used to utter before all this.
Just then, something churned inside her and before she knew it, when she opened her eyes—the area in front of her was blasted into icy smithereens. With the only exception being Henry who stayed warm and hot.
There was a small drop of sweat on his forehead that he discreetly wiped before Elsa could notice, "That's a good start. Just like that. Blast me more, Elsa!"
With his encouragement, Elsa failed to realize the smile on her face as more icy blasts came surging out of her fingertips. This time, they were colder, faster and the blast radius was wider than before.
Henry watched this with wide eyes and he immediately threw two fireballs forward, a curious gaze sweeping over the said fireballs as he thought to himself, 'Combining the two should make it stronger, right?'
This is a good place and situation to test that theory, so while mid-air, the two fireballs suddenly coalesced perfectly, forming a bigger fireball almost the size of a carriage.
And when it hit the ground in front of the icy blast, it became some sort of invisible barrier that halted Elsa's attack in place. The explosion radius was something he wasn't expecting.
The entire vicinity of where it landed surprisingly spread and formed a deep scorch on the ground, almost pushing the stone ground to its melting point. Maybe it could've done so if it weren't for the ice-cold blast.
The entire thing surprised not just Elsa but even Henry himself. He wasn't expecting such firepower just by combining two fireballs into one. There are so many factors to consider when it comes to it and yet, the result defied his expectations.
In the end, he decided to chalk it up as something that only magic could do.
"More?" This time, it was Elsa who asked. A familiar snow pattern floats on the top of her palm. Looks like releasing so much ice inside her made it less chaotic to control.
Unfortunately for her, her potential exceeds just blasting everything to ice. She can create life, large structures, and even cast an eternal curse on a place that will forever be drowned in a winter storm.
Henry simply responded with a smirk and three Flame Rings spinning around him like a disk.
———
For the next few hours, the terrain became a turf of elemental chaos. Their battle turned it into an art like a song of ice and fire.
Both Henry and Elsa were breathing heavily. For every breath Elsa exhales, a mist is released from her mouth. On the other hand, Henry is drowning in his own sweat, he had already taken his shirt off, showing his chiseled abs and muscles, all coated in a sheen of sweat.
For some reason, Elsa couldn't dart her eyes away from it. Perhaps that's the reason why she just lost. She's too distracted trying to divert her eyes away from his naked upper body.
Could you blame her? This is her first time seeing a man's body, not to mention a body that looked like it was personally crafted and forged by the gods themselves.
If Henry were to know her thoughts, he would just blame his talents for making his muscles perfectly aligned in both shape and place. Putting his trained body leagues above the others.
"Continue?" Henry asked, trying to act tough and not to look like he was out of mental energy even though he truly is.
Fortunately for him, Elsa conceded, "I give up. I don't think I should push myself any longer."
'Finally! We've been at it for hours and she keeps getting better at her ice powers.' Henry mentally wiped off his sweat.
"Let's get some rest. Thankfully, Kai packed enough food for us to last an entire week."
As they grabbed their bags from the back of the horses, Henry couldn't help but mentally reflect on their fight.
Fighting someone is truly the best way to improve compared to training by himself. Can you believe it, he managed to learn two new fire-based spells mid-battle. He's not sure if it's just his talent acting up or because he's feeling pressure when fighting Elsa.
Nevertheless, his two new spells would be a huge help against his opponents. The first spell is a large-scale one, with the help of using Madara from Naruto as a reference.
He named it Flame Tsunami, which basically works like Madara's Great Fire Annihilation. His Flame Tsunami spell works by unleashing flames in a fan-shaped spread, consuming everything in its path in a sea of flames.
The last spell is a mix of survival and movement based spell. By unleashing a torrent of flames from his foot soles, he's able to use them to propel himself in a certain direction with crazy speed. Though flying with it is impossible for now.
He came up with it midway through the battle when he needed to dodge an icy blast before it could swallow him whole and turn him into a popsicle.
'All in all, a single battle with Elsa earned me a good haul of new spells and experience.'
If Henry keeps this up, he might as well earn the title of the Great Fire Magician.
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[Happy New Year, everyone!]