Vows and Bullets
Chapter 150 - 1st week of September (Part 4)

Chapter 150: 1st week of September (Part 4)

Please DON’T READ this Chapter yet. I will update this first week of September!

Good news! My hands have healed now and I’m catching up on writing my missed Chapters. My apologies for all the delays. I will replace this Chapter with the real one soon, don’t worry, and upload a new one for the next day. I really apologize once again.

In the meantime, please enjoy the continuation of the story below titled "The King’s Beloved". This is the revised version I am planning to submit for paperback publication. Hopefully, I get a chance someday.

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(Part 13 - Continuation...)

A loud dropping sound could be heard. She opened her eyes and thought, Is this the other side? The afterlife? Then, she saw a visage of a crying girl on top of her, hugging her tightly. She was saying something, but she couldn’t quite hear her.

"No, no, no... NO!" Azalea cried desperately. "What in the bloody hell were you thinking?!" The formal tone she used to speak with the king was no more.

Rania looked around. She realized she was lying on the floor of the balcony. Whatever happened, it seemed like her suicide attempt was stopped by Azalea. After observing her surroundings, she looked back at her.

"Why?" she asked with resentment so apparent in her voice. "Why did you stop me?!"

Azalea frowned and answered her furiously, "If you think that this is the best solution, then you are very wrong! Very—"

"If you didn’t stop me, I may as well be with Zeid right now!"

"Oh! So you lost a loved one, huh? Well, welcome to the club! You’re not the only one!" she argued back, with anger funneling in her heart. She breathed heavily. Inhale, exhale, her breath went on. "But this... This is not the solution! Tell me, how? How did he die?"

Rania was angered even more, "He—"

"He died protecting you, right?"

Rania flinched. Her body trembled. Lowering her eyes and gritting her teeth, she nodded.

"Then why?" Azalea continued. "Why are you throwing your life away? Why are you throwing the life he sacrificed himself for you? The life that caused his very own! Why?!"

And there was silence—too silent that only their heavy breaths could be heard.

Large droplets of tears started swelling up on the corner of Rania’s eyes once more until she ended up crying, wailing, and shouting in agony. The poor young woman was immensely broken. Her spirit was crushed so much to the point that it seemed impossible to be fixed.

Indeed, losing your beloved was such a terrible thing. Azalea stayed with her during this tough, tough time. She comforted her the best she could. But who could really comfort someone who’s lost their loved ones? Certainly, no one could satisfy. We could only leave it to time, for the heart to heal itself, for the mind to recover, and for the soul to be replenished.

A few weeks had passed since then. The invasion of Magi on Earth succeeded with an overwhelming victory. For who could even fight these monsters? No weapons, no soldiers, no tricks or strategies worked on them. Humanity tried really hard. Alliances between nations were formed but to no avail did they lose the war. In desperation, every nation had given out their most sinister secret of weapons and machinery in order to survive this tragedy and in the hope of somehow defeating these alien invaders—but all was naught.

Magi... They could set up an impenetrable barrier to protect themselves. In a flick of a finger, they could cast out fire, water, lightning, or start a storm. In a wave of a hand, they could swipe a whole army of hundreds of thousands into disarray. In a stomp of their feet, they could cause the grounds to tremor, shake the earth, break the very grounds we walk in, burying people alive. They could fly freely in the air with just their bodies and target people from above. It was like trying to fight Superman—a bunch of them. Or if Superman was not enough, then the whole gang of Justice League, only this time, they didn’t fight for justice but chaos instead—Chaos League. Or worse, someone stronger than them. They were all really powerful to the point that even the word powerful was an understatement.

Nefastus didn’t threaten for nothing. It was all as she said.

"You can try to fight us, but I assure you, none of you is a match even to the weakest of us."

What more of their king? What more of their most supreme ruler? What kind of terrible power could he possess? Certainly, something way stronger that maybe even our fickle minds would never be able to fathom. Truly, how doomed they were! Was this the end of the world? Of the planet? Was there really no hope for the human race?

Meanwhile, as the world fought its war, the women in the inner courts of the Magi’s palace also fought theirs—the poor young women who had been captured by the enemy to be a slave to their king and an instrument for his own pleasure.

On the very next day after their capture, they were taught of the knowledge, culture, and etiquettes of the Magi race—training them to act their way, think their way, and live their way. Due to this, some of the captured maidens were swayed by their teachings, forgetting they were humans instead of Magi. Some followed due to fear, while others simply went with the flow. But most of them started to be comfortable living in their little castles since they were not particularly treated badly. Yes, you’d be surprised they were actually treated very well since they were all candidates to be one of the consorts of their king, and one of them might even be chosen as his queen.

After being reduced to a hundred, five Elite Magi were assigned to lead the maidens into becoming the most suited wife of the king. Each of the Elite Magi or House Leaders, as what they called themselves, was given twenty beautiful women to manage and a palace where they would live with the maidens they would groom.