A transparent shield instantly materialized in front of her, a crude attempt to block Henry's fierce lightning attack.
Flash!
Boom!
The golden lightning bolt easily pierced through the transparent shield, but it gave the woman enough time to fly out of the way, though she was still a second late as the lightning bolt struck her on the shoulder instead.
"Aaahhh!" Her scream reverberated across the ballroom, gathering everyone's attention aside from those who were under her control.
When she recovered, she glared at Henry, if they could kill, he would've died long ago, "How dare you!"
Ignoring her, Henry was still relishing the fact that he managed to replicate a magic spell just by seeing it a few times.
'Is this what Kakashi felt like whenever he copies a jutsu in a single glance? I'm feeling a bit giddy.' He murmured under his breath while playing with a ball of lightning that he kept tossing between his two hands back and forth. Two more lightning balls joined in and he was now juggling three like he was performing in a circus.
Meanwhile, the red witch could only grit her teeth out of jealousy. It's already clear to her that their intel regarding Henry's heavenly talent was extremely underestimated.
'Why him!? Of all the people in this world. Why was he blessed with that kind of talent!? It should've been me!'
Perhaps it was the seething anger that was escaping her mind, but the red witch came to a decision that would permanently doom her and the people behind her.
She turned her attention to his father, still fighting his royal knights with the flat side of his sword.
"Let's see if your talent can save someone dear to you!" Lightning crackled between her fingers with something else mixed in, something dark that flared Henry's senses.
'That's not a normal lightning spell.' The realization in his mind was quick. He instantly tossed the three lightning balls he'd been juggling towards the red witch to intercept her.
But her attack was faster than he expected. What he had assumed to be under his control was slipping right in front of his eyes; his confidence was fading as the red lightning, with black particles surrounding it, traveled through the air faster than even his sharp, enhanced eyes could see.
Don't even mention Maximus. The king was in the middle of blocking one of the royal knight's swords when all of a sudden, the familiar sense of pain and loss pierced his chest.
And then, everything froze. Henry froze, Ariel froze, and so did Elsa and the seized minor god of the sea.
Everyone stared as the King of Lioncrest dropped his sword, eyes wide and staring directly at Henry's as his knees buckled out and he fell on the floor.
There was a sound of clang when the sword finally hit the ground that served as a wake-up call to Henry.
"FATHERRRR!"
His eyes turned red from the various emotions flashing through him.
The other two red witches seemed to have realized the gravity of the situation as one of them cursed under her breath, "Fool!"
The other red witch raised her head at the ceiling, or rather at the sky beyond it, "Lady Morgan! Take us out of here!"
There was a sound of thunder in the sky as Henry made his move. One moment he was floating aimlessly in the sky and the next second there was a blur, and his sword, Sunshine, was already within a single inch of the neck of the red witch who attacked his father.
A thin line of red had already formed on the side of her neck, where Sunshine was on the verge of decapitating her.
And then, there was a flash of light. It was bright, almost blinding everyone in the room, all except Henry who refused to close his eyes.
He could see his sword was already midway on the woman's throat, just a few more and her head would come flying, but before that could happen, she disappeared in a flash of light.
So were the other two red witches who had been holding King Triton captive. The golden rope around his muscular arms disappeared in golden motes of light.
Henry didn't stop there. He dropped his sword and descended on the ground, approaching his father's lifeless body with hesitation, as if he was hoping that the entire scene was not real and was just a nightmare.
But when his corpse was closer to him, he felt his knees weaken as he came to kneel on the ground. Tears were dripping down his eyes.
He nudged his father's body with his hand, "Father wake up…Don't do this…" He sobbed, bowing his head down in shame, for failing to protect his father, for not ending the fight sooner when he could've done so once he went all out.
"No no no no…" He clenched his fists. This shouldn't have happened. Not today, not on the day of his birthday.
While he mourned, the previously mind-controlled individuals finally regained their consciousness. Now that the culprit behind their control was gone, the control over their body was back.
At first, there was confusion, scanning the room with their eyes but when they settled on the familiar body on the floor along with Henry's sobbing, everything clicked in their minds.
"Is that his Majesty?"
"Is the King dead?"
"The King is dead!?"
"Lioncrest King is dead!"
"Who could've done this!?"
The King is dead, murdered even, the large gaping hole on his chest was enough for a few to get a gist of what happened.
At the same time, the doors were barged open, Olivia came striding back in, Rapunzel and a few officials and knights following behind them.
As soon as Olivia laid her eyes upon the corpse of her husband, she fell on the ground in shock, eyes wide and hands covering her mouth.
"M-Max…"
Seeing the Queen broken down like this, every guest knew what would happen next. They all silently left the room, trying their best to hide their presence just so they wouldn't be accidentally blamed as an accomplice to what just transpired.
"I-I'll see if I can try some—" Rapunzel stepped forward and was unraveling her long hair when she was interrupted.
"Your powers aren't enough to bring the dead back to life."
A familiar voice sounded from the doorway entrance of the ballroom.
Henry didn't need to raise his head or look behind him to see who it was. With a growl, he lashed out by sending a crescent wave of blue flames towards the source of the sound.
Master Elias seemed to have expected this, using his staff, he dispersed the flames into tiny motes of flame that disappeared soon after.
"I can understand your anger, Bo—"
Henry snapped, he stood up and faced his master, "Out of all the futures you could've seen! YOU NEVER SAW THIS?!"
Master Elias was silent, lamenting over the fact that he indeed failed his student and not just him, but also the entire Kingdom who trusted him to handle matters like this.
"Henry…You're not the only one who lost something today."
When he spoke those words, Henry was confused at first. That is until he lowered his gaze and what he saw shocked him.
"…Where is…your arm?"
Master Elias was missing a left arm, guessing by the ripped sleeve and soaked with dripping blood, it didn't take a genius to realize what he experienced.
"I was caught in a trap I never foresaw."
———
{A few hours earlier}
Elias left the Kingdom by teleporting into one of his teleportation arrays. Instantly bringing him nearly half across the continent.
Yesterday morning, he received a good but grave news at the same time. Medea, one of the Coven's most notorious and ambitious members were spotted by one of his sparrows.
She was in a secluded village, covered in mists and heavy clouds, a well-known spell of hers whenever she tried to hide her presence, this certain fact is what gave her away to Elias.
Not to mention, there have been certain rumors from passing merchants that they would hear screams in the village every night, whereas when they tried to ask around, the villagers, even the chief of the village would answer as if they had no idea what they were talking about.
"Medea, one of the top witches of the Coven. I have a feeling we'll meet this time." Elias rubbed his long white beard as he finally arrived at the outskirts of the village with his horse.
At first glance, the village seemed to be normal. Aside from the mists and the dark clouds in the sky, the village was operating like other similar villages.
Guards were patrolling around, two were guarding the gate. Their outfit consisted of leather armor and a spear with a wooden shaft.
Their wooden walls, or rather their thick fences were crude but enough to fend off wolves and the like.
Beyond those walls were the villagers. Fathers and mothers were running around, some were doing their chores such as carrying buckets of water and baskets of fruits and vegetables while children were chasing one another and playing around.
If Elias didn't know better, he might've mistaken the village for a simple one.
After disguising himself with magic, Elias entered the village with ease. Unlike Kingdoms and towns where identity papers were required to be submitted, small villages like these are not like that.
Just pay a small fee to the guards and they'll welcome you in with open arms.
The moment he entered the village's premises, he immediately stopped in his place. Nausea quickly assaulted him as the realization settled in.
Every single villager around him possessed a definite amount of magic within them, almost par with some apprentice wizards.
'What's going on? Is the entire village made up of apprentice magicians?' Elias's furrowed his eyebrows.
Deciding to continue to investigate, Elias was about to roam around the village, perhaps ask some of the villagers about the state of their village when something eerie finally happened.
Every single person around him instantly stopped. It's as if they were a bunch of puppets whose strings were cut.
He spun around, searching for any other anomalies in his surroundings but found nothing. That is until a voice called out to him from the sky above him.
"Took you long enough, old man."
It was a voice he was certainly familiar with.
"Medea, my dear. Look at you, still a beauty. Now now, is that how you greet the elderly? Come down here and let's have a civilized conversation." Elias raised his head and there she was, Medea, in her full glory.
Floating in the sky was an old woman with auburn hair, tiny bits of white strands were mixed in, indicating her old age. She was holding a wooden staff with a snake coiling around its shaft until the head served as the tip of the staff. She was wearing a purple cloak that covered her entire body.
"You never truly learned your lesson, you senile old man. Still seeing yourself better than the others."
Elias rubbed his bearded chin, "Did I? Or was it you who only think so? Honestly, I'm grateful for the compliment."
Medea scoffed, "You even kept your humor. Congratulations, you'll be my first victim to die with a smile on his face."
"The only thing that will put a smile on my face is if you show me your brea—"
Boom!
"I'll shut that perverted mouth of yours for good!"
Elias waved his hand, dispersing the dark cloud of smoke around him. When he looked around, he realized that he was now standing in the middle of a crater.
Thankfully, his passive shield was able to protect him from the surprise attack.
"I wasn't finished. I was about to say: Breathing Exercise hehehe~"