A note from NakoNarrator
Sorry this chapter is very short I just had quite week not that anyone anyway I am sorry
The host gestured to the purple-haired girl. His fingers snapped—
Victor frowned as the host interrupted him, then vanished.
The host reappeared in the middle of the tavern. The purple-haired girl materialized on stage.
Right in front of a confused Victor.
The tape peeled away from her mouth.
She glared at him. Victor's eyes narrowed into daggers aimed back at her.
If stares could kill, both of them would be dead.
Two spotlights appeared—one focused on the host, the other splitting between the two guests on stage.
"What are you doing?" Victor's voice boomed across the tavern, head snapping toward the host.
"You said it yourself, dear guest." The host clapped, the sound dismissing Victor's objection like smoke. He danced dramatically between the guests, pulling a flute from thin air. When he played, the sound swelled impossibly—an entire band's worth of dramatic music flooding the room.
"Oh please, don't let me interrupt. There's so much more who haven't taken the stage, and so much to tell!" Even as he removed the flute from his lips, the music continued somehow, hanging in the air.
He signaled for them to continue. The gesture was like a spark to firewood—forcing words out of them like a fire that couldn't be stopped.
Nicole didn't wait for Victor. She started talking.
Victor frowned but didn't put up a fight.
Years ago...
"It was inside one of the city's underground science labs. I was working on projects to help force solutions to the amethyst issues before the people inside it decided to settle things through less intelligent means."
Nicole glared at Victor, who was smiling with what she could only describe as gratitude—mocking, infuriating gratitude.
"But instead of solutions, all I got was a burned lab and an uncontrollable demigod with his weapon—who cost years in collateral damage."
"So many years of work, and all I have to show is this."
An impossible cube materialized above her palm. Its shapes shifted constantly—angles and diameter morphing, as if trying to reach a new dimension between possible and impossible. It floated, radiating magical energy that rivaled the crown hovering above Victor's head.
"God-like power being given out like a lottery." Her head tilted back, staring at the ceiling. "And to think I thought it wasn't bad at the start."
She wondered why she was even talking as she looked at the smiling host, who was creating music unnaturally through a pipe for dramatic effect.
"You only thought that because you assumed I was a side effect and you got what you wanted—the magical energy on the island and your barrier stronger than before." Victor leaned back, amusement dancing across his face as the spotlight paid him a visit. "It ain't my fault you had terrible foresight and that inferiority complex of yours."
The tavern didn't intervene.
"Says the opportunistic backstabber." Her words came out sharp, venomous. "You disgusting snake. And you're one to talk about inferiority complex, aren't you? Last royal in your family."
Victor's smile flattened. His jaw clenched. The amusement drained from his face, replaced by a deepening frown.
She stopped. Her hand flew to her mouth, eyes widening in mock shock. Then she corrected herself, each word deliberate.
"Sorry, I meant weren't. Even people as smart as me can make mistakes, right?"
Victor's frown became a glare—sharp, burning.
She matched it with one of her own, leaning forward.