Exiled Prince: I'm the Unexpected Extra in the Novel-Chapter 156: The Clash of Princes [6]

The War for The North [44]

Chapter 156: The Moment Balance Shattered

Cassian looked down at Seralya lying amidst the ash and smoke.

Her divine stance and mask of untouchability had been shattered to pieces by the exhausted punch that landed squarely on her face.

Seralya was in shock.

She slowly raised her trembling hand to her face. Her eyes widened in horror when her fingertips grazed the tip of her nose and touched the warm and wet liquid.

She pulled her hand back to stare at the dark red divine blood smeared across her fingers.

It was her own blood. The blood shed by a mortal, by an anomaly.

For a few seconds even time itself seemed to hold its breath. The silence inside the crater was disturbing.

And then that silence shattered.

A piercing scream that froze the soul and rattled the bones tore from Seralya’s lips. Her previously thin, melodic, and graceful tone had given way to a completely primitive, savage, and uncontrolled cry.

"YOU BROKE THE BALANCE!"

Seralya’s scream spread like a physical wave. At that moment colors drained from the world. The crimson of the burning fires, the red of the blood on the ground, the grey of the ashes. All were erased.

The entire world took on a sharp black and white contrast. The wind fell silent and dust particles suspended in the air froze in place.

Time had bowed to Seralya’s will.

The woman rose from where she sat like a ghost, moving with a fluidity that defied gravity.

The veil on her face fluttered slightly but did not fall. In this frozen time, she appeared to be the only being capable of movement.

Cassian remained frozen with his muscles tense and a savage grin plastered on his face. He was no different from a statue.

Seralya walked toward him with slow steps. Each step created silent spiritual ripples on the floor of the black and white world.

She raised her right hand into the air. A pure white dagger, seemingly carved from light itself, materialized in her palm.

It had no hilt and no ornaments. It possessed a simple appearance. The divine aura it emitted was the brightest thing in this colorless world.

She stopped directly in front of the frozen Cassian. The distance between them was mere inches.

Seralya raised the dagger but paused before striking. She looked into Cassian’s eyes. At that moment she noticed a chilling detail.

In this black and white world where everything had lost its color, Cassian’s eyes still retained their blood curdling redness. Two ruby spheres looked back at her with a vibrant, savage, and mocking glint even within the frozen time.

Her white eyes were faintly visible beneath Seralya’s blood soaked veil. A shiver ran through her but she suppressed it.

She aimed the dagger at Cassian’s ribcage, directly over his heart.

"I wish..." she said in a whispered, sorrowful tone. Her voice did not echo in this frozen void. "I wish we did not have to be enemies, Prince of Nothingness."

A single tear slid from beneath the veil, flowed down her colorless cheek, and fell into the void.

She brought the dagger down with merciless precision.

However, the metal did not bury itself into flesh.

"SNAP!"

The dagger remained suspended in the air, millimeters from Cassian’s chest. A hand had gripped Seralya’s wrist like a vise.

Seralya’s eyes widened in horror. When she looked up, she saw that Cassian, who should have been frozen, had tilted his head slightly and was looking at her with that sickly smile.

"I understand, I understand..." Cassian said. His voice was like noise pollution in this silent world. "So you use an ability similar to the Black Knight."

Cassian squeezed the woman’s wrist tighter. The sound of Seralya’s bones cracking echoed.

"Impressive," Cassian continued as if examining a work of art.

"But why are you crying?"

"Ahh. Each of you is stranger than the last. First that silver haired bastard kills me while weeping, then that fiery dwarf goes mad with laughter, and now you. You veiled whore."

The expression on Cassian’s face shifted into a madness mixed with pure disgust and confusion.

"I cannot understand any of you!"

Seralya tried to pull back in panic but Cassian would not let go.

"How?!" the woman screamed. "The balance is broken! You should not be able to move!"

Cassian’s red eyes narrowed. He tilted his head slightly in a mocking manner.

"Balance?"

Suddenly, with a savage movement, he twisted Seralya’s wrist and pulled.

"CRACK!"

The sound of tearing flesh ripped through the silence of the black and white world. Seralya’s hand separated from her wrist and remained in Cassian’s palm. Instead of blood, a beam of white light spurred from her wound.

Cassian tossed the severed hand aside with disgust.

However, at that same moment, Cassian’s own right arm, the one that had torn off Seralya’s hand, began to turn into grey dust starting from the shoulder.

His bones, muscles, and skin scattered and vanished like grains of sand blowing in the wind.

Seralya staggered backward clutching her severed wrist. Her eyes were fixed on Cassian’s vanishing arm.

Cassian looked calmly at the empty space where his shoulder had been and at the pile of dust. There was no sign of pain or fear on his face. Only a bored expression.

"You do not need to be so surprised," he said, shrugging.

"It is just that the laws of this world are not very valid for me. Well, at least partially."

A black, sticky liquid began to move within the void of his shoulder.

"You might think I am full of surprises thanks to a crazy doctor!" Cassian said and laughed.

"When he grafted demon horns onto my bones it hurt incredibly."

"That stupid doctor would not even use painkillers."

The black liquid foamed and took shape. Bones, muscle fibers, and nerves were all being rewoven at a visible and nauseating speed.

"I could barely sleep for a few days. I could not even move. I harbor a deep hatred for him because of that," Cassian said as he raised his almost fully formed new hand and snapped his fingers. "But on the other hand, I owe that geezer a lot." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Cassian waved his new arm and looked once more at the grey, pale world surrounding him.

"Is the world always like this through your eyes, Princess? If so then you have quite a boring life."

Seralya tensed up, pressing her bleeding wrist to her chest. This entity was beyond logic. The rules of Balance did not apply to him. He paid the price but the price did not stop him.

"Silence..." Seralya whispered, her voice trembling. "Please be silent."

Cassian continued as if he had not heard her, speaking to himself.

"As I said, your ability is quite similar to the Black Knight’s domain. He also trapped people in darkness. But yours feels fundamentally different. More artificial."

Cassian took a step forward. Seralya retreated.

"I hope your only ability isn’t turning the world black and white, stopping time, and attacking sneakily," Cassian said. The red light in his eyes shone like a laser in this grey world.

Suddenly Cassian vanished from where he stood. It was not speed. It was as if he had been deleted from existence and copied elsewhere.

Seralya’s breath hitched. He was behind her.

At that moment a pitch black sword impaled Seralya, entering through the back of her neck and exiting through her throat.

"If so..." Cassian whispered right by Seralya’s ear. "That would be a total disappointment."

Cassian pulled the sword sideways with ruthless speed, tearing it from her neck before returning the weapon to nothingness.

Seralya collapsed to her knees, trying to staunch the blood spurting from her throat with her hands. Her consciousness was fading. But again the Balance intervened.

The moment Seralya’s throat was cut, a thin line appeared on Cassian’s neck.

"SNAP!"

Cassian’s head separated from his body as if severed by an invisible guillotine and fell to the ground. It rolled among the ashes with a dry thud.

Seralya, gasping for air as if drowning, thought her enemy was dead. This price was death. Balance had been restored.

But Cassian’s body did not fall.

The standing headless corpse bent down with a calm and casual motion, as if picking a shirt up from the floor. Its hands reached out, grabbed its own head by the hair, and lifted it up.

Cassian’s severed head opened its eyes while dangling in the air. His lips curled.

"This hurt quite a bit," the head said, continuing to speak even while separated from the body. The voice was slightly muffled but clear. "You must be in quite a bit of pain as well."

Seralya watched this scene in horror while trying to stem the blood flowing from her throat.

She was vomiting blood and could not speak. The fear in her eyes was now as deep as an ocean. This was not a human. This was not a reincarnator either. This was a nightmare incarnate.

Cassian’s body placed the head back onto the stump of his neck. The wet sound of flesh meeting flesh was audible. Black smoke wrapped around his neck and the bones locked together. Cassian tilted his neck left and right, cracking it.

"Hmm, hmm. That is better now," he said, testing his voice.

Then he leaned toward the girl who was nearly losing consciousness from blood loss. He wore a fake, nauseating expression of concern on his face. He covered his mouth with his hand.

"Oh my god! Your condition looks quite bad. Are you okay?"

When the girl did not answer, Cassian knelt before her.

"I cannot hear you, Princess," he said, cupping his hand to his ear as if straining to hear. "Ahh, I suppose this veil is preventing me from hearing you! How rude!"

Cassian reached out. Seralya tried to pull back, but her strength was exhausted. Cassian grabbed the holy, thin fabric covering the girl’s face and ripped it away with a harsh tug.

When the girl’s face was left bare, the divine mystery vanished completely. Her pure white, irisless eyes were filled with blood. Her white skin was pale and turning purple from lack of oxygen. Blood leaking from her mouth and nose covered her face like war paint.

"Tsk tsk tsk..." Cassian said, shaking his head. "Princess, your condition is really quite dire! If this continues you will truly die!"

Seralya looked at Cassian with pure hatred through her bleeding eyes. If looks could kill, Cassian would have been torn apart thousands of times. But the Princess of Balance had been crushed beneath her own balance.

Cassian spread his arms wide like a cheerleader supporting his team at a sports match. His voice was cheerful and encouraging but equally humiliating.

"Come on, Princess! You are a demigod! You cannot die this easily, right?!"

He clapped his hands together.

"You must have a trick! You must have a trick other than that ’Balance’ bullshit or painting the world grey!"

Cassian brought his face close to Seralya’s. He whispered.

"Come on. Use it. Surprise me. Scare me."

Then he pulled back and began to clap his hands. He accelerated the rhythm.

"Come on, Seralya! Do your best! You can do it! I believe in you!"

As Seralya’s consciousness blurred, the only sound echoing in her ears was this madman’s chant.

"Seralya! Seralya! Seralya!"

Cassian clapped and laughed, mocking the dying goddess on the ground just as a child would play with a broken toy.