"Take you away? Why?" Rocky was quite taken aback upon hearing her sudden request.
"What are you talking about? We are engaged! Why can't I be with you?" Gloria immediately reminded.
"I can tear that engagement covenant anytime, you know?" Rocky was still keeping the covenant, and
if he destroyed it, the only proof of their engagement would be dissolved.
"No! Why would you do that? Look! I am determined to be with you. In fact, the sole reason why I am
trying to cultivate so hard is to improve myself so that I can be of use to you," Gloria said with
unwavering resolve.
"Can I just ask you? Why are you willing to make such a sacrifice for me?" Rocky could only sigh.
When he was with Valeria, he also could not deal with her honesty. Now, another woman was openly
professing her feelings to him.
"Why are you so dense? You are my man, and I will never let you go! It's that simple!" Gloria declared
with a straight face.
"Well, I guess I can't do anything if you have already made up your mind." Rocky had also dealt with a
lot of women in his life. Hence, he knew just when to give up.
"Finally!" Gloria was extremely elated, thinking that Rocky had finally accepted how she felt.
"All right. I will tell you this right now. You can follow me, but you can't regret it no matter what!" Rocky
sternly warned.
"Ha! Not following you will be the only thing that I will regret. But if you take me back to the Ghost Fief,
how are you going to explain it to Valeria?" Gloria asked in a teasing tone, intending to make Rocky
feel awkward.
"Take you back? Who said anything about that?" Rocky retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"What? Then where are you taking me?" Gloria was stunned and could not help but let out a frown.
"I will make an arrangement so that you can stay with Princess Layla from now on. You will be
responsible for delivering messages between me and her." Rocky revealed his plan.
"That's it?" Gloria instantly glared at him in disbelief.
"What? I thought you said that you won't regret following me no matter what?"
"Ugh! I hate that you are such a cunning guy!" Gloria could only complain while rolling her eyes.
But despite that, she still found it hard to refuse him. After all, she had decided long ago that she would
marry Rocky. Hence, she was willing to do anything without any complaints.
Then, after Gloria finished packing her stuff up, she bade goodbye to Adrian.
After that, the two left the Genie Fief and headed straight to the Royal Land. They were to meet
Princess Layla in order to entrust Gloria to her.
Soon enough, they arrived at Princess Layla's palace.
As soon as Layla saw that Rocky was with Gloria, she was a little confused. But after Rocky explained
everything to her, the princess immediately understood the situation. However, she was extremely
surprised to know that such a thing was already going on.
"I did not expect that you and Leader Adrian had been allies all this time. I guess there are still a lot of
things that I don't know about." The princess never thought that the Genie Fief, which was supporting
Zain on the surface, was just actually a part of Rocky's plan.
Moreover, from Gloria's demeanor, she could tell that the young lady and Rocky had a close
relationship. Layla could just shake her head, thinking that Rocky was such a magnet when it came to
beautiful women.
"Your Royal Highness, I will be leaving Gloria in your care. If you want to inform me of anything, don't
hesitate to send her to me," Rocky directly explained, not bothering to explain his real relationship with
Gloria.
"All right then."
When Gloria expressed her willingness to help him, Rocky instantly thought of sending her to Layla.
After all, this would make his communication with the princess more convenient. Moreover, Gloria was
someone that he could fully trust. Thus, making her stay with the princess also gave him a sense of
relief.
However, because Gloria was a bit famous for being a Godly Genius, Rocky had to give her a skin
mask to hide her real appearance.
Afterward, Rocky went straight back to Gilbert's mansion in the Ghost Capital.
Just recently, Rocky was successful in severing the ties between Zain and the two fiefs who had been
his avid supporters in the past. With this, a huge chunk of Zain's overall strength was slashed off. In the
meantime, Rocky still intended to gradually weaken the prince's remaining forces, so that eventually, he
would really lose everything.
On the other hand, Zain was just focused on wanting to recover from his injuries. Therefore, he did not
have an idea that he had already fallen deep into the trap that Rocky had set up.
As of now, the only remaining threat for Rocky was Enoch.
Of course, Enoch himself was not difficult to deal with. However, since the demonic race was behind
him, the situation could get a bit tricky and messy.
Therefore, Rocky still had to be very cautious before he officially declared war with the royal family.
At the same time, the news that someone had taken Enoch's authenticating object and pretended to be
his special envoy also spread out. It was exactly because of this stunt, that Enoch's army had to
confront the army of the three fiefs, making them suffer heavy casualties.
Obviously, Enoch grew furious upon learning this. He firmly believed that this was Zain's doing since he
wanted to weaken his forces. Hence, he put all the blame on his nephew.
Meanwhile, in Enoch's fief, he was taking his time to enjoy some good wine while beautiful women
accompanied him. At the same time, he was listening to the report of one of his men regarding the
recruitment of soldiers. The demoness was also there, lying on the side, resting with her eyes closed.
Ever since the prince declared his rebellion, he had been trying his best to recruit more soldiers to join
his side. Currently, he had already increased his army to a force of three hundred thousand. In fact, this
number was already enough to contend against the royal family. Additionally, he had also recruited
powerful warriors above the Emperor Realm.
It could be said that soon enough, his overall strength could topple all of his opponents.
However, Enoch was actually not in a hurry to fight against the royal family. He still recognized that the
royal family had a deep foundation, and right now, he only had the support of two of the nine major
fiefs. He thought that if the seven other fiefs united with the royal family to deal with him, he might still
be at a disadvantage.
But he also knew that it was just a wishful thinking for the royal family. After all, most of the fiefs were
operating according to their own intentions. In particular, the Ghost Fief and the Flower Fief were on
Layla's side.
Although Layla was indeed a royal member, she was not the descendant of the current king. Therefore,
depending on the situation, she and her supporters might not participate in the battle of the royal family.
As he considered these factors, Enoch thought that it would be a good idea if he could formally sever
the relationship between Layla and the royal family. If he could also pull the other fiefs to his side, then
it would even be better. In that case, the king would have fewer people to support him.
Then, a Spiritual Emperor suddenly rushed in and reported, "Your Royal Highness, I just received a
piece of news that both the Primitive Fief and Purgatory Fief have a falling out with Prince Zain. It
seems that it happened after both fiefs suffered a heavy loss during the most recent confrontation
against our army. They formally declared that they do not support the prince anymore."
"Hmm, really?" Enoch stroked his chin and was a bit surprised to hear this sudden turn of events. Of
course, he knew that it was not a bad thing for him. Without the support of the two fiefs, and with Zain's
current condition, he would not be a threat anymore.
"What should we do, Your Royal Highness? Are you going to send someone to persuade them into
supporting you instead?" the Spiritual Emperor asked.
"Not now. It sounds so convenient that this might only be a trap. For now, we'll wait and see what will
happen next." Unlike Zain, Enoch was more discerning. He knew that the Primitive Fief and the
Purgatory Fief had been actively supporting Zain since the beginning, so he thought that the timing of
the falling out was a bit suspicious. Hence, he decided to wait and see how the situation would unfold.
"How about the Ghost Fief? Is there anything suspicious going on with them?" Enoch asked with
narrowed eyes.
"No. We have not noticed anything noteworthy."
"Humph! After Odin came back, he did not make any noise or movement. I can't figure out what that
guy is thinking. He now had the Purgatorial Tripod in his hand, so not even the king would dare to
offend him. We must find a way to get rid of him first before he caused huge trouble again!" Enoch
snorted coldly upon remembering how Rocky had thwarted all of his plans. Now, he was forced to rebel
against the royal family for failing to obtain the tripod from him. However, as much as he wanted to deal
with Rocky immediately, he could not act rashly because Layla was on the young man's side.
Obviously, the princess would summon her forces in order to protect Rocky and the tripod.
A few days eventually passed, and a guard suddenly came to Gilbert's mansion to deliver an invitation.
"Sir, the royal family is asking you and the two Godly Geniuses to attend the Beast-fighting Festival.
The invitation says that it will be held in three days," the guard said after handing the invitation over.
"I see. You may now leave." After taking a look at the invitation, Gilbert ordered one of his men to
summon both Rocky and Valeria.
Once they came, Gilbert showed the invitation to them.
"What is with this festival? Is it something grand?" Rocky asked, not having a clue.
"Yes, it is. In fact, this is the most ancient festival since the Shura Race was established. Back then, the
Shura Race was not yet favored by the deities. So, in order to survive in the Shura Continent, our
ancestors fought all kinds of diabolic beasts and spiritual beasts with their bare hands and hand-crafted
weapons. Later on, as you know, the Shura Race became the chosen race by the deities. But in order
not to forget where they have begun, our ancestors started celebrating this festival," Gilbert explained
in detail.
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