The Prince in Question Is Not Stable-Chapter 34: The Wheel Of Death

"How much further, Robert?" Thomas asked as all the knights ran, holding cadets in their arms.

"Just a little more," Robert screamed back.

*---------Shriek----------*

All of them shuddered as they ran toward the rift.

Children pressed their palms against their ears, trying to reduce the noise.

"Is that?" Geoffrey screamed in horror at the shriek he had heard.

It was the most terrifying and powerful scream he had witnessed in his whole life.

"Don’t look back. Just keep running!" Robert screamed; he could sense the rift closing.

The rift had been opened by the Sommelier himself, who was feeding it a thin stream of demonic energy to make it appear natural.

The entire situation felt like a trap meant to bury the top cadets.

But Robert had no way to prove it.

His whole focus was on evacuating the cadets, and so he did.

In less than five minutes, they had covered a distance that could’ve taken them an hour, and it was all thanks to Marcus Rile.

Just before the Rift could collapse, they passed through it at tremendous speed, entering back to the mortal realm and dragging their feet on the floor of the winery to come to a halt.

"Wha-what happened?" Roxana asked, seeing the dreadful look on the knights and terrified children.

"Where’s Professor Ma-" Basil was about to ask, but Thomas interrupted.

"No time, Professor Roxana. The Duke of Cerevisia, Regory White VI, had given us strict orders that not a single life is to be compromised. We’re going to arrange as many mana crystals as you need to open that rift again. Ser Thomas is going to contact the academy and inform the headmaster that the rift is an artificial creation of Sommelier, and request his assistant,"

"Geoffrey and Henry are to escort the children to the medical facility in the castle of Symphony under the authority of Duke Regory, and under the name of Duke Regory White VI. Robert will go and request the assistance of the saintess. Not a single moment of rest. Move. Now."

"Wha-wait!" Roxana was confused.

"Sommelier?" She repeated that name. "No way...it can’t be him, the readings on manome-"

"We have witnessed his presence; there are over ten thousands of Satyr-stalker under his command, so instead of contemplating on your past readings, it would be in our best interest if you keep that rift open, because Count Rile is still in there, and I believe he can hold his ground against Sommelier, but for how long? I’m not sure," Thomas replied in urgency, as Basil stormed out of the winery, to write a letter to the headmaster.

If it’s a Sommelier, they’ll need a clearance six mage to put up a fight with him. But Marcus was emenant ranked knight.

That meant his power was comparable to a Clearance Four mage.

If he stayed behind by choice, that meant Marcus was ready to die.

"And send the letter to the county of Rile," Thomas said as Basil was leaving the winery.

"Their lord might not survive."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Sommelier crouched down to meet my level.

He had no head. But the way his crown-like head stuck to his shoulders moved, I knew he was staring at me.

His body was a mixture of vines and the flesh of the demons he had devoured. This one was old. He had survived for a long time on the outskirts of hell.

As I stared at him, buying some time for my mind to recover, five prehensile, six-inch glass needles grew at the ends of his arms.

There’s no known method of killing a sommelier in the mortal realm. But I know how to kill him.

However, that knowledge ain’t a leverage.

To kill a sommelier, one has to shatter the crown that connects to his shoulders and make the matter of his brain leak out of his body. That’s where he stores his demonic core.

But the sommelier is tall. Thrice the size of a human. To reach for his crown while competing against his powers is practically impossible.

I looked at the glass needles that grew on his arms, and then back at his crown, as he remained crouching, looking at me.

"Pretty impressive..." I spoke. "You can even sew your own clothes...ha...ha..."

He tilted his head as I heard the fibres on his rotten, dear legs tighten up for a launch.

"Or maybe not...fuck," and he moved.

The vine ground beneath him exploded in debris as he blurred in my line of sight.

Kasumi’s sword art. Midare (Disorder).

I stepped right, as the sommelier stabbed my projection.

Tachichigae (Crossed Cut.)

My blade struck diagonally. An attack disguised as a block.

But I did not cut anything, as the Sommelier retreated a few steps.

Its crown started vibrating in frenzy.

*--------------Shriek--------------*

It moved again, aiming for my face with his needled arm.

I raised my blade to block, and in the end moment, he reached for my torso. A fake.

Kuzushi (Collapse).

I struck down, retracing the path of his needle as it slid past my side.

Tachichigae (Crossed Cut.)

An upper diagonal strike that followed kuzushi, but he blocked it with his other arm.

His crown vibrated right in front of my face.

*--------------Shriek--------------*

’I hate this sound,’ I thought. It felt like it was melting my brain. It wasn’t letting me recover from the perception I had used earlier.

His other arm followed the next strike.

Midare (Disorder). 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

I moved aside slightly, but stayed close to him as he stabbed my projection again.

Kasane (Layering).

My blade followed a straight horizontal path from left to right, creating several real projections of the attack.

Sommelier barely moved in time as a fine cut appeared on the side of the torso, tearing it apart.

He retreated again and looked down at the cut on the side.

He touched his wound, running his fingers over the purple, bloody wound, as it started healing. Threads of flesh appeared from either side of the cuts, snapped them closed, and disappeared, healing him.

"Well...at least I wasn’t wrong about the sewing part," I said.

His crown vibrated even more intensely.

*--------------Shriek--------------*

He crouched down and dug his hands in the vines of the ground, and I felt the gravity around me increase.

"Muted Vineyard, huh..." I mumbled. It’s a power unique to a Sommelier; he can increase the gravity within a radius of two hundred meters. And he can even silence the environment, taking out the sense of hearing from his opponent.

His whole body shivered as the demonic energy of an S-ranked demon seeped out of him.

*--------------Shriek--------------*

"Shut that fucking sound, will you!"

His body convulsed in the raw demonic power, as I heard the fibres of his muscles tighten very clearly.

"Or maybe I wouldn’t really mind you making that sound..."