Chapter 2492: The Twin Princes

In this world where time had paused, a brilliant white light extended left and right from Xia De's palm, transforming into that black staff.

Dong~ The bottom of the long staff struck the floor with a sound:

"Princes, I must warn you: using the miracle of time pause with your infant bodies will only accelerate the collapse of your bodies and souls."

He watched as the two infants, holding hands and covered in amniotic fluid and bloodstains, floated into the air wrapped in blankets within the cradle:

"You don't intend to fight me, do you?"

"Although we do not know who you truly are, just as we said a moment ago, this status is a nobility bestowed upon us by the world; this nobility must not be stripped away by anyone. We are born noble, and this nobility will endure until the end of time."

Xia De was unclear whether they truly believed this or if it was merely the stubbornness of children with unsound minds, but he knew clearly that now was not the time for such nonsense:

"I ask once more: do you intend to fight me?"

In the very next instant, the two princes floating before Xia De nearly turned into light, smashing through the glass and flying outward; the glass shards, upon ceasing contact with them, instantly froze again in mid-air in a splattered pattern. The effect of "Time Acceleration" they had applied to themselves was astonishing, yet this astonishment was not enough to surpass Xia De's "Lagrange's Leap," which had expanded its range to a hundred meters.

Although he had not brought any Relics, he did carry spell components that were easy to conceal.

In the garden outside the window, Xia De grabbed the blanket floating in mid-air, yanked it sharply, and the two princes wrapped inside were flung out, flying off in two separate directions.

Two chains flew out with a clatter, but as they approached the two princes, their speed slowed under the influence of Time Slow:

"Once you separate, the spell effect indeed weakens!"

Although time was chaotic, it was undoubtedly still night in the Yoder Palace. Even without deliberately searching, the miracle 【Gleaming Moon Realm】 allowed Xia De to clearly see the two fleeing princes reuniting on the rooftop after making a large detour.

The entire Yoder Palace was utterly silent within this world of frozen time, so no one saw Xia De transform into a red butterfly and fly up to the rooftop.

And when he looked forward under the moon, he saw not two infants holding hands and floating together, but two red-haired youths wearing magnificent golden robes.

Their features were somewhat effeminate, revealing the likeness of Queen Diana; their hair was long, with ends extending past their shoulders by at least two fingers, and both appeared unusually weak.

The two princes stood nearly 1.9 meters tall, slightly taller than Xia De, but because they had to support each other to stand on the palace roof, their hunched bodies appeared even more frail.

"You applied the power of time to yourselves, temporarily transforming your bodies into adult forms? Yet this still cannot prevent your bodies from collapsing."

Silver-white lightning crackled along the 【Staff of Yggdrasil】 held in his grip, while the two princes, supporting each other, manifested a dark red scepter in their left hands and a silver-white rapier in their right hands.

"Both are Spiritual Weapons. What exactly did you see?"

The three figures under the moon faced off atop the highest building of the Yoder Palace; as the thunder crackling along the 【Staff of Yggdrasil】 erupted into the loudest thunderclap, both sides charged at each other simultaneously.

Shadows under the moonlight pursued their respective masters, yet Xia De's shadow suddenly vanished, meaning he had disappeared before the princes' eyes mid-charge. The princes, caught off guard, looked around, but in the next moment, Xia De descended from the sky gripping a lightning spear, and the falling silver-white thunder struck the roof.

Boom~ With a tremendous roar, the three pierced through what looked like a sturdy roof and plummeted downward. Two Great Sin Chains wrapped around the princes with a clatter during their fall; upon their landing, moonlight thorn bushes grew from the floor cracks, immediately sealing off whatever room this was.

"You are descendants of Miss Jia Lin Na; I do not wish to harm you."

Xia De stood up, leaning on the floor, and controlled the chains to leave them the ability to speak; the princes on the floor, clad in magnificent golden robes, were unable to move any part of their bodies except their mouths.

"Now, can we talk?"

The long staff pointed at their faces, yet they still refused to yield; two pairs of emerald-green eyes glared at Xia De with indignation:

"Since Great-Aunt Miss Jia Lin Na was willing to share her nobility and honor with you, you should know that nobility and honor cannot be easily abandoned; that is the behavior of cowards."

"You even considered erasing yourselves to evade your enemies, yet you call abandoning power the behavior of cowards?"

Xia De sneered, then looked up at the ceiling.

Outside the hole in the roof sealed by the thorn bushes, Miss Jia Lin Na and Princess Lei Lei Qianya had arrived, after all, the time-pause effect had ended once the princes were sealed by the Great Sin Chains.

Xia De temporarily withdrew the miracle to let them enter, then sealed the area again to prevent disturbance in the final few minutes.

Miss Jia Lin Na, holding Princess Lei Lei Qianya, lowered herself while covering her skirt, and immediately understood what had happened.

Only after confirming Xia De was unharmed did Princess Lei Lei Qianya continue her unfinished words:

"Xia De, our diviner said: use your Key to kill them, then pray to the Tree Father. You must explain that they violated the rules by manipulating time, then request the Tree Father to strip away their power. You can store the stripped power in three ways; the storage vessel cannot be obtained now, but only during the final cycle.

The first option is this."

Saying this, she extended a handkerchief; wrapped within were two very fresh umbilical cords, intertwined, approximately ten centimeters in length.

"Sister, you should not do this."

The princes on the ground pleaded, but Princess Lei Lei Qianya paid them no heed:

"The diviner said this method only yields stabilized power. The second option is to strip away their eyeballs; their four eyes will metamorphose into Divine Art Demon Eyes, granting the top-tier supernatural ability of Future Sight."

"I have no such hobby."

"The last option is to forcibly seize their souls; the diviner said you possess a great book recording demon knowledge. Of course, neither she nor I recommend you..."

"I have no such hobby either, and after all, they are your younger brothers."

Xia De caught the handkerchief with one hand, while the princes on the ground continued speaking:

"Sister, we, like you, are born noble; we are destined to..."

"I am not born noble."

Princess Lei Lei Qianya frowned and cut them off, for time was truly running out:

"I am noble because of myself. You simply do not understand: a blessing that has not been seized is merely a curse. If you were truly noble, it would not be Xia De standing here now, but you."

Miss Jia Lin Na looked at Princess Lei Lei Qianya with some surprise and nodded slightly in acknowledgment of the statement. Princess Lei Lei Qianya did not voice her inner thought that "the truly born noble one is Xia De":

"Younger brothers not yet named by Father and Mother, I see only your cowardice and arrogance in you. Facing the future, you consider using death as an escape; facing the true solution to the problem, you use the excuse of 'born noble' to refuse. You yourselves have abandoned honor; if you were not still children, I would certainly criticize you with even worse words.

By the way, since Xia De has chosen the umbilical cords, as long as you voluntarily surrender your power, you will be born normally. With your souls burned to this extent, the possibility of you becoming Ring Mages in the future is greatly diminished; from now on, the world of Ring Mages has nothing to do with you, and you need not worry that the futures you saw will become reality."

"Lei Lei Qianya, do not speak so cruelly to your family."

After Princess Lei Lei Qianya finished playing the "villain," the Duchess naturally assumed the role of the "good person":

"Hand over your power to us; the fate of the Chosen Ones is far too difficult for children like you. Sleep well, then live out this life as ordinary people; I will protect the Cavendish family, which is also the promise I made to my brother, your grandfather."

Having finished speaking, the three standing figures fell silent and simply watched them. Of course, the silver-white thunder on the long staff in Xia De's hand did not vanish.

"To take this power is to bear this fate."

Because time was truly running out, the princes' voices reappeared after more than ten seconds of silence.

Xia De breathed a sigh of relief:

"I understand, and I do not wish to possess this power; I merely wish to resolve this unfortunate incident tonight. Regarding the future you saw, who is the first candidate for Time?"

While asking, Xia De loosened the chains binding them, but the chains remained at their feet.

The princes struggled, leaning on each other for support as they stood up once more:

"You know this cannot be spoken of. But we can tell you this: those who possess the power to traverse time are absolutely not only us. Whether this 'traversing time' is real or false, the future is no secret to them.

Take this power, take this curse. Mad time bears malice toward everyone. When you too reach the ending we have seen, we hope you will not regret today's choice. Time is a circle; no matter how the forward-pointing hand turns, it will eventually return to its starting point."

Xia De looked at them:

"The hands of the clock rotate, and although it does indeed look like they go around in a circle back to the starting point, we both know this is actually moving forward into the future, don't we?"

The princes lowered their eyes:

"One final warning: never attempt to toy with time."

"I understand — may the World Tree bless us across infinite time."

Thus the head of the Staff of Yggdrasil was tapped between the two princes, and as a grey-green radiance drifted out from their bodies, a grand World Tree holy emblem manifested upon the ground.