’No!’

Even while bound to stillness, Viva continued to resist. Deep down, she understood that nothing she did would mean anything, but seeing her big sister suffer in silence wasn’t something she could do.

She couldn’t just let it happen and hope that Aurora would stop soon; Viva just wasn’t that kind of person.

’Hurry up!’

The light rope tied around her body and mouth wasn’t a simple restraint. Just as it was binding her with immoveable strength, it was also suppressing every type of energy that Viva could muster.

It didn’t matter if it was mystical energy like Enigma or basic energy like stamina; Viva was truly made powerless.

’Almost...’

However, even that tight grip had seams in between. Over the last 15 minutes, Viva had been pushing out thin strands of Enigma through her feet, accumulating them out of the restraints’ boundaries, preparing to unleash one big move!

’Now!’

At the same time that Viva had accumulated enough, Aurora had actually let go of Yvonne.

However, Viva didn’t just let all of her efforts go to waste. After all, who could tell if Aurora was truly done with them?

Fwosh! Fwosh!

All of a sudden, the stone floor started cracking as vines broke free from it in a frenzy.

Overlapping into orderly layers, within just one second, the vines had transformed into 6 giant knights, averaging around 3 meters tall.

This was the Thorn Princess’s signature Ability, Ivy Knights Formation!

’Go!’

Knowing Aurora’s insane reaction speed, Viva didn’t dare delay even a split second, commanding her vassals to rush forward.

Two to hold Kara in place, three to confront Aurora, and one to grab Yvonne and turn back to grab both Viva and Vera.

That’s right, Viva wasn’t delusional enough to think that she could actually win after everything she saw.

However, with the portal leading back to the outside world standing in front of them, all that she needed was a moment of delay to ensure a successful escape.

As long as she made it out, Viva was sure that Aurora wouldn’t dare lay a hand on them, at least not in public!

Yet...

Swish!

Before the Vine Knights could even make it past the starting line, they were swiftly cut down to pieces, all half-dozen of them.

’Why?!’

Most importantly, it wasn’t Aurora’s light razors that did the job this time. In fact...

"We will do it."

It was none other than the Sword Thorn herself, Vera!

Looking at the sudden threat that both appeared and disappeared within seconds, Kara was somewhat flabbergasted; she simply could not have expected this kind of plot twist to occur at the very end.

Especially so since Vera had gone radio silent ever since the events of the first colored Gate.

"Wow. She speaks."

From the very beginning, the Thorn Sword was the one who acted the most arrogant among the entirety of the Thorn Trio, acting as if she lorded over everyone else, including her sisters.

However...

’I don’t want to die.’

In reality, Vera was the most cowardly of them all!

Rather than going silent from mental shock, Vera’s silence had actually been an attempt at increasing her chances of survival, foiled by her big sister’s final act of insanity.

Had all three of them successfully hidden their presence to the point when Aurora no longer recognized them as a nuisance, this whole tribulation could have gone by very safely.

Compared to Yvonne, who went crazy trying to keep her self-confidence intact, one could say that Vera was the exact opposite of her self-proclaimed smart sister.

’Not here, not now.’

Against Yvonne’s judgement, none of her sisters was actually as idiotic as she thought.

Both of them were actually smart enough to manage their lives according to their personal tendencies, but with her taking control, they were forced to pour that moderate intelligence into other outlets, leading to their display of irritating traits.

Viva chose to act like she was an actual princess, as shown by her utilization of knightly vine constructs, while Vera picked the persona of an arrogant Sword Master, supported by her Thorn Sword’s peerless sharpness.

However, now that Yvonne had been mentally incapacitated, each of the sisters finally started exhibiting their hidden intellect.

In Viva’s case, she found the confidence to try to negotiate, but when that attempt ultimately failed, it cemented the decision that Vera had been contemplating since the very beginning.

"As long as you spare our lives, whatever you want done, we will do it."

Complete submission.

Compared to Viva, who lacked the insight to see that resistance would only make things worse, Vera was fully aware that this was her only way out.

That was just how her personality worked; Vera herself was aware of it. That she was the kind of person who would only bully the weak but fear the strong.

According to what she showed in public and regardless of her actual strength, Aurora was supposed to be a ’weak’ person, but the version of Aurora that Vera saw was strong, and incredibly so at that.

"Just say the word." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Announcing her stance, Vera stabbed her Thorn Sword into the ground, letting it crumble into dirt as she awaited Aurora’s response.

"Come on. Now you are making it seem like I am the villain here."

Aurora herself was also shocked by Vera’s actions.

She had actually hoped that they would submit like this, but the way Vera did it was simply too abnormal.

Looking at the broken Yvonne, Aurora’s basic psyche was in turmoil. Her recent actions had truly deviated from her original moral guidelines by a lot.

She was only trying to vent out the residual hatred tainting her thoughts while making her point clear, but she ended up going a little bit too far.

"False. We are the Villains here. We attempted to hurt you, and you let us live. Naturally, we shouldn’t have done anything foolish like what my sisters did. So, I can only ask for your forgiveness and meet your demands to the utmost of my ability in order to make up for it."

Somehow, the one that ended up justifying Aurora’s actions wasn’t herself but Vera.

"Is that so?"

It even made enough sense for Aurora to push past her dilemma!

"Then, let’s get you ready so we can finally head out."

It wasn’t the time to be staggered by every out-of-hand problem. Especially not when the final spurt was just right around the corner!