Zephyr or rather, Zephyra blinked slowly with her purple eyes fixed on Klaus’s masked face.

She didn’t want to let this chance slip through her fingers.

This man... he disliked her, and that was enough for her. That single fact made him more precious than anyone else she’d ever met.

It really didn’t matter if he was a commoner, a noble, or even if he was somehow part of the Demon Lord’s blight spreading across the continent.

She wanted to marry him.

She wanted to actually stay with him openly, for all this need for stalking from shadows to finally stop... Why couldn’t she just be with him like those three other women who traveled at his side?... Why did she have to hide and watch from rooftops when she could simply walk beside him?

Eli crackled to life above her head with the spirit’s golden form illuminated by the residual purple light that had lit their section of the night sky like harsh fireworks.

The magical glow cast dramatic shadows across Zephyra’s delicate features.

’You really ruined everything, my Princess...’ Eli’s voice echoed in her mind. ’What about the countless people including your own sister who pitched in efforts over decades to make you the perfect Prince? You know it took the life force of the Great Rune Wizard who died when you were a child just to create that transformation rune. He sacrificed everything to d—’

’I know, Eli.’ Zephyra interrupted. ’But I do not care about any of that.’

She took a small step forward with her boots clicking against the cobblestones.

’All I want to know...’ Zephyra continued with her purple eyes never leaving Klaus’s masked face. ’is his reply to my proposal.’

She was a Princess of the Erell Empire. The First Princess, no less. She couldn’t possibly be rejected... not by anyone in this kingdom, certainly not by a commoner.

Even without the help of the Royal Family’s vast resources and political connections, she had accumulated enough personal wealth from Guild Missions since she was ten years old to buy noble titles hundreds of times over.

She could keep Klaus comfortable... no, wealthy beyond imagination for his entire natural lifespan. He would inevitably die before her since she was a Royal with enhanced bloodline longevity but that wouldn’t be an issue. She could simply join him in death when his time came.

The thought was romantic, actually. Eternal together, one way or another so Zephyra waited for his answer with her heart beating faster than it had during their entire tournament battle.

Klaus reacted. First, he took a single step backward with his boot scraping against stone then he leaped upward with explosive force as his body shot into the night air.

Mid-flight, there was a brilliant flash of light as his storage ring activated. His Heavenly Commoner outfit materialized in an instant with the black cloak billowing dramatically around his frame and the cat mask covering his face completely with the transformation taking less than a heartbeat.

He landed on a distant rooftop and immediately launched himself forward again, disappearing into the urban maze.

Zephyra stood alone in the alley, blinking in surprise.

’Did I just get... rejected?’ she thought as genuine confusion flooded her mind then she blinked again as her enhanced hearing picked up approaching sounds... dozens of boots were hitting rooftops in coordinated patterns with voices shouting orders as the organized movement of the City Guard converged on their location from multiple directions.

The massive purple light from her transformation had acted like a beacon visible across half the city.

Zephyra quickly slipped her fox mask back over her face and the moment the porcelain touched her skin, her flowing white hair shifted to jet black with the magical disguise reasserting itself instantly though it didn’t turn her into a man.

’Oh...’ Zephyra realized, her heart doing a strange pleasant flutter. ’I didn’t get rejected at all. He just abandoned me here to be arrested by the authorities.’

A deep blush crossed her cheeks beneath the mask, warming her face. Eli remained conspicuously... The ancient spirit couldn’t even call her gay anymore, because technically Zephyra was a woman now, so all of this was... well, still absolutely insane, but at least heterosexual insanity.

’Eeeeeeek!’ Zephyra’s internal scream of pure delight was completely at odds with the dangerous situation developing around her. ’I love him so much! He didn’t even hesitate! He’s so ruthless and cold!’

With that joyful thought fueling her movements, Zephyra bent her knees deeply and gathered concentrated aura beneath her feet then she exploded upward like a human cannonball.

The sheer kinetic force of her launch created a localized earthquake.

The cobblestones beneath her feet pulverized into dust and gravel as the brick buildings on either side of the narrow alley cracked from foundation to roof with their structural integrity catastrophically compromised in an instant then they began collapsing inward with thunderous crashes.

Debris exploded outward in all directions, filling the air with choking dust.

The Rivera City Guards who had been jumping across rooftops toward her location suddenly found themselves in a life-or-death situation as the very structures beneath them destabilized and fell apart.

"What the hell just happened?!" one guard shouted as the roof he’d landed on tilted forty-five degrees.

"Forget pursuit! Contain the situation!" another yelled desperately, abandoning the chase entirely to help evacuate screaming civilians from collapsing buildings. "Get these people out!"

Zephyra ignored all the chaos she’d created, her body arcing through the night sky with perfect aerial control.

She landed on a rooftop two blocks away with another explosive impact that shattered clay tiles into fragments as the entire structure groaned beneath her.

Klaus was already there, having just landed himself with his cloak still settling around his shoulders as he prepared to launch forward again.

"What did you think of my proposal?" Zephyra asked brightly, as if they were having a pleasant conversation over tea rather than being chased by law enforcement through a city she’d just partially destroyed.

Klaus’s head snapped toward her with visible shock in his body language even behind the mask then he immediately leaped forward again without answering, his body blurring with enhanced speed as magnetic force propelled him but Zephyra followed effortlessly, matching his pace perfectly, running alongside him across the rooftops as if they were on a casual jog together.

"Even if you run to the ends of the world," Zephyra called out cheerfully with her voice carrying easily over the rushing wind, "I won’t let you escape! I’ll follow you everywhere!"

Klaus ran alongside the flat vertical face of a tall administrative building, using concentrated bursts of Magnetic Force to bounce along the brick wall in an unpredictable zigzag pattern... left, right, left, up, right, down... changing direction seemingly at random to throw off any pursuit.

’Why the hell is that woman disturbing me?!’ Klaus thought frantically as he launched himself across a thirty-foot gap between buildings with his cloak snapping behind him. ’Is she actively trying to get me killed?!’

If the mere thought of a commoner potentially marrying into his family had made the Arlain Family Head crash out badly enough to try and literally crush Klaus with gravity manipulation, then what would the King of the entire Erell Empire do upon learning that a commoner had gotten engaged to the First Princess?

Being cleanly beheaded in the public square would be the absolute best possible outcome in that situation! They’d probably invent entirely new forms of execution specifically for him! Creative torture followed by death!

"Leave me alone!" Klaus yelled back desperately at the pursuing Princess as he leaped high into the air.

From his elevated vantage point, he could see the full situation developing below. The City Guards were advancing from multiple directions... dozens of green cloaks streaming behind running figures, wind magic propelling their movements as they coordinated to form a tightening net around the area and one of them was notably different from the others.

Coming in from the western approach was a figure in elaborate ceremonial robes rather than standard guard uniform, with a distinctive gold badge that glinted even in the dim moonlight as the purple glow finally dispersed completely.

The figure moved with the confident speed of someone who knew they were overwhelmingly powerful and Klaus gulped behind his mask with his throat suddenly dry.

’A fucking Guard Captain?’ Klaus thought with rising dread and panic.

Guard Captains were on a completely different level from regular enforcement... They were the ones deployed when normal guards failed, when real threats to the city emerged and each one was worth a dozen regular guards in combat capability.

Klaus barely had any mana left in his reserves after all the running, dodging, magnetic manipulation, and combat so the tank was nearly empty. He couldn’t maintain this pace much longer without collapsing from magical exhaustion.

He landed heavily on a rooftop and let out an exhausted sigh with his chest heaving with exertion.

It was time to use Light’s Blessing and see if the divine gift really worked like the system description had claimed.

Before Klaus could even begin formulating a proper prayer, Zephyra landed beside him with a gentle thud that was far more controlled than her earlier destructive impacts as if she could modulate her landings perfectly when she wanted to.

She smiled behind her fox mask.

"Do you want me to help you escape?" Zephyra asked sweetly, tilting her head slightly.

Klaus turned to look at her.

"You can?" Klaus asked automatically then nearly slapped himself across the face for asking such an obviously stupid question.

This was Princess Zephyra von Erell of the Erell Empire... one of the most powerful individuals in the entire kingdom.

Escaping from city guards would be absolutely trivial for someone of her status and combat capability as she could probably just reveal her identity and they’d all immediately disperse with apologies.

Zephyra nodded enthusiastically, clearly pleased he’d asked.

"Of course I can," Zephyra confirmed happily. "It would be easy but in exchange, you will have to accept my proposal for marriage right now and I will carry you to safety personally."

She said this last part with visible excitement in her posture as if the prospect of physically carrying him was particularly appealing to her.

Now, if it was any other person in this exact situation... any rational normal person, they would have easily agreed without hesitation. Marry a beautiful Princess, gain instant nobility, live in luxury, solve all your immediate problems in a single decision.

It was objectively the correct choice but Klaus couldn’t do it.

Not only did he want to spite this person for being better than him in literally every conceivable way... She was stronger, faster, more skilled, wealthier, and even higher status but he also had genuine psychological trauma from the way Taula had carried him back in Yerefall Grove.

The memory of being hauled around like a sack of grain, completely helpless and at someone else’s mercy, still haunted his nightmares.

So instead of accepting the logical offer, Klaus turned his attention elsewhere entirely.

He clasped his hands together in an awkward stance of prayer and thought quietly.

’Lady Goddess...’ Klaus began. I truly don’t know the proper way to pray to you, and I apologize for my ignorance but the blessing that you so generously gave me... if it would be possible, I would be deeply, profoundly grateful if you could grant me some mana right now. Please, if you’re listening.’

The instant those words left Klaus’s head, he felt the change.

The ambient mana saturating the surrounding air suddenly converged toward him like iron filings rushing toward a powerful magnet as pure concentrated magical power flooded into his body through every pore and channel with the sensation almost overwhelming in its intensity.

Not only did it completely restore his depleted reserves, filling the empty tank, but it actually exceeded his normal maximum capacity significantly and he felt overfull with power, like a vessel filled well past its brim and somehow not spilling over.

A translucent blue system notification materialized before his eyes, visible only to him:

[You have used 1/3 uses of Light’s Blessing]

[The Goddess Luneth has answered your prayer]

[Your mana has been fully replenished]

[Bonus Effect: +20% maximum mana capacity for 3 minutes]

Klaus looked back at Zephyra, who was still waiting expectantly for his answer to her offer, her masked face turned toward him.

The City Guards were closing in rapidly from all sides now with their boots thundering across rooftops as their weapons were drawn and ready with the Captain leading the advance with terrifying speed that left afterimages in the air.

"Would you accept my offer?" Zephyra asked again as her voice barely concealed her hopeful eagerness. "We need to decide quickly, they’re almost here."

Klaus made his decision in that instant.

Without answering, Klaus simply dropped straight down off the edge of the building, letting gravity claim him.

Mid-fall, he twisted his body orientation toward the vertical face of an adjacent building and fired off a concentrated magnetic pulse as his body shot sideways at a sharp angle, defying gravity and bouncing off that brick wall with explosive force.

Then another wall... Then another... Then another...

He ricocheted through the urban landscape in an unpredictable pattern impossible for anyone to track or follow with each bounce leaving small impact craters in the brick.

Within mere seconds, he had launched himself high into the night air one final time and disappeared completely from sight, vanishing into the maze of Rivera’s countless rooftops and alleyways.

Back on the rooftop, Zephyra stood frozen in place, processing what had just happened for the second time tonight.

Her legs trembled slightly beneath her cloak as a full-body shiver running through her.

Eli began to speak.

*I sincerely hope you’ve learned your lesson from this, my Princ—*

The spirit’s words cut off abruptly mid-sentence... Because even without using Spirit Sight to pierce through the mask and see her Princess’s actual expression, Eli could tell with absolute certainty that Zephyra was experiencing intense, overwhelming emotions from being rejected and callously abandoned... twice in one night by the person she loved more than anything and those emotions were absolutely not the ones Eli had hoped for.

It was simply too much for the ancient spirit to handle anymore.

Eli gave up entirely and disappeared deep into Zephyra’s spirit space, essentially putting herself into hibernation to avoid witnessing whatever was about to happen next.

The Rivera City Guards who had been dispatched to intercept the fleeing criminal finally arrived at Zephyra’s location, landing in a perfectly coordinated formation around her. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Their boots hit the rooftop in near-synchronization with their weapons at the ready forming a tactical perimeter.

"Stop... in the name of the law."