The Almighty Ring

As the wedding was held inside the palace itself, all participants were supposed to be in the venue as well. However, going against the orthodox since Victor wanted to make an impact, to show the world what he was capable of, he brought himself and the beautiful bride out of the ceremonial grounds to parade themselves around the palace grounds.

Guest vehicles were all moving in and security checks were tightened. Right now, no other place on Alderaan had the highest of security. Nothing bad could happen to the bride and groom, or so he thought…

“Are you still going to wait here?” 0541 said. The last of the guests were already passing through the gates and the bride and groom had left the palace. This would be the best time to take action.

“What’s the rush? Taking the bride now would not make any kind of impact!” Jiang Fei whispered before a grin arched across his face.

…

“To think the day has finally arrived for you to marry me! What an auspicious day! What say you, Aurelia?” Victor said. He was not even looking at his lovely bride as he was too busy waving his hands at all the spectators that were cheering on the side of the pathway.

“…”

Aurelia remained her usual stoic self. She couldn’t care less for all the parading and the glamorous ceremony. The last thing she would care for was the man standing next to him, waving his hands to the mass as if he was a famous person of benevolence.

She had already set her mind to do the right thing.

“Come now. At the very least, give me a smile! You don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of such a crowd now, do you?”

Aurelia remained unfazed, unmoving.

“Continue with your futile silent protest. You shall see what I have planned for you tonight!” Victor whispered into her ear as he grinned. Although he did mastermind the entire wedding, and it was through his father and the emperor himself, he had to continue the ceremony before he could have his way with her. If it wasn’t for the emperor himself, she would have already been ravished thoroughly.

“Pray that my strength never returns or I shall burn you and all that shares your blood to ashes,” said Aurelia without displaying a single shred of emotion. She had been powerful. Had. Past tense. Her combat level was over nine million. She stood out amongst the strongest. However, due to a certain unfortunate event, she was poisoned by this despicable man, reducing her godlike powers to only a common folk’s. Her strength was sapped away. Now, she could not even hold a sword, much less fight her way out of this wedding.

“Return? Darling, your strength will return but only in your dreams! The poison in you is potent and without cure. From this day forward, your only job is to pleasure me. Know this, after the ceremony, the Ice Queen shall be no more. She shall be nothing but a whore and a breeding pig!” Victor said with a smile so wide that it deformed his regal appearance.

Aurelia still remained unfazed, unmoving. There was no fear, no pain. Nothing. A true display of defiance until the end.

Despite it all, she was hurting, crying on the inside. Despite it all, she was still a woman. And her heart was calling for Jiang Fei, wherever he may be…

“Where are you… O stranger of the enemy…. I pray that my message shall reach you in time, for only death shall be my ending without you saving me from this hell…”

Aurelia’s right eyelid twitched a little and fortunately, Victor was too busy attending to the crowd to notice. With the slowest movement possible, Aurelia moved her tongue toward the side of her teeth, making sure that the capsule was ready to be used.

It was a suicide capsule she had prepared during her first deployment in the battlefield. She knew, as a woman, there would be a gruesome fate worse than death that awaited if she was ever to be captured. She was prepared to kill herself, but never in her wildest dreams had she thought she would use it on the land, in the palace of the emperor she had bled to protect.

Two hours after circling the palace on top of a decorated floating vehicle, both the bride and groom finally returned to the doorstep of the palace. The ceremony was held just right outside the palace door, at the courtyard that moonlighted as the emperor’s garden.

Right now, everyone was waiting anxiously for the bride and groom to walk the red carpet.

Three blasts of dud cannons later the bride and groom started the walk. Flower petals were thrown by the most adorable little girls. The groom, accompanied by two groomsmen walked first while the bride, with two bridesmaids followed. The bridesmaids were not her associates. They were hired fighters that were tasked to make sure that Aurelia never did anything out of order. Despite being poisoned, thus greatly enfeebled, more than tens of invisible restraints were placed all over her body in case Aurelia could somehow overpower the two hired fighters. It was an excessive precaution since Victor wanted nothing to go wrong with the ceremony.

Right after the bride and groom entered, the emperor and empress of the Alderaan Empire came out from the palace to join the walk. This was a powerful show of dominance, a display of political prowess, to show that someone like Victor could persuade the emperor and empress to be witnesses of his wedding. Technically speaking, it was a show of his father’s influence on the emperor.

“When are you going to make a move?” 0541 asked again impatiently.

“Soon, my little friend. I’ve just discovered two interesting fellows here!” said Jiang Fei with a soft grin.

“Interesting fellows?”

“Looks like he was right. The players had indeed established a “relationship” with the Alderaan Empire. I can smell the scent of players in the wedding!” Jiang Fei laughed like a hyena.

“What is your plan?” 0541 asked nervously. If he could sweat, he would have already made a pool of sweat where he stood. The appearance of players in this plane was disturbing.

“A hero is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when the situation calls for it!” Umbral Jiang Fei gave an all-too-familiar grin.

…

During the exchange between Umbral Jiang Fei and 0541, a priest took to the podium and started the ceremony.

“Do you, Master Victor, take Miss Aurelia as your wife? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you may part?”

“I do,” Victor said with a straight face.

Aurelia would have spit in his face if she could but alas, she was restrained to that extent.

Victor noticed the changes in her eyes, the glint of disgust that was too obvious. He leaned in and whispered, “Remember. When this is over, I will ravage you thoroughly tonight!”

“Do you, Miss Aurelia, take Master Victor, as your husband? To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you may part?”

When the officiant finished his question, the two “bridesmaids” pressed their fingers into her back, forcing her to nod her head as she refused to give her verbal consent. Despite that, Aurelia resisted with every last bit of energy that she had.

“Such is my fate sealed with your absence, O stranger of the enemy.”

After all this time, Aurelia finalled cried. Tears rolled off her face as her jaw moved to give way for her tongue to crush the suicide pill.

“What a drag… Don’t you know that the worst tasting ones are the ones that are forced against their will? To think that you would even broadcast this event! Such pride… tsk tsk tsk… such ignorance…”

A deep sigh, followed by a long speech delivered with a sleazy tone rang across the entire palace ground. By the time everyone realized what was happening, Umbral Jiang Fei was standing in between the bride and groom, with him being a hair’s width away from Aurelia.

“Arrest him!” the officiant roared and the entire ceremonial grounds was plunged into a state of panic. Royal Guards, made distinguishable from the bright red color of their uniforms, rushed toward the emperor and empress’ side. Regular black suit bodyguards rushed toward the groom. As for the other attendees, they were running amok like headless chickens.

“Hey there. Sorry for making you wait this long. I’m here now and I’m going to take you away.”

Jiang Fei plucked his hands and gently tapped Aurelia’s forehead. His smile, the same one that was incredibly offensive the first time she saw it, was now a ray of warmth that thawed her cold heart.

“How dare you intrude on the Emperor’s palace?! Have you a death wish?!” Victor roared, making sure to threaten Umbral Jiang Fei with the sentence of being a threat to the Emperor and not for intruding on his wedding. Such was his ability in sentencing a crime… An ability he had misused many times over.

“Who is he?” asked Alistair, the Emperor of the Alderaan Empire. He was old but he was far from being a senile old man. He knew that this intruder was not there to kill him as he was still standing in front of the bride.

“My liege, I don’t know the identity of the intruder. He does not look like someone from a named family,” a high officer came forth from behind and answered.

“It matters not then. Kill him please,” Emperor Alistair decreed as he waved his hands nonchalantly. Even though the intruder was not there to kill him, he was still sentenced to death for the crimes of intruding palace grounds and disrupting the wedding ceremony. Technically, such crimes were never so vile that they deserve a death sentence. However, it was akin to a slap to the emperor’s face then, hence, the death sentence. He was the emperor after all. He could do whatever he wanted and none had a say in it.