Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Chapter 279: Turning point (10?!!)

"Law of Authority!"

Etaria could both see and hear Zanba slowly utter those words. And that means…

This damned fox supreme could do so as well.

'The question is, why did she allow that to happen?'

This was the first thought that flashed in the golden princess's mind. And then, a second one followed.

'Did anything actually happen?'

The words that the Madam clearly wanted to prevent from being spoken, have now filled the air. And as weak as Zanba's voice was…

'This sentence doesn't seem like something that needs to be said out loud…'

The spell Etaria threw at the enemy supreme scattered, falling prey to whatever defenses Madam raised.

Then, the air shook… and Madam's domain suddenly retreated…

'No, it vanished completely…?'

The domain that so greatly suppressed Etaria's powers vanished. But the power that lay at its foundation did not.

"So you were capable of invoking Lo'Atkar's law," Madam muttered, half-astonished and half-defeated? "Are you ready for the consequences of doing so, though, I wonder?"

The supreme fox turned her eyes over to the man, giving him a long stare while completely ignoring the princess ahead.

'Wait, if her domain's gone, why isn't my domain affected at all?'

Etaria gritted her teeth.

This entire encounter… was just a whole bunch of different messes brought together and piled into an enormous stack of stinky shit.

Where was Zanba getting all of his information from, information that even the golden princess of the empire wasn't privy to? Why was he able to converse with the leader of the forest about things that Etaria, at most, only heard some rumors about?

'This is really annoying,' the princess thought, hating nothing more but the extremely fresh feeling of being excluded from the discussion.

"I've never learned how to develop my own domain," Zanba muttered as he struggled to lift himself up from the ground.

By now, the wounds caused by Madam's fingers have long since healed, bringing not only his jaw back to its rightful place but also healing all the holes where Madam's nails dug deep into his flesh.

"So depriving you of yours…"

Zanba raised his eyes… and cut his sentence short when he saw the strange look on Madam's face.

She wasn't scared, angered, or even worried. All she showed on her face… was pity, resignation, and… a feeling that Zanba couldn't quite put his fingers to.

"Is this all you think Lo'Atkar's authority is all about?" Madam asked, in a voice much calmer than she should have in a situation like the one they were all in. It was rare for two supremes to appear in the same place at the same time. Three of them meeting like right now was already an extremely rare event.

And with how the situation was likely to develop in a less-than-savory direction, Etaria could tell they were about to make something unprecedented happen.

"What else there is to it, then?" Refusing to fall into the trap of following Madam's line of thought, Zanba countered, as if provoking Madam to share her insights.

"And why would I?"

Bit by bit, the sympathy hidden behind the emotions Madam showed started to retreat, taken over by emotions instantly forcing Etaria to raise her guard up.

"After all, two can play this game."

'WHA…?!'

Stumbling to the back, Etaria suddenly found herself stuck in the air, unable to move even an inch.

'Wasn't her domain supposed to…'

With only her eyes retaining the minimum of freedom to move within their usual range of motions, Etaria looked to the side… Only to confirm that with the sudden surge of mana steaming out of Madam, even Zanba, with all his incredible and secretive means, found himself unable to move.

"I invoke Lo'Atkar's law of equality!" Madam invoked in a respectful voice, even going as far as to raise her eyes to the sky, ignoring how it was obstructed by the thick crowns of the nearby trees.

Following Madam's words… Nothing much happened.

No attack came from the heavens to strike the impudent Supremes who dared to even think about breaking the taboo. Nothing happened to the mana Etaria held in her hands, ready to use to counter whatever spell or attack Madam could throw at her.

Nothing happened… Because nothing was going to happen. And when Etaria tried to use her domain to help herself shake whatever chains held her in place… nothing happened as well.

Because just like she observed it happening to the Madam before, her own domain… has vanished without a trace.

She didn't notice it right away because her own mana was exactly the same as it always was. In fact, now that Etaria's mind was free of the burden of constantly controlling her domain, wielding her actual mana… suddenly became a lot easier!

"What did you…"

"I just made you bear the consequences of what that stupid mate of yours did," Madam replied with a relaxed smile.

She then waved her hand, lifting the restraining spell that held both Etaria and Zanba back.

'She freed us…?'

Struggling to understand the strange woman's motives… Etaria held herself back from lashing out at her.

Out of the three of them gathered on the spot, she was the one who obviously knew the absolute least of them. She was in the middle of the game she didn't even realize was playing out around her.

And if there was one thing that Etaria just realized she hated more than being excluded from a situation… it was playing along like a mere marionette in a bit to fulfill the goals of someone else!

'Whether it's that damned fox… or Zanba!'

"All I did was level the playing field. When your mate invoked the law of authority, he sealed the domains of all the supremes of a celestial bloodline," Madam explained, for some reason sharing this kind of crucial information with people she was obviously at odds with. "But since you are not of celestial descent, I just made sure Lo'Atkar's authority stretches over to you too."

Madam took a deep breath before slowly sighing it out as she rested her hands on her hips and graced her two opponents with a cheerful smile.

"If you thought that Lo'Atkar's taboo was put in place to stop supremes from fighting each other…" Madam shook her head, "then, you would be correct. But from what I see, not in a way you expected."

Etaria squinted her eyes.

'Since she's so willing to talk… how about trying to squeeze some more from her?'

Knowledge and information were the greatest weapon one could wield. And since this supreme was more than willing to share it…

"I can clearly see breaking this taboo doesn't make us any weaker," Etaria spoke, rejoining the conversation rather than just letting Madam ramble on her own. "Quite the contrary, in fact."

Madam turned her eyes and looked at Etaria for a while.

And then, she nodded her head, her eyes shining as if she was glad she found someone capable enough to figure that kind of small details herself.

"That's correct."

"Sure, we might lose our ability to wield our domains… But without the burden of keeping it stable, we are free to use our actual power as we like," Etaria continued to speak, hoping to give the enemy supreme the push she needed to keep talking.

"That's also correct," Madam spoke again, this time also nodding her head.

"What's the drawback, then?" Etaria reached the end of the point and posed the question she was building up. "If we are only getting stronger by breaking the taboo, why is it a taboo to begin with?"

According to everything that happened thus far, Madam should freely answer this question…

But instead, she simply crossed her arms on her chest and smiled back at the princess.

'Is she… encouraging me to figure it out myself?' Etaria gulped her saliva, struggling to even accept the fact the reasons and thoughts of this damn fox went above and beyond what she was capable of figuring out.

Yet, as Madam continued to stay silent, Etaria had little to no other choice but to…

"And what does it matter?" Zanba pointed out, taking a step forward and looking over at Etaria. "Did you forget why we rushed here in such haste?" he pointed out before taking a quick glance at the spy behind them.

Syie was the only one who avoided death from the golden rays of Etaria's exploding light. Yet, while she managed to survive the onslaught… she has long since fallen down to her legs, unable to even stand in the presence of three different supremes.

And now… And now, her face was torn with fear so great, she couldn't move her body even if she wanted to.

'Wait, he is right! We are not here to duke it out with her. We are here to confirm whether or not she's stalling for time! And that means…' Etaria raised her eyes to Madam's smile… only to quickly avert them and look over at the spy, acting as if she finally figured something out.

"You are all killable now," she muttered once noticing both Etaria and Zanba turn their eyes toward her. "Without a domain, a stray arrow is all it will take to end you."

Etaria's face… twitched.

'So we were immortal before?' she guessed, instantly baffled by her thought.

Even if she was practically immortal with her domain raised… she never considered herself to be so. The call of death always followed wherever she went so the princess has long since accepted the reality that one day she would bite more than she could chew and end up in some random ditch as a corpse no more interesting than the next one in the same ditch…

So for her, realizing that she was suddenly no longer impervious to death meant absolutely nothing.

And between the reality that she could now be killed, something she always took for granted, and the realization that this entire encounter, this entire topic of the taboo, invocations and sharing the information that should be kept secret…

It was all just a tactic to buy time!

"I think you are right," Etaria spoke out, turning her eyes away from the spy and lowering them to look at her own palms.

Etaria gathered her mana, acting as if she suddenly found her mortality to be so scary, she just couldn't help but raise her guard as hard and as fast as she could…

"I now remember why we are here in the first place," Etaria explained, raising her eyes to Zanba… Only to throw all of the mana she gathered into the frame of one of the simplest, most ordinary spells she knew.

A spell with no complex weave that could be its breaking point. A spell with no fancy techniques and tricks weaved into its structure to multiply its power.

A simple spell only capable of translating the amount of mana infused into its structure into the raw might of unleashed power.

And with the anchor of the forming spell forming in her hand, Etaria finally looked at Madam.

"We are here to stop you from…"

Right in the middle of her sentence, Etaria turned the palm of her hand around, allowing the spell's anchor to drop down and fall to the ground.

The very instant it touched the ground, the anchor shattered, depriving the spell of the only bit that reinforced its activator, the weak point intentionally weaved into its structure to make unleashing the spell possible.

'We are here to stop you from stalling for time,' Etaria thought, right as her simplistic spell shattered, exploding into a dome of bright, golden light.

The golden light nearly instantly degraded, rushing to reach a state of equilibrium with the world's mana and unleashing all the energy stored in it in the process.

BOOM!

A thunder-like noise shook the entire forest right as the overwhelmingly powerful explosion devastated the space the three supremes were in, sending them flying in different directions.

The madam flew somewhere deeper into the forest, followed by Zanba who was ejected only a small angle away from her. Contrary to the two, by standing on the other side of the explosion, Etaria braced herself for the disaster, allowing her to ride the force of the explosion and fly out of the forest, only to land just a few tens of meters behind the back of her golden legion's line.

"Wha…?!"

Some of the officers jumped, and some soldiers rushed to turn around and face the new threat… Only to freeze when they saw Etaria struggle a bit to come out from the hole she created with her fall.

"There's no time," the princess spoke, her body sucking in the world's mana around her to replenish the reserves she touched to create the explosion just now. "Change of plans. I need everyone to advance," she ordered, gathering herself up and passing by the stunned soldier as she already started to make her way back to the forest.

"My princess!" one of the officers jumped up to the princess's side, struggling to even match the pace of her hurried step. "Advance… but where?"

Stopping for a second, Etaria turned her head and looked at the officer with a small smirk on her lips.

"Trust me, you will be able to tell."

And with this enigmatic answer, Etaria compressed her mana before infusing it into a set of simple spell frames infused into various, tiny magic stones sown into her elegant clothes. As she made her next step, rather than covering roughly a single pace of ground, the princess launched herself off the ground, rushing at a break-neck speed in the only direction that made sense.

The direction from where she could sense the aftershocks of supremes clashing.