The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 226

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 226
A tremendous force pushed against her, but Tiel did not fall back—she held Rowen tightly to her chest.
Clasped in Tiel’s arms, Rowen hovered in the air before slowly beginning to descend toward the ground.
Brilliant light burst forth from Tiel’s hands, from her embrace, and slowly enfolded both Tiel and Rowen’s bodies. The Asterian knights lifted their heads to gaze at her.
The Beast-kin of Arcadia still poured toward the Asterian knights as Je commanded, but because the knights held the line with all their strength, the torrent did not reach where Tiel, Iandros, and Cassius stood.
Tiel descended to the ground, still holding Rowen. The girl went limp in her embrace. The dark force that had shadowed her face lifted away.
“……Is it done?”
Tiel murmured as she examined Rowen’s face. The darkness that had crawled toward Rowen like it meant to swallow her whole was pushed back by Tiel’s power and vanished beyond.
After securing Rowen in her arms to prevent her from rising again, Tiel turned a glare toward Je and spoke.
“I won’t let things go your way.”
She spoke with a sharpness entirely foreign to her usual tone—a cutting edge that rarely showed itself.
Je scratched the back of his head as though troubled.
“How strange. Why are you here, miss? You ought to be inside the Princess’s Subspace by now.”
Je continued.
“Why are you here interfering with my work…….”
At Je’s words, the memory of when Tiel had been taken from him in the Temple Underground flashed across Iandros’s eyes, which gleamed with a cold light.
He gripped the Blue Blade at an angle and fixed Je with a sharp stare.
“Was it you who confined Tiel?”
“No, sir. It was Orpheo and the Princess herself who confined Miss Tiel. But that isn’t the important matter right now.”
Je narrowed his eyes.
“That space is a Void Space—nothing exists there. One cannot enter it, nor can one leave it. Miss Tiel should be trapped there helplessly right now, yet here she stands before me…….”
Je murmured. His gaze shifted to Rowen, cradled in Tiel’s arms.
The black force that had enveloped Rowen had largely dissipated by then, and the moment Je confirmed this, he clicked his tongue with a soft “tsk.”
“Well, that’s fine. The plan will proceed even without Miss Rowen. But you just made a tremendous mistake, Tiel.”
At Je’s words, Tiel regarded him with suspicion. A tremendous mistake?
Je paid no mind to how she stared at him and continued.
“The disappearance of Miss Rowen doesn’t end all of this. It simply means that countless Beast-kin will enter the Subspace in an incomplete state.”
“……What?”
“Rowen Nestian was meant to serve as the light that illuminates the Princess’s Subspace. But since you took Miss Rowen from us……the Princess’s Subspace will lose that light. In other words, all these countless Beast-kin will become trapped in a space with no light whatsoever. Because of your foolish act……well, not that it matters to me.”
Je laughed smoothly. When he raised his hand, two Beast-kin wearing black robes emerged from behind him and stood rigidly at his back.
“Do you see? The work proceeds, Miss Tiel.”
Je pointed a finger toward the sky. Not only Tiel, but Iandros, Cassius, and all the Asterian knights present lifted their eyes to gaze upward.
Cracks spiderwebbed around the enormous Rift that had appeared in the heavens.
Tiel’s brow furrowed. Cracks? The sky was cracking?
“That Rift is the entrance to the Subspace.”
Je said.
“And this place where we stand——is already inside the Subspace. Beginning with that Rift, this entire world will be transformed into the Princess’s Subspace.”
Pride saturated every word Je spoke. Tiel stared at the Rift with confusion written across her face.
The entire world becoming the Princess’s Subspace? Was there truly no way to stop it?
Then the Beast-kin of Arcadia stirred and surrounded Je. Tiel’s eyes widened in alarm as she turned back to regard him.
Seeing Je laugh at ease, it was clear he had manipulated them once more.
The man smiled pleasantly and bowed his head.
“Then I shall see you again shortly. Now that I’ve already lost Miss Rowen, lingering here feels like a waste of time. Besides, it seems we don’t have much time left…….”
Boom—boom—boom!
A deafening roar erupted from the Rift, and cracks branched outward from its edges.
The cracks formed and sealed, formed and sealed again. The sky shattered and reformed. The blue heavens and white clouds shifted to crimson, then back to their original hues.
In that moment, Tiel felt as though she had witnessed this phenomenon before.
‘In Iandros’s Subspace!’
There had been a time when the Princess’s memories overlaid Iandros’s Subspace.
It had looked exactly like this! Tiel fully grasped now that the Princess’s Subspace was indeed overlaying this world.
“Father, we can’t let Je escape!”
Tiel cried out. In the same breath, she was already attempting to bind Je’s ankles with her Ability.
But Cassius’s Flame fell short of Je and sputtered out.
A black fire rose up and consumed it. Je had countered with a darker force.
“Seize him. If you cannot capture him alive, you have leave to kill him.”
Cassius, having failed to ensnare him with his Ability, barked the command. The Asterian knights charged toward Je as their lord ordered.
But the Beast-kin of Arcadia stood packed thickly around him, and there was no path through their ranks.
The Beast-kin no longer flinched from Cassius’s Fire, nor from Ferdi and Ludian’s Flames. They would suffer burns before they would yield.
Yet using a stronger Ability was out of the question. Je merely sneered at them and walked away alongside his two subordinates in black robes.
“Until next time.”
“Not so fast. The Imperial Palace Knight Unit is already dug in at the base of the hill. How do you plan to break through them?”
“There’s always a way out.”
Je laughed and swept his hand through the air. A black passage materialized before him—resembling Iandros’s Subspace entrance.
If there was any difference between this newly formed entrance and Iandros’s, it was only that Je’s passage appeared far more stable than his…….
“See you next time.”
Je stepped into the passage. They vanished into it before anyone could move to stop them. Iandros stood bewildered, murmuring to himself.
“A Subspace isn’t a Space Displacement ability. It doesn’t connect to other spaces. So why did they enter there?”
“Because……if more than half of this world has already become the Princess’s Subspace……?”
Tiel spoke as she transferred Rowen to another knight’s arms. Iandros turned to look at her.
“The Princess’s Subspace?”
“Yes. If, as that man said, more than half has already been transformed into the Princess’s Subspace, then movement within the Subspace should be possible, shouldn’t it?”
It was impossible to use a Subspace to travel to another location in the real world, but moving from one Subspace to another within the same Subspace was entirely feasible.
Tiel fully handed Rowen over to the knight’s care and lifted her head to gaze at the blue sky above.
The heavens shifted from blue to black, from black to crimson, and back again…….
The sky’s color and form changed ceaselessly. Tiel began to dimly perceive that the ground beneath her feet had already entered the Princess’s Subspace.
Tiel looked toward Iandros.
“We have to enter the Princess’s Subspace.”
“You just said this place is already the Princess’s Subspace, didn’t you? So where exactly are we supposed to go?”
“Somewhere else.”
Not long after Je vanished, the Beast-kin of Arcadia simultaneously collapsed to the ground.
The man controlling their minds had disappeared, breaking his Mental Control. The knights busied themselves gathering up the fallen creatures.
The Imperial Palace Knight Unit and Cedric, who had been encamped at the base of the hill, could be seen ascending the slope. Tiel watched it all for a moment, then murmured absently.
“I need to return to where I came from just now. I have to meet the Princess.”
Emerald Light burst forth from Tiel’s hands, flashing brilliantly.
“I have the feeling that only the Princess can resolve this. That’s what I believe.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————