This transformation wouldn't last much longer.
Su Cheng could feel the magic within her body—the magic Camus had transferred into her—depleting rapidly.
Having tried it several times before, she knew this state could barely last a little over ten minutes, so she had to finish everything within this timeframe.
Whether it was dealing with the dragon bone or escaping from the Marigold Palace.
"...Your Royal Highness."
Two attendants returned, carrying luxurious gowns.
Su Cheng put on an expression of a foul mood, and no one around dared to disturb her.
Two people had died in succession inside the private box, so things had obviously not gone smoothly. The attendants and guards outside could well understand this.
The red-haired woman stood at the door and glanced at them. "...I want to go see the items I purchased."
The attendant bowed respectfully. "Yes, Your Highness."
Su Cheng spoke, then pointed to the lyre on the ground. "Take this."
Leaving the box and heading towards the backstage of the auction hall, she encountered several young nobles on the way, who approached her with shining eyes.
"Your Highness!" one of them said joyfully. "Did you manage to win the dragon bone?"
Su Cheng gave a slight nod but maintained her displeased look. These people were all sharp-eyed and perceptive, quickly realizing that perhaps things hadn't gone exactly as planned.
They immediately stopped asking questions.
Su Cheng groaned inwardly.
Just by looking at the family crests on their clothes, she knew that every single one of them was a high-ranking warrior.
This was always the case in the empire's aristocratic circles.
The more prestigious the family, the more experts they gathered. Essentially, it was because it was very easy for these people to increase their power; they had many more convenient paths available to them.
At this very moment, if any of them were sensitive to the battle aura of others, they might just discover that something was wrong with her.
Su Cheng's expression grew even uglier.
In the eyes of the onlookers, this was merely a manifestation of Her Highness's bad mood.
They could also see that her footsteps were slightly unsteady, clearly indicating that something bad had happened earlier.
Because the truth was too outrageous, no one under normal circumstances would think in that direction, so they only subconsciously looked at Her Highness's guard.
The guard shook his head slightly.
He naturally knew what had happened—the God-favored one beside Her Highness was dead, and that Miss Kahn was also dead. The negotiations had surely broken down.
Moreover, Her Highness had killed someone from the Ring of Silencers. Even if it was just a young person, they possessed forbidden arts.
So she was definitely injured right now, or perhaps even cursed.
The guard didn't say a word, but his demeanor conveyed that there were hidden circumstances and they shouldn't pry. The nobles immediately restrained their expressions and began to speculate inwardly.
The backstage area of the auction house was much quieter. The outside clamor gradually faded away, and the air was filled with the smell of aged wood and preservative potions. The faint hum of magical energy could vaguely be heard.
A supervisor came forward respectfully and opened the door to a valuables vault, unlocking layers of complex protective magic arrays.
The vault and the auction stage were connected by a teleportation array, allowing auctioned items with confirmed buyers to be transported directly over.
"Your Highness..."
"This is the largest piece of dragon bone from this auction..."
The group spoke as they stepped into the vault.
Inside a transparent container carved from magical crystal lay the massive dragon bone.
The bone, as pitch-black as stone and jade, was illuminated by the lights, revealing fine, meandering patterns that looked like countless threads of intertwined gold and silver.
They flowed slowly across the bone's surface, seemingly containing some sort of power that had solidified into a physical form.
An oppressive, suffocating aura spread from the crystal box, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.
Most of the people showed varying degrees of discomfort.
Only the red-haired woman remained standing perfectly straight. The gazes of the nobles as they observed her also carried a hint of awe.
"Even without the test results—"
Su Cheng turned to the supervisor from the Aulu family. "...judging solely by this aura, it couldn't possibly be a low-grade mixed-blood sub-species."
"You are absolutely right," the supervisor said with a beaming smile. "If you find no issues upon inspection, shall we place the goods into a Rift Bracelet? Or have them delivered to your residence?"
Su Cheng waved her hand. "Put them away first."
A Rift Bracelet was a short-term spatial item.
Because it was inlaid with a certain unstable special crystal, it could open a temporary spatial rift, with varying storage capacities.
These bracelets all had a limited lifespan, ranging from five or six hours to three to five days. Once the time limit was exceeded, the crystal would crumble into ashes.
The items inside would also fall out.
Since it was a disposable item, its value was much lower compared to true spatial magical gear, such as various storage jewelry.
Of course, they still usually cost at least several dozen gold coins, making them something ordinary people could never use casually.
At the auction house, as long as the transaction amount reached a certain figure, such items were given away for free.
Su Cheng watched as the two goods were placed into the bracelet.
The supervisor respectfully handed the bracelet to her. She took it, breathing a sigh of relief inwardly, and began to figure out how to make her exit—mainly, how to shake off these followers.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion echoed from the auction hall above.
This was immediately followed by a series of crashing and exploding sounds, accompanied by the chaotic screams of people.
The walls of the vault shook violently. In just a few seconds, the ceiling, constructed of sturdy stone and magic ore, was torn open like a piece of paper, revealing a massive gaping hole.
Dust, rubble, and fragments of broken beams poured down like a torrential rain.
For ordinary people, this would be a fatal disaster. However, everyone present possessed battle aura. Although they were surprised, they weren't particularly afraid.
Thus, the crowd quickly dodged, and those who couldn't evade simply threw punches to smash the falling wall debris.
Amidst the gray, hazy smoke and dust, pillars and walls collapsed one after another. The rift above grew larger and larger, and the air was filled with a powdery mist and a scorched smell.
Not only that—
The walls on both sides of the vault shattered completely, exposing several other surrounding vaults, as well as the auction hall chamber above.
Like a smashed toy, the entire venue became fragmented. In the sea of churning dust, a figure could vaguely be seen descending from the sky.
The person stopped in mid-air. Their hanging right hand was covered in dark cyan scales, and a black-purple light gathered in their palm.
Thousands of leaping electrical arcs intertwined and merged, compressing into a crackling, dark thunder orb.
"..."
The person spoke in some obscure language, carrying an ancient and gloomy aura.
Then, they casually pushed it forward.
The thunder orb was thrown out and exploded with a boom in mid-air. Countless black-purple electrical snakes wove into a web of death, instantly enveloping the auction hall.
The violent lightning howled and darted wildly, and distorted waves of heat surged everywhere. Lightning spirits roamed angrily, searching all around for targets to devour.
Metal supports were swept by the electrical arcs, instantly melting into dripping molten iron that corroded pits into the glass panels.
A pungent stench permeated the air. Every breath felt like swallowing steel needles, and exposed skin could feel the stray static electricity.
Before the guards in the auction house could even react, their weapons were entangled by lightning snakes, and dazzling light suddenly exploded.
Their armor melted like wax, fusing indistinguishably with their flesh and blood. By the time the lightning faded, only charred humanoid outlines remained on the ground.
Several Great Battle Masters were killed in an instant, unable to use a single battle technique.
Almost every corner of the auction house and every guest suffered varying degrees of attacks.
Su Cheng originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape.
However, the oncoming electrical currents stopped her. Disregarding the risk of exposing her identity, she channeled her battle aura to forcefully block it, and black flames instantly swallowed the lightning.
—Besides, no one had the leisure to pay attention to her anymore.
Su Cheng stepped back, panting, and threw aside her burning outer coat, only to see the prince's guards lying on the ground, their limbs already carbonized.
Those nobles were also forced to separate; some had fled to who-knows-where, while others were still dealing with the shooting lightning in the distance.
The attacks they were facing seemed even more troublesome and difficult to resolve.
Su Cheng pondered to herself. In terms of warrior ranks, these people were all higher than her, yet they died even faster.
Could it be that these target-seeking electrical currents prioritized attacking the stronger ones?
While observing her surroundings, she forcefully tore open her buttons and threw her clothes into the sea of fire.
Then she casually took out two pieces of clothing from her spatial necklace and put them on.
Camus's magic power only had a little bit left. She first dispelled the blood magic of her transformation, restoring her own appearance, and then put on a mask.
It wasn't that she thought these things were more important than running for her life. She did want to leave as soon as possible, but she couldn't get out for the time being.
The entire auction house had turned into hell.
Fire and lightning wreaked havoc, blocking most of the pathways. Stray flashes of lightning sprinted across the ground, and the aisle beneath her feet was like a red-hot iron plate.
Su Cheng couldn't help but look up at the instigator.
Still in the center of the lightning storm, the man slowly landed on the ground, stepping over the ruins and walking towards the nearby storage vault.
He seemed completely unbothered by the chaotic and dismal scene in the auction house, ignoring the charred corpses and roasted flesh, and walked straight into the vault.
There lay the other two boxes of dragon bones.
He swung his scale-covered claws, easily shattering the magic restrictions and crystal shells, and took out the two pieces of bone from inside.
Then he began to chant in a low voice.
Su Cheng couldn't hear clearly what he was chanting, but she felt it wasn't a human language.
She had just jumped out of the sea of fire and was leaping onto a collapsed pillar, wanting to return to the auction hall upstairs where there were more paths.
"..."
The attacker in the vault next door suddenly turned his head.
He didn't look at the corpses covering the floor. His cyan-gold eyes stared straight at her, his pitch-black vertical pupils contracting slightly.
Then, a hint of greed and fanaticism appeared in them.
"...Your Majesty."
The man muttered, "You have the aura of His Majesty on you—"
Su Cheng could almost feel his gaze as if it were tangible.
The attacker lunged at her fiercely.
If she hadn't dodged the moment she felt something was wrong, she would have inevitably been smashed into meat paste by the other party.
She rolled twice on the ground and, across the tomb-like gorgeous flames and thousands of hissing lightning snakes, locked eyes with those cyan-gold pupils.
It was a young man with black hair and pale skin, tall and gaunt, with a gloomy face, but a certain fanatical and joyful light bloomed in his pupils.
"Give it to me—" A hoarse roar came from his throat, "Your Majesty—"
Su Cheng didn't actually understand what he was saying.
His voice was too hoarse, and his Common Tongue was very rusty, like someone who hadn't spoken for decades or centuries.
But she noticed he went to the vault next door and caught a glimpse of what he took.
This guy still wanted the dragon bones!
Su Cheng: "..."
She was no longer Prince Aquila now, nor was she in the state of hiding in a concealed corner a moment ago.
Right now, she was in the main hall of the auction house.
Even if everyone was too busy to fend for themselves, running away or screaming miserably, who knew if anyone was looking in this direction!
Su Cheng didn't want to admit that she was carrying dragon bones, nor did she want the other party to say such things.
So she turned her head and ran.
The wind and mist rising around her formed a shield, isolating the hissing electric sparks in the air, wrapping around her limbs and torso, and crashing towards the window together.
"You lowly humans, how dare you sell the bones of a deity—"
The attacker threw his head back and let out a furious roar.
His chest he heave like a bellows, and a strange vibration spread throughout the space.
Dozens of voice lines intertwined into a bizarre harmony, with low and high notes mixed with ear-piercing friction. Sound waves spread outward layer by layer with him at the center.
Every sound wave was almost clearly visible. Translucent ripples appeared in the air, walls and seats burst one after another, and countless debris shot out in all directions.
Su Cheng waved her hand to roll up a gust of wind, blowing away the crystal particles smashing towards her face.
She also felt the sound waves crashing against her body. Some oppressive and dark power wanted to invade her body, but was isolated by her battle aura.
"Ahhhhh—"
A magician rolling in the sea of fire was painfully covering his ears. His eyes suddenly exploded, and brain matter sprayed out from his nostrils.
The attacker's roar sent out waves of aftermath in the air.
And he turned his head, the scales on his neck popping out. The corners of his mouth tore to the roots of his ears, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, and his protruding spine also propped up the black robe on his body.
The dome above the auction house collapsed with a loud bang, revealing the dark blue night sky and a sky full of stars.
Su Cheng: "..."
If that attacker hadn't been staring at her, she could have escaped with her life by now.
However, he was still glaring at her deadly. Obviously, any movement from her could draw the other party's attack.
She could indeed summon wind currents to rise into the sky and leave from there, but the speed of this process couldn't be very fast, and it was highly likely she wouldn't be able to shake him off.
Su Cheng: "Sir, have you realized that by running to someone else's auction house and causing this scene, you've committed the crimes of intentional destruction of property, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, intentional homicide, and robbery—"
The attacker waved his claws and lunged forward.
His figure sliced through the air like a ghost, instantly closing in on the black-haired girl at a speed that ordinary people couldn't react to at all.
And then—
The scale-covered claws were about to dig out her heart or slice open her entire chest and abdomen.
But they were stopped by her hand.
Su Cheng raised her head. In her amber eyes, light pulsed along the patterns of the iris, and the edges of the whites of her eyes overflowed with a honey-like golden radiance.
The pitch-black round pupils writhed, revealing the patterns of a codex and a gavel.
"..."
The attacker raised his head.
Behind the human girl, a tall and towering figure appeared.
In the floating sea of light, the blond deity's eyes were tightly closed, and his handsome and elegant face was completely calm.
The muscular arm wrapped in chains raised, and the pages of the codex in the palm slowly turned.
Then it paused.
At the same time, the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones erupted.
Su Cheng forcefully crushed the other party's wrist, her fingertips digging into the bone and flesh, preparing to tear off his claw.
The attacker let out crazy curses, "Running dog of the betrayer, servant of a false god, you have defiled—"
Suddenly, a pillar of golden light pierced through his mouth and shot out from the back of his head.
Su Cheng quickly took two steps back.
A tall and imposing figure materialized nearby.
It was a blond man dressed in luxurious attire, wearing a gold coin and rose crest on his chest. A faint smile graced his handsome face.
"Your Grace!"
Cries of surprise rang out from a short distance away. Several guests who had been trapped by the lightning and flames now wore expressions of profound relief, as if they had just been saved.
Su Cheng's heart slowly sank.
This was Duke Aulu.
He was also the master of the Marigold Palace.
