CHAPTER 434: CHAPTER 434: DIVINE MISUNDERSTANDING

The morning sun blazed like a forge above the capital, its rays cutting through the crisp air as David hung suspended in the Sun Empress’s iron grip. Each finger wrapped around his throat felt like molten steel, the divine strength behind them making any attempt at resistance utterly futile.

His Nightveil Embrace armor, that magnificent relic of shadow and night, groaned under the assault of pure solar energy. Hairline cracks spider-webbed across the darkened plates, each fissure glowing with an inner light as the armor fought to maintain its integrity against forces it was never meant to withstand.

"You dare wear the guise of shadows in my sanctuary?" The Sun Empress’s voice thundered across the sky, her eyes blazing like miniature suns that threatened to burn away his very soul. "Your kind has plagued my empire long enough!"

David’s lungs screamed for air as he fought against her crushing grip. His suppressed power, deliberately held at the king rank to rebuild his foundation properly, felt pathetically inadequate against this divine fury. Each attempt to speak was choked off before the words could form, his voice reduced to desperate, rasping whispers that were lost in the howling wind of her ascension.

"Not... demon..." he managed to gasp out, the words barely audible even to himself. "Trying to... help..."

But his shadow-wreathed appearance only reinforced her conviction. The Nightveil Embrace, despite its cracks and damage, continued to emanate tendrils of darkness that coiled around his form like living smoke. To the Sun Empress, he looked exactly like what she believed him to be, an infernal infiltrator who had somehow breached her most sacred space.

Solar power began building around the Empress’s form, her radiance growing from brilliant to blinding. The very air around them started to shimmer and burn as she channeled her divine authority. David could feel the heat pressing against his skin like the breath of a dragon, threatening to incinerate him before she even struck. This was it, he was about to be obliterated by the very person he’d risked everything to save.

Then, like salvation wrapped in urgent text, the system blazed across his vision:

[CRITICAL ALERT]

Princess Elyssira Aurealis - Life signs failing

Remaining time: 47 seconds

Cause: Sensory overload from prophetic abilities.Immediate intervention required

David’s eyes widened with horrified understanding. Of course, the princess had been hidden away in her chambers for a reason. Her seer abilities, so powerful when contained and controlled, were killing her now that she’d been exposed to the chaotic outside world. Every sight, every sound, every possibility was flooding through her consciousness like a torrent of liquid fire.

With the Sun Empress’s power reaching critical levels, with death mere heartbeats away, David summoned every ounce of his remaining strength and forced out the words: "Your niece... Princess... dying!"

The effect was instantaneous and profound. The Sun Empress’s blazing power faltered like a candle flame in a sudden wind. The word ’niece’ cut through her divine fury like a blade of ice, and her grip on his throat loosened just enough for him to draw a desperate breath.

"Elyssira..." The name escaped her lips in a whisper, and David could see the exact moment when recognition flickered in those solar eyes. Memories surfaced of a beloved niece cursed to live in isolation, whose very connection to the world drained her life force with each passing moment.

Without another word, the Sun Empress rocketed downward toward the palace opening they had crashed through earlier, still carrying David in her grip but no longer with the intent to destroy.

They landed at the broken wall where Princess Elyssira and Vespera had been left behind, and the sight that greeted them was heartbreaking.

Vespera knelt at the ledge of the destroyed wall, holding Princess Elyssira’s trembling form against her chest. The princess’s skin had taken on the pale, translucent quality of marble, and blood, bright and vivid, trickled from the corner of her mouth. Each breath came shallow and erratic, her slight frame wracked with tremors as her prophetic abilities tore her apart from within.

"Master!" Vespera’s voice cracked with desperation as she looked up at David’s approach. "She’s not responding! Her life force is bleeding away from all the external stimulation!"

The moment the Sun Empress released him, David didn’t hesitate. His hand dove into his spatial storage, fingers closing around the second rank suppression elixir, the one the system rewards him... a coincidence? The golden liquid seemed to pulse with its own inner light, designed specifically to suppress overwhelming magical forces.

"This should help," he said, his voice hoarse from the Sun Empress’s grip. He carefully lifted Princess Elyssira’s head, supporting her neck as he brought the vial to her lips. "It’s designed to suppress overwhelming magical forces."

The golden liquid flowed down her throat like liquid sunlight, and the effect was almost miraculous. David watched as the princess’s breathing began to stabilize, colour slowly returning to her pale cheeks. The constant barrage of future visions, every possible outcome, every thread of fate that had been overwhelming her senses, gradually subsided to manageable levels.

Her eyes fluttered open, those unique orbs focusing with difficulty on the faces surrounding her. "Aunt Solaria..." she whispered, her voice weak but steady. "The shadow-walker saved me. I saw... I saw his true heart in the streams of possibility."

The Sun Empress, Solaria, David realised, knelt beside her niece, her divine radiance dimming to a gentle, warming glow. The fury that had nearly incinerated him moments before was completely gone, replaced by an overwhelming relief that made her seem almost human. "Elyssira, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize..."

With the immediate crisis passed, David finally had the opportunity to speak clearly. The words came out in a rush, desperate to prevent any return of her earlier hostility. "I’m not a demon, Your Majesty. I came here to free you from the chaos relic that was keeping you trapped. That black sun was draining your power and consciousness."

Solaria’s divine senses, no longer clouded by protective fury, examined David with the thoroughness of a master appraiser evaluating a complex artifact.