The sight of Alan with an emotionless face staring at her with his hand buried within her chest was a shock to her system almost as bad as the electricity coating the male's hands.
"How… could you?" She grunted in pain.
Alan didn't answer, instead he leapt backwards to avoid the avalanche of attacks that fell upon his position. The Grand Elders had reacted swiftly.
All of them carried expressions filled with rage but Trixina appeared exceptionally furious. Having been influenced by her peculiar insights into the wrath of the ocean, she had become someone quick to anger and slow to calm. It was a slightly undesirable trait for the Elves who valued peace and harmony (especially after the Faerie Code) but the boost it provided to her Water Elemental prowess more than made up for it.
"Your Majesty!" She leapt to Titania's side with worry.
Titania was busy defusing the lightning energy that was wreaking havoc in her body but she was by no means out of commission. Alan's Mana could not compare to her own and hence could not exhibit its full effects against her organs that were perpetually coated in her own Mana, no matter what the element was.
But it was still doing its job and she felt numb and jittery at the same time.
"Alan!" She yelled, half shocked half angry. "I don't know wh-"
She once again faltered as a new attack came her way, once again from the least expected position.
Thanks to her Spirit Sense she could see this new attack completely, but unfortunately due to the electricity numbing her body, coupled with her surprise and the negligible distance between herself and her new attacker, there was nothing she could do but watch as a warhammer made from wood and coated in mana slammed into her skull and sent her flying.
*BANG!*
"T-TRIXINA?!" David, a male Grand Elder yelled. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He was baffled and quite frankly horrified, but he quickly abandoned his attack on Alan to intercept this new traitor who was trying to make good on her surprise attack. Another 2 Grand Elders joined him whilst the others tried to subdue Alan.
"R-ridiculous…" Titania coughed out in wonder after her rolling body collided with a tree. She simply could not believe what she was experiencing.
Betrayal from the Grand Elders? By Alan and Trixina at that?
"Inconceivable."
*BSSSH!* *CRINK!* *SPLOOSH!*
The sound of lightning, instantly followed by the sound of something breaking, entered her ears.
"ALAN! YOU!" Somebody yelled. "HOW COULD YOU?!"
Alan had struck the bag they had been using to hold water from the Spring of Life with a burst of lightning, causing the bottles to break and the precious liquid within to splash onto the floor.
Was she dreaming?
"TRIXINA! DIE!" David raged.
He threw his personally crafted wooden spear (that was also enchanted by his own Wood Mana) at Trixina, it tore through the sky and impaled the left side of her chest, running through her heart and causing critical injury.
Trixina coughed up blood and tripped onto the ground, losing a good portion of her strength as she approached death's door. But it was just that.
To most others, having their heart destroyed would be an injury too fatal to withstand, but to a 4th Realm Elf, especially a Grand Elder like her? It was merely critical, not lethal.
"Hehehe… KAK! Hehe…" Trixina began laughing and coughing despite the damage to her organs and her face still practically kissing the dirt.
It was a disgusting, miserable sight. But the triumph in her voice was audible to all.
"It pains me to do this, wife of mine. Truly." Alan suddenly spoke as he dodged attacks from the vengeful Grand Elders.
"Initially this wasn't supposed to happen, at least not like this. But new orders arrived and there's nothing I could do about that. Please believe me." There was a hint of ridicule in his voice.
"But if I am being honest, this is all very amusing. I bet you never saw this day coming, did you. You are so powerful, so gifted, so beautiful, but you are also so very dumb." He ducked an axe swing.
"You are a Queen of a Nation, but all you do is sit in your palace all day and cultivate. What kind of ruler is more familiar with the blades of grass in their garden than the people they govern? It's ridiculous to the point of being hilarious. What's worse is that you have suffered not one but TWO rebellions, and still choose to bury your head." He deflected a sword slash.
"If it were not for I and other Grand Elders, our beautiful nation would have self-destructed long before we even encountered greater foes like the Snakes and Dragons. However, despite me saying all this, I didn't have a problem with it completely. Although the workload was great, I had no problem with working hard, after all, I loved you and I loved our people. Even if I had to deal with many issues, I was granted status and respect, and truth be told, coming back home to see your marvellous self peacefully meditating was a different form of happiness. And it's not like I didn't understand that in this highly competitive world a ruler needs all the strength they can obtain, so your frustrating dedication to cultivation was annoying but it was understandable. There's just one thing…"
A green symbol slowly emerged on his face and his blue eyes turned emerald. The Mark of Envy.
But before anyone could react to the shocking revelation, he struck. His hands -encased in blue lightning and a green glow- plunged into the chests of the 2 Grand Elders that were fighting him.
"ARRRRRGGHH!" They screamed in agony as electricity ravaged their insides, and they dropped to their knees as the paralysis effect stripped away their control over their bodies. Alan's power was clearly much more potent than it just was.
"Why…" Alan muttered, his previous sneer replaced by a blizzard. "Why could you never acknowledge all that I had done? Why did you look down on me so much? Did you think I didn't know, or that I didn't care? Even my title 'Queen's Consort', was a display of how little you thought of me. Other royal pairings are called King and Queen, or Emperor and Empress. Why are we the ones called Queen and Queen's Consort? Why am I the one that must be publicly humiliated? Furthermore…"
He raised his 2 hands -coated in the blood of his closest friends- and smiled ruthlessly.
"Why do we still not have a single child? Excuse me for being crass oh great lady but why, in over 100 years of marriage, have we not had sex even once? What did I do wrong? Do I disgust you in some way? Do I stink? Am I hideous? Of course not! All Elves are perfect, unlike those round eared Barbarians. I know why. It's not because it would take too much time out of your cultivation or that it would weaken your or any of the other dragon shit that you like to say. It's because I was weaker than you, isn't it?"
He dropped his hands to his hips and chuckled dryly. "Well then, how do you like me now? Have I become strong enough? Am I now worthy of your respect, 'Queen'?"
His eyes -filled with mocking- began to glow brighter as unique markings slowly emerged on his skin.