Chương 155: Chapter : 155

Without a single second of hesitation, Hestia greedily reached out and snatched the glowing Core of Luminus right out of the open glass case.

"The artifact is secured!" Princess Hestia declared loudly, holding the beautiful, freezing stone high in the air for everyone to see. Her voice dripped with arrogant, total superiority.

"The 16th Unit officially claims the prize! The ten points are mine!" Zaima, standing right behind her Princess, crossed her arms and offered a mocking, bitter smirk toward the rest of the room.

"A flawless victory. As expected of the absolute best unit in the Empire." The room instantly filled with a heavy, highly uncomfortable tension. The brief, desperate alliance that had held the three Royal teams together through the horrific, monster-filled laboratory was officially over. The bad guys were gone. The prize was in hand. Now, they were right back to being absolute, brutal competitors in the Succession War.

And Ken Eliot, standing completely invisible in the corner of the room, just let out a long, quiet, incredibly bored yawn.

Princess Iris stepped forward, her violet eyes narrowing just a tiny bit. Her dark blue uniform was covered in soot, but her posture remained incredibly strong and dignified. She looked directly at her sister, who was currently holding the glowing artifact like a shiny new toy.

"Hestia, put the stone down," Princess Iris said. Her voice was perfectly calm, but it carried a firm, undeniable edge of authority.

"We made an agreement back in the parlor. You cannot just grab the prize and declare yourself the winner. We all fought our way through this bunker together. We all bled to get down here." Prince Hephaestus stepped up right beside Iris, wiping a fresh streak of engine grease off his forehead. He looked incredibly exhausted, but he nodded his head in complete agreement.

"Iris is right, Hestia," Hephaestus rumbled, his deep voice filling the quiet vault room.

"A deal is a deal. We formed a temporary alliance. We agreed that once the artifact was secured, we would handle the distribution fairly. We agreed to draw lots to see who gets to carry it back to the Upper Council." Princess Hestia rolled her eyes, clutching the glowing Core tightly against her chest. She looked at her older brother and younger sister with an expression of pure, unfiltered pity.

"Oh, please," Hestia scoffed, letting out a delicate, mocking laugh.

"You two are entirely too naive. I am physically holding the stone. Possession is nine-tenths of the law in this Empire. Why would I willingly put it down and risk losing a silly little drawing game? The 16th Unit is taking this back to the palace." The fragile peace in the room instantly shattered into a million pieces.

"You greedy, arrogant snob!" Laxmi roared, her hands instantly bursting into bright, roaring orange flames. She took a highly aggressive step toward the 16th Unit.

"Put the rock down right now, or I will roast that fancy white dress right off your back!" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Do not take another step, you loudmouth brute!" Zaima snapped back. She immediately raised her hands, summoning her sharp, glowing white triangular barriers to protect Hestia. Elma pulled her twin silver short-swords out with a sharp metallic click, pointing them directly at Naomi. Naomi didn't hesitate for a microsecond. She drew her own daggers, her green wind magic swirling violently around her combat boots.

Heart grabbed her heavy metal wrench, and Luna lazily started sparking yellow lightning between her fingers. The three Royal vanguards were completely ready to tear each other apart right there in the middle of the underground vault.

"Stop this immediately!" Princess Iris ordered, raising her voice over the sudden noise. She glared at Hestia.

"We are not going to kill each other over this! Hestia, if you walk out of here without honoring our agreement, I swear I will file a formal grievance with the Upper Council. You will look like a coward who broke a diplomatic treaty." Hestia gritted her teeth. She absolutely hated being called a coward. She cared deeply about her public image and her perfect reputation. A formal grievance would make her look totally dishonorable in front of the other nobles. Hestia let out a massive, highly dramatic sigh.

She aggressively slammed the glowing Core of Luminus back down onto the steel pedestal.

"Fine!" Hestia spat, crossing her arms tightly.

"If you are so incredibly desperate to lose fairly, Iris, then let us draw the lots. But let it be known that I am only doing this to humor you." Raja, the quiet, nervous engineer from the 9th Unit, quickly stepped forward. His hands were shaking as he pulled three different lengths of insulated electrical wire out of his heavy leather toolbelt. He hid the wires in his closed fist, leaving only the very tips sticking out.

"Okay," Raja mumbled nervously, holding his hand out toward the three Royals.

"The rules are simple. Whoever pulls the shortest wire loses. The longest wire wins the prize." The entire room held their breath. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Princess Iris, Princess Hestia, and Prince Hephaestus stepped up to the engineer. They all reached out at the exact same time. With a sharp tug, they pulled the wires from Raja's hand. They held their wires up to the light. Iris had a medium-length wire. Hephaestus had a long wire.

Princess Hestia was holding the absolute shortest piece of wire. The result was undeniable. Hestia had lost the first draw. Her unit was officially out of the running for the ten points. Hestia stared at the tiny piece of wire in her hand. Her perfect, flawless face slowly turned bright red with pure, explosive fury. Her eyes widened in absolute outrage.

"No!" Hestia shrieked, totally losing her refined, high-society manners. She aggressively threw the short wire onto the metal floor.

"This is a trick! Your dirty little mechanic rigged the game! I refuse to accept this result!"

"It wasn't rigged, Hestia! You lost!" Hephaestus yelled back, his patience completely gone.

"Just accept it and step back!"

"I am not stepping anywhere!" Hestia screamed, lunging forward and grabbing the glowing Core of Luminus right back off the pedestal. She hugged it tightly to her chest.

"The points belong to me! Zaima! Elma! Defensive formation right now! We are fighting our way out of here!" The vault erupted into total, absolute chaos. Weapons clashed, magic flared, and the three Royal siblings screamed at each other at the top of their lungs. The massive, three-way war that they had avoided all day was finally exploding. But right in the absolute middle of the screaming, a loud, highly annoying, totally out-of-place sound echoed from the doorway.

"Wow, you guys are really loud," a lazy voice complained. Ken Eliot instantly dropped his invisibility. He stepped smoothly into the bright light of the vault room, wearing his signature goofy, utterly exhausted grin. He slouched his shoulders, shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his torn, dusty navy blue suit, and casually wandered into the room. The fighting stopped for a second. Everyone turned to look at the doorway.