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  Driving a wagon made from crude cuts of wood and pulled by a mule, the princess Vicky sat next to her mother. The young girl looked aged, as if the time since she escaped from the holy city gave her canyon-like wrinkles. The older woman was less aged, but that didn't mean she was okay. Ever since they left the cathedral, the queen hadn't moved or visibly responded to anything. Just getting her onto the cart was a herculean task for Vicky, and the queen only ate when food was put directly into her mouth.

  As the wagon continued towards the horizon, Vicky reflected on how far she had come. At first she was careful about who she trusted, but realized that her and her mother's entire existence was completely unknown to the outside world. Displaying her authority and the queen's face was a risk, but it is what had gotten them food and transportation. One especially helpful old farmer happened to lend her his carriage. Now she was riding along with her mother towards the castle in order to gather some men for the expadition.

  The traveling was difficult for a princess, who had considered herself a very capable person. The more the days dragged on, the more the young girl realized how incapable she was. Such basic things as finding food and water required her to beg whatever locals she happened to meet. More than once, Vicky was forced to bow or kneel in order to get basic neccessaties.

  It was a week into the travel when she finally saw the central spire of her castle. It was such a relief that she was going to finally get home.

  From a distance, a figure was watching through the slits in his featureless mask. The figure was obviously male, with thick muscles and dressed head to toe in black leather. As he watched the carriage plod along slowly, the figure reached into his pocket and pulled out a very old necklace. On one end was a tiny trinket that happened to look like a frowning cross. The man raised it to his forehead, then a moment of silence passed before he put it back in his pocket.

  Arriving at the gates of the city, Vicky commanded the guards to immediately go tell her father what had happened. As she was travelling towards the castle, a large group happened to appear around the corner.

  "Emily!" Vicky shouted in surprise.

  "Princess Vicky?" Emily looked at the young girl curiously.

  "Thank the god that I was able to meet you! Listen, my mother and I were kidnapped by the church! Eric got me out, but my mother was already labeled as a slave!"

  "What?" Emily questioned, this young princess trying to throw information too fast for Emily to process.

  "Look!" Vicky urged, climbing onto the cart next to her mother. She pulled down the nape of the queen's shirt, revealing the mark of a slave. The queen didn't react at all, her eyes unfocused as she was revealed to the party of adventurers.

  "Come with me," Emily urged in a deep voice. The hero of the sword suddenly grabbed the queen and pulled her from the cart, a little surprised at the dead weight the queen was supplying. With no grace at all, Emily lifted the dead weight over her shoulder, then began the trek back to the castle with Vicky in towe. On the way, Emily got a more complete version of what had happened, but at the end the heroin stopped in her tracks.

  "You mean, Eric is dead?" Emily asked, looking down at the little girl. There were tears in Vicky's eyes, but she managed a nod. Emily couldn't exactly beleive what Vicky had said, no matter what the princess said.

  Eric wasn't just the strongest person Emily had ever met, he was also the most righteous person that she had ever met. He always stuck to his guns, even when an entire kingdom seemingly declared war on him. For the entire time that Emily had known Eric, he had show that he was the most pompous, arrogant, troubled, indestructable person that had ever lived.

  That's when something caught her eye, a large man turning the corner dressed entirely in black leather. He looked like a ninja, but his sheer size would make sneaking a lost cause. The man stepped wide, adopting a stance that was prepared for a fight.

  "Give me the queen," the man commanded, his mask muffling his voice.

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  "Princess, would you mind stepping back?" Emily suggested, never looking away from this mysterious stranger. Vicky moved away from the two, while Emily slowly lowered the queen onto the ground. Once the queen was safely away, Emily summoned her sword and charge at blinding speeds. She was there before Vicky could even register the movement, her sword slicing the air where the man was.

  Like a whisp of smoke, the man disappeared. Emily registered the absence of feedback, then quickly repositioned her sword to swipe behind her. She flashed her sword backwards, but the man in black was not there. He was ten feet away, picking up the queen.

  "Rapiere!" Emily shouted, and her sword flashed into a very thin, yet very pointy, rapiere. She dashed forward, trying to stab at the man's legs in order to not hit the queen. The man sidestepped, dodging the blow so that the sword went straight into the ground. Emily pulled the tip out, then started to rapidly stab at the man's feet. The guy started to tap dance around Emily's sword, all the while moving backwards to avoid any direct hits.

  The man finally stopped dodging and tried to kick Emily in the chin, but she was able to lean back far enough to avoid the hit. With his leg so high in the air, Emily aimed her next stab at the man's crotch. She pierced the air with her sword, but the man wasn't as immobile as Emily had thought. From a near-perfect split, the mysterious kidnapper brought his leg back down and stomped the sword into the ground. Emily looked up at the featureless mask, but the man could only shake his head.

  "Queen, stand up," the man said, then he let the queen fall to the ground. While before she would have just laid there lifelessly, the woman now got to her feet and stood straight.

  "Gladius," Emily said, but the man was able to step off before the sword regained it's edge.

  "Queen, stop the hero of the sword," the man said, and the queen amazingly stepped between the two fighters.

  "You BASTARD!" Vicky shouted from the sideline in outrage. "You're controlling my mother!"

  "Queen, give your daughter a spanking," the man ordered, then returned to his fight with Emily.

  The queen looked at her daughter with only minimal apprehension, but she started towards the little girl with a determined walk. Vicky looked at her incoming mother, suddenly fearful of what the automatic woman would do. The queen roughly grabbed her daughter by the back of her shirt, then got down on one knee to bend her daughter over her knee.

  "Wait! Mom, don't -" a loud smack reverberated through the air as the queen smacked her daughter's butt. Vicky felt a shooting pain in her rear, then her mother raised her hand to repeat the process. The two fighters were going at it like a cat and dog, all the while the princess was recieving a spanking from her mother in the middle of the street.

  The fight ended when the man in black managed to landed a blow to Emily's back, causing shooting pain to fill the girl's nerves. Emily went down with an involuntary gasp for air. The black clad figure stepped over the hero, walking over to where the queen was repeatedly beating the princess's bottom.

  "That's enough," the man commanded, so the queen stopped mid-spank. "Leave her, we've got business elsewhere. Follow me and don't speak." The two turned and left, even as Emily tried desperately to get up.

  The hero of the sword managed to hobble onto her feet, then started to follow after the man who had kidnapped the queen. She stuttered every other footstep, but Emily's tenacity got her as far as the edge of the next building. Her eyes suddenly went wide, and a sickening bile rose through her throat.

  Her entire party, around fourty members, were laying strewn across the street as though an explosion had gone off. Some of them bled, most of them were unconcious, and a few managed to be blown through a nearby window. The very center of the street was cratered down to the dirt, where the cement and stones had been scorched by the power of the blast. Emily noticed that the people thrown the farthest also happened to be bleeding very heavily.

  Emily hadn't heard a sound, neither a large explosion or a flash of light. Whatever had done this, it had done so in near silence. The only explanation had to be the man in black, the man now in control of the queen.

  The princess!

  Emily gingerly stepped to the princess, who was crying helplessly on the ground. The hero grabbed the girl by the shoulders, pulling her up before the pain in her back snapped. It took a second for Emily to regain her wits after the shock of pain.

  "Who was that?" Emily asked, hoping that Vicky might know.

  "He's an Iscariot," Vicky sobbed, her chin quivering from the mental trauma.

  "What's that?"

  "An elite..., from the church," Vicky breathed as snot slowly dripped from her nose. "They are supposed to be a myth."

  "How was he so strong?"

  "It's the purpose of the Iscariots, to fight heroes. They are the neccessary evil, the ones who are willing to commit the ultimate sin for the sake of the church."

  "How?"

  "The Iscariots are myths because it is said they possess Demonic Weapons. They are-"

  "Anti-heroes," finished Emily, thinking back to the carnage that she had witnessed. "We need to tell the other heroes. We probably have a war coming."

  Vicky grabbed Emily's collar, then ordered, "Find Eric's team. It was his last wish."

  Both of the girls soured immediately as thoughts of how Lucia would take the news that Eric was dead.

  With only one day before the next wave, this was going to be one of the hardest waves since the team had arrived.

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