I was a young warrior that day, looking at a child whose body could barely be ten years of age. His face, a complete blur, with a black diamond at the center of his forehead.

He had intercepted my partner and I with a blade and threw us back several meters and with a singular word exerted some unknown force on us.

The force was so powerful and unique that we who at the time were both arch knights were forced to take a knee.

What was even more shocking was how easily this unknown child subdued the kludde that we had been hunting and tracking for weeks.

We waited until she had given birth and the sun was at its highest point and she was at her weakest.

She still fought like a wild beast, despite all the factors her magic was unmatched. Our team started with fifty members and narrowed down to twenty odd something by the end of the chase.

When the boy finished signing the beast contract a darkness engulfed him and the pups that we had worked so hard to try and steal were stolen from us. A beast contract was a once in a century phenomenon that I had only read about.

Beasts generally hated humans and while periodic agreements could be made, a beast contract was a different concept. The beast would give its soul or a part thereof, the more, the more powerful the contract and contractee.

It required the beast and human’s goals to be one or close enough to align but the dividing factor was that the contract needed to be without arriere-pensee. Humans always had ulterior motives this was what caused the majority of beast contracts to collapse before forming, most likely due to his young age it was easier to be single minded.

The boy surrounded by dark energy ignored the two of us.

He casually walked past us and headed over to the main party. A few members were still breathing but paralyzed on the floor, some had missing limbs while some were covered in burnt flesh.

One after the other the boy calmly stuck his blade in each of my party members' heads ensuring no signs of life remained. I strained my neck to see and the only thing I could see was that creepy grin on his face.

Then he released the four pup kluddes and they frenzied upon the dead corpses.

I watched in horror as the kluddes ripped the bodies of my teammates to shred. They gnashed their teeths and bit deep, the sound of bones crunching shook me to the core.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Eventually it was our turn. He stood over us both with the strange black sword still dripping blood and brain fluids. Our bodies were already exhausted from weeks of tracking and fighting.

His voice without remorse or quiver was addressed with a condescending tone. He spoke as though he had not just massicared our entire party.

“What are your names?”

“I am Ivan and this is Kamila Winchester, Arch knights of the Dragneir Kingdom.”

Ivan spoke as he gritted his teeth while he layed paralyzed barely holding his neck up to look at the blurred face of the boy.

The youth paused before he spoke.

“Ivan and Kamila Winchester swear to me under a blood oath one favor, without question, then you may live.”

Ivan immediately spat at the youth.

He knew it was only because of his exhausted and injured state that such a weak brat dared to speak to him with so much lordship.

Ivan flared up his paladin's will which lashed out at him. Before it could reach the boy the darkness that covered the youth intensified and canceled out his will attack.

“Then let your death be granted by the last of the Dimachaeri household.”

With these words the boy’s sword pierced the back of Alvin’s head, then a red blast erupted from its tip, instantly vapourizing Alvin’s head leaving a deep crater. Only smoke arose as Alvin’s body spasmed as it went lifeless.

I was mortified by the sudden explosion. My eyes opened in surprise, seeing my fiance's body now spasming lifelessly.

In my instance of grief I remembered! Dimachaeri… that was the last great household that was destroyed.

No wonder the boy was so heartless. We had spent weeks destroying that household under strict orders.

We burnt their houses down with them still inside, we killed their pregnant women and then destroyed and robbed their businesses.

But it was for the greater good. There was no way we could let a house that could challenge the royals’ bloodline talent stand.

If that house was given a few more generations to procreate they would have caused an uprising or civil unrest.

But all of that was the past. Now I understood why this boy was so heartless towards us. It was obvious, if I didn’t accept the oath I was as good as dead.

He obviously wanted a reason to kill me anyways that would've just been icing on the cake.

Swallowing my pride and disregarding my grief I just wanted to live.

Without even realizing I had already shouted.

“I accept!”

mortified and without reservations I stretched out my hand to accept the blood oath. With the mixing of both our blood a translucent chain connected us.

As quickly as he arrived he disappeared. When I finished the oath I felt some of my wounds heal and energy had started to flow more smoothly within my body. Despite this the damage was still massive.

It took another two days before I was able to move.