Lord O'Reilly who was outside the room could see this person holding on the door sill while Isolde and Alec could not. By now Lord O'Reilly had become silent as he looked at the owner of this hand in reverence and lightly bowed his head in respect. Finally, this person entered into the vision of Isolde and Alec.
He had bright blue eyes and well-managed fiery red hair. He seemed to be kind, but there was a sort of hidden ferocity in his eyes highlighted by the deep scar over his right eye. He was dressed in a simple but well-woven pair of black shirts and pants, which were unable to hide his majestic aura. On his hip, there was a sword with a golden hilt sheathed within a scabbard of red and gold. This was Prince Tristram!
He calmly looked over the ruined room and the two dead bodies. His eyes fell on Alec and Isolde, lingering on her for just a while longer. Immediately, Alec bowed deeply. Noticing Isolde who was dumbstruck he pushed her down to bow as well and spoke out, "Greetings, your majesty, the prince."
Prince Tristam nodded in regard and spoke out calmly, "But I believe, that I should be the one providing you greetings first. After all... you are the Legendary Azure Archer." Alec flinched but listened silently to Prince Tristram who continued to speak, "I can only imagine your great military exploits; The infamous blood valley, saving the queen and even your part in the last war! Nearly, two centuries ago, you were on the verge of becoming a law cultivator and the pride of the kingdom. But you had to betray the kingdom and refuse our orders like that. In the end, you were forced to sacrifice your cultivation and fell to this... level."
Isolde listened to this in surprise while occasionally staring at Alec with pride in her eyes. She had always been interested in his past but he had always refused to talk. In the end, she had figured that he was an ordinary general. Never could she have imagined that her grandpa was a war hero! But the news that the kingdom caused Alec to lose his cultivation, couldn't help but cause her to be disgruntled.
Still, Alec lightly bowed again saying, "Some people did indeed call me that. And the prince's words ring true. But I believe those tales were exaggerated somewhat." Prince Tristram laughed while pointing at Alec with a hint of malice surfacing in his eyes, "Well, honestly... I couldn't care less whether you are the azure archer, let alone an azure sovereign! You're just a washed-up relic of the past. I'm just here for a girl to enjoy myself and could care less of some random deaths. But considering your service to the kingdom I'll let you off... if you walk away."
But this caused Lord O'Reilly who had been silent and obedient this entire time to speak out in disagreement, "No! My prince, this old bag didn't pay any respect to my--your order before. Even if he was a war hero from a forgotten era, he is not worthy of your pardon. Please behead that old corpse!" and bowed.
Prince Tristram frowned his eyes in displeasure and suddenly roared while turning around. He grabbed Lord O'Reilly from his shirt cuffs singlehandedly lifting him up and slapped his face with his other hand. He shouted out with his anger raging, "O'Reilly, do you dare order me to do something? Even to take back my royal decree?" Lord O'Reilly lowered his head in fear and compliance with blood tricking from the corner of his mouth, "Please forgive this humble subject, my prince. I spoke out of turn." Prince Tristram grunted and dropped him letting him fall like a heap on to the floor.
Lightly clapping his fingers together as if to clear them of dust, he turned back to Isolde who was shivering and looking at him with frightened eyes, and Alec who was still extremely calm. Prince Tristram continued to speak out with rage in his eyes, "Now... where were we? Oh, yes. I suggest you walk away, Azure Archer. Even in your current state, I'll have to break a sweat to take care of you. I'd rather avoid it if possible, after all, I came here for recreation, not a fight..."
Isolde spoke out her voice shivering, "Grandpa Alec... It's fine. You've done enough for me... In the end, I was very lucky to have you by my side." But seeing him remain unmoving in front of her, she pleaded with tears in her eyes, "Grandpa, you must leave. You promised me that you would leave without obstructing the prince! You promised me! Please don't do this..."
Prince Tristram crossed his hands over his chest smugly as he grinned happily at the terrified girl who had already given in to his demands. At the same time, the overweight Lord O'Reilly got himself up from the floor with great difficulty, but couldn't help but smile at the suffering of the two, who had caused him this trouble.
Alec turned to Isolde and spoke out with a light smile, "Young lady, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, as I must break my word. Allow this old butler one last chance to be selfish..."
And under the helpless pleas of Isolde, he walked in front of the prince and bowed lightly saying, " I must refuse the prince's generous offer. I hope the prince won't punish the young lady for this old butler's offense." But this caused the prince to scowl as a light of a dangerous fury danced in his eyes.
His eyes saw red as he shouted out in rage, "Curse all of you fuckers that get in my way! Do you dare disobey this prince's words? Do you think I'm some pushover?" while suddenly unsheathing his sword. The golden sword with dark red carvings on it glowed with a bloody light as he continued to shout, "In the name of Curtana, I will act out and bring justice to all your unjust actions!"
Alec too materialized the azure bow on his hands as he moved back into an attacking position silently. Instantly, the prince dashed forwards, almost a black blur beside the bloody sword on his hand which glowed red leaving a red streak. Having reached Alec he slashed the sword effortlessly targeting Alec's wrist, but Alec too calmly lifted his bow and pushed forwards.
Clang!
An explosion of qi and light surpassing the previous one spread throughout the room, wrecking it further. Both of them lightly jumped backward unhurt. Alec calmly looked on while Prince Tristram sneered saying, "You are indeed the Azure Archer. Even with my spirit transformation cultivation, I can only fight with you to a draw. But, I know you can't continue to fight in such a state for long. Why do you think I sent in O'Reilly and those two goons in first? It was to weaken you..."
Hearing his confident words, Isolde hurriedly grabbed onto Alec's coat and shouted out, "Grandpa please stop. If it hurts you, please just stop...:" with tears streaking down her cheeks. Alec smiled at her and lightly brushed her hand off his coat. He turned back to the prince and smiled calmly saying, "Will the prince keep on bragging without fighting?" This caused the Prince's eyes to redden in fury as his sword and his body began to emanate a bloody red-golden aura. "Fuck you, old codger. Die if you're so impatient."
He lightly traced the blade of his sword with his free word muttering some incoherent words. Instantly his aura grew much stronger and he slashed forward with a shout, "Divine Sword of Justice, First Commandment!" and the sword left a bloody gold streak as it arrived at Alec. Even so, Alec calmly lifted the bow to block the attack.
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Clang! Pu!
This time Alec was thrown back on to a wall with a light trickle of blood at his mouth. His bow had even lightly cracked under the force of the attack. Seeing his success, Prince Tristram laughed happily saying, "Old Codger, did you really think, that I would fight you just with my cultivation qi?"
Seeing him hurt, Isolde rushed forwards instantly to help up Alec. But in doing so she had to pass by the sneering Prince Tristram. As such, suddenly seeing her, Prince Tristram's eyes glowed a bloody red as he clawed at her with his free hand, while targeting her clothing. His hand ripped off the top part of her dress, just enough to be indecent, as she was thrown back to a wall by the force of his attack. Her head hit the wall and she coughed out blood as she slid to the floor unconscious.
Seeing this, Alec roared angrily as he hurriedly pushed himself to stand up and growled out as he brought out a shimmering pitch-black arrow, "I didn't use it before, but now, I don't care if you were made to be heartless by some childhood accident. If I kill you, at the very least she'll be safe from you!" There was a strange chaotic nature manifested around that arrow as it almost sucked away the remaining light in the room. Alec loaded it into the slightly cracked bow with practiced ease and held it horizontally just like before. He stared at the prince with great rage in his eyes and pulled back the arrow.
This time the prince wasn't as brazen as before as he fearfully muttered, "Is that one of your Bedevilling Chaos Arrows?" Still, he held his sword in a defensive position while shouting out, "Old Codger, it's just a girl! Do you dare to fight the entire kingdom for her?"
Alec smiled with bloody lips and teeth and whispered, "What kingdom? I'll fight the entire world for her!" as he let go of the arrow.
The sun had almost finished setting by the time the arrow was released. And under the pale orange light of the setting sun, the arrow left the bow. The arrow streaked forwards causing all space around it to crack apart as the entire room was destroyed. The walls exploded into smithereens and the entire mansion shook under this explosion, barely holding off from collapsing on the spot. However, strangely enough, none of the damage from the unstable chaos reached where Isolde had collapsed.
Meanwhile, Lord O'Reilly had fallen on to his knees in fear of the terrifying aura.
The Prince grimaced as he realized he wouldn't be able to block nor dodge this attack. It was simply too fast. While the walls collapsed and space cracked, he readied himself to defend himself as best he could.
But suddenly... CRACK!
The azure bow in his hands snapped clearly into two as Alec coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell onto his knees. The arrow which had shattered space disappeared off into streaks of qi as he collapsed...
Seeing the sudden turn of events, Prince Tristram started to laugh out loud, "Old Codger. Even the heavens are on my side. In the end, I suppose you hit your limit! Thank god, I sent those goons in first..." He sheathed his sword and calmly walked over to the kneeling Alec and kicked him in the face. Alec was thrown back to the edge of the floor as he coughed up more blood. Prince Tristram continued to punch and kick him while laughing like a kid with a new toy while shouting and cursing occasionally. He only stopped once Alec had completely fainted under the pain. He looked at the now bloodied Alec who was on the verge of death and with a satisfied grin licked off some stray blood that had gotten on to his face.
He laughed gleefully as he left Alec and walked over to the still fainted Isolde. He shouted out in satisfaction, "Old Codger, I'll destroy this girl you were willing to give the world for. But, it'll be a shame to waste her beauty. As such, I'll give her lots of tender care, in your place. I'll let you witness it all before I send your soul off to the underworld," while staring at Isolde in the ripped dress and licking his lips lecherously.
He grabbed her with one hand and threw her on to her own bed. He jumped on to the bed himself while loosening his pants. But just as he moved his hand to grab her for the second time... Isolde stirred in her sleep. The fact that she suddenly woke up surprised him and caused him to pause in surprise for a moment. She lightly opened her eyes and saw the calm face of Prince Tristram.
However, under the effect of crashing on to the wall, she was still delirious. Seeing a once-familiar face she smiled and whispered, "Tristram? You're back! Did you bring me any sunburst cherries?"
These words were like crashing thunder. Prince Tristram's eyes shone with tears as he hurriedly pushed himself off the bed and away from Isolde. But by now Isolde had returned to reality noticing the destroyed and wall-less room. As her eyes swept over the ruins of the room she noticed the wounded and bloodied Alec. With the memories and feelings of the previous situation having completely returned she rushed off towards him with a cry. Her hands began to glow with bright golden light as she started to heal him. She stuttered while weeping, "Pl--Please, Grandpa don't leave me alone! You can't--You promised me..."
Prince Tristram slowly walked back from the bed and passed the kneeling Isolde, with a pale face as if he had seen a ghost. He whispered, "I'm sorry..." just as he entered the doorway out of her room. Lord O'Reilly hurriedly stood up having noticed the arriving prince. He had left the room when the Prince had thrown Isolde on to the bed but had been stealthily spying from the corner of the still-open door with lecherous intent. Now he was shivering with fear as he thought that the prince had noticed him.
But to his surprise, Prince Tristram only lightly glanced at him while whispering, "I'm going back to the palace." This immediately freed O'Reilly from his worries as he heaved a sigh of relief. Now brimming with confidence he brazenly spoke out, "Prince Tristram, since that bitch isn't worthy of you, pardon this lowly one to enjoy himself," while hurriedly walking into the room with a lecherous grin.
Prince Tristram's eyes burned bloody red as he rushed forward at Lord O'Reilly while unsheathing his sword.
SWISH!
He sheathed his sword as he eyed Lord O'Reilly's head which fell on to the ground with a light thud, eternally frozen with that lecherous grin. As the headless corpse followed suit, he glanced back at the room and at Isolde. It was almost as if he expected praise for his act...
Isolde was still weeping while desperately healing Alec. She might be able to heal him back to a stable state but would definitely run out of qi before that. But how could she give up without even trying? She began to curse her own helplessness as memories of her brother's death danced around her mind taunting her. She was truly helpless since she couldn't leave in search of help because she feared that Alec was unable to hold on without her healing. So noticing the Prince's gaze with all the conflicting emotions in her heart, she shouted out in anger, "I HATE YOU!"
The Prince was speechless as these words struck his heart. He grinned bitterly while lightly brushing off his eyes. Then he threw two bags near Isolde's legs and said, "Those are holy healing pills and qi replenishing pills." Isolde stared at him in confusion while still continuing to heal Alec.
However, whatever change of heart the Prince had had before, disappeared under reddened eyes. As such, he furiously shouted out, "Fuck off! You should be able to heal that old codger by tomorrow. I'll be sending over a new dress and workers to replace what I damaged. But I don't care if that old codger lives, neither do I care whether you're sick or tired. I expect you to accompany me tomorrow. Be ready... or else." And he stormed off slamming the door behind him, leaving only three corpses and a wrecked room.
Isolde hurriedly fed some healing pills to Alec while using some from the other bag to replenish her own qi. She wiped off her tears as she resolutely got back to healing Alec. And thus she continued to heal desperately within the wrecked and now wall-less room... with the bright golden light shining off her hands onto the bloodied body of Alec.
She didn't spare a single glance at the training grounds she had stared at so intently before, although it was completely exposed now due to the lack of the wall with the window-sill. She continued on healing, with only the dreary orange light of the setting sun shining through where the wall had been before and the three still corpses to keep her company through the long night that awaited her...