“What will you do… after all of this is over, Ki-Joon?”

“Find a new job.”

“What, that’s it? Your first instinct is to find a job?”

“You should do the same. I won’t be sustaining you after this is over.”

“Sure, but I mean… don’t you have any plans in mind? like getting married or something? You know you are not yo—”

“…”

“You could always marry me, you know?”

“You are still fixed on that? I told you before. I’m not interested, so you better flock to a different nest.”

“Alright, alright… but I do want to know about what you’ll be doing in the future.”

“Haah… I don’t know. There’s a lot going on in the world outside of the Deadlands… I want to help some of the poorest parts of Pelkesk. Heildin itself is not without its fair share of problems too, with ‘king Date’ at the front of them. What about you?”

“Hmm… we could start dating since I’ll have more time.”

“How about you look for someone your age already?”

“What? I don’t know…”

“Listen, I know we’ve only just begun with this plan of yours, but regardless of what happens in the end… I won’t be with you forever, Loewe.”

“I know… I just want you to be happy, Ki-Joon.”

“Hm?”

“You were there for my mother long before even me. You may not know it, but I do. You were everything she needed at the time, and I want to thank you for it.”

“She was special to me too, Loewe. I am the one who should be grateful to both of you.”

“So, will you date me then?”

“No.”

“Damn…”

“I’ll be going for now… there’s a lot that needs to be done today. I better not see you bothering our female staff.”

“Me? Who do you think I am?”

“…”

“Fine, I’ll sit here for a bit…”

“Thank you. I’ll be checking on this girl of yours in the meantime. I still believe you are making a grave mistake, but I guess I won’t know until I see her in action myself.”

Cerberus HQ, Yeon’s Office: 936, August 12th, Sunday, 3:00 PM.

She was there on the floor, lying lifeless in Jacob’s arms. A cold silence reigned over the atmosphere as the man’s eye blankly stared at the scene, breathless and motionless. He could see Jacob’s wide eyes staring into his, an agonizing pain reflected by the outpour of tears rolling down the man’s cheeks. Jacob was opening his mouth, as if crying out for something he couldn’t understand or even hear.

His senses had completely shut away from their surroundings, all he could do was observe in dismay as his blurry mind quickly drifted away—struck by a jarring sense of confusion, denying the reality of the situation he came across the moment his foot took a step into the office. His eyes focused on the broken phone lying on the floor, as if to invalidate the events unfolding in front of them.

“Sovereign…” Jacob’s voice quivered—sobbing with trembling hands. “I… I don’t… Yeon is…”

Saying nothing in response to Jacob’s jumbled words, Sovereign walked in closer with his mouth kept into a straight line—whatever emotion he had to offer, remained hidden under the shadow that concealed his face under his silver locks. He crouched down on one knee next to Jacob, lifting Yeon’s broken phone in one hand.

“Sovereign…?”

Pressing one of the device’s edges with his thumb, Sovereign pulled out a tiny chip from inside it to seize the external memory for himself. As he wordlessly stood back on his feet, the young CEO dropped the device back on the floor while turning towards the exit—striding away as he safeguarded the tiny chip in his pocket.

“Sovereign, what are you…!” cried Jacob as the man crossed the door into the hallway—disappearing from view in an instant.

----------------------------------------------------

Outside, near the entrance to the main building, Loki fixed his back and shoulders while recovering from Lucy’s surprising attack. He jumped up and down a couple of times before huffing through his mouth, addressing the blonde girl snarling next to him.

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“Are you done, princess?”

“Of course,” Euthemia replied—her disgusted frown shifting into satisfied smirk. “I even made sure to enjoy myself a little. A princess’ whims must always be satisfied after all.” She caressed her hair with one hand.

“I don’t even know what that means. Did you send the message or not?”

“I killed her, brute!” the princess snapped. “And I made her pay for what she did to me that day. Touching my skin like that… gross!” she said, proceeding to eye Loki up and down curiously—raising an eyebrow once she noticed the dirt and bruises covering the knight. “Whatever happened to you? Don’t tell me that idiot did this… what was his name again?”

“Specter,” a slightly distorted voice stated confidently—prompting both the princess and the knight to turn and face it.

His presence drew a satisfied grin from Loki, who cracked his neck in anticipation. “You won’t hide then…”

“Is that him?” Euthemia scoffed, snarling in disgust at the silver-haired man. “I thought he would be as tall as a knight, and that physique… are you sure he won’t snap in half the moment you touch him, barbarian?”

“Hey, stop!” Eutychia shouted from inside the building as she chased behind the young CEO—emerging through the door to stand behind Sovereign. “Loki?” the black knight said in surprise, holding one of her sides with one hand to stop the bleeding.

“Long time no see,” Loki commented. “You are not looking too well.”

“Stay out of this,” Sovereign calmly demanded as he slowly approached the knight and the princess.

“Wait—”

“I would listen to him if I were you, princess.” Loki warned Eutychia as his smirk widened in anticipation, a silent chuckle escaping him. “Come on, let’s settle this once and for all. No distractions, just you and me.”

Despite the knight’s taunting claims, Sovereign’s expression remained free of emotion as he continued his stride. “I’m not interested in you, knight. I’m only here for the girl.”

“Too bad, because you’ll have to deal with me instead!”

Issuing no further warning, Loki charged his target with a frontal assault—materializing one sword in his hand with particles of azure light. Crossing the arm over his shoulder, the knight sliced at Sovereign with enough force to ignite a gust of wind around him. His blade collided directly against the concrete floor while completely missing its target, fissuring the ground on impact.

“Wh—” Eutychia recoiled visibly at the scene.

Sharply turning back in Euthemia’s direction, Loki shouted at the blonde girl before breaking into a sprint towards her. “Princess!”

“Ah!” the blonde girl screamed, startled by the sudden presence of a silver haired figure arriving mere inches in front of her. “Brut—”

Pressing his fingers around the princess’ throat, Sovereign violently shut Euthemia mid-word as he kept a firm grasp on her neck—applying enough pressure to turn her legs into wobbly noodles. “I know what you did,” he claimed—a calm yet frightening tone in his voice.

“You know… nothing…” Euthemia snapped back despite struggling to break free.

“I know everything...”

Sensing a powerful presence from behind, Sovereign propelled the blonde princess a long distance away with a single motion of his arm—forcing her to slide across the concrete, ripping the back of her dress and rasping her skin in the process. Having teleported behind his opponent, Loki slashed at Sovereign with a downwards angle that aimed to slit his right shoulder open.

Already anticipating the attack, Sovereign reacted fast enough to block the knight’s sword with his left hand—absorbing the blade’s impact with his palm. Both men wrestled for control of the weapon as Sovereign kept a tight grip on the blade, tearing his black glove into shreds to reveal his spectral hand underneath—its sturdy black exoskeleton fueled by the crimson energy veins running within its fissured structure.

“There it is,” Loki exclaimed with an excited grin. “Why keep hiding it… you know this is what you are. Fight me already, Specter!”

The knight’s taunts prompted the young CEO to tighten his grip on the blade, pulling Loki in closer to look up into the eyes of his opponent “Out of my sight, knight.”

“…!”

Loki’s eyes were suddenly forced to open widely, his upper body bending forward as Sovereign’s fist sunk deep into his stomach. He gritted his teeth while groaning in pain, blood leaking out from inside his mouth as it rolled down his lower lip. The knight’s sword vanishing into azure particles—helping him break free from Specter’s clutches, and he stumbled backwards while holding his stomach with both hands—huffing air through his mouth to recover from the impact.

“Hah… hahah…” Loki laughed while whipping the blood from his mouth. “Not there yet… but I will force you to reveal yourself to me.” Loki claimed confidently, standing firm once again.

Looking behind from over his shoulder, Specter watched as Euthemia ran away into the distance towards the Deadlands—using Loki’s teleportation ability to bring herself at the top of the massive rampart. Before jumping into the hellish zone, the princess looked back one last time before snarling at the silver haired figure in the distance—escaping headquarters and into the crimson home of the demons.

“Euthemia…” Eutychia whispered with furrowed brows.

“Eutychia,” Sovereign called out to the black knight near the main building’s entrance—bringing her attention towards him. “Go back to Jacob… Keep him safe.”

“…” the princess had no words to offer, clenching her jaw before reluctantly nodding in affirmation—sprinting back into the main building she shouted to the man, “don’t do anything stupid!”

Not a single soul left in the field to distract them, Specter spoke to his foe. “Knight…” he confronted Loki face to face, both standing a fairly long distance away from each other. “You are not welcome in my home.”

His functioning eye glowing fiercely—now at full display for the knight to see, the silver haired figure opened his left hand as a bright light engulfed it in crimson. Joining together to take in the shape of a blade, Specter materialized a fractured sword that was kept sheathed inside a crystal-like scabbard, created from the same crimson light the sword itself was embodied from—its quillon between the blade and the hilt skillfully modeled after the roaring head of a lion.

“Heh,” Loki replied with a mocking smirk. “What is that knife gonna do in your favor?” he responded to Specter’s blade with two of his own, materializing both swords in hand—glowing brightly with the azure glow of his divine pathway. “Your time has run out, Specter. I am the champion you’ve feared your entire life, and I will not show you any mercy. This… is what I’ve been training for my entire life.” He explained. “My destiny was meticulously crafted to perfection just to end your life... and today is the day it becomes a reality.”

“I don’t fear you title, knight.” Specter placed his right hand just above the grip of his broken sword, stretching his fingers to unsheathe the blade from its scabbard—taking a hold of its grip as the weapon propelled straight into his hand with a crimson light, revealing the faint azure glow emanating from the blade’s sharp edge. “But you should.”

END OF CHAPTER