Floating City of Paradise, Knight’s District: 936, May 2nd, Wednesday, 8:00 AM.
In a quite morning at Paradise, the bursting clash of fists echoed throughout the floating city. At an outdoors training arena—built like a large colosseum with statues of the goddess decorating it, Theo observed quietly as the battle unfolded at the center of the stage.
A gladean knight rapidly approached his opponent with a longsword in hand, keeping his deadpan eyes fixed on the dark-haired man in front of him—the champion of the order, Loki. Without hesitation, the knight leaped towards his foe while reeling his arm over his shoulder, and sliced downwards at an angle. The steel blade of his sword cut the air clean as Loki’s body vanished into azure particles, preventing his attack from connecting.
Anticipating a counter from behind, the gladean knight quickly swung his blade backwards—slicing the air once more. Dumbfounded as his target had not appeared behind his back, the knight reacted once again with a second backwards swing. This time however, Loki’s palm caught the sword with relative ease, proceeding to crush the blade under his hand.
“How pathetic!” Loki roared while lifting the knight by the neck with one hand, stretching his fingers on the other, and curling them back into a tight fist—thrusting his arm upwards into a potent uppercut, propelling his opponent into the air.
The knight soared away and crashed back down against the sand, causing his head to whip back at the impact. Done with the fight, Loki fixed his shoulder while strolling his way out of the arena. Just at the exit, he found Theo already waiting for his arrival—handing him a towel to wipe his sweat.
“What do you want?” Loki accepted the knight’s kind gesture, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“King has requested your presence at Gladea’s Castle,” the man answered. “Something regarding his youngest daughter.”
“Euthemia?” With a click of his tongue, Loki tossed the towel back to Theo—pushing past him. “What a pain… you promised me I would get to fight Specter.” He turned his head to look at Theo from over his shoulder—scrunching his eyebrows. “Why haven’t you found him yet?”
Theo followed closely behind the knight, walking with both hands in front of him. “King is close to regaining his full strength, thanks to the young princess’ gift…” he said. “You will get your chance soon, Loki.”
“Good, I can’t wait to end this once and for all.”
???, ???: 936, May 2nd, Wednesday, 9:00 AM.
Surrounded by sturdy walls of reinforced concrete and solid metal, Euthemia spun around like a ballerina in her casual white dress, humming across the hallways while her shoulder-length blonde hair swayed slightly with her movements—delicately adorned with a crown made of colorful flowers. From the many locked rooms around her, the jarring screams of men, women and even children echoed across the empty halls.
The princess danced at the rhythm of their cries, keeping her eyes closed with a smile of satisfaction plastered in her face. She suddenly stopped in one of the rooms, heavily protected by a thick vault like door and two heavy armed Chimera soldiers on each side.
“Move away pigs!” she demanded.
The guards glanced at each other before allowing entrance to the princess, who kept dancing to the screams while the vault door slid open. A massive jar-like pod rested in the middle of the room, its protective glass was fortified to sustain any form of damage, and the chamber was connected to the walls and ceiling through gigantic reinforced cables. A strange red liquid flowed within the glass pod, boiling with a bubbling sound.
On each side of the room, were multiple computers that operated the chamber. A group of white coat scientists were hard at work as the princess danced her way inside, keeping their fatigued eyes on the complicated lines of text and numbers popping up on their screens.
“Is it done yet!” Euthemia stopped her sunny dance, placing both hands behind her back and swinging herself back and forth. “It looks done, is it done?”
“Not yet, lady Euthemia.” Sara Endel—CEO of Chimera approached her. She was inspecting the work on the red liquid under request of the princess, who couldn’t trust anyone else with the task. “It might take another year before its ready.”
“What!” the princess snapped. “You’ve been working on this for years! How are you still a year away!”
Her yelling distracted the scientists, who ignored the tantrum as to not bring any attention to themselves. Sara fixed her glasses, and attempted to calm the princess’ nerves.
“Sorry, lady Euthemia.” she said. “But it’s not in our hands to choose how long the process takes, if we want it to be stable then we have no choice but to wait.”
“Hm?” the princess’ sharp ears caught up on the woman’s words, raising an eyebrow while tilting her head to the side. “Did you say… If?” she emphasized on the last word. “Sounds to me like you do have a choice, I don’t care how stable it is. I want it done! And I want it now!”
“Lady Euthemia, please you hav—”
“Shut up!” the princess quickly interrupted. “My dear will meet me in this room soon enough, and I want to attend her properly.”
A small drop of sweat rolled down Sara’s forehead, swallowing dry before offering her response. “I… I understand, we’ll do what we can.”
“You better, now if you’ll excuse me.” Euthemia’s face relaxed as it shifted into a smile, elegantly dancing her way out of the room into the tormenting screams filling the hallways. “Aaahh… like music to my ears.” she said under her breath. “How many idiots fell for this trick I wonder?” the thought crossed her mind, dancing away through the empty metallic halls. “I didn’t technically lie, I promised them a life free from specters. Now they might never get to see one in their lives... or not.”
The sadistic laugh of the princess joined in with the ear-piercing cries of Pelkesk citizens, who blindly followed the princess’ words into a mortal trap—forced into a terrible fate regardless of where they ended up in. The prisoners taken by the princess found themselves becoming Euthemia’s entertainment, as Chimera proceeded to experiment on the new subjects. The remaining group was turned into a gift from a loving daughter to her caring father, being relocated to the human district in Paradise—expected to serve King.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Cerberus HQ, Outdoors Training Area, May 2nd, Wednesday, 12:00 PM.
“Scott, you are falling behind!” Claire yelled, pushing forward through the deep mud. She accurately jumped through the middle of the large tires placed on the ground, splashing mud all over herself. “Eric, your form is sloppy, lift your feet more!”
“Yes, ma’am!” both men roared—clenching their jaws as the burning pain in their thighs surged with every move.
“You are doing fine Tori!” the lieutenant’s tone softened. “Just make sure not to injure yourself.”
“Y-yes, ma’am…” Tori panted heavily, being the last one in line.
Gaspard observed Bloodhound during their training, waiting patiently with towels and glasses filled with water. Eventually, the group’s training came to an end—with Claire being the first to arrive, picking up a towel from the butler’s arm.
“Here’s your water, young miss.” he bowed.
With a thankful smile, Claire took the glass without a second thought and hydrated herself. “Thank you, Gaspard.”
Both Scott and Eric arrived next, leaning on each other’s shoulders while huffing heavily. They both cleaned themselves with towels before taking their respective glasses, drinking the water in a single gulp.
“And I thought…” Scott breathed. “The academy… was harsh…”
“We are a family… of warriors…” Eric said with heavy breaths. “But this… is just masochism…”
“Hmph,” Claire huffed at the two, crossing her arms while staring at the pair with the scornful look of a drill sergeant. “This should be normal routine for special forces like us.” Her lips suddenly curved into a confident smiled—eyes filled with passion. “If this is how it’s gonna be, then I have no choice but to turn you both into real soldiers.”
Arriving last, Tori’s arms dangled in front of her as she breathed heavily through her mouth—her shoulders dropped, her clothes drenched in sweat and covered in mud. “I… I think… I’m going to faint.”
Claire hastily took a towel and a glass of water, jogging towards Tori with a proud smile. She cleaned her face gently, and offered her some well needed water. “You did well, Tori.” she said. “You’ve improved a lot since last week.”
“I… T-thanks, lieutenant.” Tori chuckled with a flushed face.
“What’s with the bias…” Eric muttered, dropping to the floor on his back.
Scott followed right after, lying flat on the floor next to the noble. “I don’t know… maybe it’s one of those, I hurt you because I love you, type of scenarios...?”
“I highly doubt it…”
“What are you two mumbling about?” Claire stepped in front of them. “Stand up, our five-minute break has ended.”
“Already!?” Both men lifted themselves into a sitting position.
Unexpectedly, Yeon arrived on the scene to put an abrupt halt to Bloodhound’s training—bringing attention to herself with a series of claps. “Working hard as always I see, do try not injure yourselves.” she commented.
“Please, take her away…” Eric pleaded—scoring an angry glance from the lieutenant.
Claire immediately stood firm with both arms to her side, lifting her chin high while looking in Yeon’s general direction—avoiding eye contact. “Bloodhound at your service, ma’am!”
“Yeon.”
“Yeon!”
“Well, I actually did come here to take you away, lieutenant.” Yeon explained. “It’s an important meeting you’ve been summoned to by the boss, no time to change clothes just come with me.”
Eric and Scott—who were seated on the ground, smirked with glee at the news. They smacked their hands together into a lock, and bumped shoulders in celebration—which earned them a grunting glare from the lieutenant, prompting them to stop immediately while feigning ignorance.
Moving on from the exchange, Yeon dismissed Bloodhound in order to take Claire to the meeting as soon as possible. “You are free to do whatever you want in the meantime, so use your time well.” she said. “Dismissed.”
“Yes, ma’am!” the group chanted in unison.
“Yeon.”
“Yes, Yeon!”
With permission granted, Bloodhound scurried away to enjoy some free time while Claire stayed with Ki-Joon. “It’s quite refreshing to see you in such an upbeat manner, lieutenant.” she expressed with a smile.
“Uh?”
Signaling the lieutenant to follow with a quick motion of her head, Yeon explained her words to Claire as they walked through the open fields of HQ. “We’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since you were at the academy, and I’m fully aware you didn’t know of this.” she said.
“Wh—” the words took Claire by surprise. “Is that so…” she scrunched her eyebrows with a mix of worry and confusion.
“Please, don’t take it the wrong way.” Yeon continued. “You see, your father is a good friend of the boss. He wanted to keep an eye on your progress, so he could report to Sebastian from time to time.”
“My father?” Claire jumped after hearing his name. “I didn’t… so, he knows the boss?”
“Correct, they’ve been in contact for a few years now.” Pointing towards the entrance of the main building with her hand, Yeon guided Claire inside the main lobby once they arrived. “He reported to him almost daily about your situation. We made sure you never found out of course, we didn’t want to interrupt your studies. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now…” Claire replied, putting one foot on the first staircase as she walked next to Yeon.
“I seem to recall you being on your own all the time,” she said. “Did you make any friends at the academy, lieutenant?”
Claire’s eyebrows shot upwards and her eyes widened, rubbing her neck while preparing to answer. “I, hm… I… I didn’t have the opportunity…”
Not surprised by her answer, Yeon smiled warmly at the lieutenant’s response. “I thought so, it’s really heartwarming watching you get along with Bloodhound.” she expressed, keeping her gaze forward as they continued their way up the stairs. “Every time I see you now, you are always surrounded by friends. I say you’ve come quite far, don’t you think so, lieutenant?”
“Y-yeah, T-thanks, ma’am…” although her expression didn’t show it, her cheeks flushed into a rosy pink with embarrassment.
“Not used to compliments?”
“Not related to my social life…”
Yeon chuckled, informing Claire of their arrival at the proper floor. “This is our stop. Follow me, lieutenant.”
They continued with their conversation while walking through an empty hallway—stopping in front of a wooden door with a golden plaque, ‘Meeting Room’ was inscribed on it. Wasting no time, the pair strode inside a fairly large meeting room with a rectangular-shaped steel table placed in the middle—surrounded by multiple office chairs. The place was painted white and had a wooden floor, simplistically decorated with potted plants on each corner, and long white curtains blocking the sunlight from leaking through the windows.
Yeon flipped the switch to turn on the lights of the ceiling fan, illuminating the room. Without uttering a single word, she walked up to one of the chairs and made herself comfortable—placing a folder filled with documents on top. She looked at Claire—who remained standing at the entrance, and invited her to sit as well.
“Choose whichever spot you want, lieutenant.” Yeon said. “Except for that one, that would be Arwen’s sit.” She pointed to the chair at the end of the table.
Claire smacked her hands to her side and stood firm with her chin high. “Yes, Yeon!” she said, proceeding to march towards the nearest chair.
The creaking sounds of the door suddenly put a halt to her stride however, turning her head to look at the entrance from over her shoulder. Long strings of black hair came through the small breach as the door opened slowly, causing the lieutenant to instinctively guide her hand towards one of the pistols in their holsters.
Through the small portal of the meeting room, as the wooden door fully opened, an armored clad woman stomped her way into the room—spotting Claire in front of her as soon as she placed her foot inside.
“…!” Eutychia quickly moved one hand towards the grip of her sword—resting in the scabbard in her lower back, and pulled the blade in rapid motion to point it forward towards the lieutenant—who reacted fast enough to point her pistol at her.
“You!” both women expressed in shock, keeping each other’s weapons trained on the other.
END OF CHAPTER