Kingdom of Heildin, Outside the Capital Walls: 936, March 16th, Friday, 12:30 AM.
“Stop this, Loki!” Ninigi yelled at his former student, catching the knight’s thrusting fist in his palm.
“Fight me!” Loki roared as he delivered a powerful right hook against Ninigi’s ribs—staggering his opponent.
Pulling his fist from his former master’s palm, Loki continued his assault with a quick punch to the gut, and finished his attack with a frontal kick—planting his foot in Ninigi’s chest and propelling him away. As he soared in the air, Ninigi buried his feet on the ground, and slid away until finally coming to a stop—balancing himself as not to fall. Loki was relentless in his aggression however, already closing the distance between them with a hasty sprint.
“This won’t solve anything!” Ninigi took a defensive stance with his fingers curled—one hand half extended in front, and the other next to him near his ribs.
Loki refused to listen and leaped from a distance into a spiraling kick, connecting with Ninigi’s arm as he blocked the attack. “And what would you know!!” Loki snapped. “You do nothing, but hide like a coward!” he pressed into the offensive by teleporting behind his opponent—restraining Ninigi with a rear naked choke. “You never had to work for anything, did you?”
“Ugh!” Ninigi tried to pull Loki’s arm downwards to free himself, but the knight’s hold on his neck was too firm for him to break. “Loki… this isn’t you.”
“Oh, but it is!” the knight grinned. “I spend my whole life chasing after your stupid legend…” his grin suddenly faded, and he tightened the grip on Ninigi’s neck. “And for what? Just to realize you were nothing but a coward?” he continued. “You don’t deserve that title, but I do. I earned it, and with you out of the way I’ll prove it.”
Loki summoned one of his swords and tried to plunge it into his opponent’s chest, but a powerful elbow to the gut abruptly halted the knight’s attack—recoiling backwards while holding his abdomen. With gritted teeth and hate filled eyes, Loki ignored the pain and lunged at Ninigi with a frontal attack.
His sudden reaction left him open for a counter, one that Ninigi took advantage off by striking at Loki’s chest with the knuckles of his fingers—detonating into a burst of air. Such a powerful blow stopped Loki’s breathing completely, and he dropped to his knees with a blurry vision as he struggled to grasp for air—clinging his fingers tightly to his chest.
“You won’t… best me.” Loki returned to his feet. Although, in spite of his quick recovery, an empty battlefield was all that awaited the young knight. He impulsively turned in all directions in search of his former master, but found nothing—cursing at the stars and the moon.
Kingdom of Heildin, Remote village Inside a Forest: 936, April 9th, Monday, 8:00 PM.
“I see…” Atalanta took a sip of her tea—placing the tiny cup in the tea table in front of her. “I tried talking to him about it but… I don’t know what happened.” she expressed with a worried frown.
She sat on top of a small pillow with her heels underneath her bottom, keeping her back straight. On the other side of the table was Ninigi, sitting with his legs crossed with both hands placed on his knees. They both rested inside a small cabin with only two rooms inside, four floor mattresses were placed at the end of the living room—where they would rest at night, the tea table was located in the middle, and a separate room on the side for the bathroom.
“It’s clear that King has something Loki wants,” Ninigi explained. “But he can’t achieve it without sacrificing the lives of innocents, I can’t allow that to happen.” he lowered his head with a soft sigh. “I never thought there would come a time were knights had to fight each other…”
“Sorry for all the trouble…” Atalanta replied. “I really thought I could just… return to the order, and things would simply be like they used to.”
Ninigi offered a reassuring smile, unbothered by the knight’s past actions. “Don’t blame yourself too much, it’s the only world you and Loki knew.”
“Thanks, Ninigi…” she returned the smile.
A sudden movement from the corner of her eye suddenly caught her attention, shifting her head slightly towards the mattresses. There, she met the menacing glare of a redhead girl staring at her with intensity, she hid herself under one of the mattresses in the room—squinting her eyes suspiciously as the pair continued their conversation. Atalanta let out an uncomfortable grunt before taking another sip of her tea.
“Is something wrong?” Oblivious to the situation, Ninigi tilted his head slightly while looking into the blonde knight’s concerned eyes.
“Ah, no…” she glanced at the girl underneath the mattress a second time—causing her to squint her eyes even further. “How about you tell me about your students?”
Cerberus HQ, Main Lobby: 936, April 9th, Monday, 8:00 PM.
“Well?” Yeon held Arwen by the throat with one hand—grinning at the terror plastered in the man’s face. “If you take me to him, I might just let you live, but if not…” she hummed while averting her eyes towards the ceiling, keeping a contemplating expression. “Well, I think I’ll just kill you anyway.” she broke into a sadistic laugh.
“…!” lost for words in his struggle to break free, Arwen tried to pull the woman’s hand away from his neck—but her strength proved too superior for him to even budge her grip in the slightest.
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“Let him go,” a voice, familiar to both parties spoke from behind Yeon.
“What!” a quick gasp escaped Yeon’s lips, turning her head to inspect the voice from over her shoulder. “How did you?”
“I said let him go,” behind her stood the real Yeon—who held a pistol in both hands, its sights trained on her back. “I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”
“Hmph,” the fake Yeon huffed a quick chuckle—unconcerned by the threats of the woman. “Go ahead, you really think some ordinary—”
A thunderous bang echoed throughout the building as Yeon pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced through the woman’s skin straight into her spine, forcing her to drop Arwen in a violent motion filled with pain.
“Aaaaaaaah!” her screams bounced off the walls of the building—dropping to the floor on her side.
“Run, Arwen!” Yeon instructed her friend, who broke into a mad dash up the stairs.
Her gun still fixed on the woman, Yeon kept a safe distance away while she inspected the fake copy as she squirmed on the ground. Yeon’s breath was somewhat heavy, but she managed to keep it under control through deep and long breaths.
“Heh…” the fake copy chuckled under her breath.
She suddenly jumped back on her feet, and rushed Yeon in a frontal assault. With overwhelming speed that no human could react to, she smacked the pistol away from her opponent and took a hold of her by the wrists—restraining Yeon’s movements.
“…!”
“Ha-ha!” she laughed mockingly. “You really thought that would do anything to me?”
“Ggh! I knew it was you, you harpy…” Yeon told the fake copy. “Why don’t you show your face? I already know who you are.”
“Really?” the false Yeon raised an eyebrow, grinning confidently before revealing her true identity.
In a radiating flash of azure light, the woman’s appearance changed drastically as she transformed into her original form. Her mature body became smaller and more delicate, the black office suit turned into a white dress that flowed down past her knees. Her brown eyes glimmered with an azure light—turning them blue, and her dark hair dissolved into a beautiful blonde—decorated with flowers.
“Euthemia…” Yeon muttered.
“It’s lady Euthemia to you, old hag.” the princess claimed with a smirk. “You are all so gross… how did you know it was me? Have you been spaying on the king’s daughter?” the upper corner of her lip lifted as she snarled with a face of disgust.
Yeon pulled back in an attempt to break free, but was restrained by Euthemia—who had no issues keeping her in place. “What’s your goal here?” Although in trouble, she was able keep her composure during the exchange.
A wide grin enveloped the princess’ face, pulling Yeon’s arms open to get a better look at her face. “I only wanted to pay a visit to my dear, but it looks like she isn’t around...”
“Your what?”
“Stop!” a man’s voice interrupted their exchange.
Euthemia turned her head to look over her shoulder, spotting Arwen a few stairs above with a gun aimed at her back. It was nothing but a laughable attempt to the princess, who already proved she could confidently take a bullet without causing her any harm.
“This again? Huh!” she scoffed at the man. “Give it up old man, that thing won’t hurt me.”
“This will,” Yeon said—attracting Euthemia’s attention.
“What!” As the princess turned her head to face Yeon again, she realized her words were nothing but a bluff to get her eyes off Arwen—snapping her head to look over her shoulder once again.
In a mindless frontal charge, Arwen was already on his way down to tackle the distracted princess. Letting go of Yeon’s wrists, Euthemia effortlessly smacked Arwen to the side with the back of her hand—forcing him to roll down a few staircases. Her eyes remained wide open with a raised eyebrow, puzzled by such a bizarre action. The confusion in her face would quickly turn into shock however, as she felt a violent wave of electricity running across her entire body—caused by a snapping sound in her arm.
“Aaaaaah!”
Euthemia shattered into a painful and deafening scream while her muscles contracted, her body plummeting against the stairs. She squeezed her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth to stop herself from screaming, convulsing violently on the floor. Yeon hurried towards Arwen as he picked himself back up, showing him the modified hand-buzzer in her palm—a small project she worked on with Xun, Heretic’s brain woman.
“Thanks for the distraction.” she said.
Arwen replied while rubbing his red and swollen cheek, “don’t mention it…”
“I’ll kill you both!” Euthemia recovered from the shock and pulled herself back up, huffing furiously. “How dare you! How dare you touch a flower like me!”
“All headquarters is in high alert!” Yeon warned her. “You won’t make it out of here… princess.” she emphasized on the last word with a mocking tone.
“Yeon! m-maybe we shouldn’t make her mad?” Arwen retorted.
“Too late for that.”
With a soft and off-putting chuckle, Euthemia disregarded the cautioning words from Yeon. “You… you want to make fun of me?” she said, a wide grin on her face. “You are just a human, woman! Human trash!”
A sudden avalanche of stomping sounds coming from both down and up the stairs, caught the princess’ attention as she attentively listened to the approaching steps. In no time, a large group of uniformed soldiers arrived to surround Euthemia from both sides—they wore the white and gold uniform of Cerberus, diversely equipped with pistols, rifles or even swords.
“Really?” the princess seemed unconcerned, frowning at the armed men. “And what will you do with your stupid toys, trash?”
A confident grin suddenly painted in Yeon’s face—her gaze fixed on Euthemia’s eyes. “Don’t feel too secure, princess.” she said. “Cerberus may have lost some support after the Deadlands expansion, but it was nothing we weren’t prepared for.”
“What are you babbling about now?” the princess snarled. “You think I can’t beat your dumb soldiers? I’m a hybrid, far more powerful than any of you.”
“That’s where you are wrong,” Yeon responded. “Your father is familiar with the gladean empire, is he not?” she finally had Euthemia’s undivided attention, as her words had the princess swallowing dry with a sweaty forehead.
In the past, the emperor had refused to aid Cerberus in their fight against the specters. An intentional web of actions that came to life through years of negotiations, only possible thanks to Jacob’s and Yeon’s connections in the continent.
The three current heads of Cerberus requested the gladean empire stay far from the conflict, causing Cerberus to crumble, and King to keep his eyes away—opening the doors for Sovereign to take over swiftly. With the report of the company’s situation thanks to Claire’s letter delivered to duke Albury, the deal was set for the emperor—known to be a powerful warrior, to finally send part of his army to not only aid in the fight against the specters, but King and his knights.
“Hybrids?!” Euthemia yelled in surprise—scrunching her brows furiously.
“Surrender, and we’ll make things easier for you.” Yeon suggested.
END OF CHAPTER