Kingdom of Heildin, Heaven’s Castle: 936, September 12th, Wednesday, 10:00 PM.
“Leave, peasant!” demanded lady Euthemia with a rejecting motion of her hand as she opened the door to her room.
“Y-yes, lady Euthemia. Excuse me…” a young girl of black hair replied nervously while bowing to the blonde princess—scurrying away in her white and black maid clothes.
Slamming the door behind her with a pouting expression, Euthemia took a sharp left turn to walk straight for her bed, leaping on top of it in an instant. The girl buried her head in one of her pillows, hugging the object with both arms as she drowned her screams inside it—back and forth rolling over the bed.
She lied her back flat on the mattress once her tantrum came to an end, exhaling through her lips with a tired sigh. “How is it my fault that Eutychia left!” she roared at the ceiling. “I don’t know why father is so upset… he has the prettiest girl in the world as his daughter, but worries about her instead? Why is the world so backwards!”
A knock in her door interrupted the blonde girl’s conversation with herself, drawing a scoffing sound from her lips as she jumped back on her feet. She casually fixed her white short dress—falling just above her knees, and carefully ran one hand through her hair to ensure its neatness—forcefully pulling the door open right after.
“What!” she yelled, her glaring eyes widening at the dark figure waiting for her on the other side.
“Good evening,” a man of silver hair greeted her politely. He wore a black suit with a red dress shirt inside it, and a tie of the same color. “Lady Euthemia.”
Startled by Sovereign’s sudden appearance, the princess stumbled backwards into her room while keeping her eyes glued to the man’s stoic expression. One foot after the other, Cerberus’ ex-CEO invited himself into the princess’ girly and colorful bedroom—painted in a baby pink with most of her items displaying the same color. The man looked around casually, inspecting every corner of the place before leading his gaze back to Euthemia.
“You…!” she was able to mutter as she leaned her back on the wall behind her, standing next to her closed glass window.
The mostly desolated capital of Heildin could be seen from such a long height, showered under the silvery light of the moon. Euthemia looked around for something to assist her before rapidly bringing her eyes back to the man in the suit—his expression just as apathetic as before. He continued to walk in closer while keeping his left hand inside the pocket of his black pants, uttering not a single word as he stepped in front of the blonde girl—lowering his gaze slightly to look into her startled eyes.
“I can’t say I’m surprised you continued to live as if nothing is happening,” he broke the silence with a casual statement. “Or did you think I would just move on and forget about it all?”
“W-what do you want, prick!” the girl snapped back with a brave snarl, sliding away to run to her bed’s side. “How did you even get here!”
“I walked in.”
Despite the playful reply, the man’s tone and expression offered not a hint of humor in his true statement. Euthemia glanced at the open door through the corner of her eye, breaking into a sprint towards the exit with a scream.
“Help!” she yelled, jumping over her bed as she rushed towards the hallway before having the wooden door slammed in her face. “Ah!”
The princess fell on her back, immediately pushing herself up to spin around towards the man. He was looking outside through the window, and slowly turned back to face her—showing no interest in acting upon her escape attempt. Her breaths began to quiver as it became more difficult to inhale—feeling a boiling heat growing stronger with every second she remained inside the bedroom.
“I can beat you,” she growled. “You have not seen what I can do… I am a hybrid! Trained by the guards of the castle… gladean knights! They will kill you!”
“Why are you afraid?” the man asked calmly. “I have done nothing to you.”
A gasp escaped the princess, who scrunched her brows downwards with an angry look. “I’m not afraid of anything… don’t you know who my father is?”
“I do,” Sovereign responded, with the silver light of the moon illuminating his back—the shadow of his slightly lowered head keeping his eyes concealed from the girl’s view. “Does it matter?”
“Brute!” yelled the princess once again, sharply turning back towards the door before slamming it with her hands—which to Euthemia’s surprise, remained firm at her battering. “Brute, where the hell are you!”
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“He can’t help you,” said Sovereign, walking back away from the window to stand behind the blonde girl repeatedly hammering the door—maintaining the distance between them. “No one can… not unless I want them to.”
A knock from outside startled Euthemia, who waited not a second longer to reply. “You! Who’s that!”
“What the hell is that noise for!” Loki’s voice protested from the hallway outside, lifting the princess’ spirits.
Her voice trembled, but Euthemia huffed a laugh in relief as she pressed herself on the door. “Loki! Get in here fast!”
Capturing the desperation in the voice of the princess, Loki offered a quick warning before blasting the door open in a single strike of his foot. Multiple particles of crimson light erupted as the door was flung inside, shattering on impact with the concrete wall as it fazed through Sovereign—bursting into small splinters. Euthemia crawled back across the floor to lean on the side of her bed, watching with a smile as the dark-haired knight stepped into the room.
“…” a corner in Loki’s lips raised slightly as his eyebrows scrunched down, glancing from one corner of his eye to spot the terrified princess trembling next to her bed. “bold of you to show yourself here of all places.”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Sovereign replied calmly. “I walk where I please in my world.”
“Not for long,” Loki snapped back—a quick chuckle escaping him as his fierce expression turned into a snarky grin. “Hiding your core with that little girl will do nothing for you,” he taunted the man. “Once you are out of the picture, ending her life will stop you from coming back, wouldn’t it?”
“Then why not kill her first?”
“Tsk! What do you think I am… it will only return to you if I do that.” Claimed Loki.
A corner in Sovereign’s lips curved slightly upwards, suddenly removing the stoic expression he held the entire time. “Here I thought you would jump at the chance of taking another person’s life, maybe I misjudged you a little.”
“Smile all you want…” snarled Loki, standing firm while staring down Cerberus’ ex-CEO—who remained a few feet shorter than him. “Your days are counted, Specter. I will find you, and put an end to your miserable life with my own hands. So, enjoy the little time you have.”
His claims only widened the smile in the man’s face, baring his teeth with a confident smirk. “I’ve been escaping death for longer than you’ve been alive, knight… survived more and better champions than you’ll ever be.” He promptly turned to look at the young princess observing their exchange, who gasped once she noticed his gaze falling on her. “I won’t kill you for taking Ki-Joon from me… but I’ll make sure you end up beg for it.” He casually told the girl. “Have a good eve—”
A bright azure sword abruptly pierced Sovereign’s chest and dispersed him into crimson particles, running through his body to sink its blade on the wall—becoming stuck at a flat angle. The sudden disappearance of the silver-haired man caused the princess to flinch, picking herself from the floor to rapidly walk towards Loki—slouching next to him as she clenched to his arm with both hands.
“What took you so long, you dumb… idiot!” she protested, glancing around her room and into the empty hallway behind her with trembling hands.
“I wasn’t nearby…” replied the knight.
“Where are the others! Why did no one answer my call!?”
Disentangling himself from the blonde girl’s clutches, the knight walked towards the next wall to press his fingers on the grip of his sword—reaping it out of the concrete before forcing it to vanish into azure light.
“I don’t think you understand…” he said with a low voice, just enough for Euthemia to hear. “He wanted me to hear you.” The knight stated while turning to look back the princess.
“Hmph!” scoffed the girl while avoiding her gaze, “what does that even mean?” she asked while flicking her hair with her right hand.
Loki’s eyebrows suddenly widened in surprise, instinctively taking a step forward to confirm what his eyes were telling him. Noticing his reaction, Euthemia lowered her gaze slightly to look at her hand with a raised brow—her jaw slowly dropped, and her constricted pupils stared in fear at her own limb. She trembled rapidly, as if suddenly left in the cold outdoors without clothes—panting with tears building inside her eyes.
“Calm yourself!” demanded Loki as he stormed in the girl’s direction, grabbing her by the wrist.
The princess’ pale and gentle skin was now replaced by a rough and scaly surface, a dark obsidian color that showcased crimson veins running inside with a fierce glow. Her spectral hand slowly expanded upwards towards her body, causing the girl to panic further. Pressing his fingers in her sturdy armored limb, the arteries in Loki’s arm began to glow with azure before being transferred into Euthemia’s hand—temporarily substituting the crimson light with azure, and eventually stopping its expansion half way to the girl’s elbow.
“Aaaah!” the princess screamed as the searing pain of Loki’s pathway killed her spectral arm—leaving nothing but a limp exoskeletal limb behind, with its veins no longer emanating any crimson energy from within. “You… you…. Ah!” she cried.
“It was the only thing I could do,” retorted the knight as he stepped back. “Bastard…”
“Wh—ow! What… what do I do!?” she desperately begged him for an answer. “It hurts! Do I tell father!?”
With careful contemplation as the blonde princess held her arm with tears rolling down her face, Loki scoffed as he alone found himself incapable of reaching an answer. Knights become daemons, humans just another part of Specter’s army, but the case of a hybrid had never been known to the knight. His expression hardened at the hopeless princess carefully sitting at the edge of her bed, hugging herself with uncertainty.
“Let’s just wait before making any decisions…” he suggested with little confidence, stepping in front of the girl.
“Wait!? What if this thing comes back! What if he comes back, you have to help me!” she quivered as she yelled at the knight with pleading eyes. “I can’t become one of those things, Loki!”
“I know!” protested the man before gently patting the blonde princess in the head, avoiding his gaze to look at the dark outdoors through the window. “But King will not hesitate in making things worse for you…” he said under his breath.
END OF CHAPTER