Adrian, who was looking at the disfigured corpse of his sister, was hit by a mixed wave of emotions: loneliness, sadness, frustration, and anger.

"You... YOU FUCKING SCUUUUUUUUUUUUUM," Adrian's voice exploded with hatred so loud that it could be heard across the whole battlefield.

Edeus, who was facing Blain, looked at the Earl's office in the corner of his eyes.

"Damn it..." Knowing the prince, he knew he was about to jump into battle to avenge his sister. This was exactly what the enemy wanted. Unfortunately, his hands were busy right now and couldn't do anything about it. If he went after Adrian, the abyssal would just follow him putting the prince in even greater danger.

[Athena, go watch over that idiot], Edeus sent his familiar a mental command.

"Good luck," Athena left her last words and spread her wings. With a burst of wind, she ascended towards the sky.

“Stupid bird, you will get disciplined when we are home”, Edeus who knew her words were for the Abyssal and not for him, let out some words, dissatisfied.

Just as Edeus predicted, Adrian jumped off the window.

"Ahh! Adrian wait!", Rodderick yelled behind him. He saw the prince take off into the sky, covered in a powerful gust of wind.

[What happened? He suddenly went crazy!], Rodderick, whose eyes weren't able to see the princess's corpse, was shocked by the sudden development. He blinked twice before recovering and ran down the stairs to follow Adrian.

Adrian rushed out, despite his anger, he was carefully overseeing the battlefield.

“Are you that desperate to get killed, little prince?”, Athena arrived next to him and flapped her wings. She followed the prince, flying next to him without any attempt to stop him. Adrian simply ignored her.

As he reached the walls, he saw Barth stationed on the gates. His loyal royal guard was slashing demons who attempted to climb the walls, he looked up and saw the prince, his eyes went wide in surprise but quickly calmed down. As the person who stayed by his side since he was but a young child, he knew the prince better than anyone, he always expected him to join the battle.

Adrian landed next to the gates. They were currently manned by soldiers to make sure no demon could reach the gate’s controls. As an additional measure of security, earth mages had risen a giant boulder that was currently blocking the gate.

“My prince!”, Barth rushed over, kneeling down before Adrian.

“We are going out, leave this position to Dorhem’s soldiers”

“At your will”, the old soldier responded with a daring smile.

Adrian understood how powerful the demon commanders were. If they were able to defeat his sister and Theresa, they were no common demons, if he was to fight with them, he needed Barth at his side. Athena was strong, but he couldn’t trust her.

He turned around, ready to take to the skies again.

“Gah!”, a pained scream came from behind him. Adrian quickly turned back to see Barth, a sword stabbing through his chest.

“What?!”, Adrian was in shock.

Stab, stab stab. Three spears then also pierced the old soldier through the back. Behind him, were the soldiers he was fighting together with only minutes before, their eyes dead and empty.

[Charmed soldiers?], the gears in Adrian’s head started spinning. Was this how his sister was assassinated? She would have been on guard against demons, but would she have been able to seen a surprise attack coming from her fellow humans?

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A group of soldiers then jumped towards Adrian, holding him in place. The prince was to be captured, not executed. As he fell to the ground, Adrian looked up at the old soldier holding on the edge of the sword that pierced his chest. He spat blood while looking at the prince.

“Prince Adrian…”, he said, in a weak voice. “Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh!”, regaining a second wind after seeing the young prince in danger, he swung his sword to the people behind him, a swing so powerful, it generated a powerful gust of wind that blew the soldiers away.

Barth then fell down on his knee. Blood dripping from his wounds and with ragged breathing.

He was about to slay the soldiers that were holding the prince, however, before he could even stand up, a gust of wind passed through the soldiers, taking their heads with it.

Athena smiled in satisfaction after getting an excuse to vent her frustration on humans.

“Barth!”, Adrian pushed away the corpses of the soldiers and rushed towards the old royal guard.

“Stay still, I will heal your wounds”, he placed his hands on his back, a white magical glow emitted from every wound simultaneously.

As the wounds began to close, Adrian looked up. A group of soldier were killing each other, the charmed soldiers had taken the rest by surprise, gaining the upper hand. A small group of them were protecting the gates controls and opening the gates for the enemy.

“Shit..”, the state of the battlefield had changed in an instant. The defender mages were stabbed from behind, the soldiers supporting them were now fighting their allies and the demons were able to climb the walls unchecked.

TIC TIC TIC, CLACK.

The gates were now open, and the boulder blocking the way was turn to pieces by enemy mages. This was supposed to be the last line of defense for Dorhem, but the mages that were supposed to protect it laid dead on the floor at the hand of their comrades.

Adrian was in despair. Before he could get his revenge, before he could even put a foot outside the walls, everything suddenly fell apart.

The wounds on Barth finally closed, however, healing magic exhausted the body. In nature, healing magic was not very different to how warriors reinforced their body. It was the practice of imbuing your will on the body.

For regeneration, the body used their own energy to restore wounds. Some lethal wounds would require so much energy that despite being able to save someone’s life, they would lose many years of their lifespan in exchange. This was probably the case for Barth too. He wasn’t in shape to fight anymore.

“Damn it…”, Adrian closed his fist in frustration, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. ‘Foolish child’, he could hear Edeus’s reproaching voice in his head.

He shook his head, trying to calm down.

[Right now, I have to take Barth out of here, I can take care of the demons later].

Adrian picked Barth up, putting his arm around his shoulder, but he could barely move. The old royal guard was incredibly heavy, courtesy of his metallic armor.

“Where are you going, little prince? I hope you are not about to turn down my invitation.”

Adrian froze in place. He slowly turned around to see a blue yoma with a small pair of wings sprouting from his head.

What was the commander of the army doing here?, he thought. But the answer was obvious, they were here to take him away.

Next to him, was another yoma, a woman with green skin and long thin tail. Both of them presented themselves at the worst possible time.

No… it was because it was the worst possible time that they had appeared. Everything has been part of their plan in which he played the role of a fool.

“Prince Adrian….please, run away”, Barth who was physically exhausted spout out words with a pained voice.

“Not happening… this is all my fault… I don’t want to lose you too.”

Adrian put Barth down and stepped in front of him, ready to confront the demons.

He was probably no match for them, but he had Athena at his side. She wasn’t to be trusted, but as a former queen of the harpies, her strength was the real deal.

“Stay right here Barth, and look up. I’m going to take them down right here”.

The young prince eye’s were burning with determination.