The soldier hesitated when he came to the doors of the innermost sanctum of the cathedral.

Behind this door was the throne of the emperor, who no one outside of the generals had seen.

He took a deep breath and pushed the doors open.

Despite the door’s regular appearance, the room itself was a marvel.

It was a large rectangular room with a red carpet stretching up to the steps that lead to the throne.

On both sides of the carpet were several columns that stretched from the ground to the ceiling.

But what surprised the soldier the most was the emperor himself.

He was a large and imposing figure, easily one head above the average man.

And most noticeably, he was clad head to toe in silver armor.

The soldier hurriedly locked the doors and walked to the foot of the stairs to kneel down before his king.

“My lord, the rebels are coming, you must leave this place”

He relayed disappointingly to the emperor.

“Oh?”

The emperor replied in a deep voice which seemed to increase the pressure in the room.

“The “saint” is with them too and they’ve already taken most of the cathedral”

“And YOU will protect me?”

“No, I . . I FAILED. This is my fault, I shall hold them back while you escape from here”

“You would give your life for me even though you could save yourself?”

“Yes. My lord, you have helped me out before”

“Hmm well then . . .”

The emperor stood up from his throne and walked down to the soldier.

“Receive my sword, so that you may cut down my enemies.

Return it to me when we next meet”

He pulled out a black blade from his waist and handed it to the kneeling soldier.

“My . My LORD THIS this is . . .”

The soldier was baffled at having been given the personal sword of the emperor himself.

As he examined it, he came to see how strange this blade was.

It was entirely made out of some black shiny metal that wasn’t glossy.

It was darker than the obsidian he had seen in books, and it also seemed to have a slight hum.

When he placed his right hand on the handle he felt something strange.

“Kuh!?”

The soldier felt as if the veins in his hands had grown in to the sword’s handle and guard.

He could feel his heart beat from the sword when he touched his other hand to it.

“Be careful, this blade is a wild one and unlike any other. Its twin is coming, so be sure to give them a nice reunion”

“Thank you. My—“

Unfortunately, the soldier was interrupted by the sound of a sword bursting through the cracks of the doors.

It slid downwards and destroyed the lock.

Though no regular sword could break the lock without chipping, this silver one seemed to cut through it easily.

“Well then I shall take my leave, when you return I shall reward you. Perhaps with a title other than “soldier”

The emperor walked casually to the stairs behind the throne that led downwards as the doors swung open.

A bunch of rebels piled in to the room with determined looks on their faces.

Though there were eight people that came in to the room, the soldier wasn’t scared.

If anything, he was glad that he could go down taking out this many people.

But then they parted and another figure walked up.

She had white robes on that distinguished her from her companions and welded a silver sword in one hand.

The soldier’s hand started shaking as what was probably his last battle started.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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Ander rushed home as fast as he could and threw the front sliding door open.

"Daddy?”

Mila looked from her book in surprise as her father suddenly appeared.

“Mila are you alright?”

Ander asked with a short breath.

“Yea, mommy left me paints and went to help you”

“That’s right Ander, though you shouldn’t make me carry everything”

Ander turned around and saw Emilia carrying his things.

She had a smile on her face which put Ander on his guard.

“Hey Mila why don’t you help your mother with some things and I’ll put away the rest”

“OK”

As she gave Mila some light items to put in the kitchen, Emilia glared at Ander.

She shoved the rest of the items to Ander and he immediately left for the store house.

Ander threw the things in haphazardly and made his way to the courtyard.

He looked under the floorboards of the patio but what he was looking for wasn’t there.

"Tch!?”

He looked up just in time to dodged a vertical slash aimed at his head.

“You wouldn’t kill me in front of our child, would you?”

Ander gulped as he looked in to Emilia’s piercing gaze.

“How long?”

“What?”

“HOW LONG did you know?”

“. . . about a year”

“Surprisingly you haven’t tried to kill ME during that time”

“I had a lot of time to think, and I had hoped this day would never come. Even though it was inevitable”

“And you thought that we could just play house after all those times we fought?”

“. . . Maybe? I didn’t have the same drive as I did and before I knew it we were married with a kid”

“You know it’s funny, you used to come at us with such ferocity and force. We questioned if you were even human, creating

that amount of bodies by yourself”

“We said the same about you, no amount of people could stop you. Heh, though almost no bodies. But that doesn’t matter

now, don’t you see? It’s over, the city fell and nobody’s heard anything from them. We can just lead our lives here”

“Wrong, I know it’s still there. I saw it today, it survived. Though we can’t see it, if the city is there. That means HE’s here

too”

“What will you do now?”

Ander asked, trying to gauge Emilia’s intentions.

“The emperor, he’s the end goal. I won’t stop until he’s finally dead. I don’t have time to waste on a reject like you”

After she declared this, Emilia walked in to a bedroom and closed the door.

Ander saw Mila peeking from the living room and he went to tend to her.

“Mommy and daddy are having a little argument right now ok?”

“mmm”

Mila showed some acknowledgement but was clearly on the verge of tears.

“Hey don’t worry, here we can eat the sweet buns I got today for dinner”

“. . .ok”

After comforting Mila some more, the two ate the buns in silence.

Then while Ander pulled out the futon again, Mila left an extra bun on a plate with a note in front of Emilia’s room.

That night, Mila felt for the first what it was like to sleep without one of her parents.

The next day, Ander woke up to the sound of a wagon slowly pulling up in front of the house.

He sighed when he saw who it was and changed clothes quickly in order to meet them.

The wagon was being pulled by an old horse that was past its prime but still had some energy left.

Though this could also be said of the driver too, he was a little more.

He was older man who was very disheveled looking and a little dirty.

But his striking feature was much he reeked of alcohol.

Though he disliked this man, Ander tolerated him since he was the only one with a horse and wagon that would deliver

supplies here.

“Su . . Supplies are hereerr uh Ander”

The man said slowly through his beard.

From his slurred speech, Ander knew that he was already drunk and was once more, amazed at his driving abilities.

“Forgetting something Guy?”

“Hehehhee what? Evvveerything’s he. . he.. here”

Guy managed to squeeze out before he belched.

At this point, Ander was pissed off and laded it out on Guy.

“Don’t try to cheat me old man, I needed those water barrels three days. And you still don’t have them. We haven’t been

able to bathe so that we could drink water. Don’t make me get the head to kick you out of town”

“Ok Ok, I’ll have them here by tonight”

After Ander’s warning, Guy seemed to magically get soberer.

Shaking his head, Ander got to work taking the supplies he bought yesterday in to the storeroom.

Just before he left though, Guy shared with Ander some surprising information.

“Ya know, I saw your wife walking to town on my way here. She’s still a looker”

“I wonder, can you go faster than my bow and arrow?”

“WELP, time to go”

And with that Guy whipped his horse and sped away.

“I don’t like him daddy, he smells really bad” Mila told Ander just as went back in to the house.

“Wow, you actually can smell that bastard from here huh?”

Ander knocked on Emilia’s room and just as Guy said, she was gone when Ander went

‘Hmm she ate the bun at least’

Ander saw the note Mila wrote that said “For Mommy” on one end and turned it over.

In Emilia’s writing it said

“I wouldn’t traumatize Mila but that doesn’t mean I won’t get you later.

I’ve gone to  think things out for a bit. Don’t wait up for me.

I’ll be back when I feel like it”

Annoyed, Ander decided to head to town to find someone to take care of Mila while he took care of his duties.

“Come on Mila, Mommy’s taking some off. She’ll be back soon. So that means you have to go town with me”

“ok”

Mila responded in a low voice.

Now that Ander was missing both his swords, he took a small dagger with him instead.

He carried Mila on his back-piggyback style and started the trek to town.  

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When Guy was close to town, he stopped his wagon and moved cautiously to his meeting spot in the trees.

“Well? Any news?” The voice called out to Guy as he approached.

“Yes, well young master, I saw Emilia walking down the path on my way there. Though I did try my best to hail the fair

maiden, she shot a look of blood lust at me”

“Don’t you dare go near her Guy, and what of the supplies?”

“Here, and he was a bit pissed his water wasn’t on time”

Guy said as he handed a list of the things Ander had ordered to the man.

“Good, let him be. Deliver it normally and report back to me with anything you see.

I have work to do now”

The man handed Guy some money and promptly left.

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Ignoring some stares as he got to town, Ander made his way to the bakery.

Kona, the old baker would always help him out just like she did when he first got here.

But on his way there. . .

“Ander?” She said with a surprised look on her face.

“Reimi, . . . two days in a row. It’s a new record huh? Me appearing here”

“Remi, Hi”

Mila chimed in, to greet the person she hadn’t seen in a while.

“Hey. . uh . . you wouldn’t happen to be busy?”

Ander brought up hopingly.

“I have to go hunting today. But if you need my help. . ., I could tell my uncle and the

others. I’m not paired with Tai today, so he won’t say anything if we don’t”

Reimi stated with a concerned look on her face.

For Ander to appear twice in town on consecutive days means something is wrong she thought.

“Emilia had to go take care of something and won’t be back for a while. So, can you watch Mila while I take care of some

things?”

“Sure, I’d love to play with Mila”

“Mila, stay with Reimi for today and don’t cause trouble. Oh, and Reimi, she’s been in to painting recently. So, if it’s not a

bother to go to the general store, I’ll leave you some cash”

“No problem, but I expect some compensation later”

“Anything”

“How about you, Mila, and I share a cake from Kona’s later”

“Please”

Mila added with a shining look in her eyes.

“Why not? Well then I’ll see you two later”

With that, Ander turned to leave as his daughter and friend both waved.