“Also, about my daughter”, Kendrick said. “I think she would rather look after herself.” “Does that mean that I don't have to take her to safety?”, asked Lucius. “You can try”, Lucius said. “But unless you physically force her to come with you, she won't be leaving without me.” “I thought that would be the case”, Lucius said. “I was about to ask for permission to use force if necessary for her safety.” “Well, I wouldn't approve of it”, the prefect said. “I'm glad you've clarified that”, Lucius said. “But I can still endeavor to take her away, right?” “Again, you can try”, Kendrick said. “But if she refuses, leave her be. Your commander was one of those who trained her - albeit not personally, but he saw to it. I believe he also trained you in some ways as well. With that in mind, I believe she can look out for herself.” Then Lucius gave a bow and left. Lucius went into the Prefect's private residence with two guards and knocked on Natalie's door. He knocked a second time before
It was just about an hour before sunrise. It was still dark, and the men who were on guard were tired, looking forward to finishing their shift once the sun came up. This time, Lucius was one of them, and while other men were falling to sleep, he stood erect and only moved when he was about to hit a guard who was falling asleep on duty. Within the closed shades of the nearby market, Lucius could see lights coming up simultaneously from within the clogged areas of the closed tents. Then he realized that they were being ambushed. With a loud shout, he signaled for his men to gird their swords and brace themselves for an attack. But before he could complete his words, fiery arrows had been shot upwards from within the tents, forming a high arch in the sky before coming right down on the Prefect's home and some of the guards who stood outside with Lucius. The men screamed as they were caught on fire immediately after being shot by the arrows. Lucius looked up and saw more of those arrow
Thanks to the brilliant light given by the burning building, the brilliant silhouettes of both warriors could be seen fighting each other from over a mile away. The burning building was so bright that other soldiers had seen it from the far reaches of the city and had begun pouring in to figure out what was going on and hopefully resolve the situation. Lucius was brought down to a knee as he blocked a heavy strike from the Berserker. But that move was intentional, as he didn't want his sides to be open for another attack. The Berserker struck again, over and over while Lucius remained as he was, but when another strike came, he pushed back the sword, pressing it to the side before headbutting the Berserker's face. The impact of Lucius's forehead cracked the Berserker's nose, and he stumbled several feet backward, clutching onto his bleeding face. The breeding was severe, and within seconds, his mask was soaked in it. “You might want to take off the mask, Harold Hamilton”, Lucius
The rebels poured into the courtyard, led by Conrad and Olivia. And once they recognized the prefect, they pointed at him, and all the rebels poured in his direction at full speed. The prefect readied his sword, Natalie stood firm, and the others braced themselves as well. With a loud shout, they ran toward the rebels, but Cyrus and Richard overtook them, plunging headfirst into the crowd ahead of Kendrick and the others. Cyrus hacked and slashed with his sword, and as he did with the Dakra back at Sargath Village, he turned off his brain from holding back on anything. This was war, and the rebels had to die. Cyrus endeavored to stay ahead of Natalie, trying to keep as many rebels as possible from reaching her even though she was faring quite well on her own. It was an unsettling sight for the others (apart from Kendrick) to see the peaceful and pacifist Natalie slitting throats and stabbing men like it was nothing. The sight of bloodstain on her, while she remained nonchalant w
The Berserker stood before Kendrick, and they stared at each other. It was like the aura of hatred between the two was so strong that no one dared to interfere in the duel. As if the whole world had faded to black, with only the prefect and Berserker left behind, both combatants ran toward each other. And when they got close enough, their swords clashed. With neither side yielding to defense, each fighter struck continuously against the other, blocking and striking back immediately. Unlike Lucius, Kendrick was not put at a disadvantage by Harold's exceptionally long sword. And the more he struck against the Berserker, the more he could feel his old thirst for carnage coming back. It was so much so that Harold was starting to take caution, because among all the people on the side of the empire he had fought, never had he come across one who smiled while fighting him. Harold could see Kendrick's obsession with cutting him down. It looked like the prefect was craving it so much that
Harold watched as Felix's dagger plunged itself into Olivia's head. Calling out her name didn't prevent it from happening, and to his horror, she fell to the ground once she was hit, and her lack of reaction made him scream out her name once again. Cyrus didn't need to look back to know what had happened. He numbed himself to Harold's cry, refusing to feel any sympathy. “It hurts, doesn't it?”, asked Cyrus with a straight face. And Harold looked at him with renewed hatred. “You kill soldiers like they don't have families of their own, and yet you act all innocent when it's your loved ones that get taken away! Tell me, how does it feel?” “Shut up!”, Harold yelled at him as he moved out of the way, causing Cyrus to stumble forward. Then he attacked from behind Cyrus, whose rear was now exposed. But right before the sword could reach him, Cyrus brought his weapon behind him, blocking the attack. As Conrad wept, holding his sister close, Harold wanted to be with them. He wanted to h
When the prefect and the others needed help, the reinforcements arrived, but they had been around for some time. What kept them back was dealing with the residual units of rebels outside the Prefect's home, and it was after slaughtering the rebels outside that the veterans got inside the building to take care of the rest, and it all ended with the death of Harold, the Berserker. Now the rebellion was finished, and all of them were wiped out - save for the ones who fled. The Prefect's home was now in ruins, albeit still standing, while it's surroundings were littered with corpses. Most of the corpses at the front were dead rebels, while those in the surrounding areas were mainly Emperor soldiers. Most civilians were afraid of coming out to do business as usual, just because of the great destruction of that morning. In fact, even at the end of dawn when the battle was just starting, people were aware of what was going on, and that was what swarmed in most of the city's military into
About eight years ago, a young Olivia was walking alone with her brother, on their way coming from their parent's farm. They were instructed to return with food for the night. And as they were walking, Conrad noticed that she was barefooted.He clicked his tongue. “What is wrong with you?”, asked Conrad. “What happened to your sandals?”Olivia looked at her two feet and seemed genuinely surprised that she wasn't wearing anything, while her brother stood amazed by her ignorance. “You must have left it at the farm”, Conrad said. “Damn it!”Conrad notoced that she was getting tired, as the weight of the heavy sack of grain on her back was becoming unbearable. Her brother sighed, looking around several times before making a decision. “This looks like a safe place”, Conrad said. “You will have to watch over the food for a short while as I get back to the farm, alright?”“Let me come with you”, she said.“No, you are too