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
Cyrus and the other two walked around for a while before stumbling upon the nearest inn, and thankfully, according to the pedestrians walking by, it also had an Inn. So the three of them walked into the building, believing they had found the right place. But when they did so, it wasn't as they had expected. When they got inside, they could hear gasps and murmurs coming from around them. Cyrus wondered what that was all about, looking around. Richard arched a brow as he looked around as well. The reaction from the oddly high number of women sitting around seemed to indicate that they weren't in the right place. “This is more like a brothel if you ask me”, Richard said as he noticed the women staring at them in an erotic way. “They don't think we just came here to get a bath and rest for the rest of the day, do they?”, asked Felix. “It seems they had something else in mind when they saw us walk in.”“Sure seems so”, Cyrus said as he too
After Cyrus and the others had finished cleaning themselves, they went to their room. They were pleased with what they saw, but at the same time, felt worried when the reality behind the room's arrangement had began to sink in.Everything in the room was designed for two persons, and they were getting uncomfortable with where they were. Now Cyrus had fully realised the kind of inn he and the others were in, and he regretted choosing this one. Perhaps they should have been more patient with finding an Inn instead of entering the first one they stumbled upon. The bed was large enough for the three of them, yet it looked fashioned for two people, and it felt weird to get on it. By impulse, Cyrus wanted to leave now to see Natalie at the Barracks, but knew that they would still in shock by now. He was right when he said they would have to go in the evening, or even later. So for the next few hours the trio had to manage the room. Felix and Richard
Earlier that day, during sunrise was when the Prefect's home was being ravaged by the rebels, and eventually, taken over by the veterans. It was a long morning, and most of the rebels were put down by the veterans, with only a few of them managing to get away.Gregory was there when the soldiers had impaled the man he looked up to with a spear, and he was lost for words when he saw Harold get down to his knees. Against his code, against his path, against his calm judgement, he ran off.It was as if his legs had begun moving before his brain could tell them not to, as he found himself sprinting off to the far distance without looking back. And after just a few seconds of sprinting, he couldn't help doing what he always did whenever he was tensed up about anything.He began to laugh.His laugh was so loud that the soldiers who were chasing did not know what to make of him, and before they could catch him he had already ran off. His laugh m