Chapter 5: The Princess and The Coward

Everyone was taken aback but nobody came to stop him or even warn the young priest.

The arrow whistled through the air and headed straight for Zaria’s head. It was unstoppable as it left after images in the void.

Zaria kept walking forward, unconcerned about the commotion behind. He had already sensed the blood lust coming from behind.

He also knew he was in mortal danger but he was calm nonetheless and didn’t even try to dodge or defend.

The arrow was just a meter away now.

Everyone in the crowd held their breaths as they were bewildered by his actions.

Does he want to die that bad! Why isn’t he trying to even defend himself!

Now they thought he was dead for sure. Even though they ridiculed him often themselves and disdained him all the same but no one thought that this supposed ‘bastard’ would meet his maker so soon and in a manner like this. It was just too pitiful.

Generally speaking, it was prohibited to kill fellow members in the Sanctuary and was considered a capital offense. But everyone knew that this time it would not be the case. As the offender was none other than a true shishya of the second head priest. His position was even higher than most of the teachers in the Sanctuary. He was an elite among elites. All true shishyas were given the best of the resources and were nurtured as the young leaders of the Sanctuary. As such, they would not be implicated even if they committed a few offenses as long as it doesn’t affect the Sanctuary itself.

The arrow was now only three palm length away from him. Many observers in the crowd let out a sigh in their hearts. Some even turned their heads as they couldn’t bear to watch any longer.

Senior Utkal had a smirk on his face as he watched Zaria walking away without any sort of guard. In his view that bastard had resigned himself to his fate and couldn’t think straight anymore.

But as he was feeling quite accomplished about himself, suddenly he could see a flash of light appear from the corner of his eyes which headed straight for Zaria.

No, it was not headed towards him. It was headed towards the arrow which was only a palm length away from the back of Zaria’s head. But even so the speed of that flash of light was several times greater than the arrow which senior Utkal had shot.

The flash of light reached the arrow in a blink of an eye and collided with it.

BOOM….. BOOM…..

Fissures appeared on the ground as rocks shattered with an enormous blast of energy. It was accompanied by a huge dust cloud which spread in every direction because of the massive force of the blast.

Cough….! Cough….!

Everything was covered with dust. The crowd didn’t see what happened as everything occurred so fast that their eyes just couldn’t keep track of it.

“Is he dead?”

“Of course he is dead! Do you think he can survive such an attack. Hell! Do you think YOU can survive this attack?”

The crowd kept speculating about the young priest’s death as they couldn’t see his body under the cover of dust.

Soon, the dust started to settle and a silhouette appeared before their eyes. He was coughing unceasingly as his face was completely covered with dust and his clothes were torn from several places. However, he was absolutely fine otherwise. The silhouette was of course Zaria and he was completely unharmed!

“Heavens! He is still alive!”

“How can this be?”

“Don’t tell me its a ghost!”

The crowd couldn’t believe their eyes. Although, they were quite some distance apart from it they could still feel the immense energy of the blast to their very bones. It was enough to turn anyone of them to ashes.It was utterly inconceivable to them how that bastard could come unscathed out of it.

While they were bewildered by this, senior Utkal had his veins pop out with rage. Even if those around didn't know what had happened he clearly knew.

He clearly saw the flash of light strike his arrow and as they collided with each other, both the arrow and the light deflected to either sides of Zaria, completely missing him and struck a bunch of rocks in the distance.

Someone dared to intervene in his business!

He was infuriated beyond words!

“Who dares meddle in my matter! Come out and show yourself!”

While senior Utkal was shouting, Zaria tidied his appearance a bit. After that, he lifted his head and gazed into the distance. A smile was plastered on his face the whole time. He spoke up in a raised voice, “I thought you wouldn’t show up. If you acted any less sooner I might really have died, you know.”

The crowd was utterly confused at this point.

What happened?

Did someone else save him?

Who would go against senior Utkal for him?

“It is a capital crime to raise arms against fellow members of Sanctuary without official permission and consent from both parties. Does the rules of the Sanctuary not apply to Second Head Priest’s students? I am rather curious.”

A melodious and sweet voice rang from the distance.

A silhouette appeared in everyone's line of sight. It was a girl of around thirteen years of age. She had brown long flowing hair casually draped over one of her shoulders. She was tall but had a rather petite figure. She looked exquisite in her red brocade dress which had lotus patterns all over.

Every individual in the crowd was mesmerized by what they were seeing. For a moment they forgot to breathe.

“Its..its the princess!”

Someone who was able to break free first muttered. All the others came back to their senses when they heard him.

“Princess Ruya!”

“Did she save him?”

“Who else could it be!”

“It seems that bas…, he would be safe now.”

From the crowd’s reaction it was easy to see that they were quite fearful of this Princess. But they were envious of Zaria too. The mere fact that the Princess shielded him against Senior Utkal was a testimony in itself to their intimacy in their point of view.

If even they could read between the lines how could Senior Utkal not!

He was boiling with jealousy so much that his face turned red. He wanted to kill that bastard even more now. How could he not! This was not how it was supposed to be!

She belongs to me but why does she care about that bastard so much!

He was visibly unreconciled with the situation at hand but suppressed his anger for the time being and approached the Princess with an amiable smile.

“Ruya, I see you came out of isolation. Your strength has progressed yet again. My heartfelt congratulations to you.”

He simply ignored the previous commotion that he had caused and struck a casual conversation. He even addressed her quite informally so as to show others that they were on very close terms.

But the Princess didn't show him much courtesy and was rather displeased by him addressing her so casually.

“Senior, I am but a junior and I hope you address me as one in the future. Also, I suggest you provide a reasonable explanation for your actions, otherwise I would be forced to lodge for a disciplinary action against you,” she spoke blandly.

Senior Utkal was frustrated by her attitude but didn't show it. He smiled and said, “It was only a little spar. I just wanted to test how much he has learned after entering the grade three class. I just wanted to give him some pointers as his senior.”

When those around heard him, they involuntarily rolled their eyes. They were speechless at how this Senior of theirs could spout such gibberish with a straight face.

Princess Ruya also knew that what he said was complete nonsense but she could not say that to him as she was not a concerned party. She could only look towards Zaria for him to make a protest.

Not only her, everyone including Senior Utkal shifted their gaze towards him.

Zaria only looked towards Princess Ruya with a smile and didn't say anything.

The crowd sneered at him. They knew Zaria was not pursuing the matter any further.

Senior Utkal mocked him in his heart.

What a coward!

I just don't know what the Princess see in this coward.

The Princess also let out a long sigh inwardly.

Her figure moved and she appeared beside Zaria. She grabbed his hand and both of their bodies flickered and they disappeared.

Senior Utkal’s face turned extremely ugly when he saw her grabbing his hand and raised his voice as he said, “I hope you remember the arrangement between our families!”

Humph..!

A cold snort echoed from the distance.

The crowd looked scared when they saw his face and quickly left the scene too. They didn't want to stay near a volcano which could erupt at any moment.

Soon only Senior Utkal was left.

He muttered in a cold voice, “Sooner or later you will be mine. At that time we will see who would save that little Bastard!”

His figure flickered and he was gone too.