The taste of iron was still vivid in Laslow’s memories, the cloudy afternoon in the Lothaine household was filled with death, corpses of knights and mansion workers alike filled the forest floor like dead insects. Lena led Laslow by the wrist through the forest while having her longsword on hand as if she already expected trouble.

“Why, why is this happening to us?!”

“Shh, we need to get out of here. The central city shouldn’t be far, we’ll be safe when we get there.”

They traversed through the dense vegetation, at the time Arcadia was still rebuilding from the recent war against demonkind and plenty of the soon to be city inhabited the Great Forest. That was also true for nobles who sought distance from the general populace of the city.

His sister was slightly wounded which was visible from her limping, the forest also didn’t help as the bushes were almost waist high and kept getting in the way of her rather short legs.

“Dammit it all… I should’ve listened to the old man’s advice.”

Lena muttered under her breath as she swung her longsword to make a path for them. Nobles usually have personal attendants, normally some are trained under military tactics, others politics and public image.

The Lothaine family was renowned for its might in the war but with humanity’s consecutive losses, its army of highly trained knights proved to be ineffective against demon’s powerful spells. By then more than eighty percent of its total force was dead or had retired. And now Lena was running away for her life and her little brother’s, unbeknownst to her everything was but an intricate plan to get rid of her to finally erase her family’s name from history.

“Lena, can you let go? I can walk on my own too.”

She only noticed how hard she was gripping the boy’s wrist after they stopped running. She turned around and kneeled to face him, her brow dripping with sweat.

“I’m sorry Las, but I can’t bear losing you too, you understand me right? Just this once, we have to stay close together.”

She offered her hand and the boy nodded firmly as his smaller fingers tightened around hers. Lena smiled as she stood up once again, her left leg still a bit shaky.

“Okay. Let’s keep going. Once we see the lights of the city we’ll be safe.”

Her left foot dragged the mud and dirt along with it as she tried to pick up the pace, it was already difficult to heave her own body along but taking care of her little brother as well turned that situation on a whole nother level of complexity. Most of the force that attacked her estate was after her head especifically, rather than destroying the whole place, they hunted along the halls without making too much commotion assassinating anyone that could pose a threat.

Lena was so lost in thought she didn’t notice Laslow’s grip weaken as he ran ahead of her, pointing to a glinting orange light beyond the forest line.

“Lena, I can see lights up ahead!”

“Huh?”

“We’re finally out of this forest!”

He hastily jumped over the vegetation towards the light.

“LAS NO!”

The moment the boy broke through the thicker bushes he was spotted by eight different mercenaries wearing matching wine red gambeson armor, steel plate boots and dark turbans around their faces covering all of their features. Deep in the night, most of them carried lanterns by the belt to illuminate the area and with a quick glance it was possible to see the glint of metallic barrels coming from behind every mercenary. All of them were armed with muskets hanging from slings behind their shoulders.

“Who’s there?!”

One of them pointed the lantern towards Laslow who was caught between all eight armed men. But before he was shot, laughter echoed from behind the line of mercenaries. A very familiar laugh. Alexander was laughing as he approached the boy who recoiled in fear. Between the armed individuals he started to speak in a very sarcastic tone.

“Now. I think it’s my birthday today, for the runt to come my way. The other one must be nearby.”

He snapped his finger as a grin surged from his face.

“I know, Lena, come out before this innocent boy gets shot. You have ten seconds.”

From behind the bushes just out of view, Lena was clenching the handle of her blade tightly as she hit the ground with her left fist. That was it, he had her brother and his life was now on the line, but coming out of that bush meant certain death to her and deep down she knew even Laslow’s safety wasn’t guaranteed.

Nevertheless she walked out of the bushes, breaking twigs under her weight with her arms raised above her head. All the guns suddenly pointed to her with Alexander’s grinning almost beyond what was humanly possible. While slowly clapping his hands he started to talk with his usual tone of mockery.

“Well, well, I knew it would pay off to spend my time in this despicable place. You gave me a lot of trouble Lena, I’m very glad to end this.”

She dropped her longsword on the mud without hesitation, already knowing her fate. Laslow was petrified with fear as the mercenaries were ready to fire at any moment. Noticing her brother’s fright she decided to slowly walk forward.

“I know this will be my end and with it, the end of the Lothaines, but I have one final request as head of the family.”

Alexander scratched his chin while glancing side to side before replying.

“I’ll allow that much. What is your request?”

“Let my little brother live. He has no part of this mess.”

“Ah. The runt? Don’t you worry, he’s worthless for my plans.”

Lena chuckled sourly. She then turned to face Laslow who was now sitting almost on his back. She smiled while she offered her final farewell.

“Be strong Las and remember, wherever you go, I’ll be with you. Your sister loves you dearly.”

“Lena!”

He extended both of his hands out as if trying to reach her but with a flash and deafening sound of gunshots, he was sprayed with blood from the person who gave him the love he never had. The love of a sister.

“LENA!”

She fell face first into the mud. Her blood warmed the cold muck as life was slowly draining from her body, the impact of steel shots were too great for her to withstand and so, only her eyes traced around to find Laslow in her peripheral vision.

“Las… live on. Promise me that you’ll live, no matter what.”

He grabbed her left hand which was weakened to the point of not being able to grasp his hand. Tears came down from his eyes, his trembling fingers desperately clinging to hers in a futile act of keeping her alive. He wished with all his might that she would live but her hand became limp as life left her.

“Well, that takes care of that.”

Alexander brushed his hair back with his fingers as he turned around seemingly done with what he came to do.

“Sir, what about the kid?”

One of the mercenaries had his gun loaded once again but wasn’t pointing at Laslow.

“Leave him be. The runt probably won’t survive the trip to the city anyway, it’s almost an hour of walking… although, it would be funny if he did survive.”

He chuckled before turning around to face Laslow who was still grasping his sister’s hand.

“Do your best to survive alright? Maybe I’ll even have something interesting to write once people start trying to exact revenge against me.”

“I’ll kill you…”

Laslow muttered. The young man played dumb and turned his right ear as if he didn’t hear the boy.

“Can you say that again? I didn’t hear you.”

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

Alexander laughed so much his back started to curve, after that he stared at the boy deep in his eyes before saying a few words.

“Come and try.”

Laslow knew from the beginning it wouldn’t be an easy journey. On that thunderous rainy day, only one could walk away alive and it had to be him. Alexander turned as he heard him scream of hatred.

The wizard pulled out a satchel hidden under his robe. It glittered a light blue hue as he scattered the magic powder around him, but instead of falling towards the ground, the fine curtain of dust seemed to flutter around him like the haze of a scorching day. Phoebe knew exactly what kind of spell that was and quickly threw herself back landing near Leona and Krieg as she shouted at them.

“Get down!”

Without a second thought, Krieg held Leona as they both fell beside the elf. Laura was already lying on the ground while covering her face with both hands.

“Flames of hatred feed upon mine animosity, let it consume my foe in blazing inferno, Terminal Conflagration!”

Laslow finished chanting his spell and the light blue silver dust started to rapid change to a blinding white light, it seemed to serve as fuel to his spell as the light quickly diminished before the soil where Alexander stood erupted into vicious flames towering the nearby trees while setting them ablaze from the unbearable heat.

Leona, while still being protected by Krieg, could feel the heat on her face. It was a very discomfortable feeling forcing her to close her eyes in pain. The knight however had burns on his back, he was clenching his teeth in pain but was determined to keep Princess safe. Phoebe and Laura made the right decision to dive into the mud as it dampened the heat greatly, the dirty clothes were a small price to pay for protecting their bodies. However, most of the mercenaries around the explosion were badly injured, the proximity with the fire made their skin melt on the muscles, most of them died. Some wished they did and instead were on death’s door screaming in agony.

“Father!”

Leona screamed but thankfully he was just far enough away to not be burned alive, however she couldn’t tell how he was since he was on the ground with the other mercenaries.

In the center of the fiery explosion, about three charred bodies remained on the ground, but none seemed to resemble the noble lord.

“Well, well… what do I owe the pleasure, runt? Or should I say, Laslow of Lothaine?”

Seemingly unharmed, Alexander turned his head at Laslow who instinctively raised his right hand to his own head. Filled with never-ending hatred, the wizard channeled all those negative emotions to sunder the lord’s mind, but the moment he used his ability, it was as if he hit a wall. It felt empty like the void, before a torrent of thoughts barraged Laslow’s mind. Struck with great pain, he fell on his knees, however the usual flash of pain was not subsiding and instead it only got more intense. His mind was splitting in half, as if his body was no longer his. Blood started to drip from his nose in a continuous stream his eyes felt like they were about to pop out their sockets from the intense pain.

“Die!”

Laura yelled as she darted out of the mud and swung her greatsword down towards the man’s head, but her blade was deflected by a strange force surrounding him, much like an invisible shield blocking and redirecting her blows.

“What a brute woman.”

Alexander chuckled before he flicked his left hand at her and a sudden burst of wind sent her flying backwards into a tree, slamming her back with enough force to make air come out of her lungs.

“Gah!”

“Laura!”

Krieg stood up with his greatsword drawn when he noticed a mercenary coming from the flank towards Leona. He impaled the man who was sprinting towards the princess with daggers on each hand by using his blade like a horn of a rhinoceros, lifting the screaming man by his torso before launching him towards Alexander, however the man’s body was cleaved in half before it could reach him, blood splattered in a cone around the lord as the two chunks of body flew past him into the woods. He chuckled.

“How low of you, using my own subordinates against myself.”

He turned to Laura with a grin on his face.

“Fine, have at you!”

By extending his right hand, he seemed to muster enough force with wind magic to hurl the barbarian against Krieg. Laura’s eyes went wide as she was picked up by this strange force.

“What the?!”

The knight was forced to let go of the greatsword to lessen the impact as they both collided and fell on the mud. The elf shot one more arrow aimed directly at his neck but the projectile bounced off trajectory, landing itself in a tree far from him, she clicked her tongue as she rushed to aid both of them

“Are you alright?!”

Phoebe started to cast healing magic on both before a distant yell caught her attention.

“STOP!”

Lord Jean stood up with his left arm limp while holding a longsword on his right hand, apparently taken from a mercenary he had just killed amidst the confusion caused by Laslow’s spell. Alexander turned to him with a raised eyebrow before mocking him.

“So, what are you going to do with that? I proved to you that your swordsmanship is useless against me.”

“Maybe against you, yes.”

His eyes had a glint of determination as he swiftly turned the sharp blade against his own throat. Alexander flinched for a split second as the confident grin disappeared from his face.

“You wouldn’t. Your daughter’s life is in my hands, if you die before telling me, I’ll make sure she’ll suffer even greater pain than you have.”

Jean gave out a weak laugh as his weary eyes turned his daughter. She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing.

“Leona. As a father, I’m honored to have you as my daughter, for the hardships you endured, to the joys you brought to the mansion.”

“No… father, don’t-”

“Your mother, wherever she is, must also be proud of you.”

“Father you can’t!”

“My only regret is to not have given you a better future.”

He slashed against his throat.

“No you won’t!”

Alexander reached for his head much like Laslow and for a split second, the blade which was already carving through the flesh, stopped. But that brief moment was all he needed.”

“Caught you…!”

Laslow, who was crawling ever so slightly through the mud towards Alexander, grabbed his ankle with determination in his eyes. The lord only had time to look down as the wizard finished casting his spell.

“Flames of hatred feed upon mine animosity, let my life fuel my nemesis end, Terminus Ignis!”

His hand shimmered red with heat. For a second it seemed like the spell fizzled but Laslow’s body suddenly erupted into a blazing bright red fire, much more powerful than the previous spell, however unlike before, by directly touching Alexander, the flames quickly traversed from the wizard to the lord’s leg as the flames hungrily started to burn his flesh away.

“ARGH! YOU LITTLE-”

By controlling the wind, he snuffed out the fire creating a vacuum. But that was another distraction of the unplanned distraction. Footsteps quickly approached him from behind. Lord Jean rushed at him with the longsword, going for the base of the man’s throat.

“For my daughter!”

He stabbed him, but the blade was caught between Alexander’s bloodied palm. He held the blade firmly while gritting his teeth, seemingly in great pain. For a brief moment Leona stopped breathing, waiting for the end of that arduous journey as her eyes met her father’s.

“Leona… run aw-”

But instead of her enemy’s head, it was her father’s which rolled on the mud. With a swift motion of the magician’s hand, her father was dead.

She couldn’t understand what she had just witnessed. Time felt to come to a stop, her eyes wandered from her father’s upper torso towards the mud, his last expression of dread forever imprinted on the severed head.

“Aaah… haaa…”