Alexander leaped backwards, flipping once through the air before landing on a table.

“Your highness…” Siegfried asked, unable to put his feelings into words. Alexander then smiled a disturbingly wide and unnatural smile before laughing. When he opened his eyes everyone in the room could see that his pupils had rolled back in his head. The remaining guard, a man named Köhler1, was about to ask Siegfried how they should proceed when Alexander quickly threw Agrippina’s dagger at him, grazing the side of his torso and drawing blood. Alexander then drew his sword and lunged at Siegfried, who was only barely able to parry the attack. He then began to pummel Siegfried with one lightning-fast strike after another. Siegfried attempted to back away while parrying every attack Alexander threw at him. The room was quickly filled with the sound of metal striking metal as Alexander attacked and Siegfired parried. Siegfried, who was a skilled swordsman, was completely on the defensive, but this had nothing to do with his desire to not hurt Alexander. No, this was simply due to the fact that the speed of Alexander’s attacks made it impossible for him to do anything, but dodge or parry Alexander’s attacks; he couldn’t do anything to hurt Alexander even if he wanted to.

As this fight was taking place, Ludwig took the initiative. He grabbed Agrippina’s arm and led her to the room’s entrance before kicking the door open and throwing Agrippina outside.

“Run!” He shouted. Agrippina somehow regained control of her body and began to hurry down the spiral staircase that led to the base of the tower.

At this point Ekkehardt decided to intervene. He could see that Siegfried was getting backed up against a wall, Ludwig was still bound, unarmed, and possessing questionable loyalties, and Köhler was both injured and far out of his league. In one quick motion he drew his two-handed sword and threw it up in the air before catching it by the blade as it came down. Then, while holding the sword by the blade with the handle facing away from him, Ekkehardt moved behind Alexander and prepared to strike him in the back of the head with a mordhau2. He swung his sword through the air only for it to be stopped mid swing by cold hard iron. It took a moment for Ekkehardt to realize what had just happened, but when he did, he was completely taken aback. The blade of Alexander’s sword, which was raised above and behind his head, caught the handguard of Ekkehardt’s sword; Alexander had blocked his attack without even turning to face him. Ekkehardt lost his grip on the sword’s blade and it was tossed up into the air before landing a few imperial paces away from the fight.

At that point Ekkehart’s muscle memory took over as he drew his rondel3 dagger and held it in an ice pick grip, but it was all a futile effort. Before Ekkehardt was able to act Alexander spun around with a turning kick, knocking Ekkehardt to the ground and Siegfried against the wall in one stroke. Ekkehardt lost his grip on his dagger, which was caught by Alexander before the weapon or its owner hit the floor. Alexander then turned around once again to strike Siegfried, this time with Ekkehardt’s dagger in one hand and his sword in the other. Siegfried had regained his composure just fast enough to attempt to parry Alexander’s sword, but was completely unaware of his second weapon. Alexandra screamed as Alexander plunged the dagger into Siegfried’s right eye. Siegfried fell to the ground as Alexander turned to Ekkehardt, leaving the dagger lodged in Siegfried’s right eye socket. Ekkehardt, still on his rear, tried to back away from Alexander and towards his sword, but he simply wasn’t moving fast enough.

It was at this point Köhler regained enough of his strength and confidence to make a move. He quickly took up a position in between Ekkehardt and Alexander. His stance was far less organized than what was expected of a palace guard. His body swayed from side to side and his sword shook in his hand as Alexander approached him. When the two came to blows Alexander simply swiped his sword in one effortless motion, cutting a long gash across Köhler’s torso before the guard fell to the floor, writhing in pain. He then proceeded forward towards Ekkehardt.

Alexandra could only watch in horror as her brother stood over Ekkehardt, who at this point was less than half an imperial pace away from his weapon. Alexander, with his eyes rolled back in his skull, smiled as he raised his sword and prepared to cut Ekkehardt down. Then, out of nowhere, a bottle of wine flew through the air and smashed into the side of Alexander’s head. At first his reaction was non-existent, akin to what would have happened if someone had thrown a bottle of wine at a statue, but after a brief moment he turned his head to see the man who had attacked him, Ludwig. Somehow he had freed himself from his restraints and recovered his two-handed sword. Without any hesitation he then lunged himself towards Alexander. The sound of metal striking metal filled the room as Ludwig and Alexander fought each other with an extreme ferocity. Their swords became gray blurs as a blisteringly fast dance of death played out. Wasting no time, Ekkehardt retrieved his weapon, got on his feet and jumped back into the fight. The two cousins fought together as though they were communicating telepathically; each one incorporating the actions of the other to distract or out-maneuver their opponent, but nothing they did could hurt Alexander, who moved effortlessly, parried or dodged everything they threw at him.

All of the sudden the fight turned in Alexander’s favor as his blade found itself running diagonally up Ludwig’s chest, leaving a long red gash. Ludwig reflexively stepped back as he recoiled in pain. With Ludwig (at least temporarily) disabled Alexander was able to completely shift his focus onto Ekkehardt. Within a few short moments Ekkehardt was in the same position as Siegfried when the fighting began: rapidly losing ground and fighting completely defensively. Eventually Alexander tricked him with a feint, allowing him to make an upward jab at Ekkehardt’s throat with the pommel of his sword. Ekkehardt staggered backward before tripping on a table. Alexander moved in for a killing blow only to suddenly turn around to parry an attack from Ludwig, blocking it at the last second. Before Ludwig could strike again Alexander took the initiative and plunged his sword deep into Ludwig’s chest. The gray metal of the blade disappeared into Ludwig’s center of mass before erupting from his back, dripping with dark red blood.

Ludwig dropped his sword and grabbed onto Alexander’s shoulders before coughing up blood.

“...Hey! I got something to say to Alexander; the real one…” Ludwig said. Just by listening to him Alexandra and Ekkehardt could tell that he was nearly spent. Alexander (who’s eyes were still turned around inside his head) tilted his head as he leaned closer to Ludwig, as if he was curious to hear what he had to say. Ludwig coughed up another mouthful of blood before speaking again.

“I… I always hated you, you obtuse, self-righteous twink...” He said before producing Agrripina’s spring-loaded knife from his sleeve. He then pressed the button on the weapon’s handle, causing the blade to swing out. Before Alexander could react Ludwig stabbed him in the neck with all of the strength left in his body.

Ludwig probably would have had one final moment of peace knowing that he had seen his last fight through to its conclusion, but any sense of peace he had was shattered when he saw that Agrippina’s knife was unable to penetrate Alexander’s skin.

“Yuh… you can’t be like him…” Ludwig muttered. Alexander laughed before letting go of his sword and kicked Ludwig down on the floor, where he died a few moments later. He then picked up Ludwig’s two-handed sword and, while holding the weapon with one hand, approached Ekkehardt, who had just managed to get back on his feet.

Ekkehardt breathed heavily as he tried to take up a defensive stance. His mind flashed through his many years of training, trying to find a technique that had not yet been tried or trick that had not yet been seen through, but it was all futile. His failure to think of his next move caused him to consider another question: if he should even try to defeat Alexander or simply delay his own defeat long enough for help to arrive? He knew that his sense of time had been distorted by the frenzy of combat, so it was difficult to estimate when help would arrive; if it would come at all. At that moment his heart sank as he realized the only conduit through which anyone in the palace could be alerted to Alexander’s condition was Agrippina. Nobody was coming. Once Ekkehardt had made that revelation, it became apparent to him that there was only one course of action.

Ekkehardt charged at Alexander with reckless abandon. His elegant and well-rehearsed movements were abandoned in favor of maximizing speed and violence. The sound of metal hitting metal filled the room as Ekkehardt attempted to burn as hot and as bright as possible, even if it meant he would only hasten his extinguishing. Ekkehardt unleashed a barrage of sword strikes upon the mad prince only for them to be blocked one after another.

Suddenly, a loud bang filled the room as Ekkehardt’s sword cut straight through the blade of Alexander’s sword, roughly one-tenth of an imperial pace away from the hilt. The blade hit the floor with a loud ‘clack’. Ekkehardt swung again, but was just barely parried by what remained of Alexander’s broken sword. As the two swords (or, to put it more accurately, one and one fourth of a sword) locked

Alexander then used his free hand to deliver an upper-cut to Ekkehardt’s gut. The force of the impact knocked him off of his feet and launched him one or two imperial paces through the air before he collided with a bookshelf. The individual shelves broke as Ekkehardt hit them, leaving the young knight half-buried in a pile of books and wood fragments. Alexander then proceeded to pull his original sword (the one he had walked into the tower with) out of Ludwig’s body, drop his broken sword, and start walking towards Ekkehardt.

Suddenly a meek voice broke through the silence.

“Alexander… Please stop this. I don’t know what’s happening, just please don’t hurt anyone else…” Alexandra begged. Alexander turned to her, but remained expressionless. She then moved into the space between Alexander and Ekkehardt.

“Alex!” Ekkehardt gasped, only to be ignored.

“Please put down your sword. If you stop this then Ekkehardt and I will be able to help you. We want to help you,” Alexandra pleaded. Suddenly one of Alexander’s arms went limp, causing him to drop his sword to the floor. Alexander then hung his head down. Ekkehardt audibly exhaled.

“Thank you, brother. I love…” Alexandra began, only to be interrupted when Alexander’s head snapped back up and unleashed a bone-chilling hiss. He then lunged at Alexandra, grabbed her neck with both of his hands and lifted her up above the ground. The sides of Alexandra’s vision began to grow dark as she saw a twisted smile form on Alexander’s face. She attempted to claw at Alexander’s hands with her fingernails, but it was no use; it was like trying to dig her nails into an iron plate. A few moments later what little strength Alexandra had faded from her body.

‘I’m going to die here…’ she thought. If the circumstances were any different she might have thought about how unexpected all of this was; how she was being murdered by the most gentle and benevolent person she knew, but she lacked the time and the energy to even think of that. With all means of resistance exhausted, she closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever sensations death may inflict upon her only to feel the pressure be released from her neck and a sharp pain in her rear. When she opened her eyes she saw Alexander clutching the side of his head as he staggered backwards and Siegfried, who was standing between them, holding his sword by its blade. Though Alexandra was too shaken to piece together at the moment, she would later learn that Siegfried, who was still alive, had taken the opportunity to strike Alexander on the head with the pommel of his sword, the same technique that Ekkehardt had tried much earlier.

Alexander quickly recovered and lunged at Siegfried, who was just fast enough to dodge him. Alexander stumbled towards the area where the fallen Köhler lay face down in the prone position. As Alexander hurdled towards him Köhler sprung to life and slashed at the mad prince’s ankles with his baselard4 dagger. Köhler’s blade barely grazed the side of Alexander’s ankle, causing him to reflexively kick Köhler’s face repeatedly with an infantile rage while letting out an inhuman and blood curdling scream that forced Alexandra to cover her ears as she winced in discomfort.

Siegfried, still holding his sword by its blade, rushed towards Alexander as he prepared for another attack, but before could act Alexander grabbed the sword of the guard he had slain at the beginning of the fight, ran to the balcony, climbed onto the railing, and then jumped onto the roof of the tower. After taking a moment to process what had happened, Alexandra moved towards Ekkehardt as quickly as her body was capable of.

“Ekkehardt!” She shouted as she moved to Ekkehardt and began to dig him out of the debris.

“...alive… Check the guard…” the dazed knight responded as he began to get out of the debris and retrieve his sword. Alexandra audibly exhaled as she felt a wave of relief wash over her. The feeling was so intense that it took her a moment to process Ekkehardt’s words. She then scrambled back to Köhler, the guard.

Alexander’s kicking was so powerful that it had knocked the man to the supine position and drawn blood. The soldier’s face, which had turned a sickly pale from blood loss, had now been thoroughly battered. His right eye was bruised and his broken nose was leaking blood from both nostrils. A pool of blood began to form around his body.

“Are you okay?” Alexandra asked as she frantically grabbed Köhler’s dagger and attempted to open his shirt. Köhler attempted to respond, but was initially only able to spit out a slew of blood, salvia and teeth.

“No…” He leaked out. He spoke in a confused tone, as if he was no longer aware of what was happening around him.

“I can fix this… If I can stop the bleeding and get you to…” Alexandra rambled as she cut open Köhler’s shirt and grabbed a nearby tablecloth.

“It’s... okay…” Köhler muttered as he closed his eyes and gently lost consciousness. His breathing would cease a few moments later.

“No! I can still help you! You can’t go now!” Alexandra babbled to herself as she tried to cut the tablecloth into a make-shift bandage for the dead man.

“He’s dead, Alex!” Siegfried shouted as he attempted to keep his (now singular) eye on all four of the tower’s balconies; unsure of which one Alexander would emerge from. By this point Ekkehardt had managed to get back on his feet and took up a defensive stance near Alexandra. After a few moments Alexandra dropped the make-shift bandage and fell silent. A dead silence hung in the air as Ekkehardt and Siegfried tried to determine what Alexander’s next move was going to be. All Alexandra could hear was her own breathing and the faint noise of Alexander’s footsteps somewhere above her.

Suddenly the sound of shattering wood filled the room as Alexander broke through the roof just above Ekkehardt and dove to the floor while holding his sword in a reverse grip and aiming it downwards as though it was some sort of pointed missile. The prince plunged the sword down towards Ekkehardt, grazing him as it cut one long laceration down from his shoulder to his buttock before it slammed against the floor and broke slightly above the handguard. Ekkehardt winced as he felt a sharp pain sear down his body. He instinctively spun around to strike at Alexander, but he had already jumped backward by the time Ekkehardt had swung his sword.

Seeing what was happening, Siegfried rushed towards Alexander. Alexander quickly threw his broken sword at Siegfried. The broken sword, which was no larger than a dagger at this point, flew through the air, rotating vertically before hitting Siegfried on the left side of his forehead, slightly above his remaining eye. Siegfried fell to the ground.

Alexander then turned to Ekkehardt, who, between the burning pain in his back and the adrenaline flowing through his veins, had yet to emotionally respond to what had just happened to Siegfried.

Ekkehardt charged at the now unarmed Alexander. Rather than attempting to run away and pick up a weapon, Alexander widened his stance, formed his hands into fists, and raised them in front of them as though he was a boxer. Had the situation been different, Ekkehardt might have questioned why Alexander had chosen to do this, but after everything that had happened, he wasn’t going to let a chance to attack while his enemy was unarmed go to waste.

Ekkehardt swung his sword and Alexander raised a fist to block him. The young knight prepared himself for the feeling of his sword cutting through bone and sinew before exiting Alexander’s elbow, but that was not the case. Rather, Ekkehardt heard a metallic ‘clang’ as his sword was stopped dead in his tracks. Ekkehardt instinctually pulled his sword back and prepared for another attack, only to discover that Alexander’s knuckles had turned to a dark metallic color. The next thing he knew one of Alexander’s knuckles connected with the side of his head. He was knocked backwards. Then he felt another hit his stomach, and another hit his neck after that, both strikes occurring in rapid succession. One more blow to the head and Ekkehardt fell to the ground as Alexandra shrieked.

With all remaining combatants neutralized, Alexander turned to princess Alexandra. In a fit of desperation she picked up Köhler’s sword. She held this one-handed sword out in front of her with both hands on the grip as though it was a stick with something dangerous or otherwise undesirable, like a snake or a piece of feces, on the other end of it. It was visibly shaking in her hands.

“Please… d-don’t come any closer!” Alexandra begged. The mad prince simply walked to her, grabbed the sword by the blade before yanking out of her hands and tossing it aside. He then proceeded to grab her arm and drag her to one of the balconies.

“Wait! Please!” Alexandra pleaded. Her words had absolutely no visual impact on Alexander, who simply continued on. Alexandra tried to resist, but the condition her body was in left her unable to defend herself, even against someone far weaker than the man who was dragging her. As they reached the archway leading to the balcony Alexandra grabbed the sides of the arch with all of her strength as though she was trying to dig her fingers into the stone. This only delayed Alexander a second or two before the princess’s strength failed her. Once on the balcony, Alexander kicked the wooden railing, causing a length of railing to break apart and fall down to the ground.

Just as Alexander prepared to toss his sister through the gap in the railing, Alexandra saw an arm appear from behind her brother and loop around his neck before pulling him back. Taken by surprise, Alexander sloppily pushed the princess towards the direction of the gap, but had been so disoriented by his attacker that he had just barely missed. Rather than plummeting to her death, Alexandra was pushed back-first into the edge of the remnants of the railing. The jagged edge of the broken railing tore through her dress and cut a large diagonal scar on the back of her left shoulder.

The intense pain in her left shoulder coupled with her fragile state of health left her disoriented for a moment or two, but when she was finally able to assess her situation she saw Alexander and Siegfried struggling against each other just outside of the entrance to the balcony, with the latter holding the former in a headlock from behind. Alexander had initially tried to free himself from Siegfried’s headlock by clawing at the young knight’s thick arms, but when that failed he tried to reach for one of the two blades that was currently lodged in Siegfried’s skull. While neither Siegfried or Alexandra knew how much more damage Siegfried’s head could sustain (or how Siegfried was even alive at this point), it was apparent that their predicament would not be improved whatsoever if Alexander was able to once again obtain a weapon. Fortunately the large difference in both height and muscle mass between the two men, coupled with the awkward position Alexander’s body was in, made it impossible for Alexander to reach past Siegfried’s nose. The mad prince let out another primal scream as he realized this fact. He then wrapped his arms around Siegfried’s waist and leaned back, allowing himself to droop down slightly before he began to stomp on the floor of the balcony like a child throwing a tantrum. He struck the balcony with so much force that it began to damage the flooring. Bits of stone jumped from the floor as though it was being struck by a pickaxe.

At this point Alexandra had barely managed to get back to her feet. A feeling of intense discomfort spread over her as she realized that her path back to (relative) safety, the entrance to the balcony, had been blocked by Siegfried and Alexander. Her proximity to the edge of the balcony deeply disturbed her, but there was no way for her to make it back to the main room of the tower without risking being struck or grabbed by Alexander. Suddenly her blood turned to ice water as she remembered something that she had read about the tower of Anshelm a long time ago: That the balconies of the tower used an uncommon cantilever design. In other words, they were just slabs of stone and mortar that extended out horizontally from the tower and had nothing supporting them from underneath. Alexandra’s eyes widened in terror as she realized exactly what Alexander was doing.

“He’s trying to bring the balcony down!” Alexandra screamed. Alexandra’s words quickly made it to Siegfried, who immediately began to attempt to pull the mad prince back into the tower’s interior as thick cracks began to form on the floor of the balcony.

Alexandra attempted to run back into the tower. Just as she made it back to the entrance Alexander, who was still being manhandled by Siegfired, managed to kick her right in the stomach, putting her on her hands and knees as the balcony began to crumble around her. With one last fit of desperation she propelled herself forward, bringing her upper body back into the tower just as the balcony disintegrated into rubble and plummeted back to the earth.

Alexandra attempted to pull herself fully back into the tower, but to no avail. She lacked the upper body strength needed to return to safety. She winced as her right hand gripped what was once the entryway to the balcony. Using her left hand, she tried to dig her finger-nails into the stone floor with her left hand as so desperate for even the tiniest finger-hold that she would attempt to make one. Needless to say, this failed. The young princess soon found it more difficult to even maintain her position as a layer of sweat began to form between the palm of her right hand and the stone that made up the entryway.

And then, Alexandra’s body failed her; first slowly and then all at once. She lost her grip on the entryway and slipped downwards.Time then began to slow down; each moment an eternity. Alexandra felt the sensation of falling in her gut as she watched her left hand uselessly slide across the floor.

‘Not this. Anything, but this.’ She thought to herself as she involuntarily played out what was about to happen to her in her mind as though she was experiencing a premonition. Her body would lose contact with the tower, then she would feel the air rushing past her as she fell. She probably wouldn’t scream on the way down, though that had more to do with her exhaustion than any lack of terror. After that, the sensations would be more difficult to predict. Maybe there would be pain. Maybe darkness. Maybe something else.

Returning to reality, Alexandra watched as her head finally slid below the floor as her left arm still slithered behind it. Then, out of nowhere, her fall was suddenly interrupted as she felt an iron-like grip around the wrist of her left hand. The object squeezed her tight; enough to restrict blood flow, but not so much that it would snap her bones. Slowly, she felt herself being pulled up by her wrist until she was face to face with the badly-bruised Ekkehardt. Alexandra attempted to say ‘Eike’, but wasn’t able to say much beyond a tired ‘I’.

“Don’t worry Alex, I got you…” Ekkehardt leaked out as he grabbed Alexandra’s right shoulder with his free hand and continued to pull her up. Once Alexandra had been pulled back into the tower the two of them collapsed onto the floor right next to each other.

Alexandra spent a few moments breathing heavily as she stared at the ceiling. As her breathing subsided, she began to hear a man muttering somewhere to her side. Too exhausted to ask any questions, she slowly turned her head to the side to see Siegfried sitting on the floor while holding an unconscious Alexander in his arms.

“I’m so sorry, your highness… I’m so sorry…” Siegfried muttered as he cradled prince Alexander in his arms. His one eye was open wide as he stared at the unconscious prince.

“Siegfried!” Ekkehardt shouted. The traumatized young man looked up from Alexander and towards his cousin, but did not say anything.

“Is he alive?” Ekkehardt asked as he slowly got up and began to stagger towards the two men.

“I… I don’t know. His highness kept resisting my sleeper hold for much longer than any normal human could have. I don’t know if I hurt him more than I needed to. I’ve never seen anything like this…” Siegfried responded before turning his eye back to Alexander.

“Are you okay?” Ekkehardt continued. Siegfried didn’t respond; he only continued to stare at Alexander.

“Siegfried, listen to me! Can you move him? We need to get him to someone who can help,” Ekkehardt shouted. Suddenly something in Siegfried’s mind clicked and his head snapped back up to look at Ekkehardt.

“Yes… I can do that…” Siegfried answered.

“Good we need to…” Ekkehardt began, only to be cut off by the sound of many pairs of boots quickly stomping up the stairs below. With a loud bang the door to the room flew open as soldiers, more than Alexandra could count flooded in. She exhaled deeply.

“Thank God you’re…” Ekkehardt said, being cut off by ten words that would echo through Alexandra's mind from that moment till her arrival at Neustadt:

“Silence! The three of you are under arrest for treason!”