As if on cue, running in amongst commoners came would-be assassins. This lot of people weren’t random untrained poor civilians with a grudge, they were efficient and relatively high-level. Three dozen of them clashed with the knights with reckless abandon, not concerned for their own lives or those of anyone around them. Another two dozen members of this villainous group focused on shooting at the nobles.

Bullets, arrows, and magic were fired at the nobles on the platform, and most of those were aimed toward the King, Queen, Crown Prince and Princess, and the Archduchess. Ninety percent or more of the projectiles were blocked by the large black wings of Takrok, any that could have harmed his main protectees.

Alister created a ward, a shield of blue magic that protected those near him from many of the other shots Takrok was not close enough to stop. Likewise, other mages on the platform did the same.

Despite their attack on the nobles thus far not succeeding, the swath of enemies were smiling. Their goal, whatever it was, was being met.

One after another the terrorists around the platform were being picked off by Takrok, the knights, or the mages. Takrok was having to be careful not to hurt any friendly fighters, which wasn’t easy given his strength - even holding back, the bodies were like crushed grapes. Still, none of the attackers seemed bothered by the loss of their comrades. None were phased for even a moment and continued to toss themselves at the problem until they were dwindled to five, then four, then three members. With a beastly powerful dragon and capable knights, it was little wonder this was being handled so quickly. A handful of the knights were injured, but none on their side were dead. As unfortunate as it was that this wasn’t stopped before it started, the adrenaline was starting to calm, and there was hope it was over.

A sharp whistle rang past the group, through the wards, as a shard of crystal shot out of nowhere at the king. As it tore through the wards of the mages, Alister’s included, the mana that comprised the spells was sucked into the crystal shard, empowering the projectile and causing it to glow.

The shock on everyone’s faces was clear. Takrok’s focus was on the knights and the enemies they knew about, and he had trust in the wards. Still, he flicked his tail to the side as he sensed the attack just in time, shoving the king down. What would have caused massive damage instead went through the king’s shoulder.

“King!”

“Love!”

“Dad!”

“Augustus!”

Everyone shouted at once. The king had a hole burned through his shoulder, the shard having gone straight through. It shattered against the brick wall of a building in the distance on the other side. He shouted out in pain, gripping himself. Takrok growled and covered the royals with his body, the sound rippling from his throat enough to make the surroundings shiver. Focus turned to the source of the projectile as noble mages frantically healed the king.

“Oh~ho! You’re a fun one, aren’t you?”

The voice came from a thin man in a dark cloak. He tossed the hood off, revealing him to be wrapped in layers of cloth bandage wraps. What wasn’t covered seemed to be a mix of necrotic skin and glowing blue crystal. He opened his arms wide, and one - his left - was entirely made of that crystal. Even his heartbeat was in tune with the glow. His wild mess of long orange hair whipped around his body, disturbed by the wealth of mana that was coalescing around him. His eyes were crazed, pure white, grinning as much as his smile was.

“I didn’t know what to expect from the big dragon! - Shut up I know we were warned. - But it doesn’t sound nearly as interesting! - I don’t want to hear it! Lalalalala!” He shook his head after shouting to himself, “The king’s fiiiine, right? That shouldn’t have killed him.”

The tomfoolery of the would-be assassin had thrown everyone off-guard, but Alliana just silently crouched and kissed Alister’s forehead. “Stay here Alister, protect Wisteria,” she said softly, and Alister saw something that surprised him in her eyes.

Rage.

His mother put a hand on Wisteria’s head before she seemed to just… disappear. Alister looked around, startled, “Mom?!”

One of the guards let out a surprised, “What the hell?” as his blade disappeared. At the same time, a contingent of five knights rushed forward. The battle that followed was a brief one, not because of the guards but because of Alliana. Before the group could make battle with the crystal assassin, a blade sprouted out of his chest like a crimson flower, and his heart was the seed.

At the same time, a sharp metal fan appeared in front of his throat. In a moment, his head was cut from his shoulders, rolling off to the side as arteries sprayed blood in a violent fountain from his now-corpse.

“Not my king, not today,” she said, her voice spoken through clenched teeth, barely concealing a roiling fury. She let out a sigh, her hair, face, shoulders, and chest now covered in the fountain of blood. “That was slow,” she mused, walking away from the slumping corpse, “Back during the last war I’d have done that before any of you even drew your swords…”

Alister was staring, slack-jawed at how badass his mom just looked. Truly, he couldn’t ever see her doing something so… barbaric, so brutal. But his eyes widened further as the corpse became a lot more lively than one would expect, and rose to its feet. Before he could open his mouth to warn his mother, however, she was forewarned by a clap. The monster fired a blunderbuss blast of crystal from his palm, all five guard members getting run through and knocked to the ground from the force. Time seemed to slow as Alliana turned to look at the noise, and was hit in the chest by a heavy spray of sharp crystal.

It didn’t pierce her skin, but it did send her flying through the air to hit a wall, cracking her skull against it. She slumped forward out of the Alliana-shaped hole, unmoving.

A moment of tense silence passed as the impaled men died, and Alister frantically cast a quick life sense spell, shortly afterward letting out a relieved sigh. “Wisteria, she’s just unconscious,” he said, a familiar old feeling taking him over.

Alister could hear his heart pounding in his chest and in his ears. Every minute detail stood out as the unpleasant old sensation crept up his body.

Hatred.

Whatever happened after this, it was going to result in the assassin’s death or his own. “Heal mom,” he said softly, stepping forward through the defensive line. He got a cry of protest from the knights as well as from other members of his family like Reese and Felthinus, but Alister wouldn’t be stopped, though one of them briefly broke rank to try to snatch him. Alister slipped out of his grasp all the same. Takrok stared at him as he ran, but he wasn’t going to argue with the boy when there were more important people for him to protect.

Alister paused when he was just in front of the wall of blades and shields and began chanting to himself in an ancient tongue from thousands of years ago.

Let air shake and water ripple, my voice shall carry across the lands and unto the sky… Let the largest mountain crumble before my faintest whisper!

As he began casting, the young mage walked towards the head rambling to the body that was attempting to pick it up. It was made out like a gag, with the body stumbling about blindly trying to find the missing head, “Hey, hey idiot, on your left. No, the other left! Gods, I need better help than what I’m given. Closer… Closer, no that’s a cooked hen dropped by the commoners. No, that's a helmet. Do you guys see what I have to work with? Look at this incompet-ow! Did you just step on me on purpose, you fucker pick me up now so I can punch you!”

Alister wasn’t entertained. He got close as the body finally picked its head up and plopped it back in place, crystal swiftly growing over the slit.

“Hey look, I’m a dullahan! - Shut up I thought it was funny. - Yes, I know dullahan technically make their head float. Enough with semantics you're ruining the joke!” the crystal villain rambled with himself, grinning at the approaching, muttering child. Sensing the forming spell, the man let out a soft gasp, putting his hand to his mouth with an insane giggle, “Oh no! The brat is coming to avenge mommy!~ Whatever shall I do!~ You know what? Go ahead. Give it your best shot. Make it count.”

This got a wry smile from Alister. “I will,” he said quietly, walking until he was feet from him, as close as he could get without being in melee range, “I assure you, you’re going to get everything you deserve.” His voice was a growl of anger, talking more to himself than this monster, and as he finished the spell he thrust his palm toward the man.

“Ooooohoho, ominou- WHAT THE FUCKING HELL-” he was interrupted by the attack, which arrived as he taunted the boy. The curses were cut off by a screech so high that it couldn’t be properly heard; it was very easily felt, however, as the few citizens still within range let out a cry of pain. Their eardrums had ruptured, and blood leaked from their ears as the attack continued for several moments.

Among the cries of pain were the words of the attacker, which had turned into screams of pain and agitation, “OH FUCK YOU, WHEN YOUR MOMMY WAKES UP I’M BUTCHERING YOUR SORRY ASS! WILL YOU STOP ALREADY?!” He let out even louder screams as the sounds of cracking crystal came into focus. Two fingers shattered, throwing crystal shards about. Half his hand fell off, and deep fissures appeared in the crystal. Including the freshly sealed line across his neck.

Just like that, his head fell off again. “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” he roared, holding his head on. “WHAT- Wait, why aren’t I healing as fast?” he asked, gasping as he had to physically hold his head in one hand. The smirk Alister wore answered him easily.

“A curse… you fucking hexed me you little shit,” he said with a grin, “Alright. I respect it. Unfortunately, my pride demands I gut you like a fish… but you’re an observant one. Not observant enough though. Your hex would be a problem, exceeeeept…”

Before Alister’s own eyes, the crystal began to slowly heal. “What do you think this rock is made of?” he said, eyes manic, “Mana crystal! Cool, right?! Your magic ain’t shit! That said, I’ll have to toy with you next time. But don’t worry kid, you’re on my list.” He reached into his pocket and produced a scroll. It was heavy, having a brass scroll holder around it.