Trace was breathing heavily, he arrived just in time to save this Demon from the unsightly end of the claws of the Dark Margenko, there was doubt in his mind that this was indeed THE Dark Margenko, the one that attacked the prison tower and slaughtered its garrison singlehandedly, the one believed to be responsible for the destruction of the village Querum and the one responsible for the very attack on the Kuntery estate and the one responsible for the deaths of Lady Kathrin and Lady Julia.

He had seen many a battlefield during his times of service to the royal family and he was no stranger to death and the horrors that could befall the unfortunate, but when he first saw the carnage at the prison tower, even he had to hold his stomach in repulsion at the sheer scale of death and defilement that had been committed. He had sworn to avenge the fallen by finding and bringing the one responsible to justice and now he finally had the chance to do just that, as the one responsible was standing right in front of him.

And to be honest, he couldn’t help but feel confused, this was the one supposedly responsible for over a hundred murders and yet she looked smaller then most children of the city and frailer then most orphans he had encountered, hell, with her dirtied and tattered red shirt and and black shorts she looked more like a disowned noble child then anything else, it was this confusion that had caused him to stop the first time he had arrived.

He had heard descriptions from her royal highness, princess Fraya so there was no doubt that this was indeed the Dark Margenko that had attacked the prison And supposedly the same one that attacked Querum and by all accounts the one responsible for the attack against the Kentury estate, but looking just at her appearance alone his own brain refused to accept that this was the mass murder monster on the loose inside the Kingdom.

It had been but a few seconds, but those few seconds almost costed the Demon its life, Trace was not particularly fond of the Demons, almost no humans were, but this was an enemy that both races had to face and he would gladly set aside his differences and work together with the Demons to rid the world of this abomination.

The abomination in question was currently busy screaming angrily into the sky, followed by a line of insults, some of which he didn’t even know what they meant, but as they were said in between other insults he was aware of, it wasn’t that hard to assume they were insults as well.

"Jesus fucking Christ, why does this absolute bullshit hurt so much, I have been stabbed through the chest and this little cut hurts somehow just as fucking much, holy fucking hell!!"

Taking the time to look and make sure the princess was save, he was delighted to find out that the princess was indeed safely hidden away behind some rubble, with only her head sticking out to keep a look, next to her the guardsman who had followed and protected her the entire way here, Trace would definitely write a letter to the mans commander later, recommending a promotion for his services, but that could wait, right now he had far more pressing issues to deal with.

"Your reign of terror will end now Monster!"

He declared as he readied himself for another charge of the beast, he had not that much experience fighting monsters or beasts, but even he knew that they only knew one single tactic, the mindless charge forward in a all out attempt to kill and mane in a wild frenzy, why would this monster be any different, even if it somehow possessed the ability to talk, at its core it was still a beast and nothing more.

In his later years he often lamented that exact assumption, the one before him already displayed incredible feats of intelligence that shouldn’t be possible for a instinct and impulse driven wild beast, he should have assumed that there was more then what meets the eyes with this enemy, but he underestimated enemy and only by pure chance and luck did he not pay the ultimate price for his foolishness and blindness.

"[Thousand Arrows]!"

It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell, any half decent Sorcerer or Mage would be able to learn this spell in a day or two and neither was it the sudden danger the magical attack posses to him, after all as a captain of the royal guard his armor was made partially out of Black Iron, but neither were the reason that Trace was unable to move, it was the fact that there was a magical attack at all.

By all known laws of magic, monsters and beasts were unable to cast Magic, there were exceptions, such as the Elemental Golems that roamed the Southland Desert, but those were rare, a single one spotted every three months or so. It was widely seen as fact that a certain level of the mind was needed to both understand and be able to manipulate Mana, the source of all Magic, requirements that stipulated that monsters were never able to cast magic, as they were simply to dumb to even understand it with Elemental beings only able to cast Magic of their respective element, because it was a literal part of their body.

And yet here this monster stood, casting Magic.

The surprise of it all stunned him and he was frozen in place, the implications of this attack were absolutely terrifying, if this thing possessed the needed intelligence to actually understand an manipulate Mana, it would mean it would be able to learn even more devastating magic if she got her claws on the right texts, an absolutely terrifying proposition.

As the storm of arrows started to subside he didn’t have so much as a scratch on his body or armor, by all accounts he wasn’t hurt, but the mental damage this simple act brought was all the damage needed and it was almost cost him his life, it was this exact moment why he emphasised to all shoulders under his command to always expect the unexpected and even if you are getting surprised by your enemy to immediately refocus and retake the control you just lost, otherwise you might just die.

And if it weren’t for the terrified screams of both the princess and the solider that had watch over her for so long, he would have been killed without a doubt, but thanks to their presence finally bringing him back to his senses, he was able to stop the incoming claws just before they were able to slash his throat.

Using all his strength he pushed the beast away and created enough distance between them to swing his massive great sword at his opponent, who dodged by make a small jump backwards, but instead of attacking right away again, the monster simply glared and started to circle him, he immediately responded in kind and used this opportunity to quickly go over his options.

It was very clear that this monster was both much faster and stronger then him in terms of raw abilities and that he would lose in a drawn out fight, he knew more knights would arrive shortly, he had gone alone and ordered the knights in the area to make sure all Margenko‘s were eliminated before following him, protecting the princess was his duty first and foremost after all. The moment he had heard the crowing signal he had given the princess he had to hold himself back and quickly give the knights their orders before rushing here and to ensure the princess' safety.

The question now was, could he hold out until the other knights arrived?

He wasn’t someone not to fear on the battlefield, he had been made commander in the south and captain of the royal guard not just because of his leadership abilities and charisma, but he had to admit that in one on one combat, there were many that would be able to beat him and he didn’t know what other tricks this abomination had, but did he really have a choice?

He thinks back to everything he can in the short amount of time he had, his family and friends, his comrades and the princess, The simple people he came across on the streets in the city, he swore to protect them all that fateful day, the day he became but a simple solider in the royal army, an oath to protect and serve. Deep in his heart he knew he was afraid of death, of the possibility of never seeing them ever again and fear of making them weep once they learn her had disappeared and never to return, but the thought of letting this abomination cause any more suffering and spreading anymore evil was enough to overcome this fear. He would not let this thing destroy the innocent and terrorise their children any longer.

He took a long breath and with a scream that pierced the very heavens themselves, he charged.

———————————————————

 Luisa, while having had far worse headaches upon waking up before, was definitely experiencing anything but a pleasant wake up right now. Her head was pounding like crazy and her legs and arms were hurting as all hell and back, her mouth was dry and her body cold, the only form of comfort for her right now, was the rather fluffy bed she was currently resting on, a small comfort given the state of her body, but a comfort nonetheless.

It didn’t last long however, as she heard a loud cry of rage and agony she was all to familiar with at that point, Hanna was, to the surprise to absolutely no one, angry, if it wouldn’t result in her losing her head, Luisa might have made a comment on how it’s unhealthy to always be angry, but she would rather keep her head so she never said anything out loud, besides she knew that if any elves were around she herself would be just as angry if not more. 

Suddenly, she felt her fluffy bringer of comfort move and her body with it, slowly rocking back and forth, back and forth, this was rather confusing to Luisa, because beds aren’t supposed to move without outside interference and Hanna‘s scream, while loud and powerful, shouldn’t be able to cause a bed to move.

Then she heard murmurs, hundreds of them at a time, they were scared and terrified murmurs. They feared for their lives, they didn’t want to get hurt and they didn’t want to see another one get crushed, some few were louder and it almost sounded like they were crying, but no matter which murmurs she listend to, one thing was a constant: They were scared of their big sister.

Luisa, now very confused and also kind of scared, decides against her better judgment to investigate what she just heard, as such she tries desperately to move her body, so she might see other things then just the blue sky and its clouds above, it was a struggle, no matter which part of her body she tries to move,  every time she had to stop as pain shot through her and it felt like hundreds of needles were imbedded into her skin.

Suddenly there was a loud crack ringing out into the air and another of Hanna‘s loud screams rang into the air itself, but this time there was pain, only pain inside of that scream, pure and unfiltered pain and suffering, it sounded just like the screams of their victims, it was a scream Luisa had gotten accustomed to over her time together with Hanna, it usually does nothing to her, but this time she was terrified, because for the very first time, it was Hanna who releases such a scream.

Her body was suddenly shacking, as the bed she was laying on suddenly started to shack violently and she started to feel how the bed beneath her was slowly disappearing, until she suddenly and violently hit the dirt floor, the pain nearly knocked her back out again and her scream was loud enough for but a moment to overpower even Hanna’s.

Her vision was blurry and tears were freely flowing from her eyes as her entire body was screaming at her as pain shot through it again and again, for a moment, she silently thought that this just might be the end, that this was the moment she would die.

Soon Hanna’s scream died out and her own was replaced by week whimpers and moans of pain, although she finally managed to make herself sit thanks to the help of a nearby rock, the pain was to much to bare and she found her self slipping in and out of consciousness, in the few moments of clarity she had, she tried to understand just what had happened, it was difficult, but eventually she managed to find a position that didn’t cause her to much excruciating pain and she focused her eyes to be able to see what was going on.

Next to her she found the still body of Adeline, her clothes were torn apart and littered with holes, she was laying right on the ground, her face buried in dirt and mug and a small puddle of blood, if she wasn’t dead yet, she would probably die soon, suffocating on her own blood and the mud and dirt of the street.

Her vision was still blurry from both tears and her own pain and it took a few moments to clearly see see what was happening on front of her and what she eventually saw, was absolute carnage and destruction.

Fire was burning all around them, multiple clouds of green gas littered a wide open field, where craters littered everything. Rocks, mud dirt and debris were strewn everywhere and wherever she looked, blood was splattered against it all, she could even see some of it filling out the craters in the ground. There was a second liquid present at the carnage however, it was black and released a thick steam into the air where it accumulated, sometimes the liquids mixed together, creating a thick purple ooze, that released an equally thick purple cloud into the air, where it quickly disappears into the vast sky above.

Admits that carnage and destruction she could see multiple yellow dots in the distance, rapidly moving away, she didn’t know what they where but figured they weren’t important and they only caught her attention very briefly and soon her attention was squarely at the people she was able to make out through her blurry vision, as she wasn’t able to perfectly see just yet, occasionally she would also still wince in pain, causing her to lose focus and it took a few moments to regain her sense of sight whenever it happened.

Two people, a man dressed in armor and a young girl dressed in an with dirt and mud covered blue and white dress. They were standing over a third who was kneeling on the ground, the third man was also wearing armor, but his was covered in multiple golden accessories, he was clearly of a higher rank then the other man, his armor was also covered in blood and dirt and it had multiple dents and some pieces were missing completely, exposing the mans simple leather clothing underneath.

The longer she looked the more details she was able to make out as she slowly regained her entire vision, she was blood trickling down his face and arms and he was panting heavily, when she focused enough she could make out clear deep cuts across his body and even a few bite marks, she also noticed how some of his face clearly suffered from burns and his long brown hair was also clearly singed in multiple places.

The other two were clearly busy trying to help the man who went through so much suffering, Luisa could see a long great sword laying in the dirt beside him, but the blade was split in two and it’s sides were covered in more of the black liquid then it‘s sharp edges were.

As she was still being left alone right now,Luisa tried to put all the pieces together to form a story that made sense and the only explanation that even came close to explaining what had just transpired was a great battle between the knight and someone else, where the knight finally made the finishing blow by hitting his opponent with the broadside of his great sword with so much force that it had broken in twain and all she needed was to turn her head and find the opponent to confirm her story.

And with a painful twist of her body to be able to see what was behind her, she saw what sh head expected to see.

Near a giant pile of rubble and debris from a nearby half-collapsed wall, Hanna was laying, her body pressed against the wall where multiple cracks had begun to form, Hanna was in a similar state as the knight, if not slightly worse, her entire body littered with cuts, dirt and the mysterious black liquid, which Luisa now knew to be Hanna‘s blood, Luisa spotted a particularly deep cut on one of Hanna‘s legs, but considering Hanna had been stabbed right through the chest and somehow survived, Luisa doubted she was dead and sure enough she could see how Hanna‘s continuously raised and fell back down again, a clear sign she was alive, maybe unconscious, but alive.

Now she needed a plan, a plan to get the hell out of here, they were alive right now, but it definitely wouldn’t last if they stayed here, Luisa wouldn’t shed a tear if Hanna were to die, but she was no idiot and knew that her chances of survival were way higher if she continued to stay at Hanna‘s side and played the part of an obedient pet, after all Hanna was insanely strong and to give up on that kind of free protection was idiotic to say the least.

She quickly came up with a plan, it was insanely risky and would probably end in disaster if she failed, but she needed to act now and fast, currently she wasn’t being paid attention to, but she knew that it would soon change, once the two people had made sure the knight would survive, she had to do this now or never.

Luisa gritted in anticipation of the pain that sure to follow her actions and sure enough it shot through her like racing horse, it felt like her insides were burning away at her, while her skin was constantly slashed and her bones were being pulverised every second, but Luisa would persevere a d continued despite her body’s best attempts to stop her and eventually she was standing on her legs again.

She took a few moments to calm her hammering heart to no avail and then took her first step, her legs felt like slimes however and the pain almost knocked her back down again and she stopped again to compose herself again, she gritted her teeth and took the second step and then the third, soon she was making real progress towards Hanna‘s body. She continuously screamed in her mind that she had to do this for her survival, that if she didn’t do this they would arrest her and send her to the nearest eleven church for them to do with her as they saw fit, it worked and the mental image of the clergymen burning her alive or doing worse caused her to growl and continue her walk forward despite the searing pain in every muscle and bone in her body.

Then however, she heard them.

"Over here, the princess and the captain are over here!" "We need a mage, a healing Mage godamnit, the captain is barley alive here!" "Get the princess out of here and search the perimeter for any danger!" "Over there it’s a body lying over there!"

Multiple voices rang out into the sky and looking over her shoulder Luisa felt a cold sweat run over her body as she saw more and more knights join the battlefield, she needed to hurry before they saw her or else they might…

"Hey you there, stop right now in the name of his royal highness, the king, I order you to stop moving!"

With just one sentence all of Luisa‘s previous vigor and determination left her body and the pain finally overtook her once more and she fell to the ground with a silent thud as her Vision began to darken around her.