Ryan stared in disbelief at the sudden appearance of the blade.

 

Ryan cocked an eye skyward to see the Prince was still on the roof, battering his blade against the ward relentlessly. The whole ward suddenly shuddered at the impact of a ballista bolt as it ricocheted off the window. The force was enough to send a visible ripple throughout the room as it traveled along every exposed surface.

 

Ryan turned back to the demon to see it struggling to attempt to pull its left shoulder back into place.

 

The King was having none of that.

 

He had managed to finally throw off the paralysis spell. He had pulled out a concealed weapon hidden behind his throne and charged the demon, ready to dish out some serious payback. Eyes focused and jaw set, the king's face was a harden mask forged over the many years he had spent leading armies on the battlefield. This was no king who had been given the crown due to rights of succession. He earned it through bloody sacrifice and he was ready to prove just why he was king by murdering this demon in as violent a fashion as was physically possible.

 

The blow had driven the demon to its knees and the king used leverage to full effect. Wrenching the sword in the demon back and forth, he focused on keeping the demon from reattaching his severed shoulder. The demon's head spun around owl-like, it's malformed face glowering at the king, "Why you little-"

 

That's when the King started punching the demon in the face.

 

Forming a ball of pressurized air and using the wind to move faster than was physically possible with the power of muscle alone, his fist was a jackhammer. The King pounded the demon in the face over and over, causing teeth and ichor to fly with every punch. The relentless pounding was injuring the demon just as fast as it could heal. It was caught in a loop where it could do nothing but kneel there and regenerate.

 

The window behind the throne exploded.

 

A ballista bolt finally broke the ward, shattering it and the window in a shower of red sparks and broken glass. The bolt narrowly avoided the throne and bounced across the floor, coming to a stop by a fallen support beam. Ryan's mind moved at a glacial pace due to exhaustion. He was mesmerized by the shower of glass and light that silhouetted the king.

 

With the shattering of the ward, the prince was finally free to act. Arthur howled, "FATHER, I'M COMING!" and dove through the hole. His sword was held out like a spear, counting on his control of the element of air to guide him to his target and barrel into it with all the force he could muster.

 

Through the shattered window came the chancellor who climbed up the side of the castle to flip himself inside with ease. He too was closing in on both king and demon, his hands held close to his side as he gathered his energies to unleash his strongest attack.

 

The double doors finally gave way. Knights with steel eyes rushed in and immediately turned to charge to their liege's side, heedless to the danger. A crowd followed, rushing to help the various other victims still lying helpless and scattered about.

 

The whole time the king never relented, twisting the blade with one hand and pounding the living hell out of the demon's face with the other. He bellowed, "DIE, You Demonic Chicken-Fucker, DIE!" As he unleashed all of his anger and wrath into his enemy.

 

Ryan noticed none of this.

 

Directly in front of Ryan was the demon's chest, partially sliced open. The demon was desperately trying to seal the wound. It wasn't trying to fight off the King. It wasn't trying to pull out the sword. It wanted to reseal its chest. Through the pulsating and obscene organs writhing about inside that cavity, and ignoring the black ichor spilling to the ground, Ryan saw something red and glowing right about where a heart should be.

 

~Now that looks important.~

 

Ryan, flat out of mana, running on nothing but adrenaline and sheer, single-minded determination yanked himself forward, kicked off with his one good leg, and leapt for the demon.

 

Ryan thrust his hand directly into the demon's chest. His hand wrapped around something hard and rock-like. He could feel it was full of mana, wriggling about in his grasp. Ryan muttered, "I'm out of mana..." He yanked as he tried to absorb its energy like he did the paralysis spell, "NOW GIVE ME YOURS!" The demon shuttered. It spun its head back around to look at Ryan holding the source of his power. It reached out to try and grab its core back, but the king, seeing this, put the demon in a choke hold and yanked.

 

The demon's grasp was an inch too short.

 

Ryan sneered as he held up the stone. He could feel the mana flowing into his wrist's chakra. The stone started to crack and crumble as the energy began leaking out in all directions. Ryan held it up for the demon to see, "You Heard The King." He squeezed and the stone shattered in a puff of pinkish light as the last of the mana escaped its unholy prison. Ryan spoke in a soft voice, mimicking the Demon's in the process.

 

"Die."

 

The demon let out a final shriek that was cut short as it dissolved into a puddle of brackish ooze. Whatever magic the demon was using to hold itself together finally gave out and all the abuse it had suffered in this battle caught up all at once. The prince landed next to the king and yanked him back, not fast enough to keep demon from getting splattered on his clothes, but fast enough to keep exposure to the gore to a minimum. Ryan slumped back down, lying on top of his rocky perch. He then rolled over to lie on his back and looked up at the blue sky through the hole in the roof, "I need a vacation."

 

Many people rushed to the king to check on his well being, but he shoved them aside, moving instead to check on Ryan, "Reed!" He exclaimed as he came around to look down at the lad, but was cut off as Charity leaped to Ryan's side.

"You are going to be the death of me!" Charity fished out a potion from her pocket to put to Ryan's lips, "Drink this. NOW."

Ryan held up a hand in a gesture of surrender, "Yes, ma'am." He took the potion and tossed it back with a grimace. He looked at Chastity and gestured to the king at the same time, "You're gonna have to start hitting the king." She blinked and looked puzzled. Ryan looked over to the king, "Who knew the king had such a potty mouth."

 

The king blinked, confused, then recalled what he said, "Ah. Yes. THAT."

Ryan propped himself up on one elbow, "Seriously. Do you really want everyone to think that the throne room was destroyed and the king nearly assassinated by a demonic chicken-fucker?"

 

Everyone in the area around the king went silent. The king stared at Ryan. Ryan stared back. The king finally went 'pfft' as he struggled to keep from laughing. Ryan tried to keep a serious face, but lost it at the King's trembling lip. A moment later both were laughing uproariously.

 

This caused most of the room to stop what they were doing to look over as the outpouring of jocularity. The king and Ryan both doubled over in hysterics, showing no sign of stopping. The king howled, "Oh god! and-and-and when you- When you spit in his eye!"

Ryan's face went red as his eyes flared open, "Oh Yeah! That was sheer luck!" He doubled over again, "And you! You hit harder than the second dose of the vaccine!"

 

The King kept laughing while trying to get serious at the same time. He snickered and waved a hand in the air, "I have no idea what you are talking about!" He doubled over again pounding a chunk of ceiling with a fist.

 

Ryan nodded and snickered, "You know what? Half the time, NEITHER DO I!" They both paused, stared at each other, then burst into laughter again.

The king howled, "REALLY?"

Ryan covered his mouth with one hand in an attempt to control his laughter. He nodded to confirm, "Oh Yeah! It's a self-defense mechanism! The more I babble, the more terrified I am!" He doubled over holding his stomach with both hands, "This hurts so much!"

 

The king's laughter lessened as Ryan's words sunk in. His laughter petered out, "I... Yes. Time to get serious."

 

Ryan shook his head, "No! That's not it!" His face was still beat red, but now his smile was gone as he gritted his teeth in agony, "This REALLY hurts so much!" He raised his right arm up to show everyone. He didn't look at it, perhaps on some level afraid of what he might see. Instead he stared at the king and asked a question, "How bad is it?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silence.