As Leon and Alfred enter the dark palace, a massive army of doll soldiers waits for them. Although they were just dolls, they could move like a living person due to Felix’s magic powers.

“I could feel the presence of the necklace that I gifted Aerin from the basement of the palace. We just have to clean up this trash first,” Leon said to Alfred.

“Indeed, they might be bigger in number, but they are just dolls in the end”, Alfred replied.

Both of them started to clean up the junk. On the other side, the battle between Jared and Felix is about to begin. Jared makes the first move and charges straight toward Felix with his sword. But Felix successfully defends himself. Now the battle starts to get heated up. The leg positions of both change a bit to attack faster, but simultaneously, both attack each other. They were so quick that even the sound of their sword was difficult to hear. Only an expert could watch their swords clashing. Jared gets a slight scratch on his cheek from that attack, while Felix’s sleeve gets a bit torn by Jared’s attack. Jared was disappointed that Felix was ahead of him, but as Felix’s sleeve got torn, he was slightly impressed by Jared’s move.

Jared might not be aware of it but competing head to head with Felix and keeping up with him was difficult for anyone in reality. They turn around and go for another attack, and suddenly the battle becomes faster.

“Are you telling me that this kid can compete with me, the demon servant, and he is not even using his aura. I will teach him a lesson,” Felix said in his mind.

Felix unleashes his dark aura in his sword and charges toward Jared. Jared noticed it and used his aura, but Felix’s speed was unbelievable and unexpected this time. Jared somehow was able to defend himself, but Felix was attacking at an insane speed; even after using his aura, Jared couldn’t keep up with Felix. Even though he was defending himself, he took a large amount of damage. Jared was in no position of attacking back, and he could also not defend himself completely.

Suddenly within a blink of an eye, no one knew what happened and when Felix passed over, Jared. Everything becomes quiet for that moment, and Felix puts his sword back in its sheath and smiles. Before realizing it, Jared had cuts all over his body, and blood poured out of his body. Suddenly, there were so many cuts on his body that he collapsed by sudden damage.

Seeing him collapse, Felix started moving towards the gate, and the other guards got in positions to fight him.

“Now I have to deal with these pebbles. What a pain,” Felix said and moved forward towards them.

Jared, in his mind -
“I still remember the day master offered his hand to help me. People could judge it as a rash decision when I just accepted his offer without thinking much. But I never regretted or judged that decision for once in my life. Cause he was the only one who showed me hope that I could be happy and live a normal life. For the very first time when I saw him, I saw life in his eyes. With time I understood that he was different and born for greatness. I am always grateful to be able to serve him. But is this the end of how much I could do for him?”

“No, I swear an oath to master to protect him and serve him. I must complete my task for his sake, for his trust towards me.”

Jared’s happy moments with his master Leon flash in front of him in his mind, and he opens his eyes. In the meantime, Felix had almost swiped the guarding troops. Not letting go of his sword Jared stands there waiting for Felix.

Felix’s eyes go on Jared as he cuts one guard’s neck. His whole body was bleeding, with cuts everywhere, but he was still standing, holding his sword.

“You could have just stabbed me in the back; what were you waiting for?” Felix asked.

“A true knight won’t stab his opponent in his back”, Jared replied.

Felix’s eyes broaden with his response.
“Just how many years, how many centuries has it been, seeing or fighting with a true swordsman?” Felix said in his mind.

“What is your name, knight?” Felix asked.

“It’s Jared”, Jared replied.

“Very well, Jared, I will remember your name till my end,” Felix said and smiled.

He points his sword toward Jared.

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED,2022©SAM]