"Arrrrrggghhhh! It's you again!" The black prince shouted.
The grimace of his rage twisted into maniacal laughter that echoed amongst the trees.
"Urrg..! Good! Good! I was hoping I could kill you tonight! Knights, hear my order-"
Before he could finish his words, Emery disappeared from where he stood and the next moment, he was right in front of the prince with a gust of wind accompanying his flash step.
In an instant, Emery pulled the jet black dagger that pierced Edward's shoulder before and pressed it towards the prince's neck.
The prince's smile instantly disappeared, only to be replaced with a shudder down his back. His feet trembled like a fearful lamb going to the slaughterhouse, right in front of his loyal knights.
"What… How…?! Wait! Wait!"
Emery didn't obey, of course. He pressed the blade and made a small cut, not enough to be lethal, but enough to serve as a warning. Blood seeped out from the wound and stained the jet black blade with vivid red.
"Tell your knights to STOP!!" Emery said. His voice sounded low and threatening.
Prince Edward looked at his knights for a second, the hesitation clear from his expression, but Emery pressed the blade to the same spot again and he gulped before nodding.
"Yes! Yes! Stop! Rendi, Afton, stop it!"
Seeing his chance, Sir Yvain quickly ran back close to the princess and stood guard next to her, his right hand gripping the handle of the sword attached to his belt.
"Lanzo! You… How are you here?!"
Emery looked at the princess for a moment, before looking away and answering.
"I… I changed my mind and I decided to chase after you."
He expected nothing with that answer and a part of him waited for when the princess called out that bald-faced lie. Instead, he saw an expression he hadn't seen since their childhood times.
"That's good, Lanzo!" The princess said. "There is still hope for you, after all."
Even with this madness all around them, she was still able to give a radiant, sincere smile to Emery. Even though they had long separated, the smile still warmed his heart a little.
Yvain whistled and Jewel, the red horse, came galloping. The knights had been forced to stop; the more they waited, the more their chances slipped away.
"Lanzo, what about you?!" The princess reached out, while Yvain tried to take her atop the horse.
He gave her an encouraging smile before answering. "I will be right behind you, go!"
Right as she was about to jump onto the horse, the prince stopped trembling and shouted. "Don't let them fucking go!" The knights once more formed a barricade similar to the defensive line used by Sir Yvain, not letting them out.
"You lowly squire! You won't dare kill me, for I am the famous Black Prince of the Cantiaci Kingdom! If you dare hurt me, the Cantiaci… No, my father will burn all of Lioness territory!"
"Sure, sure." Emery flashed a condescending smile at the prince, before pressing the knife deeper again as a warning. "As long as you let my princess go, I will not hurt you, 'prince'."
"Don't you even dare listen to this fucking lowli—"
Before the prince could finish his sentence, Emery hit the prince on the back of his head, making him half-unconscious. With the prince's now momentarily blurred vision, Emery shouted. "Give way to the princess, NOW!"
The knights were confused and Yvain quickly used the chance to make a decision. He grabbed the princess and pulled her onto the horse, before shouting and kicking the horse's side.
The horse neighed loudly and ran, crashing onto the knights who blocked their way.
"Lanzo, quick!"
The princess shouted towards him, right as the horse slipped away into the woods and disappeared in the shadows of the night.
Edward's knights looked at the direction the princess went, annoyed that their target had escaped.
Noises from the horse's fast gallop started to disappear, when Prince Edward regained a part of his consciousness. He stared at the direction the two golden knights were staring at and realized what happened. Once more, he shouted.
"What!! All of you Moron!! My father King will not..."
Bam!
Once more, Emery knocked the prince out with a hit on the back of the head. The famous Cantiaci prince, the silver knight adored by nobles and commoners alike for his strength, family name and looks, was turned into a plaything for a mere squire, who had received his title no more than a day ago.
Seeing this, all the prince protectors turn to rage "You can't escape, boy!" said one of the golden knights "Let go of our prince and we will go easy on you!"
Emery nonchalantly let the prince go, dropping the half-unconscious Edward, He fell and kneeled on the ground.
Emery smiled and spoke to the two golden knights.
"Who ever said anything about escaping? I'm taking the prince to our king and as for you all, you shall receive your punishment for hurting my friends."
"Hah!" One of the golden knights snorted, while another let out a boisterous laugh.
"Look at this kid! He received his silver title no more than a day ago and he has already become so arrogant!"
One of the golden knights jumped off from his horse, approached Emery and gripped the handle of his blade.
"I am Randi, the Swift Blade Knight. For standing against us, let me show you the difference between us!"
The knight unsheathed his curved blade and started swinging it around. Each swing was fast and almost invisible to the untrained eyes, a hint to where his title came from.
When he dashed towards Emery, the golden knight didn't even activate his divine blessing, a sure sign he was underestimating him.
"I'm sorry, kid!" Randi swung his two curve blades and laughed. "You won in blazing glory, sadly you get to enjoy it only for one day! Hahaha!"
Emery dodged each strike without much effort. Each time the knight was about to hit, he merely leaned his body to the opposite side, just enough to avoid the swings without getting hurt. When the knight started to realize Emery was not as weak as he thought he was, it was too late.
Splash!
Sir Randi's famous sword flew through the air with both of the golden knight's hands still attached to it.
The eyes of all the other knights followed it as it dropped to the ground.
No one dared to speak and silence reigned for a second.
"Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!"
The silence was broken by Randi's pained scream. In an instant, the golden knight lost both his arms, his future most likely severed along with it.
He fell right in front of Emery, who glared at him with empty, cruel eyes. The other golden knight shouted, calling the other knights.
"This kid!!… Everyone, attack!"
Two dozen knights circled around Emery at the same time, while Sir Afton activated his 'Divine Blessing'. He could feel the change in atmosphere as the aura surrounded the golden knight's body. This battle would be no joke.
But with the help of his stage 4 [Immortal Gate] none of those knights would be able to follow his speed. That speed, combined with his skill in the ways of the blade, allowed Emery to cut and slash anyone who dared to even come near him.
The only one who could give him trouble was the golden knight, with this divine blessing, each slash of the golden knight was filled with power, surely different compared to the others.
The golden knight jumped up and prepared a strong downward slash towards Emery, who merely stared at him with a gaze as calm as ever. Right as his sword was about to hit its target, Emery pulled out the new sword he obtained from the Order and used his [Heroic Slash] move.
Emery swung his sword in a wide arc, hitting the golden knight's blade right near the hilt.
Crack!
The knight's sword instantly broke into tiny pieces of metal while Afton was left speechless. Emery took the chance and grabbed the muscular knight, using him as a makeshift shield, as the two dozen knights attacked him at almost the same time.
One of the knights' stabbed Sir Afton's shoulder with his sword, while Emery slashed another incoming knight. At this moment every second, the more knights tried to attack, the more the corpse pile beneath Emery's feet grew.
While the chaos was adrift, Sir Randi was crawling on his stomach like a worm even though the stumps of his hands were still oozing thick, dark blood. Behind him, only half of the Cantiaci knights were still able to stand. Emery took his stance, prepared to deal with the rest of them in one fell swoop.
But, right when he was about to swing his sword, he felt a distortion in the air.
The telltale heavy air could only mean one thing, a powerful opponent was coming.
Emery turned his head "Who is it?!"