A mere tool

HADES' EARS PERKED, there were noises that were disturbing his light nap. 'The carriage isn't moving… what's going on?' He peeked over to his side to see if his sister was awake, but she was thankfully not. He carefully placed her head on the other side, she could lean on the carriage window without having to disturb her sleep.

Hades placed his book on the side, and soon opened the door to leave. The sun was up already up and high in the sky, it seems they were out for too long. Just as he stepped out, a tanned, tall yet buffed, pretty looking and blonde man caught his eyes. It was Leo, the leader of the knights escorting them, and he was already walking to him. "Young Master-"

"Did Father not tell you to call me Hades the moment we leave the manor?" Hades mumbled, but it was enough for Leo to hear. Leo slapped his hand to his lips because of his mistake. "Anyway, what's going on?" Hades asked as his eyes traveled around. All the knights surrounded and are protecting the carriage at a safe distance, but there were a pack of bandits on the path they are currently taking.

"They say, they'd only let us pass if we give them all the money and valuable we have." Leo sighs at the nonsense he just uttered. Hades only laughed at that. Novak is known for their friendly and peace-ridden people, they dislike conflicts and are understanding. And by people, it includes the knights. It's not because they are weak, but because they're just too strong. They liked laying low and staying neutral.

' "Too much power can endanger one's life." '

It's the phrase that the Marquis Winchester always tell the Grand Duke Novak when they were still students at the academy. Those words have been engraved in the Grand Duke's heart since and the moment he took over the grand duchy, it changed. Including its people, of course. The whole empire thought that the Novak Grand Duchy had gone weak, that's what they thought.

The Grand Duke was reshaping his whole grand duchy into something that not even the tyrannical Imperial family will see as a friend or a foe, a threat or an ally. It's the one thing that Marquis Winchester failed to do because of his overachieving children.

"What do we do, Hades? We're already close to the Capital, we don't want to fill the path with corpses and blood." Leo quickly adopted to calling his young master by his name, that made Hades smile a little. The young master stepped close to him and patted him on the shoulder, both men were close of height, despite Leo being only eleven years older than Hades.

"I'll handle this myself, turn back a little just in case." Hades said and walked away leaving Leo on his own. Leo hopelessly sighs, he'd love it if they were just asked to take care of it. Hades really didn't have to bother dealing with these hooligans by himself.

But oh well, Hades seem to have the need to exercise, so Leo will just let him do the job. "Everyone! We're turning back for a bit, let's camp for breakfast!" Leo informed the group of knights, the others were confused for a moment, but their eyes caught a glimpse of their young master walking towards the direction of the bandits. The knights up front gave way for him to pass through.

The group of bandits were giving unpleasant gazes and cocky smiles, but when they heard Leo's instructions, they became pissed. Are the cowardly Novak knights seriously looking down on them, the greatest bandit tribe, the Bandits of Zeus? The thunder bolt tattoos on their skin are their symbol that even the Imperial Family know of.

Their eyes soon landed on the unknown boy, passing through the knights. His peculiar white hair and pretty face stood out, but his clothes look rather cheap. He had a mysterious feeling in him because of his unreadable smiling face. Who was this lad?

"Ohh? What's this?" A bandit asked, he wore an confident smile as his eyes observes. The young man didn't look any older than twenty years old, and by his clothes he seemed to be a commoner. "Hah! Is the crazed princess of Novak interested in pretty commoners?! What a disgrace of a noble princess!" The same bandit shamelessly stated. His comrades gasps and laughed at his insult.

Leo sighs as he shook his head in disbelief. 'They just had to do it… now they're basically dead', he thought to himself. His companions, the other knights, who were just walking away, all glanced back to the bandits. Their eyes emitted pure blood lust, while some were close to drawing out their swords and charging towards them.

How dare such low lives insult their princess?

Clap, clap, clap. "Okay, why don't we get this over with? I'm starving."

Claps from Hades had them come to their senses. All attention, including the bandits', were now on him. 'Get what over with?' The knights and bandits had the same thought in mind, but the knights had a rough idea of it. The bandits stared at his smiling face, but their eyes soon shifted to the one knight who approached the young man and handed him a sword.

Hades accepted the sword and slowly unsheathes it. He faced the bandits as he threw the sheathe aside."Oh, please don't misunderstand, the princess you speak of is my older sister, and I'm not interested in women ten years older." Hades rambled on as he slowly walked towards them. The knights behind him did not hesitate to leave him be.

'Young Master is definitely pissed.'

They've known their young master for exactly eight years, they've seen him grow up too. And they know that no matter what expression Hades is wearing, it does not mean that it shows what he's truly feeling. His acting skills are beyond satisfactory, almost too natural. 'He's a deceitful little shit', the Grand Duke says instead of giving compliments.

The capital will have an uproar if they found out that the infamous Bandits of Zeus gets wiped out by a single man.

"Huh? Don't tell me… the cowardly Novak is having this commoner and self-proclaimed brother of the insane Novak princess fight us? The bandits of Zeus?!" Another bandit stepped up and said, but the smiling lad continued to walk to him. The look in his jet colored irises tells them that he's seriously going to fight them. The bandits laughed.

"So, you have a death wish huh! Then... I'll gladly make it true!" That same bandit exclaimed and soon charged to Hades with a sword in his hand.

That single moment that he was in front of the teen, their eyes met. Hades' smile had faded and his jet eyes looked as if they glowed deep green. The bandit felt a bone chilling bloodlust coming from the young man. And before he knew it, his head flew out of his body. Everything was too fast for the bandits of Zeus to react properly.

Did they… just loss a comrade..?

The beheaded body of the bandit sprinkled blood all over the ground and the young lad until it fell flat on solid earth. The bandits soon felt a murderous gaze from the expressionless boy. They felt as if they need to run away, they felt like a bunch of prey under that gaze.

He's dangerous and they were wrong. This boy isn't going to fight them.

He's planning to kill them all.

ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED meters away from their previous location, the knights camped out with a peaceful mood. It's been half an hour since they left that location, and they were just about to cook breakfast. Leo left them alone for a short while, riding on his horse to check on their young master. The moment he arrived, the scent of blood immediately filled his nostrils.

"Ugh." He groaned as he jumped off the horse to approach the young man, who was standing before the field of corpse and blood. He himself is stained with blood all over his skin and travel clothes. 'He really killed all of them…' Leo thought. Honestly, he's barely surprised seeing the corpses.

He knows how strong and skilled his young master is. He is the only disciple of the Greatest Knight in the Grimes Empire's history, after all. It was natural that he didn't even have a single scratch on him.

"Young Master, the camp is set, why don't you take a nice morning bath? Just for today, you seriously reek of blood." Leo called for him, but Hades did not respond.

Hades looked down on his hands and on the sword. They were stained with fresh blood, blood of those who begged for their lives to be spared. Blood of those who were weak and couldn't escape him. Just like his first hunt… he felt nothing. He did not feel any guilt, disgust nor pleasure in taking a life or two.

'What is this disgusting emotion?' He thought to himself as he flicked off the blood from the sword. The fact that he felt nothing even after slaughtering tens of lives, even after hearing their cries for mercy, even after looking down on their corpse… Hades didn't feel weak, he felt like a monster.

' "A knight is someone who protects." '

The last words that his older brother, Slate, told him before he stopped visiting. Even though he chose to avenge the Winchester, he never decided to be a murderer. That was one thing that he's stubborn about, because he'll end up just like them, and there's no way he could live like that. But now…

' "In revenge, killing is unavoidable. You're just weak if you don't have the courage to kill." '

Said the Grand Duke. At that time, Hades was a mere eleven year old child, he couldn't really understand what the Grand Duke meant, until now he couldn't. What if he felt nothing? He didn't need courage or anger to kill, hell, he never even hesitated swinging his sword around, even though this was his very first murder and massacre.

' "Revenge is not a path for a child to take!" '

Somehow, that man came to mind. Maybe he was right all along. A child is ignorant and clueless, but once he's filled with emotions and knowledge, he starts acting and moving by what he feels and knows are right. They can become someone dangerous depending on how you raise and teach them. 'That's what happened to me', Hades thought.

His lips curled up into a sarcastic smile. 'Well, it doesn't matter now. I am but a mere tool.'