Covered In Blood He Stood

Kaian had finished eating the [Dowue] fruits and was in his way to talk with an older white-bearded knight that was close to the prince carriage. As he walked, he notices the atmosphere was strange. If Kaian was with the prince, it would be understandable, but he wasn't, which made the scenario that much fishy.

"Sir Ferreus, the weather isn't good."

Kaian said quietly to the white-bearded knight; after he entered the carriage and got his helmet.

"Hm... You noticed too... I think there's going to be a storm."

The white-bearded knight [Sir Ferreus] was looking to the knights and royal guards that keep glancing at them.

"Yeah..."

Kaian put on his helmet.

"Did you see the prince?"

"He had gone to the forest."

"Fuck!"

"What happened?"

"I worried too much about the unknown creatures… and I let something like that go by."

"We are all to blame Sir."

"You are still young; I served for 30 years with the Warthron's, to be careless now..."

Sir Ferreus shook his head and then picked up a wooden object the size of a finger that was hanging from his neck. He took a deep breath and put the object in his mouth as he blew out a noise (slightly deeper than a whistle) echoed through the camp.

Of the approximately 240 who were there, only 15 knights and 7 royal guards approached the prince's carriage and formed a perimeter around it.

"What happed Sir Ferreus? Is the prince alright?"

One of the 7 royal guards said, standing next to Sir Ferreus.

"We don't know yet. According to Kaian he was in the forest."

"So shouldn't we go there right away?"

"First, we have to try to get past them, don't you think?"

Sir Ferreus said looking at the 200+ knights and royal guards around them ready for battle.

…

Five bodies surrounded a young man clutching a little curved knife in the middle of the woodland.

When he heard a noise that sounded like a whistle, he swiftly looked in the direction of the noise.

He then proceeded to draw the bodies closer together until they all touched. He grabbed the knife and made three slashes on the palm of his left hand, following which he spilled a drop of blood on each of the victims.

"Sacratus, faceless ruler who walks through light and shadow, unopposed, for the price in front I ask for a contract."

Sacratus is the name by which the demon Igith attends to create contracts. Igith's demeanor was similar to that of the Illusionist in several aspects (Mainly Igith usually play tricks), thus he remembered him.

He waited with his eyes closed, standing next to the bodies.

There were beings in the story that resided in another dimension, yet they were so strong that they could create contracts regardless of the distance.

Contracts and entities can differ greatly, and contracts may or may not succeed in various cases.

However, there existed an entity that permitted each living human to create a limited number of contracts over their lifetime.

Raiden was breathing hard, his heartbeat accelerated, and the reason was the number relied on luck; you may form 20 or none if you were really unlucky.

…

Back at the camp…

A group of armored man were tied up next to each other sitting on the floor.

Another smaller group consisting of just 2 knights and 5 royal guards were being confronted by a group of 60 individuals.

"Give up Sir Ferreus in your current condition, you don't stand a chance."

The middle-aged man with black hair and a scar on his right cheek that was part of the 60 individuals (apparently the leader of them), took a step ahead of the larger group.

"Come on Cellor... you should know me already, I will never give up."

Both Sir Ferreus and the others beside him were almost completely covered in blood, around them several bodies both allies and enemies lying dead on the ground.

"Kaian we will hold them, meanwhile go and find your highness."

"What? no way, I don't..."

"Sir Kaian! I wasn't asking."

Kaian glanced at his hands briefly and then shook his head as he looked at Sir Ferreus; holding the double-edged long sword with trembling hands and red eyes clearly almost crying.

Sir Ferreus was not only one of the oldest knights in the kingdom, he was also the instructor who taught swordsmanship to Kaian and Raiden; although Raiden didn't have such a strong connection with him.

"If you think you can save that useless one, forget it, he's probably dead by now."

"What?!"

Kaian said with his eyes widely open glancing at Cellor.

"Oh… Don't tell me, you were thinking that we didn't saw the useless prince going to the forest?!"

Cellor and the others were laughing when they suddenly stopped and looked back.

A strong aura put them on alert, a part of the 60th positioned themselves behind waiting in formation. Until they heard a whistle getting closer and closer, they then saw the figure of a body coming out of the forest as it got close; they realized and were confused while looking at that person.

"I think I arrived kinda late, right Kaian?!"

Raiden said after looking at the mound of bodies on the ground.

"Ray?! Go! you have to run!!"

"Why tho? There are some traitors right in front… waiting for my blade."

Raiden glanced in Cellor's direction with a smirk while releasing an aura that made Cellor and the others go on alert again.

Clearly everyone was confused; how that useless prince is releasing such a strong aura.

"Your highness, we don't know how you became so powerful… but you still can't will against us."

Cellor said.

"That is true."

"If you give u…"

Cellor said before being interrupted.

"But who said I was alone? did you forgot about them."

Raiden was pointing towards Kaian and the others.

Cellor looked back and both Sir Ferreus and the others were standing with blood in their eyes.

"They would love to kill more traitors; isn't that right elder?"

"You bet it is, your highness!"

Sir Ferreus said while releasing a powerful bloodlust.

"Should we start?!"

Raiden said and as he was about to step forward...

"Wait!" Cellor said.

"What?!"

"If you give to us the artifact we…"

"It's broken."

"What!?

"How do you think I became so strong?"

"No way..."

"You believing it or not, it's the truth."

It isn't true, the small knife in Raiden's hand is the artifact, but they don't know that the artifact could change shape.

"You stupid you don't know the value of that artifact!"

Raiden smirked briefly after hearing Cellor remark.

"If what you said is true, we have nothing more to talk, brothers let's kill them!"

Cellor said as he held up a double-edged sword.

The battle began and it was fierce, both sides lost men, but Raiden and Sir Ferreus' performance was truly remarkable.

Sir Ferreus long double-edged sword sliced and blocked with a precision that demonstrated the knight's years of swordplay.

Raiden was winning in terms of lethality, thanks to the martial arts he mastered on Earth.

He spent the most of his time training in Silat Martial Arts, where he spent a total of eight years attempting to perfect the use of small knives.

This martial art is fast enough on its own, but when combined with the phantom steps, he flowed through the knights, striking them where they weren't expecting it, inside or outside the leg, arm, throat, and face without halting.

Cellor approached Sir Ferreus, and the two engaged in a hard combat, but Cellor was temporarily distracted by witnessing the so-called worthless prince murder three royal guards in a brief moment and then move off to kill another knight as if he hadn't done much at all.

"You should never..."

Sir Ferreus hurled Cellor's double-edged sword away, disarming him.

"be distracted during a fight."

Sir Ferreus kicked him to the ground and brought his sword close to Cellor's neck.

Fear could be visible on Cellor's face. It wasn't for nothing; he had more comrades on his side, and even so, what lied ahead was a sea of blood and bodies flung to the ground, while five guys covered in blood stood up, one of them an old man with a blade aimed at his throat.