Mysterious Entities

Prince Frederick was at the edge of his seat while the carriage was carrying him away from the ambush scene as fast as the horses could gallop.

With beads of sweat forming on his forehead and his face becoming pale, the prince tried assessing the situation.

"Daras is there, he could still give me time..."

Prince Frederick knew how strong Daras is. But even then, when he saw the dark figure slaughtering his escorts like they were sitting ducks terrified him.

Eventually, though, he calmed himself. Having a weak mindset will do him no good. After the fear dissipates, anger began to rise within him.

'Once I get home, I'll tell this to Father! We'll hire a seer and see who you are!'

He knew convincing a great seer to seek one man is difficult even for a king, but the anger made Prince Frederick's mind muddled. He now seeks revenge for the fear that dark figures had caused him.

"Who the hell are they!?" he sharply muttered.

"It's the boogeyman, my prince! It's the boogeyman!"

The coachman in front of the carriage cried his tears out. The rest of the escorts that came with the prince on his escape were the two that rode the horses directly. The coachman curled up in a fetal position, fearing for his life.

Realizing he muttered that too loudly, Prince Frederick replied with a soft voice to compensate.

"What's the boogeyman? What are you saying?"

"It is said that within and near Duke Rholes' duchy, there's an entity that had been mercilessly killing people! Clad in black, the boogeyman comes for the evil!"

"Insolence! Are you saying the prince is evil!"

One of the soldiers riding the horse shouted in anger. It's because the coachman's words scared him as well. The Duchy's Boogeyman had been an urban legend for years. Almost anyone who goes out on the street knows about it and its terrifying methods of killing:

It would make its victims bleed 'till death!

Isn't that what happened to others?

"No, no, I would never mean that! I'm saying that there might be some of us that have dark hearts!"

"So, are you suggesting that we should throw the evil one here!?"

"No, of course not! I'm just saying---"

While there was an unprecedented argument occurring just outside the carriage, Prince Frederick was immersed in deep thoughts.

"Clad in black..."

There are many strange creatures in the world of Deiterra. However, if there are mysterious people clad in black killing others, then, he could only think of one organization- Soullesses!

'How come I've become a target! I have to ask Father about this, has he forsaken me?'

If the Soullesses did really come after him, then there's no escape for him. Did the infamous boogeyman come from Soullesses?

But while Prince Frederick was in deep thought, the horses pulling the carriage suddenly shrieked as they fell forward---

In the next moment, the carriage had toppled over. Prince Frederick immediately hardened his body and when they crashed to the ground, he immediately kicked the door of the carriage to escape.

He was unscathed. As a royalty, the scriptures he had consumed had surpassed Daras. However, internally, he was a wreck.

What happened?

With his heart beating loudly, he looked at the carriage now resting kn its sides, its wheel still rolling, and the struggling horses. Seeing them, only then did their loud shrieks were registered in his head. Their front legs were cleanly cut off... but by what?

Turning his head, Prince Frederick noticed the coachman had died with some of his limbs bent in the wrong way. Meanwhile, one of the two soldiers was buried under the carriage while the other is still alive... barely. The prince went to that soldier.

"P-prince..." he was the one who was arguing with the coachman. Seeing the prince unscathed, he was relieved, "please, escape... don't worry about me and ru-"

Then, a foot descended on his face.

Thud*

"Fucker!" the prince stomped the soldier, his face red with fury, "Stupid imbecile! Go to hell!" he unrelentingly stomped down, "It's because you use your mouth more than your eyes to look where you are driving! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!"

After some time, the prince stopped only because out of fatigue. Because of his strength, the head of the soldier was nowhere to be found, just pieces of meat and skin scattered on the ground, soaked in blood.

"Tsk, disgusting! How dare you ruin my boots!" he then kicked the body away. While he catches his breath, he noticed a pair of stretched shadows coming from behind.

Prince Frederick turned around. The expression he had on his face was complicated and ugly. A mix of emotions was swirling within him: hate, anger, fear, confusion...

There, he saw the two dark figures standing in front of the dawning sun. His eyes swerved left and right and saw no one else.

The prince wished to see Daras and the rest catching up to protect him from these dark figures, but no one came.

"No way... Daras was-!"

Burrowing his brows, Prince Frederick spitefully asked, "Who are you!?"

"Who are you?" Eid just replied with his nonchalant and mocking tone again. Whenever he does this, he always gets this question.

Who are you? Why are you doing this? What did we do wrong? What do you want? And other similar questions. Eid got tired of trying to answer those questions.

Taking a deep breath, Prince Frederick changed his question.

"What do you want?"

'Well, I'll be damned...' Eid thought and didn't reply. Talking to the prince was sickening for him so he'd rather just finish this. But before he could move, a deep voice entered the scene.

"They want your life, Prince Frederick."

Hearing this voice, the three were shocked and turned to the source. When the prince saw where the source of this voice came out, he was creeped to his core.

With the carriage toppled to the side, he could clearly see a hatch underneath it. At that moment, that hatch opened, and came out a middle-aged person. His skin and hair were ivory while his clothing ebony.

"H-how long had you been hiding there?"

Even though there were two murderous mysterious figures on the opposite side of the carriage, Prince Frederick couldn't help but take a step back towards them and away from the carriage. This ivory-haired man was strange and eerie. The way he moved was inhumane. If there's a word to describe him, it would be the word "corpse."

The middle-aged man moved uncannily as if most of his joints had gone hard.

But, the worst has yet to come. The middle-aged man eventually lifted his eyelids, but instead of revealing a pair of eyes, there was only a pair of dark holes.

"A hollowcore!" Prince Frederick shrieked, forgetting about his image for a second.

"From the Soullesses...?" Eid drew in a deep cold breath.

"You've heard of us?"

The hollowcore asked Eid in amusement. It's natural for the prince to know them but for the others...

"Why is a hollowcore here?" Eid nervously laughed. Now he kind of understands why his victims always ask questions.

"I'm here to protect the prince. So, I'm here to kill the two of you."

Hearing this, the prince's eyes lit up while Eid came to a new understanding.

Soullesses is a mysterious and infamous organization in the whole of Colveil. Some say that their reach surpasses this mere province, and they even influence two of the Five Giants in the world: the Great Sanctuary and the Heliacal Empire.

Although those are far from confirmed, just one hollowcore is dangerous in the present situation. They don't know how the prince got himself protected by a hollowcore but that's not the time to question such things.

"Then, hehehe, what if we let go of the prince? Would you let us go as well?" Eid was creeped out by the hollowcore as well. Not because of how inhumane this man appears but the fact that he can't see if this person was "evil" or "good."

Eid could not sense any aura.

"No" The hollowcore's body jerked in a strange direction, and hundreds of his bones cracked before he jumped towards Eid with a terrifying speed.

"Shit-!"

Eid flinched back but before the hollowcore could reach him, it caught onto something- a string, before that string snapped and entangled itself on the hollowcore's wrist, reducing its speed by a small fraction. This is enough for Eid to get his dagger and stab forward. Yet, this reaction was for naught as the hollowcore easily deflected the dagger with its bare hands. Eid was not done yet, though, as he had thrown multiple needles with his other arm, encircling the hollowcore's right leg.

When he was about to pull, the hollowcore stomped that leg down on the ground with abnormal speed, pulling Eid instead. Knowing his initial plan failed, Eid released his grip and was about to retreat when his chest was hit by the hollowcore's headbutt powered by its stomp.

Eid felt a few of his ribs crack. If he didn't attempt to retreat, his chest would've caved in.

'This is bad!'

"Young Master!" Toko only now reacted as the exchange was too fierce for her injured state.

Eid raised his hand, stopping her from helping him. The hollowcore stopped as well and said to the prince, "Prince, if you can, can you take care of the girl?"

"Me?" Prince Frederick pointed at himself and looked at the second dark figure.

"Don't worry, she's injured. You can take her on. This will also be your first real battle outside of training and mock battles."

The hollowcore assessed and then said, "Taking care of this man will take me some time."

"I-I see," Prince Frederick then took out a thin bladeless handle from a pocket. With a flick of his hand, a long saber blade came out of it with a shine. It's an Imbued.

Seeing the situation not advantageous on their side, Eid ordered, "Stall the prince for me."

Since it was an order, Toko didn't say anything else and put up her long daggers, ready to fight again. If only the hollowcore and Prince Frederick know that they are fighting against a pair that hadn't even reached sixteen years of age, they would've been shocked for sure.