25 Forced to Abandon Ship

Hokuto stared at the scene unfolding before her blankly. Seraphina was continuously attempting to comfort her by petting her shoulders gently, but it did nothing. Astraea finally stopped fidgeting with the crystal behind her back before pocketing it before anyone noticed her subtle movements. Black Deer, Blood Lotus and Red Crane were heavily cloaked but they lowered their hoods.

Black Deer was wearing a strange futuristic helmet which obscured his entire face. The helmet looked to be made of some unidentified metal, with the portion covering his face made out of a heavily opaque glass. Blood Lotus and Red Crane both were beautiful women. Blood Lotus was actually an albino, though her red eyes and white hair added to her appeal. Red Crane had short, crimson hair with curly bangs and the ends of her short hair flared outwards.

The three of them, along with the Council operatives that stood behind them, looked incredibly imposing and threatening. "You fellows are the only ones who know that we are in your castle. If we so wished, we could destroy the North Blossom Kingdom and raze it to the ground. That, however, would be a mercy," Black Deer growled. "From tomorrow onwards, we, the Council, will be the new rulers of the North Blossom Kingdom. You'd better surrender yourselves quietly unless you want to die and turn your daughter into an orphan."

King Ren and Queen Tyris were shuddering in rage. They had never been humiliated like this before, let alone from a freakish Neo-Abyssal Temple.

"Over my dead body! We won't let you take away our daughter!" Queen Tyris roared out with ferociousness, revealing her infernal battle spirit.

King Ren quickly turned his head to look at Hokuto, whose eyes grew watery and was on the verge of tears. She didn't imagine things to turn out like this. "Hokuto, you need to go with the [Rose Sword Saint] and run. Auntie Seraphina, you have to escort them."

Seraphina shook her head. "I will battle them with you to help buy the [Rose Sword Saint] some time."

Astraea nodded. "I concur. I will take Hokuto with me and leave immediately."

Hokuto flailed about and cried for the first time in her life. "I'm not going to leave! I don't want to run away when I could lose Mother and Father forever!"

King Ren felt warm inside. Hokuto might have been a little brat but she was definitely a wonderful child through and through. "Dear, listen to your dad. You need to get out of here. You can not let those evil guys capture you!"

Seraphina felt pained as she heard King Ren encourage Hokuto to escape. Astraea sighed and forcefully grabbed Hokuto, swiftly slipping away into one of the hallways while the child cried and yelled out desperately for her parents. Black Deer laughed as he saw Astraea run away with Hokuto hoisted under one of her arms. "Blood Lotus, chase after the [Rose Sword Saint] and make sure Hokuto is captured. Take the operatives with you. Red Crane and I will be more than enough to take care of these misfits."

"As you wish, dear." Blood Lotus grinned as she burst off in the direction of Astraea. The cloaked Councilmen followed Blood Lotus obediently as they chased after the [Rose Sword Saint].

Red Crane and Black Deer both cracked their knuckles as Queen Tyris let out a deafening roar. The queen's body grew larger, her skin became scaly and turned into a crimson red. She was transforming into an Infernal Wyvern, while King Ren eyed Seraphina, who nodded and used magic to pull out a zweihander from a magic portal, passing it to King Ren.

The red Infernal Wyvern Tyris soon towered over everybody in the courtyard, almost breaking parts of the infrastructure in the process. She looked incredibly domineering, yet Red Crane and Black Deer didn't look the least bit intimidated.

Red Crane simply laughed. "You would need more than that to stop us." She stepped forward as blood-colored lights surrounded her fists. Black Deer stepped back and an aura of huge pressure emanated from him all of a sudden, causing Tyris and King Ren to kneel. Only Seraphina wasn't affected much due to her expertise in magic.

King Ren howled in a rage. "We won't let you take our daughter! Even if you kill us here, Hokuto will live and she will come back to take your head!"

"We shall see about that!" Black Deer laughed.

Elsewhere in the castle.

Astraea was running rapidly through the hallway, carrying Hokuto under her left arm, who was flailing and struggling to resist. Blood Lotus and the other Councilmen operatives were hot on their tail. Blood Lotus was laughing maniacally as she was continuously performing hand seals and mudras, launching small purple peals of thunder at Astraea.

The [Rose Sword Saint] however was among the pinnacle of martial existences. Such petty tricks wouldn't work on her, as she deftly deflected them easily with her tachi. However, Astraea was outnumbered and she didn't have an easy route of escape.

"Bleh. Where the hell is he?" Astraea grunted under her breath.

Hokuto was still in a panic. "Who are you talking about? What about my parents?!"

Astraea scowled at Hokuto after losing her patience at last. "Shut up! I contacted someone who is going to be responsible for our escape! It's my responsibility to protect you. King Ren and Queen Tyris are going to die no matter what you do, so you better be obedient!"

Hokuto's face was unsightly, she refused to believe her powerful parents could die just like that. As she was despairing her fate, a man clad in golden armor and a green cape suddenly crashed through the windows and drew out a long sword, striking out at Blood Lotus and her men.

"Sorry, I'm late, buddy!" the man laughed, from the back, he looked like a stereotypical knight.

"What took you so long, Grenseal? Hurry up and get us out of here." Astraea whined.

"Wait--" Grenseal didn't want to be distracted. As Blood Lotus was launching bolts of lightning at him and Astraea, the [Rose Sword Saint] blocked them easily as Grenseal slowly created a tear through the void in a similar manner as Court Vizier Seraphina. "Keep them distracted!" Grenseal called out.

Hokuto had, at this point, fumbled free of Astraea's grasp as the latter needed her left hand to properly do her job. She had the opportunity to ask Grenseal who he was while he was making the teleportation portal.

"Me? I'm a magic knight who once studied under your teacher's teacher! That's how we met! Anyway, don't bother me first. We gotta get us out of here!" Grenseal focused on making the portal as apparently he was muttering something about the distance being absurdly far, causing added time needed for its construction.

"Hurry up! We don't have much time!" Astraea roared as she began to kill the Councilmen operatives instead, beheading them deftly. Only Blood Lotus could compete with her.

After what appeared to be the longest five minutes of Hokuto's life, Grenseal completed the portal and urged her and Astraea to get in. "OK, the distance is very far, and your body isn't entirely ready yet, so you will probably be knocked unconscious during the trip. Now hurry up and get in!" Grenseal forcefully pushed Hokuto into the portal he made and Astraea soon followed.

"What about you, Grenseal?" Astraea asked the magic knight quickly.

"I've got my teleportation rune. Now hurry the hell up!"

Astraea nodded and jumped into the portal. In a flash, Grenseal closed it before Blood Lotus could get in. With a snap of his fingers, he also teleported away in a flash.

Blood Lotus stared into space, surrounded by the corpses of her fellow Councilmen.

"Damnit! She escaped!" Blood Lotus cried out in disappointment.