War of Deceit Pt. 4

The chains of the mercenary snapped as they whipped around Strom's body. The two men frantically fought in front of the throne, sparks and electricity irritatingly buzzed in the surroundings.

The crackling of Strom's sparks clashing against the dark chains that slithered across the floors, like venomous snakes waiting to strike from the mercenary's hands, seemed to pose no advantage.

'What is this material?' Gritted Strom as he noticed the apparent calmness his opponent displayed against him.

It was obvious that whatever these chains were made from had extremely poor conductivity, which practically eliminated Strom's usual advantage almost completely.

"Your little magic trick is completely useless against us." Snickered the mercenary as he flicked his wrists, resulting in the attacking chains to shift their direction again.

Although the royal guards had costed Strom barely any of his stamina before, he could feel that he would soon be taxed if the fight continued to proceed.

Having to deflect the incoming chains that attacked him from pretty much every direction was beginning to wear him down.

It was basically the equivalent of facing multiple opponents at the same time and forced Strom to consume a lot of his mental energy let alone physical.

"What do you bastards think you're even doing? What could this kingdom possibly mean to you outsiders?" Huffed Strom as he attempted to distract the mercenary.

Even if only slightly, any type of break in the enemy's fast paced attack could allow Strom to turn this situation around.

"You wouldn't understand the Order's objective even if I explained it to you. And who are you to ask such a question? What rights does the empire have to lay claim to all these kingdoms anyways?" Retorted the mercenary in a clearly uncaring attitude.

'Aaron!' Thought Strom as the words of the mercenary confirmed his worst fears and momentarily caused him to lose focus.

The chains that had shown no signs of stopping before, retracted from Strom's sides at a blinding speed, clipping his chin on their return and collecting at the feet of the mercenary like coiled cobras.

Strom spat blood from his cut lips to the floor on the side while catching his breath.

Except for his commander Axus, he had not faced an opponent this capable yet. He did not believe himself to be invincible but like most other soldiers, who after sporting a decent streak in fights, he had become a little cocky in his prowess.

However, the fight now had clearly shown him his current standing. A defeat from Axus could never have the same effect as one from an enemy... It was a matter of sides after all. An ally's strengths gave one comfort while an enemy's only wrought self-destruction and lament.

Not only that, his brother was definitely in danger, if not soon, and had cost Strom his cool.

Strom had been lectured by his commander many times on this matter. The short "charismatic" commander had seen these flaws in Strom's mentality early on in their training and had repeatedly pointed it out to the young soldier.

But not until Strom truly faced it in actuality, did he understand what his commander had painstakingly instructed.

Taking a deep breath to clear out all distractions, the cloudiness in Strom's eyes dissipated, leaving a clearer hue of understanding in its wake.

The black cloth covering the bottom of the mercenary's face twitched, signaling a wide smile had formed beneath.

Both men, after a momentary pause, rushed towards each other again. The coiled chains lifted from the floor and spun fast enough on each side of the mercenary's body to completely occupy the entire space their trailing edges outlined. They created an imagery akin to thin black shields that crisply sliced the air from their center points, located at the mercenary's raised hands, to their ends.

Strom's lifted sword darkened as the glowing electricity around it fizzled out before the clash of metal.

"Giving up already?" Chuckled the mercenary while interchangeably switching the spinning chains to push Strom back.

Strom sliced his blade at the mercenary's waist as the chains switched but was blocked by the incoming chain that approached from that side.

Calmly, Strom stepped a half pace back and thrusted his sword towards the exact center of the spinning shield.

The mercenary shifted the chain in response and caught the sword in a constrictive choke with the other.

Strom quickly jabbed with his other hand outstretched towards the mercenary's neck while the chains were occupied.

However, the remaining chain wrapped itself around this arm and halted Strom's reach, with only the four fingers on his hand just resting on the side of the mercenary's neck.

"Is that it? So much for your magic sword." Laughed the mercenary as he flicked the chains, causing the one wrapped around Strom's arm to tighten and cut off his circulation while the other disarmed his stopped sword.

"Yeah I guess so." Spat Strom as electricity raced through his fingers and through the artery that he could feel on the mercenary's neck.

The constricting chains' grip loosened as the mercenary slumped to the floor beneath Strom.

Waving off the chains from his arm that now properly received blood flow again, Strom walked over to his sword that had been flung a meter away and picked it up.

Electricity sparked once again through the sword as Strom lifted the blade above his head and pointed it down towards his fallen opponent's chest.

"It's not the sword you bastard." He whispered before impaling the blade through the mercenary's chest.

Lightning screamed from within the mercenary's shaking body until Strom withdrew his blade from his now defeated opponent.

He stared down at his injured arm and gripped his knuckles in acknowledgement.

The young soldier had defeated an opponent far more skillful than himself but it was not a victory to be proud of.

More than anything, he realized just what kind of terrifying strength the true enemy in this war held and compared it to his naïve self.

'I need to get to Aaron.' Decided Strom as he shook off all his other thoughts.

From behind the throne at the other end of the room, the two children cautiously stepped out from their hiding spot.

"W-What about us?" Asked the older sibling after confirming that the dark robed man had been defeated.

Strom turned back towards the throne and paused while rubbing his nose.

Meanwhile, in the council room located at the other side of the palace, a similar event unfolded.

The long table in the center of the room was cracked with the Zephyr kingdom's insignia in the center haphazardly split along with the rest of the table. Documents littered the marble floor with specs of blood stained on some of their surfaces.

Most of the councilmen were already dead. Their bodies either slumped against the destroyed table or strewn about on the floor like the documents.

Only a few remained alive, barricading themselves behind the door at the other end of the room.

"H-Head Councilman! Is your warrior really gonna be able to handle this?" Frantically pestered one of the remaining councilmen.

"It's alright... It's gonna be alright. Everyone just remain calm! My champion can handle this!" Voiced the head of the council with his shaking old hands.

The old man clasped his forehead with one of these aged hands and sighed after seeing his fellow councilmen begin to calm themselves.

'What were we thinking? Hunting these bloody mercenaries? We shouldn't have hired them in the first place!' He feebly thought.

He had originally reached out to these "mercenaries" when he had received word of their location inside of their kingdom. He had assumed that, like the other random mercenaries and groups that were flocking to their kingdom, they were in search of work considering their primary employment.

He had also been pleasantly surprised at first when the head of the troop had informed him that they did not need barely any money for the job. Only... An artifact that the royal family had been keeping for generations.

Of course he had immediately accepted such a proposal. All he needed to do was have the royal family hand over the artifact. But the King had stubbornly refused, stating, "Our family has been tasked with protecting this artifact for generations and I will not be the one to break such tradition or oath."

The head councilman could not understand such foolishness. If the kingdom were to fall to the empire then would this artifact not just simply fall into the Romans' hands then?

Deciding that such a foolish King was not fitting to rule any longer, with their kingdom currently in dire need, the head councilman agreed to the mercenary's request on behalf of the kingdom. He explained their situation and colluded with the mercenaries to seize the artifact by force once this war was over.

But fate had other plans in store.

The mercenaries did not hold up their end of the bargain. In fact, they just incited more turmoil within the Zephyr kingdom!

The head councilman was merely grasping at air.

His plans had fallen through and now the mercenaries he had bet most of his hopes on were the ones bringing an end to his scheme.

He had used his champion in hopes of hunting them down but he was far too late.

Although his champion he had begrudgingly hired back when the war first started was reliable, he had hated the amount of money that he paid for such a wretch. However, he was now thankful for holding on to such a pawn as the warrior now stood between him and death.

If nothing else, he should at least be able to hold out long enough for their escape.

'Well... My escape...' Thought the old man as he glanced around at the fat and bratty councilmen that remained clinging to his robes around him.

On the other side of the door in the council room, the dark clad knight fought ferociously against the insurgents.

There were still some royal guards remaining, but out of the ten that were stationed here with him, only four remained.

"Marcus!" Shouted Aaron as he deflected the spear thrusted towards him with the two daggers in his hands.

The burly warrior quickly jumped over his crouching leader and struck down the guard with his shortsword.

"Thanks." Huffed Aaron as he removed his now tattered hood with his drenched blonde hair finally revealing itself.

"I promised to follow you until death." Confidently stated the dark skinned warrior with a curt nod.

To their left, Amira and her mercenaries were heavily occupied with the three remaining guards while Amira herself fought with the large dark knight.

Aaron watched in awe as his fiancé fought against the towering knight while performing what he would always describe as a dangerous sultry dance.

Aaron rushed over to her side to provide support as he directed Marcus to the aid of the other mercenaries.

He jumped in with his daggers that resembled the ones Amira used to slash against the knight.

"I see your putting my little presents to good use." Hummed Amira as she saw the young man push her opponent back from the side in a similar style to her own.

"I'm a quick learner." Grunted Aaron while unable to conceal his smile.

Although they were in a pretty perilous predicament, Aaron had not felt so alive nor satisfied since his parents had been around.

With a final push the remaining guards and knight were defeated by the group.

Marcus proudly snapped the spear of his last opponent in half over his knee in triumph while Amira and Aaron shared a heartfelt glance.

But this moment soon faded as the mercenaries pried open the door where their final targets awaited them.

"Finally..." Murmured Aaron to Marcus as the warrior came over and pounded the young man's back.

However, the scene on the other side of the door was one neither of them were expecting.

The bodies of the remaining councilmen were laid slain on the small hallway floor.

A single bloodied knife, a few feet behind the tragedy, laid gorged in a pool of blood, and left behind in the dim light of the torches.