6

The night was young, and fire blazed amidst a battlefield. Smoke filled the dark sky, blocking out the stars, but nothing could be hidden in front of her golden eyes. There were buildings crumbling in the distance, the gates of the castle ground had been torn apart, and figures dressed in full white and armored black fought against what appeared to be a ruffian mix of opponents. Colored lights blazed the sky alongside flames. The clashing of weapons rung with the grunts and pained yells of men. It was a chaotic mess of swords and magic. It seemed like a small skirmish and she wondered, above all, how it came about.

Maria narrowed her eyes, focusing through smog.

There was a rampaging beast, loose and out of control, spewing fire from its maws. A quadruped of flaming red skin and jagged spikes upon its body. It was massive, towering more than 10 meters into the air.

Flapping red hair raged as a figure wielded a blue sword, cutting through the battlefield and headed for the beast.

"Father. . ." She muttered, recognizing the iconic red hair.

"Don't worry, princess. . ." A reassuring voice drifted over, seemingly aware that she had seen more than she should, "Your father isn't called the Crimson Beast for nothing."

Ais gritted her teeth and drew on her strength. She slowly pulled herself up along with the princess. In no time at all, she had crawled into the smoke filled hallway of the castle.

Maria's eyes blistered as she laid upon the ground. Tears streamed and coughs rang from her lungs. She felt like her breath was being forced away and her bet beat as if it were clutched. Her ruby eyes saw only a swirl of gray above head.

"We have to move," Ais's voice drifted in rush as she unsheathed the weapon at her waist. A thin sword with a square blue hilt.

"Eat this. It's condensed, purified oxygen mashed with light magic. It'll help regulate your breathing."

The spherical pill was forced into her mouth and she could barely swallow it with a strained throat. A warmth spread within. Her regular breathing returned, though her body still felt heavy. Ais, aware of the situation, picked her up and held her under her right armpit.

"If you feel any discomfort, tell me. I've been trained in some minuscule amount of light magic," The guard said, moving through the blazing halls of the castle. Her legs were hurried, and the maze of the building seemed like nothing before her speed.

Smoke rose above them as the castle shook. There were small bush fires throughout.

Maria's eyes blinked.

They rounded a corner as Ais abruptly came to a stop.

There was two individuals. Two men with mismatched equipment of leather. They each held a sword and quickly perked up. Obvious by their looks, they had been in search of something, and there eyes narrowed at the sight of Maria.

"Hold tight, I'll cut through them. . ." She put the princess down, simultaneously announcing an execution.

Maria quickly scurried back.

Ais stepped forward, she drew her blade from its sheath.

The earliest figure shook, an explosion rang within him before his body took on flames. If it had been anyone else, it might have mattered.

Her hand moved.

The blades met and clashed but Ais didn't stop. In one fluid motion, she deflected the next strike, the opponent's footing was misplaced as he stumbled slightly aback. He quickly raised his blade.

"<Wall>!" His deep voice rang quickly, he seemed to take on an almost shining luster.

However, Ais's weapon disregarded whatever state he was in as it moved blindingly forward.

The tip of her blade ripped through his, shattering it like brittle and diving forward to impale the man's neck. His eyes widened and he choked on his own blood, the last thing he had saw was a shooting star.

She pulled her blade as blood splashed across the crumbling floor.

She turned to the next, her eyes narrowed.

"Fuck," He cursed.

Ais's expression softened.

His body turned as he ran, he pulled out a small item that glowed, "I've found the princess, she's on the-"

White flapped into the air as a ghost ran on the walls of the corridor. Soundless, twin daggers were revealed as the individual jumped. A dance of the blades flashed. Blood splashed into the air, a head rolled, and a figure cleanly landed on the ground, before the two.

Ais held her blade with caution.

"Alias? Sigil? Mark?" She asked, shielding Maria behind her.

"Hawk, first regiment, here." The voice drifted out of the faceless mask.

The Royal Guards had three procedures for confirming identity. With its small membership, an Alias that wasn't known by all could be disregarded. A person without a personal sigil that responded with your own could be disregarded. And an individual without a proper Blood Mark could be disregarded. These were put in place for security.

The White Shadow revealed a palm and a wrist. On the wrist was the mark of a blue phoenix hugging a shield, and held in the palm was a small emblem, a white crest with the image of a hawk holding a dagger in its beak.

Ais brought out her own emblem, the same design but with a whirlwind of blue surrounding a sword. The two items shined next to each other as the two guards nodded, and retrieved them back.

"Report?" Ais asked.

"The first floor has been overrun, the third floor has mostly been destroyed, and the second floor is quickly falling apart," A cold, calm, voice drifted out, "Altia has called for Red Fire - Plan C and is rushing to the castle as we speak, she should be here within ten or so minutes and the city guards have already made their way here. We're mobilizing all available forces and I've been assigned to you two."

A shudder came over Maria. Listening to those words, and feeling the castle shake beneath her feet, there was a pounding in her chest. What exactly was going on? Why this? Why now? She held a lot of questions.

"Are we being attacked by bandits? Thieves?" At that moment, the nativity of a child leaked through.

Ais shook her head, contemplating, "It's far too destructive a group to be mere bandits or thieves, and this wasn't a blind attack. It was organized. They had first attacked the four bedrooms with as destructive a magic as they could muster. However, they didn't account for the fact that Arthur was in the library, the queen was away, the king was returning and I was fast enough to save the princess. That's to say-"

". . .they knew the layout of the building but not the schedules of the individuals within. We have a low ranking mole. . .at least below that of a Royal Guard," Maria cut in, expressing her thought with frost.

"Mhmm," Ais caught her breath and nodded, "However, the opponent is an odd mix, although their individual members appear weak, they were able to not only get enough destructive power to take down a reinforced castle but also to bring a rampaging Behemoth."

Hawk shook her head, "Their members aren't weak, we're simply too strong. And it seemed that what we met with was only an advance group sent to search the castle."

"Mhmm, I see." Ais nodded briefly, wondering if winning against opponents who had failed to even develop an awakened blade was worth talking about.