CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The screams seem to be coming from the forest underneath the cliff of the mountain. Senpai used his powers to feel around the area, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "I detect twelve people and monsters out there. What's your verdict, Master?"

"Hmm...that's quite the drop. I'll go check out the situation first." She replied, peeking down. Leila turned to Priscilla, "Hey Cilla, can you take care of our stuff and horses for a while."

"Yeah, sure. I would love to help but sadly I didn't bring my sword. You guys can go ahead, I'll hold down the fort."

Leila smiled and nodded to Senpai, who bobbed his head back. She placed some distance between her and the edge of the cliff, before taking off a running leap. "Maximum effort!"

***

As they ran through the forest, Leila and Senpai wasted no time to eliminate the monsters that hindered their way.

If this were their usual bonding, Leila would've stopped and taken her time observing the monster's features, powers, and physical capabilities. However, the situation calls for possibly, an urgent call for help. So, she ignored everything and shot through the trees like a meteor.

'Kill every monster in the area.' Leila called down the bond. 'To discover people in this place...I have a feeling there's something going on. I'll go investigate, so eliminate anything that would distract me.'

'Roger.' Senpai shot towards a different direction, his figure melting in the darkness.

She ventured further, marking down the number of corpses, sudden appearances of panicked horses, broken carriages, and scattered weapons and blood on the way. It didn't take long before she heard various sounds coming a few meters before her.

Shing! Crash!

"Argh!"

Leila jumped unto one of the sturdy trees, hid on one of the thick branches, completely concealed by leaves, placed the hood of the cloak on her head, and watched the spectacle down below.

Swords clashes, knives, and something that looked like a shuriken was thrown. There were no signs of guns or bombs---an advantage she might use in the future.

As she spent time isolated from the outside world, Leila read that magic imbued weapons and ancient relics with powers are non-existent. Instead, the quality of weapons is categorized by the color of the metal used as material to create it.

She still lacked sufficient knowledge about blacksmithing and the fighting styles of the people here, so technically speaking, this is the perfect chance to investigate.

As cruel as it is, Leila decided to watch them first, judge their situation, and save them later.

She surveyed the grounds, double-checking with her powers and counted twelve intruders, just as Senpai informed her. The majority of them were people clad head to toe in black, perfectly obvious they're assassins, and they're all attacking the same targets.

Their targets---a boy and a girl, panting heavily, stood side by side with each other with their weapons held in front of them.

They both looked terrible.

Their faces were pale and sunken, their bodies thin deprived of food and water as if they were being chased for a long time. Leila had a thought, 'Maybe that was the case.'

Their clothes--they looked like they tied bedsheets to cover their bodies, were ripped, covered with mud and blood. And their feet were blistered and bleeding.

'What in the world did they do that they even have assassin chasing after them?'

On the contrary, the assassin looked refreshed and well-rested. They were brandishing on what looked like cutlass swords as they gleefully laughed at the state of their targets.

"How the mighty have fallen." One of them, the leader Leila presumed, advanced forward wearing the same disgusting smug expressions that reminded her of that Chinese prime minister when he said he'll blow up New York. "Don't you look terrible."

His mocking words drew a laugh from his companions. The male target bared his teeth with anger, Leila noticed his arms were shaking uncontrollably.

This guy--even though he'd already reached his limit a long time ago, he still refused to surrender.

The corner of Leila's lips tugged upward. 'Interesting.'

"Why don't we end this hide and seek game of ours and just accept your fate?" the leader continued.

"Who knows? Maybe you bastards would die first." Despite his terrible and heavily injured state, the male target smirked. "You do realize where we are right?"

There were nervous murmurs coming from the assassins as their faces suddenly paled. They started searching or feeling for rumored monsters dwelling in the forest.

The leader who quickly masked the pale look on his face spoke up, "Let's speed up the process before something comes out."

"Hey boss!" a lackey called out. "Can we enjoy the girl first before we kill her? She may look like that but she's a famous beauty."

"Hmm...good point."

"Go screw yourselves!" the girl hissed. "I'll kill myself before you assholes even touch me with your filthy hands."

"Oooh, feisty."

"You know what they say boss, feisty girls always have the best holes." [Lackey]

'And assholes who seek feisty holes will get bullet holes in the head' Leila thought, a low growl escaping from her lips.

How she wished she had a shotgun right now. 'Aah, the satisfaction of watching bastards' heads exploding.'

"Pity. You two wouldn't be in this position if you've been willing to serve my master. But you even dared to report her to the king, tsk tsk. Bad move."

With that, they started clashing swords again. But with the extreme exhaustion and the unfair number of enemies, it didn't take long for them to reach their limit.

When they both collapsed to the ground, the assassin took the chance and started beating, punching, and kicking them in the stomach.

The leader grabbed the guy's hair and forcefully lift up his head showing his bleeding and heavily injured face. "Any last words?"

The guy spat a blob of bloody saliva to his face, "You're no better than a dog sucking up to his owner for treats. Send my regards to your master and tell him I said go to hell."

The leader angrily wiped the spit off his face and slammed the guy's head on the ground hard. He then took his sword and raised it above his head, ready to stab him.

Before he brought down his sword to kill the guy, Leila brought her hands together and started to slow clap. In her best imitation of Maleficent's voice, she said. "Well, well."

Their heads whipped to her direction, the leader shouted, "Who's there?!"

Leila stood from her crouching position, jumped off the branch, and landed lightly to her feet. They held their swords at her hooded figure.

She traveled her eyes to the group, trying to look as amused as possible as if she just got there. "What do we have here?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

Leila ignored the question and placed her attention on the injured pair on the ground. Despite the face of death, their eyes remained clear and determined, she smiled.

"Hey! Are you ignoring me?! You want to die, huh? Is that it?!"

Leila's smile disappeared; she turned her gaze towards the pestering assassin. "You annoy me."

She was about to rip him into shreds when she suddenly remembered the two. It'll be pretty bad if she accidentally scared them away, so Leila turned her gaze towards them. "You mind?"

The girl blinked in surprise, then her lips twisted into a grin. "No, not at all--in fact, do help yourself."

Leila smiled and willed her powers active. Her whole body enveloped with crimson aura, emitting a smoke-like effect.

She directed her gaze back at the black-clad men, who recoiled in the face of her overwhelming power.

And as her illusion dark brown eyes glowed dangerously crimson, Leila grinned. She opened her mouth, remembering her favorite line in that vampire series named 'Twilight' and said-

"Pain."

A chorus of screaming and bones breaking came out of every assassin as their body began twisting and bending in all directions.

First their fingers, then their arms, legs, body, and up to their necks before their skulls exploded.

Blood spurted out like a fountain, covering the ground, and their crumpled bodies collapsed to the floor.

Leila slowly approached the pair, who huddled at each other. She expected to see at least a hint of fear in their expressions and was surprised to see them unfazed, "What's this? Aren't you guys afraid?"

They glanced at each other and flashed me a smile. The girl shook her head, "Why would we when we're not afraid of death?"

"Did you wanted to die?"

"Of course not. But considering the state of our bodies, we're getting pretty close."

"That's true." Leila said, looking around for a knife or anything sharp.

"Who are you?" the guy asked, wiping his bleeding nose.

"Hm? Oh, I'm Leila." She replied as she dumped half of the contents of her leather canteen on the ground.

"Leila?" The girl let out a small laugh. "What a coincidence, you have the same name as my master."

"Really? How is she?"

There was a sudden change in the atmosphere, their heads slightly drooping, and their expressions seem sad. "She went missing two years back. Searching for her was the reason we got into this place. I just...don't understand what happened or where on earth she may have gone?"

"...I see. Anything I can do to help? More heads are better than two, after all. The least you could provide me is the information about her appearance."

The two strangers glanced at one another. hesitant to answer. When they seem to have reached a mutual agreement, they nod.

The boy too initiative, "Well, she was fair-skinned, crimson eyes, and brown hair. The last we saw her she was about 5'6 tall, I'm not sure if it's still the same though."

"Fair-skinned, red eyes, brown hair, 5'6 tall..." Leila muttered. 'Not to mention the same name as me...why does it feel oddly familiar?'

She shook the thoughts out of her head and immediately noticed the two started heaving. Leila took a knife from her waistbelt and deeply slit her palm. 'I don't know why they aren't healing as fast as immortals normally do but drinking my blood should at least help them regenerate.'

Leila filled the leather canteen to the brim with her blood, closed it with the cap, and started shaking the contents. 'I sure hope this would work.'

She held the leather canteen towards them, "Drink."

The girl blinked. "We appreciate your help, but you need to go, this forest is swarming with monsters."

Leila raised an eyebrow, "Don't worry about that, the whole area is clear."

"What do you mean?" [Boy]

"Drink first, ask questions later."

They were hesitant at first, but they took the bottle and greedily gulped down the contents.

It took a while before her blood kicked in.

Watching the process, Leila found the sight fascinating. It was like watching the dead Bella from Twilight transform into a vampire.

Their bony bodies fattened up, their injuries vanished immediately, their sunken faces returning to their former glory.

Leila's brows shoot up.

Twins.

They're twins.

That lackey's claim that the girl was a beauty-it was an understatement. They were both gorgeous as fuck.

Their hair black as ebony, their skin pale as snow, and they have a striking pair of beautiful gray eyes. They looked as if the ethereal beauty of the night sky and moonlight given form.

"W-what?" the guy exclaimed as he watched every bruise and injury in his body disappeared and regained some of his strength back. "How?"

The girl was patting her face, checking her arms and legs, "What the-"

'God, if this was Earth. They'd be attacked by now.' She thought, her brows furrowing. 'Not to mention they look oddly familiar, now that I could see their features more clearly.'

The words came out of Leila's mouth before she even realized, "Misa?"

Two sets of gray eyes flashed in her direction; the girl narrowed her brows in confusion. "How...?"

"Um...uhhh..." Leila shook her head to snap out of it. When she glanced at the boy, another name popped out. "Are you...Carlisle?"

"You..." He went to shield the girl behind him, his eyes alert and suspicious. "Who are you? And how did you know our names?"

"I...don't know. It just came out."

It was the truth though; she really had no idea why she knew their names. Other than that, Leila was one hundred percent sure she didn't peek in their minds.

"I was wondering this for a while." Carlisle spoke, "Would it be alright if you show us your face?"

"Yeah, sure." She replied, pulling the hood out of her face. Besides, it's not like she's hiding anything anyway, so why hesitate?

At the twins' first glance on her face, Carlisle gasped in shock and Misa started crying. Utterly confused about what the heck was happening, Leila panicky tried to calm Misa down. "Woah, hey, why are you crying? Did I do something?"

"H-how could you say that?!" Misa bawled. "We've been looking for you, Milady!"

'M-milady?!' Leila blinked, "What do you mean?"

"You're alive." Carlisle slumped down on the ground, releasing a big sighed of relief. "Two years...two fucking years! Where the hell have you been?!"

"Woah there! What are you guys talking about? Do I know you?"

"What the----?! Don't tell me you actually forgot!"

Leila's brows narrowed in confusion at his words, "Forgot what?"

Carlisle blinked; his face contorted into an expression of bewilderment. Misa sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand, "Miss, didn't you know? You're the one we've been looking for!"

"And why the heck are you guys looking for me?"

"Because you're our missus! You're His Grace's---Duke Amaryllis' eldest daughter and heir apparent, Leila Ravenna Amaryllis! You went missing two years ago!"

Leila blinked, and when the words finally registered in her mind, she yelled.

"HAA?!"