unshakeable loyalty

Elena had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the wall when Arthur came out.

But she couldn't retain that posture as Arthur has a way of pissing her off with the heartless cold way he treats a lady.

He had obviously heard her annoyed tone but he treated it as nothing, ignoring her as he headed for the mini bar at the other end to pour himself a drink.

"What is so important you had to come over this early to talk about it?" Arthur asked, playing with the glass of wine he held after taking a sip.

Elena felt like throwing that wine on his face for asking her such question after the way he just treated her.

Pushing the anger away for now as it wasn't the right time for it, she calmed herself and was ready to talk.

But was interrupted before she could open her mouth, Luke barged in hurriedly.

His demeanor a complete different from what Arthur had seen in him before now.

Luke was out of breath, and he looked pale and scared. He was holding a piece of paper in his hand, which he held out to Elena.

"I just got this," he said, his voice trembling. "It's from Tina."

Elena took the paper from Luke and began to read. Her eyes widened as she took in the contents of the letter.

"We have to leave now," Luke chipped in, his voice full of urgency. "This place isn't safe anymore."

He turned to Arthur, his expression hard. "I'm sorry, but we'll be needing your help."

Arthur raised his brow at Luke's words, obviously he isn't buying into any of this sh*t going on around him.

There are lots of questions he needed to ask but now he just need to get the basis of things to decide if he should help or not.

Funny enough time wasn't a liberty they could enjoy as a blaring sound of alarm threw Evert into a frenzy.

With the alarming going off, it didn't take long for Damon to rush over too.

He had an apprehensive expression, "they found us," he blurted out the second he got in the room.

To his surprise, Luke and Elena were busy explaining things out to a mere level one ability user instead of devising an escape plan out of this situation.

His stomach turned in anger, his disgust for Arthur increased especially seeing the uncared look on his face while Luke was insistent on getting him to help out.

He wasn't happy to see Arthur there, especially since it was clear that Luke and Elena were putting their trust in him.

He had never liked Arthur. He felt that Arthur was too reckless and impulsive, and he was worried that he would put everyone in danger.

"We need to get out of here," he said, his voice tight. "They are trying to breach our defense and will be here any minute."

Arthur turned to face him, his expression unreadable. "Am I to save him too or can he die from any random stray attack?"

Luke and Elena wore a helpless look at Arthur's question, while Damon was fuming with rage.

"He is a Royal too, he can't be allowed to get hurt," Luke commented after some time, "but I think you are getting something wrong, he...."

"No, I'm not, I'm just not going with your plan of summoning many minions to serve as decoys while they run away," gesturing at Elena and Damon.

Luke and Elena both looked shocked by Arthur's words. They hadn't expected him to be so cold and uncaring, to actually care for their safety.

But Arthur was unmoved, his face set in a hard expression.

"How willing are you ready to protect your dear princess?" Arthur threw a strange question at Luke who was bewildered by such a question.

Still, he didn't fail to answer almost immediately, as his loyalty is beyond questionable.

"My loyalty to the Aerendil family goes with me to the grave," placing his hands on his chest like a faithful Knight.

Arthur nodded back in satisfaction, "it better be because this might really take you to that grave."

Speechless, that was the only thing all three of them could do when they heard his words. They had no idea what to say, or how to respond to his words.

It's clear that he is serious, and that he is willing to risk everything for this, but.

"Are you sure about this?" Luke finally asked, his voice trembling.

To be more accurate, that question was directed to Elena other than Arthur.

He didn't know why he was feeling a certain amount of fear from this young man.

He is a level fifty ability user which is more than enough to sniff him off in an instant.

But his heart kept nagging a bit of fear in him when he saw the serious look in Arthur's eye.

Getting Elena's subtle nod of agreement, indicating they can trust him, he asked another question bothering him, "This would be dangerous, and we don't know if we'll make it out alive."

Arthur met his gaze, his eyes steady. "You won't know if you don't try."

Luke was silent for a moment, and then he nodded. "Okay. We'll do it your way."

Luke still had his doubts but decided to trust Elena. There were good reasons why.

Out there are more than a dozen ability users that would be on the same level with him, if not higher. Knowing he is with the Aerendil Royal family and would protect them, they would send powerful ability users over to deal with him.

Naturally, being strong and a genius as he is, he would be able to hold them off for a short while, allowing the successful escape of the prince and princess.

But here, Arthur, who is a level one ability user, is proposing an opposite plan, asking them to fight instead of run.

And the princess still believed him. If not for her ability, he would have thought she had been bewitched or something.

Too bad for him, he isn't aware Elena's ability doesn't work on Arthur.

She just trusted him with her gut feelings, leaving the rest of their fate to luck. Her trust in Arthur wasn't based on any kind of ability or manipulation.

It was based on something far more simple - a gut feeling. She had a strong intuition that Arthur was someone they could rely on, and that he would do everything in his power to help them.

It was a leap of faith, but one that she was willing to take.

She knew that the odds were against them, but she also knew that they had to try. Honestly, she is pretty tired of running around.

She had seen the cruelty and corruption of the royal court firsthand, and she knew that if they did nothing, things would only get worse.

She had just lost her entire family to the cold manipulative hands of her rivals, leaving just she and Damon as the last bearers of the Aerendil Royal family bloodline.

She had to take her stand, she had to believe that they could do something other than running.

The pain of her loss buried underneath that emotionless face is tearing her up from within, begging her to seek vengeance.

She was determined to fight back, she had always been, wanting to change her fate and that of her family.

But she knew that she could not do it alone. She needed allies, people who were just as determined as she was.

And she met Arthur, she knew straight away Arthur could be one of those people.

"What's your plan," she asked, her voice calm and composed. "We need to figure out how to defeat them. It won't be easy, but I think we can try."

Arthur looked at her, impressed by her strength and determination.

Initiating a summoning rite, he summoned a level ten wraith which threw everyone off balance for many different reasons.

Seeing the translucent shadowy humanoid figure with a menacing aura and glowing eyes, coupled with the ethereal wings behind it.

Damon lost his cool and was overtaken by fear, the same thing could be said for Elena, but she was a bit composed than Damon after having watched Arthur's brutal methods back at the cemetery.

Luke wasn't all that affected when he saw the wraith, but just like the other two, he was wondering how Arthur could summon a level ten wraith. Isn't he supposed to be a level one ability user?

It was even more so for Damon, who felt his blood go dry, thinking he had wanted to teach Arthur a lesson a few times before now.

He wondered how his fate would have been if he had actually tried that, now he truly understands what Elena meant when she said she was saving him from Arthur, not the other way round.

If only he knew that underneath that calm and composed face of Elena is the shock of her life when she saw this.

Back to Arthur, he was able to grab a few skills and other necromancy related knowledge from the intense training he did in the virtual world.

He started off his battle by going up against necromancers, slowly copying every skill he sees them use. He found out he could even do them better.

If other necromancers were here, they would be amazed at Arthur being a Level ten and summoning a level ten wraith. The danger of the summon not adhering to the summoner's will isn't a new thing.

But for Arthur, the wraith didn't dare show off its fangs at him, instead remaining humble and loyal before him.

Arthur looked at his status window, his essence point had gone down from 100 to 95.

He had spent five points of essence back in the virtual world and found a few new uses for this energy.

The discovery was so amazing and breathtaking that he started feeling bad about how to replenish it since its use couldn't be overrated and he believed there was still more to explore with it.

Looking at the wraith, he willed the wraith to have a portion of his weapon proficiency and battle awareness while also increasing its battle prowess.

Ten essence points disappeared from his essence reserve and the wraith underwent the intended change as its demeanor skyrocketed in front of everyone, shocking all present as the already powerful wraith's strength seemed to increase even further.

Once that was done, he turned to Luke and with a serious look, said, "do not resist."

Before Luke could understand what he meant by that, the wraith charged toward him with lightning speed and in no time dove into his body, disappearing from sight.

Luke fell to the ground, writhing and convulsing as if he were being torn apart from within.