The princess’ residence was an impressive ndmark of a building. Not only was it elegantly yet humbly ornate, it was also practical. The interior was a maze. To navigate inside the building efficiently, one would need considerable knowledge of the building’s yout. Such a design was to deter and prevent enemy infiltration. Kiera once thought highly of the building’s forethought and design, but now, she was cursing the building for its intricacy and complexity. She had been in this building once but a maid had led the way and she didn’t pay enough attention at that time. All the paths were unfamiliar to her.

  Time was of the essence. Taking the proper paths would be too much of a hassle. Therefore, Kiera resorted to a more violent and direct approach. The princess’ chamber would be in the middle floor, facing the courtyard, as it was for the king and other royalties. She went into a room that had a view of the courtyard.

  “Where are we going?” Ani asked. “Is there perhaps a secret passage here?”

  “No,” Kiera answered. “No passage at all but I will be making one right now.” She pointed her hand at the ceiling. “Get to cover.”

  Ani complied and headed for cover. She didn’t need to ask any more questions. Kiera’s gesture told her enough. Instead of hiding behind a piece of furniture, she went out of the room. Knowing Kiera’s ability, a frail piece of furniture would not be enough as protection. She even wondered if she should leave the building entirely. Thankfully, that wasn’t needed. There was a loud explosion. The building trembled but only slightly and for a mere instant. She headed back into the room. There was a hole in the ceiling. It was sort of circur but it was rge enough to accommodate two persons and more.

  Without a word, Kiera lifted herself up to the next floor through the hole with a spell.

  As for Ani, she simply hopped through the hole. No spells or other forms of assistance needed.

  “No sign of the princess here,” Kiera muttered after giving the room a brief yet thorough gnce. “She must definitely be in the Sanctuary.”

  “Whoa…” Ani gasped upon taking in the room in its entirety. “This is all strangely… simple.” Ani was no stranger to the nobles’ extravagance. She had seen some of it with her very own eyes, which made her all the more surprised at the fact of the room’s simplicity.

  “The princess is known for her frugality. It is also why half of the court wouldn’t want her to be the ruling sovereign. Anyway, we can talk about that ter. We need to find a strand of her hair.”

  The two scrambled towards the bed and quickly rummaged through the pillows, quilts, and bnkets. To their dismay, they found not a single strand.

  “Impossible,” Ani grunted.

  “It is expected,” Kiera sighed. “The maidservants keep the princess’ room spotless. It is as I feared. We might not be able to find anything that could— No, maybe there is one thing.”

  “Well, say it.”

  Kiera did not respond. Instead, she marched to the other side of the room where the work desks and shelves were. She went behind the desk and pulled out the drawers. She dumped all the quills onto the desk and scoured each of them with a focused gaze.

  “What are you doing?”

  Kiera did not answer. She only kept looking through the quills one by one until she stopped at one. Carefully, she reached out to the barbs and plucked something from them, a strand of hair.

  “Oh,” Ani muttered. “How did you know there would be a strand of hair on a quill?”

  “A habit. When people are behind a desk, they scratch their heads when they think, either with their hands or whatever item they were holding at that moment.”

  “That’s… impressive.”

  “Scratching one’s head?”

  “No. I mean, it’s impressive you can think that way. I certainly wouldn’t have.”

  “...Thanks, I suppose? Now, give me a moment. I need to focus.” She held the hair strand close to her face. Her lips began to move and a series of indescribable nguage flowed out of her mouth.

  Just then, the doors to the chambers suddenly burst open and three soldiers came rushing in with their swords drawn.

  Ani was about to raise her arms and expin to the soldiers her reasons, but she stopped when she saw the darkness tching onto the soldiers. She drew her sword and pointed at the soldiers. “Stay back!” she warned.

  “There’s no use warning them,” Kiera said, without taking her eyes away from the hair, and continued with her chant. “They have been enthralled.”

  “Enthralled? Then—”

  “Watch out!”

  The soldiers lunged with a feral growl.

  Ani swung her sword, with great reluctance, deflecting a ssh from a soldier. “We are not your enemy,” she entreated.

  The soldiers did not listen. Gone was all of their rationality. They came at her with only violence and death in their minds.

  Ani dodged low when they swung their swords wildly. She slid under their bdes and twirled on her heel with her sword reaching out. Two of the soldiers met their end at that manoeuvre but one dove out of the way just in time.

  The remaining soldier sprang at Ani once he regained his bearings.

  Ani spun around and caught the soldier’s thrust with a riposte.

  The soldier tried to counter but he was much too slow this time. The bde pierced his throat and that was the end for him.

  “Nicely fought,” Kiera praised.

  “Perks of being a dragon’s mate,” Ani responded with a wry smile as she flicked the blood of her bde and sheathed her sword. She uttered a silent prayer for the fallen soldiers even though she had no favours with any gods.

  “You are selling yourself short. You can move faster and hit harder, but your techniques are unaffected. You fought well on your own.”

  “...I guess I surprised myself too. I’m good but I wasn’t this good. My body just seems to move on its own.”

  “That is called instincts. You may have more talent than you are brave enough to realise.”

  “I sincerely hope so.”

  Kiera smiled and went back to her spell. After finishing the incantation, the hair strand lit up in fmes. The smoke residue was quite opaque and it drifted in the direction of the window. Kiera breathed a sigh of relief. “The princess is alive.”

  “I’m guessing we will be following where the smoke flowed?”

  Kiera nodded.

  As they were about to leave the room, more soldiers came flooding into the room. All of the soldiers had darkness encroaching all over their bodies. They were groaning and growling as they scuttled towards the two.

  “Through the hole!” Kiera shouted and dove back down the hole where they came from.

  Ani followed closely behind.

  They ran for the doors but stopped when something began ramming into them from the other side.

  “The windows,” Kiera pointed.

  Ani nodded.

  Together, they ran for the window. There were still two storeys worth of height but it was better than facing a group of armoured soldiers in an enclosed space. Moreover, they both had the means to negate any injury from such a long fall. Ani had her enhanced physique while Kiera had her spells, but that wasn’t where their troubles y.

  As the two nded on the ground outside of the building, they were immediately surrounded by soldiers who were all corrupted by the darkness.

  “Fight?” Ani asked.

  “Fight,” Kiera answered. She snapped her fingers and waved her hand around. Fire surged out of nowhere and charged towards the soldier like a raging tide.

  There were no screams as the fire consumed the soldiers. Instead of writhing on the ground, the soldiers marched on as if nothing was happening to them.

  “W-what are they?” Ani gasped.

  “Whatever they are, they are not friendly. Kill them all,” Kiera said and conjured javelins made of Murux. The javelins shot towards the soldiers, aiming for their heads. The soldiers immediately fell down dead after their head was struck but the death of the soldiers did not deter the others one bit.

  “They are devoid of fear…”

  “Just aim for their head.” Kiera continued to fire javelins at the approaching soldiers.

  Ani steeled her heart and made her move. A soldier charged at her with a spear. She parried the spear and lopped off his head. It was a simple, yet effective move, but the guilt that followed was not something she could shrug off so easily. It wasn’t her first time taking a life but it was a different feeling from killing a bandit or a thug. These people were not in control of themselves. They were thralls to evil. For all she knew, they could be innocent, mere colteral.

  “Do not hesitate!” Kiera shouted.

  Ani snapped back to reality before her. A soldier shed at her with his sword. The bde was jagged and chipped greatly. It shattered easily the moment the bde was crossed with Ani’s. The soldier tilted his head but showed no hint of fear despite having his weapon destroyed. Instead, he tossed aside the broken sword and pounced at Ani. She flourished her sword, slicing the soldier’s head off. Before she could let the remorse set in, the soldiers were already attacking. She parried the soldiers’ sshes and countered with a wide decapitating cut.

  “We must move forward!” Kiera changed her tactics. The javelins had turned into orbs of Murux. When struck with one, the soldiers went flying back, crashing into the other soldiers. Bones were shattered and broken too.

  Ani gritted her teeth and pressed on, cutting down all that came into her path. There were more than she could fight off at a time. There were plenty of times where her guard was open and a soldier snuck in an attack, but all that did was a light scratch on her. She winced and socked the soldiers away with kicks. Her skin was now tougher than the average human, she realised. Nowhere near Henry’s level but a mere cut from a simple sword would not be fatal to her unless she suffered thousands of sshes.

  The enthralled soldiers were not without a limit to their numbers. However, once the soldiers’ numbers had dwindled, the Syers appeared. There were six of them. Corruption had taken hold of them but it had not seeped into their very core and shrouded them in complete darkness. That was a silver lining.

  “Get behind me!” Kiera yelled and stepped forward. Her hand glowed a vibrant vermilion. She swung her arm wide as if she was trying to scatter something in her hand. Though nothing was released from her grip, a bzing wave of fmes swallowed the Syers.

  Ani was prepared to cut down the Syers that survived the bze, but none of them did. The fmes instantly melted the entire body frames of the Syers. Without the frames, the Syers’ interior fell apart and scattered across the scorching ground. The fmes faded away after doing their duty.

  “That was… efficient,” Ani muttered.

  Kiera was panting. “It takes a lot out of me but I’m gd everything worked out well.”

  Without any more obstacles, the two quickly made their way to the courtyard. Ani lost count of how many soldiers she had cut down and she didn’t want to gnce back and count. It was a lot, more than enough to guarantee her nightmares after this.

  “You’re back,” Henry excimed in relief.

  Yu and him were still there. They hadn’t moved an inch, or so it seemed. From the looks of the destroyed surroundings, there had been a huge fight but it was all over.

  “Are you both hurt?”

  Ani shook her head.

  “I’m not, but she is,” said Kiera.

  “Just a few scratches. Nothing serious. My wounds can wait.”

  Henry smiled wryly. “If you say so, Ani.”

  “Well, did you get it?” Yu asked.

  Kiera snapped her fingers and a trail of smoke appeared, drifting towards a certain direction. “Follow the smoke and it shall bring us straight to the princess.”

  “Sounds easy enough,” Yu mused.

  “But never truly so,” Henry retorted grimly.