CHAPTER 30: UNKNOWN OBJECTIVES

One hour before the second red smoke swallowed the sky.

In the hall of Valor’s royal castle, silence already burned. The first attack had been simple. First, a traitorous guard, followed by assassins who suddenly advanced from all directions.

The castle seemed to have been invaded without any noise, without any resistance.

The Royal Order responded with brutality. Spears slit throats, crushed columns, and in just a few minutes, the first intruders were dead, staining the white marble.

But the true threat came after.

Ten figures crossed the entrance of the hall when Elyria and the other four decided to leave to see what was happening.

The presence of the ten was like sharp blades. Especially those five in the front.

Elyria recognized them immediately, furrowing her brows.

"You...?" Her voice echoed firmly in the hall as her spear was gripped tightly.

They were not strangers to her. They were third-level martial artists, just like her. Each belonged to the forces of neighboring countries. Warriors who, normally, would never abandon their countries’ borders. They were like weapons, just as Elyria was.

The gaze of the leader of the Royal Order narrowed.

"Weren’t you at war all this time? What are you doing in Valor?"

None of them answered. They only walked in silence, holding their weapons and revealing their clear intent to kill.

"I see..."

Elyria spun her spear, letting out a slight sigh.

Her subordinates stepped back a pace, recognizing the change in their leader. When she raised her weapon, there was no more talk, only... death.

One of the men acted immediately. A punch capable of cracking rocks shot forward, but Elyria was no longer there. Her body slid like a shadow, the spear rising diagonally from below.

Just one slash.

The man’s head rolled on the ground, blood spreading across the hall.

"Shit! Is he an idiot? Fight her together!" Another roared upon seeing someone of comparable strength die so easily.

Soon the four charged toward Elyria, while the other five behind them, elites of the second level, advanced against the other four of the Royal Order.

The king was hidden near the throne with the few others present in the hall.

The royal hall became a battlefield. The marble cracked with impact, and the columns split where attacks struck. Their sheer strength was many times greater than those of the second level. Each clash of blows sounded like thunder trapped within those stone walls.

The Order fought alongside Elyria. But the gap in strength was abysmal. She alone massacred two enemies in less than ten moves, her spear piercing the throat and heart of the two as if it were nothing.

The four of the Order resisted and, in just a few exchanges, began to gain the upper hand. The strength of each member of the Royal Order was not famous across the fifteen countries for nothing. With their bodies reinforced by the black liquid, the small injuries they sustained slowly healed.

They did not retreat.

"You won’t get past here!" Roared the fat one of the Order, crushing an enemy against the wall.

Then... it happened.

A deep rumble cut the air. It didn’t come from the hall but from somewhere near the castle’s center. A sound that made their ears ache, followed by an unknown red smoke rising into the skies.

Everyone froze for an instant. And it was in that very instant that the enemies withdrew.

The three fighting Elyria and the four fighting her subordinates ran the moment the rumble emerged.

They all retreated immediately. They leapt in opposite directions as if trained, escaping before Elyria could react. Even if she chased one, she couldn’t go after the others. Besides, she couldn’t leave the king.

"DAMN IT! COWARDS!" Darien, a member of the Order who had once traveled with Kyrian, shouted while trying to pursue one of them, but in vain.

Elyria raised her hand for them to stop.

"Do not follow them, it’s useless. They weren’t retreating because they were losing... that was their plan from the beginning. They were making us waste time for some reason."

She then swept her eyes across the hall. Only to realize that...

All the spilled blood had vanished. The white floor, once soaked in red, was clean just as when they arrived. The blood of the dead had disappeared.

"What...?"

Elyria dashed out of the hall, looking down the corridors. The others followed behind her, leaving the throne hall completely empty.

With each step they took, more horrors were revealed. The guards protecting the castle were all dead, some seemed to have been attacked by their companions. While others died with disbelieving faces.

When they crossed the inner courtyard, from where the smoke came, reality struck them. Hundreds of corpses were scattered about, it was all the guards who should have protected the castle, along with maids and everyone who worked inside.

The few survivors were those who had been in the throne hall with the king.

The castle had been taken long ago, without them realizing.

"No..."

"It was never about the king or the royal family. They only wanted to kill everyone in the castle. It was about the blood."

"But... why?" Elyria said, tightening her spear with a bad premonition.

She looked at Darien and the other three, their minor wounds had already healed. They were still completely fine.

Suddenly, the king spoke with a heavy, dark expression.

"Elyria. What does this mean? What is this smoke that covers my city?!"

Elyria drew a deep breath.

"Majesty... honestly, I have no idea what’s happening. All I knew was that an attack was going to occur. I imagined they wanted your head after so many years, us being a neutral force."

"But they seemed to have another goal, everything was only a distraction."

The king stepped closer, looking at the dried corpses.

"Then what, in the name of the heavens, are they after with this? Who is the enemy?"

"That I will find out soon." She said, turning her body toward her subordinates.

"Darien, you stay with the king just in case."

He nodded seriously.

"The rest of you, follow me. We will meet with the others at the Coliseum." She said, frowning.

*************************************

The sound of hooves echoed along the stone road. Elyria and three more warriors of the Order advanced on horseback, passing through the already open castle gates toward the south of the capital.

The red smoke rose like a beacon and seemed to spread little by little, painting the sky red.

"This smoke... it doesn’t seem normal... What if it’s some kind of sorcery? In the old books, legends spoke of some people who could make strange things appear." Murmured the fat one, his breathing heavy.

Elyria didn’t respond but remembered the ice Kyrian had suddenly made appear. Her eyes fixed on the horizon.

Only for another rumble to suddenly shake the capital. The sound reverberated through half the city like thunder, coming from the direction of the Coliseum.

And then a second smoke rose, even denser than the one at the castle.

"Shit! What the hell is happening?!" Another from the Order shouted, gritting his teeth.

Elyria and the others only urged their horses faster.

When they arrived at the coliseum, chaos had already spilled into the city.

Thousands of citizens ran through the streets, screaming in despair. Men and women trampled over each other trying to flee, some covered in blood, others with no direction at all.

"Run! Run, the guards went mad, they’re going to kill us." A woman screamed while carrying her child.

Elyria wasted no time. She leapt off her horse mid-movement, cutting through the crowd with brutality.

Her extended spear cleared the way, shoving the panicked civilians aside, forcing them out of her path.

The warriors of the Order followed behind.

In the Coliseum, the scene was worse than they could have imagined.

There were more than twice the corpses she had seen at the castle. They were piled in heaps across the arenas of the coliseum. Their bodies dried out without a single drop of blood.

In the stands, there were still many corpses trampled during the civilians’ escape. The smell was strong and horrible.

Elyria narrowed her eyes.

Near the center, the princess and prince were alive. Protected by the others of the Order.

Behind them lay piles of dead guards and assassins.

But the one thing that most caught her attention was Kyrian collapsed near them. She ran without hesitation.

"Leader!" The others said, bowing slightly, but she ignored them, looking at the small boy’s face contorting on the ground.

His body twisted in spasms. His eyes shut, the veins on his neck bulging. The warriors of the Order tried to hold him down, but to no avail. Whenever they tried to get close, their bodies were pushed back by a terrifying sensation the smoke transmitted.

Elyria approached Kyrian, her cold eyes analyzing the scene, unhurried, trying to understand.

"What happened here? What happened to Kyrian?"