Point-of-View: Lyra Drisbell

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Damn it, how is this possible? We’re being absolutely destroyed by our enemies, we underestimated the new Knight Order, they’re more formidable than expected. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Prince Drakkar said he would attack the castle and kill Prince Landis, but in all likelihood, that bitch Aries Velenet is likely standing guard outside the castle. For all her flawed beliefs, her power is undeniable.

I witnessed a large number of my comrades being massacred by the Knights in an absurdly one-sided manner, so I snuck out of the capital before they noticed me.

We should’ve been more prepared, if only Prince Drakkar had agreed to my suggestion of taking more time so that I could put more Monsters under my control before launching this attack.

I hate to turn tail and flee like this, but there is no sense in fighting a losing battle and dying unnecessarily. I need to find a place to lay low for a while and gather more Monsters under my control.

It will likely take a long time, but so long as I’m alive, I can live to fight another day. Forgive me, my Prince, but this is for our cause, it’s over for good if none of us survive this battle. Therefore, I shall take on the responsibility to ensure that our cause does not die-...

"Argh...!" I suddenly gasped, as I felt a sharp pain bursting through the middle of my chest, glancing down in horror to see a blade poking out through my chest, before letting out a sharp scream as it violently twisted and got pulled out, collapsing onto my knees as the pain dazed me, my head spinning and my vision blurring as I coughed out blood.

"Looks like coming here was the right call, after all. The capital is your insane group’s main target, right? And if things didn’t go according to plan, I’d assume that many of you would start running away. Have to admit, I’m surprised we’ve only come across one of you trying to retreat. Hm...hey, you’re the one with the ability to control and summon Monsters, aren’t you?"

Wh-who...who is that?

I slowly turned my gaze back, to see a young man with two-toned hair, holding a pair of black blades. I-I recognize him, he’s the one who attacked the capital with a Monster a while back...and if I’m not mistaken, he’s got Royal blood in his veins, the son of former Prince Rhyle...

N-no, that’s not important right now, I-I’m going to die at this rate...I-I need to activate my Contract, I need the regenerative ability it gives me if I want to survive!

"C-Contract: Amphis-...!" I began to chant as quickly as possible, before he swung one of his blade across at my mouth, slicing through my left cheek and cutting off my tongue, before slashing out my right cheek.

My tongue fell out of my mouth and hit the ground with a splat, blood pouring out of my mouth as I began trembling in pain and fear, unable to activate my Contract.

N-no, this can’t be happening, I-I can’t die like this...

"Hey, you gonna finish her off, or should I?" Came a girl’s voice, sounding impatient.

"Right, yeah, we need to keep circling the capital to intercept any others who try to run away. I’ll end it right away," He responded, before one his blades came swinging down towards the top of my head, sharp pain bursting out as he cut through my skull...before everything went dark...

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Point-of-View: Prysm Duralles

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"Okay, she’s definitely dead now," Remarked Argent, blasting her corpse with lightning and fire to reduce it to ash.

"Seems kinda overkill if you ask me...," I responded in bemusement, staring at the smoking pile of human charcoal.

Is it weird that I think it kinda smells good? I mean, cooked meat always smells good, so it does technically make sense...right?

"She’s the one Larrk fought in Kaygee Town, her Contract gives her regenerative abilities. Since it’s a forced Contract, she might not have access to that regeneration in her normal form, but better safe than sorry," He pointed out with a shrug.

"You could’ve just decapitated her or something."

"This is a lot more certain though. No one’s regenerating from being burnt to a crisp so severely. Anyway...this is a good sign. The fact that we came across her trying to run away likely means that the battle isn’t going to go too well for the True Nobility inside the capital. Let’s keep teleporting around the city for a while longer, there’s bound to be more of them who try to retreat," He replied, as parts of the scorched corpse began to fly away in the breeze.

"Yeah, sounds good. I’m getting really worried about Larrk and Izzy though...they still haven’t contacted us, I hope they’re okay," I frowned worriedly.

"I feel the same way...those two are seriously powerful and are more than capable of taking care of themselves, but yeah, the fact that we haven’t heard anything from them even after so much time has passed since they disappeared is really concerning. Let’s first focus on dealing with the matter at hand, getting distracted isn’t a good idea...if there’s still no word from them by the time we’re done with this, we may have to head out to the Dead Zone ourselves and look for them," He surmised with a grimace.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," I nodded in agreement, before I took hold of his arm and teleported...

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