Way of the Knights

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By now, the forces of the Final Haven Kingdom had retreated from the underground district.

The only people remaining were the forces of the Black Curtain Guild along with the Devil Prince as well as three Golden Knights; Old Lee, Leona and Morel.

"Fall back." The Devil Prince uttered towards his men, when the Emissaries heard this, they wanted to retort but the Devil Prince raised his hand and continued, "You children can't participate in this battle. Listen to me and go back."

His subordinates knew that they couldn't change their leader's mind so they nodded and said: "As you wish, Your Majesty."

All of them then started leading the forces to retreat from the underground district. The Emissaries as well as the rest of the troops were a bit disappointed knowing that they had failed the expectations of their leader, but no one expected that their plan wouldn't work even with them executing it in secret.

"Hmph!"

All of them heard this sound as they retreated, the Emissaries felt their scalps tingle. This sound didn't come from the Devil Prince, which means that it could only be a sign for an enemy attack.

And as expected, it didn't take long before an attack was headed their way. All they saw was a massive wave of flames heading their way, even though the attack hadn't hit them yet, the heat contained alone by those flames was already terrifying enough.

It was precisely Leona who sent this attack. As someone from the opposing force, how could she allow the Black Curtain Guild's men to retreat safely when the Devil Prince didn't allow their forces to do so? This could be considered as a payback.

But of course, how could the Devil Prince allow her to do as she pleases?

As a response to her attack, the Devil Prince raised his hand once more. A thick and disgusting aura rose from his body, suddenly the dead bodies of people lying around them shook fiercely. Next, a harrowing scene unfolded, the bones on those bodies were seemingly attracted by some strange force. The mass of bones them hurriedly arranged themselves to form a wall and bore Leona's attack.

"Hurry you morons! Move your asses back to the headquarters!" Roared the First Emissary towards the retreating forces. Him and the rest of the Emissaries became alert and covered their rear, though weren't sure if they could truly survive another full-powered attack from those people, they had to step up and become responsible, specially within their leader's presence.

The heat carried by Leona's attack turned the bone wall into ashes, beside her Morel snorted and raised his hand. Suddenly, dozens of spears materialized out of nowhere. Just the sight of those spears, one could feel the sharpness despite their hollow forms. As Morel's hand descended, the spears launched, aiming at the retreating forces.

The Devil Prince sneered and prepared to intercept the attack, however before he could even raise his hand, a flicker of golden light appeared before him. It was Old Lee.

The Devil Prince's expression suddenly changed, no matter how many times he had seen it, Old Lee's speed never ceased to amaze him. Old Lee's face was covered in frost, he raised his sword. His hand turned in to a blur, several sharp sword energies aimed at the Devil Prince's vitals threated to take his life appeared. The Devil Prince lifted a finger and immediately, bones appeared out of nowhere protecting the Devil Prince from Old Lee's attack.

Even though his attacks failed, Old Lee didn't falter and kept his raging onslaught. The bone shield that encased the Devil Prince within constantly shattered, he had no other choice other than to constantly supply it with his energies in order to repair itself.

Due to this, the Devil Prince became occupied and couldn't do much to protect his subordinates. He tried to protect them and managed to save some of his men from Morel's wind spears but Old Lee's relentless onslaught prevented him from saving everyone.

Three out of the five Emissaries met their deaths under the sharp tip of Morel's spears. Their eyes were still wide open behind their masks, they weren't expecting to die in this mission, specially under the watch of their leader. But the fact that there's a spear wedged in their bodies and disintegrated their internal organs with a mystical force, remained. Their gazes dulled as they fell limp on their cold ground.

Only the First and Second Emissary managed to survive along with some of the retreating forces. The Second Emissary was able to turn himself incorporeal with his Darkness Laws, making the spear headed his way to pass through his body. The First Emissary was hit but due to his strange constitution, he extricated himself from impalement and the gaping hole in his chest mended itself, keeping him alive.

Though they survived, none of them had any traces of joy nor relief on their faces. What remained was pure and unadulterated fear stemming out of their hearts. There's only a realm's difference in their cultivation yet the disparity was so great. If it weren't for their strange techniques, they wouldn't even be alive right now.

Despite that, none of them had any thoughts on extracting revenge. It became crystal clear right now why the Devil Prince ordered them to retreat.

To these Golden Knights, the difference in numbers is nothing more than a joke. Just a casual wave of their hands and the advantage that they were proud of will instantly disappear like smoke. It was such a rude awakening too, they personally experience the absolute disparity in strength. However, now is certainly not the time to muddle about those things, retreating back to their headquarters should be their priority.

Leona and Morel knew exactly the reason why Old Lee engaged the Devil Prince in a brutal melee. So even without saying a word, they set their gazes on the retreating forces and threw one attack after another.

Seeing those flashes of lights and deadly attacks heading their way, the retreating forces nearly pissed their pants in horror. Shredding any form of pretenses, all of them began to ran towards the portal with mad speed. If they were even a beat to late, that would mean the end of them.

The Devil Prince tried to defend his troops despite being occupied by Old Lee's brutal onslaught. He indeed managed to save some but the amount of people who died were still greater. Even so, the Devil Prince remained indifferent about this situation and focused on defending himself.

In the end, only a small fraction of the forces managed to escape the unbridled attacks of Morel and Leona. The First and Second Emissary managed to escape through sheer luck, though they were worried about the well being of the Devil Prince they knew that they will only hold him back if they stayed, there's nothing they could do other than to pray for his safety and wait until the battle was over.

Seeing his men retreated safely. The Devil Prince sighed, his black eyes narrowed and with a loud grunt, an irresistible force surrounded his body and pushed Old Lee away, creating distance between them.

Old Lee managed to disperse the remaining force of the push by tumbling back. He stood up and saw Leona and Morel standing beside him. All of them stared at the levitating Devil Prince with grim expressions.

"That's unfair, no? I only tried attacking your forces once, and failed in the attempt. Yet you guys teamed up to bully my forces to ground." The Devil Prince assumed a whining tone as he spoke.

"Hmph!" Morel snorted, "Be thankful that we still allowed some to return. Had your filthy hands touched even the hem of our Prince's robes, I will not hesitate to hunt down every single one of your people, even if I had to lose my life in the process."

"Our Prince should live while you people shall die." Leona said in a forceful tone.

"Besides, Isn't this what you're aiming for?" Old Lee interjected.

"Oh? I don't understand what Brother Lee's talking about?" The Devil Prince feigning ignorance.

"Stop with the act, and never call me Brother again!" Old Lee sharply replied, "You cultivate Death Laws, specifically inclined towards Necromancy, of course you need dead people to aid you in battle. If you truly want to protect them, it would be as easy as turning your hand, yet you only let a miniscule amount to safely return."

Silence permeated in the underground district, out of nowhere the Devil Prince started cackling madly. There was a hint of a crazed look in his face as he did so. He laughed so hard that he was even clutching his stomach, it was as if he heard funniest joke ever. He then wiped the tears forming at the corner of his eyes and said:

"Oh my, it seems that I am a terrible actor then." He said with an obvious sneer in his tone.

Old Lee's face crumpled in anger. "You disgust me, Alastair!"