Meanwhile, another hour later…

Under the intense heat of the sun, one could hear the loud rumbling of the land followed by the cloud of dust flying through every direction.  It was no other caused by the horses running across the desert at its full speed, followed by the knights that were clad in heavy armor. They increased their pace even more and within another half hour…

Sir Aston and the other knights and some of the mages who were with him, could finally see the entrance of the village. The village that the third prince, Prince Kija, asked them to investigate. From the capital, it was almost three days of travel from there to the village with the horses. However, his brows creased when he saw the huge cloud of smoke hovering above the sky. 

“Everyone! Hurry!” Sir Aston screamed and hastened the speed of his horse.

The knights following him hastened their horses. Soon, they stopped as they finally reached the village.

“Quickly put out the fire! And find survivors.” Aston screamed with great authority. All the knights and mages used their magic to put out the fire.

After half an hour, the fire in the village had been wiped out by the knights. However, nothing remained and since the houses were made of light materials and woods, nothing could be salvaged anymore. The knights failed to find any survivors either.”Sir! We can’t find anyone here!” One of the knights said.

“I can see that clearly,” Sir Aston looked at the burnt village. From his dark expression, he was quite displeased that the only thing they saw when they arrived here was nothing but piles of ashes and destroyed houses. ‘It seems we can’t get any evidence with this. Whoever was behind this, they surely worked so fast that it was almost frightening seeing that those two just came right after being chased by them.’

“Sir Rodrick, remained here with half of the unit, to monitor the place. I’ll head back to the capital now and report to His Highness. Continue to search the area and send word right away, if you spotted some suspicious things.”

“Yes, Sir Aston!” Sir Roderick saluted.

However before, Sir Anton could even mount his horse again…

“One,”

“Two,”

They all stopped when they heard a voice of a child-like girl echoing through the destroyed village.

“Three,”

“Four,”

The counting continued. “Find that voice!” Sir Aston commanded and all of them started looking for the voice. But Sir Aston immediately turned in front of him, to the entrance of the village, when the rest of the unmounted horses started making noises.

Sir Aston and everyone unsheathed their sword when a girl in a red mask showed up. She had colorful hair, that of a rainbow. And it complimented her colorful clothes as well.

“Seven,”

The girl continued to count with her fingers. 

“Who are you?!” Sir Aston yelled as he pointed the sword towards the girl. Given from the conversation he heard with the prince and Lady Malaya’s companions, the people behind the attack in the capital were people wearing red masks.

The girl in front of them looked like a child that was no longer than the age of twelve. However, the sinister lifa and the red mask indicated that she was not merely a child. Given also the fact that she was counting strangely despite the situation right now.

The girl seemed to be ignoring them as she continued her count.

“Nine,”

“Ten,”

“Eleven.”

Everyone remained alerted and cautious as they waited for any of the girl’s moves. However, the girl continued to count.

“Twenty-Five.”

“Twenty-six,”

“Twenty-seven,”

The girl finally stopped counting as she brought down her hands. Though she was wearing a mask, Sir Aston knew and the others that she was looking at them now. 

“You are all twenty-seven,” The girl happily said. “Now, begone,” 

At the mention of that, an intense surge of purple lifa erupted from the girl. The knights didn’t know what happened to them, as all of them were obliterated without being able to even move towards the girl. A loud explosion echoed across the desert.

“It’s a good thing, I got back here.” The girl smiled mischievously as if she didn’t just massacre an entire set of knights. Then she started humming again. “I hope Ivor and Master will praise me for wiping out all the enemies.” She said as she started skipping out in the way.

***

Meanwhile…

Kayden was the one who attacked first. With his dark flame sword, he lunged towards the masked man. The masked man evaded nearly. The sword was very close to his neck and if he was late, he would be dead right now. Though he evaded it, a part of his black coat got caught with the fire which he immediately removed and threw to the left side.  It seemed the masked man’s mind was somewhere else before realizing Kayden’s attack.

However, he was now focused on Kayden. “I didn’t expect to have a high mage here.” He said, as he unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards Kayden. “However, if you are one of those people, protecting those two, I’m afraid that I need to eliminate you with them.”

Kayden remained expressionless, despite the threat given to him. And instead, barrage the masked man with attacks. However, the enemy simply deflected it with his equivalent and exemplary swordsmanship. Kayden couldn’t find any weakness from the enemy. And decided to use his magic, dark flames surged around them.

The masked man sensing the huge concentration of lifa, immediately leaped backward, to create between him and Kayden. The place where he was standing before, was immediately covered with dark flames.

The whole house that everyone was staying at before where immediately covered with ravaging flames. However, before it got spread through the entire forest, Kayden immediately made it disappear as he walked out of the house. Outside, the masked man was waiting for him. Since then, he never used his magic yet, and only dodged or blocked Kayden’s attack.

Was he just still testing Kayden? Kayden seemed not to be bothered by this. However, this time instead of attacking, he just stood looking at every bit of the enemy’s move.

Kayden immediately leaped up when he felt something was coming above him. As he leaped, a huge crater was formed to where he was standing from before. Lots of dust and smoke were formed in the air.

“Ivor! What’s this? Are you still not finished with your job?” Another masked man had appeared. Using his halbert, he struck the ground with quite a force to reckon. 

“Tyreck, what are you doing here?” Ivor asked, looking at Tyreck. Tyreck immediately swung his halbert up and walked towards Ivor.

“Some unexpected hurdles came with the way,” Ivor said as he glanced at Kayden. Tyreck also glanced at him. “He seems strong,” A sinister smile escaped his lips. “I want to fight him, Ivor.”

“Ganging up in one person, as expected of some minor villains.” Both of them turned when they heard a female’s voice.

From behind Kayden, another two people appeared, it was no other than Iris and the other one was Rein. 

“Why are you here?” Kayden asked, he seemed completely displeased with their appearance.

“I’m still checking whether you are still alive or not,” Iris said with a grin. “If something were to happen to you, you will not be able to fix your love quarrel with Captain.”

Hearing her words, Kayden, frowned even more. But he didn’t deny anything. “I will be fine.” 

Rein simply bowed seeing him. 

“What’s this, more toys for me to enjoy?” Tyreck said, his grin was growing wider. However, before he could completely step forward. “Let’s stop here, Tyreck,” Ivor said, which made him confused. 

As Tyreck followed Ivor’s line of sight, he was only looking at one particular person. He was looking directly at the other man, wearing a butler’s uniform, who came with the girl. “We are outmatched by them now.”

Hearing this, Tyreck clicked his tongue. “Don’t tell me you are chickening…” However, before Tyreck could finish his sentence, both of them stepped back, when Iris’ spear was heading fast.

“Hey, I am not ready yet!” Tyreck retorted.

“Like hell, I’ll wait for the enemy to finish their talking,” Iris yelled back. Then behind her was Kayden, who also clicked his tongue and was now directly going to Ivor. “I can defeat them all by myself.”

Iris simply rolled her eyes. But before they could continue their attack, a cloud of smoke exploded blocking their sight. And a few more minutes, when the place was already clear once again, the red masked guys were no longer there.

“Ow, they are gone,” Iris said. “I thought I will have a nice fight today. It seems one of them has been fascinated by you Rein, and can’t afford to fight us anymore,” Iris said as she remembered how one of those red masked guys, was only fixated on Rein since he appeared.

“He is just being wary of us.” Rein said.. “Now that they are gone, let us go back to the ship now.”