I refrained myself from stretching the chapter longer. Sorry.

A man whose head was wrapped with black clothes charged at the princess.

The two remaining guards tried to stop him, but a sudden shrill noise drilled into their ears, paralysing them. The head covered man surprisingly grabbed the two maids and pulled them hard. The tired princess could not stand a chance. Her orange eyes could only follow the man carrying her maids away.

“Des! Thes!” She cried. But the guardian pulled her from behind.

“This is for the best. They did their duty protecting you.” The guardian dragged her forward despite her resistance.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she bit her lips. But her legs did not stop for a moment.

The two guards regained composure and followed.

Soon, the middle aged man man abruptly came to a stop, almost making her crash into him. She noticed the wariness of her guardian before looking ahead. She almost forgot how to breath.

A figure clad in a black noble coat, wearing a black mask stood in the darkness. Despite the darkness, anyone could notice the being before them as if it were day. He was a few shades darker than the night.

What was even darker was the creature’s eyes. The pair of abysses locked onto the misty eyes of the princess.

She felt as if those black orbs could see through everything. She lost her sense of self as she found herself wanting to dive into that bottomless abyss.

“Greetings.” The being bowed as if he were a true noble, one hand touching his chest while the other held a two meter long bow. His voice was charismatic, capable of making even enemies fall to his charm.

But the feelings the aura of the being belied the charm. Because, he had none at all. The living creature before them, none of them could feel him with their magical senses.

Cold sweat escaped the guardian’s pores. Years of experience was telling him only one thing at that moment. It wasn’t ‘fight’, or ‘escape’, but simply a ‘dead end.’

The princess, on the other hand, still had difficulties breathing.

“Oh my, how rude of me.” The masked being dropped the bow to the ground. “How can I speak to a beauty such as yourself with a violent tool with me?” He took a step forward.

The four subconsciously took a step back.

“Who are you?!” The middle aged man gathered all of his courage to utter these three words.

“Isn’t that obvious?” The dark entity spoke, his voice as gentlemanly as ever. “I am the one who orchestrated everything that happened to you till now.”

The guardian gulped. He could not find anything to retort with.

The assailant took another step forward. The guard brandished their swords, their hands trembling.

The black eyes darted onto the two soldiers. “You guys are annoying.” His voice suddenly turned cold, chillingly so. “Kill yourself.”

An overwhelming aura gushed forth, enveloping the two soldiers- locking their bodies in place. Endless fear and panic raced through their mind. They could vividly imagine the scenario where the master captured them and pushed them through an eternity of tortures- each one more horrifying than the one before.

Just when they discovered that they can move their arms, they wasted no time and drove their very swords through their hearts. That was the only way to escape the demon’s hands.

Both the princess and her guardian who were untouched by the demonic auras felt their hairs stand as they witnessed the preposterous scene.

It was possible? To make your opponents kill themselves with nothing but a vocal order?

Both of them took a step back. No matter how they calculated the danger level of the opponent, they understood- that they had underestimated him. By no means would they able to defeat the entity.

“Your highness.” The man whispered, despite being sure of the fact that ‘he’ could hear everything. “Now I am sure, he is the archer. Now that his bow is down on the ground, he lost his long range capabilities. I will hold him off as long as I can while you escape towards the road and trail West. As for the others, I am sure you are capable as long as there are no more level 8s.”

Princess Cassidy nodded as she took a step back. That was the only way. “I will bring in reinforcements soon. Hold on!” She took off after giving the entity one last glance.

Adrian returned the gaze, but he stood still on his spot. He snapped his fingers. A barely visible grey circle formed on the running princess’s shadow, avoiding the notice of all.

“You have both the Heart-Thief and the Underground Giant as your subordinates. I am sure the others including yourself are wanted criminals too. You want to capture the princess and ask for his excellency’s pardon, right? I can make sure that you get what you want. I can even recommend you to the Imperial Sentry.”

“Isn’t your speech a bit too short? It won’t buy you much time you know.” Adrian took a step forward.

The man took another step back. “Let’s suppose that you capture the princess and get a favour. Do you think the Imperial family will leave you and your gang alive? Taking a step back is the only choice you have. The princess is still unharmed. We can forget everything and peacefully resolve matters.”

Adrian looked down on the ground and began to rub his chin, as if he were contemplating about the proposal.

The middle aged man heaved a sigh of relief. But he remained on guard nonetheless. He had run a dozen of scenarios in his mind, and the only possible way to get out of the predicament was to have the monster voluntarily turn back.

“You want us to return empty handed?” Adrian asked.

“Of course not, I will recommend you and your team to the Imperial Sentry.” The man found some hope.

“Your proposal is worth considering. However, I reject.”

The man tightened the grip on the hilt of his sword. “If you-“

“The princess gets captured or not, you will be dying here. After all…”

He grinned beneath his mask.

“You are the guinea pig I needed- to test out my new property that is.”