Both guards' hearts skipped a beat.
In an instant, the man's smile shifted from pliant to sinister, as if he were wearing a mask.
Reacting on instinct, one of the guards tried to reach for his weapon, while the other opened his mouth to shout—and alert of an intruder. But before either of them could do anything, an invisible force pressed them from above like a pressing machine.
Splash!
At the blink of the man's eyes, both guards were squashed into at paste.
Steel armor, flesh, and bones alike didn't even make the invisible force stutter.
Now, those things were squashed together along with the litres of blood.
Looking at the ss he had made with a nonchalant grace, the man turned away to check his new armor and nodded in quiet approval. He didn't need to wipe the blood that got into his armor, as the color mixed perfectly with the Red Prudian armor he was wearing.
Making a slight gesture, the blood and flesh that splattered across the floor moved.
Both rged and turned into a grotesque orb—compressed until it was the size of a marble, before the man put it in his pocket. Clearing his throat, the man knocked on the door before he stepped inside, the pliant smile settling back on his face.
"What was that sound?"
Naela, who was lying on the bed, resting, asked and glanced outside when the door creaked.
Hearing this, the man paused, taking in the sight of Naela.
"It's nothing. One of the guards tripped,"
He recovered from his daze and stepped into the room, and turned around to close the door, keeping his movents natural.
A sinister smirk crossed his lips at the thought of what he was about to do.
"Kyran sent you here? I already told him that I'll be fine, but of course, he didn't listen. He never did."
"Lord Kyran is quite paranoid—I am sure my Lady knew. But his paranoia is quite justifiable. I even dare to say comndable. After all, a bad person could step into this room at any ti. A man who knew the dark side of the world is a man who knew best."
"Hmm, I guess you're right. Who are you again?"
"? My Lady, shouldn't you rember ?"
"Hmm? What do you an?"
Soon, the finality settled when the door was closed with a subtle click, and the man turned.
Monts later.
Right outside of the Dark Elf Kingdom's capital city, two figures landed roughly.
Just the crater they made upon landing shocked the guards on the walls.
"Open the gate!!"
Gelmar commanded as he raised his gaze to show the guards on the wall who he was.
Realizing who he was, the guards on the wall scrambled to find their captains, informing them that the first captain had co to visit, before the gate was eventually opened. As soon as it did, Gelmar and Vivian wasted no ti and barged inside.
A full-armored knight with a blue cape approached them and kept up with their pace.
"Is there sothing wrong? We haven't done anything that warrants this kind of aggression."
"Our Kingdom has been passive; whatever you heard, it must be a misunderstanding."
Despite the captain trying to assure Gelmar and Vivian, none of them answered.
Both of them kept walking, heading straight for the Great Tree under the nervous onlookers.
All of them rembered what Kyran said, that the Dark Elf Kingdom was standing on their last lifeline, one mistake away from being annihilated. So, naturally—they were all afraid to see Gelmar barging like this with a contorted expression.
So were even looking up to see if it was raining ice.
However, there was none, and that made so of them feel a bit at ease.
"Okay, I understand you're angry, but if you don't tell what was wrong, I can't help you."
Just then, a guard quickly approached the captain and whispered sothing to his ear.
He told the captain about the royal guard coming here to inform about a possible infiltrator.
It was only then do the captain understood what this was about.
Finally, Gelmar stopped.
"Lead to Lady Naela, that's what we ca here for. And call soone of more status to et us."
"I... Alright, co with ."
Quickly, the captain signaled for a soldier nearby to go to the King's abode before he readily brought Gelmar and Vivian to et with Naela.
Reaching the room didn't take long.
Upon stepping into the corridor, Gelmar and Vivian exchanged a knowing look.
Not even wasting a single second, both of them rushed into the room, kicking the door open.
But what greeted them was Naela, lying peacefully on the bed.
Gelmar approached with wide steps and placed his finger under her nose, only breathing easily when he could feel that she was breathing fine. It seed she was only asleep, not killed or hard in any type of way.
Straightening his back again, he stepped away and plumted to the floor.
Only now could he feel a bit better as the worst didn't happen.
Then, he turned to Vivian and nodded his head, gesturing to her that Naela was fine.
"Just what is wrong?" The captain asked helplessly. "I can assure you, the infiltrator is not here."
Vivian quickly pulled the captain out of the room.
"Soone is trying to kill Lady Naela, and we rushed here to see if they succeeded. We only got the information minutes ago," She said clearly—explaining the situation to the captain. "I want you to go and check with the guards guarding the teleportation formation. Ask them whether they saw a suspicious person, likely disguised as a soldier of the empire."
Hearing this, the captain sucked in a cold breath.
An assassination attempt on their soil would only highlight their lack of security.
For so reason, the captain ought to feel that Lady Luck was against the kingdom.
"Pardon , but under what authority do you speak?"
"I'm the new Beta of the Silverstar Pack," Vivian introduced—before showing the captain her Silverstar Mark as proof. "Is that enough authority for you?"
"Y-Yes!"
The captain nodded.
But before he could do what he needed to do, a thudding sound forced him to turn towards the room.
Vivian frowned at the sight of Gelmar, cramped against the wall, his round eyes looking straight at Naela, or in particular, a part of Naela. He seed to stumble backward and hit the wall. And from his face, he was shocked about sothing.
Stepping inside, she paused for a second before Gelmar pointed ahead, at Naela, with a horrified look.
Gulping harshly, Vivian stepped closer and pulled down the blanket.
It was only then that she saw a glowing mark on her exposed stomach, a mark that was shaped like a wing.
From the energy, one could tell that it was holy energy.
Almost instantly, Vivian pressed on the mark, right on Naela's left floating ribs, and ca to realize that one of the ribs, the one at the very bottom, was missing. Soone has taken it! And without a doubt, Richard was the one behind this.
On the side, the captain peeked at the mark and sucked in a cold breath.
"Angels… An Angel was here!"
Knowing how grave this was, the captain ran outside, wanting to alert the others.
Vivian, who was disoriented from this finding, still tried to stop the captain.
But ultimately failed.
She could only watch as the captain left the room and sprinted away.
Feeling a bit weak in her legs, in disbelief as sothing like this happened right after she got what she wanted, to be a Silverstar Pack mber, she stood beside Gelmar and leaned against the wall. "It didn't make any sense… How did he bypass our defenses and the Dark Elf Kingdom's defenses so easily? To get here, he needed to cross the forest and the foggy dominion too…"
"He's an exceptional Awakened, that's how," Gelmar rubbed his forehead and sighed.
Clearly, Richard has his ways of going around without being noticed.
Or else, at least the sentries in the Humming Damned Forest and the Dark Elven's forest would notice.
"…"
"…"
"Seems like you're spot on, Vivian. He's doing this to make Lord Kyran angry."
"Yes… I wanted to be wrong so bad, but unfortunately, I was right. How do we explain this…? Once Lord Kyran saw this, he would burst—and bla the Angels, which would be what that damn Human wanted. Instead of killing Lady Naela, he marked her so that Lord Kyran would always see it. That Naela could die if the 'Angel' wanted to. All of this is a mind ga for him."
"All we could hope for right now is that soone saw him. To vouch for us that he's not an Angel."
Just as Gelmar said, the sound of rushed footsteps ca from the corridor.
Soon, a guard appeared, panting slightly upon arrival.
Seeing Gelmar and Vivian on the side, the guard straightened his back, raised his hand to salute, and reported, "I'm sent here to report that there were two missing guards. Both of them were supposed to be guarding the teleportation formation."
"That goes our hope…" Gelmar mumbled with a self-ridiculing chuckle.
Vivian snapped out of her trance and asked, "Has anyone seen those two guards going here?"
"I asked the people around, and so of them saw those two guards escorting a man in Red Prudian Armor to Lady Naela's abode," The guard answered firmly, reciting what he had heard earlier. "We already did the basic questioning, but if you want, we can call those people for further questioning."
"Call them," Vivian instructed.
Monts later.
Vivian and Gelmar interrogated the people who saw, and found that all of them had the sa conclusion.
All of them deduced that Richard was an Angel.
As for the reason, all said that the glow in his eyes radiated holy energy, and what's more shocking was that so said that Richard had his wings out. Only high-ranking Angels could possess their own wings, and that should be the tell-tale sign.
Of course, once asked further, the people admitted that nobody else was around.
Only them.
No people, no guards, nobody other than them when the man had his wings out.
From an outside perspective, it was supposed to be suspicious for an Angel, who wasn't welcod here, to have his wings out like that. But the normal people were easily fooled. Even if Vivian and Gelmar were to convince them otherwise, the words had already spread.
That an Angel has infiltrated them.
Refuting them would also be futile since there's no proof otherwise.
Currently, Gelmar has his forehead against the table, exhausted from trying to convince the people that Richard wasn't an Angel. Vivian was also dreading the situation beside him, trying to find a good solution to this ss.
Just then, Gelmar inhaled deeply and sat back up.
"I think we should bring the news to Lord Kyran ourselves."
"Go there together? While Richard is still around, and Lady Naela here?"
"What else are we supposed to do? Can you even comprehend what would happen if Lord Kyran knew about this? He'll raze this kingdom to the ground without a doubt, for failing to protect Naela! And if he went on a rampage, he's not going to stop there!"
Maybe because Vivian was new, but she wasn't as afraid of Kyran as everyone else.
Kyran was the direct successor of Rex's ruthlessness.
It was Evelyn herself who said that, and his actions showed that clearly.
"If we wait here for him, there will be no chance for us to explain anything. One look at Lady Naela, and he would explode. Who would stop him with the Emperor not around? ? You? We won't stand a chance, especially not when the Blood Moon is drawing near." Gelmar said frantically.
He knew that none of them could hold Kyran back.
Other than Rex, only Evelyn could stop him.
And from what he heard earlier, Kyran was in the Werewolf territory with Evelyn, which was perfect.
"Ask around," Gelmar twirled his finger in a circle, as if referring to the entire world. "Ask around and see how scary Kyran can be."
Just then, before Vivian could react, the door creaked open.
Stepping inside hesitantly was the Queen, accompanied by another noblewoman, Iris.
Both of them heard the commotion, and considering that it involved the well-being of the kingdom, they had to step in. Iris stepped forward and looked at the two, "Forgive the intrusion, but I suppose we've to talk about this…"
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