The Forest air had a new kind of tension.
One that evidently differed from the disparity of the previous situation they had conquered.
Mostly because what stood before them weren't the mindless lifeforms of the Kingdom's Forest, but Humans… unknown to the Kingdom, who inhabited the forest.
'Though, that's more of a theory.'
adow glanced around with a stern expression.
Clearly adamant on not backing down despite the difference in numbers.
Ban though, who stood behind with a surprised expression as he stared at the back of the Princess, had already ard himself.
One mistake was tolerable, but another?
Even he would have to question his responsibility on his job.
So, standing behind. He remained sharp and on his toes, while watching and anticipating what the Princess would do.
He didn't need to wait long either, as she already began to speak.
"Who amongst you is the leader?"
Her voice bood across the Forest Trees.
Easily diffusing within and disappearing, but before it could, the Masked figures had already heard her.
A mont passed and a response didn't co.
In fact, none of them seed eager to respond, and this unsettled the Princess.
'I don't like this…' She frowned. 'Not one bit.'
The last experience she had with masked figures, they had attacked the Academy and killed Rona.
'But…' She bit down on her lips and narrowed her eyes. Focusing her attention on each of them.
And seconds ran by.
'... as I thought, I can't read their minds…'
She paused. Then her expression hardened. 'At all.'
But what would that do?
She began to recontemplate the situation, breaking down what she could, but no matter what ca to mind, the only rational decision was to run.
'But with this many people.'
That decision was out of the question.
Standing for what seed like eternity, they continued to anticipate the actions of the white masked figures.
Waiting for a movent… or even a word.
Fortunately or not, none of that occurred. And for a while, they thought it would simply continue as such, but eventually, movent began.
adow flinched and her gaze darted to the sides.
There, one of the figures walked down the grassy plains towards them.
It's an uncanny white mask, seemingly sparkling like it were glass.
The figure stopped a few feet away from them.
Arms clasped behind its back.
"You asked for the leader?"
A female voice broke out.
adow tilted her head, and Ban glared at the figure.
"I did." She replied.
The figure tilted her head in the sa manner as adow.
"Who's asking?"
adow's brows furrowed.
"What?"
The girl stood straight, once more.
"I said, Who's asking?" She repeated. "You co in here… close to our domain."
Her head shifted to Ban.
"Stir up a beast and kill it, a 7th-tier Greater Beast."
The figure, the girl, visibly sighed with the motion of her head.
An exasperated movent.
"You realise you weren't just causing destruction and loud sounds in any part of the Forest, but close to our Domain, like you ca here searching for it."
adow's face shifted. Evident disapproval and annoyance.
"So, I ask again." The girl said. "Who's asking?"
adow clenched her fist.
'I an, I expect people to show disapproval, and even disrespect as I am the lowest born of the Imperial Household."
The Kingdom, most actually had a rule.
And it wasn't even a constructed rule, but a socially built one.
Watch the way the King treats his children and act accordingly.
In other ways, the respect given to the children of the King is equivalent to or more than what the King gives to them.
And adow? She was the runt of the litter.
'Born from the sa mother yet isolated from the family.'
She shook her head slightly.
'But how dare they… do they not know who I am?'
She bit down on her lips, scoffed then stared deeply at the mask of the figure.
The exact point where her eyes were ant to be.
"I said so." She replied. Stern and harsh.
Ban's gaze flickered in surprise at her reply, but the masked figures? They remained the sa.
Motionless. Silence.
As if it was not their place to respond.
And perhaps it wasn't.
adow didn't care though.
She couldn't bring herself to care.
After all, her question was more than just disrespectful.
It was deceitful.
Like she didn't know who the Princess was.
'Everyone does. How else do they know who to spite?'
She stood down on business and it was obvious she ant it.
The tension began to rise to unprecedented amounts.
Even without replying, the hostility from the Masked figures– the bloodlust that all Energy-borne beings possessed- was released into the air.
And the density of it was increased nearly twentyfold.
It looked like her response was only going to lead in one direction. And of course, it was violence.
Ban prepared ntally for it, and so did adow.
A bit of her mana had replenished and was doing so continuously.
She could fight, even if it was for a brief mont.
She was confident in that.
But when the conflict, which should have brewed, was expected to break from the silent tension, sothing else did.
"Pfft."
A snort broke the silence, and it was quickly followed by a burst of laughter.
The tension broke instantly.
Not to conflict, but to confusion.
"Hahaha!" She giggled. "Funny."
She muttered slowly as the laughter stretched on for a while.
The air around her humd to her body as it jerked in relation to it.
It extended longer, and so did the confusion that crept onto their faces.
Ban and adow, especially.
adow had arched her brow.
Her frown was completely gone and replaced with startlent.
'What was funny?'
She wondered.
'Is… is she laughing at ?'
The thought only egged her on towards a direction she didn't want to lean towards.
'Was what I said that funny?'
Her arms clenched tightly.
'Is my na… my position… my identification, are they funny?'
Ban stepped to her side and pointed his staff at the girl.
"How dare you, to the Princess?"
His voice rose far higher than he intended, and the air shook as a loud proclamation broke through it.
The laughter died, instantly.
But she giggled, nonetheless.
"Hah, did I hit a nerve?" She asked as she placed her arm on her mask.
"Oh dear, I apologise."
She giggled once more.
"How can I be discourteous to the Princess?"
Tilting her head slightly, she giggled and her composure returned.
"I just rembered soone with the sa vigour… yet sohow, he felt more imposing than you."
adow frowned at her statent.
'Who?'
"Well, anyways… you've made your case, Princess and her guard."
She folded her arms behind her back as professionalism took over her.
"But it was not the reply I was looking for."
She shook her head.
"Firstly, your reply tells that you indeed ca looking for our location."
adow and Ban snapped in realisation.
'They weren't even sure?'
"Secondly, even with your identity– well, especially because of your identity, you shouldn't know who, what or where we are."
The silence that followed was drowning.
And what ca next, was expected.
"As you can not provide the necessary information, Princess… then I hope you understand that we must do this."
She lifted her hand and the figures imdiately moved.
Shifting their positions into a new stance.
Ban cursed under his breath and prepared his staff but the next action the figures took completely swept them under their feet.
A ball was thrown into the air and he quickly sliced through it as it approached them.
But the second it struck it, the ball ignited into gas, and it spread like wildfire around them.
Ban jumped back with the Princess behind him in shock.
"Stand back Princess."
He ordered, and the Princess did so.
In the next second, multiple balls were thrown at them, and one after the other, they erupted into gas. Even before coming in contact with a solid platform.
The gas encroached on their space and took away breathing air in seconds.
"The smoke" Ban coughed out as tears began to fill his eyes.
He turned to the Princess and pulled her head over his chest.
"Princess, don't inhale the gas."
But it was too late.
The duo coughed out as the gas spread further around and within them.
It invaded their systems. Stretching towards bodily organs and shutting down what should anchor them to the present.
'This– This gas.'
Ban gritted his teeth.
'Devil's gas.'
adow's gaze widened as the effects began to descend into her.
'My consciousness?' She thought to herself as the world turned into a blur.
'My body…'
Her limbs lost order, and they fell to their knees, together.
'No… they're capturing us.'
The realisation landed like a land mine, but what could she do?
Soon, her eyes lost their vision, but her ears seed to remain with purpose.
"Since you want to know who our leader is…"
The female voice broke through her thoughts.
"Then we'll take you to them."
And with that, she succumbed to the darkness.
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