It was a cool afternoon in Baron Black's mansion when a strange bird approached his chambers.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The bird hit against the glass window as Black lay in bed snoring. He was a large, short, middle-aged man with thick lips that were a little too heavy to close. He slowly woke up to the annoying sound at his windowsill. If his maids were making a ruckus he was sure to skin them alive. Black opened his eyes and knitted his brows as he turned to the window. Before he could begin his scolding, he had to rub his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real.

Strange, he saw a tiny golden bird with a paper clamped securely in its beak. Excited, Baron Black ran towards the window and quickly opened it to receive the message. Surely the Count had finally received his message. It would be great to see that no good Tommel's face when he told him how wrong his commoner plans were, Black thought to himself. The tiny bird quickly flew into the room before circling the bed just once before stopping at the pillow. Dropping the letter, the bird quickly flew out, too fast to determine which direction it left in.

No matter, the letter was already here. Black grabbed the letter and began reading. The bright smile he had slowly disappeared as he read the contents. A look of terror could be seen plastered on his face as he dropped the letter. Dropping to the bed once again, just a few phrases could be seen in the letter along with a severed finger.

---

"YOU!" the soldier was confused at what he saw. One minute ago, they were stalking some helpless men and now they were at the mercy of an unknown man. He fumbled with his weapon while trying to take it out of the sheath. Given that brief lapse, Khal dashed towards the man, shortening the distance too quickly for the man to see him. He used an overhead slash with his sword, hoping to finish it in one blow but it was parried at the last moment. The man used the flat of his blade to slide against Khal's sword before sending his blade around towards Khal's neck. Khal could feel his spirit energy depleting at an astonishing rate, faster than his battle with Bryce.

Unknown to him, because of his inexperience dealing with battles of life and death, he was unable to keep his composure to properly control his spirit energy expenditure. What he knew was if he didn't end this soon he would die. He tried his best not to panic as he saw the man's sword approaching his exposed neck. In a fit of panic, he released his sword while his knees gave out in exhaustion. The man's sword passed overhead, cutting a few of Khal's blonde hair in the process.

While falling, Khal clenched his teeth at his failure. Only he knew why he had tried so hard to prove himself. He continuously gave his all so that he could be worthy of the life his mother died to bring to this world. He knew he had made a foolish decision by coming out into the forest but after reading his mother's letter he knew he had to do more. He thought to himself, why am I so weak, I can't even protect my father's pride. Mother asked me to protect father but what have I been doing? It cannot end this way.

He grunted and mustered all the strength he could as his knees hit the ground. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" he punched the man between his legs with everything he had. The wind was knocked out of the man's lungs as he leaned forward. Khal instinctively sent a horizontal slash with his dagger at his exposed abdomen, shredding his muscles and exposing his abdominal cavity. The soldier paused with a terrified look on his face. He ignored his entrails as they slowly spilled onto the ground. Before his death, all he saw was a boy moving too fast for him to notice. He had somehow mustered enough strength to luckily parry the attack and retaliate only to lose sight of the demon child again as his abdomen was cut open.

Khal was panting as he sat there on the grass. He came close to death too many times to count. He had calculated every attack before he began the fight yet his opponents were too experienced. If he didn't have his dagger he would have surely died. Why were mere Squires so strong? As far as he knew the weakest cladding possible to produce a color change was initiated at 10%. Since my opponent did not have the lowest ranked color, pale orange, was he using cladding at the most basic of levels and thus it didn't cause a color change? Khal didn't know but the thought frightened him. Cladding at 9% wouldn't produce a color change but it was still stronger than Khal. Maybe they were much stronger physically since they were a bit older than I am? He didn't know the answer but he found comfort in his latter assumption. He was glad things worked out in the end.

Khal took a few minutes to recover some of his spirit energy then turned his head in the direction of Bryce's unit. He hoped that they had not gotten too far ahead since their recon mission was most likely already a failure. What he didn't expect was to see Bryce staring at him in shock. "Khal??? What are you doing here?!"

---

"Sergeant Kane!" Baron Black screamed at the top of his lungs. "Get me, Sergeant Kane!" The entire mansion came alive at the screaming of the Baron. No more than 2 minutes later, Sergeant Kane approached the room before knocking. "Enter!" Black said as he stared at the man walking in. Sergeant Kane was a handsome, medium built man with short black hair. He was difficult to forget and was known in the town as the lady killer. However, when the sergeant entered the room, he was only wearing his dirty chainmail and his hair was frizzled. He had rushed towards the Baron from the training grounds thinking that something terrible might have happened.

What Kane saw when he entered the room was the fat Baron slumped over his bed holding a severed finger in his bosom. "Mi, Milord, you called?" Kane was unsure how to approach the current situation. "Sergeant Kane, my son...save my son!" The Baron's face was pale and his eyes bloodshot as he handed the letter to the Sergeant.

Kane perused the letter quickly to try to understand the situation. It was only until he was finished that he fully grasped the situation. "Lord Jon...."

---

"Bryce!" Khal said in a startled voice. "I was just about to look for you, how long have you been standing there?" Khal asked nervously. "Not long, we turned back when we heard sounds of battle," Bryce responded absentmindedly as he stared at the dead bodies. It was difficult to wrap his mind around this display. How was the boy able to kill 2 Squires in the space of 15 seconds? "Oh, haha, wel..." Khal said awkwardly, giving a smile. "You snuck out, didn't you?! Of all the pranks and mischief you've done since I've known you, this has to be the most idiotic thing I've ever seen you do!" Bryce said angrily as he reprimanded Khal. "If we weren't in a mission right now I'd drag you back to the manor myself. Do you think we are playing boy? We don't have time to babysit!" Bryce continued his barrage at the boy.

Bryce was both surprised and furious at the same time. He had seen and heard the stories both in the manor and the village about the crazy boy. He was a genius of sorts, waking every morning to do army drills, even catching the eyes of Sergeant Michael and conscripted as his disciple. Even holding his own with the Lord's son during their daily lessons, all this while being just 8 years old. The most shocking of all was that he managed to force Bryce to get serious in the sparring match just yesterday, albeit for only a moment. Bryce had hated the fact that Sergeant Michael had ordered him to train the boy these last few weeks. He was a brat, but slowly Khal had grown on him. His drive, his focus to become stronger had aroused Bryce's warrior spirit. Lord Tommel and Sergeant Michael had big plans for the boy if only he would listen.

"Wait, Bryce, I can explain," Khal said, putting his hands up in surrender. Bryce had always been a quiet guy. It was difficult to read him but Khal thought he would understand why he wanted to defend his father's honor for sure. "I'm here to kill Tal! He...he nearly killed papa!" Khal said, looking at Bryce with pleading eyes. "Look, I already took out the soldiers that were trying to kill you!" Khal said quickly before Bryce could scold him again. Bryce turned to the buck tooth soldier at the side and noticed the quiver and scattered arrows around him. He quickly started putting the clues together. His blood became cold as he finally realized that their entire operation was blown.

"Kee-eeeee-arr"

A shrilling sound was heard at that exact moment before a bird flew by overhead. "Fuck me sideways, Khal, stay close! Men, spread out, we've already fallen into their trap," Bryce ordered as he unsheathed his sword and pulled his shield from the strap on his back. Khal picked up his short sword and placed his dagger in the little sheath on his belt. He kept close to Bryce as they slowly walked forward. Bryce's men formed a semi-circle around Khal and Bryce as they proceeded carefully.

Khal could feel the atmosphere become heavy as they continued through the bushes. Sweat dropped off his brow as he searched around for any potential attackers. Earlier, adrenaline kept his mind clear but now that he was with Bryce, he unconsciously relaxed a little. His brain finally started processing the fact that he killed 2 men. Images of their last moment flickered in his mind. He saw their shock, fear then despair. His entire body began trembling, he felt a hollowness in his chest. He wanted to vomit. A hand rested on his shoulder, "Relax lad, you can think about that later," Bryce said reassuringly as he pointed to a tree in the distance.

The entire unit watched as shadows moved in the trees above them. Bryce remembered the reports that Tal was an archer that loved shooting from the trees, he ordered his men to clad their shields as they proceeded onwards. It didn't take long before the first arrow was shot at Bryce as he cladded his shield in orange and easily blocked the arrow. "Well, well, looks like we have ourselves some real fighters here lads," Tal laughed as he made himself visible from the trees. "If the lads had done their jobs, you would have been dead as your old man's cock," he added as he tapped on his quiver. He was about to continue his taunting but had to dodge when a shiny object cut through the branches towards his head. He hopped on another tree just in time only to feel a burning on his left thigh. He looked down to see a deep red gash along his leg, cutting through his green leggings as well as his flesh. He quickly ripped a piece of his shirt and tied his wound while staring at his attacker.

"Fuck!," he groaned as he looked at Bryce with seething anger. "I'll save you for last Katarian monkey, I'll keep you alive long enough so that you can watch me fuck your mother," he added while taking another arrow from his quiver. Bryce readied his shield for any incoming arrows as he slowly stepped back. He paid close attention to Khal to make sure the boy was safe while trying his best to defend himself. Suddenly, 2 men in green hoodies jumped out of the bushes towards Khal and one of Bryce's men. Before Bryce could intervene, a cladded arrow this time aimed at his head gave him no room to do anything but defend. Khal and the other, Nick, quickly engaged the men as they both parried the attacks.

Khal's feet dug into the dirt as he struggled to shake off his attacker. Nick, however, managed to quickly killed his opponent before turning to help Khal. As soon as he was about to help, another 2 men came out of the bushes from his other flank. Bryce's men engaged the soldiers as Khal's opponent dodged a slack from Nick. This gave Khal enough time to quickly stab his opponent in the neck before turning to fight another. They were outnumbered and overwhelmed.

"Give up, little man. I have 16 soldiers remaining, you only have 10, all exhausted by now I'd wager. There be no way you could win here," Tal taunt as he pulled the bow, releasing another shot. Bryce knew the man was right, any of his soldiers could defeat at least 2 of the Burgans but because of the need to protect Khal, his men were fighting with a handicap. From the report Avery brought back, the fact that Tal was a Senior Knight wasn't included. If Tal was receiving orders from someone above his station as Avery had said, then how strong could that person be? Bryce needed a way to change the momentum of the fight. He turned to the man Khal was fighting and used cognizance, quickly making the man dizzy and unable to stop Khal's slack to his neck.

Senior Knight Tal eyes opened wide as he noticed Bryce's use of cognizance. He couldn't use it himself, but the fact that Bryce had it meant that he was far stronger than someone of Tal's caliber. "Shit," Tal whispered to himself as he became afraid. "Men!!!! Kill the leader and the rest will follow!!" Tal ordered as he put 2 arrows on his bowstring. Bryce smiled at the man's silly plan, "Nick, go on ahead and see if their camp is around here. If they really have 20 men here then their forces have spread too thin to surround the barony." While Nick nodded and ran on ahead, Bryce threw another dagger at Tal to prevent the man from shooting Nick. His 10-man unit had been cut down to 5 while the enemy only had 15 men remaining by the time Bryce had given orders to Nick.

Bryce sheathed his sword and shield as he touched the leg sheaths around both of his thighs. He took a deep breath before releasing 10 throwing knives from their sheaths. The blades made a buzzing sound as they cut through the air with an orange glow. The blades moved as though they had a mind of their own, hitting 10 soldiers either in their chest or between their eyes. Tal watched on in horror as 10 of his soldiers dropped their weapons and fell to the floor, never to get up again. The remaining 5 soldiers were easily dealt with by the rest of Bryce's unit while they were distracted by Bryce's display.

"You, you, you're ghost hands Bryce! The plague of Burgan Knights!" Tal's eyes were bulging out of his head at this point. It had only been 12 years ago when Bryce gained that nickname at the border between Talawa and Burg. "You were supposed to be dead!" It took all of Tal's concentration to prevent himself from falling off of the tree.

"You were saying?" Bryce asked as he unsheathed his sword again. He had used up almost all of his energy with his knife barrage and was reduced to bluffing. He just hoped he could stall for time to regain some of his energy before engaging Tal again. "Wait lad, ye don't want to do this," responded Tal as he raised his hands up in surrender. "We can work around this. This was all just a misunderstanding. What I said before was just me fooling around, is all'," he grinned nervously. "You Burgans are all the same, cowards and bastards. Only know of mercy when you're on the other end of the sword," said Bryce as he stepped towards the man.

Just before Tal could get angry at Bryce, his eyes opened brightly then he smirked as he saw a figure dash over from the bush. Bryce, seeing the man's smirk, rolled to the side as a battle ax descended on the spot he was in a moment ago. Dust rose up in the air, lingering long enough for Bryce to see a burly man with an eye patch and thick brown beard. The man pulled his ax out of the hole in the ground and fanned the air, causing the dust to blow out of his way. "Fuck Tal, I well near had the little cunt, you had to give me away with that goofy fucking face of yours," the man said in a deep voice as he spat on the floor. "Cladding 2nd class, Sergeant Knight," Bryce whispered to himself as blood ran down his face.

Bryce was able to evade the man's attack but the shockwave was just as deadly. 2nd class cladding meant that the man could harden his weapon to 50% of its normal state. Bryce knew that, with his 3rd class cladding of 30%, any direct hit would end his life. Luckily, the man wasn't fast else Bryce would have been in serious trouble. Bryce needed a plan and fast. He knew he could handle the Sergeant but he needed a way to get rid of the arrows. There was no way he could fight while looking over his shoulder.

Bryce knew that with only 5 men he was no match for a Senior and Sergeant Knight. He only hoped that Nick would hurry back so that they could make a run for it. Bryce prepared for another clash with the giant man when he saw Khal signaling to him. What was the boy planning to do? Was he still trying to attack Tal knowing that he couldn't win? Bryce ignored the boy and cladded his sword in defense as the burly man came at him. Just as he was about to engage the giant, he had to quickly dodge an arrow aimed at his back. This gave the giant an opportunity to chop at Bryce while he was defenseless. The man gripped his ax with all his power and sent a swing in Bryce's direction.

One of Bryce's men jumped in front of the blade and was sliced cleanly in half, saving Bryce's life. Blood and guts splattered on Bryce's face as he rolled on the ground. "For KATAR!!!!!!!!!" Shouted 2 more of his men as they engaged the giant only to be cut down instantly. Bryce watched on in horror as his committed men sacrificed their lives for their mission and to save his life. They knew the reason and the risk involved in the mission. Without their sacrifice, Katar was doomed to fall. "Bryce, believe in your men, believe in me! We can still win this!" Shouted Khal.

Tears welled up in Bryce's eyes as his anger was ignited. He pulled out the last 3 of his throwing knives and cladded them before sending it towards Tal's face and chest. He then got up and charged at the giant with his cladded blade while screaming in rage. This was an all or nothing attack, he hoped the boy had a plan for Tal, else they were both destined to die.