I hope Pia does not come after me with a sword again. I have forgiven her more than I should so any further offense would be unjust to forgive. "You idiot," shouted Pia after I heard the sound of a robe getting torn. Pia walked beside me and bandaged my injured left arm with her torn fabric. "I won't forgive you if you repeat this again." "What? How?" I objected in surprise. She did not reply but kept her head low with a faint smile. I guess one should not always look for logic but to the emotions underneath. In any case, I continued descending the stairs till I reached the last step. I am planning to terrify the ten priests by throwing the head of Lord Salam in front of them. Even though this fear strategy did not work well on Lord Salam and on Pia, I am still hopeful that it could work at least on some of the priests. Though to my surprise, the ten priests were not there. They were not praying beside the marble statue of Salamander. They disappeared. How come? I just saw them a minute ago after Pia had stabbed me... The two guards and Pia were standing behind me at the base of the stairs, waiting for my next orders. There were two other rooms that I have yet to explore. One room was on the right, and the other on the left side of this main entrance room. So they must have moved to one of these two rooms, out of fear or as a tactic to ambush us. How do I proceed? I cannot rely on Pia for information, I am not confident that she would betray her cult that quickly. "Those of you who are hiding from me know that I am your king, King Rajid," I shouted so they could hear. "Submit willingly, and I won't harm you, otherwise, prepare to die." I am not planning to kill them. But I can't have them spread the story of what happened in here to the public. So I can't let any of the ten priests escape. After waiting for five minutes, one of the ten priests came outside the left room. His clothes were soaked in red, and he was holding a sword in his right hand. "Your Majesty," the priest said. "Rest assured, I have killed them all." What did he just say? It does not make sense. "You killed everyone in this church?" I asked. "Yes," the priest replied in joy. "You also killed their leader, well done. So except for the lady standing beside you, I have killed them all. I could also kill her if you want." The moment the priest said that Pia hid behind me. Just who is this guy? "No," I said. "And I did not ask you to kill any of the priests. What is your name?" "My name?" he asked. "I actually forgot." He is playing around. "Guards restrain him," I ordered. "You may do as you please to retrain him, but keep him alive." Let us see how far can he keep up with the best swordsmen in the kingdom. They are not guards but in fact elite soldiers in disguise. Rayan, the one who had almost stabbed Pia after she spat on me, had never lost a single spar against any soldier in the kingdom ever since he entered the military seven years ago. This feat became swiftly known all over the kingdom, giving him wide popularity. Deploying Rayan in any operation like this one assured its rapid success. The only apparent downfall in Rayan is in his family matters. Every lady that he had married, which totaled three, were disloyal to him and ended with them requesting a divorce. Of course, one would doubt Rayan instead of three ladies. But after further investigation, we have found out that Rayan is innocent. After the divorce, the response of the three ladies was the same, "He is just too plain and boring." And with that Rayan swore never to marry again, but if you ask me such an oath is fragile. "Heheheh...," uttered the mysterious priest. "Restrain me, Your Majesty? Now I am quite afraid." "Your Majesty," said Pia. "Please be careful, I have not seen this person before in our church." Rayan walked in front, unsheathing his sword, and headed toward the priest. Behind him was was the other guard, named Varian, who similarly drew his sword and followed. Varian, while not naturally gifted with the sword as Rayan, is currently the second best swordsman in the Kingdom. Varian earned his swordsman skills after sharpening it with intense training. One can't help but appreciate Varian's relentless soul. Because of that Varian sparred against Rayan spar daily, but Varian is yet to win against Rayan. I should also note that Varian is blessed with a great wife. She had a strong market. When she accepted his marriage proposal ten years ago, twelve young men and a single lady stood in front of Varian's house in opposition to the marriage. It took him a whole year to freeze the opposition. These two were the reason why I was confident in invading this church. Even if twenty people attacked them at the same time, they would still beat them without receiving a single injury. "It would be best if you surrender," said Rayan. "I don't want to harm you." "You will lose a limb or two if you don't," said Varian. "Oh that would be very painful, would not it?" asked the priest in delight. "But it is fine, I will be careful." Suddenly, the priest leaped like a lion at Varian who did not have the time to react. The priest used his sword to struck Varian's sword in a way that made it fall to the ground. Blood flowed from Varian's right palm. "See," said the priest. "I told you I will be more careful." Rayan was outraged. The priest did not aim at him but at Varian who stood behind him. Rayan also was not swift enough to stop the quick leap of the priest. Rayan charged at the priest. He slashed him diagonally from the top left angle to the bottom right, but the priest blocked it midway with ease with his sword. This slash of Rayan attacked at a corner that is tough to defend for the right-handed swordsmen. Only a handful could block this slash, but it did not work on the priest. The two swords were grinding one another; Rayan was pushing the priest's sword while the priest was also pushing Rayan's sword. Sparks flew everywhere. The battle switched to a competition of pure strength. But anyone observing the scene could tell that the priest was not applying full force on his sword, unlike Rayan. We are, surprisingly, at a vast disadvantage. "What is wrong," the priest said, smiling, while still grinding against Rayan's sword. "I thought I would lose a limb or two. I thought the Djinn Kingdom was better than this." I see, so he is not from the Djinn kingdom... "Do not you dare insult our—" Rayan tried to say. But at that moment, the priest applied massive force on his sword that it had cut smoothly through Rayan's sword like butter, and it did not stop at that. The slash continued to Rayan's neck and separated it from his body. My brain could not register what had just happened until I saw Rayan's head landing beside my feet. "One is down," said the priest with a smile, then he pointed his sword at me. "King Rajid, you are next."