Before the Blood Dries, Another Life

   Another blood-curling scream, barely sounding human, rang throughout the hall. Boran, the Knight Commander, was the first to react. He leaped in front of the throne and brandished his sword in the direction of the nobles on the right side of the red carpet. The nobles were running around, dispersing throughout the hall, just as another scream echoed from the same direction. The two guards stationed beside the throne platform and the two guards stationed at the door rushed forward, brandishing their spears. They seemed to be moving at the speed of lightning. In a matter of seconds, they had isolated and surrounded the source of the screams.

   Are you kidding me? Varek thought, his eyes straining just to keep up with their movements. If we ever need to escape, we’d be dead before we could even think of it.

   Beside him, his siblings gasped, staring straight at the source of the screams. The moment Varek laid eyes upon it, his breath got caught in his own throat. Sheer terror flooded his veins, freezing him in place.

   The thing making those sounds resembled a deranged human at a glance, but a closer look sent a cold shiver down the spine. It was a nobleman, frothing from the mouth as he violently tugged out his own hair. But the fluid bubbling past his lips wasn't white—it was pitch black.

   He shrieked again. Varek noticed that the nobleman's pale strands were slowly staining an unnatural, ink-black color. The thing keeled over, letting out a long, agonizing wail.

   The guards rushed forward, but an invisible force violently repelled them. One was thrown straight through a shattered window, plummeting out of the palace. The nobleman’s skin drained until it was white as a sheet, his body exuding a strange, black energy. Standing dead straight, the creature locked its gaze directly onto them. It grinned, revealing an entirely gleaming black maw and eyes that had rolled into pitch-dark voids.

   “Shit! It’s a Zal-Kesh!” Lucian yelled at the top of his lungs, panic cracking his voice. “Princess, Count Eldrin, please lead the nobles outside! If you can, summon the Lorica Knight Order!” He didn’t wait for a reply. “Tch, of all times, and it had to be Baron Vyre…” he muttered under his breath as he sprinted towards the throne. Princess Alena and Count Eldrin immediately began issuing sharp orders to the panicked crowd, swiftly guiding the swarm of nobles out through the palace doors.

   Kael, Cecilia, and Hina crowded behind Varek again. Cecilia desperately tugged at his shirt. “What’s happening?” Her hands were trembling with fear.

   “Wh-what even is that thing?” Hina whispered, her voice shaking. Her knuckles were turning white from how hard she was gripping Kael and Cecilia.

   “I don’t know, just don’t panic. We’ll be fine.” Varek tried to find some semblance of courage inside himself. Just then, the monster—or Zal-Kesh as Lucian had called it--swiveled and lurched toward them. Fortunately, the remaining three knights intercepted its path, bracing their spears to hurl the creature backward. Still, Varek was starting to lose his barely found confidence. “C-come on. Follow me.” He led his siblings after Lucian. Shit. Why is this going exactly the way tragic stories go? I just have to keep them safe. At least them. He swallowed hard, a heavy lump forming in his throat. I wanted to be reincarnated into some happy-go-lucky, slop-type shit! Not a tragic trope!

   They managed to reach Lucian just as he was ushering the King and Queen down from the throne platform. Varek grabbed him tightly by the hand.

   “Hey! What the hell are we supposed to do?” Varek demanded, his voice dropping into a desperate growl. “You brought us here, so you should take responsibility for us, don’t you think?”

   “The hero is right, Royal Strategist.” The Queen interjected, while softly placing a hand on Lucian’s shoulder. “It is our duty to protect them, especially while they have yet to adapt to our world.”

   Varek shifted his gaze to the Queen. Unlike the pale King beside her, whose narrow, malicious eyes were darting around the room, clearly scheming only for his own survival, she looked like a completely confident, capable ruler. More strikingly, Varek noticed she shared an uncanny resemblance to Lucian—both possessed the exact same gleaming golden hair and sharp, dark gold eyes.

   “Of course, my Queen.” Lucian gently but firmly pried Varek’s hand off his arm. “It shall be done as per your command.”

   Just then, a heavy physical crash shook the hall. Boran came skidding backward across the stone floor, thrown by a massive kinetic force. He brought himself to a swift halt just a few feet away from them, instantly pushing back up to his feet. Hardly any damage had been done to him; in fact, a wide, thrilled grin stretched across his face.

   Lucian calmly approached the knight. “What is your assessment, Knight Commander? Can you eliminate it?”

   Boran casually hefted his giant sword onto his shoulder, his eyes still locked on the monster. “Heh. This is as easy as one hundred pushups! The Zal-Kesh is just a fledgling; it isn’t that much of a threat to me. But I just can’t seem to get a good hit in. That Eidon field of his is a problem…”

   Lucian stared at the monster as it ripped a guard apart in two. “Baron Vyre… his Law of Domain is a bit tricky. A protective Eidon to be used like this…” Lucian sighed as the monster was beginning to advance towards them. “Right now, the Zal-Kesh is using the Law of Domain to create an exclusive space, completely rejecting everything that enters it. But since it hasn’t been that long since it was formed, you should be able to shatter it by using your law…” Lucian’s voice trailed off the moment the monster surged closer, the stench of blood filling the air.

   “Therefore, I’m counting on you, Mr. Knight!” Lucian offered a swift, elegant salute before immediately pivoting on his heel and scrambling backward into the safe zone.

   Boran raised his sword above his head, roaring a single word, “Xalvrik!” A sharp, yellow energy surged from deep within him, swirling around his blade at phenomenal speed. Boran dashed towards the monster. The creature lashed out, but Boran ducked, narrowly evading a sharp kick to his throat. Using the momentum, he rolled forward, slipping behind it before instantly springboarding back onto his feet.

   He brought his blade crashing down. A deafening shockwave erupted as the two opposing Eidons collided. “Hyyaah!” Boran bellowed as his sword shattered the Zal-Kesh’s Eidon field, cleaving cleanly through the monster's left shoulder and deep into its chest.

   Boran grinned. “See, piece of cake.” He freed his sword from the monster’s corpse and wiped it down on its clothes before sheathing it again.

   “Damn,” Kael muttered in awe. “So that’s Eidon.”

   Lucian came forward with the siblings behind in tow, the King and Queen followed closely behind. Cecilia pinched her nose to block out the stench of the blood. Kael stepped closer to Lucian.

   “So, what was that thing? How did it get in here? Is that a demon?” Kael started questioning Lucian excitedly.

   “That… is not a demon,” Lucian replied, surprised by the sudden questions. “That was a Zal-Kesh. Those are, well… um… those things form when a person loses control of their Eidon. Um, I’ll explain all that to you guys later.” He hurriedly went to join the knight in inspecting the corpse.

   Varek frowned. “He dodged the questions. Ugh, this is getting frustrating.”

   “Var-nii, what should we do? I’m sorry I took the initiative in deciding to help them without consulting you first.” Hina apologized.

   “It’s fine, we can’t do anything about it now,” Varek assured her. “We just have to go with the flow for now.”

   “Phew, all those all-nighters binging anime and manga will finally pay off.” Kael grinned.

   Just then the doors opened again, and knights wearing black armor came marching in, with the Princess and Count Eldrin leading them from the front.

   “Mom! Dad! Are you alright?” The Princess ran straight into her parents’ arms.

   “We’re fine, sweetheart.” The Queen said, patting her on the head.

   “Looks like we were a tad bit late.” Count Eldrin exhaled.

   “It’s fine. You should’ve known I was enough, old man.” Boran laughed. “Alright! Lorica Knight Order, gather the Zal-Kesh’s corpse and take it to the research lab. Those old fogies might find it interesting,” he ordered the black-armored knights.

   “Yes, sir!” The knights saluted in unison and started carrying out the orders. They surrounded the palace in an orderly manner and carried off the corpse by levitating it using Eidon. The King stopped them on their way out.

   “Is this Baron Vyre?” he asked Lucian.

   “Yes, your majesty,” Lucian replied with a frown on his face. The King couldn’t see it, since Lucian was standing behind him.

   The King suddenly flew into a rage. “Bring me someone from House Vyre!” he seethed.

   A middle-aged woman came forward from the returning crowd of nobles. “I-I’m his wife, Your Majesty.” She stammered.

   The King gave a nod to Boran. The Knight Commander nodded back and immediately placed the edge of his sword against her neck.

   “Stop! What are you doing?” Cecilia shrilled.