Two young girls, not even the age of ten could be seen at the training grounds of Camelot's palace.
One had a green and white maid outfit, holding a towel.
The figure in front of her was barbarically hitting the scarecrow-like dummy with a wooden sword.
Both were already very beautiful for their age and it was clear that they would become even more so.
Even so, the one currently destroying, or at least attempting to destroy the dummy was clearly more beautiful.
"Stupid, useless father!! Can't you even spare a few minutes of your time to speak to your own daughter!? Why don't you just die!!" Die! Die! DIE!"
If one were watching from the side, they would probably be unable to resist and just straight up pinch her cheeks because of her cuteness.
"M'lady, it isn't His Majesty's fault that he can't spare much time for you. He is dealing with an entire bandit force near the size of half our army's forces."
The girl beside her said in a comforting voice that...well...changed the situation...for better or for worse. Why?
"I... I know but... but..."
The girl with a sword didn't even finish her sentence before she broke down and tears fell from her amethyst eyes.
The other girl fixed her glasses and sat down beside the crying girl, her pigtails flailing around as the wind blew.
She put her arm around the crying girl and used her other to pat the shiny blonde hair of lady, eventually causing her to stop crying.
"Airah~!! What should I do? *sniff* It's like father doesn't even love me~! *sniff* Waaaahh!"
And then came another session her crying...
...
Airah sighed, stood up and crossed her arms, her back straight, attempting to look intimidating but failing and ends up looking cute instead.
"Listen Mordreda! You're the princess! You'll either inherit the throne or be married off into another country so you'll need to be strong! I don't recall choosing to serve a weak, crybaby princess for life either!"
She pointed at Mordreda while scolding her, who in turn stopped crying, not because she was listening but because she had one thought.
'Airah's so cute when she's mad!'
"Y-yeah... I- I... Y-you... You called me weak! Waahh!!!" And that was when Airah realized, she screwed up.
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"Hm? Arthur... You realize that she could very well hate you if you haven't spent too much time with her, right?"
A man with golden blonde hair, standing at almost seven feet tall asked the shorter man beside him.
The man beside him wore a blue vest with matching pants and a red cape with a golden crown on his head.
The man however, wore a red cape jacket, scarlet red scarf and silver armor underneath the jacket.
"I know big brother, it's just that... The bandit king Kersh, as he calls himself, is proving to be quite troublesome."
He sighed as he spoke and the incredibly beautiful woman beside him on the left, as he was in the middle, sighed as well.
"He's right, big brother. Sending a Magic Knight is overkill so we can only send Magic Squires and their retainers."
The man with golden hair chuckled giving a reply nonchalantly.
"Why not cut off the head of the problem? Not in an attack, but in an assassination. Send in some spies and assassins, better yet, head to their lands and drag the bastard out of his own shelter and kill him outright."
The knights surrounding them as they were walking all stopped, as did the other two who looked at the man with golden hair in disbelief.
The woman, her purple hair tied in a ponytail sighed once more.
"If it were that easy, we would have done so. They can easily weed out the royal spies."
The man with golden hair shook his head to the reply.
"Send reliable mercenaries and Adventurers, not royal spies and assassins."
Both the man in blue and the woman in purple, matching her hair and eyes slapped their own foreheads.
"Arthur, big brother Dominus is right..."
"I know Tako... I guess we're still too inexperienced in terms of strategy and scheming." He sighed as he replied and then realized something.
"How does Kersh know where we'll attack and where and how our troops are distributed?"
The all turned to Dominus, as if looking for answers.
Now Dominus laughed loud enough for their group to hear. "Simple really, you just have to clean up your court ministers and that problem will fix itself."
"But, every noble and every minister is clean! We made sure of that!" One of the knights, one with a greatsword retorted. Lancelot.
Dominus shook his head. "Underground societies have even lower societies. Hell, it may even be the mages doing something just for the sake of their experiments."
They were all shocked. They never even put the mages into consideration!
Then Dominus added. "I myself support slavery, but with strict regulations and it must be kept under watchful eyes with very specific rules."
Ok now all of them were confused. Not only did he tell them to know about almost everything in court, he also says he supports slavery!?
"Before you judge why, my answer is... Slavers will be forced to follow regulations and laws, same with slaves, thus giving you more control over things."
They all nodded, agreeing with Dominus' words.
"But big brother, what laws should be imple-" Tako's words were cut short as an explosion of dust and smoke came from the training grounds they were heading to.
A small figure out flying, smashing into the wall opposite the doorway she came from.
Airah.
"That's Airah!" Tako suddenly screamed, running into the smoke.
Dominus appeared and ran beside her. "Who?"
She replied, a worried look on her face." Mordreda maid and retainer."
And with that, Dominus disappeared right after.
...
A hooded man lifted Mordreda up by the neck, choking her.
Her struggles were obvious, and obviously futile.
There were six shadows behind them, all with hooded cloaks just like the first.
One of the knights unconsciously muttered: "The Seven Devil Gods..."
Dominus' brow raised and Arthur and Tako both shouted the same thing at the same time.
"Unhand my daughter!"
"Unhand my daughter!"
The hooded figure pointed a dagger at Mordreda as he raised her in the air.
That was when Dominus suddenly appeared behind him and run him through from the back using his hand.
Blood spurted out from the same area where Dominus stabbed the man, however, it too happened to his own body.
Dominus suddenly reappeared beside Tako and Arthur, Mordreda in a princess carry.
She had no idea on whi just rescued her but she just knew that he took what was supposed to be a fatal injury.
Dominus put Mordreda down and everyone present was shocked as there was no wound on Dominus' body.
Arthur looked at Dominus seriously as everyone besides Dominus and the supposed Devil Gods drew their weapons.
"That's Pride, his ability allows whatever happens to him happens to the target and vice versa. He leads all seven of them."
Dominus nodded and then vanished and reappeared in front of the supposed Pride.
"My lady! Are you alright!?" Airah came running to Mordreda, dishevelled and bruises all over her body.
Mordreda nodded. "I am, but not you, Airah."
Airah shook her head. "This is nothing but a few scratches, my lady, I'll be fine."
Mordreda sighed "Fine, if you say so."
She then turned to Tako. "Mother, who is he?"
Both Arthur and Tako sighed in relief seeing their only child safe.
Tako replied, a confident and proud smile on her face. "The strongest man I know. My older brother and your uncle, the Hero of the Brittanian War, Dominus."
Airah and Mordreda looked at Dominus' back 'So that's the strongest swordsman of the kingdom, the greatest strategist of and the Hero of the War.'
...
Dominus stared down on Pride, his hands in his pockets, a cold, indifferent gaze in his eyes.
Pride threw his dagger and the other six lunged at him shouting: "We are the successors of the Seven Devil Gods! Don't look down on us, fool!"
All seven of them were thrown back, crashing and rolling on the sands.
Dominus raised his head his scarf falling down, an arrogant look on his handsome face, his irritating grin, well... Irritating.
"I've slain four of the Seven original Devil Gods. What makes you think I'll be afraid of a bunch of fakes, countetfeits or successors, whatever you like to call yourselves?"
"We've slain one and sealed another, the last one being on the run. What's more, you actually think you can defeat me?"
They all stood up, looking for a means of escape.
And that was when all of them, Pride not included, lost their heads.
The knights, Mordreda and Airah were shocked, but once they saw the smug look on Tako and Arthur's faces, they knew that this was to be expected.
A white sheen appeared on Dominus' left hand and they heard two words. "All Sunder."
And he cut Pride's head off with just one swipe of his hand. Seven of the most wanted criminals, all dead.
Mordreda had nothing but admiration in her eyes for this uncle who she had only met now. 'Maybe if I had his strength father would notice me.' She thought to herself.
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Dominus stood on top of the roof beside Mordreda's balcony...
-To be continued-