"Princess, you guys run away. I'll hold him back." The soldier shouted.
"Uncle, be careful." Edkael finally gathered his wits, stood up and pulled the princess' hand. "Let's go."
"Shouldn't we help him?" While they were running away, Princess Kahlia asked.
The young man looked back for a second but didn't make any reply.
The man who chased them didn't care about the princess running away. In his eyes, this soldier trying to hold him back is just an ant who doesn't know his place. He waved his hands and out of nowhere a sword appeared. Then immediately as it appeared, flames enveloped the entire blade.
The soldier was certainly surprised but he maintained his calm. He's seen a lot during their journeys with Commander Rimo so this was nothing new him. He focused his mind and gathered invisible life force to surround him and his sword. He readied a stance like telling the enemy to come and make his day. His opponent looked like someone of the upper ranks, being able to fly, throw fireballs and all, but this didn't faze him a bit. More like, his battle instincts became heightened as he got excited.
"I'm the third prince Mose of Belka. Step aside and I'll reward you with your life intact." The enemy demanded.
"I'm just a foot soldier of Jamna. Let's see what you got." The soldier bravely replied back.
"Impudent." The third prince of Belka finally lost his cool. He summoned a fireball and hurled it at the soldier. Before the fireball reached, he followed up with a dash while pointing his flaming sword towards his opponent.
Without even dodging, the seemingly normal looking foot soldier of Jamna easily sliced through the fireball, making it dissipate into nothing. Then he held his other hand towards the prince, blocking the sword with his bare hands.
Thuudd!
The prince was gob smacked. He didn't think that this puny soldier in front of him would even last for a second and be annihilated by his fireball alone. He was utterly astonished when his flaming sword was stopped barehandedly.
"I have severely underestimated you." The prince finally acknowledged his opponent. He stepped back further while keeping his guard up.
What the third prince didn't know was that the soldier was just keeping up pretense of being fine. He already spent half of his life force just defending against the flaming sword. He also mistakenly thought that this enemy prince was adept in life force cultivation and was in a much higher level than him because he certainly couldn't make a fireball come out of his hands like the third prince did, let alone fly.
What the soldier didn't know was that the third prince wasn't a life force cultivator. He was just a normal human with lots of training in energy manipulation. What he has were some runic tools that enabled him to fly, cast fireballs, and create mana shield, and also an ample amount refined mana stones. But most of his runic tools were already at its limit. He can fill his runic tools again with mana but it will take some time, of which he doesn't have at the moment. He thought that this enemy soldier has only a single runic tool that can create some kind of shield used to block his sword, since from the start, he didn't use any offensive energy attacks.
So, he decided to widen the space between them and perform long range attacks. "Let's see how long your shield is going to last." and hurled fireballs at his enemy until he's out of mana.
With multiple fireballs barraging towards him, the soldier has no other choice but to charge forward while his body was still being fortified with life force. Unfortunately, before he could come near the prince, his life force reached its limits. His life force depleted while a fireball hit smack right to his chest. He flung his sword at the prince as a last-minute effort right after he was thrown back. Even If he dies here, he wasn't going to let the enemy capture the princess.
Crack!
Alas, his sword only shattered the mana shield and didn't even hit a finger of Belka's third prince.
But suddenly, a young man swiftly approached the prince and swung his sword.
Whack!
In a single diagonal strike, the young man was able to slice the surprised prince's head off. Edkael knew that the third prince will create a shield even though he was far from the soldier, because in Edkael's previous life, this was a standard in every battle. So, he did not hesitate and attack immediately as he reached when he saw that the mana shield broke.
"Thanks young man, you certainly have some skills." The soldier said while barely holding on to his life.
Edkael nodded and looked at the dead body of the prince. He found a runic symbol carved on the third prince's belt. He removed the belt and sure enough, he wasn't mistaken. It was a spatial storage and the prince was carrying lots of things together with a mound of refined mana stones.
Without delay, he took out a knife and removed his runic ring. He carved several runes on it as fast he could without messing up.
"Uncle, are you alright? Can you tell me what's happening?." The princess approached the soldier with worry.
"I was the one tasked to spy on Belka by your grandfather. But even before I reached the mountains, I witnessed the Belkan army attack and easily annihilated the soldiers fortifying the narrow pass with their new-found powers."
Cough!
"So, I went back as fast as I could. I don't know how that big explosion happened, but I guess we were sabotaged." The soldier was barely able to explain while coughing blood.
"You guys go ahead and leave. It's not safe here. I'll go and check the situation after I recover." The soldier sat beside a tree.
Edkael wore his ring back, filled it with mana, and waved a hand sign while pointing on the ground. Immediately after that, a depression was formed. He no longer minded even if the someone witnessed all this.
"At least, we have to bury him first." Edkael said while dragging the prince's body.
The princess was certainly curious but put it behind her because more important thoughts were occupying her head.
After short while, the two young people decided to walk towards the deeper part of the forest. They both thought that, as difficult to accept as it may seem, there's nothing left to return to and they will risk being captured by the Belkan attackers if they went back.
Later, evening came while the two young people made camp beside a brook.
"Mother… Father… Grandpa… I hope you guys are OK." Sitting on a rock beside the stream, Princess Kahlia hoped against hope.
"Don't worry princess. They will be fine." Edkael assured the princess.
"I hope so. My parents and grandpa are strong. They will surely survive that. But I don't understand… how did the enemies become this powerful? I thought there wasn't any more life force present on the central civilization?" With no one else to ask, she faced Edkael.
"I don't quite understand what you mean." Edkael was confused.
"Life force! You don't know? Then how did you do that?" The princess finally found the courage to ask.
"That guy was so powerful. I wouldn't be able to defeat him even if I tried but you easily chopped his head off. And you also made the ground cave in with just a wave of the hand." Princess Kahlia added.
"You mean this?" Edkael faced his palm upwards and a flaming orb appeared.
"Yes. Wait a minute, you're not one of them are you?" The princess backed away a bit. She was eager to clear her confusion so she no longer hid her doubts.
"Princess, I just lopped that guy's head off." Edkael no longer said anything more to defend himself.
He just gestured his hands towards the princess. "Can I borrow that ring on your finger?" He figured that trust should be better acquired gradually.
She was puzzled by the request but nevertheless she removed her ring and gave it to him. She decided to trust his words for now as she didn't see any bad intentions in his eyes.
He then waved several hand signs and a few beautifully-carved runes appeared on the princess' ring. He no longer needed to use a knife since he already stored ample amounts of mana.
"I made your ring become a runic tool. It is now the same as mine." He also filled it with mana before returning it back to the princess.
"I… I still don't understand." Everything was new to the princess. These are the things she didn't find from the knowledge of either her mother or the soul ahjussi.
"Oh right. Put it on first. What you need to do is focus your mind." Edkael taught Princess Kahlia patiently.
"Think about creating fire on your hands, or collecting water from air, or moving the air itself, or think about lifting the soil. But whichever you want to do, focus all your mind - "
Fwoosshh!
Before Edkael can even finish his sentence, Kahlia was already able to cast big ball of fire.
'Being naturally gifted sure is different. I spent hours upon hours of training just to conjure a flame but she made a ball of raging fire in just one try.' Envious thoughts entered his mind but he immediately banished it.
"Not bad. Now try the other elements." Edkael tried hard to put on a poker face.
'No matter how gifted she is, there's no such thing like having an affinity to all elements.' The young man comforted himself. But alas, it was all in vain. Because the next thing he saw really put him into an utterly astonished state.
The princess casted water and made different shapes, she even tried to freeze it. After that she also commanded the wind to blow dead leaves away. Immediately after that she created an earthen sculpture which has an uncanny similarity with the young man beside her. Truly a sight to behold.
"This is pretty simple. Why wasn't I able to do this before?" The princess immediately realized the foolishness behind her question. She wished to take those questions back.
"This is not a life force I'm sure." The princess tried to cover her foolish questions with this statement.
Flop!
In no time at all, the princess collapsed.