The entire Kingdom of Saveria celebrated the Harvest festival for the rest of the afternoon and when evening came colorful lights appear below the palace as the people put lanterns across the street. The palace's garden was mesmerizing as well for glowing blue and pink illuminates the path and the royal family spent their time watching the lights before the banquet.
Claude was observing Duke Elizar from afar, after the harvest he was joined together with a knight, it wasn't the person they were expecting. Tseng and Tayne were alert as they hid from the darkness, the other guards continued their patrols.
Everything went smoothly, he said to himself. In front of him was Duke Elizar happily mingling with his family as if nothing is going on. When banquet came it was still the same happy atmosphere but Claude couldn't help feeling uneasy about it.
(Why isn't something happening?) His face starts showing discomfort throughout and after dinner.
"My, that was one eventful harvest day!" Duke Elizar cheerfully said as he prepares himself out of the palace. The Royal family were all present to bid him farewell, King Blythe offered him a handshake again as if showing their friendship to everybody is still undying.
"Thank you, dear friend, I appreciate what you had done for my family all these years," said King Blythe, it wasn't the right words he should be saying while bidding goodbye but somehow he felt that it was.
"The pleasure is mine, your majesty, I apologize if this is the only thing I could do for you too" the Duke respond and the once happy atmosphere they have starts fading away.
"What do you mean by that Duke?" hearing the Duke's words Claude rushes to his father's side leaving his mother and sister with Caleb.
"Oh, you know what I mean, Claude" the Duke's tone changes as he called him by his name. He grabs his coat, opens the door, and outside waiting was their family butler with their car parked outside.
"Your Majesty, your grace" he greets them
"Ah, just in time" Duke Elizar goes out of the palace as they heard sounds of music and cheering outside the walls "How lively" the Duke comments
"Were not afraid of you" Claude threatened him
"I know you're not but" the Duke went inside his car and as the butler slowly closes its door Duke Elizar watches the royal family, grinning and whispered something that only Claude and King Blythe can hear.
"...you will be" and the car left the palace.
Claude dashes inside and calls out Tseng and Tayne, the two guards show themselves.
"I want every guard inside the palace right now!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"Brother? What's going on? Is something wrong?" Mary approaches him, Claude held her sister tightly as he watches her worry for him. He places his left hand on her face and gave her a warm smile.
"Don't worry, I will protect you" he looks at his sister holding her belly "both of you"
"Father, please stay beneath the palace, all of you, it is much safer there than inside your rooms"
His father nods and guided by the guards they went back underground.
"Caleb, please protect Mary"
Caleb gave him a determined nod "Don't die, your majesty, you must live" was the only words he could say for him.
----
Outside the palace grounds, the Duke's car never left for home but instead was waiting outside. He was accompanied by a man, with long black flowy hair and his eyes were covered with a bandage.
"Thank you for lending me a hand in this small -- uprising, Sir Conrad"
The Man called Conrad smiled at him, he was holding a metal cane with a silver skull on its head "The pleasure is ours, your grace, his majesty the true king of this Kingdom will be much please for what you have done"
"Hahaha, if it's for me to experiment and study more about Etheria then you have my full cooperation, I may be old but I can guarantee exceptional results"
"Indeed, such a waste for a family of doctors and scientists to be only running a hospital. You already have shown us something exceptional, to use Etheria on my knights and soldiers, you've turned them into mindless monsters"
"They are not mindless anymore, they can only follow one command. Don't worry, I'll make sure to improve that"
"Oh, I'm sure you will, I also sent one of my trusted men inside the palace, observing, may I ask what command you told them?"
The Duke grins as he watches the palace on his car seat, it was quiet, too quiet despite the cheers of the people celebrating the end of Harvest day.
"Kill everyone inside"
----
It did not take long a group of shadows pops out of the high wall surrounding the palace. They were scattered around the area, one group went directly to the King's bedroom and found someone sleeping on the bed. Without hesitation, the shadow stabs the person sleeping and discovered it was only a pile of pillows.
"Too bad pal, maybe next time," a voice said in the corner of the room, and Claude comes out.
The group of shadows consists of three knights that don't seem to be a bit surprised to see him charges forward to attack him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
It took three gunshots to hit them all in the head and died in an instant.
Tseng came in to check on him and was relieved to see Claude well.
"If this is how the Duke plans to kill me and my family well the joke is on him, let us go finish this" When they left the room another group approaches them, this time they were soldiers and they start firing shots aimlessly at them.
They easily avoided the bullets and shots back, due to the sound of gunshots another group of soldiers and knights came joining the battle.
"They are too many, your majesty," said Tseng
"Shut up and just kill them"
They run towards the lobby and saw his guards and a few servants killed. It disturbed Claude a bit, what are they planning to do? Kill everyone in the palace?
"Where's the brat?" he asks Tseng
"She's fighting on her own in the garden your majesty"
"Hmph, then let's help her"
They took a detour and reached the garden faster, they could see Tayne fighting knights and soldiers on her own with her massive sword. Claude was a bit impress while watching but there was something different on the way she fights them.
"Tseng, did you notice something odd on those knights and soldiers?"
Tseng nods.
"They were just attacking without thinking. As if they were mindless zombies"
He looks at the knights and soldiers Tayne was facing "but those bunches are different, don't you think?"
Clank! Baam! Clank! Clank! Baang! Bang!
Series of gunshots and metal clashing can be heard inside the garden as Tayne fought the enemies. Claud and Tseng arrived just in time to kill the knight who attacks her from behind.
"Your Majesty?"
"Be grateful" the King said. He lifts two guns and starts shooting at the enemies in front.
"No, it doesn't help" Tayne stops him.
"What do you mean?"
"Look" she points to a dead body
"What's with that?"
"Just you wait"
Claude patiently waits and within a few fleeting moments, the dead body rises and dashes forward to attack them.
"Z-zombies?" Claude ask
"No, your majesty, please look closer"
Claude did look closer and he can't believe what he was witnessing, the body was all tied up with strings from his arms to his legs just like a puppet.
"Who the hell is controlling them?"
"I don't know but every time I cut the strings it ties itself back and all these poor soldiers and knights were dead already"
"Your Majesty!" Tseng shouts to them and saw the knights and soldiers they killed along the way rises again.
"Tsk. What the hell is happening?"
He looks at his palace and the enemies start to make a fire everywhere and he thought of his family.
"No" he utters and runs towards the dead bodies. Tayne and Tseng followed him, all the guards guarding the palace were killed one by one, and just like the others, their bodies were being used to chase them. They went back to the lobby and saw the elevator burning.
"No, it can't be!"
Even when it was on fire, it was still working and they immediately got in putting out the flames using their outer clothes.
"Your Majesty?" Tayne saw how worried Claude's expression was as they were going down.
"You remember my orders to you right?" he said to her
Tayne bit her lips and give him a nod "Good because I won't forgive you if you don't follow them"
When they landed underground, Claude heightened up his senses and looks around searching for his family. There was no enemy in sight and that made him breathe a little.
"They must be in the extraction room!"
Explosions can be heard on top of them and he couldn't imagine the dead faces of his servants who were innocently killed "Damn! When I see that bastard's face, I will rip him to bits!"
"But don't you find it odd how he can have this many armies in one night?"
"It must be the Angels of the Abyss, they are helping the duke"
"What does he want!?"
Finally, the huge black door began to appear in front of them. (There's no sign of forced entry, thank God!) he thought and just when he opened the door tears starts to fall on his face non-stop. It was still the same room, without any damages and explosions, it was still the room he and his family gathered last afternoon for the harvest festival. He was expecting Mary's voice to call her when he came in but there was none. In front of him were the lifeless bodies of his kin and at the center, holding a bloody sword on his right and a gun on his left was a familiar face.
"You!" Tayne shouts as she swings her sword to the man. It was none other than the man they were all searching, Rell.
"What have you done!?"
"Hmph, I was wondering how long the two of you will show up, I got bored suddenly"
He evaded her attack using the sword on his right as a shield and counter attacks with the gun on his left.
Tayne jumps backward "How could you!? They did nothing wrong to you!"
"Did nothing wrong? Ha. Don't make me laugh, this family doesn't even deserve to live!"
"What?"
"Now, all that's left is you, Claude" he reaches out to him
While staring at his family's bodies Claude drops on his knees.
"Your Majesty!" Tseng supported him
The tears did not stop falling as he sees his father, mother, and Caleb who was holding Mary's hands not moving on the ground, their blood coming out underneath their bodies gets darker and darker.
He starts to crawl and cries louder as he tried his best to call out their names but no words were coming out from his mouth. His family is dead and that guy killed him. The pain he felt starts turning to rage.
"You..."
Rell smiles at him "Me? What about me?"
"Why are you doing this? Did the Duke order you to do this?"
"The Duke? Oh, no, no, no. He was just helping me get familiar with the Kingdom, he only wants this thing" he points to the glass wall
"Etheria?"
"Yep. The one who wants the entire royal family dead is me" he smiled at him again as he walks over the corpses
"You! Scum!" Claude starts firing gunshots to him when a woman came out of nowhere shielded Rell.
"Oh, Lilith. How long have you been here?"
The woman was quiet but she was holding hundreds of strings in her hands.
"It's you! You're the one controlling those poor corpses!" Tayne shouts
"Poor? Hahaha, my dear, they were already mindless monsters when they came here. Didn't you notice how aggressive they were?"
Claude raises his gun to shoot but the woman uses her strings to control over King Blythe's corpse making him as their shield.
"Hahaha! Smart move Lilith, I'm starting to love you even more!" he kisses her cheeks
Claude couldn't get the courage to pull the trigger seeing his dead father's body being use like that.
"What's the matter, Claude? They're just corpses, shoot"
Claude hesitates and Rell charges forward swinging his sword and stabs his shoulders.
"Aaaarghh!" Claude cries in pain.
Tseng and Tayne rush to help them but were both stopped by Lilith who now uses Queen Cecil's body to confront them. The two guards couldn't help themselves to hurt them so they were both evading the King and Queen's attack.
"Oh, look, your mother came to join in the fun, how exciting!"
Claude's rage gets stronger by the second and grips Rell's sword that was stabbed on his shoulder and shoves right back at him. He then starts shooting his guns as the brown-haired man easily evades the bullets with his sword. It was clear that Claude was no match for him but he cannot just stand aside while they use his family's bodies as puppets.
This time Lilith takes over another body and it was Caleb's, compared to the King and Queen, he was much easy to control due to his masculine figure. She sent the body to where Claude and Rell were fighting as she continued attacking Tseng and Tayne altogether, she also has given each body daggers. The two guards were in a tight spot as they could not bring themselves to counter-attack and they were successfully wounded every time they got stab on different parts of their body.
"Look, Claude! Don't you think you should be telling them to fight back? They will die sooner or later if this continues!"
Rell swung his sword harder this time and Claude was thrown to a wall, already heavily wounded, he coughs up blood.
"Claude!" Tayne calls out to him
"Hahaha, this is so much fun, I should thank the Duke for giving me this opportunity but unfortunately this must come to an end, Lilith!"
Caleb's body was thrown towards them and holding a dagger he slowly comes forward and stabs Claude on the stomach.
"Aaaaaarrrrrhhhhggggghhh!"
"No!"
Tayne uses her massive sword to cut the strings for a second just enough for her and Tseng to run to Claude's side. Lilith pulls another set of strings and swings the bodies to Rell's direction.
"Claude!!!" Tayne shouts again but the wounded King waves his hand
"No, please, no...no more, I can't bear to see them like this" he cries
"Oh? You're no fun and here I thought you got a lot of spirit"
"W-why are you doing this? Arghhhhh" more blood comes out from his mouth as the dagger slowly goes deeper.
"Hmmm, well, since you're dying anyway, I should let you know" he walks forward to him and whispered something on his ear
"I'm just taking back what's rightfully mine, Claude. I am the True King of Saveria, not you"
In shock, Claude wanted to fight back but he's becoming weaker and weaker as the dagger's hilt fully reaches his stomach. "You- you bastard" and he slowly closes his eyes.
"No! Claude!"
"Your Majesty!"
Tseng and Tayne dash forward but Lilith attacks them again using the King and Queen's body.
"Shit! You coward! Fight us yourself dammit! Claude! Claude! Wake Up! This is not how your father wants you to end up! Wake up!"
Tayne's voice was echoing inside Claude's head as he starts to drift away when he heard a loud sobbing sound in front of him. He opens his eyes and saw Caleb crying, he was still alive.
"I'm sorry, your majesty," he said
"Ca-Caleb?"
Rell heard them talking "Hmm? So the other one still lives huh?"
"I tried but I wasn't strong enough to protect them, I'm just a chancellor you know" Caleb jokes
"Caleb.." Claude holds on to his hand who was still being controlled by Lilith "C-Caleb..." he whimpers
"But this is no time to cry your majesty, we already knew this will happen so we made sure you will have an escape route"
"What?"
"Your Majesty, this will be the last thing I could do for you as your chancellor"
Caleb concentrates all his strength on his hand and immediately pulls out the dagger, he turns around stabbing Rell on his stomach. It caught him by surprise. Upon seeing what Caleb did Lilith rushes to Rell's aide herself.
"Tayne! Tseng!" he calls the two guards
"Take Claude with you and use the tube to throw you out of here! Now!"
Without hesitation, Tseng easily carried a dying Claude and rushes to the tube in order for them to do that they must break the wall, with her massive sword Tayne easily destroys it and they all jump towards the pool of Etheria, using his gun Tseng shoots at the handle making the system drain all the Etheria inside along with them. It took only a few seconds for all three of them to successfully escape.
When Caleb saw them escaped he finally smiled and utter the words "Thank you for making me your family, Your Majesty"
Stab!
"Uuuuurjkkk!" he gazes at Rell's silver eyes who was no longer making jokes.
"You should just die"
"Hehe, you can never be King of Saveria" were the last words Caleb said to him as he finally gives out his last breath.
Rell kicks Caleb's body as Lilith hugs him.
"Don't worry, it's just a small wound, call the Duke and tell him Claude escape"
Lilith nods and vanishes into thin air.
Rell was looking at the destroyed glass filled with leaking Etheria.
"Such a waste, but nevertheless, this place is no longer Victoria anyway"
---- End Of The Chapter.