Albion Kingdom.
The middle-aged man stood on the edge of the cliff. Although is eyebrows were filled with sweat the charm of his handsome face remained. The blood dripped from his lips and he was panting heavily. His whole body was covered in sweat and blood. His dress half torn. His sweat pouring muscles peeking out.
There were more than 100 people that surrounded him. They looked like mercenaries and were wearing blue armors. They had knives and daggers in their hands.
They never expected such a fall back when they took the job to retrieve something from Marcus Roland, the Crown Prince of Albion Kingdom. They were ordered not to kill Marcus under any circumstance as it could cause big troubles.
So they tried to use their raw power to force the crown prince to give up the item. But until now they had thought lightly of this matter although they had all heard of the powers he possessed. But that minor misstep caused them the lives of more than 80 people.
Who was Marcus? Someone who never give up nor give in even if the whole world was against him. So when someone threatened him he would retaliate at least ten-fold. The leader of the mercenaries looked at his fallen comrades. He never expected to lose this many people on a single mission of recovery of the Black Book of Cymry Kingdom. He was angry to the point of killing, but he tried to maintain his composure. He wanted this fight to end soon.
The black book contained the illegal dealings of the Cymry Kingdom, with the underworld. If the details were publicized, not only the Cymry Kingdom but a whole lot of top officials from different countries would be in trouble.
The black book was stolen from the Cymry Kingdom 2 months back. The Cymry Kingdom left no leaf unturned to investigate the theft and finally after investigating for 2 whole months, the results pointed that the Black book was somehow in the possession of the Crown Prince of the Albion Kingdom. But how did he came into the possession of the item was still unknown to everyone.
"You should give up, Prince Marcus. You are already at your limits. You should hand over the black book to us." The leader tried to talk him into giving up. He knew if he didn't get the item, it will raise an issue with the client. This might affect his business as they may lose their image with hundred percent success rate.
If Marcus was to die and the Cymry Kingdom were to be found guilty, it could cause other neutral kingdoms to join with the Albion Kingdom and the retaliation might cause big trouble to the Cymry Kingdom. This would lead to a never-ending war, so everything had to be done under the radar.
As they couldn't go into the Albion Kingdom and ask for the black book directly, a group of top-tier mercenaries were sent to make Marcus to give-up the book by force. With the help of someone inside the Albion Palace, the mercenaries entered the kingdom without raising any red flags.
But forcing Marcus was another matter as he was about to be crowned as the King in a few days, he was surrounded by guards all the time. They awaited a chance to get him alone. Soon they received information from the person inside in the Albion Palace that crown prince would be traveling to Crystal Peak alone to pay his respects to the old Kings and Elders.
It was a ceremonial process and he had to go alone without carrying any weapons or armor. But that was not a matter for Marcus as he could take care of himself well in a fight. Marcus had been the Commander of the Albion Army since he was 25. He was well proficient in most of the weapon and non-weapon combat. He also won several wars for the Albion Kingdom, that he came to be known as the 'Warlord Prince'.
"You want the book?" sneered Marcus.
"The book is safe in a location. You will never find it, even if you search the whole world."
"Don't be a fool, the client told us to inform you that as long as you give up the book, they would let the bygones be..."
"Scram!" Marcus cut the leader's words. "Do you think I would believe your words?"
"Then we have nothing else to discuss," He held his nose to find that it was bleeding.
"CAPTURE HIM!" screamed the leader. This caused the 100 people to surround him and attack.
Marcus could handle more than a couple dozen at the same time. But when 100 armed mercenaries attacked him at the same time he was unable to fight back.
The nearest guy attacked Marcus with the knife to his face but he sidestepped and deflected the attacker's hand to another's throat. Blood came gushing out of his throat. In the moment of shock, Marcus used the same knife to cut down the first guys chest. Another came running but was sent back flying. He grabbed the knife of an attacker and countered-killed.
"Even if I die, I will take most of you with me." An evil smile appeared on his face.
Marcus did not look like a human anymore. He was a monster, no he became the god of death, killing off his enemies.
A couple more died in his hands. The leader couldn't bear to control his rage anymore. He decided to screw the plan and ordered,
"Don't hold back anymore. Kill the bastard. I will deal with the consequences"
The mercenaries as soon as they heard the order started their biggest wave of attack. The leader took out a red vial out of his pocket. He threw vial at Marcus. Marcus saw a red vial that was thrown at him. He decided to side-step but the bottle blasted as it reached near him. The blast was small but the fire got into his eyes.
The sudden attack threw him off while a stab from behind connected to his lower back. Before he could take in the moment of pain another knife landed on his belly while another on his chest. Marcus was losing strength.
He was bled out as multiple knives stabbed into his body. He was suffering from too much pain, too much blood loss. He couldn't take it anymore as he fell to his knees.
'Is this the end?' He thought as the pain overtook his body.
'I don't regret it' His jade eyes stared at the clear blue sky above, as the leader walked towards him. Marcus could feel the cold crawling into his body.
'Even if I die, I died fighting.' He chuckled as blood flowed through his mouth. His face froze on his smiling face as he died gracefully. Thus the legendary Marcus Roland, the Crown Prince of the Albion Kingdom finally passed away.
The leader confirmed Marcus' breath before pushing him down the cliff. He was angry that he couldn't get the book. He ordered to search every nook and corner of the Kingdom and Palace.
"We must find the Black book at the earliest We can negotiate with Cymry, if we have the Black book in our hands."