A few days later, Seth arrived in the Ziviel Kingdom.
"Halt. Who are you?", a soldier manning the watchtower called out loudly.
Seth's head didn't move, as he was still scanning the area. He noticed that the walls were thick. [Even the boundary is fortified, then how will the palace be?], he thought.
"Hey! are you dumb? Who are you? And what are you looking for?"
"I need to talk to your superior. My name is Seth". He didn't shout, but somehow, the man had heard what he said.
"Seth who? State your business!"
"My business is to see your superior", Seth replied, getting angrier and irritated little by little.
"Then go back to where you called out fr-"
The soldier didn't finish his statement. His head was in the air, coming at a certain speed to the ground in 3...2...1, 'THUMP'
Seth had only thought about bringing the man down from that tower to meet him. But as he unsheathed his sword, a sharp wave followed his movement reaching the man and decapitating him instantly.
Seth's eyes widened as he looked at the severed head in front of him. "What in the world... where did that come from?". Then he had an idea.
'WHOOSH'... Seth repeated the movement, this time, towards the gate built into the wall.
The gate came down with a bang.
He dashed through where the gate had been and met with soldiers who were confused at first but immediately began to defend their territory.
"DEFEND!"... Battle shout could be heard everywhere as they had been taken by surprise.
But as they came towards the raging Seth in his glory, with his horns fully out, speed increasing and the strength of his katana, the soldiers didn't stand a chance.
With one wave of his sword, fifty soldiers lost their heads.
With one head blow, his horns impaled the target.
It was a horrid sight and the bloodshed was unquantifiable.
After some minutes of the steady onslaught, Seth heard someone shout, "STOP!!!"
But the soldiers that hadn't heard the command on time, ran towards Seth. They had their bellies slashed as he ran forward with his unusual speed.
Guts were everywhere in the camp.
A horn was blown... Seth looked around and saw no one approaching him, but the man he guessed must have screamed, 'STOP'.
"What do you want? Who are you? Why have you done this?"
Seth couldn't talk when he was in this state. He only heard and understood but could not reply in words.
He just stood looking at them, wondering if they were going to fight him.
The pleasure Seth felt was out of this world. This was what he had been waiting for - a real fight, bloodshed. He felt powerful and knew that he was born for this.
As he began to relax, he took a deep breath and said, "Are you the commander here?"
"Yes I am", the man still kept a safe distance between himself and the vicious intruder.
"Who sits on the throne of this kingdom?", Seth asked. With his sword still in his right hand, the grip, firm.
The commander looked at his subordinate beside him, who nodded as if saying, "tell him"
"Why do you need that information? I asked for your identity, stranger". Yes, the man was aware that they were no match for this person that clearly wasn't human, but he wasn't trained to give information out like that.
"Seth, prince to the Red Kingdom. Now, answer me, WHO SITS ON THE THRONE?!"
[The Red Kingdom? They do not have business here? What intrusion is this?], the commander thought.
"As you are still deliberating on whether to answer me or not, keep it in mind that I can break my way through to the heart of the Ziviel Kingdom"
"King Thress"
"King who?"
"King Thress. He is the one who sits on the throne"
"And you are under his command?"
"Not necessarily. We belong to the Taterra Kingdom. There is an alliance in play"
"Oh! I understand now. I will be back"
Seth basked in the look that came upon the commander's face. [They are right to be afraid], he thought and dashed out of the camp with the same blinding speed.
* * *
Meanwhile, In the boundary of The Red Kingdom...
"My visit couldn't have gone any better, Anthony", Ruby said.
"Glad to hear that, My Princess"
"King Sek is pleasant, and did I forget to say handsome? He gave me 6000 soldiers to command", a wide smile on her face.
Anthony was so happy. He hadn't seen Ruby smile that way in a very long time. [Things are falling into place], he thought.
"Let us camp here for the night. We continue our journey tomorrow morning". Ruby had spent a lot of time with the King so it became dark while she was still in the palace. King Sek had offered her a room to spend the night, but she refused. Ruby had fulfilled her mission, and she wanted the comfort of a familiar place.
"Yes, Princess".
He tied their horses and brought out the items to set camp in the clearing they had gotten to.
As Ruby loosened the braids Greta had made on her hair, an arrow flew past her and pierced the tree behind her. "Anthony? we are under att-"
She hadn't finished her statement when masked men emerged from the bushes.
Anthony rushed at the first one who gave him a hard hit on his head... the world swirled in his eyes but he refused to fall, quickly defeating the first man that had reached them. But, with his head already bleeding, Anthony was no match for the second man who gave him another blow, sending all the air out of his lungs.
Two blows to the head sent Anthony into oblivion.
Ruby had been watching, petrified. "What do you want? Money? Horses? You can have them!"
"Silence! If you struggle, you will not like it. Follow us peacefully"
"Follow you? Where to? I have to treat my friend. He might bleed to death if left unattended to"
"You are concerned about him? If you don't shut up Princess, I will drive a sword through his heart here and now"
[Princess?], she thought. [They know exactly who I am. They came for me].
"Walk north", the masked man said as he grabbed her hands and tied them together.
"Too tight"
"Shut up, Princess".