Having intercepted the sword more convenient, Klaus rushed into the frontal attack, but after a couple of strokes he realized that he was weaving from such weapons. He wanted to return his katana. The prince threw the weighty weapon aside, enveloped himself with a protective barrier of lightning and rushed into armed soldiers with bare hands.
"What are you doing, an arse?" the angry voice of August was heard, but Klaus no longer paid attention to anyone.
For the first time in a long time, he did not need to worry about the protection of someone. Now he could afford to release all the ardor. There was too much soldier, and the prince already regretted that the sword was left somewhere behind. He deftly dodged a sharp blade, made a hook to the second attacker and hit the third chest, who decided to take advantage of the situation and chop off his hand.
The sword that sought to leave Klaus without a limb fell to the prince's feet. There was no time to be picky. He lifted it and immediately drove into the stomach of the next daredevil.
Yes, Klaus could retreat, allowing August to cover it for a few seconds, while he himself misses the discharges of the water floor and burn all the opponents at once. But would it be interesting? Now Klaus enjoyed the smell of blood, a sense of danger and another victory. Now he wanted to kill.
He had long decided that not a single soldier guarding his mother would survive and now sought to execute as much as possible with his own hands.
August had no time to follow his brother, and he was sure that Klaus himself to cope with everything. At first he was sure, but when the prince threw off his sword and rushed into battle with almost bare hands, the captain was worried.
A fighting cry, a terrifying smile on his face and the bloodthirstiness with which he was cut with the soldiers, scared August a little. He had never seen Claus, who had lost control of himself, and this picture really terrified.
When the clang of swords was heard from the gate, the captain realized that Gorald's army broke through and from a minute a minute reinforcements would come to them. So everything worked out. August exhaled. Most of the soldiers immediately surrendered, seeing reinforcements, and those who still tried to resist were killed in a matter of minutes.
August lowered the bloodied sword and looked at the prince. Klaus was breathing heavily. He was in blood from head to toe. Not his own, judging by the way the prince held on his feet and smiled.
"Hey, are you all right?" the captain approached his brother and put his hand on his shoulder.
"I never felt better," without turning around, Klaus answered.
"Is everything all right with you?" I decided to clarify August.
"Everything is just wonderful. So what it means - freedom!"
August did not understand what Klaus was talking about right now, and there was no time to understand. He left his brother to come to his senses and went to Gorald.
"Captain. What should we do with prisoners?"
"Place everyone yet ..."
"We will kill them all," the prince said.
"Klaus, die your ardor. They surrendered. There is no sense ..." August tried to reason his brother.
"They are the most loyal dogs of the king, otherwise they would not have been sent here to the service." They will all die. I will personally demolish the head of everyone.
'You are crazy! There are a couple of hundreds of them. Why arrange a massacre?'
"Do you propose to invite them to go to our side?" the prince grinned.
"Something like that. They are warriors, and everyone is useful to us."
"If we do this, I am sure that at the most crucial moment our soldiers will receive a blow in the back. No, August. He executed a couple of dozens of our people. I will execute a couple of hundred of him."
"Better ahead ..."
"Gorald. I need the news of the capture of the estate to spread as quickly as possible. Let everyone know that Claus Deffender executed several hundred soldiers of the king who held his mother in captivity tonight. Let everyone find out what awaits them if they dare to encroach on my loved ones."
"This is crazy," August shook his head.
"Captain, in his words ... Claus makes sense," unexpectedly stood up for Prince Gorald.
"Yes? And what? He just wants to arrange a massacre! Who will follow him when he cuts people in hundreds?"
"So that the situation is not so bloody, I propose to present the information a little differently."
"Do as you know. I trust you," the prince said. "I plan to do what I was going."
"You cannot decapitate so many people alone," Augustus sighed. "I will help you."
"There is no need. I have to do it personally. I already have a plan."
***
Klaus never washed away the blood after the battle, although several hours have passed. He sent the Pritik behind the portal to the underground city, but Egor, whose portal was located, did not agree to give him away. As a result, they returned together.
Klaus was sitting in his mother's room. In her beloved chair, he watched as the sun gradually goes beyond the horizon. When Egor saw the prince, but for a few moments he was speechless. Now Klaus was not like himself. Neither at the arrogant prince, with whom he first met, nor at that desperate person who rushed to protect loved ones, at that unusually gentle and attentive guy, which he recently became alone with Egor.
Now the heir to the throne resembled an empty shell. He sat with his straight back and looked into the distance with a unblinking gaze. His clothes were soaked with already dried blood. His hands seemed black in the dim light of the setting sun.
As soon as the portal opened, Klaus slowly turned and looked at Pritik and Egor.
"Who told you to come?" he said in a steely voice, addressing Egor.
"I listened to you and did not follow the capture. Now everything is over and I decided that I can come," the young man said quietly.
"You should not see what is about to happen. Go away."
"No. I told you that I came back and would be there. No matter what happens now."
A cold smile, an unkind gleam in his eyes. Klaus slowly rose from his place and now, more than ever, resembled his crazy mother. He came close to Egor, leaned down to his ear.
"Look, then don't regret your decision. I warned you. Today you will see another side of me, the one that you will not be able to accept so easily."
The quiet voice and the threat that was in it sent shivers down Egor's spine, but he controlled himself, turned his head slightly and answered just as quietly.
"I told you that I would always be on your side. And I am tired of telling you this over and over again. Whatever you do, it will not push me away."
His voice did not waver, despite the slight anxiety that arose in his heart, but the fair-haired youth quickly threw it aside. He was confident in his words.
"Well, then let's send my mother with Skotsky and get started."
Klaus discussed something with the professor and opened a portal. Vitos picked up the sleeping woman in his arms and disappeared. As soon as the portal closed again, Klaus turned and walked quickly out of the room, throwing the used portal to Pritik. Egor trotted after him.
They left the estate and headed for the main gate. There was practically no one on the territory, except for a few resistance soldiers. At the gate, they were met by the captain and Gorald.
"Are you sure you want him to see this?" asked August, pointing his head towards Egor.
"I didn't invite him here. He came himself. Let him watch if he wants. Are the communication mages ready?"
"Yes, we did everything as you asked. Are you absolutely sure you know what you're doing?"
"Do you want to argue again?"
"No."
Klaus walked forward. August looked at Egor, and after a moment's hesitation, grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Look, it's certainly to my advantage that you've come now, but at the same time, I don't want my brother to get hurt, so if you realize that you can't take it anymore, just turn around and leave. Go straight to your world and forget the way here forever. Do you understand?"
"What made you think I would leave? Are you still hoping to get him? August, Klaus is mine, and no matter what you say now, I will not go anywhere."
"Well, it is my job to warn you. Do not regret your decision, boy from another world. Now you will see what it means to be a leader in our country."
August left after Klaus, and Egor's anxiety increased when he turned his gaze to Gorald.
"Gorald, what is about to happen now?"
"Ah, boy. It would be better to sit in the underground city. Let's go."
No one explained anything to Egor, and he had no choice but to follow the big guy.
Along the wall, people were kneeling with their heads down. There were young people, old people, and even children. All dressed in slave robes with their status differences. They were guarded by three or four people at most, but they were not needed, since the people were afraid to even breathe, let alone think about escaping.
Egor turned his uncomprehending gaze to Klaus. Hundreds of soldiers were kneeling about fifty meters from the wall. Their upper armor with the emblem of the royal family and helmets had been removed. The main part of the rebels was guarding the now practically defenseless, but still soldiers. They no longer begged for mercy. These people surrendered to Klaus's mercy and awaited their further fate.
The prince stood in front of them with a perfectly straight back. He brought the stone that amplifies his voice to his lips and looked at the four people who were standing next to him.
"Communication mages, get ready."
The four people went in different directions and stood with their backs to the prince. Thin silver threads stretched from their hands. After they confirmed their readiness, Klaus's loud, cold voice spread throughout the entire territory.
- I, the true heir to the throne, the eldest son of the King of Isorobia, Klaus Deffender. Today I have revealed the secret that His Majesty has kept for over twenty years. The Queen and my mother Minami Astrik is alive, and all these years she has been imprisoned and hidden from the world in this old estate.
He paused briefly, as Egor understood, so that the information would better reach the people. Gorald was talking about communication mages. These threads could be directed, both to a specific person, and dispersed. There were no special restrictions on range for them, but they could only transmit information in one direction. That is why Klaus placed four communications specialists so that what was about to happen would be heard in every corner of the country. Such a magical alternative to radio communication, Egor compared these amazing abilities.
"Right now, those loyal royal soldiers who decided to surrender are kneeling before me. There were more of them than I expected. Do you hear me, father? You are not as good at choosing loyal people as you thought. Behind me, with their heads bowed, sit the slaves whom the king captured and sent into exile to the queen. They, innocent people, who could not resist orders. They were branded and forced, so everyone who wants freedom, rise up."
The slaves did not move. They did not understand what was happening now. Freedom? How could this be? The few soldiers who were guarding them began to talk about something, but Egor did not hear them, as he was standing a couple of dozen steps away from Klaus. Next to August and Gorald.
Klaus waited patiently. After a while, several old men began to stir. The guards pointed to the open gates of the estate, and they walked there hesitantly. Seeing that nothing had happened to the old men, others began to stir too, and after some time, only a few people remained by the wall, including an old woman who seemed to notice nothing around her. Her gaze had been riveted on Egor from the moment he appeared.
"Everyone who left now will receive freedom and the right to choose. They can stay here to work, return home, or go to the rebel city. From this day on, their work will be paid. They will be given the opportunity to learn a craft and read and write. They will have rights and responsibilities before the new country that I will build. And so it will be with every slave I free. It does not matter whether I have to destroy their masters, force them to bend the knee, or whether the highborn themselves come to me in peace."
After Klaus's words, only one old woman remained at the wall where the row of slaves had recently stretched.
"As for the warriors who knelt before me only after they had no hope of survival left, I will be merciful to them too. As a sign of respect for their honed fighting skills, I will personally punish each of them. And for their cowardice and betrayal of their master, their punishment will be death. I will execute every soldier of yours who opposes me, father. They made their own choice when they decided to hold the poor woman captive. I will avenge my mother and her suffering first on your soldiers, and you will be next."
Egor broke out in a cold sweat. He looked fearfully at Klaus, who was gathering lightning in his bloody hands. Some soldiers began to beg for mercy, others tried to resist, but Klaus's face did not even change, seeing the fear and pleas of hundreds of people.
"Everyone back off," he ordered his warriors and they, having abandoned attempts to calm the prisoners, quickly retreated.
Everything happened very quickly. Lightning bolts, like sharp blades, flew at the enemy soldiers, cutting off their heads. Those who tried to run, those who remained in place and those who were still trying to beg for forgiveness. They were all dead. Heads flew from their shoulders one after another, fountains of blood flooded the dry ground. And in the center of this chaos stood he. The man whom Egor loved. The man whom Egor thought he had managed to recognize. The man whom Egor did not recognize now.
Gorald's heavy hand fell on the shoulder of the fair-haired guy and turned him with his back to the prince. The guy was shocked by the picture he saw. He did not resist. August was saying something with a condescending smile, but he did not hear him. Klaus's calm and loud voice brought him out of his shell-shocked state.
"I executed almost two hundred people in just a few minutes, and there were hundreds of witnesses to that event, both my loyal friends and newly-minted free slaves. I have shown my power, which is not inferior to the power of the current king. I will remain in this estate for several weeks and am ready to accept as guests all who wish to join me. I give my word that none of those who voluntarily come will be harmed, even if our views do not coincide. I declare this territory neutral and am ready to negotiate."
Klaus gave the command to the signalmen, and they tore the silver threads. Breathing heavily, the four men sank to the ground, and Klaus turned his back to the bloody carnage he had just caused and moved towards the captain.
Gorald was still holding Egor by the shoulder when the prince appeared next to him. He looked at the blond nape of his neck. Egor didn't turn around. He involuntarily shrank, and this didn't escape the prince's attentive gaze. Klaus didn't say anything, but simply walked towards the estate. August chuckled.
"When he comes out of his stupor, charge the portal and let him go home."