Chapter 26: Black Knight vs Draven I
"Who are you?" King Richard saw Daven's reflection in the mirror before him.
"The killer you're hunting," Draven snickered as King Richard shuddered.
"You have no idea what you're doing. Surrender yourself abomination," King Richard cussed at Draven. Yet, despite his situation, King Richard showed no fear in his eyes. Instead, Draven noticed the glint of anger within his eyes.
"Your majesty," Draven amused,
"Do you think it's a good idea to curse me when you have my sword against your throat?" Draven pressed his cold blade against King Richard's throat,
"No matter your powers, you can't escape Veland after killing me. My people will hunt you to the end of Etheria,"
"How is Princess Mariana doing in Stegia?"
As soon as King Richard heard Draven's words, he clenched his fist.
"Bastard," King Richard growled, gritting his teeth.
"Are you willing to bet on her life?" Draven coldly said,
"If you touch a single hair in her head, I will rip you to shreds," King Richard threatened Draven. The overwhelming fury made King Richard shiver from head to toe.
"Is that so?"
Bang!
Draven suddenly pushed King Richard's head to the mirror and banged his head against the mirror with enough force to shatter the mirror into pieces.
King Richard's vision became blurry as Draven banged his head against the table.
"Are we gonna kill him?" Margoth appeared over Draven's head, licking his lips.
"No," Draven quickly kicked away Margoth's desire to consume a king's soul.
"If you don't give me what I want, I will do the same to your precious princess. You know what an abomination is capable of, don't you, your majesty?" Draven moved closer to King Richard's ears and whispered,
"What do you want?" King Richard asked after a few moments. He needed to buy enough time for the soldiers to appear, especially General Barton.
Until then, King Richard knew he had to play along with the killer.
He would rather gamble with his own life than endanger his daughter's life by making her a target of a killer like Draven.
"Good boy," Draven ruffled King Richard's already messy red hair,
King Richard squirmed, but he couldn't escape Draven's grasp.
"Let's go," Draven stepped towards the door, keeping the king hostage.
Bang!
Draven kicked the oak door to step into the hallway adorned with red carpet and portraits of previous kings and queens hanging on the cream walls.
"AH!" as soon as Draven stepped out of the room, a maid who saw them shouted. She dropped the tray with freshly brewed beer to the ground.
Hearing the maid's shout, the soldiers rushed out of the room next to King Richard's room. As soon as they saw the king was being held hostage by Draven, they immediately unsheathed their weapons.
"Your majesty!"
The iron armored soldiers poised to attack Draven, but he walked behind to keep his back against the wall. The straight hallway didn't have any corners. So when Draven looked over his shoulder behind, there was no one to make a jump on him.
"Let his majesty go!"
The fully armored soldiers snarled as Draven turned his head to the side,
"Get out of here," Draven ordered the maid. Although the maid was terrified to the extreme and shivered, she did not linger around any longer. Instead, she quickly gathered the empty mugs and trays before running toward the soldiers as fast as she could.
"Drop your weapons," Draven calmly said, looking at the twenty or so soldiers blocking his path.
The soldiers however hesitated.
"Let's try this again," looking at the hesitant soldiers, Draven moved his hand with the hidden sword away from King Richard's throat. The king quickly swallowed his mouth full of saliva and felt a little bit relieved.
Sling!
Draven unclenched his fist as the sword went back into his sleeves.
The soldiers looked confused until Draven clenched his fist, retracted the hidden sword, and slashed King Richard's right hand.
"Argh!" the king grunted in pain as blood gushed out of the cut, drenching his silver silk robes and turning into red.
"YOUR MAJESTY!"
The soldiers immediately shouted in unison, looking at their king, bleeding in front of their eyes.
"Drop…your…weapons," Draven said word by word coldly.
The soldiers looked at each other, but they placed their swords on the ground one by one.
"Kick them towards me," Draven said as the soldiers kicked the weapons with their heavy metal boots.
"You idiots!" the king grumbled,
"We did as you told. Now don't hurt his majesty," one of the soldiers who stood first in the line of soldiers said to Draven.
"Drop your armors," Draven's words shocked soldiers. Since they all wore metal helmets, Margoth was unable to see their confused looks behind the helmet.
Sling!
In a blink of an eye, Draven repeated the steps of moving his hand, retracting the sword, extending the sword, and slashing the king's hand again.
"Argh!" the king couldn't hold his pain, so he screamed as the hot blood splattered onto the cream walls and red carpet.
"Your majesty!" the soldiers shouted yet again, but they couldn't do anything to stop the youngster from hurting their beloved king.
"Drop your armor," the leading soldier ordered the rest as he began to remove the armor, starting from removing the helmet on his head. One by one the soldiers removed the armor piece by piece.
Draven patiently waited for the soldiers to remove their metal armor altogether until they stood in front of him, wearing nothing but linen shirts and pants.
At that moment, the maid who left the hallway brought more soldiers. The moment the soldiers saw the king bleeding, they tried to dash forward to save their king.
"Stop!" the king barked at the soldiers,
Draven on the other hand didn't even flinch when the hallway got crowded with soldiers both with or without armor.
Sling!
Yet again, Draven moved his hand away from King Richard's throat. He demonstrated how his hidden sword works to the soldier as the soldiers noticed that every time he clenched his fist, the sword retracted into his sleeves. On the contrary, the sword extended when he unclenched his fist.
Under their shocked gazes, Draven clenched his fist, retracting the sword. Then, he placed his clenched fist on the side of King Richard's neck.
"NO!"
"DON'T DO IT!"
"YOUR MAJESTY!"
The soldiers began to panic. In case he unclenched his fist, the sword would go straight through their king's throat, ending his life. They would instead give their lives than let their king die. King Richard always adored his military by providing them with the best weapons, training, handsome wage, and lavish parties. Hence, the soldiers had absolute loyalty to their king. Almost every single soldier would gladly trade their life for King Richard.
Draven knew this very well and took advantage of their undying loyalty.
"Clear the path to the power room," Draven's words stunned the soldiers as well as the king. They converted the Etherian crystals into pure Etherian energy through a giant complex contraption. The energy produced by the contraption provided power to some of the most important places throughout Veland.
If anything happened to the power-generating contraption, the kingdom would be crippled both financially and militarily. Moreover, many strategic points of the kingdom would become vulnerable to attack.
"No-" King Richard tried to squirm only to get slammed in the face,
"I won't repeat it," hearing the voice fueled with pure killing intent, the soldiers backed off, clearing a way for him.
"I am the hero in this scene. If you do what I say, your king will live to see tomorrow,"
Draven gestured at the soldiers to lead the way before once again placing his tightned fist against King Richard's throat. The soldiers gradually moved backward, leading the way to the power generating room. They avoided looking King Richard in the eyes as the king was burning in anger.
"It's not too late now. You can still surrender yourself, and I won't sentence you to death," King Richard said while moving towards the hallway. More and more soldiers poured into the castle. When Draven reached the end of the hallway, he noticed numerous soldiers and servants staring in absolute terror.
"What's the punishment for taking you, hostage?" Draven asked while following the group of soldiers to the pathway leading to the back of the castle from the hall.
"Death by hanging" King Richard growled,
"What's the punishment for killing you?"
The servants who heard his cold words were terrified,
"Death by guillotine,"
"Death by hanging. Death by guillotine. They all lead to one thing, death. But, compared to what I went through, death is a warm embrace for me," they all saw a sad smile on his face.
Since Draven could end the king's life by just unclenching his fist, the soldiers didn't dare to ambush him from behind. More precisely, the king's personal guards, who wore no armor, didn't let the others. Instead, they waited for General Barton to return to the castle.
At that time, they could apprehend the youngster and save their king.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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