The Cost of War

[Uncle Lander POV]

"Why do you look so worried, Lander?" the Queen spoke with a smile while continuing on with her walk through the Palace, disregarding my words completely.

"Ma'am, we must evacuate the Palace. Please..." as much as I wanted to explain the situation to her in more detail, there was simply no more time left. I would drag her out by force if necessary.

He was coming.

Even after all of Diana's pleadings, even after my insistence that we would take care of it ourselves, he simply refused to listen. He simply refused to let others handle the situation, not putting any weight on the justice of others, taking the law into his own hands.

"Lander!" the Queen spoke to me as I grabbed her by the arm, telling me to back down, or otherwise be 'stopped' by her guards. I was like that foolish boy, I also didn't listen, causing me to be restrained by two of the Palace guards who didn't know what to make of the situation.

"Don't you think I know?" her quiet words stabbed into my heart, draining the very life out of me.

"You knew!" I couldn't believe it, I had thought there had to have been at least one member of my family who had not betrayed me.

Thankfully, it seemed my threatening words filled with venom only caused her deeper confusion, until finally she understood what I was accusing her of.

"Thank God."

"However, I cannot leave," she decreed, leaving no room for disagreement with her royal address.

However, I wasn't just one of her subjects...

"You don't understand—"

"I understand perfectly, Lander," she cut off my words with her own, filled with more emotion than I could currently express.

"Don't you think my heart aches for what they've done to you? Don't you think I am disgusted by them, don't you think I want them to feel pain as well?" she let out with a soft whisper, pulling me into a hug as she failed to contain her tears.

I was affected more than I could express by her words of support for my agony, however, that only made it more essential for me to get her out of here...

"Please, your Majesty, you don't know—"

Still, she was steadfast in her refusal, wanting to go down with her castle, refusing to escape.

"I know, Lander, I know," she continued while using her hands to soothe both my worries and my back, "My friends from abroad have already told me about him, of who he is, of what he is and even why he's coming here."

"If you understand—"

"And that's why we will stay," her choice of words causing me to be lost for my own.

"All of us."

"It is our duty, both as to the nation, as well as to ourselves."

"As a family," her words sounding hypocritical even to herself.

"Lock the gates."

[Kuzan POV]

"Should've known." I wasn't even caught off guard by their actions, merely by their stupidity despite having warned them of my arrival.

Still, I would feel remiss if I didn't give them a final warning.

"Ring...Ring..." I picked up my phone out of my pocket, expecting the call from my soon-to-be father-in-law.

"Mr. Lander, what a pleasant surprise hearing from you!"

"Kuzan, don't—"

"You know, Uncle Lander..." I cut off the man's words, having grown tired of his attempts to convince me out of my actions, "a long time ago I asked you..."

"What would your country be willing to give up to have his support?"

The man went silent on the other end of the line, not daring to interrupt me as I gave him my final warning out of respect for our history.

"I finally realize I was asking the wrong question there, Uncle Lander," I relayed to the man as I walked right up to the front gates, showing no regard for the many snipers they undoubtedly had locked onto my positions.

"Let me ask you the correct one this time."

"What would your country give to not earn his rage?"

"Kuzan, they'll kill you, please." It was difficult to hear his pleadings, especially when they were from a place of goodness, especially after he had all the reason in the world to abandon his family, still sticking by them in the end.

It was something I respected.

But not a decision I agreed with.

"Uncle Lander, I'm not an idiot now am I?" I spoke to the man while snapping my fingers into an earpiece I had just 'borrowed' from a now unconscious guard, causing all of the red dots strewn across my body to disappear at the mere sound of my snap.

"What did you just do, Kuzan!" It seemed that the man finally understood the severity of the situation, as I placed his last 'line of defence' into my trance, having already met them before beginning my act.

I wasn't like my 'dad', arrogant of my strength and hoping that everything worked out in the end.

I was something worse—a control freak, wanting to plan for every scenario should it ever come to pass, ensuring I could have the maximum amount of fun possible.

However, in moments like this, when the stage was set, and I had fulfilled all of my obligations to my loved ones...

Even I couldn't help but live in the moment.

"Tell them to leave, Uncle Lander, tell them to leave..." I spoke with the last bits of humanity I could muster, asking him to protect the lives of those loyal to him, asking him to spare their lives, to not cause unnecessary death.

However, I only received silence in response.

"Sigh."

'Well,...it's not like I can keep riding his 'fame' any longer.'

[Unknown POV]

"Report, report!"

"Damn it!"

'I should have listened when they were allowing us to quit, when Sir Lander gave us the option to run away.'

I was only a young guard caught up in the moment, not wanting to let down my homeland, having pride in our strength.

It was crushed.

Both my nonsensical ideals and Palace gates, as the man ripped them apart with his bare hands.

It was as if he was unwrapping a gift, bending the bars, breaking them, causing them to snap at their very joints, as he simply sauntered in through the 'doorway' he had just created.

A team of guards mobilized into action, despite everyone knowing how hopeless trying to bind this beast would be, it was their duty to give it a try.

And they failed.

'What?'

'I swear on God's green Earth that I didn't blink, I swear to God I didn't see him move, why then did they suddenly collapse?'

Still, they continued to dispatch guardsmen, first five at a time, then ten, then twenty, all of whom would turn unconscious after entering a certain 'radius' around the beast.

He kept walking closer, stepping over the 'walls' of bodies he had just built, making his way closer and closer, until finally...

'He's staring right at me.'

"Can I borrow your sword?"

[Kuzan POV]

'Really, I don't know what goes on in their head, I get using armed guards, but even a sentry?'

Fortunately, the boy had good instincts, acquiescing to my request without delay before running away through the hole in the Palace gates I had just made.

'Do it, please be stupid enough to try...'

"BANG!" I side-stepped the bullet that had just been launched, taking great care to not miss a step as I drew closer to that foolish guard.

I had finally gotten what I wished for...

It was simple, really, once I learned from Master Motobe about how to 'handle' bullets. It was never about dodging the bullets themselves, but dodging the shooter, dodging out of his path.

I tracked them, their movements, their pressing of the trigger, their shifting of their body weight.

'It's so boring.'

"SMASH!" I smashed the 'poor' man's skull in while stepping on his toes to prevent him from 'flying away' from my punch. Unfortunately, all that did was cause the back of the man's head to crash into the floor, looking like a bead in a Newton's Cradle after being struck by an outside force.

"Try it."

And they did. They surrounded me in a circle, pointing their rifles all over my body, about to place their fingers onto the trigger—

"Splash." A fountain of blood erupted around me, as I used the sword I had just recently borrowed to sever their heads with a single twist, finally putting my training with weapons to good use.

'I had given them enough warnings. It was only their fault for not listening to me.'

Still, even I was reaching my limit, no longer finding their stupidity to be funny. That had been my final act of kindness, by using a weapon to put an end to their lives so quickly.

'So boring.'

I threw away the sword; that would only make this outing even less fun, finally deciding to dirty my own hands to accomplish my goal.

"Thuck...thuck...thuck." I picked up one of the severed heads that was still rolling on the floor and held it up to my face similar to as if I was admiring a new basketball.

And everyone knows the first thing you do when you want to test out the 'quality' of a basketball.

You squish it.

"CRUNCH!" that ball blew apart under the strain, releasing all of its 'air' all across the floor and onto some of the surrounding guardsman.

'Looks like it was a knock off.' I concluded while flicking away the 'pieces' of the ball that were still clinging onto my hands, even after being burst.

'I should've known, without a ball, we can't continue our game.' I shook my head at my misfortune, as well as the lack of enthusiasm that the other players had to continue our little 'match'.

They all stepped back, creating a path as if permitting my peaceful entry, their fearful respect evident as they formed a guard on either side, as they should have done from the start, while I passed through the doorway which was surprisingly unlocked.

"Long live the Queen," I spoke to the old woman with a smile on my face, not going in for a handshake in consideration for my soiled hands.

"It's very nice to meet you, Your Majesty, Diana has told me a lot about you."

The woman exemplified a Queen, only smiling in response to my words, not scared one bit by my grotesque appearance that was covered in blood as she spoke.

"All good I hope?"

"Haha." I couldn't help but let out a little chuckle at her response, as she did her best to hide her slight shaking underneath her strong front.

"The best."

Unfortunately, I wasn't here for her...

"Mind if I meet the rest of the family?"