Chapter 18 - The Fifth hero

" She's-, she's here-", Puff said as her sweat dripped down from her forehead.

" Who? Tell me who is it, Puff?", Wade knelt down and met her eye level.

" She's in this city,", Puff looked Wade dead in the eye, "Serene."

Wade's eyes immediately broadened as he stood slowly. He then involuntarily walked away from Puff.

" Wade?", Puff, knowing what exactly was happening grabbed Wade's arm and pulled him. "Where do you think you're going?"

" I'm going to fetch her, isn't that obvious!?", Wade looked at Puff with desperation in his eyes. "For years, we have been searching for her, now she's within our grasp, of course I won't let her get away!"

Puff pulled both his arms down, bringing his face close to hers, "Listen to me you moron. If you face her now, you won't stand a chance against her. Last time you fought, you almost died-, and you were at your full strength that time."

"Well, what do you expect me to do? Let her go again!?"

"Sheesh-, you always lose your cool when Serene is involved.", Puff dropped him and he fell face first on the floor.

"Ooffff-"

"I'll take care of her.", Puff pulled her gloves and prepared her weapon belt. "You stay here and watch over the rebels."

Wade stood straight and looked directly at her. "Are you sure about this? Remember, this is Serene were talking about."

"Hmph! I'm a lot stronger than I was before.", Puff arrogantly smiled at Wade. "Besides, she's also my sister. We equally share the responsibility of bringing her back."

Wade stopped arguing and decided to leave it to Puff. "Just be safe. If she's too much to handle, don't hesitate to escape."

"You worry too much. We aren't kids anymore. Just leave it to me.", Puff said as she walked towards the exit of the tunnel.

Theodore noticed as Puff was leaving without his permission.

"Where are you going?", he asked out loud.

"She's just going out for a bit.", Wade replied. "I'm sure she won't take long."

"How can I be sure that she's not gonna sell us out to the royal army?", he asked.

"Don't worry, she won't do anything dumb like that.", Wade calmly smiled at him.

"Hmm, fine. Make sure she returns before morning or she might be spotted by the guards when she comes back."

Thoedore couldn't sense any lie coming out of his mouth, so he decided to let her leave and sat back down.

"Are you sure about this, sire?", asked one of his subordinates.

"Don't worry.", he calmly brushed his hair. "I can always tell if someone is lying or not."

Wade sat quietly in the corner, hoping for Puff's safe return.

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"Princess!!", Conney, the head maid of the palace, shouted as she hugged Alex.

She, Bastion, the head butler of the palace and other maids were waiting for her near her room to congratulate her on her victory against prince Laz.

"I just knew you were going to win!" Conney said while squeezing Alex between her bosoms.

"Yeah, right. You were so nervous that your knees where trembling the whole fight.", Bastion argued.

Everyone laughed including Alex and prince Zac.

"All joking aside, congratulations princess.", Bastion bowed as he proudly congratulated Alex.

"Congratulations princess!", shouted the maids.

"Thank you, everyone.", Alex replied while still being hugged by Conney.

"Hey-, you can let go of the princess now.", Bastion said to her.

"Just a few seconds more-," she replied still clinging to Alex.

"It's alright Bastion, I don't mind.", Alex smiled at them while catching her breath.

"Ehem-", everyone was startled as the king cleared his throat.

"Your majesty!", Conney immediately raised her hands freeing Alex.

"Your grace-"

Everyone bowed in his presence including Alex and Zach.

"I see you're still famous with the palace's staff.", King Bertram said.

Alex continued bowing her head without saying anything.

" Well done with the training match, Alex.", his majesty commended her.

" I'm not worthy of your praise, my father king.", she replied while still bowing.

" Why are you acting so distant? You can call me father here. We're family after all.", king Bertram said calmly.

" I'd say it's a natural attitude when you've been casted away by your own family. Not that expect to be treated better anyway.", Alex looked at the king directly in the eye and snobbishly replied.

The whole area became quiet. Everyone felt the awkward and heavy atmosphere.

" If you don't need anything else, I'll be going back to my room. Excuse me.", Alex bowed once more and slowly turned around after.

She smiled at Zach and the palace staff and walked away with her butler.

" If you'd excuse us also, your majesty.", Conney, Bastion and the palace maids bowed and returned to their respective jobs.

The king watched the staff left one by one except for one servant.

Mathilda, the former handmaid of the deceased queen was left standing on the corner.

" Is there something you need, Mathilda?", the king asked.

Mathilda looked behind, making sure everyone had already left. Then she walked slowly towards him and bowed.

"I have something to tell you, your highness. Ive been keeping this a secret from you but my conscience has been slowly eating me every single day."

"What are you talking about?", he curiously asked.

"Its about the queen and the princess.", she slowly stood up and turned around. "If you will, please follow me."

Mathilda walked towards the storage chambers with the king walking behind her.

"What are we doing here?", he asked as Mathilda was getting something behind the boxes stacked in the corner of the large room.

Mathilda stood up carrying a small box with a bunch of letters inside.

King Bertram picked one letter up and was surprised when he saw the name of the sender of the letters. He hastily looked at the other letters and they were all sent by the same person. The box was filled to the brim with these letters.

"Dear father,

Its my first day in the academy. The people here are very nice to me. The president of the boxing club even invited me to join their club. The warmth of their acceptance, makes living alone far away from home less lonely. -"

King Bertram grabbed another letter before finishing the first one.

"- I actually got a General class armor! I think it has something to do with my unexplainable strength. Apparently, having a general class is a big deal in this school. -"

And another one,

"I got decorated as "Hercules" today. It means the student that has the strongest raw power. But I dont really appreciate the name. People might think that Im buff muscular man. - "

And another one,

"- I dont know if you read my letters or not. Since its been more than a year and I havent received any reply. Maybe the family is happier without me. -"

"Alex-" , King Bertrams tears fell down into princess Alexs letters.

"Why havent I known about these letters?", he asked Mathilda.

"It was a direct order from the queen, your highness.", she replied.

"The queen?"

"From the very beginning, the queen had already known about princess Alexandria.", she continued.

"What do you mean?",

"At the early age of 14, Princess Alexandria had already shown signs of Alexanders strength."

*Flashback*

One morning, while the princes Lazarus and Theodore were having their swordsmanship lesson, princess Alexandria came and had a closer look. The queen and I were observing the princes from the palace window.

After a few sparring matches, the princes went inside to grab some snacks and left their wooden swords on the ground.

The princess leapt out of the bushes and was curious of the wooden swords. She grabbed one of the swords and tried swinging it around very sloppily.

"What is she doing?", the queen mockingly asked. " A lady's hands are not meant for the sword. She's going to hurt herself."

Alex walked towards the training dummy that was made of straw. She raised her wooden sword while directly facing the dummy.

" Hmm?", the queen continued watching her with leerirng eyes, expecting her to fail in some way.

Alex raised her sword and in an instant, she strokes her sword down and cleanly sliced the straw dummy in two.

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"Oops!", she shouted. "Brother Laz and Theo is going to bully me again once they found out that I destroyed one of their things."

Alex worriedly grabbed the other half of the dummy and tried pushing it together. She grabbed a long straw and tied the dummy on the waist.

"Hmm. I guess that should do it.", she worriedly checked the dummy and ran away.

The queen and Mathilda couldn't believe their eyes.

"Say, Mathilda. Is that sword made of iron?", the queen was baffled.

"Your majesty, I believe that it is made out of wood.", she replied with a disoriented look on her face.

"Then why was she able to cut through a thick bundle of straw like it was a mere piece of paper!?", she exclaimed.

The two of them looked at each other knowing exactly what happened.

The queen looked around making sure no one else saw what Alex did.

"Listen to me, Mathilda-", the queen held on tightly unto Mathildas shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.

"No one else needs to know about what happened."

"Y-yes, your majesty.", she replied fully knowing what the queen was worried about.

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*End of flashback*

"After that incident, the queen proposed that princess Alex be enrolled in a far away school.", Mathilda continued talking to the king.

"I thought it was as little bit odd, too, when she suddenly suggested that.", the king replied. "I accepted her offer so that she wont be bullied by her bothers anymore."

"Since she started going to school, the princess sent several letters to you and prince Zac, hence the box full letters. But the queen did not allow us to give or even inform you about the letters til her death bed. We gave prince Zac the letters that were meant for him, but Im guessing the queen also ordered him to keep quiet about it. Only the palace staff and prince Zac know about this. Bastion and Conney has extensively read these letters, maybe because they have treated the princess as their kid since she was little."

The king grabbed the box containing the dozens of letters that Alex had put her heart into making.

"Thank you for telling me about this.", he placed his right hand on Mathildas shoulder to show his sincerity and gratefulness.

"You dont need to thank me, your highness. I just did what I think was right." She bowed, turned around and walked away.

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"Huff", Puff panted as she ran in the middle of the town while tracing Serenes presence.

Puff stopped in front of the wall of the city, looked up and there she was. Just as how beautiful the bright crescent moon was, her dark cloak and large scythe turned its beauty into a spine-chilling portrait to anyones eyes.

Puff jumped straight to the top of the wall and silently landed a few meters behind her.

"You know, if you dress a little better, people wont be so scared of you.", Puff arrogantly said.

"That voice and way of speaking.", she replied. "Its been a while—"

She turned around and took off her hood letting the night breeze blow her long silver hair, showing her long eyelashes and pale face. Her perfectly shaped nose and piercing eyes can fool anyone into thinking that she was a noble blood vampire.

"-Puff."

"Yes, it has been a while.", Puff said feeling a bit nostalgic. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, you know, just strolling from town to town, enjoying the cold breeze of the night from one country to the other, season after season. How about you?"

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"Ugh, its been hectic since we made Helen. Since its still on its development stage, a lot of things need to be done."

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"Hmm, if you are so busy, then what are you doing here in the middle of the human continent, very far away from home?"

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"I could ask you the same thing. I heard that youre a mercenary now. So Im guessing someone in this city hired you. Am I right?"

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"As expected of you, big sis Puff.", she gently brushed her bangs to the side to show her clear black-pupil eyes. "Your intuition was always one of the things that I admired about you."

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"I know-", Puff reached out her hand. "Lets go home, Serene, everyones worried about you."

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"Home?", Serenes light expression quickly turned grim. "You call that ridiculous place our home!?"

*Flashbacks on Serenes mind reminded her about the war, the cruelty of the demons and the faces of her people*

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"A country that is home to all residents of Teras. Be it be humans, monsters, hybrids or…demons!?"

Serene involuntarily released a wave of bloodlust after her sentence.

"Well-, that pretty much sums it up.", Puff calmly replied.

"YOU HYPOCRITES!", Serene shouted as a strong wave of bloodlust blasted from within her.

"After killing hundreds and thousands of them, and them killing hundreds and thousands of ours, you suddenly create a country that caters to all beings that you have murdered!? For what?? To lighten your guilt!? To show the continent that you are not the monsters that claimed countless lives during the war!? You have soiled the name Helen, when you used it by naming your so called "country". I would rather die than live in that place."

"Emotional as ever.", Puff took out an item from her weapon belt. "Mountain Mallet!"

Puff raised her hand and the item turned into a giant wooden hammer.

"Convincing you by talking surely wont work, so Ill guess I have to take you by force."

"Hmph! Hahahaha!", Serene laughed sinisterly. "No offense, big sis, but we are not on the same league. If you want to defeat me, you should have brought Glenn or Wade."

Serene took her giant scythe and pointed it to Puff.

"Hah! You may be stronger than most of us during the war, but that was five years ago my dear sister. If youre not careful, you might break every bone in your body.", Puff smiled.

"Lets put that to the test, shall we.", Serene replied.

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The two of them dashed towards each other and swung their giant weapons.

*BANGGGGG*

The clash of their weapons sent a powerful shockwave towards the nearby town that all candle lit lights and lamps were put away. The loud clashing sound accompanied by a sudden tremble of the ground surprised the residents.

"What was that!?"

"An earthquake!?"

"I heard a loud noise, was it a meteor??"

Puff immediately shrunk her hammer, making Serene getting carried away by the weight of her weapon. And as her body turned sideways, Puff leaned closer to her and clenched her fist and focused her breathing.

"MOUNTAIN BREAKER: POINTBLANK CANON!"

"Shit!"

Puff landed a powerful punch towards Serenes stomach and sent her flying.

"Gahhh!", Serene yelped as she was blown away to the forest more than a kilometer away from the town.

Serene plunged her scythe towards the ground and stop her motion and landed with both her feet on the ground.

*BOOOMMM*

The earth shook as Puff landed meters away from her.

"Not bad.", Serene stood up and wiped the blood dripping from her mouth with her fingers. " I see youve taken me to a far place to avoid hurting the residents. You never change."

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"I just dont want anyone intervening our fight, thats all."

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"You have wasted the opportunity to finish me. There wont be a next time."

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"I wont be so sure if I were you. Prepare yourself, Serene!", Puff quickly dashed towards her.

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"Ive long thrown that name away. I am now, the Phantom!", she also dashed towards her.

Their clash trembled the ground, shook the trees and scared every animal living near the area.

-END OF CHAPTER 18-