Didi called the tactical flank with her hand sweeping toward the smoking pit, and zero guards questioned the sudden command.
"Flank it!" she commanded, her rapier trembling in her grip as she pointed toward the treeline. "Spread wide... nobody stands directly in front of that thing!"
"Driver!" Gazel bellowed toward the panicked coachman, waving his thick arm frantically. "Run for the capital... do not stop until you reach the gate torches!"
The royal carriage bolted through the autumn trees with its lanterns swinging violently, leaving the darkened forest clearing behind in terror.
Gazel dug his feet into the churned road, throwing himself forward with his broadaxe in a lethal arc.
The tempered blade struck against the obsidian shoulder with a deafening clang that sent violent vibrations through his armored forearms.
The sheer density of the demonic plates repelled the blow as effortlessly as an iron cliff faces the morning tide.
He dragged the scarred weapon back across the creature's flank, discovering that zero scratches appeared upon the polished abyssal scales.
'Not a scratch from a full swing... how does anything in this kingdom pierce that impenetrable demonic hide?'
She projected her frost mana through the cracked highway, sending jagged lines of brilliant blue ice across the damp soil.
The creeping ice locked around the monster's thick legs, encasing its ankles before the cold could reach its armored knees.
The creature leaned its massive torso forward effortlessly, shattering the dense magical ice into worthless powdered snow without any exertion.
"Now!" Didi shouted to the surrounding guards, her knuckles turning white on the hilt. "All of you, strike together... create an opening for Gazel!"
The royal formation advanced as one unified unit, driving sharp swords and iron spears against the obsidian monster's chest.
The synchronized offensive lasted barely four seconds, before the brutal deflection of metal on stone broke their disciplined military line.
The violent impact jarred the guards' wrists, sending shockwaves through their gauntlets that cracked forearm vambraces and split shield straps.
The royal knights recoiled with trembling arms from the punishing recoil, achieving zero visible damage against the impenetrable abyssal armor.
Spears flew from the outer perimeter, snapping against the creature's scales like dry kindling wood thrown against iron fortress gates.
One unfortunate young knight stepped backward into a deep fissure, trapping his left leg beneath the collapsed slabs.
The jagged granite edges ground against his greaves, locking his foot in place as dust rose from the pit.
"Pull me out!" the trapped knight screamed, clawing frantically at the broken flagstones. "It is looking right at me... somebody pull me out!"
The obsidian monster turned its horned head, and the terrified soldier fell entirely silent before the creature even made physical contact.
'It kills with mere attention... and I stationed twelve loyal men directly inside its lethal predatory line of sight.'
Gazel led the subsequent assault with three luminous Shards flaring around his wrist, driving his blade between two chest plates.
The demonic beast absorbed the brutal strike without flinching, as genuine amusement replaced the cruel boredom upon its humanoid face.
"How cute," the demon purred, tilting its horned head as a mocking sneer spread across its fangs. "I expected far more from the Underworld King's lineage."
Its glowing eyes lingered on Didi as she struggled for breath, while her trio of frost Shards flared bright blue.
"You have not even awakened the bloodline yet," the monster scoffed, shaking its head with theatrical pity. "Just a pampered little child playing dress-up as a warrior."
"That game demands real blood, little princess," the demon added, taking a slow step forward. "You brought a costume instead."
'Awakened bloodline...? What is this monster talking about, and why do its words carry such ominous historical weight?'
The cruel smirk returned to its lips, as disappointment drained the remaining malicious excitement from its dark, shadowy facial features.
Its predatory gaze traveled across the trembling formation of royal guards before locking back onto her proud and defiant figure.
"My expectations keep sinking," the demon sighed in disgust, waving a clawed hand dismissively. "I am dragging home a stunted house pet instead of a royal prize."
A surge of righteous fury ignited within her chest, driving her forward across the shattered remnants of her frost spell.
"I do not know what you are babbling about!" Didi shouted fiercely, her sapphire eyes burning with regal indignation. "But I am nobody's pet!"
"If you say so," the demon laughed, its deep voice vibrating against her ribcage. "Keep dreaming, little princess."
'Its mockery shakes the bedrock... my royal ancestors built their proud dynasty upon foundations that never yielded to fear.'
The monster's booming laughter resonated through the earth beneath their feet, forcing her to narrow her eyes in fierce defiance.
She condensed her frost mana into a compressed needle, abandoning wide-area elemental magic in favor of concentrated, lethal piercing power.
The icy lance hummed with intense crystalline energy, vibrating under the extreme pressure she channeled through her trembling open palms.
Three revolving frost Shards merged their rotational momentum into the single tip, refining the needle of ice until it glowed pale azure.
She lunged forward with explosive speed, driving the condensed frost needle directly into the narrow seam between two obsidian plates.
A wet crack echoed through the clearing as the needle shattered, releasing a thin trickle of glowing purple demonic blood.
The piercing frost crystal flash-froze the purple marrow within the puncture, forcing a genuine hiss of pain from the demon's throat.
"It bled!" Didi cried out, a fierce, triumphant grin breaking through her terror. "I made it bleed... forget the academy lessons about impossible monsters!"
Her trembling hands remained suspended in the frosty air, struggling to process the historic damage she inflicted upon the beast.
"I can do it again!" Didi taunted, raising her rapier with flashing eyes. "Come test if that scratch was sheer luck... or a habit!"
"For someone who talks so much about royal bloodlines," Didi snapped with proud venom, "you bleed surprisingly easily!"
The obsidian creature froze in place, shifting its entire attention downward toward the faint purple stain marking its armored chest.
'How did she pierce my scales... unless the royal bloodline is awakening right now upon this worthless dirt road?'
Sudden feral excitement surged through the creature's frame, replacing the lingering boredom with raw and insatiable demonic bloodlust and hunger.
'If three Shards can scratch me... a brutal enough push will crack the ancient royal power wide open today.'
Suffocating killer intent rolled across the clearing in crushing waves, dropping several terrified royal knights to their knees in agony.
'The Underworld King pays generously by the ounce... and her sacred blood flows richest under the influence of terror.'
Didi failed to track the initial movement, as a sequence of sickening snapping sounds echoed across the quiet woodland road.
Every knight in the perimeter collapsed in a spray of crimson, their decapitated bodies hitting the dirt in absolute silence.
Only Gazel survived the devastating strike, hurling his broadaxe into the path of the blow to deflect the lethal momentum.
The terrifying force drove him knee-deep into the roadbed, twisting his weapon into a useless, bent arc.
She stared at the fallen soldiers in paralyzed horror, feeling the bitter chill of absolute despair freeze her trembling limbs.
"Wh-what just happened...?" Didi gasped, her voice cracking as tears spilled down her cheeks. "You said flank, I said flank... and then everyone just..."
The young squire's dented round shield rolled across the bloodied soil, bumping against her foot before settling into motionless silence.
A profound nausea seized Didi's throat as the scent of iron and severed flesh filled the chilled autumn air.
'Eleven loyal men slaughtered for my stubborn pride... and the gruesome price of this battle has not finished escalating yet.'
Gazel glanced toward her face, recognizing the paralyzing shock threatening to overwhelm his young royal mistress in this moment.
'Protect the royal princess at all costs... the solemn oath spoken by the Knight Commander ten long years ago.'
He exhaled a ragged breath, bracing his posture as the ambient mana around his right wrist warped the surrounding air.
A fourth luminous crystalline Shard materialized beside his existing three, chiming like glass bells within an ancient cathedral hall.
The pure radiant light from the fourth Shard cast a halo across the bloodstained road, pushing back the choking demonic miasma.
Didi staggered beneath the sudden wave of magical pressure, feeling hot tears of disbelief well within her wide sapphire eyes.
'He concealed a fourth Shard for an entire decade... hidden beside the loyal wrist I observed every single morning.'
'Ten years of academy sparring matches he lost intentionally... while I arrogantly graded his veteran combat technique like a foolish child.'
"Finally," the obsidian monster purred, licking its fangs in genuine delight. "The guard stops playing fetch and reveals something actually worth the trip."
Gazel closed his eyes and began the sacred royal incantation, his rough voice carrying the solemn weight of ancient oaths.
"By the light of the fallen, carve the path of the righteous," Gazel chanted, his voice resonant and steady.
Concentrated magical authority gathered around his battered plate armor, radiating waves of brilliant sacred energy across the blood-soaked forest clearing.
"Through the blood of the sworn, shield the weak and purge the dark," Gazel proclaimed, stepping out of the road fissure.
"Let steel remember its purpose, and let the spirit break the unbreakable," Gazel swore, raising his bent axe high.
"In the name of the sacred oath, I stand!" Gazel roared, as bright flames enveloped his entire body.
The demonic creature flinched in genuine alarm, as unfamiliar sacred energy crawled across its obsidian scales like searing hot frost.
'That ancient prayer frequency... the legendary Crown Brand whose previous bearer annihilated an entire demonic legion long ago.'
'The Brand answers exclusively to royal oaths... how does a mere household guard borrow the authority to wield its sacred power?'
Gazel launched himself forward with explosive speed, bringing his glowing broadaxe downward in a devastating overhead execution strike.
The monster tilted its head back by inches, allowing the radiant blade to strike the roadbed and trigger a geyser.
His eyes burned with blinding radiance, as intricate fracture lines branched across his rugged face like delicate cracked porcelain.
Sacred light bled from the fractures on his skin with every breath, consuming his vital life essence to empower his blade.
The sacred radiance ate away at his cellular vitality, scorching his soul veins to sustain the impossible four-Shard output.
'The sacred Brand is consuming his physical body... such terrifying divine power was never meant for ordinary mortal men.'
He pivoted fluidly on his back heel, driving an armored kick into the side of the creature's horned head.
The monster blocked with crossed forearms, yet the thunderous concussive impact threw the beast backward across two deep dirt furrows.
Gazel dropped into a resolute defensive stance, keeping his glowing weapon leveled between the monster and the trembling young princess.
"You do not get past me to reach her," Gazel growled through bleeding lips, his aura blazing. "I will die before you lay a single claw on the princess!"
The obsidian monster reset its shoulders with a chilling laugh that shook loose gravel from the surrounding road fissures.
"Good," the monster hissed, rolling its neck with a wet pop. "Then I only have to break you to collect my royal prize."
The faint purple wound across its chest sealed entirely as it spoke, erasing the difficult progress she earned through sacrifice.
'It regenerates instantly... of course it heals, since this catastrophic day demands nothing less than our very lives.'
"Your bloodline sleeps, little princess," the demon sneered, lunging forward with extended talons. "Consider this a wake-up call with teeth!"
The broadaxe met an obsidian claw the size of a scythe, showering the road with blinding fiery and purple sparks.
They traded three earth-shattering strikes that shook the surrounding forest, carving deep craters into the ruined stone of the highway.
Gazel's feet dragged two deep trenches through the shattered flagstones as he absorbed the immense concussive shock of the third blow.
Blood seeped from the edges of his visor, spattering the glowing head of his axe as his breathing turned into ragged wheezes.
'He fights like the legendary champions recorded in ancient royal histories... and I never inquired about his former life.'
The obsidian horror stepped over the fallen guards with mock elegance, fixing its glowing eyes on the two wounded defenders.
"Try it!" Didi screamed, placing herself beside Gazel as frost exploded from her fingertips. "And the crown buries whatever is left of you beneath this road!"
Didi gripped her bent ancestral sword with both trembling hands, standing resolutely beside her guardian to hold the final line.
Two battered warriors and one unstoppable monster faced each other upon the road, as the autumn shadows lengthened toward dusk.