The Two Faced Emperor

Faithless gripped his sword tightly, a faint smile on his face, and Lady Marianne stood beside him, holding her bloodied sword. Faithless turned to the two girls and spoke to them in a warm voice:

"Stay here until I return. Your big brother has an important hunt."

It was a beautiful, deep, and warm phrase—so much so that the two girls nearly cried upon hearing it.

"We'll be here, waiting for you, sovereign," the girls said sweetly, with lovely smiles.

"Come on, sovereign, if you don't move your sword, these creatures will be mine." Lady Marianne spoke sarcastically as she launched herself into the attack.

Faithless looked at her as she lunged toward the enemies, as if she were dancing with waves of blood…

"Looks like my special prey is going to be stolen by that beauty." Faithless rested his sword on his shoulder and charged toward two scarlet horns who were wreaking havoc on the farmland.

Faithless faced off against the two scarlet horns, who sensed his rage and looked directly at him… They pulled out short but sharp daggers from their hands and lunged at him.

Faithless was quickly dodging their movements, but they had a strange kind of intelligence… one attacking from behind, the other from the front, aiming to obstruct his movement.

Noticing their tactic, Faithless stepped back and launched a golden wave at them. They dodged quickly, although one of the creatures received a slight scratch.

Faithless slowly looked at his hand. He was puzzled by something… when one of the scarlet horns suddenly scratched his back hard, and the other scratched his left hand.

Faithless felt intense pain from the daggers—they were extremely sharp and cutting. But he spun around the first creature and punched it hard, slamming its body into the ground. Then he looked at the second creature, which was swinging its blade wildly.

But Faithless blocked every swing, then reversed his grip and struck the creature in the head with the hilt, then threw it forcefully onto its companion.

A golden wave glowed from Faithless's palm—he intended to unleash it toward them, but they split quickly to dodge the blow and reappeared behind him.

Faithless turned around, smiling, with his sword resting on his shoulder:

"Looks like we've got some stubborn ones. How fun."

The two girls were watching from a distance, their eyes following Faithless and Lady Marianne's battle. Lulia spoke with an excited tone:

"The sovereign's fighting style is thrilling… he's even releasing some strange golden energy."

"Thank God he forgave us, or we wouldn't be seeing him fight like this," Lily said sarcastically.

"I don't think it's that simple… He seems like someone broken on the inside, forgiving people even though we stabbed him in the chest." Lulia spoke softly, hiding her sorrow.

Lily looked at her sister with sadness, then turned her gaze back to the fight… Lady Marianne seemed to treat the battle like some strange dance—like blood flowing through vessels—as she fought the scarlet horns.

She swung her bloodied sword with power, moving between them… but the scarlet horns had good coordination in blocking her strikes.

She swung her sword at one of their horns, but the first creature blocked the attack and grabbed her tightly, and the second hit her hard in the stomach, forcing her to retreat backward.

Lady Marianne held her stomach and gave a faint smile, then charged at the first creature, slashing its stomach and dragging the blood that fell to the ground with her sword. Then she dove toward the second one, stabbing it in the gut and slamming it to the ground.

She danced through the air as she struck them… until she noticed that their wounds were healing quickly. That's when Marianne realized something about these creatures.

"Even though I inflicted deep wounds on them, they possess a strange and fast healing ability… Something's suspicious about them."

Meanwhile, inside the house, the elderly couple noticed the noise and the sound of clashing swords. The old man and his wife looked through the window.

"Am I dreaming? Or are there people fighting those creatures?" the old woman asked in a tired tone.

"No, no, my dear, you're not dreaming… It seems that some strong people have come to save us from the misery of those filthy creatures." The old man smiled, speaking in a calm tone.

On the other side, Faithless was fighting hard, launching golden waves at them, but these creatures had strange reflexes and coordination.

One of the creatures appeared behind Faithless—he stabbed it with his sword—but the other one stabbed him in the back. Faithless felt the heat of the stab.

He moved his left hand and grabbed the horn of the creature that stabbed him, slamming it hard onto the ground… until Faithless tore off the scarlet horn.

The creature fell to the ground, writhing in pain… Faithless was surprised by this and stared at the scarlet horn.

He understood the meaning well. He pulled his sword from the first creature's abdomen and sliced off both its horns. It fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

It tried to swing its dagger to strike Faithless, but its movement was incredibly slow and uncoordinated… Faithless smiled and swung his sword, cutting the creature's head off. Its horns dropped near it.

Faithless looked behind him and didn't see the other scarlet horn… He was surprised—until it appeared beside him, aiming to stab his heart directly. But he grabbed its hand and tried to break it.

The scarlet horn threw its sword to the other hand and tried to slash Faithless's neck, but Faithless quickly bent backward, grabbed its horn, and slammed it into the ground, tearing it off.

The two creatures collapsed to the ground, motionless. Faithless collected four horns from them… and shouted to Lady Marianne:

"Hey, Marianne! Are you there?"

"What? I'm busy with these two annoying ones," Marianne replied as she fought them with all her might.

"I figured it out. All you have to do is focus on their horns and cut them quickly to break their balance and coordination." Faithless spoke in a calm tone as he watched her fight from the other side, separated by a wooden barrier.

Marianne blocked one of the scarlet horns' strikes, surprised. She muttered quietly to herself:

'Right… I noticed that when I tried to swing my sword at its horn.'

Lady Marianne smiled when she understood the trick in this game… She charged at the first creature, moving in a zigzag pattern. She slashed at its stomach, but it blocked the strike with its dagger.

Then Marianne pulled three bloodied knives from her other hand and flung them quickly at its horns in a feather-like motion, slicing them off instantly.

The creature screamed in pain, clutching its face. Marianne wanted to split it in half—but the second scarlet horn appeared and struck her hard in the back.

She hit the ground, but rose quickly, stabbing her sword into the earth… and launched sharp blood arrows from her other hand.

The creature dodged all of them quickly—until she stabbed a bloodied sword into its chest, piercing through its back. Then Marianne appeared beside it, sliding swiftly, grabbing its horns, and ripping them off.

Then she grabbed her sword and sliced the creature in half, its blood scattering everywhere.

Faithless approached with a smile, holding the four scarlet horns in his hand. Marianne mirrored his smile and said with a sarcastic tone:

"Thanks for the tip, Sovereign."

They both laughed, and the two girls approached with sweet, lovely smiles.

"You were amazing… those creatures didn't even stand a chance," Lily said in a sweet tone.

Faithless gently patted their heads and spoke in a calm voice:

"And you two did well too, staying in place and not causing any trouble."

He added in the same tone:

"Put these eight horns into the bag. We'll hand them over for the tavern's brew reward."

Both girls nodded in agreement. After a minute, the four of them were about to move toward the next location—when a voice suddenly called out behind them:

"Please, wait!"

They all turned, surprised. Faithless looked toward an old man walking quickly toward them, carrying a small black sack.

The elderly man approached, panting and holding his lower back as he spoke in a tired voice:

"Thank you, young ones, for saving us… We've been stuck like this for two weeks with no one coming to help. Those things destroyed my crops."

He continued more quietly:

"This money is a token of appreciation for your efforts."

Faithless smiled and replied in a deep voice:

"We came to save you, not for the money. Keep it. We don't need it."

He turned and calmly resumed walking with his group. The old man stood frozen in place, stunned, and muttered to himself:

"What a strange young man… He has terrifying eyes."

Faithless and his group walked south of the town, heading toward Lucia Falls. Marianne, walking beside him, looked at him in amazement and said:

"I didn't know you were this generous."

Faithless smiled and said in a calm voice:

"The focus isn't on the money… It's on the hunt. We'll get our gold from the tavern, and from that fat man who bet his wallet."

"You never forget a debt owed to you, huh? Prince or not," Marianne said with a beautiful expression.

"Of course I don't forget what's owed to me… especially the sweet taste of revenge I intend to take from the kings," he said coldly, his gaze fixed on the threads of moonlight above.