"Talk," Mordredmanded, his voice icy.


    The man, recognizing the futility of resistance, sighed. He had been through this before, he knew protocol. "Alright, alright," he said, honesty was the best policy. "ck mask, glowing whitish eyes… attacked everyone in sight. Didn''t seem to know or care about the tournament rules, just… destruction and robbery."


    He continued" and he eeemed like he just… showed up and started fighting. Like a new participant."


    Mordred''s brow furrowed. A roguepetitor, disrupting the tournament at its climax?


    A heavy silence followed the man''s answer. Mordred leaned forward, "How strong was he?" he finally asked.


    The man shifted ufortably, rubbing his bruised arm. "Come to think of it… I don''t know. He wasn''t exactly wearing his stars on his head."


    "Useless," Mordred muttered under his breath. With a snap of his fingers, the servant in green materialized behind the man. "Get him out of here." Mordred ordered


    The man sighed as relief washed over him as he was ushered out. Mordred was left alone, a thoughtful frown etched on his face. "A man who''s strong, but doesn''t know the rules…" he mused, tapping his finger against the mahogany desk. Interesting.


    He reached for a sleek,municator on his desk. A woman''s  voice was heard. "It''s dangerous to bemunicating right now, Mordred. This better be important."


    "I think I may have just found a leading contender," Mordred replied, not bothered by the woman''s bad attitude. "A man with a ck mask. Strong enough to obliterate a building… could be the Prince."


    Skepticism colored the woman''s expression. "Are you sure? We can''t afford another dead end, Mordred."


    "I''m not," he admitted with a sigh. "But it''s been nine months. No sign of the prince entering the tournament. This… masked man is the best shot we have."


    "Alright." The woman said and hung.


    "That woman is ungrateful..." he muttered.


    He leaned back in his chair, letting out a heavy sigh. Looking up at the ceiling, he thought, "Let''s just get this n over with."


    *********


    Neveah walked through the  the deserted silent night.


    " Why did you not take their tokens, young master?" Sharon''s voice echoed in his mind again.


    Neveah stopped abruptly, "..."


    "You forgot didn''t you." Said Sharon.


    "Doubt they even carried any valuables," he shrugged dismissively shaking his headm


    "Are you sure... Did you check?" Sharon pressed.


    Neveah remained silent but that silence spoke volumes. With a sigh, he sat in a meditative pose in a clearing in the bushes.


    His shadow soldiers materialized around him silently and dropped stuff.


    Before himy the remains of those nobles, some intact some came in body parts limbs heads, others bones.


    " Sort them." Ordered Neveah for the bodies to be individually sorted out.


    He counted silently. "143…  can I do that many at once." He muttered.


    "Let''s just get it done." He decided.


    Then ck aura floeed from his body engulfing the pile of corpse and the same scene as earlier was seen, the corpses and body parts levitated shook violently.


    A momentter, the energy faded, and from the shadow slowly rose soldiers kneeling.


    Neveah stared at them with disappointment running through him. "Only 78... Hmm, a failure then. I never ever even considered that…"


    "What? the possibility of failure?" Sharon inquired,"Sounds awfully arrogant, young master?" She said coldly.


    " It was confidence," Neveah countered with a shrug, " those are two different things. Anyway back to the matter at hand. Time to stir some chaos amongst themoner contenders."


    The shadow soldiers sank back into the his shadow.


    Neveah walked on the deserted roading out of the bushes.


    Suddenly a sharp whistle tore through the air. A sh of light reflected from metal caught in moonlight, small a flying dagger, shot towards Neveah with uracy.


    Quickly, Neveah dodged but tilting his head, the de whistling past his ear before he caught it from mid-air.


    He then forced and shot dagger back towards its origin like, where he saw a shadowy figure atop a tree.


    A ng sound was heard as the attacker, with remarkable agility parried the blow.


    The assant then disappeared from the tree appeared right infront of Neveah''s face. The attacker then swung his de horizontally in a swift motion. Neveah leaned back just in time, the de cutting harmlessly through the air. But the attacker wasn''t finished.


    Quickly, he shifted their attack, thrusting the dagger downwards to stab the leaning Neveah who had his chest and stomach wide open and defenseless.


    Neveah quickly conjured a small shield of ice, a barrier between him and the iing attack as he read the attack to know where exactly it would hit, his heart.


    However, just before the dagger met the ice, a ck portal materialized above the shield, swallowing the de whole. He changed the direction of his attack.


    But... It didn''t go as nned as attacker, momentarily thrown off guard, quickly dodged back just as the de reappeared, this time inches from his own face. He dodged, but notpletely unfazed. A thin line of red formed across their face from his lips through his nose to his forehead as the tip of the de grazed them. Suddenly the flesh split apart from the thin fault line.


    Neveah stabilized his body as he stood tall. And he looked at the attack who was a familiar face. And he got pissed.


    Neveah removed the ck mask from his face throwing it into his shadow which swallowed it whole.


    His hand pointed out, dark energy and ice magic swirled around it before solidifying into a massive, double-ded war axe. He pointed the weapon at the shadowy figure who had just revealed himself.


    "You are not the only one who can y with shadows and influence space," Neveah said as he looked at the man who was confused about how Neveah redirected his attack. "Now... tell me, why are you attacking me, Constantine?"


    The figure, Constantine collected himself and regained hisposure as his flesh mended and healed quick.


    " We are here to collect debt," he said coldly and briefly.


    Neveah raised an eyebrow, in confusion "We? What are y-" he asked, still he was pissed.


    Before he could get another word out,  his instincts warned him, practically screaming" MOVE!".


    He felt a surge of killing intent, not from Constantine, but from a third party.


    He quickly acted and suddenly he sunk into his shadow.


    He reappeared a few meters away with his axe held tight. A loud voice filled the empty road. "Yes, Young Master, WE! WE ARE HERE TO SEE…  SO SHOW US YOUR WORTH!"


    The figure emerged  in heavy ck armor that reflected light faintly in the moonlight. As the figure stepped forward, Neveah muttered a single word, "Kael." novel-hosted-MvLeMpYr


    The neer was the towering knight, his silver hair shone bright under the moon. He moved each step sounding loud and heavy echoing in the night.


    He stopped right in front of Neveah, his ck eyes meeting Neveah''s grey re. Constantine stood just behind Kael quiet his eyes closed, but he didn''t have any openings. They were here to fight.