“Wh-what was that?!”
Dzz~ Dzz~ The glowing orb suspended from the ceiling blinked, repeatedly plunging the room into darkness and pulling it back into light.
Crash! A section of the interrogation room’s stone wall exploded inward, rubble cascading as a gaping hole yawned open. Through it swept the chill of the outside desert wind, carrying with it a storm of biting sand.
“Who the f—!”
Tp-tp- Footsteps echoed through the swirling, sand-laden wind.
What followed was a rough string of curses.
“You f*cking mutts!”
If the Reaper had risen straight from hell, perhaps he’d look like this.
Clank- clank- A man clad in dark, blood-streaked armor strode forward, his crimson eyes hissing with menace.
Thunk! Roll~ At the soldiers’ feet, he tossed a freshly severed head, still warm, as if he’d just plucked it from the battlefield outside.
“How dare you… lay a hand on our princess?!”
The soldiers instinctively staggered backward.
“Huh?”
Ivyn’s eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of the intruder.
Lavender-colored hair.
Pale blue eyes.
A thin scar cutting across his right eyebrow.
A solid, well-built frame…
“—!”
Just as she reflexively tried to rise in relief, the cold press of steel touched her neck
“Stop right there, intruder! You wretched necromancer consorting with demons! You’d better heed my warning while there’s still time. One more step closer, and this prisoner’s life will—ugh!”
But the soldier never got to finish his warning.
In the blink of an eye, Ron’s fist smashed into his face.
“Kuhk!”
Teeth shattered and blood sprayed into the air as the soldier crumpled backward.
Wham! Ron yanked the fallen soldier up by the hair with brutal force.
“How dare you press that dangerous piece of metal against our princess’s neck?!”
What followed was unrestrained, merciless violence.
What followed was unrestrained violence.
Bam!
Thwack!
Crack!
After several brutal strikes, the soldier’s body went limp like a puppet with its strings cut.
“How dare you touch our precious princess, who knows nothing about dirt or blood?! Worthless piece of sh*t.”
His low, emotionless voice echoed coldly over the lifeless form.
Ron wiped the blood from his hands and scanned the remaining soldiers around him. A predatory, beast-like grin spread across his face.
“Rise, my new thralls.”
Crack- crackle-
No sooner had Ron spoken than the sound of bones snapping echoed, and the soldier who had just met death slowly rose from the floor.
Blue-tinged skin.
Eyes flashing an eerie green light.
Risen from the dead, he was no longer the soldier he had been.
The soldier was a fresh undead, bound under Ron’s authority and nothing more than a tool of the necromancer.
A sinister grin spread across Ron Kinzell’s face as he looked at the soldier he had brought back.
“Tear them apart. Don’t spare a single one.”
His words, sharp as a guillotine blade, sent the undead hurtling forward like a taut bowstring.
Kiieeeeeek-!
What followed were frantic shouts that seemed to rip through the ears.
“P-please, save me!”
“Get it off! Somebody, get this thing off my neck!”
“Hitting the torso won’t work! Strike the head, the head!”
Chaos reigned inside the interrogation room.
Fwp- A flash of lightning-like speed sparked before Ivyn’s eyes, and in an instant, the ropes binding her wrists snapped, clattering to the floor.
“Ah!”
Finally able to move her hands freely, Ivyn looked up at Ron with eyes full of gratitude.
He draped his cloak over her delicate shoulders.
“Now, let’s go home.”
Ron cradled her in his arms as carefully as if she were a swaddled child.
When the two stepped outside through the collapsed wall, the chill of the dawn wind bit into her delicate skin.
Flutter~ Over the trees, across the ruins, over the dying soldiers—
Ash drifted gracefully through the air.
It was hell.
Ivyn’s eyes swept over the ruined landscape, and a thought crossed her mind.
‘Is this what the world looked like in those apocalyptic stories I used to read?’
“Are you alright, my princess? Your brothers were too late, weren’t we?”
The youngest of her older brothers, Ron, spoke with a trace of guilt as he gazed down at Ivyn, who was clinging to him.
“Really….”
“Hm?”
Ron tilted his head toward Ivyn, noticing her voice was barely above a whisper.
“Really… if you had been even a little later… I would have…”
Tears welled up.
This kind of aching sorrow was something only those who had stood at the threshold between life and death could ever know.
To feel every minute,
every second,
the desperate longing for someone—anyone—to come and save you.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… truly…”
Ron was at a loss, staring helplessly at his youngest sibling, who was crying uncontrollably.
“When we realized you had disappeared from home, the entire house turned upside down. Father looked like he’d tear the Empire apart. But the problem was…”
Ron Kinzell paused, exhaling slowly, then continued.
“There was a spy from the Holy Nation hiding inside our house.”
“What?”
Ivyn, who had been shedding jewel-like tears, stopped sobbing and looked up at Ron.
“A spy?”
“Yeah… they gave us false information. We wasted precious time. The false report that you’d been taken across the border threw us all into chaos.”
“Who the hell did that?”
“That’s—”
Ron’s lips moved, about to reveal the identity of the traitor, when suddenly,
“Squiiii~rreeel~!”
Over the blazing, scorched earth, three figures came hurtling forward as if flying—running with a single bound toward her.
“Ivyn! Ivyyyn!”
“Our squirreeel~”
“Little siii~s!”
They were none other than the Kinzell family’s third, fourth, and fifth children—the triplets.
Their names, in order, were John, Hon, and Dan Kinzell.
Readers often referred to them collectively as the “John-Hon-Dan gang.”
“Found you! Our squirrel!”
The triplets simultaneously swarmed Ivyn from all sides.
“Oh my! Our little squirrel’s face has gotten so thin!”
“Don’t worry, Vin! We’re just on our way to crush all those Holy bastards!”
Mwah. Mwah. Mwah! The triplets were busy planting kisses all over Ivyn’s cheeks.
“Ugh, ugh… St-stop it!”
As Ivyn struggled to fend off the onslaught of kisses, Ron’s voice rang out.
“Brothers, now is not the time to be acting like this. Didn’t Father tell you to return immediately once we rescue Vin?”
Ron called out to the triplets, spotting a flash of white light on the horizon.
“Why? It would be awesome to wipe out all those bastards while we’re at it!”
“Who wouldn’t want that? But if we disobey orders and act on our own…”
Then, at that moment,
Bang! A tremendous explosion erupted on the horizon.
Doting brothers?? I’m sold!
