Chapter 21: Assassin: Part 2

The bullet penetrated Stultus' armor and struck his chest as Ruby yelled. "STULTUS!"

Ruby and Cask enter the river as Stultus fell down to the streambed of the river as Princess Charlotte scream in horror before Cask shouted. "STULTUS!"

Cask jump off of her horse and went to Stultus as she shouted and hold his body. "Stultus! Are you okay?! Hang in there!"

Princess Charlotte look on in horror before Ruby ask her as she grab both of her arms. "HEY! Princess! What happened?! Where did the bullet came from!?"

"I don't know! That hurt! let's go!" Princess Charlotte told Ruby, which she immediately let go of and look at Cask and few of the others checking Stultus' condition.

"Not good... the bullet might've gone through his heart." Edward said as he look at where the bullet struck.

"NO, It can't be!" Cask shouted. Ruby then check the area of where the assassin and see that there was no one there in the thick forest and can't heard anything due to the sound of the forest and nature itself blocking out any quiet footstep, which trick her off. The sniper, who was hidden behind a tree, smirk at himself as he remained silent.

'That lead-made bullet is covered with carabal posion.' The hidden sniper thought as he peak from behind the tree he was hiding behind and due to his semblance, he is invisible to the naked eye. 'All it take is a little scratch.'

"How did this-!" Cask shouted before she was interrupted by someone who put his right hand on Cask' right cheek.

"You're so loud..." Stultus said, which the sniper quickly notice.

"Stultus!" Ruby yelled as everyone were amazed and the hidden sniper was shock that he survived from his bullet before Ruby asked Stultus in a concern tone of voice. "That bullet... are you alright?!"

Stultus then reach down into his chest armor and pull out the bullet before Edward ask as everyone look at it. "Is that...?"

"A lead-made bullet covered with a type of posion." Stultus told them as he smirk to himself. "A deadly one at that."

"How did you...?" Cask asked.

"Because of this." Stultus told her as he pull out his necklace of Hope Diamond. "This acted as my shield."

'Hope Diamond...' Ruby thought as she look at the necklace as Steve help Princess Charlotte down from her horse as everyone begin speaking.

"That necklace you wear all the time?"

"Is it really true?!"

"NO WAY!"

"Is there such a thing?!"

"It's a miracle!"

"Wow, Stultus has a life saving luck charm." Fido said.

"This is like his lucky charm."

'Life-saving luck.' Ruby thought to herself and realized something as she continue to look at Hope Diamond. 'Yes... it's more than luck.'

The hidden sniper then silently sneak away as he still having his semblance on while they were districted by it. That was when Cask told Stultus. "Stultus, take off your armor. Let's see if there are other wounds."

"It's alright-"

"It's not!" Cask yelled. Everyone look at them, mostly Cask, with varied blank expressions on their faces as Cask talk to Stultus with corcern in her voice and on her face. "It was coated with posion. It might seep through a small scratch."

Stultus sigh as he smile before he told Cask. "It's ok, I don't have any scratches."

"But...!"

"I..." Princess Charlotte spoke, which cause everyone to look at her as she spoke to Stultus as she crying with tears running on her face. "I apologize. If I had not lost control of my horse, this would have not happen."

"No need to apologize, your safety is our priority." Stultus told Princess Charlotte. Cask look at the princess as she wrap away her tears. That was when the soldiers start speaking to each other.

"Who did it...? He or she tried to kill our leader!"

"We have to kill him or her!"

"But it could be he was aiming for the princess?"

"It still unforgivable!"

Ruby listen to them and their conversation before she told Stultus.

"I'll take my guys and search around this area far and wide." Ruby told him before she order Fido. "Fido, let's go."

"Ok, boss." Fido said to her. That was when Stultus notice that General Julius was walking away on his horse and decide to active his semblance as his eyes glare as it pierce at General Julias, which he flinch in fear before he walk away.

"Expensive stuff, too.. eh?" Stultus said to himself, which Cask notice, as he spoke while he was smirking. "This posion..."

Later... Walesman Castle...

"HOW'S THAT POSSIBLE?!" General Julias shouted in anger at his sniper as he threw his glass to the floor of his room of smiply of how he failed his assassination attempt.

"Please forgive me... I-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR EXCUSES!" General Julias shouted at him in anger before he spoke to himself. "I'll say that an assassin tried to kill the princess. So no one will suspect us. But now Stultus is a hero for saving the princess. Everyone is calling him a hero... even his majesty himself! We ended up helping him gain more fame! It's such a fuck up story!"

"But if we say it was aimed at the princess, so he use his own body to save her. The bullet hit Stultus right in the heart." His sniper said to him.

"So you'd tell the king you were aiming for Stultus?! What matters if Stultus lived?! Enough! Leave me!" General Julius order his sniper, which he left hastly through the door. Julius then sit down on his chair and look at the ceiling as he remember the look of Stultus when he first met him as his smile was taunting him as he thought and spoke to himself. 'That look... as if his eyes were crushing me! As if he were looking down upon me!' "Ridiculous...! I'm the heir to the Thone of Vytal Island! My status is as far above his sky is above the flithy earth!"

Then... he remember the hunt when Stultus glare at him. "But at the hunt, he stared at me like a eagle stares at it's prey!"

Julius then realized about something and briefly panic about it as he try to reassure himself. "... Maybe... No, of course not. There were many people... probably just nothing. Beside, he has no proof... No, of course not..."

Meanwhile... somewhere else...

As the sun was setting, Ruby was climbing until she was at the door and go through it. There, Stultus was copying and was typing away on his scroll in the liberary before he notice Ruby. "Hey, sorry for asking you to come this late. I'm almost done, let me finish this."

Ruby look around the liberary and the big amount of books in the room before she ask him. "More books... you have to read them all?"

Umm. Pretty much. It's not just fighting anymore, the higher you go up..." Stultus told Ruby as he explain. "But half of it is because i'm actually interested in them too. History, Religion, Art of War, Science... there are even some strange ones like make up, cooking, etc..."

Ruby was kinda of how he explaining before he show her in this one book called Kama Sutra as he told her. "And some like this. I'll let you borrow it."

While Ruby was looking through the book, she ask Stultus a question. "So what did you want, really?"

Stultus then turn to look at Ruby. "I think that a certain person from this kingdom... want to kill me."

Ruby was silent of what he just said.

A/N: Ehhh, i'm not exactly happy with this chapter. But happy, bad can be good, right? Well, sometimes, but i'm just happy that this chapter was easy to type. I mean, there like... two more of this parter.