Izzy waltzed right into the room without even knocking but it was better than just appearing right next to the person he wanted to speak to. He saw the doctor in his seat while reading some medicine book. "Joe, I need to talk to you" the wizard told him sternly. "This is of a rather urgent matter."
Joe looked up at him past his thick lens with an emotionless expression and shut the book. "I would think so; you're not usually this rude. What is it that you want? I didn't see you or anyone get wounded by that warlock."
"I want to know if you have anything to do with it."
Joe simply stared back at him to show that he had absolutely no idea what the redhead was talking about. The doctor had to remind himself every time that the wizard was many years older than him despite the fact that he was looked so much younger than him, if he didn't remind himself then he would end up talking to him like he was an ordinary teenager from the village.
Joe returned the book in his shelf and turned to the wizard so that they could converse properly. "What you lack in communication skills you make up for in magic I see."
"Did you or did you not release Ken from his seal?" Izzy asked. If there was one thing he could not stand, it was people testing his patience.
And if there was one thing that Joe did not like, it was being accused of something without factual evidence. "What are you saying?" he retorted, eyes narrowed.
"You know of your lineage as well as I do. You're a descendant of the great wizard, Merlin, making you one of the few capable of undoing the seal. Don't think that I am unaware of such facts."
Joe sighed. "What would I have to gain for releasing an evil wizard out on the village?"
"What did your brother have to gain when he made that deal with him?" Izzy shot back. Joe didn't like anyone talking about his brother but he waited patiently and allowed the wizard to continue. "Jim betrayed the village and tried to kill us all. As his punishment, he was publicly executed by the royal family while the villagers cheered for his downfall. It is possible that you undid Ken's seal for the sake of revenge."
"…There are many flaws with your theory which is most unusual considering your exceptional detective skills" Joe muttered after a few seconds of silence. "First, I do not know how to utilize my magic abilities except for healing magic. Second, my brother had what was coming to him. And I do not like his name being spoken; he was just scum on the Earth for what he did."
This was infuriating to Izzy who grabbed the taller man by his collar. "He is your brother! Do you even know how I had live? Without my entire family?"
Joe glared back at him. "You're right, he is my brother but he is also dead! You know who your family is and you know they are alive. You see them every day but you are unable to interact with them and only I know why." His angry tone simmered down into a calm but threatening one. "Would you like me to tell the entire village about it?"
Izzy's grip loosened and he dropped the bespectacled man. "How did you know about that?" he asked, he almost sounded scared.
"My father told me, he figured it may become useful to me one day and surprise, surprise, he was right" Joe laughed. "Now I don't want to hear you running around giving everyone false accusations so run along until you catch the true culprit." He slowly returned to his work with a smile as Izzy turned away and walked out.
-X-
Everywhere they went, they seemed to be looked upon with great esteem. It felt kind of embarrassing for the prince but he was rather used to it by now. Usually, members of nobility would be in their personal horse-drawn carriages but the prince would much rather walk amongst his people. Now if only the people would actually walk amongst him rather than stare in awe.
"Prince TK, you know, you don't have to come with me to go shopping" his knight told him for the third time this trip.
"I told you I wanted to come, Noriko" TK replied. "Besides, you're always working so hard, I figured I could help you out this time around."
Noriko thanked him with a respectful bow. "You're much too kind sir." She turned back around and the prince could see both of her swords on her back, the hilts of both blades leaning to one of her shoulders. She was probably the only knight in his court that could match up to master Cody.
They both turned when they heard a familiar voice call out to them. "Prince Cody, Lady Noriko, it's quite a surprise to run into the two of you here in the village."
"Princess Mimi?" the two of them said simultaneously. The brunette royal came over to them with her beautiful smile and welcoming expression. "I'm more surprised to see you here rather than in your castle" TK replied.
"Well, I just came to see my wonderful Michael" Mimi giggled. Then she pointed to a familiar, pink-colored carriage. "Besides, I came in my royal carriage." TK and Noriko felt embarrassed for not noticing it earlier, they just walked right on past it.
At that moment, the merchant came out to greet them with his signature smile. "Well, greetings Prince TK, it is an honor to have two of the highest members of nobility to be at my store. What can I do for you?"
"Isn't he so sweet?" Mimi gushed.
"Um, Mimi, I thought you wanted to marry a member of nobility" Noriko reminded the princess. "You even said that you were going to find your prince at the ball tonight. Besides, I thought you and Michael decided to break it off a month ago."
"Yeah but we're still friends, it was a mutual break-up and even though we still like each other a little, it doesn't mean I can't search for an even better and handsomer prince at the ball!" the princess mused.
"I can't believe he's actually with her saying all of that in public" TK muttered under his breath.
The princess didn't hear it and neither did the merchant. "Speaking of 'princes', how is your brother doing TK? Has he still not found the 'right' girl or did he just give up on love thinking that it was just going to be hopeless?"
TK shrugged. "Probably both."
"It's such a shame, he is so handsome too" Mimi sighed. She then turned over to the only other female in the group. "What about you Noriko, have you found your prince yet?" Mimi tilted her head to the side when noticed that Noriko was looking off to their right and completely ignoring their conversation. "Um, Noriko?" The raven-haired knight suddenly brought both her hands to her shoulder and drew her swords. "Okay, I won't ask!"
"My prince and Princess Mimi; please stand back" Noriko told them.
The two complied when they heard a huge explosion. Noriko ran off in the direction of the sound and Michael ushered both royals into his store, away from the commotion outside and hopefully to safety.
"I have to go help her" TK muttered as he reached for his sword.
Michael stopped him by grabbing his shoulder. "I'm sorry Prince TK but I cannot allow you to go out there and fight, it is much too risky. It may be that warlock on the rampage again, it's better if we all stay in here for the time being."
"Michael's right" Mimi nodded. She was hiding behind the merchant, afraid of what might come if they followed the Noriko. "Let the knight do her job which is protecting you and at the current moment, us."
TK was just about to protest when he saw a girl outside the store; she was looking towards the fire before running away. When she turned away, he saw her brown locks flutter away to reveal a familiar, pretty face. "It can't be…" he whispered as he ran out of the store in a rush.
"Wait, where are you going?" Michael called after him.
There was no reply as TK was already too far to actually hear the merchant anymore. The prince just kept running, chasing after the young maiden that he had seen. "Miss, please, wait!"
The girl finally stopped, seemingly to have recognized his voice which was reasonable considering he was if the highest nobility in this kingdom. When she turned around and met eyes with him, it was like a rush of the azure blue sky meeting with the amber glow of a glorious sunset. "Prince TK? What are you doing out here? It's dangerous" she told him, her voice ringing like bells to his ears.
But she was right; this was no time to be allowing his own desires distract him from what was really going on. "Then we should go to a place where we can hide out until the danger passes" TK suggested. "Besides, I have something of the utmost importance I must ask of you."
She didn't know what a prince would want to do with her but she knew she didn't have much time. "I have to go back to my mistress, Duchess Yolei is not exactly a reasonable lady" Kari protested. "I'm sorry, but perhaps we may speak some other time."
"Duchess Yolei, does this mean you will be attending the ball my father is throwing?" She nodded in response. "Then please, come and find me there, I wish to speak to you my lady."
Another explosion could be heard and seen not too far from where they were standing, flying debris and pebbles landing around and over them but neither seemed to care as they stared at each other. "Maybe, I might…" she finally replied. "Now I must go." She fled in another direction and TK stood still for a few more seconds before finding a safe place to hide away.
-X-
Noriko could hear blades clashing into each other and the scent of blood wafted towards her and she felt as if she could slice right through the thick smoke in front of her. When she leapt into the scene with both of her blades in front of her, she was met with the knight Cody from the same court as her facing off against the warlock Ken who was holding a knife made of some sort of dark energy.
"It's such a pity, you're using something so long to fight against me but I have such a puny weapon" Ken laughed hysterically. "And yet, I'm coming off clean while you're forced to hold your sword arm."
Noriko's eyes were drawn to Cody's right arm, the one he used to wield his sword and noticed how mutilated it appeared. He was holding on to it tightly with his left arm while trying to keep his blade level. "Cody…"
"Noriko, get away from here, you won't stand a chance against this guy" Cody commanded of her.
Usually, the female knight would follow her superior's orders but this time was an exception in her book. "I'm afraid I cannot do that sir. It looks to me that in your condition, I stand a better chance against fighting the warlock than you do."
"Bold words coming from a woman" Ken chuckled. "Times surely have changed; I remember the day I was first born. All the women of the village were pretty much slaves to me unless they were able to please me in certain ways."
"You're pretty sick, you know that?"
Noriko charged in and swiftly made a feint as her first move, swinging her right sword but then pulling it back and stabbing with her left. Unfortunately for her, Ken foresaw this tactic and evaporated into a dense black smoke when the sword made contact with his body. He reappeared behind her, a couple of meters away and tossed three knives at her to which she countered with ease.
"Noriko, keep your eyes on both your opponent and those knives that just fell to the floor" Cody warned her. "He can still move them even when he is not near them." To prove his point, he pulled out one of those knives out of his wounded arm and threw it to the ground as he tried to bandage it.
"You need to go see the village doctor" Noriko told him offhandedly.
"The knives!"
She reacted quickly and deflected the knives that came in from three different directions once more.
"I admit, you're not bad, but you're going to have to do better than that." He began waving the knife in his hand around and when he swung it downwards, it seemed to extend and flex like a whip, from all over, it began to grow thorns, creating a spiked whip.
Noriko swore under her breath and dodged it quickly but while she was in midair, she was unable to protect herself from the knives coming at her once more. Thankfully, Cody came in and deflected the projectiles with his blade using his good arm.
"What are you doing, you should go and see Joe!" Noriko shouted at him.
He shook his head. "It won't do any good; there is some sort of magic poison that was in those knives. That was why I protected you. I don't think even a renowned medical wizard like Joe can heal it now. So I'll just have to go down fighting."
"That's insane; you've got to at least try!"
He pretended not to hear her as he stared down his opponent. If it was for intimidation, then it wasn't very effective with his useless arm hanging limply by his side. "You're not going to actually fight me like that are you? You must really want to die."
As emotionless as ever, Cody didn't respond and instead, he just charged in once more. Ken was fully prepared to block the blade with his knife if his foe was going to use it, which he didn't. The knight stopped short from a hair's breadth away from the tip of the knife and threw a damp and bloody cloth into the warlock's eyes. Ken jolted backwards and he pulled out the cloth but he was having trouble blinking away the blood.
With the time it took for Ken to wipe away the blood from his eyes, it was enough for the knight to stab his sword right through the warlock's heart. "I may have a code of honor but it means nothing if death is upon me" Cody said to him. "I'd rather take down my opponent with me than let him do more destruction." He slid the sword back out of his opponent and took a few steps back as if to admire his victory.
The dark wizard collapsed to his knees as he held both hands over the wound on his heart, his knife on the ground beside him. "You're not bad" Ken admitted as he coughed up blood. "I never would've believed that a knight of the king's court would resort to dirty tricks like that. But let me tell you this, there is still a chance for you to survive my poison, that is, if that village doctor is competent enough to know the only cure."
Noriko walked over to them and held one of her blades at Ken's neck while sheathing the other one. "Although I will need a direct order from the king, I'm sure his judgment will be the same as anyone else's in the kingdom. Execution! So, you better be prepared."
Ken chuckled darkly. "Sorry, but it won't be the end of me just yet. And besides, I don't think everyone in the kingdom will agree to that. There is someone in this kingdom who undid my seal…"
The two knights were not that surprised by it since they were told by the wizard Izzy that it was too strong a seal for anyone to break out of. "Then who freed you?" Cody asked. "And what is their motive?"
Ken's soft chuckle began to rise into one of maniac laughter. "As if I'm going to tell the likes of you! Sorry, but this is all confidential between me and my client."
"So this person needs you for something? What?"
"Like I said, my lips are sealed."
Noriko slit open his left cheek with her blade but he didn't even flinch. "That will be your neck next time if you don't answer our questions. Remember that we're the ones holding you captive now so you better just answer us."
The warlock only smiled and then he seemed to evaporate again into a black cloud of smoke, the two knights didn't even have a chance to do anything to stop him. He reappeared on the roof of one of the village houses.
"We'll talk some other time, perhaps over a cup of your blood rather than mine" he grinned. "For now, I've got to go get fixed up and Sir Cody, I expect for from you next time. I bid the two of you, adieu!" A black portal of some sort opened up from underneath him and he sunk in with the same emotionless smile plastered on his face.
Cody bit his lower lip and he sheathed his sword. "He got away again…"
"That's not important" Noriko stated. "For now, we need to get that poison out of your system and see to it that the princess and prince are - !"
She was cut off by a scream coming from where the marketplace was. The two knights didn't even take a second to waste as they ran off in that direction. They stopped and stared in horror at the sight of a pool of blood forming from underneath an unmoving body. The form of the princess was on her knees nearby, her face in her hands as she was crying.
Noriko approached the princess and knelt down beside her. "Princess Mimi, what happened?"
Mimi didn't say anything so Cody simply walked over and stared at the dead body before them. The male knight could see a knife made of Ken's black energy sticking out of his back. Cody slowly turned the body around and they simply stared at the face of the immobile victim."Michael is dead…"