Alexia

Now it was past the time I was supposed to be back at dorms. I found a couple of bandits around but all of them look like your everyday bandit.

I'm looking for a cultish-looking bandit who would maybe get Shadow Garden's attention. I really wish it wasn't a maybe, but there are things you gotta do for your siblings.

Then I sensed a huge source of magic northeast so I headed in that direction. The magic source was certainly large but not as big as my sister's.

Then I saw the source... or sources. It was a group of obviously bad guys in an obviously bad place. Bad guys really have to work on their hideouts.

I counted about four men, two in black robes lined with gold with masks on, one in a purple suit with matching pants that matched his hair, and one in a huge expensive-looking armor set which meant these guys were no ordinary bandits, since most of them only steal when they're poor.

If I had to bet, the guy in the suit was their boss. Why him and not the guy in the expensive armor set? Well because I think guys that look flawless on the outside are more evil on the inside.

The guy with the expensive-looking armor set obviously shows that they don't have faith in their defense. And the other two guys look like plebian villains that you could kill easily so you could rule them out as boss material.

The guy in the suit had purple hair that was tied back into a ponytail. He had very a sculpted face and you could probably think he was a high-ranking noble. His eyes were red which matched the tie he was wearing.

For a bad guy, possibly a cult member, He looked pretty good. I concealed my presence as best as I could and stood on top of the building they were in which looked like it could collapse at any second so I could listen in.

"Rally up about 100 disposable Cult members by next week." Said the man in the purple suit. His voice was unusually smooth. I could see him being popular with most ladies. Fortunately, I'm not like most ladies.

At least now I know they're cult members now. I could've been stalking random bandits that looked fancy.

"This should take a big hit on Shadow Garden's reputation." Said the guy in the armor set.

His voice was being distorted by his metal helmet that covered his whole face, so I couldn't identify him by his voice or face. I guess they are trying to frame Shadow Garden for something.

"They already took a big hit when that fool Lutheran attacked the academy." The guy in the purple suit scowled when he said the vice principal's name.

Wait, vice principal? He was the one who attacked the academy?

I was told Shadow Garden attacked the academy but after I heard Princess Rose's side of the story I didn't believe it.

Now that I think about it, it all makes sense now. Shadow would kill a random old man for no reason. The vice principal was looking after Sherry's artifact research which was later found with a magic-stealing artifact on his dead body so he must've been the one who sealed away everyone's magic.

And since they were impersonating Shadow Garden I'm sure that's why the real one showed up.

These are more things I should tell my sis if my plan goes correctly, As it obviously should.

Now it's time for phase two.

I dropped down from the building, Thank God it didn't creak, and ran about 100 meters away. Then I stopped concealing my mana and then started approaching again.

I'm trying to make it seem like I just so happened to find them when I was out on a walk.

I kicked down the door and confronted the Cultists.

"Who are you people and what are you guys doing?" I said in a demanding tone.

They just stood in silence and exchanged glances at each other. It was kind of an awkward situation for me but anyway.

"Ah Princess Alexia, what brings you back here?" Said the fancy man

"What do you mean 'back here'?"

"You were on the roof just now, were you not? Anyways this is a perfect opportunity."

They already knew I was on the roof? This isn't looking good so far but I don't sense any murderous intent for now.

"Perfect opportunity for what?" I asked.

"For Lord Kaisel to be promoted to the knights of rounds!" Said a plebian villain.

'Knights of Rounds' huh? I heard Zenon talking about the same thing. What is so special about that order anyway?

Zenon was after my blood and chance are, this guy is too. The perfect opportunity this guy was probably talking about might be getting my blood for a promotion. Sounds like a shady business for sure.

"Anyways Princess Alexia I advise you to come with us without resisting and we'll guarantee your safety."

I obviously (don't) want to go with them but if I don't resist it'll look suspicious.

"It's my duty as the Princess of Midgar to protect my country." I'm not that noble so I had to use a quote from my sister. "I'll be taking you guys in."

So first things first; One, I didn't stand a chance. Kaisel stood still while he had the minions attack. The plebian villains lived up to their name as plebian villains. It wasn't hard for me to take them down.

But the hard part was taking down this armored guy. You'd think it'd be hard for him to move around in that huge chunk of armor, but I could barely defend against him.

And he's not just fast but he's strong too. I seriously don't know how this shabby building is holding up.

Even when I block his attacks, I get sent flying. I'm glad this place was overrun with vines or I might've gotten a broken bone or two.

I managed to parry one of his attacks which allowed me to get a good strike on his chest. I poured a lot of my magic into my sword and swung at him. This guy's defense was crazy since it didn't leave a single scratch.

Maybe I'm starting to think this is not such a great idea.

But my goal here isn't to win and that Kaisel guy is definitely stronger than this guy so even if I won, I wouldn't beat that guy.

I focused all my magic on defense and waited for him to attack. When I was training with Poochi I realized he was good at minimizing his damage. I guess you'd learn that naturally if you get beat up all the time.

When we clashed swords, I shifted my balance slightly back by raising my right foot, and slightly to the right. Our swords started to rise which left this armored guy for a perfect counter.

My sword was now off of his and now mine was above my head. I was shaped in a perfect slant and completely unable to counter-attack.

I focused all my magic on protecting my stomach which I did perfectly in time. If I did it just a fraction of a second earlier, my ribcage would've been absolutely destroyed.

I still flew back into the wall and my consciousness was fading.

"You're lucky she decided to defend herself," I heard Kaisel say. "If she hadn't, she would've died and we wouldn't be able to extract as much blood from her."

"I-It's okay she isn't dead."

"Try that again and it's your ribcage I'm shattering."

"Y-Yes sir." And with that, I fell unconscious.

I woke up in a cell. This is similar to what happened with Zenon, But the only differences were that the cell was much more maintained, and I didn't have a friendly-not-so-friendly cellmate this time.

I was chained up in magic-sealing chains. Now my only hope of escape was to wait for someone else to come. A princess getting kidnapped (again) would be sure to catch people's attention.

Shadow Garden is pretty smart I think so they should figure out it was the cult who kidnapped me. Now I just gotta suck it up for a couple of days while they extract my blood.

Hopefully, the food will be better this time.

After lying down and doing absolutely nothing, (what else am I supposed to do?) Kaisel came in with a platter of food.

It was good food for a hostage. Beef, bread, and raisins. It's a weird food choice but I'm not complaining.

"Hello there, Princess Alexia."

"Nice to meet you," I said sarcastically, or did I? To be honest I don't know if this plan was good or bad.

Kaisel set a chair right next to my bed. He propped the food up on a portable table and set it on my lap.

"Weird choice of food isn't it? It helps you get your blood back faster."

"So I'm assuming you will be taking my blood?"

"Yes, I'm glad I don't have to spell it out for you." He pulled out a syringe. Then I realized this plan went from bad to worse. The syringe was massive.

"Why do you have to use that huge of a syringe? Wouldn't it be easier to take smaller amounts more frequently?"

"Princess Alexia, I'm sure you've been kidnapped by Zenon before, right? We can't take too much time before people show up."

"So Shadow Garden is on your tail is that what you're saying?"

"Quick to catch on are we? Anyways if I complete this research I'll be surely instigated in the Knights of Rounds."

He stuck the massive syringe in my arm and started extracting my blood. He didn't fully pull it back when he took it out. He stuck it in my other arm and then went on to extract blood from my legs.

I started to feel light-headed. Kaisel started to spoon-feed me the food. At least his feeding wasn't as sloppy as that sickly scientist. This was by far, my favorite kidnapping, excluding the part about the massive syringe.

Before he was done feeding me, I had already passed out due to blood loss. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a seven on the kidnapping scale. The bed I was on was quite comfy, the food was edible and the place didn't have bugs crawling all over the place.

I awoke to Kaisel banging on the wall

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, DAMN IT."

You would think a handsome man wouldn't look that bad when he was angry but this man went down from handsome to insane looking. He had bloodshot eyes, his face was contorted, and his hair which was in a ponytail came undone and was now a mess.

He looked over and saw that I was awake

"Oh, so you're awake that's perfect. I don't know how these monsters got here so fast but maybe my plan can be salvaged."

He rushed over to a nearby table where the huge syringe was on. He started speaking to himself while coming over to me.

"I'm not going to let some pesky organization get in my way, or the cult's way again." He started gritting his teeth violently.

Based on what he said, I concluded that part one of my brilliant plan worked and Shadow Garden was here which was quicker than I thought.

I felt the building (or wherever we are) was shaking. The was dust coming down from the ceiling.

"Damn it! Why is this happening right when I'm about to get promoted?" He sounded like a knight that got surrounded by a bunch of powerful magic beasts.

"I just need your blood and then I'll get out of here. Yes, everything will be alright." He tried to reassure himself.

He got on top of me and stuck the syringe in my arm. Honestly, if anybody walked in right now he would look like one big fat insane pervert.

Before the syringe started taking my blood, the wall in front of us got destroyed and the bricks flew at us. Fortunately, none of them hit me. Unfortunately, none of them hit Mr. Pervert.

"Ha ha! Delta smell the princess from over here!"

I recognized that voice, it meant I was doomed.

The dust from the rubble cleared up and I saw two figures, one man and one woman.

"Boss since I found the princess will you give me pats?"

"Uh..Okay."

It was the beastkin girl I saw at the sanctuary. That lowered my chances of survival by approximately 100%. Then my chances of survival went all the way up to 100% when I saw who was with her. It was none other than Shadow himself.

The girl who was brutally slaughtering an old guy at the sanctuary was wrapped around Shadow like a playful puppy.

"Shadow!" I said like this was not a part of my plan.

"Why does she always get kidnapped?" Shadow said under his breath which he thought I couldn't hear.

"Damn it why are you here!"

"We are Shadow Garden. We lurk in the shadows and hunt the shadows."

"That doesn't explain anything!" Kaisel reached into his suit pocket and took out the same red pills Zenon did. He grabbed some and threw it in his mouth.

His magic power started exploding as his body started to grow.

"Wow, Boss look! His muscles are growing!" Delta said like an excited little girl.

"I'm not risking anything. I'm going to kill you right now!" Kaisel said as he lunged at Shadow.

Shadow stood still as Kaisel approached, not moving a single inch.

"AAAHH-" Kaisel got punched in the face by Delta. He flew back and hit the wall. The ceiling started coming down. Some falling rubble almost hit me but Shadow protected me.

"T-Thanks."

Shadow didn't reply to me and just looked away. How rude, I just showed my gratitude and I didn't get anything in response, not even a 'Your welcome'

"Delta you deal with that guy, leave him alive so Alpha can question him. I'll take the Princess back up."

Shadow broke my chains and held me with one hand under my knees and one hand supporting my neck. Jeez, I could walk myself and I certainly don't want some edgy guy holding me. He could potentially be a dusty old man holding me.

Shadow set me down by a nearby wall and created a wide pole out of the black material he was using. He threw it directly up with amazing force creating an exit just like that.

He picked me back up and jumped out of the hole he just made which was at least 100 meters down.

It was bright and sunny outside. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. It would've been a perfect day for shopping but it's kind of hard to do that when you were kidnapped.

Shadow placed me under the shade of a tree. It was time for part two of the brilliant plan I never doubted. Getting Shadow to train me.

But how am I going to do that anyway?