Level 0 Master

* * *

The day after the strategy meeting Ereka was spending a fruitful day.

Worked on the state affairs, trained herself to get ready for the battle.

And she prepared meals and bedding for Sungjin.

What should I make for dinner for Sungjin.

She told herself an excuse while wondering what would be the perfect dinner to please Sungjin.

The destiny of the kingdom is on Sungjin's Strategy.

Keeping his best condition was to show him her gratitude and also was for her kingdom

Not because… she just wanted him to like her

She was talking to herself and again was about to burn her pot when a man approached her.

"Your Highness."

"What is it?"

She didn't know the servant but she answered with a kind smile.

"This is… from the blood ruler."

Said the servant and handed a wind spirit stone that would send not only the voice but also a video.

"the blood ruler? What is is about."

"I do not know your highness. I just got the order to hand it to you, your highness."

"Ok. You can leave now."

Ereka looked at the spirit wind stone with a drawn face.

I don't want to deal with it… but I can't lose the psychological war.

She activated the stone and the face of the blood ruler Riad appeared.

"What do you have to talk about now?"

"I met the guy last time. Not we should talk."

"Now what we should do is seeing each other for the battle."

"Hahaha. Don't you want to have a chat as sisters? I came to the Brin mountain behind the castle."

"A chat as sisters? That was over when you ignored the rulership of the late king and sacrificed people for the magical sword."

"Really? I brought some entertainment for you. If you are not coming, I will enjoy it by myself."

"And entertainment…!"

The video zoomed out to show around Riad.

There were 30 children tied up with ropes. They all looked like to be seven or eight years old. Swept by ropes, they were covered with scratches.

"What is this."

"I told you this is entertainment. I will do a hide-and-seek. That supposed to be a popular play among children."

"Hide and seek…"

Ereka's hair bristled up. The blood ruler wouldn't play such a children's play. She felt there was something terrifying coming,

"Ok, I will count to ten. And then catch one and then count to ten to catch another. If you want to join, come over."

Said the blood ruler, pulling out her huge sword.

"Now run."

The sword swung to cut the ropes. Frozen with fear children couldn't move. The blood ruler showed a cruel smile and started to count to ten.

And then…

"Stop!"

Knew what's next and shouted Ereka.

Zing.

She cut one's head off and blood spurted out. The huge sword pulled the blood and absorbed it.

"Ahahah… boo-hoo.!"

The children started crying and ran over all directions.

"One, two…"

The blood ruler started counting again.

Bang!

With a loud sound of an explosion, the kitchen door blew up. In a second the princess was in armor and ran with the maximum speed using her heroic power.

She had no time to tell others.

She didn't have time.

She had to be there as soon as possible to save the children.

Ereka arrived at the peak of the Brin mountain.

She had to witness the bloody madness.

A body without a head, a body cut in half, a body without arms and legs, all kinds of dead bodies were rolling around.

They were all children.

The lives who never even had a chance to live a life.

They were too young to die.

If there were no evil and violence, they were lives that were giving hope and happiness to families.

They were lives with endless possibilities.

Maybe they were meant to live a normal life, but this was not a way to end such lives.

The faces of bodies with fear and pain were showing how they were killed.

Only if… I was able to make it… earlier…

Ereka grabbed her spear firmly. Her heroic power from anger made wind ruffled her blond hair.

"You are late. We were almost done."

Almost?

She looked around.

In the middle of this bloody madness where she couldn't protect children from slaughter, there was a child still alive. The tiny child was frozen with fear and rolled up his body without moving.

At least this child.

It was too late, but she thought she could save this one.

Ereka stood in front of the child and pointed her spear to the blood ruler.

"Ho. Will you finish up? Ok. As a sister, I will give it to you."

"Bullshit!"

Shouted with anger, Ereka talked to herself.

I need to take this child to the castle to save this child…

The good thing was, it was forbidden to have a fight outside of the battlefield between heroes. Even if the blood ruler was much stronger, she couldn't attack the princess.

Ereka took her shield to her left hand and hold the child with one hand.

"I was being generous. It seems like I need to finish this."

The blood ruler's sword sliced the air.

"Blood needle."

The next moment, blood from dead bodies on the ground became few hundreds of needles and shot up from the ground.

They all looked like needles but each one of them contained destructive spear power.

Ereka didn't hesitate but protected the child with her whole body.

Ta ta ta tak.

Needles stroke her body, but Ereka held the child stronger.

"Baw."

The child finally got the facial expression back and started crying.

The child thought there was hope to be saved and refound the emotion.

"It's ok. I will protect you."

Ereka promised and started to run with the child in her arms.

"Hut. Still so naive."

"I'm not listening."

When Ereka answered, the child suddenly showed pain.

"Ah…ahah…"

"What's wrong?"

Ereka couldn't understand because she took all the blood needles with her body.

"Bloody Bomb."

The next moment, the child held the chest. And then the child exploited.

Pitter-patter.

Blood storm covered Ereka while scattered flash hit her. Her body became red with blood, and flash rained on her air.

"Hahaha. The kid was already dead."

Riad's laughter echoed around Ereka's ears.

Ereka's anger stopped her thinking.

Bam.

Heroic power spread out from Ereka's body. The air swirled and her blond hair shined like a lion's mane. Blood and stain from her body evaporated.

"I won't forgive you!"

Powered by the death cry of the child who had a bloody death, the knight princess powered up

Her spear went toward the blood ruler.

I can't forgive her.

She broke down everything my father protected.

I can't forgive this tyrant.

She killed too many people for her power and beauty,

I can't keep this witch

She killed poor children for her entertainment.

The blood ruler raised her arm to take the spear.

It was a crash of a second, but the power dented the ground.

"Ah haha. Thank you for attacking me."

Said Riad, stepping back from her.

Oops.

The next moment Ereka realized her mistake.

A clash outside of the battlefield was not just a fight. Especially when the clash was caused by the head of an army.

"Now you declared your intention to attack, I accept this challenge and to take this into the battlefield! It is a fight between two kings, I accept your challenge with everything of my kingdom!"

The shout of Riad became letters in the air and blew away to the sky.

"Chuckle…"

Ereka started to shake her hand.

She just declared war by her action. On the next battle day, she had to head to the battlefield. If not, that would be a defeat by decision. Sungjin told her it has to be on the defense side, but she just ruined it.

"hahaha. That is why you are naive."

Said Riad cruelly, but Ereka couldn't answer.

It was a clear trap, and she couldn't control her anger. She forgot that If they initiate the attack and fail, no one can be saved.

Ahah…

In this world, it was to save a child would be ridiculed as an excuse.

The blood ruler didn't initiate the attack. Life of the extras was in the Lord's hand. She just did what she wanted to do to her objects and Ereka interrupted her. And then attacked her to show the hostility.

That was a declaration of war.

Ahh… ahahah…

She had to stop the tyranny of the blood ruler.

She had to save the poor child.

But that was just her hope and dream. She had no way to make it while failed to control her anger to ruin everything. That was not a proper act of a king.

And now…

Today's massacre will…

Spread all around this kingdom.

It was her wrongdoing that caused the massacre.

It was her incompetence that didn't save children dying in front of her.

Maybe… that could be forgiven… considered to be the limit as a human.

But…

She was about to kill more people with her mistake.

"To celebrate the final battle between sister, I will give you a great present!"

The blood ruler shouted holding her magical sword up in the air.

Ereka couldn't hear the name of the sword. The blood power that has already become a torrent of heroic power and hit her eardrum.

Ereka saw endless despair.

Every single thread of blood power contained power as violent as a flood that swipes up everything around it.

The ground split with blood torrent.

A rock split into two pieces and drop into the crack on the ground.

A cliff broke down and the ground changed the shape.

A human-caused avalanche.

There was not even a trace of trees.

There was nothing that could stand between tangling blood torrents.

That was an absolute power that refused any resistance.

Awaken the blood ruler who sacrificed everyone was the fear itself.

It was not a surprise that the three knights fell down with one blow.

One level 6 knight alone was like a military unit.

But this torrent was something that can swipe a few units away. It was a natural, no human-made disaster.

After the torrent was gone, the peak that was there had disappeared. There was a destroyed crater instead.

Ereka's couldn't stand on her feet. She lost her power to stand.

This is the ultimate skill of the blood ruler

She felt it was impossible. It was impossible

This wouldn't be a winning battle.

Even if it was a defense battle, they had no chance.

It was impossible even to Sungjin.

"Suffer more with despair until the battle day."

Riad cursed her.

Hut. This means my victory.

The survivor of the fittest. Sungjin or Ereka who wanted to save the weak had no chance in front of her.

She realized it earlier when she was kidnapped.

The wizard who kidnapped her and other kids to awake the magical sword looked them all in a dungeon.

The wizard gave less and less food from the ceiling to make them fight to kill each other to survive.

But until then, she believed in her father who said the strong has to use their strength to protect the weak.

So in that despair, she believed it when the oldest and the strongest Aska said let's not fooled by the wizard and let's fight together.

But even after they swore, kids started found dead during nights when there was less and less food. They tried to find the killer but she didn't realize the cruel fact.

That Aska was the killer.

She realized that only when he tried to kill her at night.

He was acting because he thought if he showed his real color the weeks will gather to fight him.

And death is the only end for the weak.

The strong the weak was just a myth.

In reality, we all have to kill each other to survive.

Once she realized the truth, her power was awakened.

It was easy after killing Aska.

The fact that the more she killed, the stronger she became convinced her.

The day after she killed everyone, the wizard opened the dungeon door. The wizard said the ritual of solitude was completed and tried to unseal the magical sword, but that was a mistake.

She had already become stronger than the wizard.

When she killed the wizard, for her, it was neither out of anger nor was revenge. She was used by him because she was weak, and now that she is stronger, she kills the wizard and takes the magical sword. That was it.

The wizard was sacrificed and the magical sword was unsealed.

The magical sword accepted her as its master, with a condition that she will keep sacrificing the weak and become stronger. That was what she wanted anyway.

That was the birth of the blood ruler.

Riad left with cold bloody energy behind.

As the pact that I made with the magical sword, I will keep winning and keep plundering and become stronger. I will sacrifice everyone until I step on the top of the world.

Little sister is just a stepping stone on the way.

In the middle of the ruins, Ereka couldn't move or stand up. As the blood ruler's curse, despair ran over her.

I… I am sorry… everyone…

She couldn't protect anyone from this.

Chapter 12

Rittier and Jenna talked toward to Ereka who stood in the middle of the ruin.

"Your Highness. What is going on."

"I am… sorry."

Ereka dropped her head.

"Princess, what happened?"

"Jenna…."

Ereka held Jenna without finding a word to say.

The heavy bloody smell from the ruin and Ereka in pain showed them this was not a simple matter.

Then Sungjin arrived.

"The ruin with the bloody smell…"

At a glance, they found a shoe soaked in blood with foot lost the leg. Once they found one, they were able to see what happened.

¼ of a face.

An arm without any finger.

The horrible scene reflected the tragedy that had happened.

"Boo… boo… boohoo…"

Jenna fell down and cried out loud.

"What are these… this… the pain… poor… this is terrifying…"

"huh."

Sungjin nearly threw up. He took cold and calm as his motto but he was still a high school student. He was shocked by such a terrifying scene.

He didn't break down because there was bigger than the shock.

The anger.

"What happened?"

"Sungjin… I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing and tell me what happened. I need to know what happened to plan how to deal with this."

But Sungjin already knew what happened. That's why his anger was burning.

This was a trace of a massacre.

"Ok…"

Ereka told everything to Sungjin.

The blood ruler Riad took children as hostages to provoke her and she made a mistake and reacted as the blood ruler planned.

Rittier's face stiffened listening to her story.

"Your Highness… That was a mistake."

"Yes."

"That was a huge mistake…"

Rittier looked into the sky and moaned.

"Yes. I understand."

"Sungjin's strategy was the only way to win while it is only possible when it is a defense battle against the blood ruler's awaken power."

"Yes. I knew… but forgot for a second."

"You should have ignored at the first place. You knew if you are played by a hostage show, the opponent will take it as your weakness and use it against you."

"Yes. It's all my fault."

Ereka couldn't look into Rittier's eyes who kept blaming her.

She didn't have a word to say.

"Princess."

Jenna called her with regretful voice, but couldn't find a word to defend her. Even young Jenna understood how serious this situation was.

"Your … I understand you cherish the lives of extras as well. But you can't save everyone. If you try the impossible that will result in a bigger disaster that will kill everyone else. I told you so many times."

"Yes… you are right… you told me… I kept that in mind but…"

Ereka understood the magnitude of her mistake.

Killing children was not an acceptable act. But it was impossible to stop all injustice.

It was stupid to kill a hundred to save one.

Now the blood ruler will take over this kingdom and abuse everyone with tyranny.

No, not just this kingdom. She would use this as a stepping stone to conquer more.

Sungjin promised to make them win in a defense battle, but she lost control of a moment and ruined everything

A king had to be cold when necessary. A king needed the best judgment to know what was the best.

Sungjin stepped in.

"That's enough."

"But sir Sungjin. Now your strategy became useless."

"I know. You are right and it was clear that the princess made a mistake. But that was enough."

Ereka started to have tears in her eyes looking at Sungjin.

"Sungjin, be angry. I don't want you to take my mistake lightly."

"If you know yourself, that's enough. And moreover."

Sungjin picked up a bloody shoe from the ground.

There was a tiny foot with its leg cut off.

The bloody red shoe used to be a cute yellow one with little chicks printed on it.