Way of the Knights

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Raven and Luna weren't aware that they have been staring at each other for quite some time now. Luna's hands were placed on Raven's chest. She could feel his heartbeat, it was vigorous and quick, for some reason she felt at peace in his arms, it was like no harm can touch her whenever he's here. It was strange feeling of security that she never felt from any other man other than her father.

Only, this was slightly more special…

*Ahem* *Ahem*

A deliberate sound of clearing of throat reached their ears.

Out of instinct, Luna struggled free from Raven's embrace while an obvious shade of red reached her cheeks. Both of them turned their heads towards the source of the sound and saw their friends staring at them with knowing looks on their faces.

"Oh, my bad. It's just that my throat really itches, I couldn't help it." Ellen sniggered while placing her hands on her waist.

"Oh my, yours too? What a coincidence!" Paul followed suit while secretly giving Raven a thumbs-up.

"You guys…" Raven laughed dryly, he shook his head and hid the disappointment in his heart.

"Anyway, dude come here." Paul waved his hand at Raven and called him over.

Raven raised his brow and walked towards him. Upon getting closer to Paul, he saw him throw his head back and knocked his head with his. Raven was caught completely off-guard, he wasn't expecting him to do that of all things. He didn't falter nor fell down, but he sure felt somewhat dizzy.

"What gives?" Raven tilted his head in confusion as he asked this question.

"What do you mean what gives!?" Paul raised his voice, there was a clear trace of disappointment in his face as he continued: "Why did you charged in there recklessly? You have so many ways of calling for reinforcements! We weren't that far from you, you should've called for us at least!"

Raven felt another sting of pain on his head, clearly someone hit him once again. He looked over and saw Ellen holding her sheathed sword, he figured that she must've hit his head using the hilt.

"He's right! Why do you think we're training so hard huh? Isn't it to face these disgusting bastards and get rid of them? Do you know how worried we were for you? Specially this one right here!" Ellen pulled Luna to her side and continued speaking, "She can't even think straight, she kept on telling us that we have to help you even when we're already on our way."

"Don't do something so reckless again dude." Mark commented while patting his shoulders, "Or at least, that's what I would like to say, but that won't stop you. Just make sure that you pay attention to your safety, we can't do without you."

"I agree with him. We know that you're formidable but sometimes you just let emotions take over your rationality. Don't do that again, okay?" Anne added.

Luna didn't say anything and just looked at him with imploring gaze. No words were needed for that kind of look, Raven already knew what she was trying to say.

Warmth filled Raven's heart, being friends with them was probably one of the best choices that he had ever done in his life. He smiled and scratched his head, he then said: "Alright, alright. My bad, okay? I will be careful next time." Seeing his friends satisfied with his answer, Raven assumed a different tone and changed the topic.

"Anyway, we have a situation here. We can't participate in the battles of the adults, so instead we have to control the situation in here. The plan doesn't change, free the captives and eliminate the enemy." After saying this, his hammer appeared in his hands but it wasn't the Archaic Thousand Arms Hammer, it was the new hammer he brought that looked a lot like the former.

"Big Beak!" Raven called out, making his friends grimace. Suddenly, a huge hawk flew over and stood right next to him and rubbed its head on his hand.

"You named it, didn't you?" Mark asked on the side, Raven turned his head towards him and nodded his head.

"Yeah I did." Raven said confidently.

"Figures. Uncle wouldn't come up with such a horrible name." Ellen snorted on the side.

"What do you mean 'horrible'?" Raven placed an offended expression as he grabbed Big Beak's beak as an emphasis. "His beak truly is big! So the name I gave him makes a lot of sense! I've placed a lot of thought about it you know?"

The rest all thought of the same thing inwardly; 'Did you really give it a lot of thought?'

For some reason, they felt pity on the poor hawk. Imagine being named as 'Big Beak' right? They wondered how could a beast that's called an Overlord Hawk could bear being called as 'Big Beak', it should've been offensive right?

Big Beak let out a few chirps of joy, Raven took this as a sign that the hawk was agreeing to him so he petted it more. What he didn't know is that the Overlord Hawk just liked being clingy to its owner and don't actually care about how they call it.

"Anyways, we diverted from the topic." Raven faced them once more and continued. "Anne, provide aerial support by riding Big Beak, we'll take the ground work. You can shoot a cover fire when we're in danger but place more attention to other knights here. We have to at least help in minimizing the casualties."

Anne nodded and climbed on Big Beak's back. Raven reminded the hawk to take care of Anne, Big Beak understood and immediately took flight with Anne.

Raven then nodded to the rest and said: "Alright team, let's move!"

With that, Raven and his team moved as a unit and provided support where they were needed.

***

Somewhere far away from the Final Haven Kingdom.

There exist a patch of land full of decay and gloom. Hidden in the depths where the sun couldn't reach, a large network of cave dwellings and full of horrible things like skulls of dead people, bones and rotten innards of beasts, deadly insects and etc.

This is the headquarters of the infamous evil organization that seek to destroy and conquer the kingdom. The Black Curtain Guild's headquarters.

In the largest room inside the cave network, there appears to be some special situation that's going on.

One could see, bodies of infant beasts scattered across the room, creating a hair-raising scene and horrible stench of death. There are a couple of people who wore dark robes who sat in a circular formation. All of them appeared to be recovering from exhaustion which could be seen in their pale faces.

One man sat above the circular formation. He didn't appear to be exhausted like the rest, instead he was gazing at the swirling black portal in front of them with an interested expression on his face.

It will only take a glance for anyone to be convinced that this man is extremely dangerous. Despite him not doing anything at all, there appeared to countless of wailing souls and a thick scent of death emanating out of his body.

This man, was none other that the current leader of the Black Curtain Guild. Devil Prince Ajin, or at least that how most of his subordinate knows.

Out of nowhere, the portal distorted under the interested gaze of the Devil Prince. Warping sounds echoed inside the large cave dwelling. Then someone stepped out of the portal with a visible panic on his face. The man who came out looked around, almost hysterically in fact that the Devil Prince couldn't help but to raise his brow in confusion. His deep and hair-raising voice echoed in the ears of the man.

"Calm down. What happened?"

The man who came out from the portal shivered fiercely when he heard this voice. He looked back and saw the soul-piercing gaze of the Devil Prince. He knelt out of fear and hurriedly said:

"Y-your highness! I-it's terrible! Our situation is terrible!" The man panicking said.

"I said calm down and tell me what happened. I will not repeat my words." The man almost felt his soul leaving his body when he heard the coldness in the Devil Prince's voice. Faced with that suffocating presence, he did his best to calm down and explain what happened.

The Devil Prince was genuinely surprised upon hearing what happened. He didn't expect that the plan was exposed. He knew how careful they were whenever they discussed this plan, he also knew how cunning and careful Yael was so he didn't placed all blame on him for letting the situation go out of hand.

"What's the situation like when you left?" The Devil Prince asked the kneeling man.

"The Guardians of the Kingdom stepped forward and faced out dear Emissaries, Your Highness. They were forced to fight them since if they won't then our forces will surely dwindle quickly with how formidable they are. It was His Excellency, the First Emissary, who gave the task to go back and report the situation and ask for reinforcements."

There was a period of uncomfortable silence after the man explained. He sneakily glanced at the Devil Prince's face and to him, it appears that the prince was considering this situation. The man couldn't help but be anxious but didn't dare to express it in any way, shape or form.

He was nearly frightened out of his wits when the Devil Prince suddenly stood up from his seat. It was then that he heard him speak in a melancholic way.

"So be it.. It's been a while since I visited the kingdom anyway."

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