Queen Shiro was startled awake as she heard and felt a rumbling noise near the Castle of Roses. Her old home was being attacked. Shiro knew of the ongoing battles with Thorn Kingdom, however, with limited resources and information, she could not risk sending her own soldiers to battle with them.

"Your majesty," Alistair knocked on her bedroom door.

"Come in," Shiro called out.

Alistair opened the door and took a step into the white room. The White Queen was standing at the balcony, staring into the distance of her old home.

"Your majesty," he bowed, "will we also be ignoring this battle with the neighboring kingdom?"

Shiro felt a longing sadness at not being able to help her sister, but her hatred ran deeper than she had anticipated and she would rather her sister suffer the same fate as their father. Shiro reluctantly nodded at Alistair's question. Alistair wanted, but couldn't question the queen and stood watch with her as cries of death started to fill the air. Clanging noises from weapons being drawn and attacking the Red soldiers were inevitable. Queen Shiro did not want to lose anymore soldiers in her faction.

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None of the Red soldiers would be dispatched. It would be better to fight them off on my own, Hong thought. But this attack was much too quick after their last battle. A surprise attack? Hong quickly slipped into her battle garments, a unique shirt with feathers attached and trousers. She placed the sheathed Rose on her side and motioned Jack to follow her.

"It's time for battle. We need to keep our soldiers stationed at the gate. No one is allowed to leave their posts," Hong ordered.

Jack exited from the balcony of her room and jumped to the nearest tree. It was dangerous, but it was the quickest way to get to the source of the rumbling noise. The Red Queen's room was on the third floor, and he barely managed to safely land on the tree. His one good eye pinpointing the best spot to land and he immediately jumped down from it. Jack ran to find the nearest soldier and inform them of Hong's orders. The queen cannot possibly handle this on her own. 

"Jack!" He heard one of them call out.

"What are our orders?"

"Have everyone stationed at the gate. Do not let anyone leave," Jack quickly responded.

"But...!"

Jack turned to the worried soldier, "I will be assisting her highness. Do not worry. Make sure no Thorn soldiers make it past the gate."

Jack made it to the gate and climbed into a nearby tree and started running from branch to branch, jumping in between trees searching and catching up with Hong. The Red Demon already slew a couple of enemies along the way. The Thorn soldiers penetrated further into Rose Kingdom territory than Hong expected. Whatever remaining villages were in the area, the residents were moved to the Castle of Roses. Wealthier residents sharing their homes with commoners, and yet, despite the complaints from both commoners and the rich, some had moved back to their homes.

"Get back to the Castle!" Jack warned.

Hong didn't have time to warn them as the Thorn soldiers seemed to specifically target her. A child had fallen to the ground as everyone was running away. Just as she was about to stand up, a dark figure loomed over her and the child turned around. A solider, dressed in armor and with his sword above his head, slashed below him.

"YOUR MAJESTY!" Jack cried out.

The child watched in fear as the Red Demon had used the Rose in hand to hold in place above the young girl. Her hand bled from holding the sword as it dripped from the blade and onto the girl. The soldier was bigger and stronger, forcing Hong almost to her knee until she used all of her strength to push him away. The soldier staggered a bit, eventually falling from the heavy mass of his armor, and stood up again. He wasn't fast enough as the Red Demon found an opening and stabbed into a crack between his arm and chest. 

The young girl screamed and Hong withdrew her bloodied sword, grabbed the child by her collared shirt, leaving a bloody hand-print behind before flinging her to a nearby commoner who happened to see everything. She returned to her battle stance and sped through a wave of soldiers coming her way, purposefully aiming for her.

"GET THEM OUT OF HERE!" Hong screamed, startling Jack.

It was the first time ever that Jack had heard her scream. Whatever they've got planned this time, they've got us tied...Jack used his hidden sword to stab and slice at the enemies trying to harm the Rose residents.

The Red Queen was a blur. She was too fast for the Thorn soldiers, and many of them fell on her sword. But the quantity of the enemy soldiers this time was more than double the amount from earlier. The Thorn King must have figured something out...all these loopholes that he's finding. Hong tried to think as an enemy soldier, who seemed to quiver, tried to attack. Jack and Hong noticed something off immediately and grabbed the soldier and threw him on the ground. Whatever armor he was wearing, it was slightly different. Jack took care of the other soldiers to let her investigate. She tore off his armor and found a frightened young boy about eight years younger than she was. He wasn't a full adult yet and it was clear that it was his first time in battle. The boy soldier was crying, he was around 12 or 13 years old. His pained face from the battle surrounding them stressed him out and he reached for a large stone.

"Watch out!"

Queen Hong was surprised to see the boy soldier that she let her guard down by just a couple of seconds...

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Several minutes had passed and the Red Demon had fallen. It wasn't clear if she was dead, but after hearing a loud whistle from the boy soldier, all enemy attacks ended immediately. The Thorn soldiers headed back towards their kingdom as a larger soldier tried to pick up the Red Queen, Jack lunged forward and kicked his hand away from Hong. He was so angry that he stabbed the larger soldier as he kicked him and knocked him out. Jack turned and also attacked the boy soldier, who fell on his side next to Hong. Eyes wide open and blood slowly spread throughout the forest floor. The queen's servant carried her to safety as all Thorn soldiers disappeared.

WHAT THE HECK?!  Jack was furious, THE THORN KING HAS EMPLOYED YOUNG CHILDREN TO THEIR WAR!

End of Chapter 7..........................................................................................................................