Welcome back, good Reader, it's good to see you again. Have you ever wondered how much of an impact can one single decision have? How many lives would be affected by it? I'm probably giving too much of a hint, aren't I? I hope you like action because there's going to be a lot going around. Now then, let's get back to our story.

After informing everyone close by that there are assassins among the crowds, David decides to leave the area. It's understandable, considering that he just kicked an assassin between the legs, and will be quite livid. Ava has the same idea, but the same guard that was pulling her decides to grab her by the shoulder.

“All right, I'm gonna have to take you –” the guard is cut off by a loud whistle in the middle of the square. Meanwhile, the king and princess end their coughing fit when the smoke finishes to dissipate.

“Is this part of the show?” asks Dorothy as she looks at her father.

“Afraid to say, but I don't think it was,” answers Frederick. He's starting to think that they should leave as soon as possible, and that's when the black jester started speaking.

“Well then, it would seem that our main performers failed to entertain you all, but this is why we're professionals,” says the black jester. “Come on out, boys and girls, time to pick up where they left off!!” In an instant, several individuals within the massive crowd start flipping tables, breaking crates, barrels, shoving hands under tables, and mountains of food to pull out different kinds of weapons. More than a dozen assassins start heading straight for the royal family, ignoring the civilians, but killing any guard standing in their way.

“Protect the royal family!!” yells one of the royal guards and many of them form a circle around the platform that Frederick and Dorothy were using. Two of their royal guards try to escort them back to their carriage, but three assassins manage to sneak past their defenses and head straight for their targets. Two of them are stopped, but the third one ignores the royal guards and prepares to attack the royal family. Frederick's father once said, that a ruler cannot defend a kingdom and its people, if they can't even defend themselves. The king quickly rips his cape, wraps it around his arm, empowers himself with mana, and prepares to intercept the enemy. The assassin swings his sword, but Frederick parries and gets a hold of the weapon, leaving the attacker exposed. The king starts his attack with a punch to the body, followed by an uppercut to the chin, grabs one of the assassin's arm, throws him over the shoulder, and knocks him out with another powerful punch to the face. With the assailant out of action, Frederick takes it upon himself to take the sword from his hand. One of the royal guards that was accompanying the royal family managed to kill one of the assassins, and continues to escort them to safety. However, an assassin breaks through the platform from underneath, and attacks the king, who blocks with the stolen sword. Their escort takes a step towards his king, but he's stopped by the commanding voice of his lord.

“Take my daughter to the carriage, I'll catch up later!” yells the king while pushing the assassin to the side, but another one appears from the same hole and stands in front of him.

“But, my lord–”

“Her safety is your top priority! Now go!” Frederick parries attacks from both assassins and lands a few cuts, but they're persistence. The royal guard is reluctant to abandon the king, but its a direct order, and he will follow as he must. He quickly grabs the princess by the waist, picks her up, and starts running away while she struggles.

“Wait! Dad! Dad! We can't leave him!” yells Dorothy, but the royal guard ignores her and continues on his way. They get off the platform, and the assassins nearby get a look at them. At the sight of their target, they try their hardest to try and break through the rest of the royal guards, but they're kept at bay. The carriage gets in sight and the royal guard makes a dash for it, which becomes futile when it gets caught on fire. Three assassins jump over the burning remains of the carriage and land in front of the royal guard carrying the princess.

“I think your carriage is broken,” says one of the assassins with a sinister smile on his face. The royal guard puts down the princess, grabs his poleaxe with both hands, and prepares to face the potential killers.

“Princess, run as far away as you can, and don't look back. I'll hold them off as long as I can,” says the royal guard.

“Which means a few seconds, so you might want a head start before we kill you too,” says another assassin and they all rush towards the princess. They're stopped by the royal guard, who pushes them all using his poleaxe, but the princess is paralyzed with fear.

“Run! Now!” This gets the princess running for her life, while the royal guard continues with his fight.

Meanwhile, in another area of the town square, Ava jumps inside a tent as an explosion of mana goes off behind her. She rolls right after landing, flips a table, and takes cover as the battle continues. So far, she has avoided any serious injury, but sees no way out of the area, leaving her trapped.

“How did I get myself in this mess?” asks Ava to no one in particular. She takes a look over the table, and by sheer luck, sees the princess running through the chaos. “Why is she still here?!”

Going back to the princess, she continues to run as fast as she can, while swords clash, armor breaks, and bodies fall to the ground. It's quite unfortunate that she trips on debris scattered on the ground and lands on her stomach. She slowly sits on the ground, and takes a moment to look around her. Chaos and destruction, conflict and death, all of this to take her life, the knowledge falls on her like a giant boulder. She hears nothing that goes around her, only a ringing in her ears, and it takes a voice to bring her back to her senses.

“Leaving so soon?” asks an unfamiliar voice behind the princess. She turns around, and to her horror, sees one of the assassins that was fighting her royal guard. He's dragging his longsword on the ground, fresh blood coating the tip of the weapon. Dorothy is frozen by unimaginable fear, leaving her shaking and on the verge of crying on the floor. This gives the assassin enough time to simply walk up to her and stand behind her.

“That's too bad,” says the assassin while he rises his sword into the air. “When you see your friend, tell him I say hi.” He has his sword high up, and ready to bring down a bloody death.

“…Dad?” calls out Dorothy, but the only one who hears her, is the man about to kill her.

I think I'll stop here, for now. Quite the cliffhanger, isn't? Personally, I think a lot of stories don't have children die in such a horrible way. You might wonder if I might let it happen in our story, but do not worry. You'll find out the next time you come back for the next part of our story.

Until next time, good Reader.