Seeing my stance, the wriggly, I'll call you wriggly from now on, also took a stance and unsheathed the katana with a shing. The shiny sword's reflection gleamed dangerously in the mirrors all around. Hey, wait a minute.. isn't it too much to take out the sword against my butter knife? Wriggly, not fair! 

I can d-do it. Even though my hand was shaking slightly in fear, I steeled my nerves and focused all my enhanced senses on the opponent. Gulp. I could even hear the sound of my sweat sliding down my temples and dropping on the floor. A slight screech of the opponent's leg moving an inch alerted me. Now!

A blink of my eye and the creature is already upon me. So fast! The sword aiming for my neck rushed at me. I felt like a snail watching the world. Move! Dammit. And like a miracle my body moved at the last fraction of second before the sword pierced me. With a slight tilt of my head, I evaded the sword. A trickle of blood ran down my cheeks where the sword grazed. Though my body remained standing rooted, my hands didn't stay still. 

Stab!

I thrusted the knife straight into the entity's heart with all the force my body could muster. Since I didn't evade and stood still, Wriggly's whole body crashed into me and we were both sent crashing against the mirror wall. And everything went still.

"Huff.. huff…"

The only sound for a while was my heavy breathing. I was sandwiched between the broken shards of mirror digging my back and Wriggly's looming body. The katana was embedded deep into the wall right next to my ear. With the weight of the crash, the butter knife was pierced deep inside its chest until the hilt and I felt something fragile.. crack. 

And like a ripple in still water, cracks started to appear like a wave from its chest and soon spread throughout the whole body. My eyes widened and I watched in shock as the whole being soon turned into powder and disappeared like mist. 

Did I do it?! That's it?

I stood still and my mind took a while to process the fact that I actually killed it. I did it! Damn you, wriggly! I won! Woo hoo… Haha. Hm? What's that? Woah Woah wait, what the fxck? 

While I was internally dancing in joy, six more Wrigglys jumped out the shadow and surrounded a tight circle around me. Are you kidding me?! 

Crack.

You hear that crack? Yeah, it's the sound of my imaginary ball of hope cracking and disappearing into powder just like the Wriggly before. My eyes become dead in the view of my bleak future. My death? Is that what you want? Fine…

The fingers gripping the knife loosened. The knife started slipping away but… I grabbed the handle tightly once again. Still… still, I won't go down without a fight. Grip.

I glared at the enemies waiting for them to charge. Then..

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

An echoing clap resounded through the wrecked ballroom, shattering the thick tension in the air. 

THUD.

A being jumped from the balcony and landed outside the circle with a thud. The Wrigglys surrounding me respectfully made way for the being and kneeled like knights with katanas unsheathed. It walked leisurely and stood before me. It was a person. A person with a face, thankfully. He wasn't anything like the Wrigglys, be it the clothes, demeanor or face. While the Wrigglys seem like something out of Japanese fantasy, He's wearing clothes from a typical medieval fantasy. An androgynous face and a lazy laid back demeanor with a slight smile on the lips. But one thing common between them was the hair. They all have that unique blue-black hair. He turned his head with an annoyed face and waved his hand casually at the kneeling group.

"That's enough for today. You all go back now"

Then the Wrigglys all sheathed their katanas simultaneously in one swift motion and disappeared back into the shadows. He then faced me with the slight smile back on his lips and eyes curving into a smile. It almost felt creepy. One more thing in common.

"Now, Now. My dear prince, If you can kill one of my puppets so effortlessly why do you have to drag on for so long? I really couldn't understand you who says he hates fighting and takes a beating instead even though he is so strong. Hm?" 

He quirked his brows playfully in wonder. Then he looked around with his brows furrowing in disgust.

"What a mess. Let me fix it"

*Snap*

He snapped his fingers casually. Then a magical sight unfolded before me. All the chairs, tables, broken pillars and everything flew back and fixed themselves like time rewound. The whole ballroom turned good as new. Even the shaky chandeliers fixed steadily. If I could freely express my emotions, my mouth would have been gaping open in shock right now. I was still alert of his presence and ready to fight back anytime but now I know one thing for sure. He's strong. Like really strong.

"Perfect. So, prince, why do you have to skip training this morning just because you hate fighting. We already went over this many times. If this happens again, I have no choice to report to your father"

At the mention of my father, he stared at me like he's expecting my reaction. I don't know this body's father. Maybe they have a bad relationship. But who is this guy anyways? Whoever he is, one thing I know is that this is some kind of training and he is not going to kill me. Relief flooded over me with my shoulders slumping in ease. The knife slipped out my hand and landed with a rattle on the floor. Anyways for now I have to go along with this guy.

"I apologize, I won't do it again" 

I bowed my head slightly and looked up to see his reaction. He made an understanding nod with an expression saying that's how it should be. I don't know what he misunderstood my reaction as. Maybe he saw that as resignation due to fear for my father.

"Good then. I won't be seeing you again anyways. I too apologize for promptly holding your missed training session"

He bowed his head slightly and curved his eyes in a narrow smile. Somehow I knew, that bastard's not sorry at all.

"It's alright"

"How generous of you my prince. Then I'll take my leave. As the butler of this mansion, I have to catch up on many tasks." 

Oh, so he's the butler. 

He turned back but stopped midway. Then he started striding towards me. What now? He gripped my shoulders painfully hard and examined my face with eyes enlarged comically.

"Oh my! There's a scratch on the prince's handsome face. What to do? Should I blow away the pain for you?"

This bastard. He's mocking me. Should I punch his face now? I steered in my anger and squeezed out a no.

"No thank you"

He gripped my shoulders even hard with that creepy smile.

"If you say so. But still tend to your injury soon so not to leave a scar on your noble face"

"Yes"

"I won't be seeing you again for a while. I'll be very sad, my prince. Don't forget my teachings and have a nice life at the academy. Farewells. Don't miss me too much"

He leaned in a bit and whispered the last part into my ears. My body went rigid and unconsciously pushed him away from me. Though he is bigger in stature and stronger than me, he got himself pushed back with a playful wink and sauntered away through the exit. 

Only then my rigid body relaxed. Creepy and dangerous. The whisper raised gooseflesh on my skin. It wasn't something like a romantic whisper or anything but more like a snake coiling around your throat and hissing threats in your ear. Dangerous, he may be but he sure is quite a jerk. 

Feeling petty anger, I raised both my middle fingers to the way he exited.

"Right! I forgot to give.. you.. this… Prince, what are you doing?"

I froze when he came back suddenly. 

*Swoosh~*

A cold wind blew in the resounding silence between us. I slowly curled my fingers and lowered my hands. Then I just stared at him dead in the eyes without blinking. I didn't do anything. It must be your illusion.

He once again curved his eyes into that narrow creepy smile but now even his mouth grinned wide. Now I know from where that Wriggly's smile came from. If he was just creepy before now he feels like an amalgamation of ten Wrigglys with the kill mode switched on. Don't kill me! I'm sorry.

He didn't come at me but just exaggeratedly widened his eyes with both hands on cheek comically.

"My cute prince, have you finally learned to swear? But what to do.. my faint heart is in distress that it is towards me. I just came back to deliver this"

With a swish, he flicked the thing in his hand towards me. I couldn't even see the path it flew but only a tingling sensation at my neck and something trickling down. I shakily brought my hand to my neck. Something cut me.

My eyes never left him. It's like an instinctual alertness against a predator. He suddenly erased all expression from his face and tilted his head like a doll.

"Be careful prince. Since my heart is in distress, I might make a mistake and accidentally cut your head off."

And then like a switch, his smile is on.

"But don't worry, your faithful butler will stitch your head back for you. Who knows? It might just stick back due to the abnormal healing power of your body. What do you say? Wanna give it a try?"

*Shake shake*

I creakily shook my head in denial.

"Sigh, what a pity. Call me if you need anything else then"

With that he disappeared again. I'd be insane to call you for anything. Crazy bastard. Wait… He won't come again right? I watched the exit warily for a while. Only then I was sure he's gone for good. 

"Sighhhh……"

I slumped down the wall letting out a tired sigh. 

What just happened?