Chapter 59:

The king came up, placing his hands on the railing just on the other side of Bane, who promptly snarled at the man as he leaned over the railing to once more address the crowd. "Are we ready to play?" He called over the crowd, and they roared with cheers, but I just watched Xavier. He wasn't paying attention to the king in the slightest. Instead, that sharp gaze was trained on me, watching every single little move I made. "Bring out the horde." The man bellowed, and the roar of the crowd heightened to an almost deafening level as they chanted the last statement of their king. 

"A whole horde?" Genie questioned in a frantic whisper as her livid green eyes locked with mine. "Ari, I feel like we should be worried about this one. Like, don't get me wrong, I know he's a total badass and all, but a whole horde of enemies when he's by himself?" I could see the fear in those bright eyes; it was the same fear that was burning a hole in my gut, but now was not the time to show that fear. 

I closed my eyes, taking a breath as I buried that fear once more and looked back up at the two of them. "Bane said he knows what he's doing, so we have to trust them," I whispered to them, and they both nodded, but still looked nervous. 

"What's with those braces he pulled out?" Lexi asked, as we all instinctively huddled a little closer together to talk so the others wouldn't hear us. 

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I've never actually seen him use them before. Bane said that he only pulls them out when he's serious, but didn't say much of anything else about them when I asked. However, when he pulled them out, I thought they were odd because there wasn't a single scrap of leather on them. Even the straps that hold them across his palms are chains." I said, and both of them looked at me before we all just watched as the huge gate at the other end of the arena started slowly rising higher as it started to open. 

That was when Xavier finally turned his attention somewhere else, and I instantly felt the loss of it. He watched as the gate started to rise before reaching up to place each of his hands on the hilts of the heavy swords strapped to his back. He didn't draw them right away, though; instead, he pressed the palms of both hands to the solid metal loop that was on the hilts of both of those swords. After a moment, he finally gripped both swords as he drew them from their sheaths. Once he had both out, he tossed them up, flicking his wrists, unraveling just enough of the chain that was now hooked to the end of those swords before expertly catching them. Then he took up a stance that I'd never seen him use before. It was wider, typically used as more of a defensive type of stance where you needed to be able to absorb a blow, versus a typical fighting stance of any type. There was just enough chain draped off his arms to give him some extra reach without getting in his way, and honestly, he looked far more like a god of death in that stance rather than my snarky warrior. 

"Okay, I swear, every single time I think he's already terrifying enough, he steps it up another notch. Like, honestly, chain swords? It doesn't really get much scarier than that, Ari. Either you have absolute balls of steel, or you're just straight up psychotic." Lexi whispered as those rich chocolate eyes bored into me, but I just grinned as we all turned our attention to the now fully open gate in front of him. 

"Either way, you have to admit that it's a damn good feeling to know that's on our side, but at the same time, think about it. That weapon honestly makes the most sense for him. Not only are those braces straight metal, but the hilts of his swords aren't wrapped with leather or anything either, they're both pure crafted metal. To that point, all of his weaponry is. It's all conductive, and the chains give him extra reach while still connecting everything to his hands." I whispered, quickly working through it. It was honestly genius for him. 

"I'm still not following," Lexi murmured, but Genie smiled at us now too. 

"His ability concentrates in his hands. That energy current that we saw before came from him pressing his bare palm to that Amphithere. Essentially, he just connected that power from his bare hand all the way to the tip of either of those swords. It's honestly brilliant. Not only is he utilizing the full potential of his ability, but he's actually saving energy. Those chains allow him to concentrate more on his ability rather than actually wasting the energy to move and fight. Especially when you add in the fact that, depending on how potent his ability is along that chain, anywhere that's touched on that weapon will turn into a killing or, at the very least, stunning blow." Genie whispered with a grin as I just nodded. 

A god-awful sound poured from the open gate, that eerie mixture of manic laughter and tortured screaming that instantly had me thinking back to the prison I had been stuck in. It was far worse than that had been, though, considering it sounded like there were thousands of them rather than the few that had been trapped in that hellhole. Beings of all different sizes and shapes, some human, some beasts, came running out into the morning sun. Grime and blood coated them, matting the fur of the beasts that had it. At least two dozen of them came pouring out into the arena, quickly surrounding Xavier as they howled and growled, pacing and circling like beasts awaiting the command of their masters. Xavier just calmly watched, slowly assessing each one of them as they moved before the gate finally slid shut and locked with a resounding clunk of the heavy metal sliding in place. 

"So, why don't you tell me how you're feeling about your little warrior now?" The king asked as he sauntered over towards me, far too close for my comfort as his son followed suit. Bane snarled once more, but they ignored him as they pressed closer still. "He's a little outnumbered. Although I would be willing to cut those numbers back to a more reasonable level if you would like to revisit our previous conversation. All you have to do is agree to a life of luxury. You'd have anything and everything you've ever wanted. All you have to do is say yes." I turned on the two of them fully now, just as Xavier started carving into the crowd of corrupted soldiers. 

"I think you'll find that my warrior is far more vicious than you give him credit for," I said with an innocent smile as Bane perched on the railing now, ready to jump to my defence at a moment's notice. Those cold blue eyes locked onto mine as he sneered at me. 

"We'll see about that." He said, but just as I was about to glance back down at Xavier, the king's spawn decided that would be a good time to come up behind me. Bane snapped at him, whipping his tail against the banister as he shifted his weight, ready to jump, but I wasn't about to wait for him to save me. By the time the prince grabbed me by the waist, I had already pulled one of my knives, pressing the tip directly between his legs as I gave him a sweet smile over my shoulder. 

"There's no way," the king whispered in pure astonishment as he leaned over the railing to look down into the arena, but I didn't need to glance down to know what they saw, not when Bane was laughing in my head. Instead, I just raised my eyebrow at the prince before pressing the tip of the knife a little more firmly against his excuse of a cock. He dropped his hand from my waist, backing away as Bane continued to cackle in his enjoyment of their reactions. 

"Well, I was originally making my way up here to give you a piece of my mind, but I see that my girl's already done a rather good job of that." Xavier's warm tone made me grin as I turned to watch him come up to stand with us on the balcony, still holding my knife steady on the prince. "I'd back away if I were you, unless you like the idea of losing the ability to continue your family line. She tends to get a little twitchy when threatened." The amused lilt to his tone had me grinning a little wider. The prince looked from my face to the knife before quickly backing away this time, and I realized I probably looked a little manic while holding his family jewels hostage, but that was his own fault. That also happened to be when I realized that there had to be something seriously wrong with me because even covered head to toe in mud, blood, and god only knows what else, the heat in those emerald eyes as he looked me over instantly had heat rising to a place it had no right to be at the moment. 

I turned away from him, probably blushing, but the second his warm palm landed on my back, my whole body relaxed for the first time since we walked up here. Slowly, I replaced my knife with one of the sheaths along my ribs as I looked up at the king once more.

"How were you able to defeat that many so quickly?" The king asked, narrowing their icy eyes on Xavier now. 

Xavier gave a low chuckle, and I could almost feel the way I knew he was cocking his eyebrow at the king with that cold, calculating smile on his full lips. "Well, if you hadn't been busy trying to get your hands on Ari, maybe you would know the answer to your question." I could almost hear the hint of a growl at the back of Xavier's words and instantly felt the tension pull tight between the two men as they eyed each other. 

"I see the general wasn't wrong when he said you don't know your place, boy." The king grinned as he raised an eyebrow at Xavier. "Careful, I would hate to have to kill someone of your caliber for treason due to a threat." 

"You'd have to find a better reason than that, because I don't make threats." The unsaid meaning of that statement instantly had me looking over my shoulder at my warrior, who was now glaring daggers at the King of Celestia. 

The king chuckled as he looked Xavier up and down. "I assume you're the head of this mission then?" He asked as Bane jumped from the railing up onto Xavier's shoulders just as Nova came back to mine. Xavier didn't answer, though. Instead, he pressed on my back, gently pushing me to step up, and I took one step forward.

"No, I am," I said, drawing the king and his son's attention, who both laughed at me. 

"Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't believe that for a second. Not when you have a high-ranking lieutenant in your ranks while the rest of you are just students. Have they even told you how dangerous it is to travel to that camp? A pretty little thing like you wouldn't even make the journey, let alone be the leader of it. You're far better suited in a gown rather than fighting leathers, girl." It was from his son this time, and I just grinned at him. 

"Really?" I scoffed. "Mind my crass language, your highness, but that statement coming from the man I just had by the balls about a moment ago seems rather contradictory. Not to mention the little fact that the only reason Xavier is here is that, if you had been paying any sort of attention, our dragons are bonded. He can't go very far without taking me with him, and vice versa. So, yes, I am the head of this mission. The missive came under my name with them as my team, so take it or leave it." I countered with a raised eyebrow as I crossed my arms over my chest. 

They both just narrowed their eyes at me before the king nodded. "Fine, follow me, and we'll discuss this further." 

After allowing Xavier to clean up and a lengthy discussion of what we're expected to do for the prince while we're traveling, we were finally dismissed to leave. I was not looking forward to essentially being a glorified babysitter, but such is the nature of this mission. 

Come to find out, the prince that was out there with us wasn't even the one going on this mission. No, that was the first prince, Finris. The one actually going on the mission with us refused to even step foot outside until we were ready to leave. Only then did he finally come out from behind his father. As this prince looked over our group, instantly eyeing all three of us girls up and down, I was positive that Xavier had severely overestimated my tolerance for people like these royal fucks.