King Rufus was walking around inside the fortress, noticing the craters and pieces of the creature's bodies that were now smelling. He also noticed that the mages had a hole in their chests, which looked like it had been made with a knife or sword.

  Bartholome was impressed by the amount of mages he saw on the ruins of the walls and the number of goblins and orks around the fortress itself. With the force they had now, it would be impossible to take down this fortress without heavy losses; the number of mages alone would make this almost impossible, even with the help of the five of them using magic spells.

  ‘It makes little sense; how many soldiers did they have? How many nobles took part in this battle?’ Bartholome kicked a monster’s hand away.

  ‘It's strange, Duke; the walls are in ruins, and the structures are only rubles. How did they do that?’ Edinburg walked to the side of Bartholome.

  ‘Tell everyone to look for mages that don’t have their chest open like this one here and bring it to me.’ Rufus looked at one of his captains while pointing at a mage with its chest punctured.

  The captain left with all the soldiers around them, leaving only two to guard the five nobles. One of them was just observing everything. A cloth covered part of his face and all of his hair. It was like he didn’t even care to be there at all.

  ‘Why are you even here, Julia? You look bored.' The duke’s son said?.

  ‘It doesn’t matter what happened here; Edmund caused it; if Father had listened to his brother before the deal, we would have a beast in our hands.’ She took off her cover and her blond hair.

  ‘Shush Julia, with hindsight, everything is easier; don’t disrespect our father.’ Edinburg sigh.

  ‘I’m not saying anything bad; how could he have white hair?? He wasn’t in pain. It wasn’t like he could get drugs from the servants; nobody talked to him. It was just a waste.’ She crossed her arms.

  ‘Julia!!!’ He raised his voice.

  ‘Enough!!!’ Rufus turned around, looking at the two.

  The two siblings looked at their father and one another for a moment. Julia sighed, and Edinburg looked at his sister angrily.

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  ‘There is a point in allowing people to talk with some leeway over your actions, Edinburg. It shows flaws you couldn’t see so that you can adjust to the future. If I could get Edmund back, it would be good.’ The king walked closer to the siblings and smiled at them.

  ‘Your majesty is wise; learn from this, Erick.’ The duke gave a pat on his son’s shoulder.

  ‘Yes, father.’ He nodded to his father.

  After some time, the soldiers came back with the body of a mage with multiple holes in his body. Rufus made a gesture for them to lay down the body, and he pulled a knife from one soldier who was by his side and drilled into the chest of the creature right on the spot the others he saw before were.

  ‘Interesting, a crystal...’ He held on his finger a small, blooded crystal.

  The two horsemen returned in a hurry but stopped right to the side of the duke and his son, dismounting and taking a knee in front of the duke.

  ‘Sir duke, we found something you should see for yourself.’ The soldier looked up to the duke.

  ‘Let’s all see what this is about. I didn’t know that mages had this useless crystal inside their chest.’ Rufus showed the crystal to the duke.

  The duke was intrigued by everything he saw, from the fortress to the number of creatures on the ground. Now, these same creatures had crystals inside their chests, which, from the look of it, were the same as those they sometimes found in caves while mining for iron or gold.

  They followed the two soldiers and entered the forest again, this time on the other side of the fortress. On their way there, they saw the same images of the bodies of the creatures around the fortress.

  One soldier points at something on the ground as they enter the fortress. They got closer, and every single one of them gasped at the sight of the gigantic monster with a hole in his chest and without his two arms and head.

  ‘What in the world is this thing? And is that right there in his head? ’ Julia pointed at something on the ground to the side.

  Rufus and the duke dismounted and got closer to the creature's corpse; he was huge. Looking at one of his missing arms in the group, the duke notices that the creature is using an enormous sword; it has dents all over the blade and is bent.

  ‘These cuts are clean like they were made in every strike.’ Rufus stroked his chin.

  ‘And look at the surrounding trees; they are shattered. Someone fought this thing by himself?’ Bartholome looked at the destroyed trees.

  ‘Edmund… ‘ Julia whispered.

  Edinburg noticed his sister’s words and brooded over it. Maybe he should have stood up and stopped the transaction that traded his brother for peace; he didn’t care that Edmund couldn’t use magic; maybe he could have been a skillful administrator, anything. At the end of his thought, Edinburg sighed.

  He approached the other arm, followed by Julia. It was on the creature's other side, and he noticed the dents on the blade and how bent it was. The soldiers accompanying them were shocked by how the surroundings were destroyed, with trees shattered.

  ‘I never talked to him; on that table was the first time I’ve heard his voice and to think he could be this powerful.’ Julia spoke in an indifferent tone.

  ‘This could be the work of the now duchess of the dukedom on the border; I don’t know if you remembered she had white fur.’ Edinburg looked at his sister.

  ‘No… she didn’t know how to fight, the way she walked and behaved, she was no warrior, she is just completely insane. I felt for sure looking at her eyes back there.’ She adjusted herself on the saddler for a moment.

  ‘Perhaps you are right, my dear sister.’ He looked again at the giant blade on the severed hand of the creature.