The door swung open and the kids gasped in surprise.

"!"

"What happened?"

Alexander whispered.

"The–the guards are dead!"

"Huh?"

Alexander took his head out of the cloak and there were indeed two black-robed men's corpses with twisted heads lying on the ground and immediately gave an order.

"Closed the door!"

"O–okay!"

A boy instantly closed the door. Alexander knelt and the boy over his shoulder jumped down.

Alexander moved to examine the corpse. Their deaths were not long estimated at an hour or so.

"Why did you come back here? Aren't you going back to your parents?"

One of the children in the cage asked and the girl answered.

"No! He lied! They want to turn us into monsters!"

"What?!"

"By the way, where is the Prince?"

"Ha! If you ask about him, he ran away with his lover and left us here! Yet, he dares to call himself the Prince of this nation?! Don't make me laugh!"

Of course, their conversation did not escape Alexander's ears.

He knew it was childish to argue with some kids after considering his age, but he couldn't let someone badmouth Damian, could he?

He got up and joined the conversation.

"Do you know that speaking ill about the Imperial Family is a death sentence?"

They lowered their heads in fear. Regardless, he began again and approached the opened cage.

"In my opinion, the Prince did the right thing by not letting you out of the cage."

Silence enveloped and Alexander continued.

"Because what are you going to do when you meet the black-robed man outside? Do you have any weapons to defend yourself? Have you opened your Mana Pool? Have you formed your Mana Core? Can you use an Elemental?"

Alexander picked up a bent spoon and scoffed inwardly. This little imp. Impatient of waiting so he ran by himself, huh?

He glanced at the cage next to him and resumed.

"But if you're so eager to die, I'll get you out of there and we'll have a bet on who dies first. You or the Prince."

Lull remained as no one was willing to open their mouths and Alexander shrugged. He returned to the kids and spoke.

"I'm going to look for my younger brother. Lock this room from the inside. I will send someone here."

–Click!

With that, Alexander exited the room and the people inside the room were flabbergasted.

"'Younger brother'? Doesn't that mean–"

"He's a Prince too!"

"What?!!"

.

.

.

"Waaaa!!"

Feeling Mana swirling inside me, I kicked the air and caught Leticia before landing.

–Splash!

We landed in some kind of puddle or something or whatever since it was so dark here and I couldn't see anything, so I wasn't sure either. But–

"Urk!"

A cough escaped from my mouth as I was hugged so tightly that I might die from suffocation.

"L–Lady Leticia, if you would be so kind.. I'm suffocating right now."

"O–oh? I–I'm sorry."

Eventually, she let go of me.

"Where is this place?"

"I don't know."

I funneled my Mana to my Elemental and created a wisp of fire above my palm, however, once the flames lit the area, we were stunned by the sight.

Dozens of children surrounded us. Black veins protruded from their skin, their sclerae were dyed black, their irises had turned red and some of their bodies had turned into Chimeras.

"Kkkieekkk!!"

"Run!!"

I let the flame fly above us, I snatched Leticia's hand and ran as fast as we could.

"Kkieekkk!!"

"Kkiieekk!!"

Their screeching echoed throughout the space and doubtlessly they followed us.

"What happened to them?!"

"It's Chimera! The black-robed men turned the children into monsters!"

"Whaaaatt?!"

Feeling something approaching us, I let go of her hand and pushed her forward.

"Keep running."

"N–no!"

I filled my weapon with mana, dashed over to it, and swung my sword.historical

"Kkkieekk!!"

I could feel how its blood splattered on my face.

–Splash! –Splash! –Splash!

A hoard of Chimera could be seen sprinting toward me.

Since they were incomplete Chimeras, their hearts shouldn't crystallize yet.

A magic circle formed on my outstretched left hand and I shot numerous wind bullets toward their hearts.

–Bang! –Bang! –Bang!

Black blood spewed like fireworks from their bodies as my wind bullets ripped holes in their chests.

–Splash! –Splash! –Splash!

One by one they fell into the water and guilt started creeping up my heart.

'I'm so sorry.. I'm so sorry..'

I kept reciting the same words over and over again as I killed them. Even though they were no longer human..

Deep inside I still found it hard to bear, especially after I saw their faces, but I had no choice, I had to kill them or they would kill us.

'I'm.. so sorry..'

"Kiieekkk!"

I looked up and a Chimera was seen jumping at me and I hopped to dodge.

–Splash!

After it landed, I raised my sword and slashed my sword from its neck down to its chest.

"Kkiieekk!!"

One came from the left and I immediately kicked its body to pull my sword, then spun my body to the left.

I thrust my weapon into his heart and its body plummeted below.

–Splash!

"Kkiieekk!!"

I glanced ahead and three Chimeras darted toward me. I withdrew my sword and drew an arc once they were a few centimeters away from me.

–Splash! –Splash! –Splash!

A shadow was cast upon me and I immediately jumped to evade it. I hastily embedded my sword in its heart and it fell.

–Splash!

As my sense sent me an alarm from the left, I shot its chest with my wind bullet before it could land and black blood rained down on me.

I continued to swing my sword and cut every Chimera that came my way. Sometimes I would send my wind bullets from my left arm if I was too preoccupied with my right side.

And it seemed this underground had been built for years because they kept coming to me like there was no end to them.

Kept my Magic Circle active on my left arm and the fire above doubled my Mana consumption, also, both my Mana and stamina had decreased a lot.

I didn't know how much longer I would last, but obviously not too long.