Rise of the Eromancer

347  Chapter 347: Duel

"Is that… Princess Clio?"

There was silence after the loud rumbling of the door—and the rumbling of the door was loud. The doors that lead to the castle were heavy and gigantic, even coated with iron and copper and the only way to truly break it would be to ram it with a large tree. But of course, that was made impossible due to the design of the castle, which makes the entrance tight so that nothing as large as a carriage would fit.

This was the King's last defense—and yet right now, their doors were now just swinging on the floor before laying flat with an almost thunderous drum. But of course, none of them were even thinking about the door anymore, not even the army's general and last vanguard of the King against the soldiers of Thebes.

After all, how could they be concentrating on things other than Princess Clio? Who just casually emerged from the other side, right when they thought that the thing that would emerge would be their death?

"My… my daughter!?" The King, who was holding his own sword, could not help but stare at Clio as she walked closer to them. He was looking at his face first trying to see if it was really her—and as soon as he confirmed it to be so, he quickly rushed toward her; his lanky and skinny build, caused the armor he was wearing to swing around his torso.

"Your Majesty!"

But before he could actually approach Clio, his general stopped him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What are you doing, unhand me at once!"

"We… we don't know if that really is Princess Clio! She could be—"

"It's me." Clio let out a loud breath as she dropped her sword to the floor and placed her hand on her chest, "I am sorry for leaving, Father—I thought that my destiny lies elsewhere, and I find that it is not true at all, in a way—but in the end, I had to leave in order to figure that out."

"Unhand me!" The King pushed the general away—well, he could not actually push the general away and he had to let go so that the king could run toward his daughter.

"Father…" Clio welcomed her father's embrace, "I am sorry for leaving."

"No…no," the King immediately pulled away, "You shouldn't have come back, my daughter… my Clio—we have lost this war, this massacre. I have already ordered our people to either run or hide because I know that we will not win this. You should go…

…General, take my daughter away to somewhere safe. I will—"

"Father," Clio let out a small sigh while shaking her head, "It is fine now, I have brought someone who could help us. And we will be fine, Father—I will protect our people."

"Protect… our people?" The King looked Clio in the eyes; gently brushing his fingers on her cheek, "Your mother would have been so proud of you, my dear Clio—but we have already lost this war. And what can you even do? At least you brought with you the might of the gods themselves, then we are lost."

"But—"

"No, buts!" The King then turned around and tried to pull Clio away, only for him to find himself almost tumbling back—and if it was not for Clio catching him, then he would have definitely fallen to the floor hard, "What—!?"

But Clio did not just catch him, no—Clio lifted him up without any difficulty to make sure his feet were carefully planted on the floor.

"Father…" Clio then let out a small breath—and as she did so, the wind finally blew all the smoke outside when the door was kicked down—and there, everyone saw all the soldiers of Thebes lying on the ground; all of their chest plates either caved in or slashed in half.

"Did you…" The King then turned to look at the sword that Clio dropped, only to see it covered in blood. He also looked at her knuckles, which were also covered in blood, "...Did you do all of that?"

"I did. I was… granted the power to save our people," Clio nodded, "And I also brought the very thing you asked–the might of the gods."

"What…?" The King stared at Clio's face for a few seconds; his eyes trembling as all sorts of thoughts raced in his mind. But soon, it clicked on him—and not only him, but the rest of the people inside the castle—all the screams and noises outside that should be pointed at them… they were not entering the castle at all, "What is… happening out there?"

"I told you…" Clio let out a small sigh as she just calmly turned around and started walking back out, "...I brought someone who could help us."

The King turned to look at his general, and the general looked at his soldiers. And soon, all of them started moving to the door—carefully, of course, as they still did not know if it was truly clear outside.

Well, they soon came to know that it wasn't clear at all. The soldiers of Thebes were still there—but none of them were looking at the castle anymore and were all just rushing away.

"The rear! Someone's attacking us in the rear! Protect Prince Ducetios!"

"Men, to the garrison!"

"What…?" The general was the first to react as he saw all the Thebes' troops all running away, "The rear…? How many did you bring with you, Your Highness!? Did you ask for help from another country, is that why you were gone!?"

"No," Clio smiled, "And I only brought one person."

"One person…?" Both the general and the king looked at each other at the same time; the confusion on their faces as clear as day, "...How would that even be—"

And before the King could even finish his words, they saw something blitzing past into the distance—they looked, only to see a soldier from Thebes now rolling on the ground violently. And before their mind could even register what had happened, another soldier followed… and then another—and soon, there were even people being blown into the air… dozens and dozens of them.

"Just… who did you bring?" The King's eyes widened as he looked back at Clio.

"...The one I truly want to marry, Father," Clio held her chest again as she watched the chaos unfold—and soon, the soldiers of Thebes found themselves moving back into the front of the castle, no. It was more like they were being pushed back.

What was it, exactly? Some sort of contraption? Perhaps a beast? But why would Clio want to marry a beast…?

"Did…" The King's voice shivered as he saw how the phalanx was being pushed away, "...Did you sell yourself to the monsters of the Underworld to help us? No. That is not right, my child… it… it should be me—I should be the one to sacrifice myself to the ugly beast and—!!!"

And before the King could finish his words, the phalanx formation was completely cut apart as the so-called might of god finally revealed itself—himself. The King and even the general were preparing to see some sort of beast, hungry and feral, a brute.

They held their breaths from seeing how tall he was at first, but then… they saw his face.

"What…"

"It's… a god," the general gasped. Even from afar, it was obvious how chiseled and good-looking Rhys was. Like a statue that was sculpted by the most promiscuous of gods—their vision of beauty and power at the same time, "For…

…For glory."

But soon, however, that beauty was replaced by unmatched violence as they saw Rhys just completely push his entire arm through a soldier–there was not even a resistance at all as his hand penetrated the soldier's chest plate.

And of course, the soldiers of Thebes have noticed that too—and none of them were rushing toward Rhys anymore.

As for Rhys, when he saw that no one was approaching him anymore, he also stopped moving and just stared at each of them with his silver eyes.

He then started walking around, causing the soldiers of Thebes to flinch. And Rhys, well…

…Rhys said nothing at all. He just continued walking around until his eyes eventually caught someone and pointed at him.

The soldiers of Thebes all turned to look to where he was pointing, only to see someone on top of a horse right in the middle of their formation—their Prince.

The soldiers of Thebes wondered at first—did he want them to give up the Prince? If so, that was something that they could never do. But soon, however, they saw Rhys pick up a sword and back away; swinging it around before once again pointing toward Prince Ducetios.

And as soon as they saw that, the soldiers of Thebes all moved away one by one.

"What… what are all of you doing!?" Prince Ducetios spun around with his horse as he saw all his men moving away, "Kill him! He is just one man!"

"He requests a duel, Your Highness…

…you can not refuse, or the gods will smite us."

Doing it old style. Rhys fits in this world doe

Romeru