Fierce Beast (3)
The Gold Army officer from the Grand General's office nodded. In response, the guards standing watch with their backs to the palace walls of the Music Hall nodded as well and prepared to withdraw. Soon, the Music Hall stood empty.
It was deep into the night, past the Choushi hour. The troops guarding the palace and halls where the young princess and her attendant maids resided ebbed away like the tide.
"Hmph."
The Gold Army officer raised his torch high, swinging it widely side to side so its bright flame was visible from afar. It was the signal. The sign that preparations were complete.
As the torch signal flared, shadows began to emerge from the pitch-black darkness. Assassins clad head to toe in black gathered silently at the Music Hall's gates and walls—veterans so skilled they made not even the slightest footfall.
"Where is the Princess of Bohai?"
"We've confirmed the lights are out. The other maids' quarters as well. All lamps extinguished at once past the Zishi hour—it should be certain."
The Gold Army officer replied to the man presumed to be the assassins' leader. The check was already done. Save for the halls on night duty, every light had gone out, confirming the maids were asleep.
The assassins nodded.
"Draw swords."
No lengthy explanations needed. These were seasoned killers who had eliminated all the Grand General's political foes threatening his power—elite operatives swift and precise. Kill the target, erase the traces. Avoid being seen at all costs, and kill any witnesses who glimpsed them.
The black-masked assassins drew their sharp daggers, coated in ink black to prevent telltale glints. Clutching swords and daggers, they steadied their breaths, eyes gleaming as they awaited their leader's command from atop the wall.
"Attack."
The order came. In that instant, the masked assassins vaulted the walls without hesitation, daggers reversed in their grips. They glanced up, confirming the princess's chambers, then charged.
Stab the sleeping young princess in the nape, end her swiftly. Slaughter every maid in the hall to eliminate witnesses, then vanish.
'Curse the day you were born imperial blood.'
The assassin hurtled toward Princess Liu Xie's chambers, hand outstretched for the door latch. He yanked it open to burst inside.
But the moment the door swung wide, a razor-sharp sword flashed, severing the intruder's head.
"Gahk!"
In the hush of the predawn silence, the assassin's dying screech echoed like a death knell just before his head tumbled free. One of the black-clad intruders who had scaled the wall lay dead in an instant.
"What...!"
The head rolled. The headless body collapsed in a geyser of blood. The assassins charging toward the princess's chambers froze in disbelief, eyes wide at the impossible sight.
"Come."
Lee Seong-hwi kicked the door open, swinging his sword wide to cleave two more assassins. Blood arced in crimson trails. His blade, soaked red, sliced the night sky like a comet.
A single strike claimed their lives. The leader knew at once: this officer was no ordinary foe. Severing a life with one blow was a feat reserved for the realm's top masters.
"Attack."
The assassins judged swiftly. The obstacle was the enemy. Anything impeding the mission was to be destroyed.
Daggers and longswords lowered, they surged at Lee Seong-hwi as one.
With a splintering crack, the sliding door shattered as a blood-drenched assassin stumbled through.
"Keurk!"
He vomited blood and slumped lifeless. Blades clashed in savage slaughter. Black-clad killers swung longswords and daggers, locked in combat with the sudden interloper blocking their path.
"Your Highness, please flee at once!"
The eunuch shouted hoarsely, crawling on all fours to Liu Xie and begging her to escape. But she shook her head.
Protected by her maids, Liu Xie trembled amid the screams echoing from all sides, yet bit her lip and stood ramrod straight.
"Wh-where... am I supposed to... go...?"
Forcing her quivering lips to move, suppressing shivers like wind-tossed aspen leaves, the young princess endured. Though terror crushed her, she shed no tears. No craven wailing escaped her.
"I... must endure... until it's... over...."
She couldn't aid the grateful warrior battling countless assassins outside, but she wouldn't hinder him. Even at just eight years old, when terror would naturally unleash sobs.
Liu Xie stifled her sobs desperately, clamping her mouth shut.
"Th-they're truly... targeting Your Highness...?"
One maid huddled in the chambers whispered in shock. It was true. Assassins had struck in the dead of night.
The Grand General's officer, who had warned of ambush after a brief audience with her charge before withdrawing, had returned with the alert. And as dawn broke, armed killers had indeed swarmed.
"Kyaaah!!"
"Assassins—inside!"
The maids shrieked in horror. A hole punched through the sliding door. A masked assassin thrust his torso through, swinging wildly in fury.
"O-open the door! Open it now!!"
But his bellow cut short. As if yanked from behind, the killer—sword flailing, body hunched, glaring at the trembling maids—screamed and was dragged away.
'Th-the assassins... are the ones terrified...?'
A maid clutching Liu Xie, tears streaming silently, looked toward the hole. The assassin's voice had quavered in fear, as if beholding a ghost. The attackers were the ones screaming.
"Monster!"
"Kill that monster—now!!"
Shadows flickered beyond the door, sharp swords in hand. As they drew near or retreated, the maids' terror deepened.
"Grraaak!"
One by one, the shadows vanished downward. Each time, crimson blood fountained, dripping down the door.
"Y-Your Highness... please cover your ears...."
The eunuch sobbed, seeing Liu Xie clench her fists so hard nails bit palms, fighting to hold firm. But she endured—or tried to. Though horror threatened to plunge her into unconsciousness.
"Any word on the situation outside?"
Liu Xie asked. The eunuch startled, repeating, "Th-the outside, Your Highness?"
His voice shook as he glanced at the door, smeared in gore like spilled paint. He swallowed dryly. No need to open it; unspeakable hell awaited beyond.
"Princess of Bohai! Where is the Princess!!"
The locked sliding door splintered. A blood-soaked assassin burst in, wounds riddling his body, dripping gore—yet his eyes burned mad as he scanned.
Spotting Liu Xie cradled protectively by the maids.
"You little bitch...!"
As the gore-smeared killer crossed the threshold, a sharp sword flew from behind, skewering him like a spit. Blood frothed from his mask. Chest pierced, he coughed violently, spraying crimson into the room.
"Gurgle!"
The impaled assassin collapsed. Another flung wide the doors and toppled forward, blood-flecked, crashing with a wet thud.
The maids wailed at the corpse.
"He threw the sword himself!"
"He's unarmed now! Strike from all sides!"
From the outcry, the maids realized Lee Seong-hwi had hurled his blade to stop the intruder. They swallowed bitter sighs. Unarmed against hordes? Impossible.
"Kwaaaak!!"
Then came thunderous impacts—like hammers pounding thick drums—followed by horrific assassin screams.
Crack. Crunch.
Bones snapped. Lee Seong-hwi bear-hugged a masked assassin from behind, unleashing monstrous strength to snap his spine alive. Amid shrieks and fracturing bone, the twisted corpse thudded to the floor.
"...Next."
Lee Seong-hwi yanked his Qinggang sword from the toppled corpse, pointing its edge forward. Blood-drenched, he menaced the killers.
"M-madman...!"
"Snapping his spine... alive."
His martial prowess was terrifying enough; the raw power in those arms defied imagination. Even these veterans, slayers of the Grand General's countless foes, had never witnessed a man die with his back arched alive. Before this monster of peerless swordsmanship and bone-shattering might, they recoiled in stunned horror.