There was silence following his question in the royal forces only. The others weren't bothered with the prince as the ones leading them hadn't given any orders to stop. They turned a deaf ear towards Kolt and continued fighting to secure a path for Zach and company to escape. Even the panther wasn't paying any heed to the prince and continued to pluck and throw any soldier that came in his path.
"That man you all are trying to defend is a traitor to the human race. He is a turncoat who is conspiring with the Succubus race against us. If you don't believe me you can ask him to reveal the true colors of his companion. Why does he keep her hidden underneath that hood? He has been deceiving you all along by bringing along a succubus with him wherever he goes. She no doubt knows enough about the whole city to bring it down without any effort."
While Zach was gritting his teeth in rage at Kolt's shameful behavior, the panther changed directions mid way and rushed towards Luna who was stunned after her identity was revealed to the world. She was worried that Zach would be implicated due to her identity. She would rather die than cause trouble for her master whom she loved with all her heart and soul.
The panther reached out with his outstretched claws and slashed at Luna who was caught unawares. The robe that had been with her ever since the beginning of her journey with Zach was caught by the sturdy claws and was torn from her body in one go.
Her seductive figure covered by her somewhat skimpy clothes was in full view of everyone on the scene.
There were several gasps among the audience since they hadn't expected that the words of Prince Kolt would turn out to be true. Only those truly involved in it knew that Kolt was acting like a child as he wanted to destroy what he couldn't have for himself.
When her onyx horns and her thin pointed tail were in plain view of the public, Luna felt as if she was standing naked. She was ashamed that her existence was going to create problems for her master. She hated herself more than anyone around her in that moment.
Several soldiers belonging to the families stopped fighting and were reluctant to raise their arms when Prince Kolt's allegations turned out to be true. Their faces revealed their shock as they retreated to the side and looked towards their leaders for further orders.
"The royal family has taken it upon itself to weed out such traitors from the empire and a thorough strategy for this has been implemented by the highest echelons of the empire. This traitor will be arrested along with this slut. Whosoever will try to hinder my soldiers from carrying out this duty for the sake of the human race will from now on be an enemy of the royal family and the entire human race."
Kolt's earlier anger had been replaced by feigned righteousness as he tried to make the best of the situation. His reputation had taken a deep plunge after the earlier failures which were the reason he couldn't let Zach escape from him.
Kolt had only been reluctant to reveal Luna's secret because he needed it to control Zach to do his bidding. The only reason he had been able to sign such a disadvantageous contract with Zach was Luna whom Zach probably cared about a lot.
But now that Zach had no intention to work for him and bring him the much needed capital, Kolt couldn't care less about it.
With the secret out, Kolt couldn't use Zach any longer since he had no means to exploit his genius. Therefore, he wanted to destroy the man who wouldn't listen to the voice of reason and wouldn't bend to his will and wish.
Both the families were in a conundrum following the convincing logic behind the words of Prince Kolt. They didn't think that they were righteous in defending someone who was a traitor to the entire mankind. The proof was right in front of them. One of the targets of their protection was none other than a succubus.
It had to be known that the hatred between the humans the succubi was quite prevalent and mutual. Even the succubi hated humans since they condemned them for seducing and killing their men despite the fact that all of their victims were willing to do the deed with them while being aware of the consequences.
Barry knew that his men were feeling disappointed and confused at the moment. Even though they were working for his family, they were only commoners. They didn't harbor the guts to go against one of the royal princes and the authority of the royal decree. It was the same for him as he didn't want the Elizabeth family to openly oppose the royal family in front of witnesses when his family was clearly in the wrong for delaying the righteous actions of the Prince.
As such he had no choice in the matter. If he had to choose between Zach and the preservation of his family, he would undoubtedly choose his family no matter how much Christina would hate him for making that decision. Barry felt that even George might condemn his actions this time since George had been the one to instruct Barry to defend Zach while he went someplace else in a hurry to carry out some other task on his own.
Sarah on the other hand had witnessed everything in the conference room and was aware of the true reason why the Prince had declared this to be a crusade for the human race. Therefore, she only smiled in response to the great reveal staged by the Prince.
"Everyone gather around; it looks like we are in the wrong here. No one needs to be afraid for you were only following my orders. Since we can't interfere in this any longer then there is no use in us staying here. Gather your things fast; we are leaving."
With that Sarah left with her men following behind her like ducklings following behind their mother duck.
Barry too retreated with his soldiers as he witnessed Sarah doing the same with her people. Only this time he didn't dare to cast a remorseful glance in the direction of Bruce whom he was letting down for the second time. He was regretting coming here because now he wouldn't be able to look his sister in the eye if she asked him about Zach afterwards.
Kolt on the other hand had a pleased look on his face as he witnessed the disappointed faces full of shame retreating behind their leaders. Despite the way he acted, he loved shoving his authority in the faces of others in order to get what he wanted. He loved how the name of the royal family caused the fearsome soldiers who were pushing back his troops to tremble at their knees.
He relayed another order to his commander in a graceful manner. He had managed to recover his lost grace following the departure of the two families which lifted a considerable amount of pressure from his shoulders.
"Bring Zach and that succubus to me as soon as possible. I don't want a single one of those rats to escape. Capture those you can capture and kill those you can't. But I need Zach and the succubus alive no matter what."
The commander was about to relay the order to initiate capture of the traitors when some kind of white fog in humongous proportions rolled in from everywhere all at once. It was dense enough to obscure the vision of the most accomplished mages. The mist surrounded the troops from all sides and built up an illusory cage around them that the troops were unable to escape.
The soldiers could barely see their own hands let alone find the enemies they were supposed to capture. Even the monstrous panther came to a halt as if taking his time to sniff out its target amongst the smoky fog with his newly enhanced senses.
A clever unit commander amongst Kolt's forces gathered his wits and shouted to no one in particular, "Use wind magic to drive the fog away."
The mages specializing in wind magic summoned strong gusts of wind in an attempt to force the wind to move in a southerly direction away from the battlefield. Contrary to expectations, the fog turned out to be quite stubborn as if it was unwilling to leave the place. After being displaced by the wind, it continued to run back to surround Kolt's forces in no time. Even after consuming the majority of their mana, the wind mages were barely able to make a difference. So they stopped their futile attempts and waited for the orders of their commander.
The unit commander who had come up with the genius idea didn't voice out anymore of his thoughts as he hid his face in shame. He could only thank the presence of the fog that hid the shame evident on his face from everyone around him and kept his identity secret.
Kolt cursed under his breath as he began to contemplate how this kind of fog could appear out of nowhere when it had been all clear just a few minutes ago.
Sarah who had never left but was hiding close by was already waiting for her chance. Since she knew the true reason for the conflict between Zach and Prince Kolt, she had come totally prepared.
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