The party was already at its peak and so the night became deeper. On the shadows casted by the tall trees, several silhouettes appeared and disappeared. These entities slowly approached the palace where people were gathered.
Outside of the palace, there were several soldiers guarding each post and each corner of the place. Major Linius strictly warned and reminded them that they should keep watch of the surroundings. Not even a fly should be able to enter the palace during the time of the ball.
The guards were continuously rotating but they couldn't do anything about the shadows. The entities who got near the palace blended with the shadows and traveled through it. They successfully bypassed the guards who did not even notice that their security was already bridged.
These entities leapt from shadow to darkness as they blended well with the dark corners of the palace, some of them were already inside the hall and watched these people who were enjoying their night. They remained silent and patient waiting for the right time to commence their master's orders.
During this time, Cygnus already felt the presence of these entities. After talking with the king for a while, he was given permission to enjoy the rest of the night. So he decided to take a seat first to rest.
Out of nowhere a shadow was cast over him and when he looked up, those golden locks and eyes couldn't be mistaken for someone else's. "Greetings, your highness the crown prince." He stood up from where he was sitting and bowed to the man.
"I heard about you from Lindon and it seems that my father is fond of you." He started without even hiding his scrutinizing gaze.
The crown prince looked him up and down before he smirked. On the other hand, Cygnus was currently reading the prince's mind. He could already tell that Lindon has said some bad things about him.
"I am flattered that the crown prince recognizes me," was his only answer accompanied by a grin with a mocking sneer behind it.
This smile unnerved the crown prince, "I can't believe that you can cut off your cousin's hand without even thinking of the consequences. You are really cruel and don't know how to show filial piety to your family."
"Your highness, with all due respect, that matter was resolved already as for filial piety, I have plenty of that which is reserved for only my father, mother and brother. As for the others, I don't really care about them." He said those words without hesitation and before the prince could even answer back, Cygnus spoke again. "As for your highness, I pity you for not using your brain and trusting the wrong person. If you want to hold that place of yours and ascend the throne, you should think twice about trusting those people around you because you might be dealing with a snake."
"Watch your mouth!" Lindon, who was with the prince, was taken aback by how vulgar his words were. He couldn't believe that his cousin could say those words.
"How can I watch my mouth when my eyes are above my lips?" Cygnus raised a brow and grinned towards them.
"How uncultured, to treat someone of my status like that, see if I can't punish you!" The prince was furious because of the other's comebacks.
"Come and try if you really can and I'll make sure that all of the people in here will know that you are bullying a weak person like me. You know I can really scream so loud that even the king can hear it." Cygnus wasn't the least bit intimidated by the prince's threat.
It was better if this stupid crown prince would really punish him. It would be great to see the king and queen's face if they found out that their son was picking a fight with him. Even though it was not a part of his plan, he would still welcome it.
The crown prince couldn't stand the other's smug look but he needed to control himself so as not to cause any commotion. Cygnus thought that the prince was still lucky because of his upbringing. The prince decided to leave the matter so as not to cause anymore scenes.
He left together with Lindon who was sending glares towards his direction. Cygnus sat down again and drank the juice that Mr. C got for him. He looked around and saw that his father was busy while talking with the other dukes while his mother was mingling with the ladies of the house. They were also with the queen who was clearly enjoying herself.
"What a great view," he mumbled to himself as he drank the beverage that was served for him. He also ate some snacks that the butler got for him.
The party was in a good mood and when everything was going smoothly, a loud shrill sound suddenly bombarded the hall. The ear piercing sound made the guests cover their ears and some of them also started to vomit some blood. From above, shadows dropped down and became men who bore weapons then they started attacking the guests.
Chaos ensued and with the presence of many veterans, they started to repel the attackers. The generals fought and even the hero who attended the party made a move. Even the two archmage who came with Ezio erected barriers to protect those who cannot fight.
People were running everywhere to avoid the attackers but for some reason the soldiers who were stationed outside of the hall couldn't enter but those who were inside could leave. Most of the guests were able to leave but the fight inside wasn't stopping. They could still hear the clashing of swords and grunts from those who were wounded.
Instead of leaving the king decided to stay and help to fight the assassins even though the crown prince remained. Everyone was so busy that no one noticed that some of them inside the hall had not made a move. Ezio chose to step back and watch from the side while Cygnus made himself a bit invisible as he watched them fight.
This was also a good time for him to observe them and their skills. It would be useful for his future endeavors. He watched as the assassins moved in sync to attack everyone inside the room but they suddenly changed targets and went after the two archmages who acted as support to the soldiers and the generals who were fighting.
The archmages were surprised but only for a short while as they smoothly switched from supporting to offense. They did not hesitate to use magic to deter the attackers and even injure them. After that the enemies once again switched targets but most of the enemies would always come after the archmages.
They were relentless and more of them were coming from above, which made the mages conclude that there must be magic involved in the attack. Archmage Ragus looked around and saw that Ezio was only watching them from a safe distance. It was like the enemies couldn't see him from where he was standing because he wasn't being attacked.
He narrowed his eyes but he did not speak, instead he looked up and targeted the blob of shadows above. Archmage Aviel followed his lead and also attacked those things which stopped the enemies from multiplying. Slowly the entities that were causing a commotion were dealt with one by one until there was none left.
They could finally breathe a sigh of relief because after double checking every corner of the hall, they found no signs of those things. They were still relieved in the feeling of winning when they heard the crown prince suddenly shouting while looking towards his father's direction.
Several heads turned around only to be struck with the scene that was in front of them. Without them even knowing, the king was subdued by the tendrils of darkness and the entities they thought they defeated were already on their way to plunge their swords in the king's body. Everything happened in slow motion, the generals started to run towards the king but time seemed to have slowed down for them.
