Six to go

"Snake is a cautious one, he won't be as easy to distract or confuse as Vlad or his men. His exploits on the battlefield are well sung across the lands many bars and inns, merry making in these parts goes hand in hand with our generals military feats, Snake happens to be one of the generals more often sung in the capital for his calculated tactics and well thought out strategies. You'd be hard pressed to find his like anywhere else among the traitors, he will be a hard man to bring down even for someone like you." Katarina lectured as she walked, walking beside Sven she had found herself walking strangely, her usual stiff robotic pacing being replaced by subtle hip sways, far more girlish than she would be without his presence.

"And how well do you think you know me? Snake will fall like all the rest." Sven said confidently, Katarina raised a brow at this egotistical statement.

"I've met many a cocky boaster and have seen just as many let their big mouths talk themselves into an early grave. Play this smart Sven, you're no use to us dead." Sven chuckled at her, Snake may think himself smart but Sven knew if he could get close enough, that supposedly big brain of his will be worth nothing if it's splattered into the dirt.

As they walked, Sven took in the sights of the city as it bustled. Now that Katarina was disguised with a black robe over her head and body, Sven noticed that many orcs were sporting cold stares directed at himself and his temporary dark elf partner, the war had turned race against race in these streets. Looking to Adriana, she didn't seem to be taking the stares too well, after all she was a free woman in an orc city, many of the stares directed at her weren't so cold, not so welcome neither.

"You doing ok, Adriana?" Sven asked her quietly, keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him. They may not be known to the authorities yet, but there's no sense in letting his guard down for that fact alone. They were surrounded by female deprived male orcs who hated humans and would die for the chance at mating with a woman, even if that woman wasn't an orc herself. In such a place, taking your eyes off of your immediate surroundings could be the cause of an avoidable ****.

"I'm fine, I just wish I had hidden away in your shadow before we walked out in public." Just then Adriana's stomach growled, blushing she looked away. "And I wish back then I... Your neck." She whispered that last part just loud enough for Sven to hear, but quiet enough that Katarina wouldn't put two and two together. Sven cracked an amused smile at her tactfulness.

"Maybe after Snake we can get a bite to eat, courtesy of the princess in waiting of course." Sven grinned as he felt Katarina glare holes into the back of his head. However she sighed and nodded, she supposed it was only fair that she treat the two to a good meal for all that they have done, even if she was annoyed that these plans were made without her behest.

"So what's the deal with the line of succession now? Your family must be all kinds of messed up." Sven directed his comment at Katarina, stepping out of the way of an oncoming horse and carriage transporting lumber to some place or another. Katarina sighed as she'd briefly contemplated this as well.

"Lets see, all of the traitorous generals are the kings sons so the line of succession would fall to a minister or a council member, as you know women aren't fit to rule in this shitty country so even though I would be older than any of those ministers or council types, even though I'm a proven warrior that can take on entire platoons, even though I already command the respect of the masses, even though right now my father has listened to my advice and is currently enacting my battle plans to rid the capital of traitors - somehow I'm still unfit to rule, due to the lack of a dangly piece of meat between my thighs. Pretty fucking shitty, huh?" Katarina vented, Sven frowned at the injustice, it seems men and women suffer equally under this hellish regime, but for different levels of of discrimination. On the one hand, the male is reduced to a sniveling war machine whose only worth is fighting and dying for his country, or namely the men in charge of the country - and if he can't do that then he's not a real man, he's just a worthless craven who shouldn't have been born at all. On the other hand, the woman is reduced to a prize of the war effort, a badge of honor to be worn until baring fruit of the nightly affairs, to often be **** onto the animal birth cycle to spew out as many medals and war machines as possible. This country was like medieval Europe dating back centuries ago, its views of peasants and women were shockingly similar.

"How can we be sure that some council members or ministers aren't in on the conspiracy as well?" Sven wondered aloud, skipping over the touchy subject the best he could. It wouldn't do anyone any good focusing on irrelevant matters of culture and policy, it would only serve to distract him from his mission.

"We can't, luckily their power isn't as great a threat to the king so once we are rid of the generals, the ministers and council members should be relatively powerless. We'll set some traps and see if we catch anything after the generals are disposed of, but the likely scenario is that the smarter traitors will outlive our attempts to oust them and will simply continue to serve silently as if they never played a part in the rebellion at all." Katarina had to tug her cowl down so that passing peasants wouldn't get a good look at her, best they assume that she was a male orc. If they realized she was female, well she had heard the stories from the sentries up on the walls. Women out in public was a bad idea, many men would be prone to **** her or worse, even if she was a member of royalty, she'd rather not have them rip off her cowl only to realize she was the blade princess and reveal said fact to the entire city - that fact might blow their entire operation.

"So this building up ahead is the building you were talking about?" Sven pointed to a large circular building with an opaque glass roof, out of all the nearby buildings it was by far the largest and tallest structure this far out in the cities outer limits. Looking ahead there was armed guards and soldiers patrolling its perimeter.

"The Dome, yes this is the building Snake teaches his soldiers in." Katarina looked at the grandness of the building in wonder, it had been built off of his war funds alone, its size and shape would have cost a fortune in labor costs alone, it truly served as a reminder to the people that Snake was a top ranking general among the Triadom's already elite prestige. "What will you do? Sneak in or confront him?" Katarina tugged her cowl down once again as a traveling merchant rode by on horse and carriage, peering their way nosily.

"Sneak into that? No chance, you might be right about how smart that Snake guy is, he left no way to scale this building and most likely doesn't even have any roof access anyway. Just leave things to me, we'll play it by ear once we're inside." Sven rounded the corner of The Dome and walked towards the front entrance, then an idea struck him. "Can you enter through the back entrance? Just make sure you aren't seen with us and enter that way. Once inside you can come to our aid if you think we need it, if snake is as smart as you say he is then we should be thinking several steps ahead of him." Katarina smirked at his sudden reasonableness, so he could be cautious as well as cocky, perhaps he isn't destined to an early grave after all.

"I'll run ahead, Snake should be on the second or third floor, try not to get lulled into a false sense of security." And with that, Katarina jogged ahead of Sven and Adriana, he armor clanking slightly as she ran earning her a few queer looks from the onlookers going about their daily lives.

"I've got a bad feeling about this one, I can usually sense auras of people and there's a pretty sinister one resonating from within that dome like building." Adriana whispered, tugging Sven's metal wrist to get his attention first. Thinking back on their first meeting, Adriana had looked into his soul to make sure his intentions weren't malicious, could her vampire nature do the same even for people behind thick walls of sandstone? Or was his aura so strong that Snake was a rare exception? Either way, Sven began to tense up at all the warnings he was getting, perhaps he would have to take this extra carefully.

Walking up to the front gate, two guards stood at the front of the door, but two more guards stood high above with crossbows cocked and loaded, just waiting on Sven to try something funny. Noticing a human was approaching the guards reached for their spears defensively, causing Sven and Adriana to stop where they stood.

"Halt! Why does a human approach our lords residence?" One of the guards asked, his spear half drawn, only to stop fully drawing it when Sven stopped in his place. Sven looked at the crossbowmen, they had their sights aimed on him as soon as he had taken a foot forward - these 4 men were well trained and on edge, much more so than any of Vlad's rookie platoon, the encounter was definitely a reminder of things to come.

"I come to seek an audience with Snake, I have a royal decree signed with the kings seal in my pocket if I may retrieve it." Sven said it as a statement rather than as a question, better to act like he had a right to be here to mask his hidden motive. However, his attitude struck a nerve with the guards somehow.

"A human carrying the kings seal? Get lost ya damn pale ape, fore' my buddies up top litter you with holes." The second guard motioned for Sven to be on his way, Sven smirked at that reply and then started to chuckle.

"Is that so? What do you think the king would say, if 4 of his guards didn't heed his will? I don't think this is going to end very well for any one of you." The guards grew a shade of pale at the ramifications, a bluff? Well, better to be safe than sorry.

"Alright, hand me this piece of paper, but if it's just another fake - know that your life is forfeit." The orc held out his hand, walking up to him Sven handed him his royal decree, seeing the seal stamped onto the paper the guards gulped simultaneously, they had just dodged a bullet alright - or so they seemed to think. If they had refused this human entrance, well they would have been swinging from a tree somewhere for denying the kings will being done.

"Any more hostilities? I can see that your men still have their arrows trained on me." Sven motioned for the crossbowmen who upon being mentioned lowered their crossbows that they had instinctively trained on Sven's head. The door guards coughed as they opened the gate for Sven to go inside, walking inside he was met with another set of inner guards.

"He has a royal letter that gives him access to an audience with Lord Snake, take the human to him and don't delay." The outside guard informed the inside guards of their duty, nodding the troop began to escort Sven and Adriana through the building.

While inside, Sven could see all manner of training exercises going on, some of the rooms that they walked by had been made into obstacle courses, others were gymnasiums, sparring rooms, climbing courses, you name it The Dome housed such rooms - walking past the inner courtyard, Sven could see bowmen and crossbowmen practicing their shots against straw dummies, their shots were hitting their mark time and time again from such distance. If Sven tried to fight an army of archers who kept him at a distance, even if he went all out with his hook shot he wasn't certain he could take such a veteran army.

"Impressed? Most visitors have the same dumb look you have when they come here. Lord Snake has the lowest mortality rate of all the generals due to his well thought out and tactical planning, men in his platoon get to live to a ripe old age where even the most wettest eared soldier can serve long enough to become a veteran of battle." The guard declared proudly, Sven could tell with one look at how hard the men were training and how effective they were that he wasn't lying. These men were or three above the men he had crushed in Vlad's training yard, in fact he'd rather face a hundred of those men than fight even ten of these grizzled battle hardened veterans.

"Snake must be quite the general." Sven praised aloud, they were now on the second floor and he was continuing to look down at the archers training below them, however upon hearing Sven's words the guard that had been speaking made a dissatisfied noise.

"That's 'Lord Snake' to the likes of you, you may carry the kings seal but you're still a stranger in these lands, a stranger of obvious low birth that shouldn't be addressing our Lord with such familiarity and commonness." The guard shot sideways glance warning Sven to tread lightly, as if he needed the reminder. Every step Sven took he was ready, alert of his surroundings and just waiting to react to whatever ambush or trap this 'Lord Snake' had set for him.

"Duly noted." Sven quipped back with a hint of sarcasm that the guards definitely picked up on, but seemed to let go to avoid further confrontation. They were loyal to their lord, and if they started trouble with every commoner who insulted their lord - especially commoners carrying out the kinds duties - well, they would only serve to cause problems for Snake, and they weren't willing to do that just because every now and then they would come across some low born who didn't know his place in the world.

Leading Sven through the winding corridors and up another flight of steps, the group finally came to an open, empty room. It was vacant of any furnishings or obstructions and was perfectly circular. Up top, there was a balcony that looked down at Sven from the fourth floor, along that floors walls there was a row of arrow slits that peered down at him from all angles.

"Wait here and don't move, our lord shall be here to speak with you shortly." And with that, the guards exited through the only doorway to said room, barring it behind them. They were trapped inside this killing room floor, Sven realized. He couldn't help but feel his heart beat faster and a small smile **** its way onto his cheeks. 'So this is general Snake, second in command.' Sven thought as he marveled at the security, each arrow slit would soon be lined with bowmen and if he made one false move, he would be littered with barrage after barrage of arrows like a trapped animal in its cage, unable to fight back and under the mercy of his captor.

"When I give the signal, attach yourself to my shadow." Sven whispered to Adriana, the dark elf nodded nervously.

"He's coming, I can feel it." Adriana's voice trembled ever so slightly, she still wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere, and if it weren't for Sven's reassuring presence, she was sure she would have a panic attack and faint.

Rounding the corner of the balcony, the man himself walked out to greet the pair of assassins. The orc appeared to be wearing nothing but a thick black feathered overcoat and a silver tiara embezzled with a red jewel atop its crown, his head completely shaven with only the faintest hint of fuzz growing back on his dome. His eyes were silver and refined, his stare impassive and lacking any hint as to what he was thinking or feeling, a complete poker face. At his side there were two tanks, most of his soldiers lacked classes but these two seemed to have specialized in a defensive class - while they stood beside him they had their shields primed and ready to block any attack Sven could throw at them. While this was all going on, Sven could hear the clattering of bows and armor all around him, looking to the previous vacant arrow slits in the walls he now found them filled up - each an every one of them, now lined with a crossbow or bow to each slit.

"Forgive the cautionary setup, you have nothing to fear so long as your intentions here aren't to harm me. So go on, what brings you to my training ground, human Gate Keeper with the kings seal in his pocket." Snake scratched the stubble on his chin as he continued his ever impassive stare down toward Sven and his companion. Sven resisted the urge to smirk, this Snake guy was riling him up inside by the way he was speaking to him and the measures he had taken to protect himself. This was no aloof fool, if Vlad was third in command and Snake was second - and judging the power difference between the two, how strong exactly would Xavier be? The first in command must be a monster. Looking at Snake, Sven checked out his character sheet quickly.

Name: Snake
Title: Commander General
Main Class: Tactician
Sub Class: None
Proficiency: Alchemy
Guild: Triadom U
Level: 44
Experience: 4100 / 4230

A tactician huh? Sven's blood began to pump more fiercely. In the AxioM game, the tactician class was somewhat of a joke class, all it did was buff team mates and didn't have much room in the meta for solo, 3 man groups or dungeon raids. The tactician was often outclassed by many other support classes after it was nerfed three times in a row, the community had called for a rework of the class time and time again but the developers had ignored them for years and left the tactician class mostly untouched. The problems with the class were many, one such problem was that the class required to have a dedicated booster to level him, the class outright had ZERO combat capabilities and as such, could not be played solo. The second problem for the class is that it lacked any healing component to its buffs, and with healing being strongly enforced in the meta, the class performed far less effectively than say a nature healer, and thirdly the classes buffs weren't even that good, they had been nerfed several times in a row after the launch of the game and in group raids, there weren't enough players to make use of the global buffs the tactician provided - and was often less coveted for group dungeons than a healer or even a fire enchanter.

However, now that the group size wasn't limited to just a dozen or so players, a tactician could provide his buff to an entire army. The class had gone from under powered garbage to over powered top tier in the blink of an eye. Because the tacticians buffs were coded to be global rather than local or inside an area of influence, unlike a nature healer or a fire enchanter, the tacticians buffs could empower the entire army, anyone under the tacticians command would gain the buffs all the time, night and day, irregardless of distance between them. That was why Sven's heart was beating so fast, this opponent was indeed going to be a challenge.

Looking at the man Sven had considered lying to him about the reasons he was here at first, to try and make him come down here or see if he could trick him and his men somehow, but from the position he was in right now and looking into this mans eyes, he knew in that instant that there was no chance Snake would let his guard down, there was no point in trying to trick him. Finally ceasing to suppress his smirk, Sven looked up at the man and sized up his opponent properly.

"No no, you must forgive me 'Lord Snake', fore my intentions are to harm you. Adriana." No sooner had Sven finished his line, Adriana vanished into Sven's shadow and Sven equipped his flail and sent a powerful Hook Shot at Snakes direction. Snake wordlessly walked away from the balcony, the flail having collided with the tanks shields forcing them both back a bit but otherwise having no effect on damaging either one of them. Upon this hostile attempt on their lords life, the archers rained their arrows down on top of Sven.

Just as he was about to be hit by a storm of sharp metal, Sven manipulated his flail to snag against the balconies railing, retracting the flails chains to himself, he propelled himself into the air and towards the balcony, narrowly avoiding the hail of arrow fire that had just been littered the ground he had stood upon seconds prior. Landing on the railing the the tanks charged him with their shields raised, using Hook Shot he masterfully manipulated the chain to ensnare the two by the necks, reeling back they collided into one another bashing their skulls together with a resounding noise, followed shortly by Sven using the utmost of his strength to heave the pair of stunned tanks over his should, plummeting them to their deaths below with a sickening crunch - crushed by the weight of their own armor. It is true what they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Sven at 6'9 could attest to the validity of this long held belief and saying.

Opposite him, the arrow slits had a clear shot of him from this angle. Firing at him, the veteran soldiers facing him let loose their arrows while the soldiers without a clear shot of him rounded the corners to face him in melee combat. With these tight spaces, their spears would be more effective than his flail that would simply ricochet off the tight spaces or get stuck in some wall or another. Thinking quickly, Sven used his Tower Shield ability with one hand to deflect the arrow fire while simultaneously casting his Hook Shot with his other hand, bending the trajectory of the flail to round the corner, wiping out a group of soldiers in an instant, as the hook was returning Sven manipulated it once again to buffer a second Hook Shot, aiming for the other corner.

Hearing pained shouts and the clashing of metal against metal, Sven realized he had hit his mark. Now that the arrow fire had been suppressed, Sven quickly rounded the corner to face the oncoming archers-turned-spearmen. Snake had done a fantastic job of diversifying his mens battle skills, training them not only in the arts of archery but also in the hand to hand physical melee combat arts as well. As Sven faced the soldiers from one side, Adriana popped out of his shadow to surprise attack the soldiers coming from the other side, flanking Sven from his back.

In a rain of blood, Adriana's appearance had announced itself violently as she danced with her daggers around a group of ill prepared soldiers, who as battle hardened as they were stood no chance against a Night Matron who could appear at will beneath their feet in a flurry of fast life seeking dagger blows. Knowing that his back was covered, Sven used a technique for his Hook Shot called flicking, while less power and with less of an area of effect than some of his other Hook Shot techniques, this technique was especially useful in corridors and tight spaces such as this, flicking his flail back and forth down the straight line of the corridor in a whip like motion, Sven could puncture holes through lines of soldiers that came at him. Realizing their mistake much too late, Sven out-ranged the spear men and disposed of them three at a time, their bodies tripping up and slowing down the men approaching from the back.

At the sight of this, the men facing Sven stopped mindlessly approaching and and began to switch to their crossbows to utilize their range advantage, but upon seeing this Sven ran at the remaining group and cast his Tower Shield ability, the astral projection of his shield rushing out to smash into the archers, pinning them to the wall painfully, when the shield dissappeared they had maybe moments to duck Sven's flail which much skill and elegance, ricocheted off the side of the wall and smashed each of their heads clean off their shoulders one by one in a row, clearing Sven's side of the corridor all at once.

Turning around, Sven smiled as he watched Adriana finish off the last of her opponents using her illusion techniques. Looking at the ghost like projections of terrifying beasts, he was reminded to ask the girl later how exactly that ability worked.

Puffing and panting, Adriana looked back at Sven to return his triumphant smile.

"Get inside my shadow again, we need to find where Snake has ran off to." Nodding, Adriana disappeared into the floor and attached herself to Sven's shadow once again. Lightly jogging in the direction Snake had walked off to, Sven discovered another set of stairs that lead upwards. Figuring that was his best bet, he followed the route cautiously. After all, Snake was known for his cunningness, Sven couldn't act under the assumption that the route Snake had escaped in wouldn't be littered with traps.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Sven's eyes went wide as he narrowly dodged a ballista bolt that soared past his chest and crashed into the wall behind him, sending bricks hurtling to the streets below where citizens were peacefully going about their day. Looking down at the carnage caused, Sven looked on in horror as innocent peasants lay dead beneath the crushing debris brought about by the bolt meant for himself. Growling in anger, Sven rounded the stairs again as whoever mounted the ballista was reloading the device for another shot.

Looking around Sven saw Snake riding an escalator powered by a pulley system, looking into his eyes as he ascended to the floor above, Sven saw the same impassive look from before - calculating and tactful, Sven could not ascertain any ounce of what Snake was truly feeling, could he be feeling triumphant that he will be escaping once again? Could he be feeling fearful that Sven hadn't perished to his guard yet? Could Sven be falling into another of his traps if he chose to follow him even further inside this labyrinth of traps and ploys? Sven felt an uneasiness that he hadn't experienced against any other foe.

Dodging out of the way of not one but two ballista bolts, Sven rolled to safety as yet more bricks went scattering to the streets, making audible thumping noises as they landed. Using his Hook Shot ability, Sven flicked two individual casts of his flail to demolish both ballista in the room, looking to the escalator, Sven watched as Snake exited through another door. Running into the center of the room, Sven's hair stuck out on the back of his neck all at once as he ducked under the swing of two handed axe.

Rolling out of the way of another swing, Sven looked up at his assaulter. The man was dressed in heavy plate armor and wielded a double handed axe as long as he was tall, the size of the axes head was practically as big as his whole midsection. It was a big weapon alright, this opponent, unlike any of the soldiers Sven had faced up til this point, definitely had a primary class. Casting his Hook Shot ability, Sven went to wrap his chain around the mans legs to pull his weight out from underneath him, but the brute stomped on the flails chain to stop it from progressing further, and in the same instant sent his axe crashing down for another kill shot.

With no time to dodge, Sven raised his shield and cast his Tower Shield spell, reducing the damage of the blow by 90% and sending the bruiser backwards with the **** of the astral projection, releasing Sven's flail from beneath the brutes feet as he was knocked back. With his weapon now usable once again, Sven rotated it around himself in a large AOE, defensively the bruiser held out his axe to block the end of the flail from smashing into him, at the last second Sven increased the length of the chains, spinning around the handle of the axe and locking into place, Sven pulled as hard as he could ripping the weapon out of the bruisers hands and sending him falling to the floor from the **** of the pull.

Clanging to the ground in a heavy mess of metal, Adriana appeared out of Sven's shadow and dug both of her daggers deep into the orcs neck, killing him instantly with two head shot criticals. No sooner had she appeared did she disappear back into Sven's shadow. Releasing the axe from his opponent, Sven cast his hook shot up to the top of the elevator and grappled his way upwards like he had done before at the balcony.

Running around the corner he found yet another flight of stairs. Come on, he had to be nearing the top floor by now, surely. Racing to the top he breached the surface to find himself in a large room spanning the top of the building itself, the floor was vacant of any walls or structure, just the sandstone floor and the opaque glass dome of a roof that encapsulated around him.

"You've done well to track me this far, but I'm afraid this is where it all ends. Down this shaft is an emergency escape route, from there I can escape into the streets and you'll be left here surrounded by my entire army. This is checkmate, Gate Keeper." Pulling the lever on yet another pulley powered elevator, a few clinking and clanking noises were made but the elevator downward refused to budge even an inch. A cold sweat began to form on his brow, how could it be malfunctioning right now?! He tested it every day, like all of his plans he followed it through routinely to make sure there was no weaknesses or pitfalls.

"Looks like lady luck is shining in my favor, Snake." Sven walked forward menacingly, one look into Snake's eyes told him that he had won. Gone was the impassive stare that told no tale, replaced now by a look of fear and regret, and above all else confusion that he had been thwarted by a simple piece of rope that wouldn't seem to budge.

"Wait, before you kill me I must know your intentions for assassinating me by order of the king, perhaps our goals might not be so different. Tell me, Gate Keeper!" The man backed away with every step Sven took forward. Strangely, Sven decided to humor his last wishes.

"Very well, you're about to die anyway so I suppose there's no harm in telling you. You and your brothers plan to kill the king and overthrow him, it is my orders to slay every single one of you treacherous lot and to reinstate the current monarchy." Sven twirled his flail around menacingly as he continued to approach.

"Do you even know why we're planning all of this? It's because the king cares more for his gem mine than he does for his own people! He has no care in the world for the men that die for his wealth, he'll gladly waste thousands of orc lives just to secure a single gem, he doesn't care at all at minimizing losses and doesn't care to make peace with the humans. Did you know that the Terran Foci have issued three individual cease fire treaties? All of them rejected by the king, because war lines his pockets and polarizes the people against the humans and turns the peoples attentions away from the complete disregard of orc life all for the sake of securing his gemstones. If you side with him you are simply reinforcing the status quo of a hellish dictator regime, do you not see?" Sven stopped walking, his flail dropping to his side. Could he be in the wrong for defending the king? Was a violent revolution justifiable if the people are revolting against a tyrannical king? Just where should his priorities lie?

"Do you understand now? Our cause isn't a simple greedy power grab, rather it is out of necessity! Our country needs to change, it needs peace and it needs a ruler that will not toy with the lives of its people like they are its playthings!" Sven was deeply conflicted, was he fighting on the wrong side all along? Could he still redeem himself by championing the resistance? Could he so easily switch his allegiances now that the dice have been cast? Lost in thought, Sven didn't even notice the shifty behavior of Snake before it was too late.

Standing back, Snake triggered a pressure plate that caused a row of spikes to jut out at a diagonal angle, Sven was so preoccupied with his confliction that he only noticed his own errors when the spike was deeply embedded into his chest, piercing through his breastplate and coming out the other end glistening with blood. Standing off the pressure plate, Sven stumbled backwards as blood poured from his wound and then his mouth. Looking at Snake with shock written across his face, the mans fearful demeanor reverted back to that same impassive stare he had always worn. He had lulled Sven into a false sense of security, just like he was warned Snake would try to do.

"I couldn't take any chances, I hope you will forgive my underhandedness before you die." Snake pulled out a short sword and approached Sven carefully, Sven quickly brought a health draft out of his inventory and fumbled the glass vial closer to his lips. Snake's brows furled as he saw what Sven planned to do, quickening his pace he charged at Sven throwing caution to the wind as he needed to stop Sven from drinking that life saving liquid. "Not a chance!" Snake yelled as he thrust back his short sword in a piercing motion, just as he was about to finish Sven off, Adriana appeared behind him, feeling a flash of pain across his neck, he soon felt himself soaring through the air, watching as the world turned upside down and then back to normal again. It wasn't until he did a full turn did he realize in a horrifying moment of dread that his head had been severed clean from his shoulders, as the last thing he saw was his decapitated lifeless body slump to the floor.

Sven chugged the liquid desperately as the bleeding began to stop and his wounds healed up. He had been perhaps seconds away from ****, if Snake had stopped him from drinking that health draft then it would have been game over - the bleed effect from the trap would have finished him off even if Snake's short sword didn't connect with his vitals. That thought alone was sobering enough, had Adriana not been there he would have perished, it would have been game over, and from the way Igrasil had died, he doubted there was any reincarnation.

Collapsing onto his back, Sven panted as he felt the strength returning back to him slowly. Adriana sat by his side wordlessly, protecting him while he was incapacitated. Looking at her Sven grew a fond sense of attachment filling him inside as the minutes passed on by, she had saved his life as he had secured her freedom.

"I suppose it's not the right time to ask for some of your blood." Adriana joked, Sven laughed weakly as he body still ached all over.

"In a minute, let my health regen kick in and then you can have more than your fill." Sven promised, Adriana seemed to hum happily at his answer. Looking down at him it made her feel something she hadn't ever felt before in her life, staring into his soul she could see something new that she hadn't seen the first time she peered inside. She could see that she was needed by him, that she was welcome, that she was a part of him now. She felt happy.

Contently she slid next to him, feeling his body heat radiating into hers, and for once in her life she felt like she had something to live for.

Authors notes: After this chapter, my story will have reached 1k likes in total! Thank you to everyone who is constantly liking and commenting on my chapters, it means a lot that I am engaging people with the story in different ways. So thanks for supporting my story and I hope you enjoy what is to come!