Chapter 895: The battle's end Usually a run in with one’s teacher would be followed by a feeling of relief, especially in the case that the one in question had disappeared for far longer than should be reasonable, but instead Erin felt hurt by what had just happened. For more reasons than one, a strong swing from herself was still able to be deflected like so. "What are you doing?!" She shouted. "Have you been swayed over to the enemy side? Why won’t you let me pass?!" For a second, Leo was concentrating on the aura around her. He could sense it. This wasn’t the power of Qi, but it was something else that was fuelling her body. The yellow power surrounding her was larger than he had ever seen before. What exactly had happened in the time they were away? What made it so you had to resort to the power taking over Leo thought. "I’m sorry," Leo responded. "I’m sorry I wasn’t here. I’ve neglected my responsibilities as this family’s knight. I should have been here for you all. However, I can’t let you hurt these people, not when they have already given up and lack the will to fight!" "What do you mean?! Stop making excuses!" Erin asked, confused by his words. She dashed in not wanting to wait anymore, and swung up her blade high, towering over her head. ’Do I have enough energy left?’ Leo wondered, as he could see the power inside of her. ’I have no choice, it will have to be done.’ He placed his blade in his sheath again, crouched, bending his knees slightly, not moving from the spot he waited, and when the blade started to descend down. That’s when Leo unleashed his sword. Suddenly, Erin could feel something pull her sword in a certain direction, she could tell if it continued on this path, that it would be blocked, but she couldn’t do anything about it. It was as if her arm was being guided and it now had to follow that path. At the right point and time, Leo’s blade struck the large blade and stuck it into the ground, yet Erin had more than one weapon on her. She also carried a new katana type blade made from Alex’s blood, as she was attempting to draw this out, Leo kicked her hand, hitting her knuckles pushing the sword back in, and then his hand laid on top of her head. Soon, the energy from her got distributed to Leo himself. Erin’s head was clearing and all the anger in her body started to dissipate. What he was doing right now, was a form of Leo’s soul weapon and it was the same before. Learning how to use the second stage of Qi, had also opened up more ways for him to use his soul weapon as well. When the energy died down, her yellow eyes began to dull and that’s when she noticed the look of those around her. The vampires from the second family no longer looked defiant. No, they looked frightened as if they were looking at a demon, their weapons drawn shaking in their hands, and even those that were on her side had great concern for her. Once the energy was transferred to Leo, he lifted his sword, and struck it into the ground. Cracks started to appear in the ground and yellow energy could be seen coming out from it. The area of attack wasn’t large, but an attack deeper than one’s eyes could see was created in the ground itself. "Leo..." Erin spoke softly, having come to some of her senses. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to attack you." "Don’t worry, you have too little experience with this type of energy and failed to control it. That is what teachers are for, and that is why you are still a pupil and not a teacher." Leo replied as he put his hand on her shoulder. Now aware of what was going on, she realised that Leo was right, for some reason, the second family were no longer attacking them, and instead they just stood there watching the scene in front of them. The reason why Leo knew they were no longer planning to fight, was because their aura told him so. It had retreated, and was no longer on the attack. "What are you still doing here, do you need an extra invitation to leave?" Leo questioned. "Do you think I would take orders from a vampire knight?" Cindy talked back. "Remember I am still a leader." Turning his head, Leo had his hand gripped on the hilt of his blade. Although the others had put their energy away, there was still one person prepared to fight. "No, I don’t expect you to take orders from me, but I do expect you to listen to the orders you have been given. I’m not in the best of moods right now. My duty is to protect the tenth family, and if you dare to step a single foot forward, I will do just that." Cindy appeared calm, cool and collected to everyone on the outside. The expression on her face hadn’t changed in the slightest, but Lep could tell those words had angered her greatly. She was unable to hide it with her aura as it went about fiercely over her, like a rabid cat. "Everyone, we shall retreat for now." Cindy ordered, turned around, and the rest soon followed. Erin didn’t understand what was going on. Why would they retreat now just because Leo had turned up? Things were certainly confusing, but as the whole area was quiet, there were sounds of sobbing that coudl be heard. Looking at where the sounds were coming from, Layla was no longer in her serpent form, and had her head pressed up against Cia’s c.h.e.s.t. "Everyone!" Leo shouted. "The fight is over, return to the castle. Get your wounds treated. Afterwards, we shall pay our respect to those who have given up their lives for us." Walking over, Erin could see Cia wasn’t moving and she hadn’t been for a while now. She looked cold. Dropping her large sword to the floor she fell to her knees. "I’m sorry, my last words....my last words to you..." Erin, she couldn’t even get the words out she wanted to say, a small tear fell from her left eye. "It’s okay, I’m sure she knew you didn’t mean it." Layla said, with a forced smile through her own tears. "Look, she’s smiling. It means she was happy, right? Tell me she at least died happy." "Yeah, she’s definitely smiling." Erin replied, thinking back to their last moments. —— Not long before Leo had arrived at the battle scene. At the King’s castle, they also had another visitor who was in the throne room. Her silver hair was ragged and messy, as if she had been living in the jungle for months. Her face was full of dirt, but she didn’t care. For she had come straight to the King’s castle before going anywhere else. SIlver was bowing down, and standing in front of her was King Bryce. "Silver, you truly are an amazing person to have found all that out. Who would have thought they would be involved." Bryce noted with a big grin on his face. "The request has been made, those attacking the tenth have been ordered to withdraw. You may leave now." However, Silver remained, she had gone through all that, and that’s all Bryce was going to say to her. "Sorry, your Majesty, but may I ask, what will happen now? What will happen to Quinn and what about what we found out?" She spoke worriedly. "Things are always more complicated than they seem, and unfortunately complicated things take time to unravel. You have done enough, Silver. Leave this to me and the council. Your father was right about you, you do have the traits to become a great leader. I shall look forward to working with you soon." Clenching her fists, Silver still didn’t think this was good enough, but what choice did she have? Watching Silver leave the room, Bryce sat back down on his throne. "You have done a great job so far, Quinn. Looks like I might need to use you and your family a little while longer. " *****