The gong was sounded, the trumpets were blown, the war drums could be heard. This was the sound of the finals. The tournaments were coming to an end, there were only two fighters left and whoever won would get a tour around the castle, and to meet the princess. Princess Seninia sat with her mother and father beside her, high on top of the arena, there she watched all the battles, and so far, like every single time, every single year, she predicted the winner. It was amazing, she knew who exactly was going to win. There, the crowd cheered and waited for Princess Seninia's decision. Who was going to win? She stood up slowly, and stepped forward. She also had to make a small speech for the two fighters. She really didn't like the tournaments. She hated fighting, violence was never the answer.

"I congratulate you two, Arunkaj and Leo. You have come far in this tournament, you have worked hard, but now the tournament is at an end. I can already see who the winner is. Congratulations Arunkaj, and I am sorry Leo. For many years now, I have been called a miracle child. Ever since I began predicting the fights. These tournaments are no longer what they used to be, it is no longer entertaining, knowing who wins."

She then sat herself down and sighed, and as she did, Leo quickly got angry, in fact, he got so angry, he began to shout and swear at Princess Seninia. Then, he took it one step too far, he threw a knife at her which of coursed was stopped by one of her guards.

"You will pay, you will suffer for what you have done! Tomorrow night, your death will be certain! I will make sure of it! You will regret not making me the winner!"

The King quickly stood up straight after and stared down at Leo. He didn't care if Leo had of won or not, even if he did, he was not to see Princess Seninia now. He had just threatened her life, and that he was not having. Guards quickly rushed in and grabbed Leo, holding him down.

"Leo! You have just decided your fate! You will regret ever threatening Princess Seninia. One man cannot change a thing, especially when they are no longer living! There isn't anyone, who can defeat the Royal Guards. Princess Seninia is perfectly safe, I guarantee that. Guards, take him away!"

He then watched as the guards took him away, he smiled and sat down. Arunkaj was now the winner. Princess Seninia then stood up once more and stepped up, she looked down to Arunkaj with a sigh.

"Congratulations on your win. You will have the honor of meeting me, as well as a personal tour around the castle. You will have your chance to ask any questions to me as you wish. Come back tomorrow at 12:00 to claim you prize money and take your tour."

She sat herself down, and the crowd all cheered. Leo may of died, but at least there was no fighting. She preferred that. She hated when she had to watch the fights, she sighed and then looked up to the sky. She had a bad feeling about all of this.

Arun was sweating profusely after the many fights it took to get to the finals. He was breathing heavily and beginning to feel the strain. Thankfully, he did not have to fight his final opponent. He watched as Leo was dragged away, a cold scowl on his face. The young man did not know how to lose gracefully and that was unacceptable. Clearly, he was not very disciplined.

As the princess reemerged from behind the guards, Arun took a bow and smiled. “Thank you, Your Highness.” He said, loudly enough to be heard on the high balcony. “I look forward to meeting your acquaintance.” He straightened up, turning away to grab his towel and take the drink of water he desperately needed.

As the crowd cheered, Arun packed up his things. He was clapped on the back and congratulated him loudly wherever he walked and he paid them no mind. There was no point. He could not get them to stop, even if he tried. Glancing up at the balcony, he noticed the princess’s solemn face and shook his head. It seemed it was true. The princess truly did dislike all this fighting. She was young. She didn’t understand that the world was a violent one and there was no way to change that yet. It was fight or die and she was lucky she had the guards. She would have died without them.

Slinging his bag up onto his back, he turned to move through the dissipating crowd. The fights were over and people were quickly losing interest in him. He was thankful for that. Arun was never one for being in a crowd and the centre of attention. He had just about reached his limit when it all stopped and people walked away, back to their jobs and businesses and their mundane lives returned once again. It was time for him to go home and do the same. It wasn’t until tomorrow that he would get his prize.

Though the personal meeting and the tour of the castle was a great privilege, Arun didn’t care about it in the slightest. The money was more important. His father was in need of the financial help. If he didn’t, Arun would never have entered such a foolish competition in the first place. All the other opponents seemed to care about was showing off and he couldn’t stand the arrogance he’d encountered that day. It had been more draining on his energies than the fights themselves.

Princess Seninia then began to leave with her mother and father. Hours then went by, the tournament was now over. Princess Seninia slept soundlessly, the Necklace which she wore glowed brightly as she slept. Suddenly, she began to shiver and her eyes began to twitch a little. It glowed brighter and brighter more, then, it suddenly stopped. When it did, she rested peacefully once again, until after midnight, when suddenly she woke up. She looked around to see the entire castle was in flames. She ran out of her room to see that all the guards were dead. Suddenly, a guard ran up to her, and began to quickly shout.

"Princess! We need to get you to safety! The castle is being attacked, follow me to the closest escape route!"

She nodded and ran with the guard towards the escape route, but as soon as they arrived, they came to three assassins. The ones which had killed everyone. Fang stepped forward, she held up her kuni star and threw it towards the guard, which quickly chopped his head off.

"There we go! Now, you're coming with us sweetly!"

She smiled, and then walked over the the dead guard, she picked him up by the neck and pulled her mask down, showing her two sets of teeth. She then bit into the neck of the guard, leaving a huge hole and thew him to the side. She laughed, as she chewed on his flesh. Every single guard had a huge bite mark the size of a great white probably even bigger. The reason for this was because she could dislocate her jaw and stretch her mouth slightly over the limits. She laughed and covered her face once more as she grabbed the princess. Flash simply watched and waited as Slade looked away, he hated the sight of this. It wasn't right. There was a total of 800 guards, every single one of them were dead.

Arunkaj tossed and turned in his bed. Nightmares plagued him and pulled his mind this way and that. Eventually, he could take no more and woke up in a mess of bed sheets and panting heavily. He had never been able to sleep well and tonight was no difference. He got up, throwing his bed sheets off his body and strode outside for some fresh air. The night was cool and calm but still the irritating prickle in his skin meant something was horribly wrong. And he was right. As he headed down the road towards the castle, he could smell the thick metallic scent of blood in the air.

He broke into a run, a scowl on his face. There was something horrifically wrong and he was sure the princess was in danger. Perhaps something had happened with Leo. If it was, then Leo’s gripe was with him, not the delicate and gentle neko princess.

As Arun drew closer to the palace, he could see the bodies of guards littering the floor and the grotesquely mangled forms drew a shudder from him. They all had teeth marks and large chunks of flesh ripped clean from their bones. And there amongst it all, stood three strangers and the princess. She wasn’t fighting very much. No resistance at all and that caused a bubble of anger to burst in his chest. Clearly, she could tell these people were dangerous and yet, she didn’t even try to resist them. They needed her alive, obviously, otherwise they would have taken her life already. Struggling would not have cost her her life.

He considered calling out to her but decided against it. He would follow instead and wait for an opportunity to steal her away to safety. She couldn’t handle the three of them at once. Not when they all had weapons and he was still barefoot and in his sleeping clothes. His only option was stealth and he had to be careful about it. Situating himself downwind so they couldn’t smell him, he hid in the shadows and bided his time.