I look back up towards King Remi.

"Fine I’ll protect her, but I can’t guarantee everything will work out," I say with a serious tone.

"Thank you," King Remi replies.

"You’re welcome," I say with a respectful tone.

BOOOOM!!!!!!!!

Before King Remi can respond any further, an explosion goes off interrupting the entire conversation. Something big is happening outside of the castle and it might be what I didn’t expect.

RUMBLE!!!! RUMBLE!!!!!

All around us begins to shake as more explosions go off in the distance.

Two guards burst through the door after the explosions subside for a moment or so. You can’t see their faces but they are definitely quite worried.

"We are under attack your majesty!" The guard shouts with panic in his voice.

"Start moving the citizens underground before the slaughter starts!" King Remi shouts back.

"I’ll get on it right away!" He shouts before rushing out the doors.

Here I thought this place couldn’t possibly be attacked with the amount of protection they have... I was wrong. Even with everything they can see here, it is not enough to keep a battle from starting.

I guess it wouldn’t be just a battle huh? An all out war is more like it, but against who is the question.

It is out of my field of knowledge since I don’t really know much about the other kings or what kind of capitals they have. I’m still learning as I go about everything outside of the manor.

"Dante I need you to do that favor now. Please go find my daughter," King Remi pleas.

"Alright I will get to it," I respond calmly.

Lia leads the way out of the door while I start to see what’s really going on outside of the castle doors. Distant fires, Giant holes in different spots of the wall, and enemy airships flying over.

So it really is another kingdom just attacking Ariel. Men are rushing in towards the bottom of the capital as well, even with the push back from King Remi’s knights.

It will also be impossible for me to try to find her with my heartbeat tracking since there are way too many people here.

"How are we going to find a single girl amongst a giant city like this?" Lia asks while scratching her head.

"That is definitely a good question Lia," I respond while looking around.

I don’t know the first place to start either which makes this even more difficult than I originally imagined. The city is burning down, people are dying, and I need to find the daughter of the king.

Guess we’ll just have to search every inch of the city until we find her. I also doubt that the guard is just going to hide somewhere with her.

He might be trying to find a way to bring her back to the castle... But that might be even harder to do. People always panic in these situations so the chances of him making it through the crowded streets is impossible.

"We’ll take the rooftops. I think we’ll at least have a good view of everything in the streets," I say with a serious tone.

"Sounds like the best idea," Lia agrees.

We rush down the steps and make our way over to the first building we see. It doesn’t take long to get onto the roof since I’m quite a good climber to begin with.

Lia didn’t have to worry about climbing up since I just did what I did back when we ran away from the people in the forest.

It made more sense and it saved time.

"It doesn’t feel any easier to see from up here if I’m being honest Dante," Lia speaks up.

I don’t turn towards her and just keep my eyes locked on the streets, looking for any sign of red hair. After a couple of minutes searching for any sign of her... I come up with nothing.

There’s no sign of her or the body guard that was with her in the streets.

Where would she possibly have gone in the span of time it took for us to get up to the castle? Maybe she went to the district with all the shops?

She was dressed quite nicely and is probably looking for more outfits like the one she was already wearing. At least that might be the only logical conclusion.

Also, I don’t understand the red hair with the two of them. Remi has red hair but also said she isn’t his real daughter.

Perhaps dye is a way to give the same look but her hair seems naturally red... And so does his. Another mystery to solve some time in the future.

"The district with all the shops might be the next best option for us to check out," I suggest while looking down at the streets.

People are all running around in panic as fighting goes on in the distance. The smell of blood is starting to fill the air...

Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

Blood... Blood...

GRIP!!

I grab my arm, almost digging my fingers into it as I bring my focus back to the matter at hand.

"Are you okay Dante?" Lia asks with a concerned tone.

"There is just a lot of blood," I answer softly.

"If you need some, just tell me," Lia says without any hesitation in her voice.

"Soon. I need to wait until the time is right," I reply while keeping a calm tone.

"Alright. You said the shop district, let’s get going," Lia says while jumping across to another rooftop.

I really did luck out with Lia joining me after all. We still don’t know a whole lot about each other but she is willing to give me blood, something I need most.

My hunger for it is impossible to avoid after feeding on human blood back at the manor. Surprisingly her blood works just as well as a humans would.

....

But the fall of the Ariel Capital is here.