Merciless: The Exiled Knight
Ch 3's. The Emergence of the Black Dragon & the Acquisition of Luciferd a.k.a Louis Grantarte

Imprisoned, solitary confinement, that was how Louis felt, as he sat curled up in a corner of the royal prison.

I don't know what made the Queen have the heart to order her guards to imprison Louis, her own baby, just because of the nightmare experienced by the King.

Louis was pensive and pondering, but unaware that his eyes had changed, transformed into eyes similar to Beelzebub's. "Could that woman have lied to me?" his mind, in all the restlessness that permeates his heart.

Louis Grantarte, the outcast Prince, became the only member of the royal family to be imprisoned in a dungeon, in the history of the Grantarte kingdom.

The King's nightmare brought misfortune to the boy, especially about his unproven prophecies.

In that seclusion, Louis immediately remembered the figure of Anna, the older brother who cared deeply for him. "Sir Anna .. I hope you're okay" Louis prayed.

The boy, who was not even eight years old, suddenly heard the sound of footsteps, which seemed to be walking towards his iron bars.

"Russia ...." Verdy Grantarte III, who was the father, came and stood in front of Louis' prison, along with several guards and royal witch elders.

Louis was surprised by his presence. "Dad!" He got up and walked over to Verdy, slipping his hands into the gaps of the prison cell, to grab the King's body.

However, Verdy steadfastly distanced himself from Louis' reach. "Don't touch me" he said, staring intently at Louis.

"Dad! Free me! I'm mohoon!" pinta Louis, with a clear face, made some of the witch elders turn to the King.

"Your Majesty. Don't listen to this demon boy's request" said one of the magician elders, who appeared to be standing next to Verdy, holding his wand.

Verdy snorted. "Louis .. From this moment on, you're not my son anymore. Because in the morning, you'll be put to death" said the King, leaving Louis reeling.

Louis slowly shed tears, not expecting the words of the King, who would have erased his familial relationship with him. "Dad! Forgive me! At least I want to live! Don't punish me dad!" the door came back, clasping tightly to the iron bars emotionally.

Verdy threw away his face. "Look at you. Lookyour eyes. You don't even deserve to be called human anymore. I will never accept a request from the form of a demon" he refused.

That refusal, it makes Louis lose his human mind. Oddity immediately occurred to Louis, who immediately raised his canine teeth, grew two blunt horns, and a facial hue that instantly transformed into red, like a demon.

"Bad you!" luscious Louis, who suddenly crushed the bars of iron trellis he was holding.

"Your Majesty!" Some of the witch elders swiftly turned their backs on Verdy, in order to protect himself from Louis's threat.

One of the demon elders then extended the tip of his wand towards Louis, where it instantly emitted a magic light. "Curse-breaker!" he said, chanting the magic he aimed at Louis.

The magic then seeped into Louis' head, making him slowly soften, then eliminating some of the changes and appearances that had occurred to him.

Verdy was stunned when he saw the strange changes that happened to Louis. "That power .. this brat really must be obliterated!" inwardly, before he finally left Louis' iron bars.

Before following the departure of the King, one of the witch elders first fixed the iron bars that Louis had crushed, with a magic that he directed at the iron.

"Your presence reminds us of the death of the late king Hendrick Grantarte I. It is on your orders that we are obliged to remove the seedlings of demons like you," said the witch elder, staring cynically at Louis, who had fallen before him.

Louis, still wide-eyed, watched how the witch elder had left him. "The death of the first king? I don't know anything about that!" his mind, with his whole body trembling.

...ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ...

Towards the morning. The surroundings around the royal palace area had been crowded by the crowd of residents. They felt very curious about the figure of the prince, who was rumored to be serving the death penalty by the kingdom.

"Are there really princes who will be put to death today? Why don't we know what he looks like?!" asked one of the residents, to the gatekeepers of the royal palace.

"Really! Wait a minute! You'll see with your own eyes what it looks like!" replied one of the palace gatekeepers.

Meanwhile, several royal guards appeared to be walking down the underground passageway, rushing their feet towards Louis' cell room.

Louis, who had been sitting down in a corner of the cell, found the presence of several guards who were unlocking his iron bars.

"Young master! Better not fight! On the orders of the King, we will cover your face, so as not to cause a negative perception on all the people out there" said one of the guards, who then walked over to Louis.

The bodyguard immediately put Louis's head into a bag made of straw, and tied the bottom of the bag with the prince's neck.

Heartlessly, he tightened the tightening of the leash around Louis' neck, probably because the boy was no longer in contact with members of the royal family.

Luckily there were a few small holes Louis could use to breathe, before two bodyguards forced him to walk out of the cell.

Louis was silent, as his feet stepped through the underground passageway. "I was foolish to easily trust that demonic woman" with her mind.

A moment later, the atmosphere of silence around the palace area was slowly changed to the fanfare of the people, who were surprised to see how Louis walked towards the palace gate, with two bodyguards accompanying him.

"Is that him?! Why is his face closed?!" protest of one of the people.

"Because of the order of the King's Majesty," replied one of the gatekeepers.

Louis was forced to stop behind the gate, while waiting for the guards to open the gate of the enormous and magnificent palace.

The excitement of the atmosphere returned to silence, as the entire populace watched as Louis slowly stepped his feet out of the palace gates.

"What's wrong with him?! Why aren't we allowed to see his face?!" ask one of the people standing in the line of the people.

"Everything!! Give us a way!" the orders of one of the guards, who had stopped at the gate, with Louis.

"From the rumors I heard, it seems that he was the one the King intended in his prediction," said one of the people, who appeared to be leaving with all the other people, opening a path for Louis.

"Yes! He's the one who's going to be a disaster for our kingdom!" the cheer of one of the people spontaneously, which in an instant shocked all the other people.

"B-really?! The one who was foretold as a catastrophe for the kingdom was a prince?!" asked one of the other people, who began to look cynically at Louis.

Louis returned to his feet, along with the two guards who also walked while holding each arm.

They walked past two rows of people, who had already instilled a negative perception of Louis.

Suddenly, one of the people threw something at Louis. "Wild anyway! Even though a prince! You are still a disaster!" before Louis finally walked past him.

What the man had done, provoked several other people who had done the same, threw something good that was food, fruits that were being eaten, or a lump of rocks and pebbles to Louis.

"Death to malapetakaaaa!!"

"This kingdom must be safe from calamity!"

"Based on a demon monster!" the cheer of one of the people, which sparked the attention of someone next to him.

"What do you mean demon monster?!" ask the guy.

"I just heard from inside the royal palace that the boy was a demon" said the man who cheered on Louis.

The confession eventually spread from people to people quickly, causing the wrath of all the people who had heard it.

Louis then walked, with the accompaniment of throwing several objects that continuously rained down all over his body, the impact of the anger of the people about the leak of news from inside the palace, about the child.

...ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ...

The entire population around the square area of Hendrick city, the center of the crowd that became the capital of the kingdom of Grantarte, was shocked by the presence of Louis who was walking towards the execution site.

In the middle of the square, the place was filled with Guillotine tools, a large knife tied to a rope behind it, as well as two wooden planks that became the launch pillars of the knife, he said, as well as two wooden planks that have three slits, will be the place where the neck and hands of Louis lean.

After placing Louis's head and hands between the three slits of the wooden board, one of the guards immediately locked the wood. "Wait for the presence of His Majesty the King" he said, to his fellow bodyguards.

Not long after, the entire population was again shocked by the presence of a horse-drawn carriage, along with Verdy the King who was walking with his proud horse, to the city square.

Verdy then stopped the pace of his horse, right in front of Louis' execution device, watching the boy only fall silent while waiting for his execution.

Meanwhile, a horse-drawn carriage carrying several members of the royal family, also stopped right behind the King, taking down Julianne, Queen Grantarte, along with all the royal princess's sons.

Anna Grantarte, one of the royal princesses who was also included in the party, immediately ran towards the execution device. "Louiiss!!" his dream, with a heartbreaking sad feeling in his heart.

However, Verdy swiftly restrained Anna's body. "Don't get close to her, Anna! You'll be infected with his demonic curse later," forbid.

"Noooo! Let go of me, Father!" Anna rebelled, trying to rid her body of the king's shackles. "I want to see Louis. I want to tell her something!" her door.

"Anna! What are you doing?!" sergeant Julianne, who appears to be standing behind Verdy.

Verdy instantly casts out a magic, which is able to make Anna lose consciousness. "Take him into the chariot" he ordered, to two guards.

"Okay, Your Majesty," the bodyguard then took over Anna's body, then took her to the horse-drawn carriage, to avoid the chaos it would cause.

Verdy sighed, then watched as one of the executioners stood behind Louis's execution device, preparing to remove the large knife strap while awaiting orders from the King.

By standing and folding both hands behind his back, and a golden crown covering his head, not to forget the thick red robes typical of the kingdom as the identity of his King, Verdy began to open the execution trial.

"I. Verdy Grantarte III's. Stated to have severed blood ties with Louis Grantarte, it has also revoked his system of privileges as prince."

All the people seemed to be amazed by the presence of the King. They had just felt a great happiness, and could especially see the King closer, simply because he was the supreme leader and judge of the execution.

Verdy continued his statement. "Based on my prediction, Louis Grantarte proved to have placed a magic symbol under his feet, hinting that he would be a disaster for this kingdom. For the sake of maintaining the security, tranquility, and welfare of the kingdom of Grantarte! I decided to give Louis Grantarte the death penalty!" he said, pointing at Louis, making one of the executioners immediately untied the rope connected with a large knife.

The executioner then restrains the rope, while waiting for the King's order that will make him release the rope.

However, as the sunlight slowly faded, the sky suddenly darkened, shocking the entire audience who were attending Louis's execution.

"What's this?" verdy asked, looking up at the sky.

Instantly, a wisp of black clouds appeared, which suddenly transformed into an enormous, black-colored Dragon figure, also throwing out a burst of flames that shot out from its mouth.

"Protectors!" Verdy also suddenly issued a very large shield magic, which is able to protect all his people from the black dragon's fire.

For the incident, all residents scattering to their homes, along with all the members of the kingdom who also rushed into the horse carriage, to save their lives from the threat of the black dragon.

Verdy unleashed his shield magic, shortly after the dragon stopped the huge, hot burst of fire. "Devil dragon! I didn't think the dragon would appear this fast!" he said, staring intently at the black dragon, which was hovering while flapping its two large wings above the sky.

Apparently, there was a young man who seemed to be sitting on the back of the dragon. "Is he the boy that my mother meant?" guessed the young man, who momentarily stepped down from the dragon's back.

Verdy then stood by, watching how a young man floated down from the dragon's body slowly, then set his foot right beside Louis. "The young demon, "Verdy's inner youth.

The young man immediately confronted himself to Verdy. "Include." He then bowed with one hand attached to the chest, as if paying homage to the King. "I am Azazel, the son of Her Highness the Demon Queen Beelzebub" he added, making Verdy look even more intense.

"How dare you set foot upon the land of my kingdom!" firmly Verdy.

"Your Majesty!" A group of magician elders suddenly appeared while riding on their respective horses. They stopped behind Verdy and joined him behind the King.

"Your Majesty! Isn't that ...." One of the magician elders was stunned, when he saw the demon form of the young man, who was standing opposite Verdy.

"Yes. She was the representative of the Demon Queen, the Queen who had killed my grandfather" Verdy said, with both hands clenched tightly.

Azazel's appearance, very neat like a young noble, equipped with the good looks of his face, and silver hair that further adds to his good looks. "I came here to pick up Luciferd, on the orders of Her Majesty the Demon Queen Beelzebub. So, I assure you, not to obstruct—"

Azazel was surprised when he saw Verdy with all the royal magician elders, launching a light magic reflection towards him. "I just said it" said Azazel, before he immediately cast a black glass-shaped magic shield, which expanded horizontally.

(Buzkz!)

The shield magic was able to reflect back the light magic of the Grantarte kingdom party, shocking the elders who in an instant cast their light shield magic.

(Dvaaar!)

There was a huge explosion when the light magic struck the shield magic belonging to the kingdom of Grantarte, creating a thick puff of smoke that was very dense.

"Your Majesty!" The witches were worried about Verdy, who seemed surprised by the terrible explosion.

Verdy opened his eyes again, along with the right wrist that seemed to cover his face, reflex due to the impact of his own light magic.

The smoke finally faded. However, Verdy was immediately surprised to find Azazel and Louis, suddenly disappearing from the altar of Guillotine.

"Where are they?!" ask one of the witch elders.

"At the top!" replied one of the other witch elders, who had once focused his attention towards the sky.

Verdy and all the elders of the royal magician, watching how Azazel flew slowly, carrying Louis' body towards the back of the black dragon.

"Luciferd, or what you call Louis Grantarte! It has been officially raised to be the son of Her Majesty the Demon Queen Beelzebub! Prepare the defense of your kingdom! Because in the near future, Luciferd will return to avenge him!" asserted Azazel in a loud voice, then slowly sat his body on the body of the Black dragon, carrying the body of Louis who was asleep.

"Damn it! Attack her! Don't let the boy be under Beelzebub's control!" verdy's orders, which Azazel felt were unacceptable.

(Kummoo!)

All the Witch elders re-launched the light magic that was now glittering gold, darting towards the body of the black dragon.

"Well! Just useless!" Azazel became fed up, and again took out his shield magic.

(DWAAAR!)

The deadly light magic, which exploded immediately after hitting the Azazel shield magic, re-created a huge thick puff of smoke that was able to cover the body of the black dragon.

"What's going on?! Did the magic work?!" verdy asked, staring and waiting for the smoke to subside.

However, the smoke had not yet subsided, a huge burst of fire suddenly shot through the puff of smoke.

(Kummof!)

(DWAAAR!)

Then, another big explosion happened. Although the kingdom of Grantarte managed to create a shield magic that is quite wide, but the burst of fire was no less powerful, so it was able to trigger the fires of several houses in the area around the explosion.

Verdy opened his closed eyes again, and was surprised to find some of the magician elders lost their consciousness, due to the radiation of the fire. The age factor that caused them to run out of Mana as a result of resisting the fire attack of the red Dragon.

Azazel was just speechless watching the fire that had engulfed the town square. "If it were not for the mother's ban, I would have obliterated this city" he said.

The black dragon finally flew away from the sky of Hendrick's city square, with Azazel who managed to take Luciferd a.k.a Louis Grantarte away from the shackles of the kingdom of Grantarte, on the orders of Beelzebub, the Demon Queen.

~Tbc