The punch collided with resounding force. The king was thrown back slightly, a bit disoriented. Jacob tackled his father to the ground and threw his hands around his neck.

Jacob squeezed with all his might, but his father’s skin was hardly pressing inward. The king grabbed his son’s arm and started crushing it in his grip. Jacob screamed and rolled away.

Maria dashed up to the king while he was still laying down and kicked his head like a ball. Maria seemed to have strengthened her foot so hard that the king’s skull immediately cracked upon impact. He was sent flying toward Lidia. While he was in the air, Lidia ran towards him and kicked both of her feet in front of her.

"RELEASE!"

Maria dodged to the side to get out of the way of impact. Lidia’s legs and feet grew dark orange and when they collided with the kings back, a massive boom echoed through the throne room and into the sky. Another massive hole was created in the wall from the fallout of the attack.

Lidia had also lost both her legs from the attack. Even after being attacked with such immense power. The king managed to stand his ground. The blood that was seeping from his head and back slowly stopped. Looking at Lidia, the king was able to grow a small red spike using the small blood coming out of him.

He dashed toward her, aiming the sharp red shape at her face. Lidia still didn’t have time to recover her legs; she was a sitting duck.

"Mom!! Dodge!"

It was hopeless. The king was far too fast. Right before the king completely closed the distance, a loud squashing sound rang through the air. Lidia looked up to see what had happened. Cane was standing in between her and the king. A massive red spike was piercing through his chest. His one-eyed face looked distraught as he tried to cough out his last words.

"Miss Lidia... I’m sorry."

Slowly, his face grew more pale as his blood drained all over Lidia’s body. Cane’s limbs slowly went limp as he slid off the king’s weapon. Lidia watched in horror as another one of her clan members were mercilessly killed by the king, right in front her very eyes. An anger like no other started flooding her very being. Lidia instantly healed her wounds and stood up.

"You’re going to die. I’m going to kill you."

Tears were streaming down Maria’s cheeks. She was seething just as much as her mom. Slowly, the air around Maria seemed to turn darker and darker. Her muscles seemed to be popping out of her skin. Every step she took cracked the ground underneath her. Steam started coming off her skin.

Her black hair even started floating off her back, as if afraid to touch her. Lidia followed Maria’s footsteps and walked toward the king. He was going to regret killing one of the Rose Clan right in front of their two strongest members.

Maria flashed in front of the king, crouched on the ground, twisted her body, and connected a massive uppercut on the king’s chin. The force was so resounding, the area around her as well as the entire ceiling was reduced to rubble. The king was sent flying into the air, knocked completely unconscious.

Maria lined up Lidia and kicked her towards the king to meet him in the air. Lidia reached him with incredible speed. She charged another insane attack and threw it right into his stomach, sending him hurling back towards the ground. Maria made sure that didn’t happen. She met the king in the air and completely snapped his back with her knee. He was sent flying once again back up towards Lidia where she kicked his face inward.

The king was getting beat to death. His body was deforming with every blow from them. Maria and Lida never let up. They kept hitting the king back and forth until their dark bloodlust was satiated.

Maria eventually grabbed hold of the king and shot herself towards Lidia. Lidia started using his mangled body like a punching bag while Maria held on to him to make sure he couldn’t leave anywhere. Lidia’s punches were so powerful that a few of them penetrated through the king’s flesh, allowing more of his blood to flow out on to her fists.

Maria then fell backwards, aiming to impact his head on the ground for when they land. The crown that he was once wearing, was completely thrown off from the final impact and rolled towards Jacob.

The palace was an absolute mess. Multiple walls of stone were destroyed.

Even after the king stayed on the ground and laid completely unconscious, both Maria and Lidia were continuously kicking and stomping on his body to make sure the job was done. Their faces looked monstrous from the anger they were experiencing.

It took them three moments to realize the king wasn’t moving anymore and their expressions of rage slowly turned into sorrow. They both started crying and sniffling. Maria ran over to Lidia and embraced her. Their wails sounded through the empty halls. Even Maddy was struggling to keep it together, seeing someone get killed right in front of her and being helpless to stop it.

Jacob looked down at the crown by his feet. He slowly picked it up and wiped some blood off its surface with his sleeve. Something reflected off its surface and shined behind him. He turned around to see where the sparkle was coming from.

It seemed as if the wall to the king’s personal room had been completely destroyed, revealing what was inside. Jacob dropped the crown and slowly started walking towards it to investigate. After climbing over the small bit of wall left, he dropped on the ground and studied his surroundings.

"I wonder what other secrets this bastard is hiding here."

Strangely, the place seemed very neat and organized. It looked like he wasn’t trying to hide anything at all. However, there was something odd that he noticed about the room that stood out. There seemed to be a small, royal chair sitting right next to the bed with a full plate of food.

The chair seemed to be for a woman. Suddenly, something grasped Jacob’s heart.

"Is this... my mom’s dining room chair?"

He walked over to study it further.

"Why is there a tray of food on it?"

A deep, weakened voice came from the crack in the wall.

"Don’t... touch her food."

It was his father. He was leaning over the wall, barely clinging on to life. Tears started filling Jacob’s eyes. He walked over to his dad and grabbed his shirt.

"Why... why the hell do you have this here?! Why are you giving an empty chair food?! What the hell are you doing?!"

More tears were streaming down Jacob’s face.

"WHY DID YOU HIDE THIS FROM ME?!"

The king looked at his son and slowly struggled to grab his face.

"My son... you look so much like her... I’m so happy... you didn’t turn out like me..."

His father coughed up more and more blood on the ground. Jacob could hardly speak holding himself back from crying.

"Answer me. Why is it here?"

The king looked up at his son with a wistful expression.

"I couldn’t eat without her... It never felt right."

"You sent her to her death! You killed her!"

"...I loved her, Jacob. She was everything to me. I promise... she was... my everything."

"Why did you lie to me back then when you talked to me about mom? How do I know you’re telling the truth now?"

The king smiled.

"The best lies are half-truths. Most of what I said was a lie in an attempt to get you away from that commoner. But my feelings for you mom were never lies."

"Why... you aren’t making any sense. Who are you?"

The king slowly chuckled and coughed on more of his blood.

"A weakling. In the end, I couldn’t protect a single one I loved after all..."

The king slowly reached his hand behind Jacob’s head and pulled him closer for a small embrace.

"I love you... son. Your mom and I are so proud of the man you’ve become."

With a final whisper, the king looked at his son and smiled proudly.

"Don’t let that mark define your destiny."

The king fell limp over the stones and went quiet. Jacob’s eyes filled with tears, and he tried shaking his father awake.

"No. NO! TELL ME! TELL ME THE TRUTH! YOU CAN’T LEAVE NOW!"

Jacob started trashing the bedroom around him.

"DAMN YOU!! CURSE YOU!!"

Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he continued to break things around him. He had finally gotten what he wanted, what everyone wanted. So, why did he feel so... empty?

Eventually, small arms wrapped around his waist, causing Jacob to halt his rampage. He breathed heavily and slowly turned around. Maria was crying while looking into his eyes. Jacob couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and broke down into a sob, kneeling on the floor.

Maria sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him, crying softly with him.

King Arthur Vice, the Crimson King of Iron Kingdom, had officially been defeated.