Haru stood, demoralized by the sight of Invidius standing less than a dozen paces from her. The demon, surrounded by a horde of guards, crossed his arms and pivoted at the hips.

  The leader of the three short guards, with purple hood, stopped suddenly when she spotted Invidius emerge from the alleyway to which they marched. The rest of the group halted in turn. The two others stood on either side of Haru.

  “Pathetic little things.” Invidius scoffed.

  Haru snapped from her mournful stupor to pass glances at the three guards surrounding her.

  Invidius continued. “Rend the witch unto me and I’ll leave you to scurry amid the shadows for a bit longer.” His stance was lowered, and only a portion of his helmet reached over the sea of guards.

  The lead escort of Haru sighed. “I was hoping these disguises would have been a little more effective.” The escort’s voice was feminine, albeit harsh. Reaching up and grabbing their breastplate, they yanked, and their image converged on their grip like a scrunched curtain before being torn away.

  As the flat visage was tossed aside, beneath was a girl of a similar size and build as Haru. Her hood remained upon a half-robe, but the colors inverted. It was golden with purple embroidery.

  The girl brandished a brass rod with a brown crystalline gem. “Why don’t you make it easy on yourself and lay down, demon?”

  “Millie…” The small escort to Haru’s right, with the green and white hood, muttered with a quivering voice.

  The girl turned back and smiled wide with a wild look in her eyes. “Go.”

  It’s when Millie turned around that Haru recognized the name and her face. Princess Millicent of the Iron Wolf Kingdom. She was removed along with the rest of the faction NPCs. PvP and territory conflict was in the alpha but just an experiment not meant to ship with the base game.

  A low growl emanated from within the crowd of regular guards, from Invidius who lowered his stance even more. “Get me the witch!”

  A formation of five guards broke away from the pack, with spears brandished, charging down the golden-caped girl, Millie. She stepped forward with rod raised at head-height, ready to strike.

  The first of the guards thrust with his spear. With a quick sidestep, Millie leaned her hips away while pivoting forward, dropping her weapon like a hammer.

  A sharp crack echoed throughout the avenue. In the blink of an eye, the guard was slammed to the ground despite Millie’s rod never touching him or even coming close, an invisible mallet flattening her opponent. Then she wound up to strike another guard to her right.

  The other two of Haru’s escorts pulled the witch backward, away from Millie.

  After a few steps, the three opened space from the golden caped rod-wielder. And by that time, she had already dispatched the five guards with a series of sudden strikes, bouncing between them like a bullet ricochetting, and laying them out with woeful blows.

  Millie brandished her rod at Invidius, ready to hammer strike again, beckoning him with her free arm.

  The demon growled and looked around at the horde of guards near him. “Go, what are you waiting for?”

  With their hesitation creating opportunity, Millie smirked and reached down to her hip.

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  “Those who trespass where spirits rise and fall, stand fast or be crushed! Regni Terra!” Her voice echoed out as she reached high with her rod.

  From beneath her cloak, she produced a tiara and flicked her wrist, tossing it to her side. The headband gravitated back toward her as it fell to the ground. Then as soon as it touched her leg, it spiraled upwards, around Millie’s body, a shower of rainbow specks falling from the tiara. Then it reached the top of her head where it came to rest.

  Haru and her two escorts turned to retreat but found themselves surrounded by even more guards with spears brandished. There was no way to leave as the avenue was flooded with spearmen coming from every direction.

  To Haru’s right, the escort proved to be another girl of same size and build when she ripped off the visage of her guard disguise like a sheet. “We have to do something.” Her red hooded cape wagged as she tossed aside the covering.

  The girl in the green hood to Haru’s left revealed herself in the same way, then nodded.

  Millie touched the golden gem inset on her tiara and light burst forth. Then she tapped her sapphire pendant, and a craggy scale armor appeared around her torso, faulds and boots appeared over her legs and feet. She tapped her right shoulder, and a craggy pauldron formed, along with gauntlets. Then she did so on her left side and the effect was mirrored.

  Finally, she reached up with her rod. It melded into a long metal shaft, which at the very end, transformed into a massive twin-headed axe. She stumbled and yelped as the weight threatened to pull her to the ground. The axe blade slammed down, and she tripped forward. After regaining her balance, she hefted it up with both hands before brandishing it.

  Haru stumbled back, unsure of what she just witnessed. Did Millie’s tiara just transform into something more? From behind her, five more guards charged forward with a wild yell.

  The girl in the red hood spun and Haru recognized her with a mere glance. Princess Clara of Fortress Kasai. Another NPC from a different faction of the same removed content as Millie.

  From beneath her cape, Clara produced two kunai and lowered her stance, counter-charging the guards with one weapon brandished in front of her chest, the other held behind her back. Just as the guards thrust their spears, she slid under the weapon shafts and struck upwards at the closest guard.

  With careful twists and bending of her body, she dodged between the attacks. Her strikes dispatched guards as fast as she could pivot her torso.

  The green hooded girl produced a bo staff from under her cape. She was yet another from the removed PvP content: Princess Rose of the Iron Buccaneers.

  As more guards broke away from the rear group to close on Clara, Rose struck out with her staff. Each swing made it look as if it were bending in half. But the moment the weapon’s blur crossed in front of a guard, it immediately stopped on impact and regained its straightened shape after flattening her target.

  In the middle of a triangle created by the three, Haru looked around, confused. There were four total factions from the removed content. But before she could contemplate too long, the three made short work of the demon’s guard formation.

  Invidius stood alone among a sea of knocked out guards. He stood hunched over, an arm covering the lower half of his head.

  Millie brandished her axe at the demon. “I won’t let you get away this time.”

  The demon cackled and called forth fog from his hands, which spread far across the avenue. “Where I roam is not yours to decide.” The thick cloud blotted out the sky. All that was visible was Invidius’s silhouette amid the fog.

  Millie charged toward the demon and struck out. But the moment her axe met with his shadowy form; Invidius’s shape dissipated with the splitting fog.

  Invidius’s silhouette reappeared in front of Clara. She swiped but her daggers found nothing but air as the shadow faded once more.

  The demon cackled.

  “Close formation.” Millie called out as she stomped back toward Haru. Each step rattled the buildings and streetlamps.

  The other two backed closer toward the witch.

  “Don’t give him room to maneuver.” Rose called out, spinning her bo staff in front of her and then holding it at the ready.

  Haru spun in place, looking for any sign of Invidius, remembering the fight in the forest. She wanted to summon her staff, to be ready to attack. But she hesitated, the thought of destroying someone’s home or hurting an innocent bystander with a stray shot sent a chill down her spine.

  She clutched her tiara against her chest, and grew smaller by squeezing her arms and hunching over as the three tightened their formation.

  A sudden force tossed Haru, Clara, and Rose to the ground and sent them sliding, away from Millie.

  “Got you.” Invidius appeared behind the earthen-armored princess. He grabbed the collar of her armor and readied his jagged short sword to jab downward from over his head, cackling.

  “Millie!” Rose reached out, still laying on the ground.

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