Second Time's a Charm (MxM)✔

Chapter 56 - Andrew

Cain hadn't forgotten about Andrew in the slightest. He'd wondered exactly what the man had been up to all these years and what his relation to the Crown Prince had been, and it appeared he was going to finally get his answers.

"Well well well, look at this!" Andrew sneered down at Cain. "I'd heard the descriptions from the knights but thought, surely it couldn't be my bastard half-brother, could it? Yet here you are."

"I take it you've come to fight?" Cain got to the point, wishing he'd had time to put on some armor.

"Of course. Why else would the Emperor send me? You killed his son. He's not going to let you off lightly. No no no. He asked that I try to take you back alive so he can make an example out of you."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Cain gestured towards the forest. "You can't come anywhere near me."

"But you can come here."

"I have no reason to."

"Not even for a snippet of news about your friend, Sir Maddox?"

Cain tried not to let his reaction show but failed to stop himself from the smallest frown. "Not even if you had him up for trade." He lied.

"How cold-hearted." Andrew put a palm to his armored chest and glanced back over the men he was leading. "Did you hear that? What a true villain! Throwing away his allies like they were yesterday's trash. "

"Are they human?"

"What was that?"

Cain nodded towards the men behind him. "Are they human this time? Or demons, like the last one you sent after me."

This time Andrew's face grew steely. "Demon summoning is a crime. One that you and your friend have committed repeatedly and continue to do so. I on the other hand have been...Had been working with the Crown Prince to find a way to put an end to it. So I assure you, the men behind me are 100% human. Can you say the same?"

"Not at all. That makes things easier." Cain replied, hearing the servants finally begin to catch up from the mansion behind him. "But I am curious, what kind of magic are you using then? I've traced one demon's summoning back to you and confirmed your friend the prince had some strange power over them. Did he teach you some tricks of his own?"

"All you do is spout lies." Andrew's eyes briefly glanced towards the army, making sure they didn't believe the smaller blond. He was such an audacious man. "But yes, as a matter of fact, I did take on some of his skills. One of which I tested on that little naked friend of yours. It didn't do what I expected, but still effective."

Cain wanted to snap back and point out that what he'd targeted was a dryad and not a demon, but he held his tongue. He could only imagine what other ways Andrew would find to torture the creature if he learned what he was.

Nonetheless, the man's bold banter revealed that he did indeed have some way to deal with an army of demons. That meant he was uninformed and ill-prepared because Cain's army was not comprised of demons, but of humans and a dryad. This was why he didn't want Catalina on the front line.

"So what do you plan to do now?" He asked, to which Andrew placed his helmet back on and raised his fist.

The rows of knights shifted, and they all brought out enormous shields and began scaling them together until they looked like one single armored unit. He watched, perplexed about what they were doing until Andrew gave the order and they started moving closer to the tree line.

Once they were within range, Cain signaled for the hidden servants to toss their rounds of bombs toward the oncoming forces. Each ball of fire and shrapnel bounced off the enormous form, with some being tossed back and causing the servants to dodge further into the trees.