Never

Chapter 36: The pain of the truth

This was probably not a show fit for a child, but Hollow didn't have enough sense to cover his eyes or distract him, and Big was too busy with the stormy task of eliminating Orchid.

That was the most horrible fight this king had ever had to face, the look of fear on the mantis hurt him and he had to use all his self-control not to run to hug her. His duty was to kill her, to silence her forever by preventing the dark secret of his family from coming to light. She showed fear, she called them monsters, she couldn't accept and love them as they were.

Big did not take long to burst into tears, but even when he died inside, he did not stop attacking, even when the pain of his actions crushed him he did not back down, by force of will he continued to battle while in his mind he repeated that nefarious mantra "no cost is too great"

On her side, Orchid's fighting spirit was no longer present, knowing that her enemy was immortal and that her claws could not damage his fake shell completely demotivated her. Nothing made sense anymore, it was impossible to be victorious and she did not want to face him either, she did not feel capable of attacking a warrior who was crying inconsolably, his fragile heart was exposed, his pain was almost tangible and caused her great suffering. But the most horrible thing was see his desperate way of attacking, like a dying beast desperately crying out for help.

But she couldn't help him, she couldn't even help herself, hopefully she managed to stay alive. Big's rain of attacks were the most devastating thing she'd ever faced, she knew that if she hadn't trained previously she wouldn't be able to withstand his pace. He was extremely fast, one moment he was overwhelming her with his explosions and the next bombarding her with magic daggers. She would not last long, with no possibility of escape she could only see how he exhausted her to death, which hopefully would not take much time, but Orchid did not want to die and she tried to stay focused looking for a way out.

At the moment her only hope was to escape, but Big was so fast that unless she had a distraction it would be impossible, the corridor of the saws led to one of the exits of the building, but deactivating the mechanism would take a few seconds, time she didn't have. Given her circumstances, her only option was to jump out the window, an action that she also did not see as a feasible solution, but between an unlikely salvation and certain death the decision was simple.

She grabbed a decorative vase from the many plentiful in the castle and threw it against the glass, which, as expected, shattered with a crash that startled Chester. The hole she left was not safe at all, there were several pieces of sharp glass that could hurt her when passing by, but she would still take a chance. Yet before she could even try, the king with his overwhelming speed stepped in ready to give her a deadly blow.

That would have been the end of Orchid if Hollow hadn't gotten in the way. He clung to Big's face blocking his view, that was the distraction the mantis needed. She didn't think twice, she jumped out the window, suffered some minor scratches on the process but escaped alive from the palace.

The knight endured as long as he could the shakes of his brother who was fighting to get rid of him. He pressed his tentacles with all the force he was capable of, he would give his beloved as much time as possible to escape. His noble action only lasted until Big decided to remove his own mask and free himself in his shadow form, the greatest and most powerful of all. Hollow still clinging to his mask just looked at him fearfully.

"Hollow, you're in serious trouble," the monarch roared.

If he wanted to give him a lesson at that time, that was not possible, because some voices and footsteps were heard in the vicinity, betraying the presence of some bugs that had been attracted by the commotion.

Knowing that he couldn't allow themselves to be seen like this, Big motioned for Hollow to follow him, picked up the mask of his brother, his nephew and they both vanished as fast as they could, leaving behind the question of who had broken the window.