The blade stopped just a hair's breadth away from Taranis's neck.
Tommy gritted his teeth and tried to push it further, but it did not budge in the slightest.
"Why won't it move down?" Tommy muttered, veins bulging across his arms as he tried to force the blade down with both hands.
Yet it remained firm, as if an invisible wall was stopping him.
"Oya~ what are you trying to do with our Prince?" a playful male voice came from behind Tommy.
He snapped his head back, only to find a handsome man with neck-length mint-colored hair sitting cross-legged on a pile of dried leaves. His face carried a faint smile, and his narrowed emerald eyes were fixed on Tommy.
"B-Barbatos El Windbane..." Tommy murmured, recognizing the figure.
"I asked you a question, knight of the empire," Barbatos said, the smile unwavering on his face. "What were you trying to do to our Prince?"
