The Herdsman summoned a veil, ensnaring one of the guards and feasting off the weapon, kneeing them in the chest. It morphed into a club he swung to smash a handful into the ground, then a sword to impale another, feeding off it's weapons.

"Why did you summon them," Sehki yelled at their fellow prince. "Weren't they supposed to make sure he'd scare people into joining the army? You just powered him up!"

"They're supposed to protect me at all costs! Most of the enforcer guards just wear him down with brute force! Your fight attracted him to my magic!"

"I," raising a finger and putting it down, watching the guards attempt to hold down their pursuer and get tossed aside like ragdolls. "Okay, my bad. Still you had him around on your watch and your parents didn't think of a way to contain him?"

"I'm not supposed to question my dad! You ruined everything!"

Rigal launched Eagusts at Sehki but Cree spun his staff around and deflecting them, giving Sehki a chance to jump onto the angry heir's body now that the Herdsman flew into the air to descend upon them. The club halted his silhouette's attempts to grab him, throwing his main body into them.

Cree barely jousted back in time, reverse gripping his weapon to counter every angle the Herdsman aimed out, stomping on his feet for Sehki to smack them aside. The damage slightly grazed him, who smashed a sword of fire into the ground.

The lost heir's StellArts barely covered them in time before the flames disappeared, and he was between all of them, smashing Rigal's hand into the dirt and slowly pushing Cree to the floor.

Sehki pulled him out of the way, making wings from his shadow's limbs and using flatulence to fly the two away from him. That didn't stop the assailant from throwing each and every weapon at them he had no choice but to swerve from while Rigal was sweating from the thought of death around any and every corner.

"Rigal, Crevan, we need to use an Asterism Arts, fast!"

"I'm not holding hands with another man!"

Sehki smacked him. "Fellas, is it gay to not want to die," dragging Craven and Rigal into his shadow when Herdman flung his fire enhanced lance at the trio, racing through the shadows of Shugoda's neon billboards, stopping at a ceiling far away. He lifted them back up.

"Listen! This guy was able to take on the woman who kicked Taylor's behind at the Bistro. If all of you heirs are mostly equal, it'll take at least two of you to take him down!"

Crevan altered the two of them at the Herdsman's feet cracking the bricks of every skyscraper he leaped from in pursuit of Rigal. "Ignore him, let's go!"

Sehki and Crevan locked hands. The former summoned his silhouette while the latter channeled power through it, charging up a massive sphere of spiraling wind.

Once their adversary flew towards them with a disk star to decapitate the trio, Rigal finally took Sehki's hand. It added another sphere in time for him to smash the Herdsmen with two wind shaped drills blasting him several blocks towards Shugoda Square.

"That should give us some time! Okay, Crevan, Rigal, you two get as high as you can. If I can redirect his fire attacks into the air so they don't hit you, that should at least cause a thunderstorm or rain. My shadow will hold him in place, merge your wind with either the water or thunder."

"He can absorb my lightning, dumbass!"

"Yeah, your magic, not natural lightning!"

Him and Crevan turned to each other. "Wait, that could work."

Next to Shugoda Square, the kids from the slums were watching with the audience of the general public as the Herdsmen cracked it's mangled bones back in place, releasing a ferocious roar and approaching the children.

"Aquila!"

Rigal dropped down to his knees. "He'll even kill children. No, I can't do this!"

"Are you serious, they're your people!"

"They can fend for themselves, they don't have to live with him lingering through your heart and mind every day!"

Sehki processed that, taking a deep breath.

"I'm not stupid, I'm not asking you to fight your demons. But what's the point of being a ruler if we don't lead and protect our people! Rigal," grabbing him by his clothes. "Why do you want power so much if you'll only use it to forsake you and them?"

Rigal didn't answer, and a same sentence from long ago plagued his mind.

"Hey Rigal, how come you want to be so strong?"

"Sehki, you and Xia should be more scared! People outside the castle have to fight the Voids and there are fae who are just as evil! And dad says there are magic that counters my own."

"Rigal, you're not alone. You've got us. And if that's true, we'll find a way to counter them. You remember the story about the Alpha Legion?"

"The Canis soldiers who survived for days while lost?"

"Yeah. Their leader was super scared but his teammates pushed him to stay alive. So let's get stronger together," extending his fist, "so we won't be as scared, and help our people when we grow up."

Rigal stopped blanking out, wondering what that was as Sehki's soul-self caught the halberd in front of the girl.

"No one touches my baby students," covering his legs in rubble and kicking him aside, for Cree to come in and wobble him with blows while he took a knee, clearly drained.

"Mr. Shadow!"

"I exerted too much energy fighting Rigal. Whoops," trying to laugh it off.

"Guys, come, he needs more magic power!"

The rest of the crew came around to transfer their magic to him, giving him the strength to pick themselves up, though they themselves looked tired.

"You didn't have too," seeing their parents get them.

"We can't fight that scary guy but I know you can beat him up."

"Well I can't disappoint my kids, now can I," promising to win before the screams of the populace led to him rushing back to help Cree, who yelled for people to run as the Herdsman hurled a spear of flames at a recruiting station for the army.