"No, stop!" the princess yelled. She pulled away from her aunt. Turned to the guardians. Her pink hair, wild, fell around her face. "He is our benefactor! He saved us!"
The guardians stopped. Their blades, raised, lowered. They looked at Tianlong. At the dead otherworlder. At the destruction. At the princess, unharmed, in the arms of a stranger.
"He saved us," the princess repeated. Her voice was firm. Royal. The voice of a princess giving a command. "Stand down."
The guardians stood down. They listened as the princess — still trembling, still tearful — explained. The otherworlder. The attack. The rescue. The stranger who had appeared and killed the attacker with a single punch.
Tianlong smiled. The expression was warm. Mild. The smile of a man who had done nothing remarkable and expected no gratitude.
"I'm just here for peace," he said. His voice carried across the clearing. "And satisfaction."
