《The Star and the Darkness》


 Chapter 1: A falling star - part 1

    ¡°Ah, I still remember that day clearly, it all happened on the seventh day of the seventh moon. That dreadful rainy morning in which everything begun. It was the source of all madness some would say, but in truth it was only the last spark of many that set ablaze a raging fire.¡±


    It all started in the middle of an ancient forest called The Black Forest located in the Kingdom of the Nine, where no man has set foot for centuries. Nature was free from any restrains and the vegetation grew ever more. Trees almost touching the sky, their base covered in moss and veins just like the ground, there didn¡¯t seem to be any other kind of plants around as the sun was mostly blocked by the tall trees. Even in the morning that place was dark as night and the rain drops that fell from the top of the trees created quite a creeping echoing sound, not even the river that ran through couldn¡¯t be heard as loudly. Despite the place looking so lovely during the day, rarely you¡¯d hear birds singing and those would be some owls, but the most frequent sound was not that of the river running, nor birds signing but branches creaking. It gave that beautiful place the chills it needed, the fear it created kept anyone from going inside of it, or maybe that¡¯s how it was meant to be.


    Deep inside those woods laid the ruins of an old temple, now covered by the vegetation, it made it so hard for anyone to recognize it. Despite all that some had made their way through the creeping green forest and deep in the ruins they¡¯ve found the entry to some underground tunnel. Thirty men, all covered in black cloaks went down those tunnels, webs thick as carpets covered the walls and spider big as a palm of a human were walking on them, but the most terrifying thing was the sound drops of water made when it hit the hard stone combined with the chilling air, it was enough to make anyone think twice before moving forward.


    Walking in those tunnels felt like it took forever, there were lots of turns, dead ends and more importantly there seemed to be nothing else down there, until they finally managed to reach a large open room with four huge columns that held the ceiling. That room was different somehow from the rest of the temple. There was no deterioration to it, webs or even spider around it, the only thing that pilled up was dust, but even that did not seem to have touched the silver made statue that was sitting on the opposite side of the room. It had the body of a muscular man wearing armor and the head of a jackal, in his hands he was holding two scythe like weapons.


    The men quickly lit up the place by lighting the torches on the columns and walls, one of them headed to the altar table that was in front of the statue, clearing it of dust and placing on it a deer which seemed to have been captured recently. He cut its throat and let all the blood spill, collecting all of it into a chalice.


    When the place was lit, all men gathered in front of the statue, praying into some old language while the one holding the chalice drenched his finger in the blood and tapped each one on their foreheads with it after which he threw all the remaining blood on the statue.


    Nothing happened, a few moments have passed and still nothing, each one of the men stood still, without saying a word. An hour has passed and they were still there, almost as if they have turned into statues as well. And finally the eyes of the jackal creature sparkled red, his hands gripping the scythes tighter and all of its body had started to move ¡°Are you tired of living or are you just fools who wish to meet their doom?¡± that statue started yelling and growling as it swinging its scythes around in a threatening manner.


    All of the cloaked men bowed before the statue, the one that held the chalice was sitting at the front and he alone was the one to address it ¡°Might lord Set we have come to ask you for help. These nobles do not seem to understand what we are trying to do.¡± the man raised his head ¡°We wish that you might grant us some power in order to ¡°convince this fools.¡± the man¡¯s voice was serious, firm he was not scared of the god in front of him.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The god smiled then suddenly slammed the ground with one of his feet ¡°Are you really that stupid? You are followers of mine dare to come ask for such things and not present to me anything but some animal you found on your way here!? I should have each one of your heads for this!¡± he walked over to the one at the front with his scythe waiting at this neck ¡°What do you have to say for yourself?¡± his voice calmed down as he waited for the man¡¯s final reply.


    The shadows started to grow around the forest and not just there but all over the world a fog made of shadows grew ever more around the world making that rainy morning back into night, a pitch black night. Those shadows made their way even into the temple¡¯s underground, they moved between those men like snakes, waiting. ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry My lord!¡± he prostate himself in front of the god ¡°You can even have my head, but heed my call first and we shall bring you any treasure you might want.¡±


    Set removed his scythe from the man¡¯s neck and started to think, the darkness kept grown ever more. The whole world started to panic and pray as there was no stopping to this dark fog not even torches could help them as it blocked all light. There did not seem to be any response to the people¡¯s prayers or maybe there was nothing anyone could do and all hope was lost.


    That¡¯s when it happened, a light came from the sky that pierced the growing darkness. It was brighter than the sun itself, it got closer and closer to the planet until it vanquished all the dark in the world and those rain drops seem like diamonds in its falls, rainbows forming everywhere. All those people raised their heads and praised that light and Apollo for sending one of his arrows down. But little did they know for that was not the gods bidding, but something else. A star that fell from the sky.


    Even Set had noticed its presence, the huge quantity of mana it possessed, he turn to the man in front of him with a wicked grin on his face ¡°I want the star that has just fallen! You men are to bring to to me and then I will grand you your wish.¡± his voice echoed from the whole room and wish a swing of his scythe took the head of the one leading them ¡°Fail to do so and you shall have faiths far worse than him!¡±


    Set was not the only one who noticed the stars mana capacity. Three ancient witches in their lair filled with herbs and mixtures of potions were not even so slightly bothered by the growing darkness, but immediately froze then they¡¯ve sensed the star approaching, all three of them started whistling and laughing. Without a moment to waste all three of them dressed up, taking with them their weapons and brooms and took to the sky.


    A human, while looking at the shining sky that the star left behind. Had noticed what that light truly was and not be fooled like the rest. As the head master of one of the biggest auction houses he knew he had to get his hands on it. He sent word to the mercenary guild, requesting The best of Grendel for the task of recovering the star. Six of the leaders of the group have responded to the call and went to the fray.


    In the bottom of the seventh realm, one of the strongest demons had noticed the stars approached. Quickly he gathered seventh of his best soldiers and dispatched them in order to secure the star. There was no way he would let anyone get their hands on such a high quality star, even more so to the humans with which the demon race was at war with.


    From the ancient halls of a castle, hidden deep within the woods of a dreadful forest. The blood drinkers have sensed a new prey, worthy for their time. Even if the day had just begun, this prey was worthy of waking up and hunting. So many of their kind were raised up in order to track and hunt the star down. They were to bring it back and offer it to their king and queen once they¡¯ll wake.


    In the wilderness of the mountains, deep in the woods by the border of the kingdom, the werewolves made their then. And since the darkness started growing at sunrise each one of them had an unsettling feeling. Over a few hundred of them gathered up, each one being agitated until a loud and growling voice made all of the others silent ¡°Shut up you mutts.¡± a huge werewolf that was wearing armor and a double edged axe in his hand jumped in the middle of the horde of werewolves, squashing two of them under his feet ¡°We shall follow this stars trace, find it and after that we can feast!¡± the werewolf¡¯s mouth was drooling from just imagining it.


    And the worse was yet to come, as from the depths of the earth raised a most unsettling being, a corpse dressed in a tattered cloak, a necromancer had come from the lowest of realms up to the surface. Not only that, but he is also the most deadly and powerful of all of them and he did not come alone. Along with him came a legion of undead and a dozen of dullahans. His target, none other than the star.


    Far from the all the turmoil, on a peaceful green field with tall grass the star had made her crash, burning the field almost completely and creating a huge crater until it finally stopped just a little away from a forest. There in the middle of that hole in the earth laid a most beautiful girl, sleeping unconscious among the rocks and dirt with little knowledge of what was to come.

 Chapter 1: A falling star - part 2

    The rain had already stopped by the time she landed and the sun was spreading its rays all over, but nobody seemed to be approaching that place, nor did she showed any sign of waking up. A huge crater with smoke coming from all over it, maybe that was what was keeping all the folk away from it, they only watched from afar and moved on. Announcing the knights and other authorities about this incident, that was all they could do for they were too afraid to come close to it.


    And so the day had quickly passed without any events and the nights started to grow more and more. The sky was clear with not even one cloud around, the moon was full and close enough to the planet to brighten that night up. The moon¡¯s shine made the star light up as if it was her time to shine, she lighted the whole crater making it look as if some gates to another place have opened at its bottom.


    Close to the crater a hooves of horses could be heard, getting closer and closer, until finally reaching the edge of the huge whole in the ground that was bright as the day. From those horses six men dismounted, each one armed to the teeth, except for one that was dressed in black with a white expressionless mask covering his face. One of them that had a shield like thing attached to his left gauntlet, it looked as if it was made from bright red dragon scales.


    He knelt before the crater, smoke still coming up from its edges, he turned around towards the man with the mask ¡°Get rid of the smoke!¡± he told the man.


    The masked man moved forward to the crater, with the move of his hands strong wind started to blow, clearing the smoke and putting down any fire that was left around. ¡°Its done Archeon.¡± with a distorted voice he responded back to the one that gave him the order.


    Archeon had went back to the horses to pick a rope in order to go down in the crater ¡°Varris you hold onto this rope for us, I will signal you when you pull us up.¡± he handed the head of the rope to a giant man, almost twice of his size. ¡°Raiden you are coming with me, in case something shows up.¡± he addressed the one sitting to Varris, a tall elf in silver armor. He went over to the edge and threw the rope down the hole, without a moments notice Raiden already grabbed the rope, sliding down in it. ¡°Zhan, Nikas make sure to survey the area properly, if anyone approaches let us know.¡± the last two, a man dressed like an assassin and one like an archer nodded their heads, with that Archeon jump from the edge of the crater head one, he didn¡¯t even grab the rope.


    It was quite a way down, Raiden had just made it to the bottom of it, he turned his head upwards and check if Archeon was coming and boom, in front of him a could of dust was made from Archeon¡¯s landing ¡°Damn, it must be nice doing that!¡± the elf was excited by what he just saw ¡°You should let me know next time though, I¡¯m all covered in dirt now.¡± he was trying to clean his hair of the dirt.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have time for that now, let¡¯s move fast. We are mostly then likely aren¡¯t the only ones that are coming for this star.¡± he started to look around carefully for the source of the light. After a few minutes of walking they managed to find it, a girl radiating a light as bright as the sun, neither of the two men couldn¡¯t even look at her. ¡°Quick, let¡¯s put her in this bag and head back!¡± Archeon grabbed a huge bag that he had on his back, with his eyes closed he grabbed the girl and quickly put her inside of it.


    ¡°What¡¯s with this bag? There is no light coming out from it.¡± Raiden was surprised by this thing that you could see it on his face ¡°Where did you get this thing Archeon?¡± but just a moment later ¡°Oh, Helena made it, right?¡± his expression changed into a straight one as if he was dumb for even asking that.


    Archeon just laughed at him as he grabbed the bag and putted it on his shoulder, he then tapped Raiden on the shoulder ¡°Let¡¯s go, the faster we are out of here the better.¡± both of them started running back to the rope, more like racing back than just running.


    Raiden grabbed the rope first, circling it around his hand once, Archeon did the same thing, as soon as both of them were set Raiden pulled on the rope three times and both of them were being pulled up at such a high speed, it was almost as three horses were running.


    Both of them made it back without any problem at all, maybe a bit of blindness from all the light, but nothing too serious. Varris had let go of the rope and went to check the those two as well as taking the bag from Archeon.


    ¡°Archeon, we¡¯ve got guests.¡± Nikas pointed out in the sky, three figures were flying straight towards them at high speed, it was hard to tell who or what they were because of the distance. Nobody could tell what was that, but Nikas spotted them clearly for he was a panterian, he was used to hunting at night and his eyes could see farther than anyone that was with him ¡°GET READY!¡± he shouted while drawing an arrow from his quiver that hanged around his waist ¡°Those three are witches from the looks of it.¡±


    All of them drew their weapons, preparing for combat ¡°Archeon!¡± the mage shouted ¡°We need to get out of here fast, I sense seven demons approaching us from the forest, they seem to be on a Lord level.¡± all of them almost froze for a moment.


    In his mind Archeon couldn¡¯t stop thinking ¡°Demons? Here? How is that possible? I thought the gate between our world and theirs is closed.¡± he turned around to the mage and in a lower voice told him ¡°Prepare a teleportation circle and be on standby to teleport us out on the first opening we have!¡±


    Closer and closer the demons and witches were getting. The witches landed just a little to the right of Archeon¡¯s squad, standing like 10 meters away while the demon stopped in front of them around 12 meters away.


    ¡°What do we have here a party? If I knew there¡¯s going to be so many charming boys I would have dressed up properly.¡± a witch with blonde hair and dress in a red, revealing dress that was showing off her bodies figures quite well. She clearly did not look one of those old, ugly hags you¡¯d from tales, but more like a very charming young lady.


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    ¡°Oh, shut the hell up you damn slut. Even if you came naked and started waving your ass at them, they wouldn¡¯t even make them get hard or anything. I¡¯ll bet they¡¯ll only get traumatized by how thirsty you are.¡± the witch that was sitting to the left replied back to the one in red dress in quite a harsh way. Like the previous one she had some outstanding figures and her black hair was caught in a ponytail behind her back. She was wearing a black dress which matched her hair perfectly. The dress was not as revealing as the previous one but just as elegant, at her waist she had two sheathed swords, by how thin they were Archeon assumed them to be Rapiers, but their handles were odd for they had no guards.


    ¡°Can the two of you shut the fuck up!?¡± the third witch seemed to grow tired of their argument, both of them stopping right away, she was dressed up as elegant as the other two, in her hand she was holding a scepter like thing with a glowing crystal at its top that was glowing green. Now she turned in Archeon¡¯s direction ¡°You, boy with the red arm, had us the star now and you shall only by roughed up a little by this two.¡± both of the two witches started laughing, the blond one was licking her lips while the other one pulled out one of her swords, it was a katana, not a rapier. ¡°Of course, all of you will survive their treatment, probably.¡±


    Before Archeon could even respond to them one of the demons stomped the ground, making quite a cracking sound ¡°Seems like you are forgetting your place you wretched whores. You should bow before us and lick our feet for even giving you some powers to play with!¡± the demon seemed to get angry at the witches for demanding Archeon to hand over the star although they were present as well.


    ¡°Hahahaha, hear that girls? Some low life Lord level demon thinks he is some big shot and wants us to lick his feet.¡± the witches laughed so hard at the demons and it seemed to have an effect as the one that talked to them was getting angrier ¡°How about you come over here and show us how good of a dog you are and start licking my cunt? If you do a good job and please me, I will personally let Master Argon know he has some good subjects.¡± the smile witch holding the scepter grew even more when she said the name of the demon they had a contract with.


    ¡°Filth, I will never understand out kings obsession with you three whores.¡± the demon was starting to feel disgusted by them, but couldn¡¯t do anything to them yet for they had a different mission and because the one leading them had a thing for those three.


    ¡°Human, hand us over the star and I promise you that no harm will come, not only that but we shall make sure that those three will do nothing to any of you.¡± a demon girl stepped forward, coming closer to Archeon¡¯s group, but stopping just a few meters away. She had messy blue hair, pale skin and red eyes with two small horns coming up from her forehead. As for her clothes, a really short black kimono with red lotuses on it that only covered around half of her thighs and had a wide opening to her cleavage, most of her body was quite visible cause of that, anyone could see the amount of tattoos she had all over her. Finally around her waist three katana¡¯s were hanging ¡°I will say it again...¡±


    That was as much as she could say and Raiden interrupted her ¡°Mind if I add an offer of my own to that? How about you and I have a night together, I promise I will make it worth your time. Then you can have the star¡± he couldn¡¯t help himself once he saw how gorgeous the demon girl was.


    In the same moment that he finished talked Raiden was smacked in the head by Varris which was wearing some huge metal gauntlets. Instantly knocking him down. ¡°Are you stupid!? You trying to get us all killed here or are you just that much of a womanizer!?¡± the huge man yelled at him with a roaring voice.


    ¡°Its good that some of you have some restrains, otherwise I would have cut that man myself for what he said.¡± the demon girl spoke while looking at Varris and smiling ¡°So coming back, your answer to my proposal?¡± she pressed them on as her made its way towards her sword, resting on top of the hilt.


    Archeon was getting tired of all of this, it seemed no matter who came they would pick on them. ¡°If you¡¯d take a closer look at us you¡¯d realize we are not actually human, are we now?¡± he unsheathed his long sword and pointed it at the she demon that was in front of him, its blade was starting to glow quickly turning into an icy blue ¡°Remember this sword filth?¡± he grabbed his sword with both hands and pierced the ground at his feet. An aura started to come out of his body like a green smoke.


    The she demon jumped back at her friends side, now everyone that was around them pulled their weapons out and were done with this chit-chatter ¡°There is no way you can be the same human as the one that defeated us 50 years ago.¡± the demon that talked to the witches started swinging his in anger, he picked a dagger from his belt and threw it with all force at Archeon.


    ¡°Who said that I am human?¡± he replied back to the demon, the dagger that came towards him, he didn¡¯t even bother to reflect it or do anything, he stood still as if he was simply a target. From behind him a huge arm came and protected him from the dagger, it was Varris that used his huge gauntlets, which almost covered Archeon¡¯s upper body.


    While everyone was focused on each other from behind Archeon¡¯s team a group of over forty shadows appeared from thin air, but it wasn¡¯t only behind Archeon, the witches and demons also had forty shadows that had appeared in their vicinity and without a warning they launched an attack on all parties.


    Archeon took advantage of this situation since he clearly know his troops strengths and noticed those that are attacking him are vampires because of their sneak attack as well as numbers. ¡°Vampires, Zhan, Nikas your specialty kill them fast. Varris you defend them.¡± Archeon shouted his orders while rushing over to the mage, which was about to start casting his magic in order to engage the vampires ¡°Activate the portal, now!¡± with just a nod the mage began activating the magic circle.


    Everyone noticed what was happening since the ground surrounding Archeon¡¯s group started to glow and show the teleportation circle. All of them stopped fighting and rushed towards them with weapons lifted and spells almost cast. The light grew more until it covered the whole party in it, nobody could see anything anymore as the light was blinding.


    A huge explosion was made when everyone entered that light. Archeon managed to teleport out of there along with his team, the explosion being the result of the multiple attacks that met one another in the middle of the array.


    The demon grouped up fast and were ready to kill the rest of the ones that were left around. The witches did that as well same was for the vampires. Neither of them had any intentions of leaving the other alone and having to deal with them later or get hindered along the way. But something made them change their minds, a huge pack of werewolves, at least four hundred of them were heading in their direction. All of them knew that this will drag on for a long time and they might lose the star completely if they wasted anymore time here so without any words each one took of in their own direction.


    From the place where all of it happened, right in the middle of the teleportation array a strange plant started to grow, its color was black, its shape was odd as if it had veins on it. The plant grew so fast that it even bloom, its flower looked like red rose but from the middle of the rose an eye came out which started to look around the place. It withered away just as fast as it grew when its job was done.


    Despite the fact that they were late to the fray, the werewolves have searched the place very well, managing to find the scent of the star, the one who took her as well as the direction from which they came. Quickly mobilizing such a large pack on its trails while staying out of sight.


    So many seemed to be wanting this star and none of them were about to give up on her just yet. But those were not all of them as one more thing that had a late arrival was going to come after her. A cloud of shadows approached the crater one day after the incident around the same time. An angry growl came out from that cloud of black smoke, it moved with a very high speed in the direction from which Archeon came almost as if he sniffed his tracks and was following them just like the werewolves. Just what was this cloud and what could it want from a star?

 Chapter 2: Demon in Hazefal - part 1

    At the same time, far away from that place in a large hall one person¡¯s shouts were continuously being heard ¡°Number 37 has offered 3 million golden coins¡± his voice kept shouting as the people in the hall raised their hand. This was clearly the auction but what of the prize? A girl was standing on the stage, wearing a white dressed almost as if ready to get married, he black her making a nice contrast with it but with her pale skin as well, her eyes were shut and she was sitting there motionless as if in a trance or probably under some charm. Suddenly a hammer was heard knocking three times and the winner for the star was an old man wearing robes, he seemed to be from some temple, but what a generous one he was to pay 10 million golden coins. You could see him smiling like the scrawny man he has, his lips twisting at their ends.


    In that hall there were many guests, most of which weren¡¯t even humans and despite the fact the auction master claimed that star to be the one everyone saw the day before not many people risked they money on it as he placed multiple restrictions on her which blocked her mana from being checked as well as a charm to keep her docile, but what most people feared was not that fact that they could get cheated but the pursuers that would follow after. For is she truly was the same star many would come after her and would stop at nothing from getting their hands on such a powerful thing.


    The night has passed rather smoothly and without incidents, but could you be able to say the same thing about this one as well? The black had reached the town of Hazefol, the place from where the mercenaries had left and the same one in which the auction hows where the star was just sold last night. And who knows, maybe she might still be around?


    The smoke fiend stopped on a hill with a large forest behind its back just a little away from a bridge that led to the southern gate. It looked around as if scanning the area, a could easily see that the place was like a fortress, tall walls, steel gate and a mot surrounded the whole place. There was river that was coming from the north and was passing just by the town, some huts could be seen along side it. The cloud was soon startled by the sounds of horses neighing as they it got whipped, while observing the carriage he spotted two huge creatures, massive, tall with huge horns coming from their heads, they were both minotaurs used to carry luggage.


    It observed the way everyone looked at them in a frightened manner, keeping their distance as well as avoiding eye content or other sort of interactions. The smoke soon started to take shape of a humanoid creature, one leg stepped out of it, a slender and long covered in black hair, a long hand with pale skin but just as thin showed up until all of it came out. A thing that many would associate with a demon, his lower half completely covered in black fur as if he was some animal, but his torso and hands had a pale skin which were completely visible since he wasn¡¯t wearing anything else. But the thing that made him stand out the most were the two pairs of horns that were coming out of his head, one pair growing from his forehead up while the other from the sides and pointing down and that was not all, behind his back a long white tail with scales as if that of a lizard was waving.


    Despite the devilish aspect, his looks were quite something although his body being mediocre, his muscles were standing out, his face was quite charming and the serene look on it just added up, his big black eyes had a clod gaze as if they could freeze anything and his silk, black hair was long enough to cover his back almost completely.


    This fiendish creature made its way towards the city gates, sneaking between the carriages that were going and coming out of the city, easily avoiding being spotted by the guards. But was that really his concern? Now that he made his way inside he walked along side the wall, stall were everywhere, merchants from all places came to sell in this town reason why it was known as the trading center of the Kingdom of the Nine, having the largest market in the whole kingdom. Various smells filled those streets, sweet flower scents that relaxed anyone, tasty foods which easily made anyone droll over and grab a snack to the spices that would make your nose and eyes running. But the were more than just that, all types of weapons, every sort of armor and shield and even spell books, this town had everything.


    Despite all that, the demon did not care about anything, not even showing the slighted temptation towards the delicious foods or some rare items that he might purchase. He walked through the street without bothering to look at anything or anyone, people avoiding him when they noticed his looks even if he knocked someone down or walked into them they wouldn¡¯t do anything but turn around and run. A massive guy that he knocked down by walking into him quickly got up and in his rage picked up a rock, throwing it straight at his head but the demon¡¯s tail was quick to react, wrapping around the rock and crushing it to dust as if it was made of dirt, he didn¡¯t even bother to look around which made the man even more angrier.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    He grabbed a sword from a nearby stall and rushed at him trying to take him by surprise, when he approached him he felt a chill down his spin that made him come to a sudden stop. The demon had turned around and was looking straight at him, his tail already warped around the man¡¯s neck like a snake. The sword dropped from the man¡¯s hand as slowly started to lows consciousness. All of those that were around started screaming and running when they saw the scene, nobody even tried to help the poor guy.


    ¡°Stop right there fiend!¡± someone shouted from afar, the sound of clamping metal was starting to get closer and closer, multiple soldiers coming from both sides, completely blocking the demon¡¯s way. From between the ranks of those soldiers one stepped forward. He was not wearing a helmet like the rest, you could clearly see his face and the fact that he was not some new recruit, but a battle hardened one, a scar on his left cheek, hair starting to go gray with a very serious face, he was clearly the commander of the soldiers in this town. ¡°Let that man go!¡± he yelled at him again.


    The demon threw the one he had his tail warped around into one of the nearby stalls which was filled with all sorts of carpets, making a more safe landing for the human. Now the demon turned his back at the commander, turning to the blockade in front of him, he extended his hand and pointed towards them ¡°Move out of my way!¡± with a very deep and chilling voice he almost ordered them to step aside, since that was the way in which he was initial heading.


    ¡°Stand your ground men, we will hold this demon here until our reinforcements arrive and then we shall put an end to him once and for all.¡± the commander shouted at his men as he pulled both of his swords out of their sheaths walking towards him at a slow pace ¡°We shall defeat him just like we defeated the demons before!¡± his words were filled with inspiration which raised the moral of those around him, but how much can they withstand? Since all of them are just some greenhorns that never seen some real action.


    Those that blocked the demons way stood their ground while the rest of the soldiers charged at him along with the commander, although they surrounded him completely only the commander would fight with him close combat, taking the advantage since he had no weapons, the rest of them only used their spears when they saw an opening or to help the commander out. This strategy was quite good as he had to avoid the fast swings of the swords a well as the random thrusts of the spears from all sides, because of that the demon was only on the defensive, all he could do was avoid the attacks and look for a chance to counter. Despite the amount of attacks that were raining down on him, he was avoiding them almost effortlessly without wasting even a movement as if he was dancing between their blades and spares.


    A chance soon came, but not for him, the commander took this opportunity when he was off-balance and hit him in the head with the hilt of his sword as hard as he could before quickly backing away while getting covered by the spears. The odds were looking in their favor, but something happened, the demon¡¯s face looked almost black with anger, his eyes were dark as the night and both of his hands changed shape, one into a long scythe and the other into a long double headed axe.


    They all underestimated him greatly, despite him being only in the defensive, not even once they managed to pierce him with their spears for he was too nimble, moving through their attacks without an effort. Even the commanders hit was nothing to be proud of as it did no damage at all, not even a scratch or bruise all it ever did was make him angry and it was his turn to push them back into a corner. He swinged his arms left and right, cutting the spear the soldiers carried to pieces, the commander tried to charge at him but he had no chance, the demon stepped into his attack quickly dodging it to the right and kicking the commander in the stomach with his knee after which he hit him in the back with his elbow, blood was coming out of his mouth and couldn¡¯t even find the strength to get up anymore.


    The demon continued his rampage, slaughtering soldiers left and right, the tip of his tail now turned into the head of a spiked mace as well, he was like an automaton that was set on killing. Bodies were severed, dismembered and crushed, nothing could stand in his path anymore. You could hardly tell from what kind of animal those parts were coming from as the level of brutality was above whatever was seen before. The previously clean paved roads painted in red, a new color was added to the walls of the buildings and the flowers from a nearby stall had turned crimson from the blood. Despite all that the demons face was emotionless, it was void of any expression, he had calmed down.


    All that was left were the two rows of soldiers still blocking his way, although he killed everyone that attacked him before he stopped in front of the soldiers, a few meters away, his hands turned back to normal as well as his tail and pointed towards them ¡°Clear my way!¡± his voice just as demanding as before but now carrying a lot more weight after the even that just happened ¡°And you shall live.¡± he continued after leaving a pause. The soldiers couldn¡¯t help it but look at one another, it was their duty to protect the city, but was their lives really worth giving for nothing? Despair started to show and many were tempted to stand down.


    Suddenly from behind the demon, the commander showed up, his sword piercing the demon¡¯s chest right where his heart should have be, with his other sword trying to cut his head off, but was caught by the demons tail and broke to pieces. He had no other choice but to get some distance and grab another from the bodies that filed the streets.¡°Stand your ground men, think about your friends, your family and fight for them, for their safety! Even if you die they will be safe, think about that and you won¡¯t lose to him!¡± once again he was able to raise the moral of his name, truly a formidable commander.

 Chapter 2: Demon in Hazefal - part 2

    Such a waste he did not have more competent soldiers. The demon was standing there with the sword in his chest, but not even blood or any other liquid was coming out, almost as if he wasn¡¯t even alive. His tail wrapped around the swords hilt, pulling it and throwing it at the commander. Just as he deflected the sword in front of him was the demon, his arm already stretched, wrapping his slender fingers around his neck. The commander tried to free himself by trying to cut his hand, but the sword couldn¡¯t even touch him as his arm was bent behind his back by the demons tail. Screams of pain quickly filled that place. The demon didn¡¯t kill him yet, he twisted his arm a little more before his tail coiled around the mans neck like a snake, making him hand by his side.


    He moved in front of the soldiers but didn¡¯t say anything, instead he started torturing the commander right in front of their eyes. Bending and twisting his limbs as if he was made of clay, the moment he would stop screaming he¡¯d cut one of his limbs or proceed to another limbs. Eventually dismembering him completely at the end of which he ripped his head off and threw at the soldiers feet.


    ¡°Lets run away!¡± one of the soldier said as he dropped his weapon and turned around, four more doing the same, but the rest just charged at him. The result was the same as before, not even one of them stood a chance of even touching him and were slaughtered like helpless animals. With his path cleared the demon looked around him once more, piles of butchered bodies and blood filled those streets, he let out a sigh ¡°To think I¡¯ve sunk so low¡± he said with a low voice as he started to walk over their bodies. What could make him say such words? Was he bothered by the fact he killed people or was it something else entirely? None the less, he continued to search for the place where the star was.


    A few minutes after the demon left, the reinforcements have arrived at the scene and witnessed the horrors that were left behind. Each one of them was shocked by what they saw, two of the soldiers started to vomit as the rest were given the chills. ¡°How is this possible? Just what kind of creature did all of this?¡± the lieutenant talked to himself as he knelt and looked at the disfigured and dismembered bodies. ¡°Clean up this place men, take all the bodies away from here.¡± he quickly got up and shouted orders at those around him ¡°You, I want you to go to the barracks and tell all men to start searching this city inside out. There is a dangerous creature running wild and we need to find it!¡± he ordered the closes soldier that was to him. The man saluted him and started running back to the barracks.


    As he watched him run, he saw two men coming, both of them wearing heavy armor. One of them wasn¡¯t wearing his helmet and had a large symbol drawn on his chest plate, a black griffon, he had a severe face without any scars, he was quite tall with broad shoulders ¡°Who are you and what business do you have here?¡± he asked the man right away, mostly because he suspected him to be a mercenary since those were usually the first to come where there was trouble.


    ¡°I¡¯m general Pallas. What¡¯s the situation?¡± the man without a helmet responded back to him. Although he looked around and saw all the bodies, there were still things he didn¡¯t know. You could see him getting angry while look at the way the soldiers were killed, his hands resting on the hilts of both of his swords as if itching to kill someone.


    The lieutenant saluted him before responding back ¡°Sir, there seemed to be some sort of creature running lose around town. We don¡¯t know what it could be as we only just arrived and this is the first thing we saw. I¡¯ve seen order back to the barracks to form search parties and start scouting the place.¡± he talked as if he was scared of him for some reason.


    It was easy to notice that what the lieutenant told him and that ticked him off since his left hand started to tap on the hilts top in a stressful way. ¡°Very well, continue to clean up here, I¡¯ll look around and see if anyone noticed something. If anything comes up I want you to inform me as soon as possible.¡± with just that he left, walking the same way he came, leaving them to do their work.


    As the soldiers cleaned the street, the general went back the way he came, ending up in the main square. There he saw some of the people being frightened, but where still hanging around looking in the direction from which he came. ¡°Sergeant, get some soldiers here and start questioning the civilians.¡± he ordered the man next to him which quickly went back to the lieutenant.


    Meantime he walked around the square, the place was filled with people many of them having curios looks on their faces as too what was happening there but none dared to go and see. Among them there were a few that seemed more frightened than they should be over some screams and shouts. There he noticed a man with a cane in his hand, dressed more properly than the rest around him, he was sitting on the side of the street panicked, always looking in the direction of the street where the slaughter happened with the corner of his eye. ¡®He must be a merchant or someone important and by the way he is looking scared at that ally he surely was there or saw who went down that road¡¯ the general through to himself before approaching the man ¡°You with the cane, where you on that street before the soldiers arrived?¡± he stopped right in from of him, asking him all of a sudden.


    The man almost jumped from that, he was too easily scared ¡°I-I¡­ yes I was there, standing behind my stall and selling carpets.¡±he was at a loss of words at first but after glancing at he general a little he soon noticed his armor as well as the emblem on his chest so he realized he must be a soldier.


    ¡°Tell me in detail what exactly happened there.¡± the general pressured him by getting closer and placing one hand on his shoulder while with the other leading him to the side of the square to one of the benches. The merchant was shaking from head to toe ¡°Don¡¯t worry, no harm will come to you as long as I¡¯m around.¡± the general assured him before letting him sit down ¡°Now, tell me what happened there!¡± he almost ordered the man.


    The merchant cupped his hands while still shaking slightly, he didn¡¯t even dare lift his head up, he only stared at the ground ¡°W-We are in big trouble¡­ Pray for the gods to help us...¡± his voice was shaking and breathing heavy ¡°There was a black creature walking down that street, at first it did nothing but walk. True everyone was scared but suddenly a passer-by attacked it and that¡¯s when things got out of control, that creature proved to be a demon and that person was killed in a blink of an eye.¡±


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    This news shocked Pallas, he grabbed the man with both arms by his shoulders ¡°A demon!? Are you certain it was a demon!?¡± he started shaking him violently while looking at him with a grim face.


    ¡°It would be impossible for me not to notice, he had a long tail, body mostly covered in fur, strength beyond any that I¡¯ve seen and on his head...¡± he made a pause as he swallowed his saliva ¡°Two pairs of horns.¡± the merchant adverted his eyes away after finishing talking and tried to break free from the generals grip.


    ¡°That¡¯s impossible!¡± Pallas shouted all of a sudden that it made the merchant run away ¡®A demon here of all places. How? Just how in the world can a demon get here? The only portal they can come through into this world is heavily guarded, unless¡­?¡¯ he was caught up in his thoughts trying to figure out what¡¯s happening the sergeant came back running.


    ¡°Sir, good news. It seems that there are a few soldiers that survived the encounter with the mysterious creature. They are all at barracks.¡± after finishing his report he finally caught his breath.


    ¡°Very well, lets see what they can tell us about what we are dealing with.¡± his composure started to relax after finally hearing some good news. ¡°Hopefully they aren¡¯t complete idiots, none the less have some soldiers ask around just so we are sure about everything.¡± he talked to the sergeant as they were walking towards the barracks ¡°Also I want you to inform our men to come to the barracks as well, I want them all ready to move out.¡± the sergeant just saluted him and was on his way to get the men that were waiting around outside of the city, in a small camp made on the western side.


    When the general reached the barracks, there seemed to be a commotion around as the soldiers that manage to run away from the incident had barricaded themselves inside a room without any intention of coming out. Some of the soldiers around tried to talk them into unlocking the door after that failed they tried breaking it. In that moment those inside the room used anything they could find to block the door, beds, shelves and chair where all pilled up in front of the door.


    ¡°What¡¯s all this noise? Why are you trying to break the door?¡± Pallas looked at the ten soldiers with a sever face, they all were gathered around one of the dorm rooms. As he got closer he could hear those inside screaming or yelling all sorts of things and that they would never come out of there.


    ¡°Those idiots barricaded themselves inside after coming back.¡± one of the soldiers told the general why there were trying to bring down the door ¡°They kept shouting stuff about some demon killing everyone.¡± he started to make fun of them ¡°They must have clearly pissed some witch or maybe even ate the wrong mushrooms.¡± all those around started laughing at it.


    Pallas¡¯s body had all stiffened up when he heard they said something about a demon. He walked in front of the door and with a heavy kick sent the door along with everything that was behind it into the wall opposite to it. He walked inside of the room with loud steps and a grim face, when those inside saw him they all started screaming and shaking. Pallas grabbed the closest one by the hair and pulled him out of the room ¡°What are you standing there? Get the other five outside already!¡± he shouted at the ten men that were standing in front of the door looking at him with dumbfounded faces.


    Once outside, the six soldiers were lined up, their faces were deplorable as they had been crying for a while, their noses running as if they had a severe cold. In front of them Pallas was looking at the state they were in, he spit on the ground when thinking they should be guarding this city.


    ¡°What kind of creature did you face there? And how come you six are still alive?¡± Pallas asked them with voice that was deep and loud, as walked around them as if scanning them from head to toes.


    One of the soldiers almost jumped up when he heard the general talk from behind him. Each one of them said with muttering voices ¡°A demon, a fiend.¡± there seemed to be hesitation as they spoke ¡°W-We¡­¡± a long pause, none seemed to want to answer ¡°Ran away.¡± one of them said it with a such a low voice that you could say he whispered.


    ¡°You fools did what? RAN AWAY!?¡± the generals voice raised so much that you could hear it from the other side of the town, he was ranging at those men harder than anyone would have ever had ¡°You morons think this is some kind of roleplay or what? You abandoned your comrades and let them die, while you saved your skins.¡± he made a pause to take a breath and turned around towards the rest of the soldiers that were watching him scold those six ¡°Listen up here you idiots, when you are assigned too a squad or platoon, you do whatever the leader of that group says. If he says to fight till you die, you fight. If he tells you to stand watch, you stand watch.¡± his voice was echoing in that courtyard ¡°And finally, if the leader asks you to retreat, you all retreat.¡± his voice dimmed as he said the last part. Now he turned back to the six that were now looking at the ground. ¡°For those that lost their lives trying to hold that creature in place. Be useful and at least tell describe its looks and how it fought.¡± his voice risen back up.


    They described him at the best of their ability. His looks, his weapons and even his fighting style, everything they could remember about him. ¡°And finally, he was stabbed by the commander in the middle of his chest, but that didn¡¯t do anything, he didn¡¯t even bleed.¡± one of them said and the rest quickly confirmed by nodding their head.


    Pallas was scratching his chin while listening to him. He was focused analyzing the information they were giving him with what he knows about the demon as well as comparing him with others he had met before. But when he heard them say he was stabbed right in the chest by a regular weapon as well as not even bleeding or being even lightly wounded by it made him widen his eyes in surprise ¡®That¡¯s impossible, this idiots must be to scared to remember exactly what happened and are surely making stuff up¡¯ he could believe such a thing without seeing it.


    As they finished talking, the sergeant along with most of the soldiers had arrived at the barracks. Now the place was crawling with people, but those six were in the middle of everything. They were sitting there life buffoons. ¡°Sergeant, take a few soldiers with you and deal with this fools. I will not tolerate deserters no matter what.¡± Pallas called out his sergeant before heading inside of the barracks.


    All those present watched as the six soldiers got dragged by the generals units outside of there. They couldn¡¯t help but think what would happen to them. ¡°Hey, what are they gonna to do them? I mean they helped out how they could.¡± one of the younger soldiers addressed his senior. The old man looked at them with a hopeless look and shake his head ¡°Nothing good from what I know about the general. Most likely they will get hanged, but if they are lucky...¡± he made a pause. ¡°They will be set free? Right?¡± the greenhorn started talking right away, you could see that he was filled with hope and was way to positive about thing ¡°No kid, they will get decapitated.¡± he placed a hand on his shoulder before leaving.


    Just as they left and the weather got suddenly cloudy, rain slowly started to drop until it was pouring out. Nobody was outside anymore with the exception of the soldiers that were looking for the so called demon. They went from house to house to check and letting everyone know that a demon was seen in the city as well as how he looked. Hours passed by and the day quickly passed by welcoming dusk.


    Pallas was sitting at a table in a dark room lit only by a candle that was sitting in front of him. He was resting his head against his left hand while with the other he spinned a knife on the table. His face was staring at the flame of the candle but his mind wasn¡¯t present, he was thinking about the situation and trying his hardest to figure out what he was dealing it. You couldn¡¯t hear anything in that room, beside the rain tapping on the windows no other sound was made, not even him breathing or the knife spinning.


    Until suddenly the door open with a slam and the knife that was spinning flew towards the door stopping in the doors frame just a palm away from the sergeants head, he didn¡¯t even flinch as he walked over to the table. He was soaking wet, water was dripping from him as if he had swimmed in a river. ¡°We got news about the demon. Someone from a local tavern said that they are keeping him distracted. He is in the black market area.¡± he almost said it with a disappointed face.


    The general almost jumped from his chair and rushed outside ¡°Get all men to mobilize, we are heading at that tavern right now.¡± as they went through the rain towards the gates of the barracks ¡°You make sure the men get there, I¡¯ll go up ahead and make sure things don¡¯t get out of control or he manages to run.¡± he ordered the sergeant before starting to run in the direction of the black market. The sergeant only node his head as he watched the general go before turning back to get the soldiers up and ready to move out.


    Rain was running down on the generals face as he made his way through the rain, his posture was slightly bent to the front. You could see his expression filled with anger but not only that his eyes was burning as if with expectation as if he was glad and finally a large smile grew on his face revealing his white teeth and sharp fangs. He almost looked like a vampire despite being a human ¡®Just wait for me little demon, I swore that I¡¯ll kill all of you for what you did. Not one shall get away from him¡¯ he started to talk to himself all of a sudden ¡®I will make sure I will chop you to pieces properly just like your kind did to us back then¡¯. His smile finally vanished as he reached the gates to the black market, he pulled out both of his swords before going through.

 Chapter 3: Commotion in the Black Market - part 1

    Earlier that day.


    The demon made his way towards the black markets gates without any more problems. Two large metal gates were opened towards the inside of that place, there were many people going in or out of that place. When he walked inside he noticed that the place was rather well maintained, clean and organized, no stalls were crowded on the sides of the roads, instead shops were made.


    At the gate two guards stood by, watching him go inside without even bothering with him. Both of them were huge ogres each one holding an axe and a shield in their hands. After they couldn¡¯t see the demon anymore they looked at one another ¡°Let the commander know there is another demon that came.¡± one of the said to the other.


    It seemed that that place wasn¡¯t as simple as it looked. On a closer look there were even more races walking around. This place was bolstering with all sorts of things, monster of all sorts were placed in cages and left in front of shops with price tags on them, all sorts of dubious herbs and weapons laid on the tables and shelves of each shop. At a point the demon noticed a place with jars that had all sorts of small being in them, eyes, brains, tongues and other disturbing things. Despite all the shady things being sold around the place was awfully clean unlike the previous area the demon walked through.


    Well decorated and imposing buildings on each side of the road, most of which were shops or occasionally taverns and even brothels. They were either made of wood or stone, but they all had one thing in common and that was the fine carvings made on their walls as well as the statues that were sitting around them. The taverns had some sort of charms hanging around the entrance or windows, it was a nice way to distinguish them from the shops. The brothels were a bit more rare but they could easily be spotted since they all had a statue of stone of a young girl with long hair wearing a revealing dress which was sitting on a chair in a tempting way.


    But despite all the things that were being sold around or temptations that laid at each corner the demon didn¡¯t lose time, although he was looking here and there with the corner of his eye, his destination remained the same, a huge building which he was looking occasionally since he stepped in the black market. The auction house, it was as if he was drawn into that place by something or rather said he was following someones trail.


    Time passed by quickly while moving through the streets trying to find his way towards the auction house, but the place seemed to be a maze, managing to make it around half way there when the sky started to grow dark, soon after drops of water started to fall one by one. Everyone that was on the streets rushed inside any taverns or shops they could find. The demon sat there for a few moments looking at the sky and drops that fell from it. He had a curios look on his face, he didn¡¯t seem to understand what was actually happening, drop by drop they continued to fall until it started pouring.


    He looked around and noticed the covered terrace of a tavern right next to him, he headed there all soaked from the rain. As he standing there he couldn¡¯t help it but extend his hand a few times in the rain and look at the water that would gather in his palm.


    The people inside were all loud and cheerful not minding the weather outside or the demon that was sitting at the window, maybe they didn¡¯t even noticed him standing there from all the alcohol they had been drinking or it was maybe the girls that were dancing around in their short skirts and sleeveless tops to the music of a bard.


    He had continued to sit there for another half an hour without anyone noticing him, by this time he had slightly dried up. A girl that was serving food around the tables had spotted him and wondered what could someone be doing outside since she didn¡¯t see him inside at all. She poked her head out through the cracked door almost as if peeking, when she noticed he was a demon she stepped out completely closing the door behind her ¡°How long have you been standing here?¡± she approached him with light steps while holding her hands behind her back, which made her chest that was already big stand out even more ¡°What are you doing here all wet? Aren¡¯t you cold?¡± as she got closer she noticed he was all wet from the rain ¡°Come inside I will give you something to dry up.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    All this time the demon only looked at her without saying a word, he let her talk all she wanted while he observed her. ¡®A young girl with curly blond hair, white sky and bright red cheeks with a smile on her lips, medium in height, blue eyes, large bust that was being exposed a bit too much by her clothes, with well defined curves, wearing a maids outfit with knee high stockings¡¯ his analyzes of her was quite something. But the moment she extended her hand to grab him he quickly snapped, puling his arm away, making a mean look while glaring at here.


    ¡°Geez, if you don¡¯t want me to touch you fine, but lets get you dried up. Come on, follow me.¡± she turned around on her hill making her short skirt raise up, revealing her sexy black lingerie, she leaned her head backwards instantly noticing him looking at her butt, she made a sly smile and told him to follow her with a gesture of her finger.


    The demon didn¡¯t seem to understand that nor did he paid any attention to what she was saying before as he was busy with something else. The girl stepped himself as the demon watched her walk away, after a few seconds after the girl went inside she poked her head out while holding onto the doors frame. Her cheeks were pouted and looked at him angrily ¡°I told you to follow me!¡± she raised her voice trying to sound upset, but her eyes were all sparkling with good intentions.


    He watched here for a second, he had no interest in drying up, but was curios as to what was inside of this tavern so he decided to follow her inside. The girl made a large smile as she saw him coming in, she heading towards the back where a set of stairs were, lots of people were whistling or grabbing her butt as he walked through the tables. She didn¡¯t seem to mind those things at all, it was probably something normal around this place, when she passed by another girl that worked there she blinked her eye at her then pointed to the demon that was following her to back.


    The demon kept a bit of distance from the girl, he was watching the place carefully as well as the people that were inside and the way they behaved. When he turned his head to look for the girl he spotted her at the end of some stairs that were leading up, she was waving towards him to come faster, which he did. Once there he lead him inside one of the rooms, it was a modest room with a drawer, closet, two chairs and a bed. The girl went to the closet as soon as the walked inside and grabbed a piece of white cloth.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to dry you up using this towel. So stay put.¡± she let him know before hand so he wouldn¡¯t do anything that might scare or harm her. She knelt before him and started to dry his legs, which were covered with black fur, carefully she went up his legs without making any sudden movements. As her hands reached his crotch she lifted her head to look at his face, a smile was growing on her face as she was blushing ¡°I could help you warm up a little.¡± she said playfully while her hand was gently moving around his crotch over the towel.


    The demon leaned his head to the side as he looked at her ¡°Warm me?¡± he tried to ask, but the why he said it was as if he told her to do it. The girl had dropped the towel and started to massage him directly while with the other hand was undoing the buttons of her skirt and top. He was sitting there enjoying what she was doing.


    The girl was only in her underwear, knelt before him as she watched his thing grow in front of her eyes. You could see the satisfied expression on her face while she was massaging his shaft. She got up on her feet and leaned forwards to the demon that was sitting on the bed. She placed on hand on his shoulder, their heads were at the same level now since the demon was sitting on the bed. With with a gentle touch she moved her hand from the demon¡¯s neck down to his chest and even further to his abdomen. Her head moved closer to his and began to lick his neck, going up to his cheek and finally giving him a kiss. With the hand she had on his shoulder she undone her bra which fell on the floor, her breasts jiggled slightly as the girl was taking heavier breaths.


    Although the girl was moving gently, the demon grabbed her by her hair and threw her on the bed, ripping her panties off as he leaned over her naked body like a wild beast. He started to suck on her breasts as if he was going to eat them. ¡°You are so wilddddd!?¡± he suddenly inserted his shaft inside the girl and started to move in an aggressive manner which made the girl gasp and moan loudly. Her breasts were movingly violently around from both the pounding and her panting.


    The demon took his time with her, by the time he stopped it was already dark outside. He got up from the bed and headed towards the door, letting the girl finally rest. She was sitting on her back with her legs spread wide open as the demon white liquid was gushing out of her and onto the bed, she was covered in sweat all over. There were bites marks on her breasts and neck almost as if she did it with a vampire.


    The moment the demon reached downstairs, the place was kind of deserted. Compared to the amount of people that were inside when he entered, now only four people were remaining besides the girls that worked here. He headed towards the door in order to leave, when a girl stepped in front of him, blocking his way ¡°You can stay here for the night, there is no need to leave this late.¡±


    He leaned forward, closer to the girls face ¡°Get out of my way!¡± he almost growled at her with a bone chilling voice. He had no reason to stay around anymore and nothing else he was curious about so he was back to the way when he met the soldiers.


    The girl started to tremble and couldn¡¯t even say a thing, she just moved to the side out of instinct. Just as the demon took one more step the door of the tavern was slammed open and all the candles that lit the place were blown away by the strong wind. In the door a massive man that was almost blocking the whole entry was standing. After carefully looking around he walked inside and sat at a table on the right side. He called out to the girl that was standing there frozen ¡°Hey, I want to order something.¡± the man said.


    When the girl finally came to it she realized the demon was nowhere to be seen anymore. She quickly lit up the candles and looked around, even asked the stranger that had just walked in if someone tried to go pass by him, but he said nobody was even close to the door not to mention walk pass by him. Just where could that demon have went to and who was this stranger that walked in.

 Chapter 3: Commotion in the Black Market - part 2

    After checking once more around for the missing demon, the girl went over to the man that had walked in. He was wearing a cloak with hood over his head to protect him from the rain that seemed to have settled down. Despite his body behind covered you could clearly see how huge his body was. When the girl got closer to him, she was almost only a quarter of his body. She wanted to yell at him for the incident earlier but when she saw him up close ¡°May I help you, sir?¡± she asked him with a frightened voice.


    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d love some food, three rounds of the best meat you got as well as some ale.¡± he told her as he took his hood off and started to search himself for something.


    The girl went back behind the counter and told the man that was cleaning the mugs behind the counter to get the food ready. While he was at it, she filled up one mug with ale and brought it over to the man so he would have something to drink until the food was ready. The huge man paid up right away despite the girl insisting that he can pay when he leaves.


    Around ten minutes had passed until the bartender got the food ready. The waitress came and picked up and grabbed another mug of ale for the man. She placed the two plates and mug on the table and the man immediately started to eat with his hands, like a beast he cleared a good chunk of meat from a bone as if he hadn¡¯t have any food in days.


    Just as she turned around to leave and the door was slammed open again, this time the lights didn¡¯t go out and everyone besides the man that was eating turned to see what was happening this time. A soldier had kicked it open, soon after him and four more rushed inside the tavern with swords drawn. They searched the place with their eyes and when noticing the huge man sitting at the table all covered up they walked towards him ¡°Wait...¡± the waitress tried to stop them but all five of the had already surrounded the man.


    Without any warning they flipped the table to the side, some of the food ending up on the cloaked man¡¯s face while the ale spilled on his pants, he lifted his head towards the soldier that did it and looked at him with a murderous glare. The soldier showed signs of backing down in feat but in that moment the one sitting behind him tried to cut his head but the man quickly lowered his head, the rest of the soldiers had joined in as well. He kicked the chair, making one of the soldiers fall hard with his head against the floor while dodging two that were coming from opposing sides, both of the soldiers ending stabbed by each other.


    From the remaining two one charged at him head one while the last one was running towards the door, he easily moved to the left side, while also punching the soldier in the stomach that he started to spit everything that he had in his gut. The sword he had in had started to slip from his hand but the cloaked man grabbed it and threw it at the one that was running, piercing the soldiers leg just as he got out through the door. He started to yell and scream, asking for help.


    The cloaked man started to walk towards the door to catch the one that remained, but as soon as he walked out he saw that the whole place was completely surrounded. A few dozen soldiers with weapons drawn were waiting for him to come out. He looked at them with a disappointed face, shaking his head ¡°So this is how I¡¯m repaid. You try to get rid of me like some useless animal.¡± his voice was deep and clear giving out some kind of pressure, while talking he reached out behind his back with both hands and just as he grabbed that handles of whatever weapon he had, a shout came from afar.


    ¡°GET OUT OF THE WAY!¡± he was screaming while charging in at full speed with sword ready to strike. The soldier quickly moved out of his path as he passed by them in a flash, in just a blink of an eye the cloaked man pulled out two short swords, which looked like daggers while he held them, and blocked the attack coming from the general. When Pallas clashed with the man he got a closer look at him, his face was shocked and in an instant lowered his weapon ¡°You got to be kidding me!¡± he sheathed his swords without making any other comment.


    He was holding his head with one hand almost as if he had a headache then turned around at the soldiers that had gathered behind him ¡°ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID OR JUST IMBECILES!?¡± and started shouting once more. ¡°Can you not distinguish a human from a demon!?¡± he punched one of the nearby soldiers in the stomach making him fall on his knees ¡°Look at him!¡± he pointed towards the man, which placed a hand on Pallas¡¯s shoulder, making him stop ¡°You mentioned a demon. Is that true?¡± the stranger asked the general with a serious face.


    Pallas looked at him and noded his head then turned around towards the soldiers ¡°Clean up this mess and pay up for the damage!¡± after which he pulled the stranger along to the side so they won¡¯t be bothered. ¡°Yes, a demon was seen earlier today in the main market, he killed forty-seven men along with the commander of the guards. We got some info that he might be lurking around here.¡± he started to explain to him everything he knew about the demon.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Meanwhile the demon was walking down the streets. Night had finally come, which made the whole place seemed deserted. It was a nice moon lit night, despite the clouds that earlier were pouring with rain, not the sky was clear and gave a charm to the place, but also a certain terror. Rarely would you see some light coming from one of the shops, just the taverns and brothels were bolstering with life. On the streets no soul could be seen, only the wind that was gently blowing, the smell of rain was still lingering in the air and the barks of some distant dogs was all it could be heard for a while.


    When the demon managed to get on road to the auction house he heard the loud footsteps of soldiers that were making the ground vibrate, too many to count all of them marching in his direction. He took in a breath of air and pondered for a moment, in a flash remembering the incident from earlier that day he decided to hide between the buildings and avoid them. He crawled into a deep alley and climb up a buildings wall like a spider sitting near the edge of the roof as he waited for them to pass. He paid close attention at the hooves and massive feet of the ogres and minotaurs, each one carrying a weapon fitting for their size as well as wearing plated armor.


    The demon waited a little more after they passed, until he could not longer hear their steps just in case they decided to come back the same way. Only after that he dropped down and resumed his walk. After a few turns left and right on the narrows streets he found the place, a large round square like place right in front of an imposing building. Two large doors were blocking the way, they were also guarded by two minotaur, one ogre and one human.


    He completely ignored the four, he was too focused on the building itself or more like what was waiting inside. He walked right up to the doors before getting stopped by the guards which only noticed him when he tried to open them.


    ¡°What do you think you are doing? Its closed at this hour, come back tomorrow.¡± the human soldiers told him, the other three drew their weapons and encircled him. ¡°Get lost already, we ain¡¯t got time for you!¡± the ogre shouted at him while swinging his huge mace through the air.


    The demon caught his mace by its head and crushed it in his hands ¡°Clear my way!¡± his voice was like a whisper, chilling to the bone and filled with killing intent.


    The minotaur that was sitting behind him swinged his axe to cut him in half, but the demon¡¯s tail wrapped itself around the minotaurs hands stopping the axe only a plam distance from his head. The ogres didn¡¯t stand by either, both of them rushing at him from both sides, the demon¡¯s hands extended by a few centimeters, just enough to grab the ogres by their neck and lift them up. The human was looking at him with a dumbfounded face, just what in the world was happening here.


    He bashed the skulls of the ogres one against the other and threw them one by one through the large metal doors. First one bending the door while the second making it crumble down. Lastly the kicked the minotaur who was standing behind him, sending rolling on the ground. The human tried to rush inside and give the alarm but the demon grabbed him by his leg with his tail, pulling him back at the entrance ¡°GET THE CAPTAIN!¡± the human shouted at the minotaur which was quite a distance away from the entrance, he quickly got up and sprinted away. Behind him the screams and screeches of pain could be heard for a few moments, they were made by the human as he was chopped to pieces.


    ¡°Hmm.¡± he seemed to be in thought, he was scratching his chin for a few moments ¡°Very well, I had just finished my delivery in this town and was about to head out after eating a meal, but I shall give you a hand with this matter.¡±


    Pallas made a delighted face when he heard that, it was almost as if he was about to hug him ¡°That would be a great honor Vadesh, to get to work with my former comrade again.¡± he wide smile grew on his face which vanished just as quickly when he saw from behind of his friend a large group of ogres and minotaurs coming their way, all of them armed. They stopped just a little distance from the human soldiers


    One of the minotaurs walked towards Pallas, he was wearing plated armor, in his head a huge double edged axe. He thrust the axe into the ground and rested upon its handle ¡°What is the meaning of this? Why are there human soldiers here!?¡± he snorted with an arrogant and loud voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m general Pa...¡± his words was cut short by minotaur.


    ¡°I did not ask for you name human!¡± he shouted into Pallas¡¯s face, some of his saliva ending on his face as well ¡°Your rank means nothing in this place, even if you are a king, when you step in here you are just a regular person!¡± he was clearly annoyed by the fact that human soldiers stepped into his territory.


    Pallas was thrown aback by how this place worked, normally nobody would go against him and in this situation was even more frustrating for him since the minotaur standing in front of him was a hindrance that he couldn¡¯t avoid. ¡°Listen here. I don¡¯t care if you are in command of this place, but as long as a demon is running lose in this town.¡± he his chest with his fist ¡°I will be giving the orders here, not you.¡±


    The minotaur looked at him with a serious face and straighten up, all of a sudden he burst into a loud laugh ¡°You here that boys? This human thinks he gets to order us around.¡± he plucked his axe from the ground and took one step closer to Pallas ¡°Listen her mister her of the war of Dusk. I give the orders here and if you don¡¯t like it go talk to your king, all nine of them and while you are at it drop by the elfs and dwarfs also.¡± the minotaur snorted.


    Pallas was about to say something but from behind the hoard of ogres and minotaurs someone was shouting ¡°Help, we need help at the auction house!¡± the minotaur that got away from the demon¡¯s attack managed to catch up to the captain of the guards. It was quite a distance and he was also wounded, but still did his best and as soon as he reached the captain he fell on the ground from exhaustion.


    Both the minotaur captain and Pallas with his friend moved closer to him so they could hear what happened. The captain was holding his head ¡°Get someone to treat him now!¡± he shouted at the his men, in an instant two of them came to patch him up.


    The wounded minotaur tried to talked while catching his breath ¡°The auction house¡­ its been attacked¡­ a demon killed the other three¡­ and broke inside.¡± he was exhausted beyond belief, he could barely even talk and each pause was about two full mouth of air for just a couple of words.


    ¡°You did well soldier, now rest up, we shall go and deal with this problem.¡± just as the captain got up and Pallas began shouting at the wounded minotaur ¡°Speak up, how did the demon look? Did he use any weapons?¡± in that moment the minotaur captain grabbed him by his arm and lifted him up ¡°Listen up you human fool, this soldier is mine to order around. I don¡¯t care if you push your soldiers to death but I don¡¯t!¡± he let him go after taking him away from the soldier.


    ¡°Listen up, the auction house has been attacked, all soldiers are to march there.¡± he rallied his men and as he was about to go out he turned his head towards Pallas ¡°If you are that eager to fight a demon you can follow, but I give the orders!¡± he was being wary, he wouldn¡¯t dare refuse help from someone as strong as him, but he would also keep his authority.


    Of course Pallas had no reason to refuse, since he saw himself what the demon was capable of, he knew the captain would let him be in charge after a few clashes with him. He got the few soldiers he had around ready while also leaving a few behind for when his troops would arrive.

 Chapter 4: Auction house Attack - part 1

    Inside the auction house everything was quiet, no sound was being made except for the slow wind that was blowing from outside as if that place was a graveyard. The reception desk was untouched, nothing was missing or out of place. Further down the huge hall covered in darkness twisted shadows covered the walls, shadows of torn apart bodies that were reflect by the moon, blood was staining the ashen stone floor, it seemed that place had turned into a graveyard.


    Deeper inside of the auction house one person was walking carelessly through the luxurious place as if it was his own, the demon had no interest in any of the valuable things that were displayed around him, nor the expensive portraits or other items. With him one of the receptionists was hanging by his side, held into air by his tail, the receptionist was pointing directions for the demon without making any other sound for the moment he made one the tail would coil tighter around his throat.


    He would sometimes come across other employees of the auction house on his walk, but he wouldn¡¯t even bother looking at them as if they didn¡¯t even existed. One of them was even carrying a sword to defend himself, but again the demon just walked pass by him and behind him that person just ran away screaming.


    He reached a staircase at the end of the huge corridor, the person that was being held hostage pointed up, but before he could take another steep one of the receptionists stepped in front of him, trying to block his way. The demon without a moment of hesitation slapped the man so hard his neck twisted around, the cracking of bones was so terrifying that it made the hostage piss his pants and turn his head away in fright as he closed his eyes shut.


    The silence once again fell upon that place, the staircase was oddly large, must have been made for multiple people to come up and down on it. At the end of it a hallway was opened in two directions, one step out of the staircase and two daggers came rushing for his head from above while and arrow was flying for his torso from the side. In a blink of an eye the demon lowered his head as well as catch the arrow with his hand as well as use it to stab the throat of the one hanging from the ceiling.


    Finally out in the open, seven people were blocking, judging by their gear that was completely different from the guards before, they must clearly be mercenaries of some sort. He looked behind him at the other end of the hallway, but it was clear the had to go past those seven if he wanted to reach his destination. Without waiting for their next move, he threw the receptionist towards them as hard as he could while also dashing right behind him.


    One of those seven was wielding a claymore and with it he split the man in half, at the same time the archer released three arrows consecutively in the same direction. The assassin along with another swordsman went around the body to corner him but they remained shocked when they couldn¡¯t see him, searching all over with the corner of their eyes. The sound of metal falling to the floor was heard from behind them, the claymore had hit the ground followed by the corpse of the man wielding it. Behind his body the demon was standing still staring at the man¡¯s head before throwing it towards the archer. She instantly dodged it to the side but as she was in air the demon caught her by the neck and slammed her into the wall, blood splashing all over as her skull was burst open.


    Two out of the seven were down in a blink of an eye ¡°Hey, this was supposed to be easy money ¡®Just guard duty¡¯ my ass. What the fuck is this freak of nature doing here?¡± the assassin started spouting while throwing daggers at the demon and keeping his distance. ¡°Shut your wretched mouth or I¡¯ll slam it shut for you.¡± a dwarf in full body armor shouted at him while moving to the front, placing his shield against the ground with his hammer ready ¡°Mage, do something will ya?¡± he turned his head at the one he was guarding.


    The mage was completely ignoring him as he was already chanting his spell, circles showing both at the ground where the demon was and in front of the mage. The whole floor was raising up almost crushing him against the ceiling if he didn¡¯t move out in time. As soon as he moved the mage¡¯s next spell was cast a strong wind had started to blow that pushed the demon against the nearest wall. ¡°Finish him already!¡± the mage shouted at his teammates.


    The guy that was sitting by the mage got up ¡°Can¡¯t you deal with fools kill him already?¡± retorted with a cocky voice. He pointed his spear at the demon and dashed in the wind spell. He was running as well as getting pushed by the strong wind which made him pierce the demons chest and destroying the wall behind him with a loud noise. Quite a large hole was made a lot of dust was raised.


    The mage stopped the spell as it was creating even more dust, everyone kept their distance looking at the hole ready to strike again if need be. From there the one wielding a spear came out ¡°What? Thought I¡¯d fail?¡± with the same attitude as before he mocked his teammates. Before he couldn¡¯t take another step from behind him a dark hand extended from the cloud of dust, piercing his chest.


    When the others saw that another one of them had fallen they had second thoughts about this since almost half of them died and the demon was still standing. ¡°Oke, fuck this job, it ain¡¯t worth my life.¡± the assassin shouted while running away to the other end of the wall and jumping through the window. Everyone looked at him as he dashed through the place and leave in an instant. Now the rest of them were left with no other choice but to run as well.


    The one that was attacking with the assassins, threw his weapons down and rushed down the stairs that were close to him. As for the dwarf and mage things were a bit different as the demon was standing right in front of them, having no other way around. The dwarf lowered his shield and placed it along with the hammer on the ground and stepped to the side ¡°We good, right? I just want to get out.¡± he pleaded to the demon with a softer voice than before.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Seeing how the dwarf tried to get himself out, the mage did the same thing, lowering his staff but in that instant his head was pierced by the demon¡¯s tail, his whole body was lifted up and then thrown against the wall before he continued his walk down the hall. The dwarf look as if frozen, thinking that he had met his end as well. After a few short moments he looked around, his head slowly turning, after seeing no sight of danger he ran towards the stairs as fast as he could.


    Just as he turned to go down he bumped into a huge creature and fell on his back. When he raised his eyes to look at what blocked his way, he crawled away in fright. He was only the size of this creatures forearm and on top of that there seemed to be a few others behind him, each of a different race, each heavily armed. But his luck hadn¡¯t ran out it seems, they all ignored the dwarf and went in the same direction as the demon.


    The demon had reached a set of massive doors made of woods, he tried to open them but when that failed he instantly kicked them, breaking both of them. Inside the room among all the luxurious stuff, a tall man with brown and grey hair was standing. He was already armed with a short sword and some sort of scepter in the other hand, as well as wearing a tunic, he must surely be the auction master.


    ¡°So, you finally arrived. Was wondering just who could be that insane as to attack MY auction house.¡± the auction master let out a huge sigh. He didn¡¯t seem to be afraid of the demon at all, more like familiar with their kind ¡°Of course, your kind was never the type to respect any kind of rule.¡± he waved the scepter in the direction of the demon.


    Noticing the his intentions the demon quickly moved towards him, but unlike before this magic didn¡¯t need any magical circles and veins came rushing after him from beneath his feet, stopping him in his tracks. They wrapped themselves around his legs and made their way up. He tried to rip them apart but to no avail. He glared at the auction master with a menacing look. The demon¡¯s tail moved around the floor like a snake and because of the dim light inside of the room made it way to its target, slashing the scepter in half in an instant.


    The auction master tried to react when he saw the snake like tail jump at him, but he cut it only after the scepter was broken. Now that the spell was undone, the demon was free. He ran across the room towards a huge metallic door.


    There was no way he would escape for the demon was already sitting behind him. With a desperate attempt to gain some ground he started swinging his sword aimlessly. His breathing was getting heavy from the swinging and the demon was only dodging them as he got closer and closer.


    His tail knocked down the sword which was already barely being held. With a quick move the demon caught the sword as his tail wrapped around the man¡¯s hands. He lifted him up and pressed him against the wall. ¡°Where is the star?¡± the demon look at him with a cold glare.


    Understanding now why the demon was here, the took his time to think as well as catch his breath. After a few moment he smirked while looking down at him ¡°Depends on how much you pay.¡± he voice was loud and clear as if he wasn¡¯t the one being held captive.


    Without even blinking the demon impaled the man¡¯s hands with the sword and let him hand only from that. The room was filled with screams and shouts for help which echoed even in the halls. He moved closer to his head as if he wanted to smell his fear. Sweat was falling down heavily from the man¡¯s forehead, his ego from before had all vanished and was now shacking like a little rat. ¡°How much is your life worth?¡± the demon said with a low tone. His hand reaching from the auction master¡¯s neck and slowly, finger by finger started to coil around his slender throat.


    In that moment a group of mercenaries walked in, one of them being quite the tall and massive man. Both the auction master and the demon were looking at them. From the group of six one walked forward with his hands opened ¡°We¡¯ve come back from escorting the bishop and expected payment.¡± the mercenary carelessly talked as if nothing was out of the usual ¡°But it seems you are a bit caught up with business, so we shall come back later.¡± he made a military salute before turning around.


    ¡°WAIT! KILL..¡± the auction master tried to shout as loud as he could, but the moment he uttered his second word. The demon squeeze his neck tighter and tighter. His face was turning from red to purple very quickly until his head popped off. Blood was gushing out of the man¡¯s neck like a fountain and onto the floor. All this time the demon had kept his eyes on the six mercenaries that had recently walked in.


    After shaking his hand clean of blood, the demon began to walk in their direction. All of the mercenaries got into position to attack, except for the one at the front. He lifted his hand, giving a sign to those behind him to standby. While also moving aside and letting the demon pass. Seeing that he had no intention of fighting or restricting him from leaving, the demon kept on walking. As soon as he passed by the one at the front he heard him talk.


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t help but hear that you were looking for the star.¡± with just that and the demon had turned around, instantly appearing in his face. All of the other five were about to engage him as soon as he made any move.


    ¡°Where is she!?¡± this time he wasn¡¯t asking, his words were demanding and pressuring.


    ¡°Since you did us a favor and killing that old fox.¡± the mercenary looked at the corpse of the auction master which was hanging on the wall. ¡°We shall help you also. Meet us outside of the city, in the northern forest.¡± he tried to convince him to leave this place.


    Without saying a word the demon turned around, with a rushed pace he immediately crossed the huge auction house and headed towards the exit.


    One of his comrades stepped up to their leader, placing their hand on his shoulder "Why did you let him leave? We could have taken care of him and collected some reward from it. Now we might get in trouble if someone says we just let him go." he seemed worried about the outcome of his decision.


    The leader shaked his head "Didn''t I always told you. Pay attention to your opponent always. Tell me did you notice anything about him? he asked his friend back.


    "No, he was barely giving off anything strength. He didn''t have any..." that''s when he figured it out and went completely silent.


    "That''s right, he didn''t give off any sign of power at all, no magic either not even a smell or pressence and yet he killed so many guards to make it here. He is far more dangerous than he makes it look." and with that he ended his conclusion "Lets go as well and head back to camp." they all started to walk out of the room.


    Outside of the huge building with broken doors, the captain of the guards along with Pallas and his friend Vadesh had encircled the entrance. In front of the door the minotaur captain and Pallas were standing side by side talking as to what to do now. Noticing the pools of blood and corpses around the entrance it was clear that most of them, if not all the people inside are dead. They finally reached an agreement as to not send people inside and focus on the exists.


    The minotaur captain sent men to all exists to keep watch. In case of the demon being spotted they are to signal and not engage. The rest of the men were positioned around the main entrance, but before any of them could even move, all of the ogres and minotaurs grabbed their weapons tightly and were looking with a menacing look in the direction where Pallas and the minotaur were standing. Both of them realized in an instant that the demon was standing behind them, they both rolled away from the entrance as if avoiding some attack, gaining some distance.


    The demon took a few steps outside and noticed the bunch of soldiers surrounding him as well as the two standing in front of him. He showed no reaction what so ever, he focused his eyes on Pallas and the minotaur since they were closer ¡°Get out of my way!¡± his voice was loud and clear, it sent a chill that it could even pierce bones.

 Chapter 4: Auction house Attack - part 2

    He walked calmly outside of the building, despite being completely surrounded he showed no sign of being scared. He was on the other hand cautious, extremely cautious. He stopped a few meters away from Pallas which was standing in his way ¡°Clear my path!¡± his was deep, clear and pressuring.


    But the human general didn¡¯t show any sign of doing as the demon told him, instead he pulled out both of his swords and was ready to attack. Both Vadesh and the minotaur captain moved around, trying to get him from the sides in case he decided to attack Pallas. ¡°A filthy demon dares order me around?¡± with a raging voice Pallas shouted at him.


    In that moment both Vadesh and the minotaur came rushing at him from both sides. Vadesh reached him first, trying to stab him in the back with his daggers, but failed as he didn¡¯t think the demon would use his tail in order to block his attack and counter at the same time. When the minotaur came with his axe swinging for the demon¡¯s chest he simply jumped in the air. Placing one hand on the axes blade and using it to push himself forward at Pallas which was charging from the front. Trying to kick him in the chest, but his attack was blocked by the generals swords. Even so Pallas was still pushed back from the force of the kick.


    All of the surrounding soldiers started to let out a warcry and charge at him. They swings were wide and strong, but slow and easy for the demon to avoid. He moved between their attacks like a rat between elephants. When they saw him between them the soldiers stopped swinging and instead tried to crush him with their massive bodies. The demon saw it coming and jumped up and landed on one of the soldiers head, his tail quickly coiled around his neck, suffocating the ogre. He continued to avoid their attacks while killing them one by one, slowly.


    Pallas was focused in looking for an opening to strike him down, but Vadesh was observing him closely and noticed what he was actually doing. He got a cold sweat and rushed over to Pallas ¡°We need to stop the soldiers, he is using them to learn how to fight.¡± he swallowed hard before he continued ¡°Look at him, he avoids their attacks so effortlessly and has enough time to counter as well, but doesn¡¯t.¡±


    Pallas looked at his friend shocked by what he had heard, he turned to look at the demon only to see that his friend was right. ¡°Captain, pull your men back, now!¡± he shouted to the minotaur captain which was on the other side of the fight. The minotaur instantly ordered his men to fall back, thinking that he might have a plan.


    ¡°Hope you know what you are doing human.¡± the minotaur snorted at Pallas while sitting behind the demon.


    ¡°We need to kill him fast, he is using us to learn to fight.¡± Vadesh told the minotaur briefly before rushing towards the demon with both of his daggers ready to strike.


    Pallas followed his friend from behind and as soon as his attack was blocked by the demon¡¯s tail he rushed in from the back, cutting it off. The demon turned around in surprise, his face was grim as he extended his left hand to catch one of Pallas¡¯s swords. In that moment from the other side the minotaur swinged his axe for his chest. He couldn¡¯t avoid it like before so instead he shifted his weight, lifting his legs from the ground and catching the axes blade with his hands. Letting himself be pushed back by the force instead of getting cut by it. He was thrown hard against the stone wall of the auction house as a result of that.


    ¡°This bloody bastard is smart.¡± the minotaur was fuming with anger, he threw his axe with both hands in the direction where the demon had landed and also charged in with his horns lowered. He was like a bull that has red in his eyes, no matter how many times Pallas or Vadesh shouted at him to stop he just went in.


    ¡°To damnation with it. Let¡¯s go Vadesh, we need to land a hit at least.¡± he shouted before following after the minotaur, using him as a distraction for them to deliver a blow.


    The demon saw the axe coming his way, he didn¡¯t move to dodge it or block it. Instead he caught it with his right hand, but because of that he didn¡¯t have enough time to avoid the minotaur that was charging at him. He got impaled in the stomach and caught between the horns of the minotaur at the wall. He was about to use the axe and cut his head off but in that instant Vadesh came up from his right and he had to use the axe in order to block his attack. He quickly let go of the axe, making Vadesh lose balance slightly and catching him by his hand. Just as he was about to pierce him in the chest with his left hand and Pallas was quick enough to cut the hand that was restraining his friend.


    The demon in his anger punched the minotaur hard in the head until he lost conscious after which he pulled him by his horns. He kicked him away into the crowd of soldiers that were left looking in awe at the fight that was happening before them.


    ¡°That was dangerous, but we managed to cut one of his arms.¡± Pallas said as he was catching his breath. He looked over at his friend which had a worried look on his face, his eyes were fixed on the demon. When he turned his head towards the demon, he noticed that both the tail and the hand that they managed to cut off were back where they belonged. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me.¡± he was both annoyed and left speechless.


    ¡°Okay, seems like I really need to use my swords properly.¡± his posture straightened, he scratched the blades of his swords one against the other which made a loud and irritating screech. Red and blue sparkles were coming out of where the two blades touched until one was set ablaze while the other had turned to ice. ¡°Now, let me show you how I deal with your kind, demon!¡± Pallas tightened his grip around the swords and was ready to attack.


    ¡°Demon, demon, demon.¡± the demon started to shout, louder and louder with an annoyed voice ¡°I have no idea what this thing you are calling me is, but I assure you I am not such a thing.¡± he looked at Pallas with a piercing gaze, his eyes were as if throwing spears at him ¡°And I can tell you one thing, if you¡¯ve met one of my kind, this world you no longer exist.¡± his words fell as if rocks on those around. The soldiers backed down a little, wondering just what was the origin of this creature.


    Pallas wasn¡¯t impressed at all by his words, he knew all too well that a demon would lie and deceive whenever it would suit them. ¡°Enough words wretch, I shall put you down no matter what.¡±


    While the demon was focused on Pallas, Vadesh sneaked around towards the back and when they were done talking he attacked him from the back. Both of the blades of his long daggers finding their mark, piercing through the skin of the demon and into his rib cage from both sides. Vadesh was quick to remove his daggers and gain some distance as the demon¡¯s tail was ready to pierce his stomach. Now the demon¡¯s attention had turned to Vadesh.


    Pallas came rushing in, his blades swinging in a furies manner, despite not managing to hit the demon, he making him back off from his friend. Which was given time and space to perform another assault this time without success as the demon had already learned his tricks and avoided his daggers with ease. He even caught one of his hands. Pallas quickly came to aid him, he did a low swing with the frozen blade towards the demon¡¯s stomach. The demon quickly reacted, catching the blade between his knee and elbow, the impact of his joints on the blade were strong enough to shatter it to pieces. While Pallas was left in a daze after his sword broke, the demon kicked him in the stomach, making him roll on the ground a distance away from where he was.


    ¡°You.¡± the demon turned his head at Vadesh ¡°Are annoying.¡±


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Vadesh tried to free himself from the demon¡¯s grip, but without any success, finally he tried to free himself by cutting the demon¡¯s hand with his dagger. As soon as the dagger approached his hand, his tail pierced through Vadesh¡¯s forearm, but didn¡¯t come out on the other side. Instead it twisted and crawled itself underneath his skin. Horrid screams of pain quickly filled the place as the demon¡¯s tail ravished the insides of Vadesh¡¯s arm and just before he pulled it out be made sure to crack all of his arm bones. ¡°Now stand out of my way!¡± the demon told him with a very sever and deep voice.


    Although witnessing what happened Pallas had no intention to let him walk out at all. He was filled with anger after seeing what the demon did to his friend. He clenched his sword tightly and before charging in at him again he grabbed the large axe from one of the ogres. Almost pulling the ogre down. In an instant he had reached the demon, which was still looking down on the wounded Vadesh which was knelt before him.


    With one swing the cut clean the demon¡¯s tail, which started squirming on the ground like a snake. That made him turned around with a pissed face, but the general had no intention of backing down. He inhaled a lot of air and suddenly unleashed a barrage of blows towards the demon, swinging his axe and sword like a mad man. Even the demon had a hard time dodging, getting stabbed by the sword at least twice. Just as the demon was about to get serious and Pallas managed to cut his right arm off from the shoulder and also stab him in the chest with his sword. Hot air was coming out of Pallas¡¯s mouth as he finally exhaled since he kept his breath all along in order to swing his weapons faster.


    ¡°Useless.¡± the demon said to him with an irritated tone, grabbing the hand with which he was holding the sword that was still dug inside of his chest. ¡°Now, get out of my way!¡± his voice raised as he twisted Pallas¡¯s hand. The sound of bones breaking was loud enough for even the ogres to hear, followed by the screams of pain. Despite Pallas falling down to his knees from the pain, the demon wasn¡¯t done yet.


    From behind the demon a towering person showed up, he was at least one time taller than him. It was Vadesh that got up, one dagger in his left hand and the other in his mouth. He plunged one of them in the right side of the demon¡¯s neck down into his chest, did the same with the other one of the left side. ¡°Now die you monster!.¡± Vadesh talked with a half voice as he gather his strength. He wrapped his good arm around hi neck, with a quick and strong pull he twisted his neck to the back. The demon was still standing, but Vadesh walked passed him with a slow pace towards Pallas, placing one hand on his shoulder ¡°Are you fine?¡± his voice almost shacking.


    ¡°So annoying.¡± the demon talked, his tailed had already been reattached, his head was spinning back to its normal position and finally he walked over to where his arm was, reattaching it as well as if it was nothing. ¡°Why must you get in my way!?¡± he shouted, running towards Pallas and Vadesh, stepping on Vadesh¡¯s back, making him lay flat on the ground while kicking Pallas and sending him a little away rolling on the ground. Seeing that Vadesh was no longer moving he started to walk over to Pallas.


    Two steps, he took and Vadesh grabbed his leg. The demon¡¯s face was distorted from the anger, his eyes were almost on fire. He stepped on his hand, squashing it against the ground, screams of pain filled the street and soon only groans. But the demon didn¡¯t stop as blood was splashing from where the man¡¯s arm was he knelt before him. Without saying a word he grabbed his wounded arm and started to squeeze it, his screams yet again caught life and slowly died out.


    The soldiers couldn¡¯t wait around anymore, since there was nobody left to give them orders they decided to throw their axes at the demon since they couldn¡¯t fight him close combat. But that only worked in his favor as he caught all of them and each axe he used to cut off Vadesh¡¯s limbs. He swinged those axes hard, cutting his forearms then moving to his legs. And just as he was going silent the demon would find another way to make him feel pain again. He continued to chop him to pieces and finally cut off his head as the final piece.


    Finally after satisfying himself with butchering the man, the demon got up. He was all covered in blood and his expression was void of any emotion. He pointed towards Pallas which could barely get up from the ground ¡°Never stand in my way!¡± he said it as if he ordered him. After that he started to walk in the direction of the wall, from his back large black wings started to grow, he flapped them a few times before taking flight and vanish into the night sky.


    He just managed to lift himself up, once he noticed his friends body chopped to pieces his knees felt weak and fell once more. The soldiers around started to help those wounded, but none would come close to the general which was sitting with his face towards the ground. Tears was running down on his anger filled face as he was hitting the ground with his fist.


    The mood outside was quite a sad one as most of the troops were wounded and then there was the general grieving for death of his friend. From inside of the auction house the six mercenaries walked out, one by one. Their leader let out a whistle as he saw the state of the soldiers and also recognizing Pallas immediately as well as how wounded he was.


    All eyes were turned towards them as if they were the enemy. But the ogres soon recognized him and his men since they was a regularly hired by the auction master. But Pallas still held to his hate and just in time as his men arrived he managed to lift himself up from the ground. The sergeant rushed to his side in order to hold him on his feet.


    ¡°Have them fools executed right now!¡± the general started to shout at his men the moment they arrived, while dragging his body in their direction. The soldiers immediately surrounded the six mercenaries, pointing their spears at them.


    ¡°I suggest you stop this, before more of you get hurt.¡± the leader of the mercenaries said with a carefree tone while checking those surrounding them. ¡°As you can see, we are not soldiers, we are mercenaries.¡± his voice got serious as his eyes narrowed onto the general ¡°You have no authority over us, unless we break the laws of this kingdom.¡±


    ¡°Shut the fuck up. I am the law in this place. And you are responsible for letting a very dangerous demon go. I doubt even the guild master will have anything to say to something like this.¡± Pallas started to shout louder, despite him being only a few meters away from them.


    ¡°I agree, the guild master wouldn¡¯t even care what you say. We were not paid to do such a thing nor were we sent with orders from the guild to assist.¡± the mercenary retorted back to the general with a defying tone.


    ¡°Enough with this none sense! I doubt anyone would even hire such boneless cowards like you anyway, so I¡¯ll just get rid the world of you fools right now.¡± He turned his head towards the sergeant ¡°Have them beheaded!¡± he didn¡¯t seem to calm down even the slightest.


    ¡°Fools? Cowards? Beheading?¡± the mercenary couldn¡¯t help but mock his remarks ¡°I think you are getting over your head here.¡± he took a few steps forwards ¡°You have no idea who we are or what group we belong to, yet you seem to think everyone is your fool to order around.¡± his voice all serious almost threatening.


    ¡°Huh! You kind you scare me with this kind of things?¡± Pallas started to laugh like a madman ¡°I don¡¯t give a fuck who¡¯s your leader, even if you belong to the Beasts of Grendel, I doubt Archeon will give a damn about a bunch of losers like you.¡± the smile on his face was yet to fade but his eyes were still burning with hate and anger.


    The mercenary started to smile as well, he was the only one out of the six to talk so far as the rest were still chilling in the back. They were almost did care about the situation around them. ¡°You sure haven¡¯t changed at all. I¡¯m even surprised you don¡¯t recognize me, but no matter.¡± the mercenary spoke naturally ¡°You are the fool here.¡± just as he said that and a sword came flying towards his head. The sword was caught by the huge guy sitting in the bag, just a few centimeters away from his forehead. All of the other mercenaries instantly got into fighting stances, ready to attack as soon as they were ordered.


    The mercenary leader started to laugh ¡°Always rushing, without even listening to others.¡± he took the sword from the big guy and also ordered the rest to stand down ¡°You see, we actually are from the Beasts of Grendel.¡± in that moment all of the soldiers that surrounded them staggered and started to look at one another. ¡°In fact, I¡¯m Archeon.¡± he said while swinging the sword around.


    Pallas was at a loss of words, he couldn¡¯t believe what he had just heard. He lowered his head down, thinking. ¡°Hmph, so even the great Archeon is scared of some lowly demon? That sure will be great news for everyone to hear, dont you think?¡± now he was the one starting to make threats ¡°And what better source for this information then General Pallas the Wolf himself?¡± he could hold back his smile anymore.


    ¡°Lowly demon you say? Considering the state you and this men are, I wouldn¡¯t say he was lowly at all.¡± he made a short pause ¡°Or were all the tales about you fighting and slaying countless demons in the War of Dusk just that, tales?¡± he gave a taste of his own medicine back. ¡°And us scared of him. I¡¯m sorry, but I had no reason to fight him and once we let him pass he didn¡¯t bother with us at all. I even bet he told you to let him pass?¡± his words couldn¡¯t be more true.


    ¡°Why the hell would I let a demon walk away? He killed so many soldiers for no reason at all and even murdered my friend in cold blood!¡± he pointed at the torn apart body of Vadesh.


    ¡°Tch, tch, tch. Exactly that¡¯s your problem. There are over forty people alive in the auction house, we took the time to ask a few of them how they managed to survive.¡± he looked with a serious face at Pallas ¡°Each one had said they either let their weapons down and let him pass or they didn¡¯t stand in his way. Now tell me, who¡¯s the fool now? The demon isn¡¯t the one who killed your friend but you!¡± he hit him right where it hurt.


    For a while the place was surrounded in silence and only the groans of those wounded could be heard. ¡°Its in your nature a human to kill and hate those that are different from you. That demon had no interest in killing anyone.¡± everyone¡¯s attention was directed to Archeon now, even the ogres were curious about that. ¡°He came here for something that the auction house master seems to have taken from him.¡±


    The minotaur captain that had just regained his conscious a little while back stepped up ¡°What do you mean? He caused all of this to get his stuff back?¡± he talked with a grumpy voice.


    ¡°Yes. He came for the star that was sold earlier toady.¡± he made a pause and walked over towards the minotaur commander, which was standing right next to Pallas. ¡°Now if you¡¯ll excuse us, we shall be leaving. Since we didn¡¯t even get paid for our last job, we shall not waste anymore time around.¡±


    ¡°Very well, you may go.¡± the minotaur captain nodded his head and stepped aside, letting him leave.


    ¡°WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING!?¡± Pallas started shouting all of a sudden ¡°SOLDIERS KILL THEM IN THIS INSTANT!¡± he ordered his men to attack Archeon and his men.


    ¡°I think you are going outside of your way general.¡± the minotaur captain stepped in ¡°This is my territory. And I told you that you have no authority in this place.¡± he made a sign with his hand for all ogre and minotaurs to get ready to fight.


    Seeing the scene, Pallas started to back down. He was in no shape to fight both Archeon and the black market soldiers. He stood there silently and watched him leave. ¡°Sergeant gather Vadesh¡¯s corpse up and pack it up. We are taking him with us back to the capital.¡± he talked as if almost whispering. ¡®I will make sure both you and that demon will pay for all of this. And you will pay with your lives!¡¯ he seemed to already be making his plans for revenge.


    ¡°Uhm, Archeon? Shouldn¡¯t you have given that demon better indication as to where to meet us? Cause I doubt he is familiar with this place.¡± the big guy started to talk, his voice was very deep and loud.


    His words really made Archeon think, but all of a sudden behind the big guy, the demon showed up. He made everyone except Archeon. which was facing towards that direction, have a jump scare. ¡°Where is the star?¡± he asked right away.

 Chapter 5: Mercenary Camp - part 1

    From the cliff of a tall place, the demon was watching in the direction of Hazefal. The city seemed so small and had a certain charm to it as some lights were making it look as if from a fairy tale. But the demon wasn¡¯t interested in the city for he was looking at what laid beyond it, the full moon that was lighting the dark night.


    ¡°Why must it be like this?¡± the demon said with gentle voice. The sound of branches creaking could be heard behind and beneath him from the tall trees of the forest. One, two, three howls went out one after another in the distances which gave that night a bit of chill. And an owl that was singing right behind him while looking at him with its big eyes.


    None of this made the demon even flinch or move from his spot. He looked at the night sky with captivated eyes. As if charmed by it, he turned his gaze from the moon to the stars. The sky was full with plenty of shining stars, he extended his right hand with an open palm towards them. When his reach was at his limit he closed his fist and slowly pulled it towards himself before gently opening it. It was as if he was hoping to have caught something. His face was disappointed, almost sad.


    His long face soon vanished as he heard voices in the distances. Someone was talking further down below, by a road. He had no way of knowing who they were, but decided check out, just in case the mercenaries might have showed up.


    He pushed himself off of the cliff and free dived. He landed on the ground without any sort of impact or force, as if he had no weight. As soon as both of his feet touched the ground he sprinted like an arrows shot from the bow. Reaching the edge of the road in no time.


    It was the mercenaries that were talking, but he didn¡¯t go out right away, he waited and listened. After a bit of time passed he walked out of the tree line and presented himself before them. ¡°Where is the star?¡± his voice was chilling and threatening. It was clear to them that it was the same demon as before, despite them not seeing him all that well since of the dark of the night and the trees blocking the light of the moon.


    ¡°We shall tell you where she is and even take you there. But for now come with us.¡± Archeon told him calmly. He turned around and started walking along the road. His comrades followed him as the demon sat in place and looked at them. He watched them go one by one, noticing that one of the six was missing, but didn''t ponder much and decided to follow them. After a few minutes of walking noise started to be heard in the distance from between the trees, many voices and laughter. Soon a large open area could be seen in the forest, there a lot of tents were set up, the place was filled with all sorts of creatures and not even one human could be spotted between them.


    They all walked through the camp, the demon looked around at the many different races that were gathered there. They all looked so odd and different from what he saw in the town, but he gave it little thought as he turned towards Archeon which was leading the group towards a larger tent to the side of the camp. There seemed to be two soldiers waiting for him there.


    ¡°What the hell took you so long Archeon?¡± one of the two started talking with a loud voice as he started swinging his spear towards him. It was a tall shirtless man, his prominent muscles were in plain sight, it seemed that he had just finished training since sweat could still be noticed on his abdomen. His constitution was just so well rounded to make the most of it in both strength and agility. Both of his hands were wrapped in some kind of golden cloth.


    ¡°Welcome back, leader.¡± a girly voice came out, she slightly bowed her head towards him. The second soldier seemed to be a dark elf girl. A bow could easily be spotted on her back, unlike the man sitting next to her, she was properly geared in a tight leather outfit.


    ¡°Lets just say that things got a little complicated and the auction house master is dead. Also general Pallas wanted to execute us.¡± you could see the disbelief on the faces of those two, their jaws dropped the moment Archeon said that Pallas wanted to execute them. ¡°Just give me a moment and I will explain everything.¡± he continued ¡°Have a sit, I won¡¯t take long.¡± he made a sign towards the logs that were placed around a campfire. He then walked inside of the tent.


    All of them started to take their sits on the logs. The two soldiers that waited in front of the tent sat on one log along with one more from the group. The big guy sat alone since he was taking most of the space by himself. Two more sat on the other log and finally the mage took his place on the last empty log. The demon was left out, all of them were staring at him with eagle eyes, scanning him from head to toe.


    The mage waved his hand in front of him before tapping on the log, making him a sign to sit down next to him and so he sat on the left side of him. Finally Archeon got out of the tent and sat next mage on his right. He began to explain what exactly happened to the two as well as what¡¯s with the demon that they brought along.


    The elf girl had no problem with her leaders decision, she nodded her head a few times ¡°I see.¡± and finally letting out a sigh ¡°Nothing to be done about it, I guess.¡± But on the other hand the man sitting next to her, voice out his disapproval quite loudly ¡°We could have negotiated with the general and got some money out of it. Also you could have just taken out payment from the safe and blame it on the demon if by chance you we would get questioned. And excluding all that, why the hell do you even have to help him?¡± he was really frustrated by the fact of not getting paid and even more so for helping the demon for free.


    ¡°You know very well we don¡¯t steal, at all. Also negotiate with Pallas? We all know how that would have worked, in the worst case we would have been put to pay for the damages in case we did any and then kicked out of the city.¡± Archeon told him the outcome of the two situations he brought up ¡°Also, I¡¯m helping him cause I want to. If you don¡¯t like it, tomorrow you are free to go with the men towards the capital.¡±


    After hearing Archeon¡¯s arguments, he decided to sit down and started to act mad about it just like a child that couldn¡¯t go out and play. The place was quite after that, nobody was saying anything and was busy with their own things. Either tending to their gear, chatting or just warming up at the fire. ¡°Since we decided to help you and all, could you introduce yourself? So we know a little about you and be a bit more relaxed.¡± Archeon asked the demon that was sitting further on his left. Curios eyes turned towards him awaiting his answer.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not.¡± he made a pause ¡°Someone used to call me Shade. Kind of fitting I think, considering what I¡¯ve become.¡± he lowered his head, looking a little gloomy. He raised his head, looking towards Archeon ¡°Anything else you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Yes, what is a demon like you doing a place like this?¡± the man that was angry about them helping him asked before his leader could even open his mouth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what this demon thing you are talking about is. Not once did I claim to be such a thing.¡± he looked kind of angry being compared to a demon.


    ¡°Then what kind of creature are you?¡± the same person asked him again ¡°Since you look exactly like a demon. You even have the tail, the horns and some parts of you almost look like an animal.¡± he looked at his legs as he said the last part.


    Shade pondered over the answer a little, as if trying to remember what his kind was called ¡°You could say I was a god.¡± everyone¡¯s jaws dropped when he said that ¡°As for my looks, I chose to have the horns since they make others fear you as for the tail it proves to be quite useful.¡± he raised his hands, grabbing both of his horns when he finished talking. With a little pull both of the front horns came out and slowly started to turn into a black smoke, vanishing completely.


    ¡°If you were a god, what happened to you? What are you exactly doing here?¡± Archeon finally got to say something since the rest were to struck by awe from Shade¡¯s answer.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been banished from my place. Now I have to stay in this place forever.¡± he turned his head towards the sky, looking at the stars again. ¡°I¡¯m looking for the star that had fallen.¡± just like before, he tried to grasp something from the sky.


    Everyone looked at him with suspicious eyes, as if they all knew something but didn¡¯t want to say anything about it. ¡°Why are you so focused on finding the star?¡± Archeon was the one to ask again.


    Shade¡¯s expression went dark, he started to clench his fists ¡°Because of her, my powers were sealed and I was sent in this place.¡± even his voice changed from calm to angry. It was clear in that moment for everyone why he wanted the star.


    The situation around the campfire tensed up a bit, when suddenly two sets of claps made everyone snap out ¡°Oke, how about we introduce ourselves also?¡± Archeon said to his team, cheering the mood a little.


    He placed his hand on his chest, making a bow gesture with his head towards Shade, without getting up from the log ¡°My name is Archeon Keranuos. I¡¯m the leader of this group of mercenaries.¡± he spoke with a clear voice, his eyes were glittering from the flames of the campfire. You could see the pride and strength this man had just by the way he was talking alone.


    The dark elf girl from before got up from the log, doing the same gesture as Archeon ¡°My name is Ellion Lavassir. As you can see I¡¯m a dark elf.¡± he pointed towards her skin which was a dark blueish colour, in contrast to her skin her eyes where of a shiny golden colour. She had a very long and dark silkish hair caught behind her back in a ponytail. Her ears were long and pointy with three earrings in the right ear and two in the left one. Lighten by the fire you could take a closer look at the gorgeous and tempint formes, one would question her race and say she¡¯d be a succubus if not for the long ears. But despite her charming looks she was well armed, her left shoulder had a piece of armour on it that extended down to her elbow and from there it continued in the form of a small shield down to her wrist, her hand was also covered with chainmail. Her bow could be seen a little better, resting on her back and its limbs looked like blades on top of that the quiver was hanging on the right side of her waist. On the left side of her upper thigh three small knives could be noticed. After that the girl sat down back to her spot.


    The angry man from earlier got up. He looked like a young man in his twenties with a well developet body, he wasn¡¯t wearing a shirt so his well shaped muscles were in plain sight. The things that looked like bandages from before proved to be some kind of golden armour with bright red gems placed around his joints. The color of that armour fitted so well with his white skin while the gems matched the color of his eyes. ¡°My name is Kuang.¡± he talked with a loud and proud voice, at the same time threatening and began to spin his spear around. ¡°I¡¯m a half-breed reptilian.¡± as soon as he said that his eyes changed shape and all of his skin went golden ¡°You better act nicely or I will show you what I¡¯m good at.¡± he couldn¡¯t help but threaten Shade.


    ¡°Okay though guy, sit down.¡± the one sitting next to Kuang got up, placing one hand on his shoulder and pushing him back on the log. This man was wearing a dark knights armour, as soon as he moved his cloak out of the way, you could notice the amount of weapons he was having on him. Two daggers on both sides of his chest, two swords on the left side of his waist and one on the right side as well as a larger sword handle coming out from behind him. ¡°My name is Raiden Fionn and I¡¯m a high elf.¡± he ran his hand through his hair, making all of it lean on the back which revealed his pointy ears.


    ¡°Now its my turn.¡± the huge guy almost jumped from the place he was sitting ¡°My name is Varris Hanuman.¡± he spoke with a thick and proud voice as he beat loudly on his chest with his huge gauntlets. Even without them his hands would be three times the size of those of a normal human. Besides his huge gauntlets he wasn¡¯t wearing much of an armour as the rest of his gear was made of leather with some chainmail underneath. His face had a few small scars on his left cheek and forehead and a serious look in his brown eyes, a well grown beard like that of a dawrf as for his hair, it shaved on the sides of his head while the top was leaned back and caught in a ponytail. ¡°I¡¯m from the beastmen race and I¡¯m very good at crushing things.¡± smirking as he finished talking, revealing his sharp fangs which made it look quite creepy.


    ¡°Greetings to you, Shade. I¡¯m Nikas Hector.¡± a tall figure raised from the log at the same time removing his hood, his voice sounded way different than that of the others, it was more like an animal talking. His whole face was covered in short black fur, his ears looked like those of a cat. ¡°I¡¯m a pantherian and a very good hunter.¡± his cat like eyes were focused on Shade all the time he spoke. You could hardly notice anything from what he was having on him due to the cloak that he had on, the only thing standing out was his features and the bow that was on his back.


    The mage cleared his throat, making Shade turn towards him. He remove the hood, revealing a long, red and silky hair which he found a bit weird considering how the rest of them looked. After he removed his mask Shade made a completely surprised face, he was somewhat shocked.


    ¡°Why are you looking like that at me?¡± a girly voice said towards him, it was a completely different voice from when the mask was on.


    ¡°Come on already. We all know why he is looking like that. You fooled everyone here when we first met.¡± Kuang started to shout again ¡°Its because of that damn habit of yours to hide your identity that everyone acts like that when they find out you are a girl.¡± Varris and Nikas both tried to hide the fact that they were laughing.


    She started to blush while also making a mad face towards the two that were laughing. But she calmed down quickly and turned back towards Shade. Here eyes of a bright green that were sparkling in the fires light ¡°I¡¯m Helena Hecate.¡± she held one hand at the top of her chest. ¡°I¡¯m a witch and I specialize in using magic of all sorts.¡± her voice was tender and soft, you could easily get charmed by it.


    Shade was still confused by the fact that she was actually a girl and not a man. But snapped out of it in an instant when he heard the clash of weapons coming from behind him, in an instant turning in that direction. He noticed two of the soldiers from the camp fighting one another while a circle was formed around them, people were cheering and screaming around them.


    ¡°They are dueling.¡± Archeon said to him ¡°Basically they are fighting without wounding one another.¡± he explained, since he looked confused. ¡°Want to have a go?¡± he asked him with a smile on his face, as if he wanted to see what he was capable of.


    ¡°Come on, lets fight. I really wanna see if you really are capable of what Archeon said.¡± Kuang jumped from the log and challenged Shade. The two of them headed towards the ring where the two were fighting. Kuang kicking both of them out and making signs for Shade to step in there.


    ¡°Are you sure this is alright?¡± Varris asked him with a worried voice ¡°We both know this isn¡¯t gonna end up well.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, in worse case I will step in.¡± Archeon assured him. They all started to walk towards the ring of men that was formed between Shade and Kuang. Archeon approached Ellion and whispered to her ¡°I want you to watch him closely, observe him the best you can.¡± he ordered her before reaching the ring.


    ¡°Hey, Kuang why didn¡¯t you give him a weapon?¡± Nikas shouted at him after seeing that Shade wasn¡¯t wielding anything.


    ¡°You think I didn¡¯t tell him to grab any weapon he might like?¡± he answered back slightly pissed.


    ¡°I got the best weapon for him. After all he defeated its former owner.¡± Archeon replied before throwing the fire sword that Pallas threw at him.


    As the sword was flying towards him, he caught it in mid air without even looking by the blade and instantly crushed it to pieces in his hand. His eyes were focused on Kuang, he was observing his every movement.


    ¡°I bet he loved the sword, right?¡± Varris started to laugh at Archeon which lifted his shoulders.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t have anything else you wanna add Archeon, I will be starting the fight.¡± Kuang shouted at him, seeing that he had nothing to reply he turned towards his opponent ¡°Now I will teach this fake demon the difference between true strength.¡± his whole body turned golden as he clenched the spears shaft tightly.

 The Trap

    While everyone was sleeping, on a dark road running through a forest, there were one hundred soldiers on horse back, escorting three carriages towards the city of Angelzark. In one of those carriages was a man dressed in white robes with a corss hanging by his neck, he is a bishop. In the same carriage was another man who was wearing armour, he must be some high ranking officer. But there was one more beside the two men, a girl. She was dressed in a similar white dress, but with her face covered with a veil, her eyes closed, but she was not sleeping, nor did she seemed to be awake.


    As they traveled through the road, the horses started to get agitated but nobody knew why. All of the soldiers were on high alert but no matter who sharp there eyes were they couldn¡¯t see anything. Only hear those horrifying and wild growls echoing from inside the forest, the sound of multiple creatures running alongside them. It made the soldiers tremble in fear not knowing what was coming, they increased the speed trying to get out of the wood faster but that proved to be a mistake.


    From ahead a creaking sound was heard and suddenly a huge tree was seen falling over the first carriage, crushing it along with those inside and around it. It made everyones advance come to a halt. The carriage inside which was the bishop was in the middle, and was quite shaken from the sudden stop, although both men were starreled inside, the girl still didn¡¯t gesture not even the slightest reaction.


    The officer opened the door of the carriage, looking around to see what happened, he noticed the huge tree that had crushed the other carriage ¡°What happened here soldier? How did that blasted tree fall?¡± he shouted at one of the soliders that was nearby with a raging voice.


    ¡°We don¡¯t know captain, but there seems to be something in the woods.¡± he reported back to his captain, he made an angry face ¡°Then what are you waiting for? Go and move the damned tree alrea....¡± he didn¡¯t manage to finish his sentance, a werewolf jumped from the trees on the carraige grabbing the captains head between its jaws, tearing it apart from his body, leaving it to fall on the ground. He was growling while he crushed the head of the officer, blood was dripping from in-between his jaws.


    While showing his ferocious teeth and claws the werewolf began to howl while on top of the carraige, the soldiers around turned to him and although terrifed they shot it down with arrows. But from the forest multiple howls started to rise, the peaceful and silent night now was filled with horrific and terrifying sounds. The soliders started to tremble so hard that you could hear the sound of metal ringing.


    One of the soldiers started to give orders in a moments notice with a deep and sever tone, not wasting any time when he heard the howls, ¡°Dismount your horses, form a circle formation around the carriages, two rows of pikemen at the front, two rows of crossbows at the back and pray to get out alive.¡± everyone rushed to do as they were told, although shaking they moved in positions, inside the carriage the priest in robes was shaking even harder than the whole group of soldiers outside, while holding his hands together, parying to whatever god he believed in.


    The sound of earth getting pounded by hundreds of feet could be heard form the forest, the pounding was so loud it could almost be confused with those of horses. The werewolves started to jump out of the forest using the trees, the soldiers raised their spears, implaing the few that jumped but then the rest came on the ground, the soldiers had no time to lower their spears in time. Werewolves jumped on the soldiers bitting on their necks while letting out a terrible growl like mad dogs that caught their prey.


    The sounds of pain and growls filled up the forest, it was such a bone chilling sound as the soldiers were being torn apart by the werewolves and just as one of the screams was finally fading it would only be replaced by even more. Although the soldiers formation was good, the werewolves managed to get behind them, using the trees. Even if a soldier managed to kill one or two of the werewolves, he would soon be jumped on by multiple ones until he was devoured completely.


    As most of the solider laid dead and the werewolves were making their way to kill the rest that were still standing, a horn was sounded from somewhere behind on the road and a cavalary came charging with their spears lowered towards their help. The horsemen swiftly passed through the werewolves that were on the road, killing them with their spears or walking over them with horses, but even so they still lost a few of their own that were at the front.


    ¡°Defensive formation.¡± someone from behind yelled, the cavalary dismounded in a instant forming a circle position around the carriages, more soldiers were coming on horse from the same direction, once more, the same position. ¡°Sergeant get twenty soldiers and clear the road.¡± that same person shouted orders again as one of the horsemen from the cavalary answered back with a loud voice ¡°Yes, sir!¡±


    Then with twenty soldier behind him, he went to the tree that was blocking the road ¡°Lieutenant, have the archers cover them while they move the tree.¡± an archer responded quickly to the call, he made a circle sign in the air with his hand then pointed towards the tree, a dozen soldiers gathered up and climbed up the two remaining carriages shooting down any beast that approached the sergeant and his troops while also keeping an eye out for any that would come towards them.


    The waves of werewolves didn¡¯t seem to stop again, again running from the forest towards the road only to be met by the sharp points of the spears, just like last time the rest would come on the ground to drag the soldiers, but this time the spearmen sitting in the back pushed their spears to the front between their comrades, killing the first wave, while archers swiped the ones that didn¡¯t get killed by the spears. They quickly pulled back their spears after killing them, getting back into position.


    This troops were well trained and organized, even if one of the spearmen at the front would die someone from the back would come and take his place without waiting for orders from someone to do so, they were doing their jobs until the end. The sergeant was also making progress, he managed to position the men in order to lift the tree while a few horsemen would pull it to the side, some of the werewolves jumped on the tree and were lowering their heads to bite off the hands or heads of those beneath it, but just as one of the werewolves was about to hit the sergeant, the archers quickly shot it down.


    Impailing its head onto the tree with arrows. The sergeant showed real confidence in his comrades for not letting go of the tree even when danger aproached, they had to push it three times before finally managing to get it down from the carriage, but the branchs were still hanging onto it. ¡°Get more horses, we are going to pull it along with the wreck of the carriage.¡± the sergeant ordered those that were with him.


    The waves of werewolves kept coming and the spearmen were starting to get pushed back, there numbers was grewing fewer, the werewolves that came from the front aproached them swiftly, grabbing them by their legs then throwing them behind into the hoard. Soldiers screamed as their were thrown into air and werewolves jumped using the trees biting and ripping them to pieces before they could even touch the ground. The werewolves managed to jump on the soldiers that were on top of the second carriage, bitting one of them by the head and pulling it off along with his spin while knocking the other down, two more werewolf jumped on the other carriage knocking the archers down from that one as well, but not before they managed to kill the werewolf that was on the second carriage.


    Both of those werewolves got inside the third carriage before the soldiers could do anything, they started to kill those inside. Terrifying sounds were coming out of that carriage, screams of pain along with growls, the carriage was shacking in an unnatural way, while a third one landed on top of it, letting out a long howl before getting killed.


    ¡°Sergeant, get that road cleared already, we can¡¯t hold them much longer.¡± the same man shouted at him again as he was fighting with two werewolves.


    ¡°Its almost ready, get the men prepaird to move on my call.¡± the sergeant responded back, he finally managed to get all horses ready to pull the tree.


    The one giving orders made a sign to the remaining archers to set the sides of the road ablaze in order to buy them enough time to mount their horses and get going.


    Just as all the soldiers mounted their horses a loud creak was heard from the direaction of the tree, the sergeant managed to clear the road. ¡°Cut the ropes! Move out men!¡± he ordered them with a loud voice, the carriage was moving between them, while the soldiers were splint in two groups, one ahead and one behind, both of them being formed from both spearmen as well as archers, the werewolves didn¡¯t let them off that easily, they went after them.


    From time to time groups of werewolves would jump from the trees onto the horsemen, killing the soldiers while hanging onto the horse, of course they would still get killed by the rest of the soldiers. But most of the time they would only fall along with the soldiers can get walked over by the rest of the soldiers.


    ¡°Archers, fire at will, don¡¯t let those wreched beasts come close to us. Spearmen, hold your spears high, next time they jump let them met their maker.¡± the sergeant gave them orders.


    The werewolves were going to jump again, but before they even managed most of them were killed by the archers as for the few that managed to avoid the arrows, met their ends at the sharp tips of the spears, but the spearmen had to let go of them for they were to heavy to hold.


    As rushed through the grim and dark forest, chased by death itself. The sergeant saw some lights through the trees, they were the torches hanging on the gates of the city ¡°We are getting closer, lieutenant blow the horn till we get there! Pray they¡¯ll open the gates.¡± the sergeant said.


    The soldiers started to charge their horses even more so they would escape this nightmare, their speed grew more and more with each blow of the horn. Once they closed in enough onto the gates, they saw that only the bridge was lowered while the barred gates were still down. ¡°Open the fucking gates already and let us in, werewolves are chasing us.¡± the sergeant yelled with all his might at the troops who were sitting on the other side of the gate, just as the sergeant finished the priest that was inside the carriage got outside through the window starting to yell at them also ¡°Get that blasted gate opened already!¡±


    The soldiers rushed their pace and began to open the gates as fast as possible, while they did so, the archers in the back took down as many werewolves as they could until the gates were open. As soon as the gates were high enough so they could pass, everyone charged in without losing a second, just behind them the hoard of werewolves was coming closer and closer, when everyone got inside the soldier at the ledge had hit it with a hammer and let the gate lose to fall down. All the soldiers that were on the ramparts started to open fire at the werewolves that were outside, a rain of arrows poured down on the incoming beasts killing so many of them and making the rest fall back.


    As for those that managed to get inside they jumped on the walls of the gate dodging most of the soldiers, squashing the head of one of them against the wall. All of them rushing towards the carriage. Three of them were taken down by arrows fired from the ramparts. One of the remaining two landded on the back of the carriage, starting to scratch it to get inside until it was impailed by the spearmen multiple times while the last one managed to get his head inside the carriage through the window on the right side, he tried to bite those inside, when suddenly his head fell down on the carriages floor, the priest eyes where focus on the beasts head that was laying down looking up at him.


    The carriages door opened and a knight in heavy armor looked inside, then removed his helmet ¡°Are you two wounded or anything?¡± at which the priest calmed down a little then kicked the werewolfs head out of the carriage ¡°No, we are good now.¡± the knight turned his head towards the girl that was sitting there with the veil on her face ¡°What about you girl, are you okay?¡± as he asked he extended his hand to remove the veil that was covering her face, but the priest hit his hand with a crane so hard that the metal began ringing, two of the soliders came quickly to the carriages door to see what happened when they heard the sound. ¡°Remove your filghty hand off her foot soldier! And clear the way i need to get off.¡± the priest said with a annoying tone towrads the knight.


    The knight got angry, you could see it all over his face ¡°You dare tell me what to do?¡± he said while moving towards the priest, grabbing him by his robes and pulling him closer ¡°I¡¯m the prince of this kingdom you live in and you have the galls to hit me and call me filghty? Get off! NOW!¡± throwing the priest out of the carriage.


    Now the priest was laying on the ground while the prince was taking the girl out of the carriage, once out he removed the veil that was covering her face. Her face was whiter than snow, under the moon light it was almost as if she was shining, her hair was black as the night and her eyes blue as if oceans where inside them, but they looked empty, lifeless, everyone was looking at her as if they were charmed, even the prince was lost for a moment. But he came back to his sense soon after as he heard the howls of the werewolves from the forest outside the town. He tried calling to her a few times, she didn¡¯t show any kind of reaction no matter what he did.


    He turned to the priest, his expression changing in an instant as he looked at him, from calm to angry, ¡°What did you do to this girl? Answer me now or before i cut your head!¡± he yelled at the priest as he grabbed him by his neck with one hand.


    The priest was shaking, he tried to speak with a shaking voice ¡°She is cursed, i was sent to get her here so that the high priest could remove the curse.¡± he let go of the priest, starting to walk angrily around then turned back to the girl, inspecting her one more time.


    Soldiers from the city came towards them, they were all in formation heading straight for them. It seemed that the prince hadn¡¯t notice them as he was too busy looking at the girl. One of them stepped forward from the line formation, he was the captain of the city guards, he went towards the sergeant seeing as he was the one wearing the emblem of the empire on his shoulder plates ¡°Thank you for helping the priest get here safely, we shall escort him and the girl from here.¡± he said towards the sergeant. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    The sergeant turned his head towards the prince seeing that he was still busy talking to the priest, he responded to the captain of the guards ¡°I don¡¯t think the girl or the priest will go anywhere anytime soon.¡± with a calm voice while holding his ground in front of the man who was trying to intimidate him.


    After hearing that, the captain wasn¡¯t so pleased and responded in a threatening tone ¡°Although you are the sergeant of the kings army, you should still thread carefuly for this place is under our authority and only the prince or king can go above those in this town. So I suggest you let us take those two and be on our ways¡±. Just as the captain said it and from behind the sergeant a loud and sharp voice rang ¡°You shall do nothing but clear the way and mind your fucking buisness.¡± the prince yelled towards the captain of the guards.


    The captain of the guards completely ignored the prince and addresed the bishop ¡°Sir, what shall we do?¡±.


    That was the last drop the prince could take, he pulled out his sword and walked towards the captain of the city guards ¡°WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM? SOME PEASENT?¡± the prince started yelling while pointing his sword towards the captain, which grabbed his sword pulling it out as well, all of the soldier behind him did the same. The prince¡¯s guards didn¡¯t let this matter slide and did the same thing.


    ¡°ARE YOU PEOPLE FOR REAL? YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THE PRINCE EVEN WHEN HE IS STANDING IN FRONT OF YO?¡± the prince continued to yell at soldiers who gathered in front of him and blocked his way just now they looked at his armour, spotting the crest that was carved on his chest piece as well as on his cloak. ¡°You goddamn blind monkies. I thought the people in this town had only rotten brains from all the worshiping, but it seem you also have rotten ears and eyes.¡± the prince didn¡¯t yet settle down and with a fast slash he cut the captain¡¯s head ¡°Now clear my way or i¡¯ll clear it myself!¡±


    All of the soldiers stepped aside, letting the prince and his troops pass by. All of them going back to their posts after the prince left. A few of the soldiers stayed behind to take the captain corpse as well as the others that were killed by the werewolves out of there.


    The prince was moving along the empty streets with the bishop and the girl behind him, although she was affected by some kind of curse, she could walk if guided by someone. They were heading towards the temple were this priest served.


    Although the streets were empty the lights that were hanging at the taverns and the torches from the temples made this place quite bright, giving it a somewhat charming and calming atmospher. After a few minutes of walking they finally reached the temple, they stopped for a moment looking up at the statue that was displayed in the middle of the stairs in front of the temple, a smile showed on the princes face as he turned his head towards the priest ¡°Ah, now i understand why you are so fast to react and think you are so high and might, you belong to this false god.¡± the prince said as he spit the statue while the priest started to make cross signs multiple times.


    The prince followed by the sergeant and another twenty soldiers went up the stairs to the temples entrance, there a few priests were waiting for them, there were also a dozen guards stationed outside the temple near the stairs ¡°Welcome back brother, I hope you had an easy journey.¡± one of the priests said as he made a slight bow ¡°Greetings to you too your majesty.¡± another priest said doing the same gesture towards the prince. ¡°Please follow us inside, the head bishop is waiting for your arrival.¡± another priest said as he opened the big doors of the temple.


    The prince didn¡¯t bother to answer them, as for the bishop that was in his custody, he was too afraid to do so. He started to walk inside followed by his men as well as by the priest and girl that was sitting between the soldiers. The priests that opened the doors looked at them a little troubled but they couldn¡¯t say or do anything about it.


    Inside, the temple was huge. The floor, the statues even the frames of paintings were made of gold, a large and long bright red carpet was extended from the entrance towards the other end of the temple were a big statue was placed. At the feet of that statue a man seemed to sit on his knees, parying. As they got closer the man got up, turning towards them. Kudging by his clothes he should be the head bishop of this temple, he was a tall man, even covered with those robes his body stood out, his hands looked like those of a worker not as those of a head bishop.


    The priest extended both of his arm as if he wanted to embrace those aproaching him, although the prince stopped a few meteres away from him he still made that gesture while slowly walking towards them ¡°Welcome my children. What brings you to Gods house at this hour?¡± the bishop said as he got closer.


    The prince seemd to get irritated by those words ¡°Quit you babbling priest, i¡¯m not your child nor do i whorship some man made god.¡± he responded back to the bishop.


    The bishops was still smilling but his eyes were looking towards the prince as if they were throwing spears, he finally noticed that behind him, sitting between the soldiers was a priest and the girl ¡°You¡¯ve finally arrived, brother. Thank god everything went well and you¡¯ve arrived unharmed. I was starting to get worried.¡± the bishop said towards the priest, after which he turned back at the prince ¡°What brings you hear, my lord?¡± he addresed the prince.


    ¡°I¡¯ve come to return this ungrateful and arogant fool.¡± he said as he pointed towards the priest that was behind him.


    The bishop looked a little troubled as he heard those things ¡°Seems like you¡¯ll have to atone for your sins brother, you shall go into the dungeons and spend the following week there praying.¡± the bishop said towards the priest, his face was filled with disappointment. ¡°Now, if that is all. I shall take the girl to her room to take some rest. And i do hope to see you soon prince.¡±


    Just as he was heading over towards the girl and the prince stopped him before he could get past him ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you shall see me sooner and more often then you¡¯d actually want. As for that girl, she is mine since i¡¯m the one who saved her life. So do treat her well and also remove that curse a little quicker if you don¡¯t mind. I¡¯ll be waiting.¡± a vile smile appeared on the prince face as he finished.


    The bishop face was still calm, but his eyes were burning up, but he didn¡¯t say anything or rather he didn¡¯t have the time to do so cause the priest behind the prince did it before him ¡°How dare you do such a thing, the girl will join the temple after being cured as compensation for our services, you have no right to do that.¡± the prince turned around with a slightly rushed pace, he pulled his sword and cut off the priests head which rolled on the floor, soon after his body fell down, you could barely distinguish the blood from the color of the carpet.


    The prince knelt down by the priests body and grabbed his robes, cleaning his sword before getting up and sheating it ¡°I advise you to not bring such excuses up for i already know about the high number of girls that joined your so called temple and were never seen before. So unless you want to follow that fool you better do as i say and cause no trouble.¡± the prince said towards the bishop with a sharp and threatening tone at which the bishop only dared to nod as an answer.


    The prince started to walk towards the exist of the temple followed by his men, the bishop called his men to take the priests body away as well as to clean the mess. He went towards the girl placing one hand behind her and leading her towards the side.


    As the prince was about to exit, he turned around and shouted ¡°Ah, i remembered something bishop. I shall leave this men along with the sergeant to guard the girl. They shall all sit inside the room and go anywhere she goes. If they can¡¯t go somewhere, the girl won¡¯t either. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯ll take my leave.¡± the men complaied with the orders and immediatly started to walk towards where the girl was, moving the head bishop away from her.


    The bishop again replied only with a nod and a smile on his face the sergeant addressed him ¡°We shall escort her from here on, you show us the way.¡± the bishop went ahead towards the side of the temple, opening a door to a long corridor, they continued to walked along for a few minutes after which the bishop stopped pointing to a door near the side ¡°That is where the girl shall rest.¡±


    Two of the soldiers went to open the door, they took a quick look inside after which they came back to the sergeant ¡°All clear.¡± the sergeant made a sign with his hand and the soldiers went inside the room along with the girl ¡°Let us know when you want to begin the ritual to remove the curse and we shall come with the girl.¡± the sergeant said after which he also entered inside the room closing the door behind him.


    Now only the bishop remaind in the hall, he looked at the door for a few moments, he then turned and continued to walk along the corridor with his hands behind his back at a regular pace. The bishop walked for a while like that along the corridors of the temple until one of the priests came to him¡°We have prepaird your room.¡±


    The bishop looked pleased as he heard that, he made a gesture with his hand, telling the priest to leave. He then went a little further ahead then up a staircase eventually reaching a big hall at the end of which laid some huge golden doors decorated with all kinds of carvings. A large smile was showing on his face as he opened them.


    Outside of the temple the prince was going down the stairs alone back to were the rest of his troops were waiting, just as he got down ¡°Were is the Sergeant and the other soldiers that were with you, Sir?¡± the lieutenant asked him.


    The prince didn¡¯t answer immediatly he moved past him a few meters and while walking making a sign for his troops to follow. As they were walking he answered the lieutenant ¡°I¡¯ve left them to guard the girl. I don¡¯t trust anyone in that place and we should also be on guard as well while we stay here.¡±


    The lieutenant looked around him at those words ¡°Where are we going to sleep tonight?¡± he asked him while looking at their men that looked tired from both the road and the fight.


    The prince started to scratch his chin while looking around ¡°Lieutenant go and check the taverns around and pay them heavy to reserve all the rooms. When you find one that will let us all stay, let us know.¡± the prince told him at which he only saluted before going on his way.


    They all waited there in the middle of the square for almost half an hour before the lieutenant finally came back ¡°Reporting back, there is a tavern that is close by to the temple that is willing to rent us all its room.¡± they all followed the lieutenant back to the tavern he found. There the prince went straight to his room, while the lieutenant was left in charge to order th soldiers and to decide who will stay on guard until morning. After all the preparation was done all the soldiers went to their assigned locations while the rest.


    Back at the temple in the bishop¡¯s room, there was a large table filled with all kinds of dishes as well as bottles of wine laying on a smaller table to the side. His room was huge, well decorated with various paintings and the finest of carpets, a huge bed was on the other side of the room covered with half transparent curtains, on the sides there were big bookshelfs with numerous books and by the door there was the big table at which he was sitting, eating.


    His room looked more like that of a king rather than that of a priest. He was devouring the meat from a chicken wing as he if was a beast, he cleared it clean without taking a breath and after swalowing it, he drank a full glass of wine, he poured another just as he finished it and drank that one as well, breaking the glass as he finished. ¡°Why, why must this wreched humans always interfer with my plans.¡± he hit the table with both fists breaking it in two, splashing all the food and vairous things that were on the table on the floor, making a complete mess.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure that each one of them will suffer accordingly.¡± a twisted smile took form on the bishops face that stretched up to his ears, his face was as if splited by a knife, a long tongue came out of it, he turned around towards his bed which was covered with half transparent courtains. On the bed there were three girls laying there unconscious, two of them were human both with long black hair while the third was an elf with blond hair, all of them were wearing only underwear with garter blets of the finest materials, the human girls were wearing black while the elf was wearing white. The bishop looked down at them with lusty eyes ¡°Time for dessert!¡±


    He went to the middle part of the bed his tongue going from one corner of his mouth to the other as he said it, ¡°Time to get ready for tomorrow¡¯s meal.¡± crawling on the bed towards the girl in the middle, slowly licking her right leg up to the knee as he went up, then switched to the left one continuing to her thigh. He moved to the center of her stomach and continued his way between her breasts, up her neck, to the side of her chin towards her pointy ears.


    It was the elf that he went for first. He started to lick her left ear, wraping his tongue around it and with the tip teasing the girls earhole. Soft and gentle reaction could be seen from the girl, her cheeks slightly blushed with a pink color but she didn¡¯t show any sign of waking up.


    The bishop stopped teasing her ear, he moved his tongue around her lips and his hands were fondleing her breasts, he opened the girls mouth with his long tongue that went inside, he push it until you could say they were kissing, but it went further down her throat, his tongue was at least twenty centimeters long. As he was kissing her he undone the bra and played with the girls nipples pulling or pinching them roughly.


    The girls moans became a bit louder and her cheeks color changed into a bright red one, after a few moments the bishop pulled his tongue out, dripping with saliva, he looked at her with a pleased face, he was mostly looking at her voluptious body then went down on her again this time on her chest. Wrapping his tongue around her left breast and squeezed it, the girl began to breath heavily, opening her mouth wide to take large breaths of air, he continued his foreplay for a while, from time to time he would switched between her left and right breast, bitting her nipples which made the girl let out some loud and lewd moans.


    As he was playing with her, from beneath his robes came out a long tail, it didn¡¯t have any kind of furr on it nor was it thin. With it he grabbed the girls underwear, pulling them off after which he began to rub her between her legs with his right hand. A few moments later he stopped playing with her breasts and moved down, towards his main event, he used the tip of his tongue to lick around her nether area, not omitting her clitoris, licking the outside of it for a bit.


    After getting bored of her reaction he decided to push his long tongue deep inside her, the girl suddenly bent her back in an ark as she let out loud moans. The bishop moved his tongue in spirals inside her while he used his hands to grab on both of her thighs, rubbing and squeezing them. When the elf started to convuls more and more intensely, he stopped suddenly.


    She was covered in sweat all over her body, he was pleased at seeing her like that. He pushed out of the bed the girl that was on his right, he removed his pants and continued with the elf girl, pushing his dick inside of her, the girl moaning really hard as he went deeper and deeper. He kissed like her before while he was going at it, he also wrapped his tail around the girls left breast, almost like a snake, squeezing it, while playing with the other one with his right hand.


    He stimulated her whole body without a break for more than half an hour, he then pulled her up, sitting on his lap as he fucked her, her head lead towards the right side, her hands were bouncing because of the intense movemets of the bishop. She was completely like a doll except for the moans and body reactions to the stimulations. He continued to put is long tongue down inside her throat, while rubbing both of her breasts with his hands, his tail went around her waist, makings its way towards her other hole, it moved a little around the entrance to stimulate it and then suddenly penetrated her, in the moment the girls head suddenly lead back and her eyes opened, tears gathered up and started to fall from her them down on her face.


    Although they were open no life could be seen in them as if she was just an empty shell, then she went back to being a broken doll, he violeted her in every possible way. When he finally finished with the elf he moved on to the remaning two girls, he continued to have his way with them until morning came.

 Picking up the trail

    At sunrise most of the mercernaries woke up and had started packing up their stuff while others were preparing the meals. They were going quite at it and in just an hour they were almost done, the camp that yesterday was so full was now no more, just some carts fully packed could be seen instead of it. After everything was done, they all sat down eating their breakfast.


    But unlike them, someone was still sleeping. Helena was taking her sweet time resting on Shade¡¯s chest. He didn¡¯t bothered her all night nor did he slept, but not because of her, he simply didn¡¯t feel like it.


    She was showing signs of waking up from all the shouts and noises coming from outside. ¡°So warm and nice.¡± she said with a sleepy voice while letting out a yawn, while rubbing her head on his chest, as if it as a pillow but she didn¡¯t notice. She just continued to bury her face in his chest which was warm and cozy.


    Shade on the other hand was looking at her, he had a wierd look on his face, he didn¡¯t quite understand all that she was doing, he just stood still. She pulled the hand she had across his chest back, feeling the sensation of skin instead of the material of the pillows. She almost jumped up, making such big eyes while looking at Shade.


    She had such a morning face that it was too amusing not to watch her, messy hair and drool on her chin, but her eyes or so wide opened and cheeks flushed red with embarrassment ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry, i must have did that in my sleep. Please forgive me for doing such a thing.¡± she let her head down as she finished.


    Shade did the most unexpected thing, nobody would have thought of it, probably not even Helena expected him to do so. He placed his hand on her head, patting her a little ¡°Its okay, i didn¡¯t mind.¡±


    When she left his hand on her head, she didn¡¯t know what to do, but after hearing that her head rose in an instant, she looked at him with such a innocent and gentle face. He said to her with a gentle tone ¡°You should hurry, everyone is already done packing from the sounds of it.¡± after which he got up, heading towards the exist of the tent.


    Helena immediatly started to change her clothes, even if Shade wasn¡¯t yet out, but he didn¡¯t even try to turn around and peek at her, probably she knew that he wouldn¡¯t or maybe she was in such a rush she forgot about it. Just after being butt naked she realised he was still inside and kept an eye on him in case he wanted to look, but to her surprise he didn¡¯t do anything of that kind.


    Once out, Shade looked around and saw that everyone was getting read to leave, all of them were checking out the carriages to be in order while some were puting out the fires. He wanted to turn around towards the tent.


    In that moment someone put its hand on his shoulder, making him turn his ehad in an instant, it was Helena. She was wearing different clothes from those that she wore yesterday, this ones were making her look more like a girl, too much if it was to be said. A long beautiful green sleeveless dress that was exposing the middle part of her chest down to her bellym exposing the side of her beautiful breasts. The dress was long enough to reach the ground, but it was made in such a way that it was cut on one side from the hip down, like those eastern dresses.


    If you were to compare the mage you saw from before, even after knowing its a girl and the one standing in front of you now, you wouldn¡¯t consider them the same person. ¡°Hey, i¡¯m done packing.¡± she passed by him, making a sign to follow with her finger.


    When Shade looked back the whole tent and all that was there, was gone. Nothing remained in not even two minutes passed since he got out. You could see how surprised on his face, as if he hadn¡¯t seen magic before.


    Helena cracked a little laugh when she saw his amazed face ¡°Magic.¡± she said to him while laughing, ¡°Let¡¯s go find Archeon and the rest.¡± she continued, then started to walk between the carriages towards the side of where the camp was. Shade was walking by her side.


    ¡°Oh, look who woke up early, what are you doing up at this hour Helena?¡± Nikas asked Helena while smiling, almost about to laugh.


    ¡°Nikas is right, what¡¯s wrong with you, i haven¡¯t seen you wear such exposing and beautiful clothes in a long time, they make you really charming.¡± Raiden added as he started scractching his chin with his right hand while checking Helena from head to toe.


    Nikas gave her some quick looks as well since Riaden mentioned it ¡°Its been so long since you took off those heavy clothes that i almost forgot the colour of your skin.¡± the laughed at her a little ¡°Did you boobs actually grew? How in the hell do you manage to hide such a bossom¡± he continued while his eyes were almost glued to her chest.


    She looked at them with angry eyes, as if she wanted to kill them ¡°The way i dress does not concern the likes of you.¡± she slapped both of them so hard, she left marks on their faces. ¡°Oh, right i forgot, you men are just that horny in the morning. Well then go find a whore and have your way with her. Actually i think even dogs would work for you two.¡± Helena responded harshly to her two comrads.


    Varris from the side whistled when he heard her saying such things ¡°Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.¡± he added after finishing whisteling.


    Helena puffed her cheeks ¡°Varris, you too!? Stop it at once or i¡¯ll gauge your eyes out this moment!¡± she replied to him.


    All this time Archeon was sitting on a tree trunk watching them go at it, but he couldn¡¯t hold his laugh anymore, the last one filled him up, they all started laughing at her now.


    Helena got even more angry ¡°EVEN YOU ARCHEON!? What¡¯s wrong with you men today? Shade please tell me you aren¡¯t weird as well in the morning.¡± she said while turnning towards him. Almost wanting to take cover behind him from their gazes.


    Shade looked at all of them confused, he couldn¡¯t really understand what was going and that was clearly showing even on his face ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but that dress looks better on you than the clothes you were wearing yesterday.¡±


    His answer wasn¡¯t that which she expect and only made her blush and quickly lowered her head, looking at the ground, everyone around started to laugh even harder. Nikas and Varris started to whistle both, even Elion began giggle this time. Helena didn¡¯t pay that much attention to the rest, she was too embaressed to react.


    After a few moments Archeon claped his hands ¡°Oke everyone, that was a good morning laugh. Now since we are all here, no point in sitting around anymore. So, lets get moving.¡± he jumped up from the trunk as he finished, heading towards his horse that was tide to a tree nearby.


    Everyone stopped joking and also went towards their horses. Helena¡¯s horse was prepaired by them so they wouldn¡¯t have to wait for her more than it was already needed. They even got one ready for Shade.


    "Come on, get one. We¡¯ll get faster there this way.¡± Archeon told him, while pointing towards the horse.


    Shade looked at the animal, then turned towards Archeon, noticing he was using a similar animal but he was mounted on it ¡°I don¡¯t need it.¡± he replied to Archeon.


    Nikas and Raiden looked at him as if they were about to make fun of him, but Kuang looked a little annoyed, probably couldn¡¯t let go of the fact he was beat by him yesterday, ¡°Fine if you want to walk, make sure you don¡¯t fall behind.¡± he told him, then went on ahead with his horse at pace.


    Archeon looked a little concerned ¡°Have it your way, but as Kuang said, we need to move fast so we don¡¯t waste time.¡± Archeon added, Shade understood that they wanted to move fast so he responded with a node.


    His body slowly started to change, he was getting taller than he already was. His hands and legs grew thicker and fur started to cover his whole body. He was starting to take the shape of a big black wolf, almost the size of a horse if not bigger. His paws where twice as large as a humans hand, his fur grew longer ¡°Let¡¯s get moving¡± he said to them with a thick and growling voice.


    Those around him were shocked, they couldn¡¯t believe he changed his form into a much larger creature. ¡°Shade... What did you just do?¡± Helena asked him, with a very curios voice, almost like she wanted to learn more about him.


    ¡°I¡¯ve changed back to my original form, though its very small to what it used to be.¡± Shade answered her with the same chilling voice, while walking towards their front.


    Helena looked as if she wanted to ask more questions, but Archeon stepped in ¡°Ok, now that we are all ready, lets get going. We need to get to Angelzark by noon.¡± they all turned their horses towards the direction in which Kuang was heading and charged at full speed.


    Kuang heard them coming so he raised his pace so they won¡¯t pass by him like a lightning. He didn¡¯t look behind to see how close they are, he just raised his speed based on their horses gallops, when suddenly a huge black wolf passed by him. It scared both him and his horse, at that moment he looked back with a surprised face almost about to ask Archeon what¡¯s with that creature. He noticed that Shade was missing and in that moment the though ¡°That can¡¯t be.¡± he said with a low voice.


    ¡°Come on slow poke or you are gonna be left behind.¡± Nikas yelled to Kuang as he passed by him. Which made Kuang rush his pace and start racing with Nikas, of course there was no way for them to even catch Shade, which was quite a bit ahead. Now all of them were moving as fast as they could towards Angelzark.


    ¡°We might get there even sooner, considering our pace.¡± Archeon said to his men while galloping his horse and slowly taking the lead.


    Raiden let out a small giggle ¡°No wonder, its more like we are racing there, rather than just travelling.¡± Varris and Nikas both agreed with him.


    ¡°Can¡¯t say this isn¡¯t enjoyable, we should do this more often.¡± Helena added ¡°Although i don¡¯t really like losing.¡± she continued, everyone was laughing even Kuang was enjoying it a little.


    But soon their good mood desapired when they saw Shade ahead waiting in the middle of the road surrounded by corpses of both men and werewolves. They moved towards him carefuly ¡°What happened here? Did you do this Shade?¡± Nikas asked him.


    Before he could answer Kuang did it for him ¡°He didn¡¯t do anything, look at the bodies, they are here for some time, probably since yesterday.¡± he dismounted his horse and started to check the bodies as well as look around.


    All of them did the same thing, they looked around for any trace of what might be the cause to all this. They checked both of the destroyed carriage as well as the bodies that were laying around. Inside both of them there were only dead bodies, some of those inside seemed like normal individuals, no one of important status.


    But Varris recognized one of them ¡°They look like the priest¡¯s men from yesterday.¡± Varris said after inspecting the carriages better ¡°But there were three of them, this are only two of them, maybe the third one managed to get to town.¡± he continued.


    ¡°This was a trap. There are two different armours on this soldiers. Also the werewolves are from too many parts. This is too strange.¡± Kuang added.


    Archeon suddenly turned towards him with a serious look on his face ¡°What do you mean trap, since when do werewolves set up traps, especially when their numbers count so many?¡± just as Archeon finished talking and a loud howl was heard from the forest.


    ¡°Seems like they are coming to check things out themselves now.¡± Kuang said as he drew his swords.


    ¡°Come on, lets get on our horses and get moving, we can out run them.¡± Nikas said as he rushed towards his horse that was tied with the others by the carriage.


    He was stopped by Archeon ¡°If we do that they¡¯ll just jump on us, we won¡¯t even have a chance to defend ourselves that way. We shall fight them for now.¡± pulling his sword out as well.


    Nikas shaked his head ¡°I knew you were gonna say that, fine... have it your way.¡± he didn¡¯t seem to like the idea of having to fight the werewolves, but didn¡¯t complain too much about it.


    They all drew their weapons and formed two lines one facing each side of the road with Hecate in the middle of them, Shade was a bit away from them, he was still looking at something.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°Come here Shade, its dangerous to sit there alone.¡± Archeon shouted to him, just as he finished and werewolves already jumped form the sides of the road towards them. None of them even managed to reach them for Elion had four arrows ready, she fired each one of them so quickly that you could almost say they were fired at once. All four found their mark in the heads of thewerewolves.


    Zhan threw multiple daggers while slowly walking towards the edge at the same time he raised his right arm, the upper part of his armguard begginning to turn into a crossbow which he fired into the chest of a werewolf just as he was about to jump on him. Avoiding its body by moving to the side in a fast and elegant way. He pulled another set of daggers and leaned on his back as another was about to get on him. He cut the belly of the werewolf wide open, making all of its insides spill out.


    Varris and Archeon killed all that managed to get past Zhan and Elions volley of arrows and daggers, Kuang was alone between the incoming werewolves. He was dodging and cutting them into pieces with his swords, just as they were getting any close to him he would just evade or use his swords handle to hit and push them away.


    While Hecate was shoting ice shards impailing those that were still in the distance, reducing their numbers so they won¡¯t get overran. Nikas and Raiden headed towards Shade to help him out. Although he didn¡¯t seem to need anything help since he took out two of the wereolves without even bothering too much. But a third one took him by surprise and managed to jump on him.


    Hecate and Archeon turned to see him with a werewolf on his back, chewing on his neck. You could see the worries on Helenas face when she saw that ¡°GO HELP HIM!¡± she yelled at Nikas and Raiden while casting more ice spears and throwing some in the direction of Shade. Both of them were still busy with the ones that were coming at them, they were trying to shake the werewolves off and go help him as quickly as possible.


    Suddenly Shade started to get up with the werewolf still on his back, he grabbed its head with his right head, crushing it so hard that his eyes poped out of its head. Then rushed towards the rest that were coming form the left side.


    Seeing him go like that after having a werewolf chew onto him made everyone look at him in surprise. Even after seeing him impaled by Kuang¡¯s spear yesterday, they still couldn¡¯t believe it.


    Shade used his hands to pierce through the werewolves chests like they were made of paper. He grabbed their heads and pulled them out of their bodies along with their spines, using them as weapons. All the werewolves around went towards him since he was away from the rest while also being the biggest threat out of them all. But Hecate and Elion didn¡¯t let them pass so easily, thorwing everything they had at them. Only a few managing to get to him, everyone went towards Shade, with the exception of Elion and Hecate that remaind back to give them ranged support.


    Multiple werewolves rushed towards Shade from all parts, he caught two of them by their neck as he jumped, avoiding the two that went for his legs, Making them bite one another. He landed on their backs with all his weight, making them release some painful howls as they were crushed underneath him. He started to look at the ones he was holding in his hands, they were trying to break his grip by clawing at him or trying to bite him. He looked at them up close as if he was examining them out. All the while they were trying to bite off his face, he started to sqeeze their throats while looking them dead in the eye. Both of the werewolves had they heads fall to the ground as their throats were completely destroyed.


    It was a horrific thing to watch, but Shade looked so calm, as he was distracted one more werewolf sneaked from the back again jumping on him while six more came from the front. He caught one of those that were coming towards him by his front and back legs. His tail pierced the head of the ones coming from the back as Shade ripped the one he caught in two. He used both body parts to kill the others that came at him.


    Some werewolves rushed towards Helena and Elion, both of them being taken by surprise. Elion rushed to cover Hecate as she threw a fireball at one of the werewolves that was the farthest while Elion dealt with the two that were closer. Cutting ones front legs with the limbs of her bow which were blades, then unlocked the bows grip turning it into two long blades cutting the werewolfs head and the rest of its body into pieces, the last one meeting a similar fate.


    ¡°Is everyone alright? Shade?¡± Archeon asked while sheating his blade, everyone shouted that they are fine, Shade started to walk back towards the place he was before the werewolves came, without ??answering.


    ¡°This ones were just scouts, i think there are more to come.¡± Kuang reported as he was looking at the werewolves they¡¯ve just killed.


    Varris was a bit shocked when he heard that ¡°Just how great are this packs numbers, to send forty werewolves only to scout, not to mention the numbers that were lost from yesterday.¡±


    Kuang shacked his heads ¡°I have no idea. I¡¯ve never seen one so big before.¡± as he got up.


    Nikas looked a little troubled ¡°Hey, Hecate can¡¯t you just burn them all?¡± he asked her, almost begging. He really seemed to act like a coward, but in fact he was just being lazy and wanted to avoid doing anything, unless necessary.


    She replied back in an instant with a harsh tone ¡°Are you an idiot? If i would do that the whole forest will burn as well.¡± as they were talking about what to do, the ground started to shake, all of them felt it, a great number of werewolves was coming. It was at least three if not four times larger than the one earlier.


    This time Shade got up looking towards the left side of the forest ¡°All of them are coming from there.¡± pointing towards the side he was looking at, everyone was getting ready for the second round. They formed a line with their weapons at the ready.


    ¡°Don¡¯t do anything, just sit there and make sure not to move.¡± Shade said to them as he continued to walk towards the edge until he was in front of them.


    They were a bit worried about what they just heard and started to look at one another ¡°Are you crazy? Do you want us to get eaten alive?¡± Kuang furisoly shouted at him.


    He was calmed quickly by Archeon who put his hand on his shoulder ¡°Are you sure about this Shade? Do you have a plan or something?¡± Hecate asked him kind of worried of what he asked of them.


    He replied only with a nod ¡°Lets do as he said, we won¡¯t move, if they get as close as three meters, kill them.¡± Archeon gave them the order, all of them getting into offensive position with spells ready to launch, arrows draw and swords lifted to cut.


    The wereolves were getting close and closer, those at the front could already be seen. In just a few moments they were right at the edge of the forest. In that moment Shade raised his right hand up slowly, with his palm facing upward. In an instant in front of him thousands of black spears raised from the ground piercing through the incoming werewolves, all of them were dead in a blink of an eye with their bodies pierced of so many spears. He lowered his hand making all of the spears vanish¡°So weak.¡± Shade said to himself with a low voice. He lookied a little disappointed, but what was he disappointed about?


    ¡°Wow, that was so cool, why didn¡¯t you do that before also?¡± Nikas said to him the rest of them were just as amazed by what was displayed in front of them.


    ¡°Because you were moving too much. Or you wanted to join them as well?¡± Shade replied with a straight and cold voice.


    He made Nikas back down a little when he heard that. ¡°Hecate, can you burn the werewolves without setting everything ablaze?¡± Archeon asked her while looking at the place which was filled with bodies of dead werewolves and humans.


    She looked at him a bit, then started to think for a moment ¡°Only those on the road, i can¡¯t do anything about the ones in the forest.¡± she replied back, Archeon only answered with a nod. With just a clap from Hecate all of the corpses that were on the road were set on fire and were quickly reduced to ashes.


    They went to get their horses that were tied by the carriage, but four of their horses were killed by the werewolves while they were fighting. There seemed to be a few werewolves killed by Varris¡¯s horse which was massive compraed to the other horses in both size and height.


    ¡°Now we got a problem.¡± Varris said ¡°We got no other option, we¡¯ll share the horses.¡± they mounted two on the remaining horses with only one exception ¡°Sorry guys but i can¡¯t take any of you with me, the horse already has more than enough weight on him.¡± Varris said, he did have a point, his body was massive and if you took into consideration the armour he was wearing it was a surprise the horse was still managining to hold him, despite it being so sold and big.


    ¡°Who¡¯s left without a horse?¡± Archeon asked at which Helena stepped forward.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you use some flying magic or a broom? You are a witch after all.¡± Nikas said as if he was making a joke.


    That got her angry ¡°How about i turn into into a frog as well while I¡¯m at it?¡±


    While the two were going at it again, Shade had already turned into a wolf and walked over to see what was happening ¡°What¡¯s the problem.¡±


    ¡°We lost four horses and Hecate was left out.¡± Archeon briefed him as shortly as possible.


    ¡°She can come with me then.¡± Shade replied, as he moved closer to her, sitting down in order for her to get on top of him.


    ¡°Are you sure its okay Shade?¡± Helena asked him while thinking of what happened in the morning ¡°Yes.¡± he replied in an instant. She grabbed on his furr, pulling herself up. Once she was done and got comfortable they resumed their task.


    After they left, at the place where they were attacked. A few more werewolves showed up, they were nothing like those they fought, this ones made the werewolves they fought look like nothing but a childs toy.


    At least three times that of a normal werewolf but that wasn¡¯t the only thing that was out of the ordinary, they were also wearing armour and carrying weapons. They looked around for a few moments, then after just glancing at one another disappeared into the forest in a blink of an eye.


    Back on the road Shade and the others almost reached Angelzark, its gates could already be seen through the trees ahead.


    ¡°Shade, let¡¯s stop here.¡± Archeon atenttioned him ¡°We shall part ways here, the city is close, but i recommend going there at night so you don¡¯t stand out too much. And also don¡¯t draw too much atenttion. This city isn¡¯t really warm towards those that look like demons...¡± Archeon continued.


    ¡°Its okay Archeon, i¡¯ll keep him company till he finds that star. Plus i don¡¯t even have a horse so all the more reason.¡± Hecate interrupted him as he was going on, as she was patting Shade on his back.


    ¡°What? I mean, why would you leave all of a sudden?¡± Archeon was wondering what could the reason be this time.


    ¡°You know we talked about something a while back, that which helped me get out of that place, I will take a leave.¡±


    Archeon made a slight pause then let out a sigh ¡°Fine. But this time don¡¯t cause anymore trouble. I don¡¯t want to have any surprises when you¡¯ll come back.¡± you could see how worried he was all over his face.


    ¡°Its not me that causes the trouble. I just... solve it.¡± she replied to him in a instant almost feeling proud of what she said.


    Nikas bursted into a laughter while Raiden and Varris were trying to hide their faces as they giggled, Archeon¡¯s face looked even more concered than before ¡°Just, don¡¯t do anything that would cause too much problems.¡± Archeon told her, she replied with a hand wave as she turned around, heading towards the city one foot along with Shade.


    Archeon turned around his horse, going back with everyone the same way they came. Heading towards the kingdoms capital.


    As they were heading back Archeon turned his look towards Elion ¡°Did you notice anything about him while he was at camp?¡± he asked her as his face turned serious.


    ¡°No, i didn¡¯t find anything, but one thing is for sure, i can¡¯t trust him at all. Someone that can conceal that he is breathing and even the fact that his heart is beating. Not to mention emotions when he fights were inexistant, he clearly isn¡¯t someone that should be played with.¡± Elion replied to him.


    ¡°So, in other words he it was like he wasn¡¯t even there.¡± Archeon tried to confirm what she said at which she noded in an agree.


    ¡°Except, for that time when you two were alone and you asked him about the star, he got angry so angry that he could swallow everything up.¡± she said.


    He looked at her a little bothered ¡°What kind of man can remain so calm, yet get so angry? Rage can easily be seen, it just burns in their eyes.¡±


    But Elion shaked her head, disagring with him ¡°His anger was completely different, it wasn¡¯t like a storm or a raging fire. His was like an ocean, huge and calm ready to swallow everything.¡± that put everyone around in thoughts, taking notice to not anger him in the future. ¡°And also there was one more time he showed up some emotion, when he whispered something to you, he showed compasion and sadness.¡± she continued her report which left Archeon thoughtful.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think that anything he showed was real, he just made those to not give away his true motives about the star. Either way we all know what he¡¯s gonna do to her once he finds her. Like any demon, he¡¯s gonna eat her and grow more powerful.¡± Kuang said with an angry tone.


    Archeon didn¡¯t say anything he was still thinking. ¡°Archeon.¡± Kuang called out to him a few times.


    He didn¡¯t really hear him at first ¡°What is it?¡± Archeon came to it.


    What did you ask him and what was his answer?¡± Kuang asked straight away.


    ¡°I asked him why he wants the star as for his answer...¡± everyone¡¯s faces just went long from what they heard, they couldn¡¯t even believe what they heard.


    What kind of joke is that. I¡¯ve never heard just bullshit in my life. We all know how much mana that star contains, she¡¯s bursting with it.¡± Kuang said, nobody else said anything else, they kind of agreed with Kuang one way or another, they didn¡¯t even know what to think of that.


    After a while Nikas said ¡°You know guys, if he was that strong before, do you really think he needs that star? I mean he could easily kill anything in his way, you can¡¯t sense him, he can¡¯t be wounded and regenerates faster than anything we¡¯ve seen. But I do wonder how strong he¡¯ll get after he gets that star if what you say is true?¡±


    That question made everyone wonder, thoughts which he broke as well when he continued ¡°I hope we get to see that city in one piece, considering that Hecate is with him.¡± they all looked worried now, but their conceren wasn¡¯t for Helena¡¯s well being or Shade, but for those living in Angelzark and for the city itself.

 Angelzark

    They walked towards the gates of Angelzark. Hecate was making her plan on how to not get too much atenttion while inside the city, she looked at Shade¡¯s appearance a bit ¡°Can you remove your horns and not wear them from now on. so people don¡¯t get too suspicious about it. And if someone asks you something, just tell them you are my familliar.¡± Hecate said to Shade as they were heading towards the city. Seems like she was taking precosions before hand ¡°Also, don¡¯t attack anyone if they do something that offends you, i¡¯ll deal with them in a peaceful manor.¡± she continued, he only listened without answering her in anyway though. He made his horns vanish with a snap of his fingers.


    Soon they reached the bridge that was leading inside the city. There were still a few corpses left around from the werewolves that attacked last night. The soldiers were talking care into dispossing of them, but because of that the patrol was increased in case of another attack. The town was surrounded by a deep moat, it was at least six meters deep, water was running through it which who knows how deep that was.


    They passed the bridge, entering the city through the Southren gate which was guarded by a dozen soldiers two outside of the gate, two inside while the rest were on the walls looking at the surroundings. Nobody stopped them at the entrance, it seemed that things went well so far, but the soldiers were on ahigh alert, they were twice as many as usual.


    Inside the city there were lots of people on the streets heading to different huge buildings. Each one was heavily decorated with columns and giant statues in front of each one of this buildings depicting vairous individuals.


    ¡°We should be cautions from here on, to not offend anyone. Most of the buildings here are temples where people come to pray to their gods and bring offerings to them. There is a total of 34 temples in this city. One for each god, the big statues in front of them is a representation of them.¡± Helena explaind to him as they walked on the side of the street, keeping away from the temples and the crowed gathered in front of them.


    The city was huge and even more filled with people then Hazefol, but unlike there, people here weren¡¯t as friendly although its a very visited town it was filled with fanatics. While walking around town looking for a tavern to stay until night came, they saw multiple patrols walking around the town between the crowd as well as sitting at the entrances of the temples.


    This city had no way of sustaining the citizans, the market was well developed but it only sold objects of various kinds. What made this city so prosperous and wealthy were the temples that were constantly being visited and the places where the visitors had to stay. Reason why this town is filled with taverns and inns.


    They checked a few of them but they were all full. One of them inn keeper¡¯s kicked them because he didn¡¯t like them. Another didn¡¯t want to rent them a room cause of how Shade looked saying that the tavern was only for humans. After wondering around town for at least two hours they finally they managed to find one after so many tries. It was just a little away from the main square of the city.


    Inside the tavern there were a few people sitting at the tables eating, drinking or talking. They walked towards the tavern keeper which was sitting on a chair with his legs crossed, looking outside through the window.


    ¡°Excuse me, we¡¯d like to rent a room for two people, for one day.¡± Helena said to him while smiling.


    The keeper looked at her, checking her from head to toe and with a uncareing tone ¡°Three gold coins.¡± as he extended his hand. Hecate took a small pouch from her bag from which she handed the money to the keeper ¡°Third room on the right on the first floor.¡± the keeper said as he put the money inside a pouch that was hanging by his belt.


    They went up the stairs, looking around the place as they searched for the room. It was a mediocre looking place, barely maintained at all. The floor was creaking from each step you took, not to mention the spider weebs on each corner. They finally found the room which the rented.


    Once inside the room Hecate showed an angry face and started to spout curses towards the tavern keeper ¡°What is with this ridiculous price, three gold for two people for one night is completely absurd, this conditions aren¡¯t even worth one silver for a dozen people. Damn this place..¡± she took a short break to catch some air after which she continued ¡°Just becasue there are lots of people coming here doesn¡¯t mean you should ask for a fortune. How am i going to sleep in this place?¡± she finally showed signs of calming down, leeting out a sigh. The whole time Shade was just sitting there looking at her while resting his back against the wall with his hands crossed.


    ¡°Oke, lets eat something Shade, then talk about what we¡¯ll be doing next.¡± Hecate said as she waved her hand as if wipping clean a window. A few packages showed up on the bed, she started to unpack them. Inside each one there were vegetables, baccon, cheese and some bread ¡°Come Shade, lets eat.¡± she looked at him while making a sign with her hand for him to come.


    He looked at her with a confused face ¡°Eat?¡± he said as he observed her eating from the things that were inside the packs. She took a moment to finish chewing then tried to explain to him ¡°Yes, consume the food to get energy and not starve.¡± but he still didn¡¯t understand ¡°You take this things and put them inside your mouth like this and start chewing on it.¡± she showed him how to do it, putting some cheese and bread inside her mouth then started chewing.


    ¡°And after you chew the food enough you swallow it. And you repeat this until you are satsified.¡± that made things a little clearer to him, but he didn¡¯t show any sign of wanting to eat.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never eat such things before.¡± he said as he continued to sit in the same spot.


    Hecate was eating without minding anything, she took short breaks to answer Shade¡¯s questions or to ask him some ¡°Then what did you eat before? You can¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve never eaten something in your whole life.¡± she asked him, while stuffing a piece of baccon in her mouth, chewing it slowly as she looked at him with a curios face.


    He gave her the answer after a few moments passed ¡°Stars. Only stars.¡± he said bluntly.


    In that moment she stopped chewing and made a long face as if her jaw was about to drop at any moment. She swallowed hard, then asked him ¡°Wait, then you mean you want to eat the star that we are looking for?¡±


    He lowered his head while shacking it ¡°That is none of your buisness. But something that i have to do.¡±


    Helena didn¡¯t ask anything anymore, it was obvious he wouldn¡¯t tell her what he¡¯ll do once he gets his hands on the star. She continued to eat, until she finished all the food.After she was done eating and packing everything up with a snap of her fingers, she cleaned her hands with a napkin.


    ¡°Why do we have to wait till the night comes?¡± Shade asked her, he didn¡¯t seem to understand why do they needed to wait.


    ¡°Its because this place is filled with strong soldiers, also its the place where the gods are worshiped and the god that watches over this city isn¡¯t someone to take lightly and will come deal with those attacking the city. Even more so when they hear you are resembling a demon. That is why we should take care.¡± she explained to him.


    Shade made a confused face once he heard the word god, as if he was thinking of something ¡°Gods defend this place? I¡¯ve never heard of a god like that.¡± he thought to himself.


    ¡°Since we got everything set up, i¡¯ll go to sleep till night comes. Care to join me?¡± she said to him as she laid down on the bed.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need sleep, i¡¯ll just sit here.¡± he answered as he sat down on the floor resting his back on the wall in a squat position.


    Hecate in that moment remembered what happend this morning, blushing slightly ¡°As you wish, wake me up once the sun starts to set.¡± she told him at which he noded, she thought that maybe he didn¡¯t want to sleep because of what happened this morning.


    Everything was as peaceful as possible. There quite a few noises from down stairs and some dogs barking outside but it seemed that those things didn¡¯t wake Helena up. The sun began to set, but Shade didn¡¯t wake her up right away. He waited until it was almost night before walking towards the bed. He tried to call her a few times but she didn¡¯t show any sign of waking up. So he then started to pat her head, remembering that this morning that made her react, at the same time he called her a few times with a louder voice. That seemed to make her slowly open her eyes. She saw Shade sitting by the bedside looking at her face.


    She wasn¡¯t as surprised as before, but she still slightly blushed ¡°Lets go. The sun has set.¡± he said to her.


    She quickly got up from the bed when he notice the whole room was dark ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wake me up sooner? I told you to wake me up before the sun sets.¡± she was in a rush to get ready to leave. She then got two black cloaks out of her bag which seemed to be made from a material that absorbed all the light, she passed one over the Shade ¡°Wear this, it will make it harder for people to see us if we keep to the shadows.¡±she said to him as she got hers on.


    Shade didn¡¯t take the cloak, instead he gave it back ¡°I don¡¯t need this.¡± he replied to her, she looked at him a bit worried ¡°Are you sure? We wouldn¡¯t want to be seen while sneaking around the temples at night.¡± she asked him, he answered with a nod, ¡°Oke, then lets go.¡±


    They went outside of the tavern by jumping through the window, so nobody would see them leaving their room. They ran in the backstreets, since the place was smaller and rarely someone could be found patrolling around.


    It seemed that the increase in patrols also affected this area, as they spotted three soldiers up ahead. The soldiers were walking in the same direction but at a slower pace. So they had to walk slower and hide from time to time.


    Helena was walking ahead, it seemed like she already knew where they should go. Things went really well, the soldiers went to the right and now they could rush through the allies towards the temple.


    Shade suddenly grabbed Helena by her shoulder, making her stop, she turned her head towards him ¡°What happened?¡± she said to him.


    He made a sign to the right with his head as he said ¡°There are two people to the right, sitting there.¡± she was a bit surprised to hear that from him. No noise or sound could be heard from the two he mentioned yet, they were actually far from the corner of the building mentioned by Shade. She crouched and moved slowly with her back against the wall towards the corner, Shade followed her, walking normally. There they could hear the soldiers, they seemed to be talking about something, Helena stopped there for a while to listen to them.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°What is the prince doing in this town?¡± one of the guards said to the other.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear? It seemed like he was just passing by, until those people from that temple pissed him off, now he wants to take some girl from there.¡± the other answered back.


    ¡°I only heard that he saved the bishops right hand priest from a werewolf attack when he was coming back and dispite that he hit the prince with his crane.¡±the first soldier said.


    ¡°Yeah, that was how everything started. Now the prince wants them to pay up and give him some girl.¡± the second soldier replied back.


    There seemed to have been some problems happening around with the temple of the new god that was build in this city. She pondered a little thinking what could the prince want from that place and what girl were they talking about. Suddenly something flashed through her mind ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± she said with a loud voice, she made a sign to Shade, to move slowly ahead so they won¡¯t notice. After walking a bit further from that place she raised her pace ¡°We need to hurry, seems like someone else is interested in that star.¡± she said while almost running thourgh the backallies.


    At the temeple, the prince¡¯s guards were all awake standing on guard as the girl was laying on the bed. Yet to awaken or show any sign of moving, it was almost as if she was dead. Someone knocked at the door, everyones attention got focused towards it. They all drew their weapons as two of them went to open it to see who it is.


    Once the door was open all of them releaxed a little, it as only the Bishop that came over. The sergeant sheated his sword and walked towards him ¡°Greeting Bishop, how may i help you?¡± he said towards him.


    The Bishop made a bow gesture towards him ¡°I came over to take the girl to the altar to remove her curse.¡± he told the sergeant.


    He looked at him for a few moments, the turned back to his soldiers ¡°Round up men, we are moving the girl to the altar, everyone stand on your guards.¡± he ralied the soldiers to move out.


    The Bishop looked a little troubled ¡°There is no need for you and your men to come over, its only gonna be me and a few other disciples who will perform the ritual.¡± the bishop tried to convince the sergeant.


    The sergeant didn¡¯t show any sign of letting him take the girl, he came in front of the bishop while his men were standing behind him, three of them carrying the girl ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand, we were ordered to stay with this girl all the time, no matter where she is.¡± the sergeant said to the Bishop with a thick and intimidating voice.


    He let out a sigh, seeing that there was no way to convine him. He noded and lead the way towards the altar. They moved down inside the temples basement, it took them a while to reach their destination.


    Once there, they saw that the room they¡¯ve entered was a huge dome like place with pillars on the sides. Near each pillar there was a priest, a total of two dozens of priests with hoods covering their heads were in that room.


    A lot more than what the Bishop said. Three more stood in the middle, near some kind of stone altar. ¡°Please, place the girl on the altar so we can begin.¡± the Bishop said to the sergeant, which turned his head back to the soldiers that were holding the girl and noded his head, they moved with the girl towards the altar, placing her on it.


    The priests quickly took their position two sat at the girls feet while one was sitting by her head. The Bishop walked towards them picking up a huge book from a stone table before sitting on the side of the altar.


    The sergeant slightly turned his head to his soldiers ¡°Take positions around the altar and have your weapons ready. I don¡¯t want any surprises.¡± everyone drew their weapons without delay and slowly moved a bit closer to the place were the girl was sitting. Some where looking towards her while the others were keeping an eye on the priests that were on the sides.


    The Bishop noticed them with the corner of his eye, but did nothing to stop them, he continued his chanting.


    Some time has passed and nothing happened, the sergeant looked at the solider at his right ¡°Go inform the prince, that the curse is almost removed. He can come here to pick the girl up.¡± he whispered to the soldier.


    The soldier noded, sheating his sword and moving out in a rush the same way they came.


    Meanwhile outside of the temple, Helena and Shade finally made it. ¡°We¡¯ll go through this door¡± Helena said as he pointed to a door at the side of the temple, ¡°Once inside make sure nobody catches you and if someone sees us, make sure to knock them out before they alert the others.¡± she briefed Shade before going in. She unlocked it with a spell and slowly cracked the door to check if there is anyone nearby. ¡°I¡¯ll go check up stairs, you check this floor and downstairs.¡± Helena told Shade which was ready to leave.


    ¡°Wait, if you find her, let me know.¡± she pulled out a weird stone with some writings on it from her bag ¡°Here take this with you, it will help me know where you are at all time. If you find her, break it and i¡¯ll rush to your location. Also if i¡¯ll break my stone yours will glow very brightly and soon a wisp will show up leading you to me.¡± she continued.


    Shade looked at her as she explained, after that he reached for the small stone that was in her hand. He noded twice then turned around, both of them went in opposite directions in search of the star.


    Helena walked around the huge halls in search of the stairs to reach the next floor. But it seemed as if she wasn¡¯t doing so well. Just as she was about to give up and use some magic to break through the ceilling and go up. She found a small set of stairs going up, they were almost hidden around a corner.


    She approached them carefuly, after confirming that nobody was coming she rushed up. Quickly reaching the other end and again stopping by the entrance to check if anyone was around. She was starting to grow suspicious of this place, although it was night it wasn¡¯t past ten, some of the priest should be still patrolling around the temple. She didn¡¯t see even one of them so far. Now that she reached her destination, she now began to look for the star.


    Although there were many rooms on this floor, she didn¡¯t bother opening each one of the doors. She casted a spell which allowed her to see the magical essence of those inside the room. She only needed to place her hand on the door or wall to see it clearly. Now she was walking quickly from door to door looking for the strong magic essence that the star was giving off.


    She reached a room with huge doors, inside she spoted three persons, one of them having a really high magical essence, not as high as she had before, but then again maybe they used something to conceal or block her mana.


    Helena sat near that door for a few moments laying some magical traps around the hall that would make a lot of noise if someone walked over them, so she won¡¯t be caught off-guard. She pulled a small dagger from her bag, then approached the door, slowly opening it. The room was pitch black, that you could barely see anything. With a snap of her fingers a small fireball was summoned which floated by her side, enough to light the surrounding.


    She approached the middle of the room, the place from where the magical essence was coming from, as she got close enough to see what it was. It shocked her so hard that the small fireball grew bigger and bursted into many smaller ones that went to each candle in the room lighting the whole place up in an instant. In front of her there was a huge bed with an elf girl tied up with ropes from the beds colums. The girl was laying face down, completely naked, multiple burises on her body.


    Helena tried to call out to her but without any response, she was unconscious. No matter what she tried, she couldn¡¯t wake her up so she started to look around the room only to see two more girls tied up in different manners at both sides of the bed. Unlike the elf that was on the bed, both of them were tied with something strange. Some black like tendons were wrapped around them, keeping them tied up and as if that wasn¡¯t enough, there were also some huge leechs on their whole body.


    Helena was completely shocked at such a sight, she couldn¡¯t believe that something like this could happen into a temple. She quickly cute the ropes that were holding the elf girl, then rushed towards the other two. Using fire magic on the dagger, heating it up to cut off those tendons down after which she used it to remove the leechs from one of the girls.


    There were at least twenty leeches on her body. On the legs, hands, stomach, neck and breasts. She removed them one by one very quickly with the heated dagger. Just when she thought she was done she saw one more, but this one wasn¡¯t attacked to her private area. When she touched it with the dagger, it slightly came off, but it was still hanging so she grabbed onto it with one hand and pulled it off. To her shock this one wasn¡¯t a leech, but instead a worm the size of a palm, half of it was inside of the girl. She quickly pulled it out and immedialty let go of it, the worm was swirling on the floor, until she used a spell to lift up a bookshelf that was on the side and use it to squash it.


    It took her some time to recover since she didn¡¯t like worms at all. There was still one more girl to release. She was already disgusted by what happened here. Again, multiple leeches on her body, removing them was no hard task. But after finishing came the problem, the leech that was attached to the girls private parte seemed a little larger. She thought that maybe it didn¡¯t get inside of her yet, but just touching it made her shiver. Touching it with the heated dagger gave no result at all, thinking that maybe its dead she stabbed the worm with it.


    In that moment the part of the worm that was outside, around ten centimeters, pulled itself inside of the girl as if it went back into its den. Helena was shocked by how the girl was reacting, gasping for air and leaning her head back. Her stomach was starting to deform quite a lot until it suddenly bursted open. A huge worm, almost the size of a forearm, came out spalshing blood all over the room and spitting onto Helena, the worm jumped to bite her, but she casted multiple fireballs and threw them in an instant towards the disgusting creature, burning the girl along with it.


    Helena was completely covered in blood from the girl and some disgusting liquid that the worm spit at her. She fell on her knees almost as if she was about to cry ¡°I HATE WORMS!¡± she screamed while shivering all over. It took her around five minutes to calm down and take something to clean herself. She got up, looking towards the girl that was burning, before walking over to the other two, placing them onto the floor and teleporting both room they rented earlier. Before she left the room, she set all of it ablaze ¡°And you hunt witches down for making pacts with demons.¡± with annoyed tone she talked to herself.


    Meanwhile Shade was running through the halls of the temple in his wolf form, so quickly he finished the floor he was on in just a few minutes. But when he went down on the stairs towards the basemenet, he saw someone there. It was a soldier in armor laying on the stairs. He seemed as if he wanted to go up, he turned back into his humanoid form before approaching him, just as he got a little closer the soldier turned his head ¡°Please, someone... go tell the prince.... we need reinforcements... they...¡± the soldier said with his last breath.


    Shade only looked at him before he moved on. Once he finished decending the staris he found himself into a maze like place. He looked around at the walls which were made of stone with torches hanging on them. The floor didn¡¯t show any tracks at all. He changed back into his wolf form and started to walk around in the maze in search for a scent to follow.


    By this time the Bishop had just finished the ritual, he turned around towards the sergeant and his men ¡°Thank you for your assistance, i have succesfully removed the curse.¡± he said to them with a tone filled with superiority.


    The sergeant made a sign with his head to three of his men to go and get the girl. The three soldider sheated their weapons and went up the stairs, towards the girl passing by the bishop and pushing aside the priests that were near the altar. Just as they laid their hands on the girl and she started to scream, slowly emiting a light that was getting brighter and brighter as if she was the sun itself. The whole room was covered by a blinding light which made everyone cover their eyes, except for the bishop which was standing with his back towards her.


    While the soldiers were covering their eyes, screams and cracking sound could be heard from all around the room. When the light finally dimed out, the sergeant saw the three men he sent for the girl all bent into unnatural ways, their heads behind their backs, their hands and legs twisted all around as if they were some toys.


    While the soldiers where shocked to see their comrades in such a state, the Bishop was smiling while looking down on them, one of his arms had turned into a long tentacle like thing. The sergeant pointed his sword at him ¡°So you finally showed your true colors? The prince knew something was wrong with this place. You won¡¯t get out of here alive, even if you kill us.¡±


    The Bishop started to laugh when he heard him, the sergeant and his men charged at him while he was laughing just as soon he was close enough the Bishop grabbed him with his tentacle, swinging him left and right knocking all the soldiers on the ground then tossing him on the floor near his soldiers ¡°Finish them off.¡± he ordered the priests that were sitting on the sides, he then turned around and started walking towards the altar where the star was laying.


    The priests that were around the room pulled out of small dagger from under their robes and rushed towards the soldiers that were on the ground, stabbing them. The sergeant and few other managed to get up in time to stop the assailants. They proved no challenge for him and the soldiers to kill. Once up they saw that ten of their own got killed by them the rest of the priests backed off quickly.


    The sergeant looked towards the altar and saw the Bishop holding the girl. He was licking her cheek down to her neck with his long tongue while grooping her left breast. The sergeant tried to rush over at him, but some of the remaining priests blocked his way. They started to fight, although the priests were weak and could easily be killed, they were three times more than them.


    While they were focused on fighting the priests the girl screamed loudely before fainting. The Bishop continued to do what he wanted to her.


    ¡°Think you are that powerful, bullying girls? Leave her alone and come fight us, worm.¡± the sergeant yelled at the Bishop while pointing his sword at him. Bu he didn¡¯t even bother turning around, he wasn¡¯t affected by his taunts at all.


    From one of the tunnel on the side of the chamber a big wolf showed up from the shadows ¡°You dare lay your filthy hands on her.¡± the wolf talked with a deep and angry voice that echoed through the whole room, his voice instigated fear to everyone in the room, even the soldiers seemed to be terrifed. That voice made the Bishop turn around in his direction, noticing a large black wolf that was growling as he approached the altar.

 Out of reach

    ¡°Well, well, what have we here? A mutt that got lost in the wrong place? Someone should learn that dogs are meant to be kept tide up, not let lose.¡± the Bishop snort towards the wolf as while extending his tentacle like arm to grab an orb made of stone that was around the altar and throw it towards the wolf.


    He caught the incoming sphere in his mouth, breaking it down to pieces between his jaws. He rushed towards the Bishop while avoiding his attacks. Raming into him head one and smashed it against one of the pillars until it broke.


    The sergeant seeing what was happening, he quickly shouted at his men ¡°Fall back, we are getting out, now.¡± they all started running towards the exit, leaving the Bishop and his priests with that huge wolf.


    From the cloud of dust caused by that pillar collapsing came out Shade, He was walking towards the altar were the girl was. The priests rushed to stop him but just as they got close enough to him their heads and hands were cut off, Some of them even cut in half. Nothing seemed to be able to stop him anymore.


    As he reached the altar, he extended one of his hands towards the star, but before he could reach her a huge tentacle came swinging from the right side, throwing Shade into one of the walls of the dome.


    ¡°Know your place little mutt. You have no chance against me.¡± an abonimation of a monster came out of the rubble of the collapsed colum. It looked somewhat like a huge salamander, except for his tail, instead of which there were at least six tentacles. Where his head should be, it was a human upper torso, almost like a centaur but its whole body was covered with scales not to mention the sctyhe like hands. This creature was horrendous and gigantic, being at least eight meters tall.


    Shade sprang like an arrow from the place he was thrown. His eyes were filled with rage his face had darkened to the point that he as gone mad. He was nothing like his calm and composed character from before.


    The stone which Helena gave him was crushed unintentionally in anger. The ground broke under each of his steps, reaching the monster in a blink of an eye, hitting one of its legs so hard that it he tore it out if his body, making it fly across the room.


    The monster letting out such a loud scream that the whole place was shaking. Green liquid started to run from the missing member. The creature tried to attack him with one of its scythe like arms, but Shade caught it, ripping it off while letting out a mad cry. Multiple tentacles came towards Shade but they only got cut to pieces by his tail. The monster got pushed back a little.


    Shade had no intention of letting him, he swinged his right fist so hard into the middle of its body crushing the scales and whatever was beneath them sending its massive body flying into the dooms ceiling. As it was falling down, Shade came rushing to where it was about to land only to kick it, sending it one of the walls of the doom, squashed like a bug.


    After a few moments, noticing that were was no more movements, he headed once again towards the altar. After only a few steps and a tentacle grabbed his leg again, lifting him up and slamming him onto the floor multiple times before quickly pulling Shade towards him. The creature was ready to hit with one of its scythes and cut him in half, but Shade reacted fast enough, managing to grab it.


    The creature quickly reacted, trying to crush Shade under his scythe, the ground under him started to crumble. Its arm that got ripped apart had just regenerated and now was being swang towards Shade once more. Hitting the place where he was like a maniac with his tentacles and sctyhe until Shade was buried beneath all the rubble.


    The monster stepped over the place where Shade was buried and started to hit the ground with his eight legs making sure that he won¡¯t get out anymore.


    Shade caught one of its legs, using it to get out of the rubble after which he ripper it off. Tearing apart all of the monsters libs, making it crawl on the ground. After the creatures was left defenseless . He went towards one of the still standing pillars. Pulling it out of its place and used it to squash the insect like monster.


    Finally everything seemed to have finished, he was walking away exhausted from that fight. When suddenly he got hit in the head by a rock. Shade sat there motionless, slowly turning his head, you could hear his heavy breathing and the sounds of his fists crunching. He looked with the corner of his eye behind him ¡°Learn to stay DEAD!¡± he yelled as he rushed at the monster, like a mad dog. The creature fully recovered from all the damage Shade has done to it and so they began fighting again.


    The soldiers finally found their way back to the stairs, they ran all the way here. They rushed up the stairs but stopped when they almost reached the end, a body was in front of them, it was that of the soldier that the sergeant sent to get the prince ¡°No wonder nobody came after so long.¡± the sergeant said feeling bad for what happened to the one in front of him.


    ¡°Lets go, fast! We need to get out of here quickly.¡± he ordered his men. They passed through the temple like a storm killing and cutting all the priests that showed up to stop them from leaving. As they reached the main hall where the exist was, the whole place was covered in smoke, so much that you could barely see something ahead of you. ¡°What is up with this crazy bastards, do they intend to burn us all alive?¡± the sergeant furiously yelled when he saw the smoke.


    ¡°Stay near the wall men and follow me, we are getting out of here!¡± they moved slowly along the wall towards the exit. When they were finally out, they saw lots of people rushing with buckets of water towrads the temple. It seemed the upper part of the temple was burning up.


    While walking down the stairs they saw that the prince was coming their way ¡°What happened here? I came rushing when i heard that the temple was burning up.¡± the prince said towards the sergeant with a paniced voice.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about the fire, but that Bishop got us good. We lost so many of our men inside there. He is a monster and he seems to be interesed in that girl.¡± he explained to the prince what he knew.


    The prince was put into thought ¡°Very well, sergeant you and your men take a small break.¡± he then turned around to a man that was sitting by his side ¡°As for you lieutenant go and get all of our men here, were are going into that temple.¡± the lieutenant saluted the prince and rushed back to get the rest of their soldiers.


    Inside the dome it seemed that the monster which was the Bishop and Shade were still fighting. From one of the tunnels Helena finally made her way there, she saw the crumbled stated in which that place was looking. The ceiling was barely hanging on, since most of the pillars that held it were destroyed. She looked around for the source of the clashes, through the thick cloud of dus she saw Shade and the monster fighting.


    Shade got kicked away by the monster, as he got up from the ground he spoted Helena which was sitting near the tunnel entrance from which she came ¡°Get her and get out of here.¡± Shade said to her with a raging voice, pointing towards the after then rushed towards the monsters again. pushing it into a wall and punching it like crazy, grabbing rocks and other debris to crush it.


    Helena looked around for the star through all of the bodies, she moved carefuly around for she didn¡¯t wanna get crushed by any falling stone or caught between those two. She walked slowly between the rocks and bodies up the stairs towards were Shade pointed. On top of the altar she spotted the star which was laying there unconscious. She tried to teleport her out of there, but nothing seemed to work.


    Helena didn¡¯t waste too much time, she had realized this whole temple was build with an anti magica barrier that would prevent almost any magic from being casted. There was no other way out of here, but the same way they got in. Grabbing the star with both hands and placing her on the edge of the altar in order to pick her up on her back.


    While heading towards the tunnel, in order to leave the monster saw her ¡°Where do you think you are going little fly?¡± his voice ringing through the dome as he threw three huge piece of a colum in the drection of the tunnel. One of them barely missing Helena, second one hitting the wall to the left of the tunnel as for the third one, it was heading straight for tunnel.


    Shade ran towards the front of the huge rock, trying to spot its momentum. After managing to stop it he threw it back at the monster, he looked at Helena which was carrying the star on her back, her face was all panicked and sweaty from all the effort ¡°Why are you still here!? Leave!¡± he yelled at her. He charged back at the monster just as he got out from beneath the drebris.


    With the path clear, now Helena had to leave the temple and eventually the town as well, but first she needed to get out. While going up the stairs, the whole building started to shake as if a earthquake was hitting it. It seems that the fight between Shade and that monster is gonna destroy this whole building up.


    After getting out of the stairway she noticed that the whole place was starting to crumble. She had no other option but to head to the main exit of the temple, since that one was the closest to where she was now. While running towards through the halls, multiple times she had to stop and avoid falling objectes before finally reaching the door leading into the main hall.


    There she saw a lot of smoke coming from beneath the door, so she took a few steps back and used a simple magic spell, casting a wind arrow in order to break the door so flames won¡¯t jump on her if the place was burning.


    To her luck, it was only smoke, but it has gotten so thick that it would be impossible to pass without intoxicating yourself, considering how large the hall was. She casted another wind spell, surrounding herself and the star in a bubble like thing, which prevent the smoke from reaching them. She walked by the edge of the hall and probably that was for the best as the floor was shaking like crazy from the fight going below the temple.


    While half way through, the floor in the middle of the hall started falling making the whole place shake even more. From that hole the clashing of those two could be heard even better. She had no choice but to reach the door faster, just a few steps away from the door a loud crashing sound was hear from above. Shade was sent by the monster into the ceiling of the main hall while he was coming out through the floor.


    ¡°Oh, if it isn¡¯t the little fly.¡± the monster extended his tentacles to grab Helena. Shade came crushing down onto his tentacles, cutting them apart with this hands that had turn into blades. The bishop was about to crush Helena with one of his tentacles, but Shade hit her wind bubble with his tail sending her through the door like a projectile.


    Soldiers were rushing up the stairs and were about to go in, just as Helena was throw outside, stopping as she hit the statue of the god representing the temple. She was lucky with the bubble that protected her from any damage, but she was still shaken by the impact.


    Some of the soldiers rushed towards her in order to help her get out of that place. The rest of the soldiers tried to go inside of the hall, inside of which Shade was fighting the demonic bishop relentlessly. There was no way for normal soldiers to do anything in this kind of situation, they all fell back and focused on evacuating the place. One of the soldiers rushed to the beacon left by Apollo for times of need.


    Helena was take along with the star in the main square of the city, which was quite far from the temple in which Shade was fighting. She sat on a bench with the star leaned against her shoulder while having one hand wrapped around her.


    She was looking in the direction of the temple, where crumbling sounds could still be heard from time to time, all of the people around her were panicing, but she was still holding on.


    Meanwhile, at a tavern nearby the sergeant was giving the prince an explanation as to what happened inside the temple. The prince looked angrier as the sergeant continued his explanation, but despite that he didn¡¯t raised his tone as he talked ¡°Very well, you and your men can wait here. Lieutenant are the men ready?. We are to make a search party and look inside the temple for the girl.¡±


    Just as the lieutenant gave him a salute and through the taverns door one of their soldiers came bursting in ¡°Sir, i just saw the girl we left at the temple outside in the main square.¡± the prince suddenly turned his attention to him and with a loud tone ¡°Where? Take me there! Now!¡± he ordered the soldier. They all rushed towards where the soldier was leading them, even the sergeant followed.


    It took them a few moments to reach the square and even less to find Helena and the star. The soldiers signaled the rest around, slowly they started grouping around them. By the time Helena had realized it, it was already too late. She was completely surrounded by them. She didn¡¯t get up, instead she just pulled the star closer to her. The soldiers sat around them in a circle that prevented anyone from approaching them. Until from between them a man wearing a black cape with a crest on the middle of his chest armour walked towards her, it was the prince.


    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± he said as he opened his arms wide as if he wanted to hug someone, smiling ¡°I¡¯m so glad to see this poor girl again, i though i would lose her in that temple.¡± he continued as he walked towards them.


    Helena looked at him with keen eyes and didn¡¯t show any sign of letting go of the star ¡°Who might you be and what buisness do you have with her?¡± she cut him short.


    The prince stopped walking, his smile was erased, his face turned serious ¡°I have saved that girl before as well and she was to be given to me. Now hand her over.¡± he said with a serious tone as he lowerd his arms. This fast change of spirit was probably because of her not recognizing him.


    Although Helena saw the crest on his chest, she didn¡¯t care much about his status or from where he was, her answer was simple and straight ¡°You think just because you are a prince, you can have whatever you want? Guess what, she¡¯s not yours to claim like a trophy and even if she was a trophy the one to claim her would be the one fighting that monster inside the temple and not you.¡± a disgusted smiled showed up on Helena¡¯s face.


    The prince clenched his fists, not once, not twice, not trice but four times he met people who would disobey him in this town. Although Helena wasn¡¯t from around, he had no way of knowing that. He bursted up ¡°You think i¡¯ll late some nameless soldier take this beautiful girl just because he fought soem monster!? Oh, you are so wrong, I¡¯m the prince of this country and yes i take what i like when i like it. And if you dare stop me i¡¯ll make sure you regret it.¡± drawing his sword and pointin it towards her.


    Her smirk remaiend on her face, she looked even more amuzed by what he was doing ¡°You really think you can harm me? I think you are over stepping your boundries, little prince.¡±


    Her response hit him even harder than before ¡°You think some wretch like you has anything over me? All citizens of this kingdom are to pay their respects towards the royal family and meet their demands. You didn¡¯t do either so i could execute you on the spot.¡±


    At this point Helena bursted into a laugh ¡°You, execute me? I even lost the count of how many people wanted to kill me, guess what happened to them?¡± she made a slight pause¡°They are all dead.¡± her smirk almost turning into a laugh while her eyes were almost burning up, with a snap of her fingers over a dozen fireballs appeared around her.


    The prince took a few steps back when he saw the fireballs ¡°Hm, a magician, there aren¡¯t any magicians that don¡¯t serve under the royal family. That means you are obligated to do as i tell you too. Now hand her over before i¡¯ll have both you and your master pay for this.¡± the prince grabbed the shield he was holding on his back underneath his cape, it had the same crest drawn on it.


    Yet again Helena started to give a disrespectful laugh towards the princes actions ¡°You want to make my master pay?¡± she continued to laugh ¡°You think you got enough authority to order my master around like you do with your little toy soldiers and pawns?¡±


    It was the last straw the prince could take ¡°Give me his name, i¡¯ll make sure to arrange a public execution for him and show you he ain¡¯t worth the praises you are giving him.¡±


    She finally stopped laughing ¡°My masters name is Kadesh Tharsis, the demon which gave me power. And since you didn¡¯t even bother asking for my name, i will present myself.¡± she gently cleared her throat and with a sweet and charming voice ¡°I¡¯m Helena Hecate, the grand witch as well as one of the captains of the Beasts of Grendel.¡±


    Although the mercenary group she belonged to was faimous for accomplishing heroic and impossible feats and her master was one of the most dangerous demons. He didn¡¯t show any sign of giving up ¡°You think, just beacuse your master is a grand demon as well as being part of that mercenary band you can get away with taking what¡¯s mine!?¡±


    She interrupted him ¡°Excuse me? This girl isn¡¯t yours to begin with, nor did she belong to the people of that temple to give. You don¡¯t even have a clue who she is.¡±


    The prince reached his limit, he raised his hand ¡°Guards get he gir...¡± before he could even finish talking giant boulders came falling from the sky in the main square where most of the people where. Some of them being caught under the huge rocks, the rocks were coming from the temple where Shade is fighting. People started running from that place, but the prince and his soldiers were still focused on getting the star from Helena.


    The prince hit one of the soldiers that was next to him with the handle of his blade in the shoulder ¡°Get the girl already, we don¡¯t have time to waste¡± he shouted at them.


    The soldiers turned their attention back at the girls when suddenly one of the buildings that was around crumbeled underneath the boulders followed by other building to the right being crushed by the demonic bishop as Shade threw him away. The demon showed slight injuries despite his regenerative abilities while Shade was all messy and covered in dust.


    The monster attacked Shade with one of his claws directly while at the same time with the other he grabbed the rooftop of a nearby building, throwing it at him from the side. Shade jump above, easily dodging the claw but taking the roof head on making him fall to the ground. The monster then started to hit the spot where the rooft landed multiple time to squash him, as he was hitting aggresivly one of his claws was stopped.


    Shade grabbed on to it tightly and started to spin the monster, destroying all the buildings that were on their left side and the huge statue that was in the middle of the square. Killing a few of the soldiers that were around Helena and the star while the rest tried to cover their heads as rocks were falling down.


    Helena was distracted by what was happening so the prince quickly rushed towards her, hitting her in the stomach with the pummel of his sword, knocking her unconscious. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here Sergeant.¡± the prince said as he grabbed the star and rushed towards the cities main gate.


    Shade threw the monster to the other side of the square into the buildings. Neither Shade nor the monster saw the prince running away with the star, they were too focused on fighting one another.


    But their fight was interrupted by a bright ray of light that pierced through the night. It came from the sky straight towards to the square. It was large and bright as the sun, from it something was descending at a quick pace, the more it approached the ground the more its form was becoming clearer. A tall man, wearing leather with leather pants, his chets was bare open and armguards made of silver. The man¡¯s physique was somewhat regular although all his muscles were standing out, he was truly the description of a perfect male. As soon as he was about to reach the ground he stopped, two meteres above it, he was floating or more like standing on air.


    With an angry and fierce tone the man said ¡°Such foul smell, how dare you demon bother a city which is under my protection!? Me!? The Sun God Apollo.¡± he started to shout at the end.


    When the bishop saw him, he started running, despite his size he was quite agile, through the building, ruinning everything in his path, he was trying to reach the wall and get out of there as fast as possible.


    The light around Apollo shined brigther for a second and in front of him a large golden bow along with a quiver appeared, he grabbed the quiver and hanged it around his waist after which with his left hand he took the bow. He turned towards the demon that was running, took out three arrows from his quiver, firing all three of them in the sky, one after another in quick succesion.


    A few moments have passed and from the sky came down similar huge bright pillars onto the demon, at first they were made of light but as they hit the ground they turned into gold.


    While that was happening Shade walked towards Helena which was laying unconscious on the ground, the star was nowhere near her. He grabbed her by her shoulder pulling her up and called her a few times, but to no avail.


    As Shade was focused on Helena, the Sun God Apollo turned his gaze towards him, drawing another arrow from his quiver and getting ready to fire it at Shade. When he released it Shade noticed the light that was approaching him and quickly jumped from where he was, dodging the huge pillar that fell on the ground, with Helena in his arms.


    ¡°Well, well those some nice reflexes you have demon. Seems like you will prove to be a better hunt than the other one, hope you¡¯ll manage to entertain me for a bit.¡± the sun god raise his voice while speaking towards Shade, he drew arrow after arrow firing them at the speed of light, giant pillars filled that empty square and dust coulds were formed around the ground from the impact of so many heavy objects.


    Shade managed to sneak away from the attacks and was looking for a way to get out, but even the slightest movement seemed to be noticed by this god. Not to mention the light that was being emanated from him made things harder for Shade. He finally found a small opening between his attacks and let Helena rest against a wall, covering her with shadows so she won¡¯t get spotted. He rushed away from there as fast as he could and towards the sun god, picking up giant boulders from earlier, throwing them at Apollo.


    So many rocks came flying at the sun god that he was surprsied, he used his right arm to punch each one of them, breaking them to pieces. Seeing as there is no end to this he placed his bow on his back and grabbed one of the rocks throwing it back then in the dust that was made rushed down towards Shade, making a huge crater as he landed, destroying the nearby buildings. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Shade was caught up in the shockwave and was thrown into a wall, Apollo dashed to him at incredbile speed, punching right through him, making a whole through his body five times the size of his fist.


    In that moment Shade took advantage of him letting his guard down and grabbed his hand. He casted all of his power into it, shadowy spikes started to erupt from the sun gods skin, piercing it from the inside out while going up. Its speed was slow as Shade was obstructed by the dense light that was near him as well as weakned by the earlier hit. He took the chance to distance himself from the god.


    The sun god screamed and cursed in pain ¡°You filthy demon. You fucking dare touch the mighty god of the sun? I¡¯ll burn your whole race for this, i¡¯ll torture that bitch that you try so hard to protect while you watch, i¡¯ll make you suffer so much before finally killing you!¡± he threw light bolts at Shade which was trying to run away. He managed to dodge some of them while trying to avoid his sight by taking cover behind thsoe pillars. The sun god couldn¡¯t throw them that fast as his right arm was badly hurt and those spikes were still moving up towards his head, reaching half way through his arm by now.


    Shade reached the place where he left Helena, getting her out of there fast, by this time the hole in his chest had barely covered up. Apollo took flight and now was throwing his light spears from up high, although he used only one hand, each throw was like ten to twenty spears at once, which was hard to dodge. One managed to hit Shade in his left arm, erasing it completely, leaving a burning smell, since it touched Helena¡¯s clothes as well.


    Shade tried to grow wings and leave faster but just as he got them out and were already cut down by the light spears which came raining down, making him fall in the narrow streets between the buildings.


    Now he had no choice but to run away by foot. The sun god was also taking his leave, most likely because his condition was getting worse and he had no time to waste ¡°I will make sure to pay you back for this demon. Just you wait. I¡¯ll personally come and hunt you down!¡± Apollo was yelling as he went back into the sky through the pillar of light on which he came. All of the huge golden pillars vanished, leaving golden sparks behind them after the god left.


    Although the sun god had left, it wasn¡¯t so easy to leave since the whole place was on alert, the soldiers were looking for him. The sun god¡¯s words were proof enough that he should still be around. All of the soldiers started to search around the city, the walls were being patrolled constantly now. Despite that Shade tried to make his way towards closest wall and climb it in order to jump outside.


    Easy as it was soldiers spotted him a few times on his way towards the wall. They fired arrows at him, luckly none of them hit their marks as they would have harmed Helena instead of him since the hole in his chest wasn¡¯t covered that much. He ran up the wall as if it was something normal. When reached the top soldiers spotted him from both sides and opened fire at him, he had to rush and jump over the ramparts.


    The soldiers ended up hurting one another since Shade was already in air, falling between the trees that were around ten meters away from the trench. Because he was missing an arm his landing was a rough one, hitting multiple branches on his way down. Helena getting roughed up from all of it. Helena didn¡¯t wake up from the falling, but Shade had no time to waste since soldiers already started to fire arrows in the direction he jumped.


    He ran away from that place, as far as possible so he wouldn¡¯t be chased by them. He ran for ten kilometers after which he took a break in the middle of the woods near a large tree. After placing Helena down he tried to wake up her by gently patting her head, remembering that¡¯s how he woken her up before, to no avail this time. Without knowing what to do, he sat there waiting. It took her ten minutes to finally get back to it.


    First thing she noticed when she woke up was Shade¡¯s missing arm and hole in his chest, which was slowly getting filled as small dark strings were connecting with each other. ¡°What happened!? Are you okay?¡± she almost jumped off the ground, but fell down immediatly as she felt pain from her ankle, it was sprained.


    ¡°Someone who called himself the god of the sun showed up and wanted to kill me and you, he had no plan on letting us go so i had to fight with him.¡± he explaind as short as usual, looking down at her ankle seeing that she was holding onto it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you managed to kill a god!?¡± Helena was shocked by what he said, to fight a god would be a feat impossible for almost anyone on this earth, yet he talked to casually about it, but maybe that was just how he talekd.


    ¡°No, i can¡¯t do that. I don¡¯t like the light, reason why i even got hit by him. But that also helped me in making him leave.¡± that made Helena calmed down a bit, she tried to get up, while holding onto the tree, she tried to walk but it seemed the pain was too much to even stand.


    Shade looked at her in a strange way ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is something wrong with your leg?¡±


    Helena looked at him, tears had gathered in her eyes from the pain, making them glow in the night ¡°It seems that i¡¯ve hurt my leg and i can¡¯t walk.¡± she said to him with a shaking voice as if she was almost about to cry.


    ¡°What happened with the star?¡± Shade looked down at her with a serious face ¡°Did you put her into your magic bag?¡±


    Helena was shocked by what he said as well as a bit angry ¡°No! Of course not, i can¡¯t put beings into it, otherwise they would die.¡± she made a short pause as her head leaned down ¡°Someone surrounded me and asked me to give her to them. When you came into the square with the demon they attacked me and took her away.¡±


    Shade stopped all of a sudden, he didn¡¯t say a thing. He kicked one of the trees that was on his right with his leg, breaking it apart. He continued to destroy the trees around him in a rage while Helena was resting against one, now scared of what he might do.


    In his rage he failed to see the great numbers of werewolves that have gathered all around them. They were at least ten times more than they have faced the day before, when they were heading towards Angelzark. The werewolves slowly and carefully approached him until they were only ten meteres away. At this point Shade has spotted them.


    He turned his head slightly to the side, to see those behind him, his eyes had a piercing gaze, it was if he was death himself. With a defeaning roar ¡°GET OUT OF MY WAY!¡± hitting the ground with his right leg so violently that he made the earth shake around him.


    The werewolves were growling, although slowly backing down, taking distance from him. Soon all of them were gone. Shade was just standing there looking at the night sky through the trees. Helena was completely shocked. It was complete silence. Nothing could be heard in that moment in that whole forest, no birds or animals, a complete standstill. Almost as if everything stopped moving after Shades raging roar.


    After a few minutes have passed Shade asked with her with his normal voice ¡°Who took her?¡±


    Helena quickly raised her head and looked at him. Tears gathered up in her eyes ¡°It was one of the prince¡¯s of this kingdom.¡± she started to cry as she was saying it, she thought that he would kill her in his rage.


    Shade sat there a while longer until she was starting to calm down ¡°Do you know where they might have gone?¡± he asked with a more gentle tone.


    She got her bag, pulling from it some medicine and a scarf to attend to her wounded ankle. It only took a moment until she was done. She still held onto a tree while getting up ¡°I think they might have went towards the east. We could try and ask around towns. Let¡¯s go towards a road i could use my magic to find their tracks, since the star has such a high concentration of magic it should last for a while.¡± Shade only noded to her.


    Helena tried to walk, but she was moving slowly because of the wound. Shade came from behind her, quickly grabbed her, lifting her in her arms. She let out a scream as he did that ¡°Next time, give me a warning or something.¡± she said while looking mad at him.


    Shade started to run while Helena was pointing direction towards a nearby road. There were only four roads that lead towards Angelzark, so they didn¡¯t have many place to check to find a trail.


    At the pace at which Shade was moving, they reached the first road in only a few minutes. While there Helena performed her spell to check for any traces of mana, but she couldn¡¯t find any so they moved on to the next one. Just as they got a little closer and she could already tell without even activating the skill again ¡°Its this road, I¡¯ll use my spell to track it down.¡± Shade let Helena down for a moment so he can change into his wolf form.


    Although it was her second time seeing him do it she couldn¡¯t help but be shocked by it. She understood why he did that so there was no need to wait for him to tell her what to do. So they resumed their search for the star with Helena pointing ways and Shade following the calls.


    The prince and the star were ahead of Shade and Helena by at least thirty kilometers. Although Shade was moving at an insane speed, it will take them a while to catch up to them, not to mention that the prince wasn¡¯t slowing down either. Rushing through the forest with his knights as if they were chased by death.


    If someone saw them coming they would have thought that they were dullahans, considering that all of them were wearing caps and the sound of their armour shaking could be heard from the distances, the sounds their horses were making only added up as well. It was a horid sound that nobody would want to hear while walking in the night, although it was made by humans.


    They soon got out of the forest, a large filed extended before their eyes, with hills and a small village just a little up ahead. The prince lifted his right hand up making all of his men to stop ¡°Set up a teleport in the field here. We aren¡¯t gonna walk back like this. I¡¯m not in the mood for who knows what surprises might arrive along the way to the castle.¡±


    All the soldiers dismounted their horses, three of them headed towards the field setting up a large circle made of stones. They were quite a distance away from the edge of the forest as the circle required some space and because of the prince not wanting to get ambushed from those trees. As they were setting it up a wicked howl was heard from the direction of the forest as a large number of werewolves came rushing towards their location.


    ¡°Wreched creatures.¡± the prince said as he looked at the hoard coming towards them ¡°Release all the horses, make them distract the beasts!¡± he yelled out at his soldier, which did as such. The horses ran towards the left and right of the werewolves, but they didn¡¯t seem to care about the horses as they headed straight for them. ¡°To damnation with this, BATTLE FORMATION!¡± the prince shouted with all his might while pulling his shield and sword.


    All of the men gathered up in defensive positions, their large shields held to the front with spears in their hands. Archers positioned at the back with a few soldiers around them just in case some would slip by. The archers started shooting arrows in a volley as soon as they were ready, but despite the arrows that hit them, not even one werewolf would fall.


    Seeing as the werewolves were not affected by any of the arrows the sergeant shouted ¡°PLUNGE YOUR SHIELDS AND SPEARS IN THE GROUND!¡± and so the soldiers did, making the shield wall look almost like a spiked wall. They all drew their swords as werewolves started to hit into the shields and get pierced by the spears. They came with such speed that some of them had their heads crushed by the impact onto the shields. Their bodies crumbling on the ground, even those impaled moved in a wicked way as they tried to set theirselves free from the spear that pierced their bodies.


    The werewolves were slower than usual which made it easier for the soldiers to kill them, but even so their strength was far to great for that of a normal human. Many would get sliced up, dismembered or decapitated with just a swing of their claws. Even the prince found it harder than usual to kill this creatures as a normal slash or hit by a sword would not affect them, they would get up and continue their attack even went cut in half.


    ¡°This blasted creatures don¡¯t want to die!¡± the sergeant said in a loud voice, as he beheaded a few werewolves with a swing of his greatsword, slicing a few more up as he spinned it around.


    ¡°We need to buy more time, chop them to pieces if you have to, but hold them for a while longer!¡± the prince yelled as he rushed into the middle of them, slashing and cutting through their ranks as well as bashing them with his shield. He sliced them up, crushed their bodies beneath his feet. As he noticed that he could crush the werewolves head with a heavy step, he shouted back at his men ¡°They bodies are frail, crush them under your shields!¡±


    The sergeant with a few others rushed to keep up with the prince in case he would need any help. The whole place turned into a bloody massacre as the bodies continued to crawl on the ground even when cut in half. The only ones that were not moving where the ones that had their heads or chests crushed. Their numbers had slightly went down but same thing could be said about the knights.


    ¡°THE PORTAL IS OPEN!¡± a loud voice from behind them echeod through the clash of swords and claws. Finally their way home was open, but they still had to reach the portal in order to leave this place.


    ¡°Go to the portal, NOW!¡± the prince yelled at his men as he moved back as well, cutting any of the werewolves that would stand in his way.


    The sergeant and those around him moved back at the same time with the prince, so he wouldn¡¯t be left alone. As the were moving more and more towards the portal, most of the remaining men already passed through. The star was still left just outside of the circle, near one of the soldiers that was keeping the portal open.


    The sergeant turned towards the prince ¡°Sir, take the girl and leave we shall cover your retreat!¡± the said to him.


    He looked back and saw the girl still on the ground in this madness ¡°You fools, you should have taken her back in the first place. Sergeant take her and go back, its an order!¡± he yelled at him. While swinging his sword like a madman, chopping the werewolves to pieces. Two of the werewolves would jump on him, knocking him down.


    He held them back with his shield as they tried ot bite his head off, he moved his sword and stabbed one of them, he pulled his sword up cutting the werewolf in half and dispate that he would still try to rip his head off up until the moment its head would be sliced open. He let go of his sword and grabbed the other one by its jaws and opened its mouth wide until he ripped it off, he rolled over the werewolf and crushed his head under the shield.


    The sergeant seeing the determination the prince had to protect the girl, he had no other way but to do as he was ordered. He ran towards her, taking her into his arm and passing through the portal. Now it was only the prince and ten of his men were left, they all seem to be exhausted from all of the fighting. The soldiers asked him to leave as they would follow him.


    Although stubborn, this time he didn¡¯t go against the idea of leaving seeing that their numbers are ever growing, he headed towards the portal. Now only the men were left against the remaining hoard of werewolves, but something far more horrifc came out of the forest, which made the werewolves seem like some little dogs.


    A knight in a black leather armour, chains warpped around his body along with belts which held multiple daggers, a huge claymore in his right hand and a mace in his left. He was gigantic being almost twice the size of a man, but the most terrifying thing was his head, which was missing and in its place a black fog would come out.


    As the knights saw him they almost froze in place, recognizing that a dullahan has appeared. After he took a few more steps out of the forest, five more appeared behind him, each wielding different weapons and wearing all sorts of armour.


    The soldiers knew they had no way of running from such creatures, they barely even had the will to fight anymore, even the werewolves this undead werewolves were sitting put. One soldier found the strength to talk ¡°CLOSE THE PORTAL! They must not get through!¡± he yelled as loud as he could at those holding the portal open, which were frozen from sight of the dullahans.


    An arrow flew over from the forest, piercing the skull of the knight that yelled, his body fell on the ground. Werewolves walked over its body, rushing towards the portal which close just as one of them was about to jump through.


    Now the remaining knights were left for sure death, as an enemy they had no hope of ever defeating had appeared. And so it seemed for terrible cries of pain could be heared from the field as the soldiers were ripped to shreds by either the werewolves or the dullahans, who knows what kind of horrors were done to them before they would die.


    On the other side of the portal, the prince was the last one to walk out of it before suddenly getting close. Only twenty soldiers along with the sergeant out of his two hundred made it back from his trip to Angelzark. Even those that made it through were wounded or exhausted.


    The prince walked towards the sergeant that was holding the girl, taking her in his arms and letting the soldier rest. In that through the doors of the teleportation room walked in the king along with a dozen of his guards ¡°What in the meaning of all this?¡± he shouted at the sight of the men that were covered in blood as well as the prince being a little roughed up.


    The prince walked up to his father, with the girl in his arms ¡°We were ambushed by werewolves while heading to Angelzark. Some priest turned into a demon and tried to eat this girl. When we created a portal to leave some undead werewolves tried to attack us.¡± he explained to his father very shortly ¡°I will explain it in more detail tomorrow, but now this girl needs to get some rest.¡± after which he took his leave.


    Back the forest, after quite some time Shade and Helena finally reached the place where the massacre happened. It was a terrible scene to witness, you could barely distinguish the bodies of most that were around as they were crushed or cut to pieces, mawled by the claws or ripped to shreds.


    Shade moved through the battlefield as if it was something normal while Helena held a hankerchief over her mouth as the place was stinking of blood and surprisingly dead bodies, she took a closer look at the place as she found it quite odd. The bodies of the soldiers seemed to be still warm, meaning the fight happened recently but when she checked the werewolves their bodies were already dead for a few days. She thought about it for a bit as he checked a few more other, now she was sure, some strong necromancer raised this werewolves and had them attack the knights.


    She rushed over to Shade which was standing on the other side of the battlefield, a large circle was burned on the grass, a few dead knights were laying around it. She looked around a little ¡°Seems like they got away, i don¡¯t see her around either. Hopefully she isn¡¯t harmed.¡± she said to Shade.


    Shade didn¡¯t reply at all, but instead he pointed to the ground, towards the circle of ash that remaind, for some reason he had an interest in that thing.


    ¡°It seems they¡¯ve made a teleportation circle to leave.¡± Helena pointed out as she kneeled near the circle looking at the ash that remained on the field.


    Shade looked at her in weird way and with a questioning tone ¡°What do you mean teleportation circle?¡± he said with a straight face.


    She turned her head at him ¡°They¡¯ve used this here to move to some other place.¡± she said as she struggled a little to get up ¡°Sadly enough we can¡¯t use this circle to follow them since it turned to ash. We don¡¯t even know where they¡¯ve went.¡±


    Shade¡¯s face turned grim, he lowered his head to the fornt a little, looking at the ashes that were on the ground. Helena saw the look on his face and got a cold sweat, as she recalled what happened earlier. She turned to him, took a mouth of air ¡°Even if we don¡¯t know where they went, we can still find them.¡±


    Shade imediatly turned his head towards her, looking with cold eyes straight into hers, Helena was scared at this point, but she continued ¡°The man who took her is part of one of the royal families. There are nine kings who rules this kingdom, we just need to check which one of them took her.¡±


    He started to walk towards the road ¡°Very well. Let¡¯s not waste time, the sooner we find her the better.¡± he talked as he continue to walk. Helena was walking by his side as they headed towards the small town.


    A few weeks have passed since the incident at Angelzark. News spread as fire about the demon that attacked the city along with that of the witch who summoned him. Although the demon was slained and the witch drove off, a bounty was placed on her head, be it dead or alive she is to be brought to Angelzark to receive her punishment at the hands of the god Apollo.


    In order to avoid being seen Shade and Helena walked during the nights towards each of the places where the star might be. Since this kingdom had nine kings to rule it, they had a few places to go to. They¡¯ve managed to check five of the places without raising any alarms or getting into any kind of trouble so far.


    ¡°Shade.¡± Helena said with a low voice as she was riding on his back ¡°Let¡¯s stop by a healers house. Its in our way, there is also a small village close by from where i could buy some food.¡± she leaned on his back, almost talking straight into his ear.


    Shade only listened and followed her directions afterward to the place she wanted to go. Since they didn¡¯t have to change directions, he agreed to her request.


    It was still light outside as they reached an old, large hut in the middle of the forest. The whole place had plants every where, it was completely covered with them, they were masking the whole place very well that you could hardly see it from a far.


    Helena walked towards the door, knocking a few times. A little while passed since she knocked and someone opened the door. A middle aged woman with messy hair, but very elegantly dressed and well looking greeted them. She made a sign with her hand, welcoming both Shade and Helena in.


    The inside of the house was completely different from the outside, it was clean, very clean and everything was placed in such an order. The house was very well decorated with shelves filled with books, vials, plants and all sorts of other things. You couldn¡¯t believe such a place existed in the middle of a forest.


    The woman walked towards a chair in the middle of the room and sat on it, looking towards her guests which were still at the entrance, looking around the house. ¡°What brings the two of you here?¡± she asked right away without wasting any time.


    Helena took a few steps towards her ¡°¡¯Yes, i would like to buy some plants, in fact I need quite a few of them.¡± she pulled a paper outside of her bag as she talked, handing it over to the woman ¡°I¡¯d like to buy these ones, if you have them.¡± ending it with a smile.


    The woman got up from her chair, taking the paper from Helena¡¯s hand. She looked a little surprised from the list she was reading ¡°You sure do need some interesting stuff. Yes, I do have them. But they will cost you some pretty coin.¡± she talked while going towards the back of the house.


    Helena eagerly responded ¡°If you have them, of course I¡¯ll pay for them.¡±


    The woman told her and Shade ¡°Take a sit, i¡¯ll go bring you what you asked for. It might take a while so do get comfortable.¡± and so they did. Shade still sitting up, looking at the bookshelves and plants around the house.


    ¡°What use do you have for all this plants?¡± Shade asked Helena as he continued to inspect the place with his gaze.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to use them in case anything happens, like getting wounded, sick or who knows maybe poisoned.¡± she smiled as she said the last part.


    Shade noded as he continued to look around ¡°Interesting, using such simple things to heal yourselves.¡±


    Time passed by quickly as they chatted, the woman came back with the goods Helena asked for ¡°Here¡¯s what you wanted, it will cost you one hundred gold coins.¡±


    Helena was a bit a shocked when she heard how much it will cost, but none the less with a bit of a stingy face she pulled the money out of her bag, handing it over. The woman snatching the small purse containing the payment out of her hand.


    ¡°Thank you very much, we shall be on our way now.¡± Helena politly said as she walked towards the door, going outside of the house. Shade looked at her as she let out a huge sigh. They walked away from the hut, heanding towards teh village.


    While they walked Helena suddenly bursted ¡°One hundred coins for this plants!? That¡¯s robbery. I can¡¯t believe i paid so much of this things...¡± she made a slight pause to catch some air ¡°I should have just went and picked them up myself.¡± she finally calmed down a little, taking a breath of air after all the yelling.


    Shade looked at her a little surprised, leaning his head a to the side not actually understanding what was happening. ¡°Ok, now we shall head towards the village that¡¯s nearby to buy some food, then we can resume our search.¡± she said with a calmer tone. Shade quickly transformed into a wolf and with Helena on his back he rushed towards the village.


    The sun was already setting as two travelers were approaching the small village, both of them wearing cloaks with hoods over their heads. It was a cloudy dusk, darker than usual. Both of the travleres stop at the towns entry. They seemed to be talking to one another.


    ¡°You stay here Shade, i¡¯ll go buy some food from the tavern over there.¡± she pointed towards a building with a strange sign hanging from its wall ¡°Then we can move out, it won¡¯t take long. We just got to check a few more place and she has to be in one of them.¡± Shade replied with a nod as he watched her go into the town.


    So he waited there. He looked at the people that were passing by. He just sat there looking at all the people walking to their homes or some place to stay. An hour has passed and there was no sign of Helena, so he continued to wait. It slowly began to rain, drop by drop until it began to pour. Two hours have pasted by and still nothing. He sat there in the rain, not minding the fact that he was getting wet. He stood there like a statue for three whole hours, but there was no sign of Helena coming back.

 Unexpected incident

    Shade waited there until night came. Nobody could be seen outside anymore. In that moment he decided to go and check out the tavern in which Helena went. The rain showed no sign of stopping and the road was muddy, but he didn¡¯t seem to be touching the ground, rather walking slightly above it.


    The whole town was silent, but as he approached the tavern things were getting noise. The people inside seemed to be in high spirits, talking and laughing loudly. He looked from the outside at the building, it was similiar to the one he was in back in Hazefol but smaller. Shade walked towards the door and with a heavy punch he shattered the wodden door to pieces.


    All the joy and chatter that filled that place had all but vanished the moment that door was broken down. Everyone turned their heads towards the door, seeing the tall figure walk in. They were caught by surprise, cosnidering the fact they were drunk it took them some time to react.


    Meanwhile Shade went straight to the tavern keeper that was sitting at the counter cleaning up a glass. The keeper was all shaking in his boots, frozen as he saw the tall figure approach him. He gave the keeper an angry look, his eyes were all cold and some kind of glimer could be seen from them ¡°A girl wearing a cloak like mine came here. Where is she?¡± Shade addresed the keeper with an intimidating and chilling voice, although calm.


    The tavern keeper seemed to have calmed down a little, but his voice was still shaking as he talked ¡°N-No girl came by t-today. D-Definitly not one w-wearing a cloak like yours.¡± the keeper voice was shaking just as much as him, barely able to talk.


    Just as Shade was about to say something, someone came from behind him, placing his hand on his shoulder, pulling him around ¡°Who do you think you are? Breaking the door and ruining all the mood?¡± a man that was almost as tall as Shade said to him. His face was all mashed up, scars and burns. He was wearing a bandana over his head, a brown leather jacket with two knife holders around his chests, both of them filled with multiple knives, two blades at his wasit. Behind that man there were a few others as well, they seemed to be mercenaries or bandits.


    Shade looked at him with a pissed face from beneath the hood, he shook off the man¡¯s hand as he turned around to talk to the keeper. But the man didn¡¯t let it slide off as he grabbed his hood, trying to pull him down. He only managed to get it off his head without making Shade move even a centimeter.


    He turned around with an angry face, both of his horns and long ears could be seen now, since the hood wasn¡¯t covering his head anymore. He grabbed the man by the neck and slamed him into the counter, breaking it to pieces. After which with a loud and angry tone he yelled ¡°Where is the girl that came here today?¡±


    Two of the men that were behind him pulled their swords and tried to attack him, but from beneath his cloak, his tail raised cutting ones arm as it rushed to the others neck, coiling around it as it lifted him in the air. His body convulsed and shaked until it finally grew still, he was then tossed to the side, knocking down a few tables. Everyone in the tavern had sober up at this point, they didn¡¯t even dared shake at this point. Sitting still as if they were already dead.


    Shade stepped on the face of the guy with which he broke the counter, squashing his head beneath his foot. He grabbed the tavern keeper by his face and lifted him up ¡°Where is the girl?¡± he asked him again, but the man couldn¡¯t even speak he was just muttering as he was crying. Shade¡¯s fingers almost looked as if they were growing longer, until they grabbed hold of his head completely before squeezing it. The tavern keepers veins could be seen all over his face as it was turning read, one of his eyes popped out of his skull while the other was bleeding. In a matter of seconds his whole skull was crushed.


    Shade turned around towards the others that were inside the tavern, looking all angry ¡°Where is the girl?¡± he said with a loud voice, lowering his bloody hand down.


    One of the men that was sitting in the tavern stood up, he looked like some commoner that got here after a day of work, judging by his colthes. He stood firm although his legs were shaking ¡°Some people came behind her and hit her in the head. They wrapped her in some kind of bag before taking her away.¡± the man told Shade with a clear voice as he kept his distance.


    Hearing what the man said, Shade¡¯s eyes widen up, his gaze focused on that man. He walked towards him ¡°Who took her? Where did they go with her?¡± although Shade¡¯s tone did not change from how he addresed the keeper, this man didn¡¯t seem to be afraid of him.


    Despite his intimidating voice and horns. Most people around already figured out that he is a demon or something similar, reason why they all stood there frozen. But this man although scared, he tried to hide his fear.¡°They are probably bandits from how they looked.¡± the man making often pauses betwen sentances and taking deep breaths of air in order to stay calm ¡°I saw them staying at an old barn... At the side of the town ... For the past couple of days.¡± making a bigger pause as he finished ¡°So they might have taken her there.¡± he pointed in the direction in which the barn is.


    Shade looked at him up closely, he extended his hands towards the man, which closed his eyes and gulped in a full breath of air. He thought that this was the end for him, that he might end up like other guys from earlier.


    But to his surprise the demon only placed his hand on his shoulder, which made him suddenly jolt up, opening his eyes and giving out weird scream, Shade ignored all that ¡°You shall take me there.¡±


    He didn¡¯t dare refuse him, how could he after all that happened. He couldn¡¯t muster the strength to talk anymore after that scare so he answered just by noding his head. He walked towards the taverns exist as Shade followed close behind him.


    Both of them got out, the man stopped for a moment in order to pick up one of the lamps that was hanging by the taverns door. The man pulled the hood from his cloak over his head as he went into the rain.


    They walked through the village, it was all dark, the rain already made ground all muddy and the man started to move slower cause of that. He was taking glances behind him from time to time for he did not hear anything, footsteps or even a sign of movement, it was as if nothing was behind him. As he looked again behind he noticed that he wasn¡¯t even touching the ground, he turned his head back to the road in an instant. His face was all sweating and filled with disblief.


    The man was all shocked for a moment but then thought that he might be a mage of some sort. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what has he gotten himself into, he can¡¯t do anything about it now so he shaked off the thought of it. After a few more minutes of walking the man made a sign with his hand, pointing towards an old barn. Although dim some light could be seen inside of that place.


    Shade passed by the man, walking straight towards the place at a rushed pace. Quickly reaching its door and breaking it with a kick as he approached. Inside, the whole place was a huge open space filled with hay on the sides. An old wodden carriage on the right side, in the middle of place there was a lamp hanging by a rope.


    On the opposite side of the entrance, there was a chair on which someone was sitting. Although you could barely see that person Shade immediatly recognized Helena, which was tied up. He took a few steps towards her and in that momemt tens of arrows came flying at him, each one of them hitting their mark and piercing Shade¡¯s chest.


    All around the place torches started to lit up, most of them being on the second floor of the barn. The light from each one of them revealing multiple people well armed, sitting in wait with bows ready to fire again. They were dressed similar to the ones he had killed back at the tavern.


    Shade turned his head looking at those around as all the arrows that pierced him fell on the ground. Not even a single drop of blood dripped from where the arrows pierced, the men that were watching were all a bit shocked. Just as the last arrow dropped from his body, they all began firing again and again.


    This time they couldn¡¯t hit him anymore. He moved between those arrows like a snake, leaving an after image behind him. He rushed to one side of the barn and with one jump reaching its second floor and landing on one on of his attackers, crushing his chest with his legs. The quickly mades his way towards the rest that were on that same ledge as him. All the while avoiding the arrows that came from the other side of the barn.


    Even so, they were too many and he would end up getting hit by one or two of the incoming arrows. Each time he got hit by one he would growl, not pain but anger. He ripped apart those attacking him, arms and legs where flying behind him. Some of them would break in half as he pulled their limbs apart leaving only organs spiled on the ground.


    As he was butchering everyone inside the barn, a shadow appeared at the gate, a man covered in black rags. You couldn¡¯t see his face or anything, with a voice thick as mud he yelled at those who were still standing ¡°YOU FOOLS, SHOOT THE GIRL!¡±


    All the men turned towards the direction the voice came from and immediatly took aim at Helena, sending their first volley of arrows at her. Shade saw them as they were about to shot and grabbed one of the bodies around him tossing it in front of Hecate, managing to block a few arrows and knocking her down so she wouldn¡¯t be as an easy target as before.


    Three still managed to hit her, two in her leg and one in the shoulder. She woke up with a scream as the arrows pierced her body. As she was crying in pain the bandits where preparing their second round of arrows.


    Shade already rushed down, taking Helena from there and to a more covered place. She started to kick and squirm around as she felt that someone grabbed her, ¡°Calm down¡± Shade to her. That made her stop struggling ¡°I¡¯ll go finish the rest, then we can leave.¡± he continued as he let her down behind the wooden carriage.


    He rushed to deal with the rest of the thugs. As he was fighting them, the silhouette that was standing in front of the doors of the barn, tossed inside a round object that was set ablaze at one end. When it touched the ground the sphere broke to pieces and the fire spread like wild through out the place. Covering everything in falmes in a few moments, all the hay that was inside only helping the fire spread even faster.


    Just as Shade managed to kill two of the remaining thugs, from below Helena started screaming with a panicked and shaking voice as the flames had completely surrounded her ¡°Shade, help me out.¡± The smoke and fire covered the whole place and you could barely see where she was, but Shade managed to find her and got out by breaking through the barns wooden walls.


    Screams could be heard from the barn as the remaining thugs were burned alive. The man that set the place ablaze couldn¡¯t be seen anymore although Shade looked around after he got out. He laid Helena on the ground, cutting the ropes that binded her with his tail, she still had the arrows in her leg and shoulder, he reached out to pull one of them out, but Helena raised her hand stopping him, she barely speaked ¡°Healer.¡± she made a pause ¡°Take me there.¡± again another pause ¡°The arrows... are poisoned.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Shade looked at her, he didn¡¯t quite understand the concept of poison. But he did as he told her and turned into a wolf and with the help of his tail Helena managed to climb on him. He rushed towards the house of the healer. Through that dark night he made his way, the rain didn¡¯t slow him down but something else did.


    Helena fell off from his back as he crossed over a field. She wa coughing blood and could barely stand, she didn¡¯t look good at all. Shade came close to her, licking her shoulder, a lot of blood came out of that wound, but dispate all that she managed to climb back on him.


    He started running towards the healers house again, but a wild pair of deers that were running towards them made Shade jump so he wouldn¡¯t hit them. That made Helena fall from his back again, he noticed immedialty and as soon as he touched the ground he jumped backwards making her fall on him so she wouldn¡¯t get hurt.


    As he looked at her, he noticed that she wasn¡¯t doing well at all. She was breathing so heavily and loudly, not even a reaction or movement after all that happened. He whole body was shiverring while starring in the direction her head was pointed, not even blinking. Shade carefuly got up, from his back multiple dark strings grew. They went and wrapped themselves around Helena, pulling her on his back and keeping here safe.


    After one hour of running he finally made it. He could see the forest where the Healers house is, the rain had already stopped. He didn¡¯t stop in front of the door at all, he busted through it and went inside of the house while still in his wolf form.


    The old woman was sleeping on the couch, in front of the fire in the living room. She jumped up in an instant as she heard the noise of her door breaking. ¡°Oh, what have we here? Little puppy got lost?¡± the old woman said as she saw Shade in his wolf form with quite the surprised face ¡°You shouldn¡¯t barge into other peoples houses like that, it isn¡¯t polite.¡± she continued while making some weird signs in the air with her hand, finishing with a push of her palm towards Shade.


    A strong wind came blowing from her direction that sent him outside rolling, Helena was kept safe by the strings that wrapped around her although Shade got a bit roughed up from that. With a few more waves the old woman fixed her door and went back to sitting on the couch by the fire.


    But not even a moment had passed and Shade barrged in again. This time the woman was already sober and noticed the strange cocoon like thing on his back ¡°My, what an odd thing to have on your back.¡± just as she finished and Shade laid down on the floor. The strings on his back slowly unwrapping, revealing that which was inside. The old woman was amazed by that ability, but her face grew sever as she saw what was inside. Shade placed Helena on the floor using the strings. The old woman immediatly went towards her, checking her out. Shade took a few steps back as he started to turn back into his humanoid form.


    The old woman checked her after pulling the arrows out. There was blood coming out of her nose, her mouth was slightly opened, her eyes were wide open but oddly frozen, her skin slightly more pale than before.


    Mean time Shade turned back into his humanoid form and came closer to where they were ¡°Seems like you took kind of long to get here.¡± the old woman said with a bit of a disappointed tone, as she moved her hand over by Helena¡¯s eyes closing them as it passed.


    Shade looked at her confused ¡°What do you mean?¡± leaning his head to the right while looking down at her, his face completely emotionless.


    The old woman got up, looking straight at Shade which was a lot taller than her ¡°Her condition isn¡¯t a really good one, she might die, very soon actually. The arrows that were left inside were poisoned, but if you pulled the one in her shoulder she would have bled to death. And because of that she got severly poisoned.¡± as the woman talked, Shade listend. His expression did not change at all, he looked so calm that you could say he didn¡¯t care at all, it seems that the woman didn¡¯t really like that.


    ¡°Can you help her out?¡± Shade asked her, but the woman looked at him with keen eyes, noticed not only the horns, but the tail as well and then it was that wolf form he had earlier ¡°Maybe, but what is she, a human, to a demon like you?¡± she asked him straight away.


    Shade took a bit to answer, the horns on his head vanished into a black smoke ¡°She helped me out when i needed help the most, she had no reason to do so. If someone helped me, i will help them as well no matter what that might be.¡± he replied to her with a smooth and chilly voice ¡°And, i¡¯m not a demon as you say.¡±


    The old woman was surprised to hear that from him, the last part was the most shocking one, she didn¡¯t dare ask what he might be. Instead turned and looked down at Helena which was laying on the floor ¡°Take her in your arms and follow me.¡± she told Shade which did as she said.


    They reached a bedroom in the back of the house, it was a nice and warm place filled with plants and bookshelves ¡°Place her on the bed.¡± the woman pointed towards the bed on the right side of the room.


    Shade sat a few meters away from the bed, observing whatever the woman was doing. She took a few bottles with her, opening all of them, before placing them on a small chair that was by the bed. She then moved on towards Helena¡¯s leg, pulling out one of the arrows. Squeezing the wound a little then grabbing one of the bottles and pouring its content onto the wound.


    While she poured the liquid from the bottle she looked at Helena¡¯s face, which didn¡¯t even make the slightest gesture. She quickly continued removing the second arrow from her leg and doing the same thing, still no reaction. As for the last arrows, she had to tear apart the top of her dress since it was getting in the way, revealing her chest completely. Before pulling this one out she poured some of that liquid around the wound, then carefully removed it, placing a bandage over it to stop the bleeding. But even then she still didn¡¯t show the slightest reaction.


    The old woman looked a little concerned, she quickly jumped from the bed and rushed out of the room, slamming the door open as she left only to return after a few moments, she was holding a large leather pack with her, which she laid on the floor, inside of it there were lots of bottles, crystal and tools that Shade did not recognize.


    The woman picked a few of the gems and a bottle along with a small knife as she headed back towards Helena, placing the bottle on the chair along with the crystals while holding the small knife in her hand ¡°Can you help me a bit? Hold her hand like this.¡± she pointed out to Shade, which did as he was told without the slightest delay.


    The woman made a cut on her wrist large enough to make blood flow without stopping, she threw the knife away and quickly opened the bottle she left on the chair along with the crystals, she poured the content on the wound, a black liquid sealed it off quickly. She dragged the small crystals across the liquid, making them go inside of her veins and upwards on her arm, the liquid slowly starting to glow blue inside of her. She held another crystal above her wrist, this one was blue which made those inside of her veins glow in a bright red. She started to move the crystal slowly across her body, which made both the crystals and liquid move through his body.


    ¡°She has a lot of poison in her system, look how blue its glowing and its not even half way yet.¡± she pointed out towards the liquid that had turned into almost a long blue snake moving inside of her ¡°Keep presure just above the cut so she doesn¡¯t lose blood.¡± she said with a rather calm voice to Shade as she continued to focus on getting the poison out.


    The whole process took over two hours. The blue poisoned snake that formed finally reached her left arm ¡°Give me the knife, quickly.¡± she raise her voice at Shade while extending her arm. He used a shadow like string to grab it and place it on her hand.


    She didn¡¯t even look at him, as soon as she felt the cold steel in her hand, she sliced open her other wris, making all the blue liquid flow out. Again she threw the knife away and grabbed the other bottle which she used before pouring the content on both wrists. This time a faint reaction of pain could be seen from Helena. She moved the large crystal she had in hand over Helena¡¯s wrists, which turned from blue to yellow, sealing her wounds.


    The old lady got up from the bed, sitting down on her floor, resting her back against the wall on the bedside. She looked towards Shade ¡°I did all i could, there shouldn¡¯t be any poison left in her body anymore.¡± she made a slight pause, wipping her face with a towel ¡°But it was there for quite some time and might have done some damage. I can¡¯t even say if she¡¯ll get better, but if she doesn¡¯t wake up in at most three weeks i don¡¯t think she¡¯ll make it.¡± she tried to exlained to him as best as she could and in the nicest way possible.


    Although he was paying attention to her and heard every word, his expression remained blank during the whole time, not even a blink. He just noded his head after she finished. He moved towards the window and started looking at the night¡¯s sky.


    The old lady went back to her room, while Shade remained there standing, looking outside through the window. The night passed by quickly since half of it was spent with treating Helena. The morning sun rised up, making Shade go away from the window. He looked at Helena for a bit before going out of the room.


    As he opened the door and on the other side the old lady was trying to come in with a plate filled up. There was a bowl of food on it while the rest of the things looked more like stuff to treat someone as welll as some of those stones she used yesterday ¡°I thought you might get hungry, so i¡¯ve brought you some food.¡± she pointed out towards the food, Shade moved out of the way letting her go in.


    She placed the bowl on a small table on the side of the room, making a gesutre for him to come and eat. He just stood next to the door, not carrying about the foot. Resting his back against the wall while observing her every move.


    She didn¡¯t insist at all on him eating it and moved up towards Helena, which was laying on the bed, her body covered with a blanket with her arms outside of it. She checked her out quickly to see if she got any better or worse. She grabbed the stones, placing four of them around her pillow, two on the left side and two on the right side, four more at her feet in the same manner and lastly one stone in both of her palms. Closing her hands and tieing them up with a clean rag to keep the stones in place.


    After finishing placing the stones and checking her wounds she left the room. Shade followed her towards the living room since he didn¡¯t have anything to do. The whole place was filled with light and the smell of flowers from all the plants hanging around. She sat down on her chair, turning her head towards Shade which was looking at the shelves filled with books ¡°How should I adrress you?¡± with tender voice she asked.


    He turned his head in her direction, making quite a pause before answering ¡°Shade.¡± his answer was straight.


    She got up from her chair and walked over to him, pulling out a book from the shelf ¡°You can call me Cyath.¡± she extended the book towards Shade ¡°If you are that interested in book, you can start with this one, you might learn something from it.¡±


    He didn¡¯t react at first, he only looked at the book¡¯s cover. It was covered with a greenish leather, rather old with no writing on it. He took it from her hand and started shuffling through it. It was well written and had some pictures from time to time showing some herbs as well as tools. Shade seemed to be quickly caught up by its content, but in just half an hour he managed to finished reading all of it.


    He went towards Cyath which was sitting on her chair reading her own book. He placed it on the small table on her right side.


    She looked at him ¡°Did you get bored of it already?¡± a smile showed up as she said it, almost as if she expected it to happen.


    But Shade¡¯s reply was something she didn¡¯t expect ¡°I finished it, can i get another one?¡± he asked with a straight and blunt face.


    She couldn¡¯t believe it that someone could finish such a large book this fast ¡°Sure, you can grab any from the shelf.¡± she said while making a gesture with her hand pointing towards it.


    Shade stood in front of the shelf, reading book after book and placing them back from where he got them. The lady would pass by him from time to time but he didn¡¯t even turn around, she even tried to make some sudden noises to see if he¡¯ll react. But nothing would make him flinch, not even when she cooked some delicous food that filled the air within the house, almost as if he wasn¡¯t there and what she was seeing was just a shadow.


    She soon gave up on him and went to check on Helena. She did so regulary, around five times a day, each day. No matter when she would go into the living room, Shade would be reading books, but the amount of books that were in the house wasn¡¯t that small so it would take him quite some time to finish them and maybe that¡¯s why he is even reading, to make time pass by faster.

 Mercenaries at the banquet

    Meantime in the glamours city of Nebula. Capital of the kingdom and home of the seventh king, Tolstoj Kilken. A great festival was being held in celebration to the kings first son¡¯s marriage. The whole city was filled up with music and cheers, the smell of food could be sensed from outside of the town. The taste of the wine that was being served was so good, you¡¯d remember it for the rest of your life. The whole city was bursting with life as people from many places came for this great day, either for the food or the simple fact of being present at such an event.


    At the palace another type of party was being thrown. One more suited for the upper class and befitting for that of a king. A splendid banquet, where all of the nobles have gathered. Each dressed even more elegant than the other. The finest of foods were served to the nobles, the best of the musicians would performe for them. The girls were dancing and entrancing the men around with their charming moves and voluptous bodies that were being exposed in certain places just so they can be even more seductive.


    Between the well dressed nobles, on the side of the whole party you could see seven figures, waiting there not as entertained as the rest. Nor in the mood of the shows they were being displayed, they were the Beasts of Grendel. Although some of them enjoyed the food and drinks, one remainds particulary indiferent almost as if he wanted to leave in any second. It was Archeon, he didn¡¯t seemto be fond of anything that he saw around him, you could see his expression filled with disgust when he looked around the room. Reason why he kept his eyes away from all of that and on the window, checking the outsides.


    And what kind of banquet would it be where humans wouldn¡¯t get into a conflict and start fighting. Be it for good reason or no reason at all, they always seeked that kind of thrill, be it them or others fighting it would be the same. Some nobles started dueling in the middle of the room. Fencing against others to prove their skills and what better reason than that to impress the girls around with their strength.


    Of course the fights would be just friendly, and the swords used would be some unsharpened rapiers. Multiple nobles took up the swords and fought against others, that seemed to cheer up the spirits around. Even the mercenaries seemed to enjoy the fights in a different kind of way then the rest. They were actually laughing at how pathetic and useless their sword play was and how much they looked like buffons swinging their fancy swords around.


    The laughing didn¡¯t last for long as the nobles around them, didn¡¯t take lightly as they were made fun of and instantly started making remarks about them and their rude behaviour until they spread through out the room. Reaching the ears of those more hot blooded which went at them starting to threaten and inslut their barberic looks and fighting styles, without knowing anything about them, until the point that Archeon had reached his limit.


    He moved away from the wall on which he was resting his back while looking outside. He walked passed by his friends that were in front of him around a table, eating. He was just a few steps ahead of them ¡°I just wanted some peace while i was waiting here, but it seems you fools always pick on those that make a joke or two about you, although you do the same to others.¡±


    The nobles around all felt insluted about his remark, some of the males even threw their gloves on the floor in front of Archeon challenging him to a duel ¡°If you got such a big mouth peasent why don¡¯t you put it on the line and come fight me?¡± a baron would say to him in a loud and angry tone. Getting quite some attention as he did so, making more and more people do the same.


    Archeon waited there patiently, taking all of their insults without saying a word and waiting for the best moment to get back at them. As the last gloves was thrown he¡¯d hit the floor with his leg right really hard. leaving cracks on it and making the whole room echo with a metallic sound from his greaves ¡°What¡¯s with the gloves? Is this some kind of laundry room? I though you nobles were a bit more mannered and well educated, but it seems you throw your clothes around more than children.¡±


    That made all those men grew angrier but at the same time it made some of the girls around laugh at all of them for doing this kind of gesture. His companions would laugh outloud without a bother and that just added to the amount of humiliation they received.


    ¡°Oh, you think yourself smart you damn peasent? How about we make that big mouth of yours even bigger! Don¡¯t worry i¡¯ll persoanlly do the same to your friends especially that elf bitch over there!¡± one of the nobles addressed him, licking his lips while giving looks towards Elion. He drew his sword and started swinging it towards Archeon¡¯s head.


    Kuang¡¯s face turned red from anger when he heard him and was almost about to jump on him and rip him to shredds if not for Varris and Elion stopping him. ¡°Calm down, let Archeon handle this.¡± Elion tried to calm him down a little.


    Archeon caught the swords thin blade with his hands. Squeezing it firmly unabling the noble from pulling it. The swords blade being unsharp it was all the more easier. He bent the swords blade until it looked like an ¡°L¡± with one hand before letting it go ¡°Seems like you are so eager to get beaten up that you can¡¯t hold your tongue. How about i have it cut?¡± Archeon said while walking towards the middle of the room where the fights were being held. All the nobles stepped away from him, clearing a small path, his companions followed him as well.


    There he picked up one of the swords from a table on which they were being displayed. Swinging it a bit before walking to the middle of the room. Seeing him do that Varris couldn¡¯t help but make a comment ¡°What are you planning on using that for Archeon? If you needed that much a toothpick we got plenty at camp.¡± before bursting into a laughter along with Nikas and Kuang. He completely ignored there dumb remarks and headed in the center of the circle.


    His opponent was already there, standing in a fencing stance with his sword up and his left hand behind his back ¡°I bet you never seen sword as fine as this. They might be unsharpen but they are still high quality.¡± the man started to praise the swords ¡°Compared to the sticks you are using this aren¡¯t something a parasite like you can afford.¡± the noble was taunting Archeon.


    At the same time Archeon¡¯s companions were betting ¡°I think he won¡¯t even use the sword and beat him up with his fists.¡± Nikas said while placing a small pouch on the table next to them.


    ¡°Nah, he¡¯s too pissed for that, he will knock him out with one hit.¡± Varris added, placing a pouch on the table as well.


    ¡°Considering how his mood is i think he will humiliate and torment him a little before finishing him off.¡± Kuang said taking a sit on the table, placing a small pouch by the rest.


    ¡°How about you Lao, Elion, Raiden? Not placing a bet?¡± Nikas addressed the rest. None of them replied back to him though. They were watching their captain getting ready for the fight, except for Raiden which was heading a little to the side.


    Kuang went towards Elion and Lao, just as he opened his mouth. Archeon closed distanced between him and the nobles kicking him in the stomach before dealing a hit with his elbow on his spine making him lay flat on the ground only seconds after the start.


    The shocked could be seen on everyone¡¯s faces at how easily Archeon won the match without even using the sword. The whole hall was completely silent until Varris bursted into a loud laugh hitting Nikas on this back a few times ¡°I told you that¡¯s gonna happen.¡± he couldn¡¯t help himself at all. Kuang was just pissed that he lost the bet, while Nikas was trying to sooth the pain from his back after Varri¡¯s hit.


    Archeon was still serious despite the good mood his comrades were in. He looked around at the nobles as if he was searching for pray. A noble shouted at him ¡°This should be a sword fight yet you fight your with bare hands? Just how much of a barberian can you be? You disgrace every swordsman.¡±


    The whole place got all lit up as nobles agreed on the mans remark, quickly picking on Archeon for not respecting his opponent. Archeon¡¯s comraed got a bit overwhelmed by the situation as everyone got angry. They didn¡¯t laugh anymore, but sat on their guards just in case some of the nobles would get any ideas.


    Varris came a bit closer to the rest as he was a bit distant, he turned his head to look at his mates when he saw something that got him all angry. He clenched his fist so hard that his knuckles would crack aloud, those around him look at his expression and saw how angry he was.


    When they turned into the direction he was looking at only to see Raiden flirting around with a bunch of girls ¡°RAIDEN!¡± Varris couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore and shouted at him, Nikas jumped in as well ¡°That¡¯s not fair man, leave some for us as well.¡± he went over to him as he said it, Kuang couldn¡¯t help himself and make a comment ¡°How about we share...¡± just about half way through and he received a slap from Elion, making his left cheek burn bright red from it ¡°Pervert.¡± she¡¯d say with a straight face and a pissed tone after which she moved a little to the side and looked at Archeon.


    ¡°Hey, no touching. You guys get your own girls!¡± he quickly push them aside and moved along with the girls, telling them all kinds of stories about himself.


    At that moment Archeon stomped again ¡°Are you done with your stupid arguments? If you can¡¯t even react to someone that¡¯s coming at you without a sword. You are just that useless. But if you want that badly to get beaten up with a sword then come over!¡± he started yelling at the nobles.


    For a moment it seemed that almost nobody dared take up the challenge. Someone finally stepped up in the circle. It was a young man with a massive body, compared to the rest of those around he did seem like someone who was training. ¡°Would you fucking quit talking? All you do is bark around like a damn dog.¡± the man moved to the table, grabbing a sword before stepping in the circle. ¡°Time to push you properly. I¡¯ll beat you so hard that even that whore of the mother that gave birth to you will fell sorry!¡± he charged at Archeon after ending his taunting.


    Each of Archeon¡¯s commrades face expressions changed upon hearing the nobels words. They were scared Archeon might actually snap and level this place. Despite their worries, Archeon was standing still, his face was calm, looking straight at his opponent. He left him approach and when he was close enough, he pierced his right hand, from the palm up to the elbow.


    The man dropped his sword and almost fell down, but instead backed away from him ¡°You bastard, you think you¡¯ll get away with injuring me? I¡¯ll make everyone around you regret for even knowing you!¡± he started to shout at Archeon while holding his wounded arm.


    Archeon didn¡¯t stop he followed him. Piercing his other hand in the same manner. That man¡¯s screams were echoing around the hall, but Archeon showed no sign of stopping. He pierced his legs until he couldn¡¯t stand.


    ¡°You fucking insect. You dare do this to me? I¡¯m gonna make you watch as i torture everyone you know before killing you!¡± the nobles eyes were almost bursting out from the pain and rage.


    ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of this rotten mouth of yours!¡± Archeon said as he pressed his knee on the man¡¯s chest, pulling a knife out from behind him. He punched his face until he couldn¡¯t resist anymore before finally cutting his tongue. ¡°I¡¯ve already had enough of your bullshits. You damn insects should learn how to crawl on the ground when you met someone that is above you!¡± Archeon¡¯s voice rang in the hall.


    All of the nobles present showed such disrespectful looks as they watched him. To them he was nothing more than a peasent who gained some power and now was just showing off in front of them. Many were thinking how to cut him off already.


    ¡°You humans are nothing more than parasites in my eyes. Always looking for something to infect and destroy. You are nothing more than a cancer!¡± Archeon continued, his words getting harsher each time he opened his mouth.


    Some of the nobles didn¡¯t let him bad mouth them like that ¡°A peasent like you dares address us, nobles like that? You should watch your tongue or you might not live to see tomorrow!¡± they threaten him to mind his place.


    ¡°You humans really think you are that high and mighty? Bullshit, you are nothing in my eyes. I will call all of you as i please, i will treat it you as i want and you won¡¯t do a thing, because i¡¯m a High-Human, not some lowly scumbags like you. So unless you want me to cut each one of you down, you better bind your mouths shut.¡± Archeon¡¯s seemed to have calmed down a little after all that.


    No one dared to make anymore comments towards him after hearing him out. They couldn¡¯t do so even if they wanted. A high-humanw as a race that was above them, someone that had reach another plain of existance. Although some were still schemeing around they wouldn¡¯t dare make a commotion anymore.


    Anoter one of them decided to step up and challenge him to a duel again. It was someone well build, like tha man before. You could see on his body that he practised swordsmanship as well as fought in some battles and although his worked up body his face was rather gentle with a well trimmed mustache. He was shaved on the sides of his head with his hair leaned backwards, he got in the same stance as the one before. But unlike him he was holding the sword much firmer and his posture solid although he was completely relaxed ¡°How about for a duel sir?¡± he addressed Archeon in unexpected way, which didn¡¯t seem to mind his request.


    They both stood in the middle of the circle of people, a few meters away from each other ¡°I¡¯m baron Greenwatch Floyd.¡± he made a salute gesture as he said his name, then going back to his stance.


    Archeon looked at his opponent with a blunt face, a bit calmer than earlier ¡°I¡¯m Archeon Kerames, Captain of the Beasts of Grendel.¡± his name was enough to make the whole place silent, the only people still talking were his comrads. Mostly Raiden as he was boosting around and showing off to the girls, outside of them everyone kept their mouths shut as they knew how strong he actually was as well as his feats. They knew he wasn¡¯t someone to mess around with.


    The baron didn¡¯t ponder around on the matter and charged straight ahead at his opponent which simply stepped to the side of his attack. Hitting the man¡¯s sword away with his palm as he pointed his at the opponents neck ¡°Guess its my win.¡± Archeon said with a dull voice as he took a few steps back.


    The man falling slightly back in surprise ¡°That everything you got? Come at me if you think you can touch me!¡± he shouted at the Floyd which regained his posture but just as he got back in the stance Archeon rushed at him grabbing his opponents sword with his hand so hard that he pulled it out of his grip at the same time pointing his at his neck ¡°That is the difference between a real fight and a charade. You use everything you know to survive. Only thing you entertain there is your life as death laughs at us all no matter what we do.¡±


    The baron with which he fought took a step back from his, letting Archeon lower his sword. Floyd took a bow towards Archeon ¡°It was an interesting match, short, but interesting.¡± he¡¯d address him while starting to clap. Some of the other nobles started clapping as well, but not everyone felt the same.


    ¡°It was a nice lesson, i hope to get the chance to duel you again in the future.¡± the baron continued, extending his hand towards Archeon for a handshake, at which he didn¡¯t quite reply as he was looking at it oddly almost as if he was sceptical.


    Just as he was about to reach out to the baron¡¯s handshake and in the whole room the groom and bride made their way. The groom was dressed up in such an elegant and glamerous manner that all of the girls in the room had their eyes glewed on him, but his bride was beyond that, although her dress was quite exquisite with a very elegant and slik design. Her beauty was what was captivating all the attention as no one knew anything about her.


    Archeon threw the sword back on the table as he went back to his comrades. He had no interest in the prince or his little bride. He already had his fill of nobles for one day and was in no mood of dealing with an even more arogant one. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Hey, Archeon.¡± Zhan Lao would address him in a low voice ¡°Isn¡¯t that the star we escorted to Hazefol? What is she doing here?¡± he pointed towards the bride in a very subtile manner. He shifted his eyes towards where Lao was pointing in a moment, noticing the unique radiance she was giving. It was indeed the one that had captured and escorted to Hazefol.


    He pondered for a moment. Thinking what could have happened and how did she reach this place he was sure that she couldn¡¯t get away from Shade plus Helena wasn¡¯t someone to let things slip through her fingers or did something else happen that prevented them from reaching her. He shook off his thoughts as he got up from his chair and went towards the bride, his comrads looked at him a bit shocked as they didn¡¯t saw the star, but Lao made sure to let each one of them know and get on guard just in case.


    Both the prince and the star were completely surrounded by guests who were wishing them all sorts of things. Almost all the girls gathered around the prince while the men went towards the star, of course they were both close to one another, only a meter or two between them.


    Archeon made his way between the men in a rude manor, pushing them aside as he went towards her. They would step aside as they saw a fully armed man walk forward, they wouldn¡¯t dare say something to him considering the power display form earlier. He stopped behind a few nobles for he did not want to atract to much attention from the prince as he was just about the next one to greet her.


    The noble ahead of him made a deep bow and expressed his gratitude for the invitation as well as his good wishes towards her and her future husband. It seemed that none of them were allowed to touch her in any way.


    As Archeon¡¯s turn came he stepped forwards doing the same bow gesture as the noble before him but unlike him, he took her hand giving it a kiss. Everyone was shocked by his gesture as the prince had instructed everyone to not even dare touch her. Archeon had no way of knowing that, or maybe didn¡¯t care about it, as such he continued to hold her hand as he stood back up. The star showed no sign of being bothered by it or try to remove her hand from his ¡°Its a pleasure to meet you milady. You may not know but this is our second time meeting.¡± he¡¯d say to her with a smile on his face. At this time some of the nobles got the prince¡¯s attention to look at his birde as he was too caught up with the nobles to notice what happened.


    ¡°I see you aren¡¯t enjoy this party either. How about i make you smile for the night?¡± Archeon continued to talk to her, but the prince came over in that instant. He placed his hand on her hips, pulling her closer to him, making her slightly lose balance as he did it so suddenly.


    ¡°And how might you make me bride happy you clown? I though i made sure that all guests are too dress up as elegant as possible yet someone had the gals of dressing up as if going to a circus?¡± the prince¡¯s tone raised as he continued talking, his voice reaching its peak as he reached the end, everyone¡¯s attention was focused on them.


    But Archeon completely ignored his remark about the way he was dressed ¡°That is none of your buisness. And if i were you. I would be showing some gratitude for i am the one who rescued this star from the place she had fallen in!¡± Archeon raised his tone as well, matching that of the prince.


    The prince didn¡¯t like that at all, not only did someone dared confront him but he did so in front of so many people and in front of his bride. It was almost as if his mind went blank for a moment.


    Archeon turned back to the star ¡°He looking for you restlessly even as we speak and i¡¯m sure he will soon find his way to you.¡± he told the star while smiling at her.


    At this point the prince was boiling with rage as someone dared not only touch his bride but also talk about other men in his presence. In his rage he punched Archeon with all he got ¡°Know you place scum, i am the prince while you are nothing but some pleb in this palace.¡± the prince started to yell ¡°Guards take this man away and have him whipped¡± he yelled for the guards to come.


    Some of the guards headed over as most of the guests started to whisper between themslves mockeries and such. Their smiles growing wide as someone was about to get beaten up, such a sick and disguting form of entertainment they had.


    Archeon turned his head back towards the prince. The punch he received did no damage at all, he looked straight into his eyes as he talked to him ¡°You think yourself to high and mighty little prince. You are the one who should know his place.¡± in that instant Archeon grabbed his neck and lifted him up, holding him in air ¡°How is it? To be truly held high?¡± he¡¯d ask him. All of his men rushed over to his side through the crowd, forming a circle around him with their weapons drawn, blocking anyone who might try to come to the prince¡¯s aid.


    The prince tried to set himself free from his grip. He struggled but to no avail. He smirked as he looked down at Archeon ¡°You think you¡¯ll get away with this? I know exactly who you are Archeon, you can¡¯t do anything to me and you will get punished for this as well. You have no power what so ever.¡± he struggled to breath as he reached the end. Archeon¡¯s grip tightening around his neck. He gave him a defying smile and threw him on the floor away from where he was. People got out of the way, letting the prince slide on the floor, stopping in one of the tables that were around, making all the food and drinks spill over him.


    The prince got up like a raging bull, drawing his sword as well as yelling at everyone around ¡°Everyone, grab your weapons this will be a public execution!¡± making all sorts of aggressive gestures with his hands. But nobody did anything as the king entered the room along with his personal guards and the chanceller.


    Everyone bowed their heads as the king made his way over. When the prince noticed the king a large and wicked smile grew on his face ¡°YOU ARE DEAD!¡± he yelled to Archeon ¡°Father i have a request. I want the public execution of all memebers of The Beasts of Grendel!¡± with an aggressive tone he¡¯d address his father as he pointed towards Archeon which was sitting close to the star and surrounded by his men with their weapons drawn.


    The king was about to talk to his son just as the chanceller interrupted him, his voice ragging at Archeon which did no bowed before the king and even treated the prince poorly in front of his bride and his loyal subjects ¡°You lowly insect, you step into this palace with the kings invitation and dare cause problems in a place in which you normally had no hopes of reaching in a million years? You commoners should learn your place and keep your faces in the dirt all the time since that¡¯s the only place that welcomes you!¡±


    With each word he¡¯d step towards Archeon, drawing his sword ¡°You should pay for this kind of insolence, i shall personally cut off one of your hands...¡± and with those words he ended his fate as multiple slashes and arrows cutted and impaled him to the ground, Archeon¡¯s comrades chopped him to pieces.


    Archeon stood there smiling, he started to walk towards where the channceller¡¯s pieces laid and stepped over his head, crushing it under his foot ¡°Anyone else got a word to say?¡± Archeon said with a loud voice so everyone could hear.


    All those present were shocked by such an event. The star stood there traumatized as she was surrounded by his men, although none of them were looking at her. Not even the prince dared to open his mouth anymore as he did not think that he had the guts to actually attack someone of high nobility and in a place such as this. All the soldiers that stood with their spears lowered, bows charged ready to attack were trembling, but one person stood forward and shouted back at him ¡°ARCHEON!!! I called you here for a reason! Or have you already forgotten? Or maybe its simply you don¡¯t care about the thing we talked and i can simply dispose of it.¡± the king¡¯s tone going form a very loud one to a more mild, smiling at the end.


    The king¡¯s words made Archeon order his friends to stand down and go back to where they were. Leaving him alone in front of the king with all of the soldiers behind him. The star quickly rushed over to where the prince was, hiding behind him as the king walked closer to Archeon, standing right in front of him.


    As the king was about to say something the prince rushed over. His fear all gone as he seen his chance he got all ralied up. He started punching Archeon in the stomach as strong as he could, but he just made a slight bow with his head from all that, his face turned red seeing how little his punch did. He continued to punch him a few more times before the king stopped him ¡°That¡¯s enough my son, i have important matters to discuss with him, you go and tend to your wife, she must be scared by all of this.¡± he said with a gentle tone towards his son. That gave Archeon time to recover and straighten his posture as he looked with defying eyes at both the king and the prince which was leaving.


    They both went to the side of the room, a few of the guards followed them over. The king sat down on a chair making a sign for Archeon to sit down as well ¡°Take a sit so we may begin.¡± but he stood there in front of him, refusing to sit down. The king left out a sigh before continuing ¡°Stubborn as always, as you wish.¡± he took out a scroll from his pocket and placed it on the table ¡°You are to escort my other son, the first prince to the city of the third king, Venersis Canduceus. Venersis has asigned the captain of his guards to wait for you at the castle gates, you are to hand him over this letter.¡±


    After the king finished talking Archeon asked him back ¡°And why is it that you asked me to do this task, are the imperial guards so incompetent?¡± he asked with a smile on his face ¡°Or is it that you trust a mercenary more than your own men.¡± he chuckled as he finished.


    The king got up from his chair, moving closer to Archeon and placing a hand on his shoulder ¡°I need good men who can move in small numbers and what other could i hire but the great Archeon.¡± he squeezed his shoulder, which made Archeon twitch slightly ¡°And remember about your payment, make sure the prince reaches his destination without harm or who knows what might happen.¡± he removed his hand as he walekd away. After a few steps he turned his head back to Archeon ¡°You will be departing tomorrow at sun rise. Ah, and make a small party for this as i don¡¯t wish for people to find out about it.¡± with that the king took his leave.


    Archeon looked at him go with a grim face before turning his attention to the table. He grabbed the letter and rushed towards the door to leave. He made a gesture with his hand in the direction of his companions to move out. They caught up with him as he approached the door, leaving the palace.


    While walking away from the palace Kuang asked Archeon ¡°Why did you order us to leave? We could have beat the crap out of those guys and leave without a problem.¡± he seemed angry for leaving things like that and by the fact that the prince started punching Archeon.


    ¡°You know all too well, we couldn¡¯t have done that. We would have had a huge bounty on our heads and everyone in this kingdom would hunt for us. Plus that would make things a bit harder for us as the Guilds wouldn¡¯t accept wanted people for tasks.¡± Elion responded back to him.


    ¡°Archeon, if i may. What is the reward the king mentioned that you were willing to take such a humiliation as getting beaten up in public as well as dismiss us.¡± Nikas was curious on the matter, the same thing could be said about everyone around him.


    ¡°He has a friend of mine kept prisoner, she is one of my people with which i fought alongside for a long time. But as he found out about our race he locked up everyone that was still alive in different places. I only found out about her and it was lucky she is still alive.¡± Archeon¡¯s tone was down as he talked about it.


    ¡°Why do that bastards mission? We could hang the prince somewhere as we leave tomorrow and head over to save this girl.¡± Varris said in an aggressive manner, hitting his fists against each other as he was eager to assault a prison.


    But Archeon shook his head ¡°If only i knew where she was. Not even Lao was able to find anything out about her or in which prison he keep her locked up. We can¡¯t afford to do so until we know where.¡±


    Everyone was a bit surprised as they heard that not even Lao was able to find anything about it. They started to understand that it wasn¡¯t that simple as to rush over and resuce her. ¡°Let¡¯s head back and rest for the night, we shall see to our mission tomorrow.¡± Archeon broke the silence ¡°And don¡¯t linger on such things, that is my problem not yours.¡±. They headed back to where the inn they were staying at was to get some rest.


    Meanwhile at the party the prince took his leave a bit early after the incidents with Archeon, of course he took his bride along with him. They were heading towarsd their chambers, which were specially prepaird for such a day. Neither of them knew what to expect as they have not seen it yet.


    As they were walking through the halls towards their chambers, she would gradually start shinning. Emitting a warm light as he was holding her hand and leading the way. The prince would notice the bright light coming from behind him, but at this point he was already used to it since he had spent the past three months in her company and knows her habbits all to well.


    After a walk through the halls they reached their chambers, a large room, well decorated with various pantings and elegant furniture, a huge bed with lots of pillows, the whole place had lots of flowers placed everywhere. The floor and bed were covered in red petals. That made the star shine even more as her cheeks slightly turned red from the view as the whole room was lighten up by the moon¡¯s light.


    On the side of the room and a large balcony with a clear opening over a garden filled with flowers, a river was passing by that garden which made the place all the more charming. The girl rushed over to the balcony as soon as they entered the room, she seemed to really enjoyed looking up a the clear night sky. She looked at them with a large and radiant smile and just like them she would start to shine.


    But her radiance was cut short as the prince was in a bad mood from earlier. He placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her around so she would look at him ¡°What was it that that man earlier was talking about? You know that i will not allow anyone, no matter who they are, to take you away from me!¡± he whispered to her while running his fingers through her hair. His other hands sliding down on her arm and finding its resting place on her hips, pulling her closer so he could kiss her.


    She placed a finger on his lips, denying his kiss as she responded back ¡°I¡¯m afraid there is nothing you can do.¡± she said while lowering her head. A trace a sadness could be found in her voice ¡°If what that man said is true, there isn¡¯t anyone that can do something. For what comes to get me is not man nor beast, but something above all else.¡± she turned around, placin both of her hands on the blacony looking down at the flowers.


    The prince came behind her, wrapping his hands around her, holding her tight without saying anything for a while ¡°Be it god or a demon i won¡¯t let them have you and will do everything in my power to protect you.¡± he said with a loud tone. Almost as if he wanted to show his determination.


    He lifted her up in his arms and carried her inside, laying her down on the bed. He went on the other side of the bed and sat down beside her, she would turn towards him, resting her head on his wide chest with one hand across him. ¡°Seems like you know the one that¡¯s going to come for you, tell me how is he?¡±


    She was surprised by his question, she giggled a bit before moving her head to look at his face ¡°Someone is jealous.¡± she told him with a sweet smirk on her face and just as he was about to say something she pressed her finger against his lips again, stopping him as she continued ¡°He is terryfing, someone that would stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. He¡¯s like fire and ice and wrath. His rage is like a calm sea, ready to swallow everything in one wave. He is gentle and calm like the night but at the same time merciless like a hurricane. He is ancient and forever. He burns at the center of everything and can see the turn of the universe. And he is wonderful.¡± while she was talking, her left hand would move gently across his chest. When she finished she gave him a kiss on his cheek and looked at him with a smile on her face.


    The prince, rolled over the girl, pinning her under him. Restricting her movements while moving his head closer to hers and kissing her forehead, her nose and finally her lips, after a while he¡¯d break the kiss ¡°From what you¡¯ve said it sounded like you loved this god.¡± the prince said to her as his face got slightly darker.


    She didn¡¯t fight back or try to free herself at all, she let things be as they were ¡°At first i fought him in order to live until a point where i couldn¡¯t fight anymore, then something happened. Something strange... and finally i ended up in this place.¡± her voice was slowly cracking up as she was continuing, a few tears ran down on her cheeks.


    As he was listening to her, he couldn¡¯t help but feel bad for even asking about it in the first place. He gently moved his hand across her cheeks, wipping her tears away ¡°So he is the one to blame for this? I can say i¡¯m glad to get to meet you¡±.


    But the girl was already too sad to even open her mouth without releasing a wave of tears, but instead she just noded her head and wrapped her hands around him, pulling him down, holding him close to her as she tried to comfort herself in his warmth.


    He wrapped one hand around her while with the other he gently patted her head, trying to calm her down as well as giving her kisses on her forehead ¡°Its alright, i¡¯ll make sure he will never find you and i will make you forget all about him.¡± he whispered in her ear with a soft voice.


    His hands moved slowly down on her dress, slowly pulling it down until it was completely off. She sat there before him wearing only a black corset and underwear which made her skin seem even whiter than it should be. He kiss her lips again while moving the tips of his fingers over her skins towards her bust. Undoing her corset and revealing her beautiful bossom at the same time breaking from the kiss and wrapping his hands around her breasts. Fondling them while he¡¯d move his mouth from one to the other, teasing them equally while pressing his knee between her legs.


    The star would release soft moans of pleasure, enough make any man lose his calm if they heard her. But the prince kept his concentration and focused on doing things in a slow pace. After a short tease of her breasts, his hands moved over her skin down towards her panties. Removing them slowly while keeping his eyes locked onto the expression she was making as he was sucking onto her breast.


    He got up as soon as he removed her underwear, he looked down on her as she layed there completely exposed before him, her chest going up and down at a fast pace as she was breathing heavily from all the stimulation he gave her. He undressed himself quickly before going back down. His hands grabbed her inner thighs, spreading her legs open while lowered himself onto her, kissing and softly bitting her neck as he gently made love with her.


    She¡¯d bite onto her lower lip, silent moans slipping through, until she¡¯d finally open her mouth completely to grasp for air. She was enjoy it more and more to the point that she couldn¡¯t close her mouth anymore. Loud moans of pleasure could be heard even from outside of the room. Despite her efforts to keep them in, it was too much for her as she gave in to the feelings of pleasure.

 The escort

    Just before the break of dawn Archeon along with four of his comrades made their way towards the palace to get the prince and departe on their mission. He left behind Kuang and Ellion to take care of the troops.


    Guards where already waiting in place, all around the gates, even more so inside. Nobody stopped them as they walked through the main gates on their horses. Just as they went in the main court and the prince seemed to be already up and ready to go. Without too much chatter Archeon made a sign to leave quickly.


    No one saw them leaving that place except for the guards that were on duty.The prince gave them a friendly salute as they were riding towards the city gates ¡°Its a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Archeon. My name is prince Richard Tolstoj. And you must be his loyal captains, if i¡¯m not mistaking. It will be a pleasure to have you as escorts.¡± the prince spoke with them in a friendly manner unlike his younger brother which was so impuslive, although he had his reasons.


    Archeon didn¡¯t bother with too much of a reply ¡°Greetings to you too. If you are okay with it, we should leave the city quickly so nobody spots us.¡± he said without even turning towards him, the prince couldn¡¯t do anyhting but agree with him.


    The first rays of light caught them already outside of the royal city, making their way through a dense forest away from the main roads as they tried to avoid being seen as much as possible. It would be a long road ahead, as it would take them at least one week to reach at a normal pace.


    They¡¯d avoid the main roads and some of the towns so they wouldn¡¯t be recognized by anyone. Although wearing cloaks and keeping their faces covered there always is the chance of something happening and getting spotted. As such they kept away from populated places which made their journey a bit longer than intended. For that reason they would ride all day long, since the crack of dawn till the dark would make them stop.


    The only problem their journey had was the wild beasts that would prey in the woods. The untravelled roads which slowed them down. And of course the prince getting exhausted from all the riding and so little hours of sleep. He was not used to ride for this long and sleep so little.


    ¡°Sir Archeon, can we make camp early today? I feel like i can¡¯t go any longer, i¡¯m exhasuted from all of the riding. I can¡¯t even feel my legs that well anymore.¡± he could stop complaining about all sorts of things ¡°I know its been just three days, but i feel like i could collapse anytime now.¡± the prince was talking while trying to catch his breath, his horse moving slower and slower.


    Archeon looked around them, they were traveling through a road in a small forest. There were no towns or villages near this forest so there were low chances of people passing by. He couldn¡¯t do anything but do as the prince request.


    Since he did need to bring him there in one piece and healthy, which would be a bit of a problem if they continued like this. ¡°Very well, we shall take a break now. Look for a place to camp.¡± They looked for a place to camp, away from the road and well covered. In case someone would actually pass by this parts.


    Finding an small open space by the trunk of a big old tree. The ground was just nice to sleep on since it was covered in a thick pile of leafs, it wouldn¡¯t be as comfortable as a bed but still better than sleeping on the ground.


    Varris went and gathered some firewood from the surroundings. Lao was out hunting while Raiden was making space around for a fire as well as laying some blankets on the leafs to use as beds. After he finished, he got out the pan and some bowls, he started to chop some vegetables to cook along with the meat that Lao would bring for their meal for the night.


    Archeon had to keep watch on the prince which was looking around the forest, admiring the place. There was nothing he could tell him as it was mentioned to leave him alone during the journey, unless he¡¯d do anything too dangerous, as such he was stuck with guarding him.


    Time flied swiftly for the prince, much less for Archeon which was stuck with him. When they returned to where they set camp, the stew was already done and the rest were already eating it. Of course they keep a share for both the prince and their captain. The stew smelt delicious and it seemed that Lao caught a nice deer as there was a lot of meat in their bowls.


    ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind this kind of treatment your majesty. We don¡¯t have any fancy plates or silver spoons around with us.¡± Varris would joke around while eating to pass some time.


    The prince reacted quite unexpectedly towards his joke ¡°Its really nice, to be able to eat and travel like this, althogh tedious. I do have to say i enjoyed our trip thus far.¡± he wouldn¡¯t stop smiling as he talked, which surprised not only Varris but those around him as well.


    Seems like everyone was expecting him to whine some more about the conditions he was forced to travel, sleep and eat in. But as the prince seemed to be more carefree, they all had some nice laugthers around.


    ¡°Your higness, if i may. How did your brother ended up marrying such a fine girl?¡± Raiden suddenly asked the prince out of the blue. Everyone stopped laughing as they too wanted to know what happened since they remember they left Hecate and Shade to recover her. But instead she somehow managed to end up in the prince¡¯s hands.


    Richard had a worried look on his face as he was recalling. Almost as if he was hesitating to tell them ¡°I do not know how he met her or where he even found her. But one thing i call tell you. Around three months ago there was a huge ruckus at the palace as my brother opened up a portal to come back home instead of coming on horse back. I remember that all the physicians in the town were called over since almost all of the soldiers that managed to come back were heavily wounded, some more than others. Out of his two hundred soldiers, only twenty soldiers made it back and barely.¡± the prince let out a huge sigh, taking a break. ¡°Even my brother who¡¯s quite stronge had some serious wounds. The only one that was safe and healthy was that girl, which my brother was holding in his arms. And since then he took good care of her, he seemed to have grown really fond of that girl.¡±


    Everyone was quiet as they listened to Richard. Archeon was lost in though as what could have happened. Was Shade the one attacking the prince and his men, all kind of scenarios flashed through his mind. As he came back to it he noticed that almost everyone went to sleep, except for Lao which was staying on guard. He kept him company for a while longer before going to sleep as well.


    At first light they set off. The prince feeling better after sleeping for a longer time as well as resting better cause of the leafs. The morning was nice and warm, but later in the afternoon it got all cloudy. They kept moving as before until the dark of the night would make them stop and call it a day, luckly for them it had started raining.


    The next day was a bit nicer as there were no clouds, but the wind was blowing strong which made them go slower since the prince had problems riding. As they appraoched the edge of the forest they heard a group of people yelling around.


    Lao went up ahead to check the place out then came back to report ¡°Seems like there is a bandit camp ahead, they are only fifteen from what i¡¯ve counted, some more could be out hunting, there is also six prisoners, they seem to be merchants.¡± he talked with a calm and indifferent voice.


    As soon as the prince heard there were prisoners he couldn¡¯t help but want to rescue them as such he ordered Archeon ¡°We won¡¯t take another step forward in our journey, until we rescue those poor souls. There shan¡¯t be any robberies on my lands, not while i¡¯m around and aware of them.¡± he tried to sound like a courages and honours man, but he was still asking others to do it.


    Archeon let out a sigh almost facepalming himself ¡°Next time you report the situation Lao, make sure you do it only for me.¡± he couldn¡¯t help but make that remark while getting off his horse. ¡°We shall take care of this matter swiftly and without causing a comottion. Varris and Raiden you shall walk with the prince towards them as if you are traveling on this road. Defend his majesty if the need arises. Lao try to take the archers out, i will go behind them and deal with those around the prisoners. We shall kill them as fast and silent as possible.¡± all of them noded towards Archeon as they got into position.


    The prince complied to what Archeon suggested. He went down the road towards the bandits camp along with Varris and Raiden which acted as his guards. Soon being able to see the blocked that was in the middle of the road.


    They were spotted by the bandit scouts rather quickly which reported back to their leader which was in the back. Most of them went to great their new pray with shining eyes. ¡°Greetings good sirs, what brings you through this parts?¡± one of the bandits had asked the three people that appraoched their camp, which was in the middle of a road. The bandits were all wearing leather armour as for the one who addressed them, he was wearing plated armour like that of a knight.


    ¡°I¡¯m going towards the city of Alathim. What is this about soldier?¡± the prince kept his cool and with a straight face addressed them in such a way so they wouldn¡¯t get suspicious.


    The one from before smiled as he checked both of them with his eyes ¡°This is just a check out, we are looking for some thives. We¡¯ll need to bother your honours with a search before, we can¡¯t let you pass like that.¡± the man said as his smile turned sly.


    While they were being distracted by the prince, Lao took care of the archers that were sitting on higher position to spot anyone that might be coming. He climbed behing the first one that was on a tree and from there he threw multiple knives towards the rest. Each one of them hitting their targets in the head, making them fall down from their position.


    Archeon as well quickly slashed through the guards that were positioned by the prisoners as if they were made of wool. Their bodies fell to the ground chopped in pieces. He made a sign towards the prisoners to keep quiet until they deal with the rest of the bandits.


    Both Archeon and Lao moved towards the group that was sitting in front of the prince and their comrades, they slashed them up in a blink of a eye before they could even react, some managed to turn around as they heard something drop to the ground. Only to notice their fallen comrades, but before they could even open their mouths they fell in the same way. In a matter of five minutes they cleared the whole camp withou making a single noise. The prince held his mouth with his hand as he was both shocked and digusted by the gruesome scene that happened in front of him.


    ¡°Was it really necessary to kill them? Couldn¡¯t you have just knocked them out and then leave them to the soldiers?¡± Richard tried to reason with Archeon after his violent actions, his face still shocked from what happened.


    Archeon didn¡¯t bother with him at all, he completely ignored what he said while they resumed their journey. Already losing enough time from breaks and the incident just now. Their travel being delayed way too much from avoiding the main roads so every incident they had would only delay them more.


    One week has passed since Archeon has left the city along with prince Richard. He almost made half of his journey towards the city of Alathim. Meanwhile at the royal palace in Neptunia, the king, Tolstoj, was reviewing military campaings and tactics along with his generals. It seemed like they were about to get their easter boarder invaded by their neiboughring country with quite a large army of over 100.000 soldiers.


    ¡°Sire, i suggest we deploy our troops as soon as possible to defend the boarder. We have around 5.000 soldiers stationed at the fortres that stands in the way of the invasion. If we move now we could make it in time.¡± a tall man wearing a palted armour with the crest of an eagle on his chest stood up. You could see the amount of battles he went through from the scares on his hands and face.


    Everyone around started to discuss amongst themselves about the options they had in order to counter this attack. The king made them go silent with a hit of his fist on the table ¡°You do not need to worry of such matter for i already have a way to deal with it. With the minimum amount of casualties on our side.¡± the king made a wicked grine as he said it, getting up from his sit at the table and heading towards the window.


    At that time one of the general stood up ¡°What would that plan be your highness?¡± the one who asked was none other than Pallas, which was curious on his method of dealing with such a huge army. His voice would echo through the room, which made all of the other generals pay attention as they picked their interests about the tactis their king had thought.


    ¡°I¡¯ve sent Archeon and his best men to escort Richard to Alathim.¡± he made a slight pause while turning around towards the table ¡°He will take at least two weeks to reach his destitation as i instructed him to avoid all main roads.¡± he couldn¡¯t help but smile at this point ¡°He left his soldiers in this town until he would return. We shall use his army to deal with the invaders, they should be able to hold on until Archeon hears about their locations and rushes over there.¡±


    Everyone was surprised by the kings idea, some of the generals were displeased about it as it involved taking advantage of someone in such a manner. Not to mention making one of the strongest persons in the continent their enemy. But the majority of them started to clap as they agreed with their king. Most of the generals didn¡¯t like Archeon or his band of mercenaries since they wouldn¡¯t serve any lord and showed such defiance towards any nobles.


    Pallas walked towards the king with a delighted face, he couldn¡¯t help but smile since he could finally get back at Archeon for the incident at Hazefol ¡°Your highness, that is the most brilliant plan. But i can¡¯t help but wonder, how will you convince his men to move?¡± his question was indeed a good one as none of Archeon¡¯s men wouldn¡¯t go anywhere without his orders and most likely they received their orders not to do so until his return.


    King Tolstoj sat back on his chair and clapped his hands. The doors of the room were opened by the guards and a tall man dressed in strange clothes walked in. His looks were terryfing as the plates on his wide shoulders had spikes, the cloak that was being dragged behind him was all ragged but left a strange aura on the ground. He was covering his head with a hood under which you could barely see his face only his eyes would be spotted as they shined in a redish manner. In his right hand he was holding a long scythe with a horrific blade, at the joint of the blade with the handle a skull was laying. All over his weapon various symboles could be seen, but no one could understand them. A truly monstrous figure had been welcomed into that room. As the man approached the king he stopped a few meters away and made a deep bow towards him.


    The king applauded the man that walked into the room ¡°This man here, gentelmen, is none other than the notorious necromancer Kala-hazar Faust.¡± You could almost see the smile beneath the necromancers hood as the king said his name. The generals couldn¡¯t believe that such a dangerous man was allowed to enter the capital, most of them were keeping their hands on the hilts of their swords as soon as they saw him walk in. ¡°He will be the one to help use convince Archeon¡¯s men to move to the boarder and intercept the enemy army.¡±


    Nobody dared ask any questions any further as they¡¯ve already guessed that his majesties plans would involve the necromancer. Using his powers to bring back someone dead and make use of them in order to fufill his plans as such.


    Later that day, in the evening the two that were left to watch over the members of the Beasts of Grendel were summoned by king regarding a message from Archeon. Both Elion and Kuang were hesitant as someone from palace came to them with an invitation from the king.


    Although they¡¯ve been told it was a message from Archeon they still had second thoughts, but in the end had went to the palace. Fully armed and ready for anything since Archeon did mention that the king was using someone dear to him as a mean to control him. They were escorted in the palace by the guards. Soon reaching the room where the king was, the whole place was filled with over 100 of the best soldiers along with four of his generals. Pallas being amongst them.


    Still both of them walked inside and headed towards the king. Without making any bow or gesture Kuang cut it straight ¡°What is the message Archeon had for us?¡± his voice was loud and deep as if he was the king there and not the other way around.


    Although some of the generals around were about to say something to him for now showing any respect they remembered about how the last person was treated by them so they stopped.


    The king addressed to them in a peaceful tone ¡°I had requested Archeon to go and help defend the eastern border, after completing his task. He found it hard to refuse. As such you are to deploy your troops there as he will head straight there.¡± he told the two that were sitting in front of him with a straight and calm face.


    He knew something wasn¡¯t right, although he knew the deal with their leader and the king he still found it hard to believe ¡°Good joke old man, you can even tell me that i¡¯m gonna be the next king of this country. I¡¯d still wouldn¡¯t believe you, unless you show me proof.¡± he mocked the king right in front of everyone there and none could do anything since the king told them to stand by.


    ¡°It is as you say.¡± the king replied while clapping his hands twice. The doors opened wide and a man from the temple of Inga had entered the room. ¡°This man is the one is responsible for the conversation between me and Archeon. As you might have guessed he is a priest at the temple of Inga. And i think you know as well that they cannot lie.¡± although obvious from the goddess that they serve, the king flet like saying it again.


    Although the man was dressed as such, Kuang didn¡¯t feel convinced at all, but Elion on the other hand has noticed his way of walking as well as how he was behaving, not denying or saying anything, his calm nature,


    ¡°Very well, i shall ask him myself.¡± Elion has said towards the king, which made a sign with his hand inviting her to go ahead. ¡°Did the king ask Archeon about moving his soldiers to the Eastern border and meet with him there?¡± her question was just on point.


    The monk made a deep bow before her, holding his hands as if he was praying. He noded his head twice before talking ¡°Yes, that is correct.¡± he gave a short reply


    ¡°Did Archeon agree upon the kings request?¡± she continued while looking keenly at him and his every reaction.


    He made the same gesture before answering ¡°Indeed he did.¡± same kind of reply as before. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    This just confirmed Elion¡¯s assumptions about him truly being a servant of Inga. She turned towards the king and with a calm yet threatening voice ¡°Very well, we shall depart as Archeon has ordered. Make sure your troops are well informed of our arrivel and won¡¯t get in our way. The slightest mistake they make towards us will result in their heads rolling.¡± it was quite terryfing how a beautiful elf such as her said this kind of things with a tone so calm and relaxing, that it sent chills down the spins of the soldiers that were around.


    After she finished talking with the priest and the king, both Kuang and Elion left the throne room without even a notice. While they were walking outside of the palace, heading towards the tavern. Kuang placed his hand over Elions shoulder pulling her over to him ¡°Such a cold and merciless elf.¡± he said to her with a gentle voice after which he gave her a kiss on the cheek. It seemed to have an effect as she blushed slighty, the tip of her ears turning pink ¡°But you know, that place smelled foul. As if there was something dead in that room.¡± his face turned serious while looking back at the palace.


    Elion lifted her head to look at him ¡°I didn¡¯t feel anything odd, but i guess your senses are shaper than mine.¡± she leaned on his shoulder as they walked back. If nobody knew them they would think they are just a couple going on a night stroll around the city.


    Back at the palace in the king throne room, just after Elion and Kuang have left, the dreadful necromancer made his appearance again. He was welcomed with applause by the king ¡°Well done, such fine work indeed. It sure made things work faster, killing one of the priests of Inga and then turning him into a doll.¡± the king was pleased but such actions.


    The necromancer wasn¡¯t even bothered by the king¡¯s reaction instead he walked towards the priests and with one tap on his forehead his whole body withered in thin air. All traces of him existing were erased, not even a grain of ash was left on the floor. ¡°With this the plan is now completed.¡± he turned towards the king while talking. They both grinned at one another almost as if they were talking through their eyes.


    Next morning, at sun rise a large number of mercenaries started walking outside of the city through the main gate. Their numbers were around 400. The guards looked at them confused, where could such a large number of mercenaries go and who¡¯d even have to money to higher so many. But something made them even more confused when they saw on their shields or chest armours the symbol of the Beasts of Grendel, the head of a pale dragon pierced by a sword. They all marched towards the east in their lead was a beautiful elf girl along with a tall man with cold eyes. Elion and Kuang where leading the whole band towards the easters boarder as Archeon had ordered.


    In that same morning, far away from the capital in a forest. Shade was sitting by Helena¡¯s side, which has yet to wake up, reading books. The amount he read was pilled by his side, he spent all his time reading day and night without taking a break and when something showed up that he didn¡¯t understand he would question the old lady. ¡°What would this book be about, i understand what¡¯s happening but i do not see the reason as too why it is happening.¡± he¡¯d ask her.


    The way he addressed her was the same as the day he came here for the first time. But still she smiled while looking at him ¡°How about you stop calling me that? Since you never asked for my name, i¡¯ll give it to you, I¡¯m called Tessera Cyath.¡± she made a slight bow towards him.


    ¡°Also I¡¯m not an old lady, i took this form since its more appropriate towards folk that come over to buy herbs.¡± she was hesitant for a moment ¡°I¡¯m actually a dryad, but don¡¯t worry i have done nothing to the young miss that¡¯s resting upstairs. Actually i never done anything to nobody.¡± she said with a shaking tone. Her body changing into that of a young and gorgeous girl, she was no different from a regular girl, except for her eyes which where completely green, her iris had a yellow ring around it which made it quite captivating.


    Shade looked at her without even reacting as she transformed into a beautiful woman right in front of him ¡°So this is how a dryad looks like. Seems like that book had some flawed points in it.¡± his tone was as calm and indiferent as ever. ¡°Can you explain to me why the witch in this book resorted to such acts?¡± he asked again while pointing on the page of the open book he was holding.


    The dryad took the book his hand and started reading it so she could grasp what it was he was asking about. After a few minutes of reading ¡°When a witch dipleates all of her mana she uses various methods to replanish it. Since witches are not restricted by morals, religious rituals or any other things they will oftenly use the method that is the most convinient and handy at the time.¡± she handed the book over to Shade ¡°But that book does not mention such things since humans do not know about it. Also there are other reasons that someone would reach such an act.¡± she continued to explain to him.


    Her last words seemed to have made him curious as he turned his look from the book to her ¡°And what would that be?¡± he closed the book and placed it on the table, while looking at Cyath which was standing on her chair.


    She got up from it and moved towards him, her hand moved gently from his chin down on his neck and slided down on his arm. She took his hand and pulled him after her ¡°Come i will teach you this part myself, it will be better than any words you could read.¡± she talked in a seductive way pulling him after her. Inside the room she left Shade sitting by a bed while she removed all her clothes with one swift move of her hand. She was now sitting all naked right in front of him. Her beautiful breasts were completely exposed and white skin just made it look like she never seen the sun before. Her dark hair only added to her beauty. It was indeed a sight to behold, but that was just another benefit of being a dryad.


    Shade didn¡¯t have not even the slightest reaction while looking at her. He knew about the female body from the books but anything except that he was clueless. ¡°So this is how a females body looks like, interesting.¡± he tried to compare the books he read with what he was seeing in front of him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t think about those books. They only serve as a meaning to help you understand the surface, but there are far more things hidden beneath.¡± she took his hand, pressing it against her left breast ¡°Feel that? The warmth of ones body, the softness of the skin, the beating of a heart and also... the pleasure.¡± Cyath moved on towards the bed, laying on it. Seeing that Shade was still sitting there she pulled him on the bed ¡°Come here, i will teach you everything there is to know about a females body.¡± she said it with a soft whisper in his ear as she crawled over him.


    It was only late in the evening when they finally came out of that room. Cyath looked exhausted, her hair all messy and with a satisfied expression, Her cheeks still dyed in a bright red colour. She was wearing a different dress than before, a long silkish blue one, it was exposing her thighs on both sides as well as her bust.


    Shade on the other had was still the same, as if nothing happened, one could only wonder just what sort of creature is he. He needs no rest, no food and also has almost no knowledge of this world. He went back to the living room, leaving Cyath all alone to do her stuff. He picked up another book before going to Helena¡¯s room. Meanwhile the dryad went to make herself some tea before going back to her comfortable chair.


    Shade walked up the staris, his steps couldn¡¯t be heard at all. He appraoched the door of Helena¡¯s chambers and slowly opened it so he wouldn¡¯t make too much noise. As the door opened to his surprise Helena was holding her head using her arm while looking at him with a serious face. Her eyes were almost sending arrows towards him as she checked him out from head to toe.


    ¡°Its good to see you¡¯ve finally woke up, how are you feeling?¡± Shade said with a warm tone while a small yet soft smile grew on his face while stepping in the room and closing it behind him.


    But she wasn¡¯t moved at all by his smile and with a harsh tone replied back ¡°How could i not wake up considering all the noise that you and that old lady have been doing since this morning?¡± she laid back down on her pillow looking up at the ceiling.


    He took a few steps inside the room ¡°She isn¡¯t an old lady, she is a dryad. The apperance we saw was only a illusion to hide her identity.¡± he walked towards the bed side and was about to sit on his chair when flew to the other side of the room as Helena casted a spell, making him almost fall.


    She turned around to look at him, she expected him to fall down, yet he was sitting where the chair should have been, but not on the chair but on shadows. Her cheeks puffed up as her little prank didn¡¯t work and turned the other way around ¡°Leave me alone. I will need to rest some more to recover my mana.¡± she snort at him while pulling the blanket over her head, revealing her white fragile ankles.


    But Shade didn¡¯t do as he was told as his footsteps couldn¡¯t be heard by almost anyone he took advantage of that. He opened and closed the door using a shadow while he sat in the same place.


    Helena peeked at the door from under her blanket, but didn¡¯t check the bed side. She sat on her back with her forearm over her eyes ¡°Why must it be like this?¡± she said with a shaking voice. Suddenly she felt pressure on her head as Shade started to gently pat her which made her jump up from surprise ¡°Didn¡¯t you leave the room?¡± she asked with a shocked voice, while warpping the whole blanket around her, only her face could be seen.


    He looked at her with a blank expression while crouching on the bed side so he would be on the same level as her. He looked into her eyes ¡°Why would i leave? You think i would do what anyone told me?¡± he moved his hand down from her head to her cheek, carrsing it and moving her hair that was covering her face to the side.


    His actions made her cheeks turn red, her eyes were focused on his and not a single word came out of her mouth as if she was charmed by him. As he started to talk again her eyes were focused on the movement of his lips ¡°I will help you recover you mana, that way it will be faster.¡± she took it in and for a moment no reaction. When she realized what he said her whole face was like an apple, even her ears turned red, she pulled the blanket over her head while making a squeak like noise. She was sitting on the bed like a hedgehog.


    Shade sat on the little space that was free on the edge of the bed. He placed one hand on her shoulder trying to pull her out of there, but she was holding onto it tightly while screaming ¡°NO!! Leave me alone, i don¡¯t want that!¡± But she was drained of any force because of the poison and lack of mana only made her even more vulnerable, she couldn¡¯t resist at all despite her cries.


    PUlling her around and laid her on the bed on her back. He placed one hand on her cheek as he leaned forward. One second later his face was struck by Helena, which slapped him with whatever force she had left. Shade grabbed both of her arms stretching them wide, keeping them in place as well as locking her legs down. He looked straight into her eyes and she did the same, without a warning he kissed her passionatly. Making her jolt a bit with eyes wide open. He moved his tongue all around her mouth, teasing hers as well as tickling the top of her mouth. His right hand touched her neck with the tip of its fingers, slowly moving down on her collar bone as it made its way towards her breast.


    As soon as he gropped her she jolted again, Breaking from his kiss and taking a deep breath of air. But he didn¡¯t let her do more as he sealed her lips with his again, his hand fondeling her breast gently. He sneaked it under her cloth soon after, touching it directly. His index finger making circles around her nipple and from time to time pressing on it.


    With his other hand he grabbed the back of her head, his fingers running through her hair before holding her still as he stopped kissing. He moved towards her ears whispering gently into it as well as blowing hot soft air. He licked her ear all around with his slick tongue before running it down on her tender neck, leaving a bite mark on it which made her bite her lower lip. All this time she was trying to resist him, he continued to tease her in a gentle and affectionate way.


    He removed the top of her dress as his tailed pulled it off completely. Revealing her silkish soft and white body, it was almost like that of an elf. Her bare breasts were so splendid and big, they had such a beautiful round shape to them. As she was taking in large amounts of air she made her chest look all the more erotic. Her pink areolas and reddish nipples were like cherries on top of a delicious cake which you had to taste.


    He moved his mouth towards her right breast, taking a full mouth of it. That made her moan loudely, it was such fragile and young voice that it was enough to make a man lose his mind. She could feel his tongue moving around her nipple as well as his intense sucking. His hand wasn¡¯t losing either as it was squeezing and massaging her other breast all over. Her face was burning red from all of the things he was doing.


    He stopped teasing her as he gotten on top, holding her head with his left hand as he went for a kiss again. This time she kissed him back, wrapping her hands around his neck. Seeing her actions his right hand slided down on her soft skin towards her nether area, just a slight touch was enough to make her jolt once more. His finger slowly went inside of her, making her break from her kiss from time to time to take large breaths of air. As well as to release loud and extatic moans, his fingers where doing such a fine job at making her lose herself.


    He¡¯d break off from the kiss as well as pull his fingers away from her while getting up. He placed both hands on her thighs, spreading her legs wide open, revealing every part of her. They looked at each other as no words were needed in such a moment. He leaned over her while pushing his hips against hers. That was enouch to make her back arch like a bow, he grabbed her back with one hand as he started to kiss her neck moving down onto her chest and finally stopping on her breasts.


    His hips were moving at a very slow pace, but slowly raised its speed. She placed both of her hands on his cheeks, pulling him over to her as she gave him a kiss. At this point he began to move faster, her moans could be heard through all the kissing, which was soon broke off as they both reached their limits. Helena was moaning heavily, her sweet moans filled the rooms as Shade filled her insides.


    He pulled away from her slightly, Helena turned around and laid on her front, breathing heavily while hugging the pillow ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you do be so gentle.¡± she said with a half voice ¡°It was amaz.....INNNGG!¡± her voice suddenly raised as Shade thrusted his thing inside of her again.


    This time he moved a lot more violently, he slided his hand up her spine up to her neck, grabbing onto it as soon as he reached it. He pulled her towards him, making her get up, with her back arched. Her breasts were fully visible and bouncing, her hard nipples were pointing out more than they should. With a swift move of his hand he removed the hair that was covering her back. Kissing and licking his way up her spine towards her neck, giving some bites again. His other hand one was teasing her breasts, but soon stop as it went down, touching her belly with his fingers before reaching her private part.


    Helena¡¯s face was full of extasy, it was clear she didn¡¯t feel something like this before. Her moans became more and more often and filled with pleasure and it wouldn¡¯t be a surprise to say that they were loud enough to fill the whole house. Her hands reached back at Shade, trying to grab onto his head, pulling him more onto her.


    Her eyes soon opened wieder than ever as his hand reached her bottom, her mouth was opened wide with her tongue slightly sticking out. Shade took advantage of that, turning her head towards him giving her a small kiss before biting her tongue and pulling onto it. He removed the hand from around her throat and sticked three of his fingers inside of her mouth after he finished kissing her. Making her moan less lounder, but more erotic. She bit hard onto his fingers as he released another load deep inside of her.


    Shade sat on the bed, with one hand over his forehead, thinking that should be enough for her. Wondering how does this even work with the mana thing, probably will ask later about it since Helena was in no condition of answering.


    Helena crawled on him, sitting on his chest like cat. She couldn¡¯t even keep her mouth shut as she was taking large breaths of air, her chest pounding like crazy. After a minute or two he looked at her wanting to say something.


    She did something that he didn¡¯t expect, she started rubbing herself onto him ¡°You can keep going, right?¡± she asked him with such an innocent voice yet a very lewd face. Her round and lovely ass grinding up and down onto his crotch.


    He placed both of his hand on her butt cheeks pressing her down, at the same time he¡¯d thrust his hips in contrast to her movement. He looked at her expression, which was filled with pleasure just before she got up and started to ride him.


    Shade looked at her spledid body as it was jolting from time to time from the intensity of the action. Her breasts weres a thing to behold as they jiggled in such an enchanting way. Their fun continued until the next day in the morning, when Helena finally had her fill and fell asleep in his arms.


    He didn¡¯t move at all and watched her sleep in his arms. His face was kind of nostalgic as he moved his hand through her hair slowly so she wouldn¡¯t wake up. Her expression was so pure and gentle, her cheeks filled with warmth like those of a young girl. Not like that horny witch which a few hours ago was filled with so much lust that she couldn¡¯t get enough.


    Some hours have passed and the sun had rised it slowly started lighting up the whole room in which Helena was sleeping, until finally waking her up from her sweet sleep. It was already passed noon and the sun was right in front of the windows of her chamber. Shining down on her, make her whole naked white body shine under its rays.


    She stretched out and squeaked like a cat while wrapping her hands around Shade¡¯s neck which was looking at her all silently. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for hitting you..¡± she moved closer to his head asking almost with a whisper in his ear with her soft voice that was almost tingling ¡°Its just that, when i usually get mana like that i am treated very unkindly. Since most people don¡¯t know if you are a witch, they simply think of you as a whore and rape you to their hearts content. Its like that for almost all witches, i simply didn¡¯t want to hate you.¡± she continued to explain to him ¡°But you were complelty different, you were kind and gentle, romantic and rough. I enjoyed it¡± she looked at him with shining eyes then nuzzeled her head on his chest for a bit ¡°For how long was i unconscious?¡±.


    His answer was as usual, short and to the point ¡°One week.¡± cold and emotionless as ever.


    She puffed up a bit after seeing him answer like that. She got up from the bed and with a spin of her index finger clothes appeared on the bed side, she dressed up in a black tight leather jeanes along with a dark green shirt that had its back fully exposed. A large opening to the front giving a clear view of her cleavage. Over it a brown corsait was just the right pick as it boosted her looks even more. She turned around a few times after dressing up, noticing the huge pile of books that occupied well over half of the room ¡°What¡¯s with all of these books around?¡± she asked surprised as she looked at Shade while pointing at the books.


    ¡°Cyath let me read them while you were resting. And so i did.¡± again his straight and blunt response.


    Helena¡¯s expression suddenly changed and looked at him a bit grim ¡°So her name is Cyath, huh.¡± she said in a low voice, but enough for him to catch on.


    ¡°Now that you are better, we need to move! We wasted enough time.¡± Shade got up from the bed and started to walk towards the door. Helena quickly following up after him. Both of them headed downstairs where the dryad was sitting on her chair drinking tea while looking outside through the window.


    Cyath smiled in their direction seeing that Helena had finally woke up, mostly because of the noise they made last night. ¡°Glad to see you doing well, Helena.¡± she smiled at her while getting up from her chair, her figure was way more beautiful than before, her formes were oustanding. The dress just helped her even more as it showed them just in the right spots to seduce someone.


    She walked towards Shade, placing a hand on his cheek ¡°Jugding by the noise you two made all night long, seems like what i tought you was useful after allm right?¡± she smiled at him, her hand sliding off his face before turning to Helena. Her words were enough to make Helena blush and keep her mouth shut as she was already pumping up while looking at Cyath getting closer to Shade.


    Helena snapped out of it quickly, Shade had already moved towards the door and was looking at her. She made a slight bow in front of the dryad ¡°Thank you very much for saving my life.¡± she extended a medium sized pouch filled with gold coins towards her ¡°I hope its enough for all the trouble caused.¡± although she was both embarrassed as well as angry she couldn¡¯t help it but thank the one who saved her, before leaving.


    ¡°We need to find the star Helena, so stop wasting time.¡± Shade¡¯s toned was different from the usual one, it was rashed as well as impatient.


    Cyath couldn¡¯t help but ask as she heard the word star ¡°The star that you two are looking for, could it be she is looking like a young girl with black hair and pale skin. So beautiful that even the goddess would envy her?¡± her description wasn¡¯t the most accurate but none the less she did mention some features that matched the one they looked for.


    Shade instantly rushed towards her, grabbed her shoulders tightly with both of his hands. His eyes almost burning ¡°Where is she?¡± his voice was deep and intimidating, Helena didn¡¯t even had time to react to anything, she sat there looking at the one in front of her and remembering the scene in the woods just after the star was kidnapped by that prince.


    The dryad ticked her tongue in disapproval to Shade¡¯s actions ¡°Didn¡¯t i tell you to never treat girls roughly from the start?¡± she placed on hand over his so he would let her go. But soon she found there was no way he¡¯d release his grip as she saw his eyes, she knew that there was no way he would do that ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± she left like apologizing while lowring her head ¡°There is prince Tristan, son of king Tolstoj Kilken which recently got married to a star. They were the talk of the entire kingdom. I believe the wedding was a week or so ago.¡±


    His grip tightened as he pressed the question again ¡°Where is she?¡± he moved his head closer to her. His pressence was almost suffocating the dryad in front of him as well as Helena, black smoke was rising from his body as if he was boiling.


    ¡°T-The city of Neptunia, the prince should still be there.¡± she tried to answer in the shortest way possible as he was pressing onto her too much. She soon could breath lightly as he let go. He grabbed Helena¡¯s hand and moved out of the house like a storm. Quickly turning into the huge wolf ¡°Get on and point the direction!¡± he ordered Helena, which obediently did as she was told, either of fear or of free will, who knows to tell. Heading towards the city of Neptunia.

 The capital

    His destination, one of the capitals of the Kingdom of the Nine. The city of Neptunia where the one he has been searching around for was last known to be. On his back Helena didn¡¯t dare ask anything, she held on tight since he was running as fast as he could. Night soon came but he showed no sign of stopping. Although he was focused on reaching his destination as soon as possible, Helena was showing signs of fatigue since she didn¡¯t fully recovered.


    He was considered about her and wrapped her in the cocoon from before again ¡°Rest at ease for you are safe.¡± he calmed her down as the dark strings wrapped themselves around her, holding her in place while he ran. This made him look almost like a giant wolf with a backpack on him.


    Since it was night and he was running through the forests to avoid any unnecesary encouters with the city guards he ran into other sorts of trouble. At night the beasts and monsters roamed free. Although beasts would keep their distance from a creature such as him. Werewolves wouldn¡¯t back down so easily and start to give chase. Of course they would find it hard to even catch up to him and even when they did he¡¯d rip them in half with one bite.


    But that didn¡¯t make them give up and tried to ambush him multiple times since he passed through their territory. That only ending in their demise, soon after losing a few dozens of their own, the werewolves decided to back down. Although the deaths of their kin should have driven them to chase him even further until they all died or put an end to him, they backed down but it wasn¡¯t because they were scared or because they lost too many. It seemed that something had scared them off and it wasn¡¯t Shade.


    The vile stench of rotting flesh and moving corpses of fallen knights, werewolves and other monstrous creatures, a hundred or so, they were setup well enough to block his way completely. He didn¡¯t show signs of stopping though and when he got close neough, traps started to make his advacement harder. Holes in the ground, trees falling or swinging from the sides and on top of that the multiple arrows coming from the front.


    The undead had two front rows of spearmen making it hard to reach the archers in the back. If he was alone he would have had no problem with getting passed, but Helena was still on his back and there was always the chance of them using some light magic to remove the coil around her.


    After advancing a little more and seeing that there was just no opening, he shaked his back to wake Helena up ¡°We got trouble, some undead creatures are blocking our way.¡± he told her as she was waking up.


    The cocon in which she was sleeping started to peel off as she jumped up frin his back. Floating in air and encased into her defensive sphere. Shade charged at them without restrains now, ramming head first through the spearmen like a bull. Corpses flying through the air as if they were leafs in the wind. But as he was fighting the spearmen the archers threw nets made of steel on him, slowing his movements down until he was binded down.


    Helena saw that he was getting caught up as she was casting her magic, bolts of fire rained from the sky into the undead army. Although they raised their shields, it helped them nought for the spears of fire melten through both their shields and bones. The air was filled with the smell of burnning corpses and through the flames and smoke four giant figures emarged. Each one of them without a head, the dullahans showed no fear to the fire as it proved useless against them, each spear that hit them would extinguish just as fast, leaving not mark.


    Helena changed her target from them to Shade, she melted down the steel nets restraining him using the fire bolts. As soon as he was free he sprang forward towards the four dullahans with open jaws.


    The one he jumped at caught him by the jaws and ripped them up, the one next to him, hit his back with two huge spiked maces as the other two peirced him with their spears. Helena was looking at the scene completely shocked.


    Just how strong could this dullahans be compared to the demon from Angelzark. Her thoughts were cut short as the spears the impaled Shade soon came flying towards her. Despite her shield was up she felt the need to dodge and luckly she did so since one of the spears that hit the sphere, broke it to pieces.


    As the dullahans where focusing now on Helena, Shade changed his form back into his humanoid one. He doesn¡¯t seem to have sustained any wounds or damage at all. He moved with such speed and silence towards the back of the dullahans, placing his hands on the backs of the ones who were throwing spears.


    That was enough for both of them to notice and turn back to him but from the body of the two dullahans he touched spikes bursted through every inch of their body, until they would drop to the ground. Either by being unable to move from the spikes or because they died. Now only two more remained.


    Both of them had their atention chaned back to Shade and with swift moves started to attack him, making Shade be on the defensive, trying to avoid their fast attacks. This two proved to be more difficult to handle as they were very agile and on top of that kept their distance from Shade since they noticed what happened to the other two.


    But now it was a two against two and Helena proved to be the better support as she was casting multiple spells to slow them down. She chilled the muded ground making the enemy move slowly on the ice and by using strong wind to make them come to a halt. Shade managed to get his hands onto one of the dullahans tearing him apart with his bare hands, limb by limb as the other one escaped.


    Although he ripped the dullahan to part, his chest still tried to crawl on the ground. Helena looked at it for a second before setting it ablaze with a blue flame that seemed to have effect on him, along with the rest of the bodies that were laying around. One thing was familiar, all of the soldier were wearing armour similar to that of prince Tristans guards.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Helena rushed to Shade¡¯s side which was turning back into his wolf form. She couldn¡¯t help but ask him since earlier he was not only pierced by spears but torn apart by the dullahans.


    ¡°They do not have the means to harm me.¡± he replied back as he lowered down for her to mount. ¡°I hope there won¡¯t be anymore stoppings. This is already getting on my nerves as i meet more and more creatures getting in my way.¡± his tone was almost raging. Helena just listened to him without saying anything.


    After looking one more time around, he sprinted out like an arrow and for the rest of the night nothing else stopped him from reaching the destination. Close to noon he had finally reached the city of Neptunia. A huge wall with a deep mot was surrounding it, not only that but the city walls were patrolled even during the day as well as each entry was guarded by more than twenty men.


    Helena tried to make a plan on how to get in easily, but just as she was explaining Shade stopped her ¡°I¡¯ve waste enough time with all the things that showed up. I will not tolerate another obstacle.¡± and with just that he stood up. Walking towards one of the side gates of the city.


    He was quickly spoted as he was approaching the gates, since not many people were coming from that direction. The soldiers rang the alarm in a rush as well as screaming at the top of their lungs ¡°Demon approaching the castle gates!¡± they even started lifting the bridge so he wouldn¡¯t make it across while the rest fired arrows at him.


    He ran so fast that the arrows passed right by him, Helena from behind raised herself into the air and threw fire balls of the size of barrels at the top of the gate.The soldiers being thrown off the ramparts from the shock of the explosion. Shade managed to reach the bridge which was already lifted almost two meters from the ground.


    He grabbed the edge with both hands and started pulling it down with all his strength, the chains creeking as it met an opposing force. Four soldiers used both cranes on each side of the bridge but couldn¡¯t pull the gate any higher but it wouldn¡¯t go down yet since it had the safety on. With a loud noise the chains broke and the bridge fel down making a huge cloud of dust enveloping the entrance of the gate.


    On the other side of the bridge waited a whole infantery of soldiers. Each of them with their tower shields lowered, forming a cage around the gates entrance. Their spears at the ready. The tall houses and ramparts were used by the archers for higher ground.


    Shade was just too determined to find the star, he went right in through the main gate. Helena flew over the gates, the archers immediatly starting to fire arrows at her, she threw back at them small fireballs and shards of ice while dodging their arrows at the same time.


    Shade saw himself blocked between iron grates and the wall of shields. He stopped for a moment and looked behind him and seeing the iron bars blocking his way back. He turned his head back towards the soldiers moving slowly in their direction. He quickly grabed the spear of the closest one and pulled it with such force draggin the soldier along with it. As the soldier cralwed through the dirt trying to reach back to cover, Shade crushed his spin by stepping on him. Leaving his foot imprint on the soldiers armour as he was spilling blood through his eyes, mouth and nose, without a second wasted he threw the spear at one of the archers that wasn¡¯t paying attention, piercing his chest and impailing him into a nearby wall.


    The rest of the soldiers quickly raised their spears after seeing what happened and hit the ground with their shields so hard they were stuck in it from behind the soldiers. Mages started casting their magic, multiple fireballs and huge spears of ice made their way down onto the demon, within the narrow space he had no place to go.


    He rushed towards the edge of the blocked, grabbing one of the shields and pulling it away from the soldiers. Ripping it from the ground as the soldier flew over the blocked from the force. With that opening he made his way through the shield blocked and started slaughtering the soldiers. The place was too crowded for the soldiers to move, they tried to fight with him but he avoied their hits easily and they ended up hurting or killing their own.


    From behind the lines a voice could be heard yelling ¡°Keep him in place, even if it kills you, make him come to a halt, the mages will finish him off.¡± a man wearing a well decorated armour and standing on a horse told the soldiers while sitting behind the mages which started casting their magic, each one of them using a different type.


    The whole place was filled with screams and smoke as Helena was setting the whole place on fire from above, Shade quickly dealt with those below. Various spell were coming at him he used the bodies of soldiers to block them, at times even needing to dodge them by walking on top of the soldiers, using their heads as foot holders. When he landed he crushed a few soldiers under him. The mages were running out of options as their spells were either too long to cast or uneffective against him as they tried almost all element.


    But one came with an idea, he casted light attribue and made a beam of light project straight at him. It was too fast for him to dodge, he didn¡¯t even noticed it until he was hit by it. That light pierced three soldiers as it made its way towards Shade, killing them in an instant, but it only hit his arm which was severed in an instant from the beam.


    All of a sudden the whole place was like brought back to life as the soldiers moral was regained when they saw the demon losing an arm from that attack. They started pushing the demon even if it ment they would die by the beam, at least the demon would die with them.


    All of the mages used light magic from this point on. Multiple beams would be shot at him, he managed to dodge them nicely but it was harder to deal with the soldiers that were coming at him from all direction with just one hand. His tail would cut down those that are coming from behind as well as piercing through multiple enemies at the same time.


    Shade tried his best to keep the soldiers away using his feet to kick them away. Most of those which he hit died from the impact as the rest were pushed back. Beams kept shooting at him just above his head and back, one even landing a hit on his tail, cutting it off, but it was enough time for him to regrow his lost arm.


    The soldiers kept going, they were like a flood without an end, now Shade used them as projectiles. Throwing the soliders that cam at him at the mages with great force while avoid the beams a lot better than before since he was looking out for them.


    The soldiers posed little to no threat at all to him as the only thing they could do was hold him in place. As soon as one would grab his leg or arm they would be thrown away towards the mages. He managed to knock one down before the mages setup a barrier to block the incoming bodies.


    Helena noticed what the mages were doing, soon she finished with the last archers. She dashed towards the barrier in her right hand energy was gathering up as she closed in with great speed, she punched the barrier with her right fist. Breaking it apart and starting to cast a rain of ice spears over those below her, all of them being imapled by multiple spears and laying dead on the ground.


    Now that Shade had nothing to fear anymore, his arms turned into scythes and slashes his way through all of the soldiers as if they were just practice dummies. They were massacred in a few minutes. Over two hundred soldiers now laying dead all over the gates entrance.


    Helena made a sign to Shade to follow her around as they rushed through the streets towards the palace. While they were running through the narrow corriods between the buildings she started talking to herself ¡°I¡¯m gonna get so yelled at by Archeon for doing something like this, again.¡± she almost started laughing while imagining it.


    They encountered multiple patrols around the area, as the whole city was in high alert. Considering who they were up against the soldiers would die before they could even react. At some point Helena even build up walls from the ground to block a large number of incoming soldiers to not waste time.


    The commotion was growing in the city, the whole imperial guard and army was deployed. Those in the palace were sitting nicely without much panic or care, although all of them knew about the demon that was roaming in the town below, they showed the least interest. Since most of the soliders were gathered up around the palace and the best of them were positioned inside of the palace court, they had nothing to fear off.


    In a dark room inside the palace three men, all dressed in black robes gathered up. ¡°It seems that our god is helping us yet again.¡± one of the said with a low tone.


    ¡°Indeed, causing such disturbance in the city will truly be a great use to both getting to our target as well as escaping this place.¡± a second one talked, his voice much older than the first one


    ¡°Don¡¯t be rash, we still need to be careful as there are still guards around.¡± the last one spoke with a grave done, although not as old as the second one, his voice was deep none the less.


    After they finished talking, the three figures left the room. They moved with a fast pace through the halls while keeping their heads covered under their hoods. Some servants were passing down the same hall as them, those pitiful souls were met with the cold blades of a dagger piercing their skulls and dropping to the floor in an instant.


    They didn¡¯t lose their pace or rushed at all. They killed anyone, soldier or servants it mattered not to this individuals. As they reached the second floor of the palace, more guards were stationed and were patroling around. From here on started the sneaking as they had to watch careful at each corner.


    They were caught by a guard from behind which started to yell at them as he drew his sword, one of them rushed to the soldier as he threw multiple daggers at him. The soldier blocked them with ease but had no time to react to the sword that pierced his chest. His assailant spinned around his body cutting cutting his neck very quickly so he wouldn¡¯t make any noise. ¡°That was close, we better move quickly and get out.¡± the one with the deep voice said as he looked at the body of the soldier he just killed, the other two nodded and rushed down the hall searching for what would be their target.


    Meantime the king was discussing his plot along with his generals in the throne room, which were worried about the eastern border. But the kind reassured them ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, as everything will be setteled with the minimum loss on our parts. Archeon will rush to the aid of his troops and kill the enemy army or make them fall back at the same time the three of you shall lead and army of ten thousand soldiders to the border and kill Archeon along with any survivor of his band.¡±


    As the king explained the plan the generals couldn¡¯t help but worry even more since it was Archeon they were talking about. There was no way to be sure he would do such a thing in the first place and even if he did, defeating him would be a hard task. ¡°My lord, how can you be so sure that Archeon would even go there?¡± the one that asked was General Charon Margun, he was a batteled harded fellow, his body was twice the size of a normal man with scars all over his face.


    ¡°My dear generals, i assure you he will do so since he treasures his friends more than anything and among those soldiers, there are two of his best friends which you met yesterday. The reptilian and wretched dark elf.¡± he talked in a despicable tone when mentioning Kuang and Lavassir.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    All the generals nodded and showed signs of calming down a little, but one thing was still on their minds. Something that needed a lot more than just words to get over ¡°There is one more problem Sire. How can we defeat Archeon?¡± Charon asked his king, his face was filled with fear.


    ¡°All will be taken care off, those that have went to the fortress are already doome. As for himself, he will be exhausted from all of the fighting a long with the others that are with him. If they are still alive by the time you get there. You will offer them aid, you will place sleeping potion in their food and when they will go to rest you shall make sure they never wake up.¡± it seems that the king had his plan well set. Even the generals were shocked by how vile their kings ideas were, truly a man who had fought the demons and had managed to win. They thought in their minds as they bowed their heads to him.


    Those three cloaked men finally found their destination. A room guarded by four of the best soldierssoldiers. They threw daggers at two of them, killing them in an instant. The other two had noticed that their comrades had fallen and drew their swords to fight their opponents, but they didn¡¯t have time to do anything as their assailants were too fast for them, their heads were cut off cleanly with one swing.


    ¡°This should be it. Remember, don¡¯t damage the goods and kill everyone that¡¯s around.¡± the older robed man reminded the other two of their plan.


    All three of them got into positions before opening the door, two were placed at each side of the large double doors while the third one was standing in middle ready to rush in as soon as they opened.


    They started counting through signs so all of them moved at the same time, when the count reached three the two slammed the door opened as the third one bursted in like an arrows spotting four people inside, he threw daggers at all of them without a moments hesistation, the other two did the same thing, but they quickly stopped their advacement and drew their sword immediatly.


    ¡°I thought i smelled blood around here. She sure knows how to attract the most deadliest and pestering of creatures. Guess it couldn¡¯t help since the star was here. But i won¡¯t let you have her or even harm her as i need her as healthy as she can be.¡± the necromancer said while dropping on the ground the daggers that were thrown at him.


    ¡°Such childish tricks, to use daggers.¡± he laughed at their failed attempt, at the same time the dullahan blocked the other six knives that were aimed at him and the star, only the other three dagger got their target, a maid that was originally there to take care of the star and ended as a hostage now laying dead on the floor.


    The star was too shocked to say anything and tried to keep her distance from the dreadful headless being that was in front of her. ¡°Next time you try to do a sneak attack, use poison. Much more effective.¡± he gave a hint to the three figures that were standing the doors entrance.


    Kala-hazar got up from his chair, taking a few steps towards the three who attacked him. Each one of them standing their grounds with swords at the ready. Just as those three robed men were about to charge at the necromancer the whole palace started shaking and with the the sound of crumbling stone could be heard from outside.


    A huge wooden door flyed through the walls of the palace right into the chambers where the necromancer and star were, destroying the room almost completely as it made its way through to the other side of the wall leaving a huge hole behind it. The necromancer and dullahan were no where to be seen, one of the three assassins was killed by the rubble as the other two were burried beneath. The star might as well be under that pile of rubble that came crushing down.


    Everyone in the palace became agitated as they were the ones being under attack now, all of the guards rushed towards the entrance of the palace to face the invaders. It was complete havoc, the place was filled with screams and the sounds of the soldiers running through the place, their metallic armour ringing as it hit the sheats of their swords.


    Just outside of the palace, Shade and Helena were causing chaos among the soldiers. They completely destroyed the gate that was separating the town from the castle. On top of that Helena has set ablaze the roofs of the nearest buildings to the gate while Shade ran around killing soldiers left and right.


    The job seemed almost impossible for the guards of the palace, they had to put out the fire that would otherwise spread all over the city and deal with the demon on top of that. Luckly for them someone was there to put things in order, at least slightly. The sergeant which was with the prince¡¯s escort to Angelzark rushed out of the palace as the attack began. Seeing how poorly organized the soldiers were he bursted out in anger, yelling left and right orders at them as he pointed in direction to where they need to go.


    He put the mages to deal with the fire while the foot soldier had to check if anyone was still alive under the rubbles of the gate. When he spotted Shade killing the soldiers, it gave him a cold sweat ¡°So we meet again demon, to bad we don¡¯t have a god with us to deal with you again.¡± he talked to himself while looking at him kill the soldier from afar.


    He was sblown to the ground as something exploded in one of the buildings near him sending a lot of soldiers flying while killing a few others ¡°What was that?¡± he yelled as he tried to recover from the shock, which had knocked him down.


    One of the nearest soldiers explained to him ¡°That¡¯s the storage, there are some new weapons brought by the third king. They blow off quite easily and do a lot of damage, on top of that they are very small.¡± he tried to show that one could easily fit into one hand.


    ¡°Blasted all, those things could have been really useful now. Why did they had to go to waste so soon.¡± the sergeant shouted in anger while hitting a barrel that was nearby with his leg, breaking it apart.


    ¡°Sir, there are more of those in the next storage, we are lucky that mages had managed to put out the fire on that one before they could blow.¡± the soldier pointed out to a building with a burned roof.


    He rushed there, busting the door with his shoulder, looking inside of the huge storage. There were multiple boxes with small round black spheres, each one of the had a fuse, as he took one in his hand he noticed that they are very light as well. He went outside of the place in a rush.


    ¡°I need fifteen soldiers here to drag this boxes out. Twenty more soldiers will throw this black spheres at the demon. The mages are to cast defensive magic around them while taking cover in another place, after finishing that you are to attack the demon with light magic, the stronger the better.¡± the sergeant rushed back in after yelling the orders, picking up two of the boxes and bringing them outside, he started to throw them at Shade as well, the rest of the soldiers followed him and tried to throw in the same places.


    Explosion after explosion was setting off near Shade, which made him move back as they did some damage to him. Blowing off his arms or half of his abdomen. Each time he tried to do something he there would be bombs coming down at him. Just as he stopped to look around rays of light pierced his body, cutting one of his legs off. He quickly grabbed onto a buildings roof with his tail and pulled himself out of there. Now hiding behind to in order to recover his lost limbs while keeping an eye out.


    Helena had noticed what was going on and tried to break the barrier that was protecting those throwing the bombs. Just as she managed to cast a huge fireball, arrows came flying towards her, making her use it to defend herself. They couldn¡¯t get through this way anymore ¡°Go into the barrier, if you reach there we might get this over with.¡± she threw a smaller fireball towards the place where Shade needed to go.


    He looked at the direction the fireball went, but couldn¡¯t move yet, he still needed to wait a bit for his leg to recover. Those soldiers had no plan on waiting for him as they continued to throw bombs at the place where he was hiding, blowing off the building almost completely. The explosions produced by those bombs was truely devastating.


    Shade had to be careful to not get hit by those bombs as they would do some serious damage to him as well as leave him open to an enemy attack. ¡°Helena, buy me some time!¡± he shouted at her before going around the building that was being blown apart.


    She looked at him go, before looking around as to where to strike in order to attract the most attention. She spotted the place from where they were bringing the boxes with bombs out and instantly threw multiple fire balls at that place, the soldiers had no time to react to her fireballs since all of their attention was focuse on dealing with the demon and barely any soldiers paid attention to what she was doing.


    The mages and archers turned their attention towards her when the soldiers inside the warehouse started screaming about the fireballs. The archers started firing projectiles at ther while the bombers kept going for Shade. The mages had to deal with the fire at the warehouse so it wouldn¡¯t explode and lose their only option of dealing with the demon.


    The barrier that was protecting those that were throwing bombs was a really sturdy one, Helena threw multiple great fireballs at it, they were the size of a human body and made it look as if meteors were raining from the sky, everyone knew they couldn¡¯t let her move around freely, all of the archers started firing their arrows at her with a deadeye precision, all of the hits finding their mark and weakining her shield. She couldn¡¯t focus on breaking that barrier anymore since she needed to take care of the archers. She made multiple balls of light in her hands and threw them in the sky, each one of them floated in the air. A total of six light balls were floating around the place, after taking enough distance Helena snapped her fingers and the light balls exploaded, making a blinding light cover the whole place. Everyone had to cover their eyes if they didn¡¯t want to go blind.


    Most of the soldiers were stunned by light and couldn¡¯t do anything, an explosion that shacked the whole place was heard from where that light was coming from. The light was fading away and with it everyone regained their sight, looking in the direction from which the explosion came. The place that was filled with bombs had exploded, destroying the buildings nearby as well as killing all those close to it. But the barrier was still standing although it was so close. Helena still hasn¡¯t figured out what to do to break it and was keeping her distance to avoid being targeted by the archers again.


    In the middle of the smoke Shade was standing ten meters away from the barrier, the soldiers haven¡¯t noticed him yet as they were shaking their head, their sights were still blurry from the light. Shade moved at a steady pace towards the barrier, after two steps the sergeant noticed him and screamed at the troops but, that was all he could do, scream.


    Black spikes rosed from the ground imapiling all the soldiers that surrounded Shade in a fifty meter radius, each and everyone of them being pierced by so many of them, their bodies were filled with holes when the spikes disappeared.


    Helena was shocked as she saw that again, she couldn¡¯t believe her eyes although it was the second time that happened, but first time was on a much smaller scale, around twenty-five meters and in a straight line. She went towards Shade which was walking inside of the palace through the main door, walking along with him inside.


    The king got up from his throne, with a dar look on his face, he ordered his generals with a yell to go and deal with this nuisance. The room still had ten more soldiers around, that had the duty to guard the king. The three generals complaied to the orderes they received, they only walked half the way towards the door as it started to open by itself. None of them were expecting this kind of turn of events, it could be seen on their faces that they were completely shocked by those who entered the room.


    It was Archeon along with the other three he had with him while escorting the prince, his expression was grim, his sword pulled and held with a firm grip. Same as those that were with him. It was clear they were in no mood for chatting.


    ¡°Are you the one resposible to this chaos, Archeon?¡± the king yelled at him almost jumping from his throne.


    It was as if he was amused by something, since a smirk showed up on his face ¡°It would have been my pleasure to be the cause, but sadly i¡¯m not. Nor did i care about it as i made my way here more easily.¡± he made it clear that he had no intention of helping them what so ever, no matter the problem they were facing.


    ¡°That¡¯s no way to speak to the king you scum. You should be executed on the spot for uthering those words.¡± one of the generals shouted at him as he drew his sword and pointed it at Archeon, but that sword fell from his hand very quickly as one of Lao¡¯s daggers pierced his shoulder making the man back down and keep his mouth shut.


    ¡°As you can see, i¡¯m not here to tolerate your little king play. Where are my men?¡± Archeon started walking towards the generals which held their ground since they couldn¡¯t let him pass and go to the king. Everyone tensed up, all the soldiers around the room lowered their halbards as well as drew their arrows, pointing them to Archeon.


    The whole room was so tensed up, one soldier made all that tension suddenly drift away as he rushed in front of the door to the kings throne room, he stopped there and started shouting ¡°THE DEMON IS IN THE PAL....¡±


    That was all he could utter before getting hit by a huge boulder that stopped into the other side of the room, crushing his whole body against a wall. With slow steps something that shouldn¡¯t be in this realm had appeared before the king, beside him a witch with scarlet hair was floating in air, fireballs the size of a head in both hands.


    Finally Shade has reached his destination, it made everyone freeze from fear. The king couldn¡¯t believe it, his perfect plan ruined by some random incident, he was caught up in his thought. Thinking how can he deal with this situation, how can he deal with both Archeon and the demon or should he make Archeon fight the demon? All types of plots were crossing through his minds, but he soon came back to it as the witch called out to Archeon.


    ¡°Its been a long time captain, how is everyone doing?¡± she extinguished the fireballs in her hands with a snap as she landed on the ground, walking towards Archeon with a bright smile on her face. That seemed to make Archeon calm down.


    He place a hand on her shoulder ¡°We are good, for now. How have you been? Are you alright?¡± he gave her a warm smile before pulling his hand off. He turned his head towards Shade which was looking straight at the king with a cold gaze ¡°Seems like you finally reached this place, the star should be around here, i¡¯ve met her a week and a half ago.¡± Archeon told him with a serious look on his face.


    The king was simply dumbfounded as he saw them talk to each other. There was no way he could get away from this, nothing would stop Archeon now since he got that demon on his side as well. All of the troops in the city must have been completely destroyed by this monster or crippled by that witch.


    General Pallas is out of the city so there is simply no one who could help out in this kind of situation, he grit his teeth so hard they would make breaking sounds while clenching his fists till his knucklets would crack ¡°There is just no way this will end like this. There has to be a way.¡± the king said to himself while looking around with desperate eyes.


    ¡°Where is the star?¡± Shade spoke with a loud and clear voice, anyone could catch up his threatning tone. If that wasn¡¯t enough one of his hands changed into a scythe as the other into a long lance, his tail was hitting the floor, making holes in it, as if it was out of patience, he moved slowly forwards till he stood right where Archeon was. Looking at the king with blood thristy eyes. The three generals that are in front of them took a few steps back while drawing their swords as well.


    Archeon turned towards the king as well ¡°Where are my men?¡± his voice carrying the same amount of pressure as Shade¡¯s. Both of them coming in front of the one which rulled this lands for something that belonged to them, something was taken away by someones mischiveous acts. How will a king that¡¯s good at playing tricks in the shadows deal with a problem that not only knocked at his door but is waiting with swords at his throat?


    Tolstoj smiled, although sweating a little from the pressure they¡¯ve put on him, soon bursting into a loud laugh that filled the room. Everyone looked at him, his men were worried while the rest didn¡¯t understand what was the meaning of this. ¡°You got me well there, i should have expected this from you Archeon. You always enjoyed the company of this inferior sub-species it was only a matter of time till you¡¯d get along with the demons.¡± the king got up from his throne, pulling his sword from its sheath ¡°Stand down men, i¡¯ll deal with this nuisance.¡± he walked proudly down the stairs.


    The generals and his men moved to the side of the room, leaving only Shade, Helena, Archeon and his folowers in the middle. Shade charged at him just as soon as he placed his foot off the last stair, his scythe and lance as well as tail were easily blocked by a barrier of light that was surrounding the king. With such a light swipe he cut off both of Shade¡¯s arms, leaving him shocked by what happened in that time he kicked him in the stomach sending him back to were Archeon was. He stood on both of his legs as he slided back. Archeon clenched his fist and grip around his sword, ready to strike in the next second, but stopped as he noticed the kings actions.


    ¡°What happened? Think you can face me? Have you forgotten that i weild one of the nine divine weapons that were used against the demons? I was expecting more from you Archeon.¡± the king was puffing his chest foward while boosting. He sheated his sword, opening both of his hands wide ¡°But i will forgive you this once. After all there is no need to fight. Your men are at the eastern boarder, which is going to be attacked soon by a large army from the kingdom of Azure. Those blasted cock suckers sent an army of over 30.000 troops amongs which its said that 10.000 of them are demon spiritualists while the rest are regular troops. If you go there and protect the boarder your troops might get out alive.¡±


    What he said surprised everyone in the room, Helena was shocked about the number of demon spiritualists that were being sent there. It was clear that they want to start a war with this, not just recover their lost terriotry.


    Archeon plunged his sword into the ground ¡°You take me for a fool? Don¡¯t make me laugh with your bullshit divine weapon, i know all too well what you are capable with even with that stupid toy. You really think i¡¯ll do as you say?¡± his anger was bursting out through his words, his hands were shaking from all of the anger which he barely contained.


    ¡°Of course you will, like last time and like always. But i did say if you complete my task i will free her didn¡¯t i? Well this is also part of my task, complete it and it shall be the last time we¡¯ll meet.¡± the king talked in such a calm manner, almost as if he was the one doing the threats not the other way around ¡°But of course, she will receive some punishment from all of the damage you have caused in this town.¡± the king smiled wickedly.


    ¡°You bastard!¡± Archeon shouted, grabbing his sword and dashing froward, the king blocked his blow ¡°Dare to touch even a hair on her head and not a single human will be left alive in this whole kingdom.¡± his aura was slowly releasing, green steam like energy was flowing around Archeon, causing pressure around him as well as pushing the king back.


    Although being engaged in close combat, the king didn¡¯t show any sign of worry ¡°Archeon, even if you do so, by the time you will reach her, there won¡¯t be anything left of her. She will be raped countless times, tortured in the most horrific way, her body sliced to pieces and healed up so she won¡¯t die, by the time you get there she will be nothing more than mice food. I suggest you do as i say if you don¡¯t want her to suffer. Who knows if you finish this fast i might consider not punishing her after all.¡±


    Hearing his words his grip had losed up, he sheated his sword and went back to his comrades. His face was completely black and his aura changed from a green to a bloody red one. Helena¡¯s worries could be read all over her face after hearing what the king had said ¡°We are moving to the easteren boarder.¡± Archeon told his men, but didn¡¯t leave yet as he turned to Helena.


    Before Archeon could have said anything, the king¡¯s voice rang again into that place. This time addressed towards Shade, he smiled larger than before and even more cunning, almost as if he though of a brilliant idea ¡°Oh, as for that star, she should be on her way...¡±


    A door bursted open from the side of the room, from there came Prince Tristan. The one who kidnapped the star as well as the one who hit Helena ¡°Father...¡± he made a pause, trying to catch his breath, he was all exhausted as if he ran alll the way from the other side of the kingdom, his clothes all dirty and covered in blood ¡°The star, she is....¡±


    Everyone¡¯s eyes widened when he mentioned her, everyone in the room knew he is her husband, or at least should. Seeing him like that, his expression almost saying that something bad had happened, but what could that be?