“Ugh!… I see. So you are, in the end, just another dog!”
With bloodshot eyes, Daniel barred his fangs at the shirtless Denisse who was holding a blade in her hand. Daniel never knew about that weapon, being taken completely by surprise and unable to strike back. To move swifter and with less noise, he discarded his blade and took only a knife, but he would be a fool to fight Denisse, someone whom he never won against in a direct confrontation, with only a normal dagger.
I need to retreat and meet up with other micemen! Their concealing and hiding abilities might be able to help me this time!
With his plan quickly forming in his head, Daniel glanced once at the window to pinpoint his terrain and possibilities, then focus his senses at the door and around to see if there were more people ready to ambush him.
“Do you wish to escape? I won’t let you.”
“Grr! Get lost, you dog!”
Seeing him nervously glance once at the window, Denisse understood what he wanted to do and hastily pounced at him with her blade forward. Daniel wished to escape, but he knew he had no chance now with an injury, so he took a gamble: He quickly threw his dagger filled with mana and chi toward her, making her block it with her blade. The moment the two weapons met, a strong flash blinded Denisse for a moment, making her movements lag behind for one fifth a second, time that for a Grandmaster like themselves was more than enough to land at least two good strikes. Daniel, quickly made use of this moment and with the back of his right elbow, he struck her wrist that was holding the weapon, making her drop it then continue his movements to punch forward.
“I’m sorry, Daniel.”
This time Denisse was able to react and grabbed his arm before he could strike and tripped him then smashed him on the ground with her atop of him.
“Gah! Y-you-“
“Please stop struggling! Your wound is not small and you’ll die if you continue like this! Hey!”
Being a dragoon, Denisse had a superior innate physical strength while Daniel had his agility. But at this moment, his agility was useless in front of her strong grip. Also, because of his deep wound on his chest that easily severed his windpipe and almost his artery, he had a hard time stabilizing his breath and using his chest-muscles, making for his arms almost unable to do actions like pushing or strongly punching. With Denisse on top of him and pressuring him with her chest on his solar plexus, Daniel had no chances to do a thing but only stare with burning hate and wrath, his white and sharp canines showing every time he growled out in anger, while Denisse shouted at him in distress,
“Stop struggling!”
“Grrr I can’t believe you betrayed us! And I truly thought you’re one of us! You impostor!”
“…”
-Drip-
“…Huh?”
While weakly struggling underneath her, something wet and crystalline suddenly fell down his face, making his whiskers to twitch once as a drop of water fell right on them.
Wait. This isn’t water as their smell is sour…
He then looked more clearly at her eyes and couldn’t help but freeze in place, observing two red and wet eyes filled with tears, with her chin trembling from the strong feelings she was holding in, as if wishing to just break down and start crying her lungs out.
Just what in the world…?
He unconsciously relaxed his muscles and Denisse also stopped adding pressure on his chest, but still locking him down.
“For the love of all hic, please… sob, stop struggling… please…”
She lowered her head even more as her tears now reaching to his wound, softly cleansing it. Completely baffled, Daniel tried to calm down then asked once again while trying to release his grabbed hands,
“Denisse, please tell me. Why did you attack me?”
“Traitors need to know nothing.”
“?!”
“Who?!”
A deep voice resounded and a strong wind broke the windows and swung the door open. Sensing danger, Daniel quickly summoned almost all his power to send Denisse flying on her bed and quickly get up, this only severing his injury such bleeding more profoundly. Before he could grab the blade stuck on the wall beside him, a strong pressure sent him flying through the wall then outside the inn, crashing on the ground with blood-spitting from his mouth and chest.
“GAH! Aargh!”
What struck him was a condensed ball of wind filled with wind-blades, making his chest red, with rough skin and bloody all over, his skin and muscles being almost completely torn, ribs and even organs being visible here and there.
“Konstantin! That was too much!”
Denisse shouted angered at a wolfman clothed in black leather armour, a thin sword gently held in his hand while his black eyes shone with coldness and indifference.
“?!”
K-Konstantin? Why is the leader of Urius’s Intelligence here?! Damn! Lilia… I must warn her somehow!
Hearing the name of one of the most feared characters of Urius’s secret organizations, Daniel couldn’t help but feel cold sweat cover his back. Besides gathering intel about all the nobles of all ranks inside Urius Kingdom, he was also known from some hidden rumors that he was the leader of the inquisitors, working as the Great Patriarch’s right-hand-man. And while he was working as an inquisitor, the rumors said that he was merciless enough to immediately execute any and all who showed signs of starting a new cult, to believe in the powers of Darkness and Chaos, or to be in contact with demons. And at this moment, Daniel was the latest, unable to even resist in front of such a trained killer.
Observing his nervous eyes staring around, Konstantin immediately understood his thoughts, asking with a quiet yet firm tone,
“Are you worried about your demon companion?”
“?!”
Daniel froze in place as he lowered his head, not letting him read anymore from his facial expression, but it was already too late.
“Don’t you worry. She will accompany you soon enough inside the underground dungeon.”
“…”
Daniel gritted his teeth and looked toward Denisse who evaded eye-contact, making him understand that she reported everything that Daniel did, together with his almost perfect plan to let Lilia return to her kingdom.
Spitting out some blood from fury, Daniel glared at Konstantin and growled ferociously while showing his sharp canines,
“You fools don’t know what you’re doing. Are you ready for an all-out war against both Victoria and Antara now-?”
-POW!-
“Daniel! Please stop, Konstantin!”
While Daniel growled threateningly, Konstantin suddenly appeared in front of him and strongly kicked him right in his jaw, dislocating it and making Daniel lose consciousness. With a sharp and cold glare, Konstantin then said sternly,
“After nurturing you all these years, you still disappoint me greatly, Daniel.”
.
Before General David even sent his message to his subordinates and when the king just left the Throne’s hall and went to visit the Patriarch inside a great Church. There the patriarch was praying alone in front of a great altar, above which a huge statue of a god that looked from above at its believers stood tall with an imposing and fierce air around it. The name of the God was Lucian, in Eihwaz otherwise known as The Demon God, but in the entire Nostrung being known as The God of War. While they venerated Lucian as a God of War and Power, they completely negated its demonic traits, showing him in a human form.
“Greetings, Patriarch.”
The king bowed his head to an old beardless man clothed in a black with red embroideries ceremonial long dress, preparing for the next ceremony that was up to begin for the wealthier masses of Urius.
Seeing him, the Patriarch also bowed his head with a benevolent and serene smile,
“Greetings, my King. I’m glad that you took a part of your busy time to also pay me a visit.”
“Yes, Patriarch. Although I’d wish to stay and have some praying time with your holiness, I have an urgent matter of which I seem to be unable to find a solution.”
“Hm? Why are you not asking your two great generals? I heard David already returned from his expedition from the South.”
“He did, yes. And came back with worrying news of which solvation is yet to be found as David and Baziad don’t agree with one another.”
“Hm~? Well, this is rare. What about your three princes? One is extremely talented and intelligent, the second it’s sincere and always ready for action, while the third, although not that talented or strong, he’s a strong-spirited one with a wise judgment. They might surely be able to help you.”
“I doubt it, Patriarch. They are still young and inexperienced. Besides, I’m still unable to understand why you wished for me to bring inside the royal family a commoner like Mathias.”
“I simply told you that the gods informed us about a young believer who will ask to be made into a monk with a day before the first snow-fall, that if ever will he gain the chance to gain the throne, he will be able to save Urius from great dangers.”
“…I wonder if this great danger has anything to do with this new kingdom Antara.”
After hearing the king utter that name, the Patriarch’s expression darkened instantly as he asked urgently,
“King Geffrey. I’ll ask you to tell me everything that happened.”
“…Alright.”
Seeing him react in such an urgent manner, Geffrey couldn’t help but feel conflicted as he never saw him show such a fierce expression. Even so, he still told him everything. Being a strong believer of Lucian and also the greatest sponsor of the church, the king had great trust in the patriarch, even more than in his own family.
After hearing everything, without even thinking twice the Patriarch found a solution to this problem with a calm smile on his face.
“We must start a Holy War.”
“W-what?”
The king was baffled by his answer and the Patriarch immediately got up from his seat, walking toward a scribe’s table and started writing more letters. While writing, the patriarch also continued,
“They might have Victoria as backing, but once we’ll bring forth the subject of purging heretics and demons from our lands, I’m sure that the fellow Patriarch’s from the neighboring Kingdoms will take the right decision of a coalition against Antara. Ah, brother Konstantin?”
After finishing writing his letters, the Patriarch asked out toward the door and a strong wind made the door open wide as a tall wolf-man appeared all clothed in black, bowing down right in front of the Patriarch, his speed making it hard to follow even for the king.
“Greetings to King Jeffrey and Patriarch Albert.”
“Please send these letters to the Patriarchs of Sava in South-East, Jian in East, and Jianhua in North-East respectively.”
“Yes, your holiness.”
Konstantin then took the three letters and sent them flying outside the door where three shadows appeared then disappeared together with the letters, sending them toward the before-told kingdoms. After doing so, Konstantin bowed down once again and this time he addressed to the king.
“My King, it seems that General David has sent a message to his two lieutenants to escape with the demon. I await your orders.”
“That fool…”
The king shook his head disappointed but not surprised. He wanted to just let them go but then the Patriarch interjected, making Geffrey freeze in shock for a moment.
“Go chase them down. Do whatever it takes to bring them back and lock down General David for treason.”
“Yes, Patriarch.”
The next moment, Konstantin disappeared and the king finally reacted vehemently,
“Patriarch Albert! Just what is the meaning of this? What is with this order to lock down my general and his men?!”
The Patriarch then turned to him and answered with the same benevolent smile, trying to make the king understand his thoughts,
“My king, please stop your anger and think rationally. General David wanted to help a demoness to leave this land without punishment for intruding. It’s only normal that he’s imprisoned. It’s already a benevolence from our part to not execute them immediately. Besides, please don’t worry about Antara. This problem will soon be resolved.”
“… And how will you find them? From that group, Lieutenant Daniel is known for his tricky strategies and always hard to read.”
“Oh, don’t worry, my king. The young ruffian that became a noble is but another student of Konstantin. All he knows has been taught to him by my dear brother, through which he also became what he is now. Besides, if he won’t be the one to stop this ridiculous hide-and-seek play then surely his companion will, as she is in quite the tight spot at the moment.”
“… You mean about the statute of her father as a High Clerk?”
“Indeed. If rumors appear that his daughter actually helped a demon to escape, no small punishment will await the Arch Bishop. We all know the saying: With great powers come great responsibilities, no?”
“… Patriarch. David is one of my good friends.”
“And you are a king, Geffrey. You need to think of the collective good now, not just about your friends. As a ruler, you can’t pay favouritisms to anyone.”
“… Understood. Please continue to guide me into becoming a great king in the future as well, Patriarch Albert.”
“With pleasure.”
As the two of them bowed their heads to one another, the king left back to his throne with a heavy heart, quickly imprisoning David and sending out more troops to chase down the escapers.
After the king left, the patriarch’s smile vanished and his eyes turned sharp.
“Emilian, come here.”
“Yo.”
From the shadows on the ceiling, an assassin appeared before the patriarch, fully clothed in a dark-blue leather armor with an opaque shine, letting for barely any rays of light to reflect on it. The assassin then pulled his mask down together with his hood, letting for a curly black hair with blue eyes to stare defiantly at the patriarch.
“You’re a master at talking, old-man. Your skills of bullshitting are even higher than those of the politicians from my world! I admire you.”
As the youngster laughed merely, the patriarch formed another smile and asked while ignoring his misbehavior and disrespect,
“Are you sure the place where that heretic crafting player ran off to was named Antara?”
“Yep. A brat-dragoon with a sexy woman of the same race saved him and escaped from your people further in South-West. After chasing them through the shadows, I finally found out that ridiculous place.”
“And are you sure there is no need to worry about them?”
“That so-called kingdom is just a hastily made fortress which is almost non-stop assaulted by waves of demonic beasts. Although they must be quite strong to still be resisting and worry about the other kingdoms, I’m pretty sure that their resources and man-power must be running thin by now.”
“… When was the last time you visited them?”
“A while back when that weakling Khalid escaped your perfect dungeon.”
“That was around two months ago… Things shouldn’t have changed that much since then. Sigh~ being a young kingdom, my people are still unaware of its location, so they can’t gain any intel on them.”
“And because of that you still need me~. Am I right? Old man.”
“Indeed, but not for long.”
As the two smiled amiably at each other, their Adept Saint auras were crashing onto one another, making for the air to vibrate around them. The first to break the tension was the patriarch, turning around while saying,
“Well, having a common goal, it is but normal to use each other. And so, after the war starts, I want you do go and capture that foolish dog once again.”
“But of course~, I’m curious about what kind of relations he gained after his time in Antara.”
“Mhm~, but first of all, mind bringing that cursed demon to me? She shouldn’t have reached that far by now. You’ll find out more from Konstantin.”
“Ugh, I hate that stone-faced guy. Alright, I expect to gain a great skill next.”
“For sure.”
With a sadistic smile, Emilian returned in his shadow and left the area, leaving the grinning patriarch all alone, returning to his prayers while the statue of the fierce Lucian continued to stare downward at him, as if judging his actions in contempt.
.
Back in time when the three were still being chased on the horses, just as they took the turn toward a little road through a poor district, three people attracted the attention of the two lieutenants as Lilia immediately recognized their auras.
“You guys!”
She exclaimed surprised and the three shouted just as shocked,
“Lilia! Miss Lilia! So the king chased you out, right? The rumors about the Lucianic religion disregarding those form Eihwaz was true!”
“Quickly, come this way!”
Daniel and Denisse stared baffled at the three initially bear-man, human, and lion-man knew someone like Lilia, a demoness. Were they form Antara as well? Or has Lilia adventured throughout the world and met them by chance somehow? They couldn’t help asking confused.
“M-Miss Lilia… They are?”
“Please forgive me but I’m unable to answer that.”
Lilia bowed her head solemnly to the two confused lieutenants but the three youngsters turned into mice-men while laughing amused, observing the faces of shock and surprise on the two’s faces.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Hahaha~ look at their faces!”
“This form is the best. Although is just an illusion, having to act like another race is really tiring.”
“I know, right? I’m supposed to ignore different kinds of smells just to act like I have a human’s nose. I started to feel dizzy almost every day now.”
“The city is not for us…”
Seeing them turn back, Lilia exclaimed urgently as one of them laughed at Daniel and Denisse, while the other two relaxed while stretching out their tense bodies.
Sighing once, Lilia then explained to them the bare-minimum and throwing some lies about the mice-men, telling Daniel and Denisse that they’re here disguised to help her escape in case the king wished to harm her.
“So basically they can help us right now! This is perfect!”
Daniel exclaimed as his plan would now go much smoother. He initially wanted to kidnap a few people to play as a decoy to them after changing clothes. But now that there were actually 3 people willing to help, things would go much easier.
Daniel immediately then made two of them to change clothes, making Lilia rush toward West with [Shadow-Merging] the moment they’ll let lose the horses once again for distraction. While doing so, Daniel wanted to play the role of a second decoy together with Denisse on the Northern gate so the knights’ attention will be pulled once again in another direction.
“I see… In that case please wear these, you two.”
After they changed clothes, Daniel and Denisse quickly put on a normal cloak while they offered their own noble white cloaks to the mice-men. Denisse offered her cloak to the mice-men after swiftly tearing the little silver button that showed the face of Lucian on it. Being busy with putting on his mask, Daniel didn’t notice this while Lilia didn’t even suspect the missing buttons as she wasn’t accustomed with their importance.
After the two mice-men wore the capes and turned into Denisse and Daniel, while the third turned into Lilia but without changing clothes as they didn’t have to, Daniel quickly made the horses gallop in a hurry toward the North, thinking that once they will discover them, everyone will send most of their troops to the South.
“You’re such a crafty one, Daniel. And thank you for your assistance, Denisse. I wish we’ll meet again all safe and sound.”
Lilia smiled amused then quickly turned into a shadow, fully trusting in their actions. Even so, the guilt and sadness in Denisse’s eyes made her feel some kind of worry. As she rushed toward West, a thought suddenly struck her.
“Let’s take a detour, just in case.”
She then rushed toward the South-Western wall, thinking that it would be a better idea to use one of the dog-men’s skills.
[Dig]After reaching right beside the wall behind two great buildings made of stone, she touched the ground then activated the skill as the ground started to usurp in a controlled area of but one meter. Because her element was Darkness and not Earth, her skill took a while until it activated, having to wait for around 20 seconds until she finally created a hole that would go through the ground and bellow the wall. To pass the magic barrier that was placed everywhere around the capital, Lilia had to crack space for a brief amount of time, using almost all her strength of a Grandmaster to form but an undetectable rift of only two meters wide on the barrier. Sweating from all over, she forced herself to go through the barrier and send a telepathic message to Antara.
The king of Urius refused the armistice. Inform king Ryu to prepare for an all-out attack at any moment now.
Understood. Miss Lilia, please return as fast as possible. Now that our peace treaty has been rejected, your stay there will only prove to be more and more dangerous.
Alright, Maru.
E-eh? H-how did you?
The first person to answer Lilia’s connection was Maru, but he tried to change the structure of his mental waves so to not be recognized. Even so, Lilia immediately identified him, making him blush and stutter.
How could I not know? I must know everything about what’s mine.
Ugh…
Her words said with a matter-of-fact tone made him only more embarrassed, especially because she used a ring that connected to the mice-men’s base of info-gathering. That meant at this moment almost everyone inside that base heard their conversation, some even feeling like laughing at Maru’s embarrassment.
“Ugh…”
While running through the woods, Lilia suddenly felt her energy drained, having to stop by a tree to take her breath.
Are you alright?
Maru was able to feel that something wasn’t right with her as their connection would weaken at some points then strengthen again. While wiping her sweat, Lilia answered, continuing to take step after step away from the Urius’ capital.
I just used too much of my mana to make a tear through the city’s barrier.
Form a tear? Did you break out of that place?! Why? Weren’t you supposed to return normally?!
It is more complicated. I-
Just as she wished to start explaining what happened, her senses suddenly started screaming as she quickly ducked, only for a dagger to ruthlessly sever one of her wings, her jacket unable to completely block the flying blade.
“Gaah!”
Lilia!?
