“Father, I have detected a group of humans heading toward the north. It seems they are trying to escape through that way. Should I pursue them?”

Alastor, in his beast form, was riding the skeletal dragon. After finishing off these so called heroes, he was waiting for the main character of tonight’ spectacle to show up. Yet so far there wasn’t any sign of the person. Could this be a trap? He wondered. A God should protect his people right? Then why hasn’t he come yet? If that was the kind of game he wanted to play then Alastor would play along: he would kill more.

“No. Let the horde continue their invasion! Bring me to the northern gate! I will take care of this myself!”

* * *

Viviana was leading a group of citizens of Caelum towards the northern gate. So far the area has not been invaded yet so it was relatively easy to guide everyone through this route.

Arriving at the gate, she recognized father Maxime holding a baby together with a dozen commoners.

“Father you made it!”

“Yeah but I didn’t manage to save all of them. We encountered some undeads along the way and some men decided to stay behind to give us time to get away…” Maxime replied sadly.

“You can’t blame yourself for this, Father! These people made it back thanks to you!” Viviana encouraged the bishop.

“Yes I know. Now it’s not the time for mourning. Did you see Lucas?” The priest asked.

“No I haven’t seen him. He went to the southern region so he might take a bit more time. I reckon he is fighting some undeads again. That idiot!”

Before the priest could speak, the cries of the little girl he was holding has interrupted their conversation. Even when Maxime pat her on the back and tried to reassure her that she was safe, her cried would not stop. It was natural as she just witnessed her parents being killed right in front of her. Lucky for her, Maxime came just at the right time to bring her away.

Alas Maxime had no experience with children so he did not know how to calm her down.

Everyone was exhausted and the cries were not helping at this point. Not only that it could attract the attention of nearby undeads or spiders.

“Father let me help!” Viviana said as she took the baby in her hands.

Strangely the moment she held him, the cries stopped. Was it due to the weird faces she was making to the baby? Or the hymn she was singing to her? Either way it worked.

“How did you do that?” Asked Maxime in awe.

“I used to do the same thing to my sister whenever she cried. Work every time! Hihi!”

“You have a sister?” Maxime has never heard about this. He thought she was alone when they found her on the streets. But then he noticed she spoke in past tense. Did it mean…..

“A young sister yes! But we got lost from each other a few years ago and I have never heard anything about her since…...I am sorry! This is awkward. We should focus on what is happening now first!” Trying to change the subject, Viviana forced a smile on her face.

Realizing he should not press further, Maxime decided to stay quiet. Not it was not the time anyway. And so they continued marching forward.

The gate was still intact, which was a good sign. Seeing the civilians coming, the soldiers took their own initiative to open it, allowing them to escape. They then proceeded to come down from the wall and helped Maxime and Viviana to lead them out.

“This way! Hurry!” shouted one of the guard.

Taking a baby with her was certainly not a good idea so Viviana handed her to another woman. Although regrettable as she really loved children, this was for the baby’ sake.

‘This baby must survive’ thought the girl in her head. Though many have died today, if such a young life could survive, it would be a great ease of burden for her.

The path outside was clear. It was their chance to finally escape this nightmare. But alas things were never that easy. Like a certain someone once said, you would only know despair when you are just meters away from your goal before it was snatched away.

From the sky, a giant figure descended and landed right on their path, shattering their hope. It was the dragon rider and his undead dragon. With nightmarish appearance, their mere presence sent fear to the spines. How would they escape from such thing?

Two of the guards shouted and charged forward. With luck they might be open a path for the others. But they sure have underestimated their opponent.

With a single motion, the dragon swung his head and hurled both of soldiers into the walls, killing them instantly. Watching the cruel fate that would happen to them, a few soldiers fled inside, attempting to get away. But the dragon rider would not let his prey get away. From his body, tentacles lashed out. As they caught the soldiers, some were torn apart, some impaled to death while others strangled. In the end they all died.

Now all that was left were the civilians.

Father Maxime stood there, helpless as he saw those soldiers died like nothing. He thought he could save these people. Was he wrong to think that there was hope? How could something like this happen? Did God really abandon him?

“WHY? Why are you doing this?” Maxime screamed in anger.

“Because I can! Because I am a demon. Isn’t that what you teach your kids these days? Demons are evil being who wanted to destroy the world. So now I am here to make sure that your so called teaching would not go to waste. I will make what you fear so much into reality.” the dragon rider coldly answered.

“Is this for revenge??? For what we have done to your kind?”

“Father, I am not such a grand person to speak about revenging my race. In truth I couldn’t care less about that. I didn’t even know I was a demon until recent year. Why would I care for someone I have never met before? I only care about my family and mine alone.

I have a simple goal: to spread suffering upon the world!” Alastor proclaimed.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I am a selfish person, Father! What people did to me, what they took from me. It won’t be just them who will pay for that. I will make sure that the entire world has a taste of my pain.”

“Vengeance won’t accomplish anything! I don’t know what happened to you but you need to cast aside your hatred!”

“Cast aside my hatred? Do you think you can do that after what I have done here? Do you think these people can?”

“I…” Maxime stayed silent. He too was unsure of himself. Did he have the courage to forgive this person even though he has killed probably thousands of people in a single night? Even though he said that, could he actually do it? ‘Was I a hypocrite all along? Was I too naïve to hold on such thoughts?’

“Couldn’t say anything? I know you couldn’t. You only have those pretty words to defend yourself.”

“…Then let me prove it through my actions!”

All of the sudden, Father Maxime stepped forward from the crowd and fell on his knees in front of Alastor. Could he be planning to beg for his life? Was that all he could do?

“Please take my life instead and let these people go! I beg of you!”

“NO, Father! “shouted Viviana from the crowd. But Alastor didn’t even look at her. He was shocked by this man before him.

“You would sacrifice your own life for these people? What make you think I can’t kill all of you right now?” asked the boy.

“My life may mean nothing to you. Worthless it may be; this is the only way I can prove to you that I am sincere with my words. This cycle of hatred must stop between us. We have both hurt each other too much. Things that have been done can never be recovered.

But we can’t let it go, we will never be able to move forward. You can’t be shackled by the past forever. You may not believe me but I can see a future: one where we will all live in peace! If my life could somehow contribute to that future, even a tiny bit, if my life could wain your anger, then please take it!”

For the first time in his life, Alastor met such a person. Someone who sought peace between the two sides, something unthinkable. Such madness! If someone else was talking those words, he or she would probably have ended up being marked of a traitor. Yet for a strange reason, Alastor could feel that this man meant every of his word. There was no shred of lies in what he said.

“You…if only there was more people like you…” spoke Alastor in a gentle voice, completely different from earlier.

Suddenly, Alastor could feel a killing intent toward him. The beastman Viviana couldn’t hear anything from their conversation, decided to rush in to help Father Maxime. She would not let him die in the hands of a demon.

“Get away from him!” slashed the girl toward Alastor.

But Alastor only needed to use one hand to catch the sword before crushing it into dust. In an instant he punched the girl in her chest, sending her flying toward a tree on the side road. He then took out a dark sword and walked toward the girl.

“No please forgive her! She didn’t….” Maxime tried to run toward Vivana’ side but was stopped by the dragon.

That kind of attack would normally have knocked out a grown man. But thanks to her beastman’s body, Viviana could barely retain her consciousness. The strike seemed to have broken a few of her bones. The excruciating pain she felt in her chest was telling her to lie down quietly. But she refused. If she was going to die, she would stare at death itself in the face to demonstrate her defiance, her unyielding will. Was that foolishness or courage? The boundary between the two was like the faces of a coin. So close yet so far.

Alastor raised his sword. He has killed more than he could count tonight. One more would be nothing. He told himself as the sword fell down.

But the girl was unharmed.

The blade stopped itself right before it could cut Viviana in two. Something strange happened. Even Viviana herself didn’t understand how she was still alive. She was supposed to be dead by now, yet she still stood here in this world. Just to make sure, she pinched herself to verify if this was a dream. No it was indeed reality.

The blade in front of her was quivering. Why? Because the holder was trembling, not in fear but by something else. Just moment before Alastor could cut her down, the cloud hiding the moon has moved, revealing the shiny moonlight upon the girl’s face. And it was that moment that stopped him in time.

The demon in front of Viviana was behaving strangely. The girl could clearly see it on his face. Quietly he muttered a single word that no one heard except her. That one word shocked Viviana so much she tried to grab the demon but her wound did not allow her to do that. She could barely move anymore. The only thing she could do was watching him. Her fate was in his hands. He could kill her easily. So why? Why was he looking at her like that? Why was he……

“....go…” The demon muttered softly.

“What?” The girl did hear what he said but it was completely unreal to her that he would say that.

“I said get out of my face!!! Before I change my mind!” The demon shouted angrily.

Hearing that the priest immediately rushed and grabbed Viviana on his back before calling the others to come. Some couldn’t believe it at first, thinking it was a trap by the demon. But what other choice did they have? Standing here?

They still hesitated when passing by the dragon. Although quite intimidating it didn’t do anything to them. It heard what its father said and even though it did not understand why, it did not dare to interrupt. Not now, not when it felt he would kill it if it asked him about that.

With the dragon out of sight, the group finally escaped dangers. They did not understand why; it did not matter to them. They still got their lives after all.

Now that the danger has passed, Maxime put her down on the ground and began to heal her using his magic. Though he was not a skillful mage, he was a top rank healer, could be considered as one of the best of the continent. Perhaps it was better for him to have this power instead as he disliked violence.

“I got you Viviana.” A green light shined from the girl’s body as her wounds began to heal.

“He….he……” The girl mumbled in a half conscious state. Did the shock get to her head?

“Don’t worry Viviana! We are out of danger now! Look like he didn’t follow us.” The bishop reassured the girl.

“He was crying…..” she whispered faintly. At this point, she seemed to be hallucinating.

“What?” couldn’t believe his ears, Maxime spoke out loud.

But her next words were even more mysterious.

“Why do you know her name? Why do you know Shana?”

* * *

The young girl Alice was looking for her dear brother. Last time she heard was him going to the northern gate to take care of some escapees. Surely something like that would take no more than a few minutes. But it has been an hour since there was no news from him. So she decided to go there herself.

As she arrived at the said location, she found traces of an intense battle. The walls have multiples holes on it, on the verge of crumbling. Trees of the side road were cut off. Did Alastor fight someone here?

Beyond the ruins she saw him, standing in static and gazing at the moon. He didn’t fight anyone, these were only the result of his rampage. But what was he angry about?

“Brother?” Alice called out to him.

“…..Yes?” strangely his tone was rather normal.

“Are you alright?”

“I am fine! Why do you ask?” the boy answered.

“You feel ….different!” Alice fidgeted.

“Don’t worry about it Alice! Is there something else you want to say?” Alastor asked.

“Hum Lilith told me that there is a very very big energy source coming from the south. It seems like the God you are looking for is here!”

“Is he now? Perfect! I am in the mood for killing someone! Tonight just keeps getting better and better! Let us go!”

Together the two mounted on the dragon and flew toward the southern gate again.

“Father, our undead legion is being decimated. The enemy is very powerful! Please be careful!” the dragon spoke.

“I will! So what kind of weapon is he using?” the person he would be fighting was a God. By no means he should underestimate him. It would be better to have as much as info on the guy before they fought.

“Well actually he doesn’t have any weapon….”

“No weapon? Then how does he kill you?”

“He just kind of…. steps on us…” the dragon reluctantly replied.

“Step on? What do you ……AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Suddenly something flew toward them and hit the dragon. Because of the tremendous force that thing hit them with, half of the dragon’s skeletal body broke and they crashed to the ground.

* * *

Alastor’s POV

“Damn it! It hurt!” I grumbled as I tried to stand up from the dragon’s corpse.

Immediately I searched for Alice….She was fine, right by me. But the same could not be said about Sinforma, or rather the dragon. I didn’t know what hit us but it killed the dragon instantly, breaking him like squashing a fly….

At that moment a terrible thought came to my mind. Squash like a fly. I slowly turned my head back and finally realized the culprit of that attack.

“You got to be kidding me!!!”

Alright I knew he was a God. I knew he was powerful. But no one told me that the guy was a damn freaking giant. He was even taller than the wall next to him!!! He wore a broken armor set with only the helmet intact. Through the holes in the armor I could see his skin which was almost stone like with even moss on it.

“Are you Alastor?” the giant spoke with a loud voice. I didn’t think he was yelling but only speaking softly, in his own way. But his ‘soft’ voice was enough to echo in the entire valley

“What if I am?” I replied.

“Then let us battle! Gnome, the Sleeping Moutain, God of the Dwarves, challenge you to a fight! Show me your power, demon lord!”