Swords clashed, sparks flew around, and blood splattered to the ground. Dark red crystals rolled on the ground. Another clash, a further dark red crystal fell. The monkey-man coughed up even more blood down to the ground. The senior smiled while he clapped in his hand, "Is this the end? I hope not! You haven't fulfilled your word! Come, stand up and swing your sword! Come, kill me!"

The senior rushed at the monkey-man again. However, the monkey-man parried mid-air as he had instead of clashing head-on like before, swiftly jumped back. Surprised, the senior stopped with his attack and smiled mockingly at the monkey-man, "What happened to your courage? Why did you escape instead of fighting head-on with me? Do you fear me? It can't be! Or why else would you have dared to threaten me? Now, come, kill me! I will wait for you!"

While the monkey-man was ignoring the senior, he had thrown the short sword by Igor's side to Libertas. Then he spoke to Libertas while his eyes were gazing at the senior, "You are now on your own. I can't help you any longer. Sorry. You said, saving him is enough, right? I will try to do that at least. Once again, I am sorry."

Suddenly, dark red crystals grew out of the monkey-man's nails, forming deadly claws. Similar, they grew out of the mouth, forming terrifying fangs. As the senior saw that, the mocking smile on his face promptly vanished. Then a white crystal formed around his plain white armour. He took in a deep breath, then exhaled. His gaze, fixed on the monkey-man, ready for another clash.

The monkey-man threw his broadsword. The dark red crystal encasing dispersed into fine light particles. Immediately, he shouted, "RUN!"

Before the senior could react or think even more about this, the deadly claws were already descending on him. Swiftly, he raised his broadsword and successfully defended himself. Nonetheless, blood was spat on his eyes, blinding him for a second. Instantly a kick followed, sending him flying.

All the dark red crystals dispersed in a burst. Immediately, the monkey-man grabbed Igor and rushed away. Libertas was at first frozen for a moment before quickly reacted and ran away. Cursing, the senior wiped the blood from his eyes and cussed once more as he saw everyone fleeing. Then he hastily looked around and swiftly chased Libertas.

The leaves rustled in the silence. A faint flapping sounded, a bat flew above the corpse of the junior. It saw the gaping hole at the chest, immediately, it happily dived down.

Libertas panted heavily, as his lungs burned from the cold air. He could hear a faint a rustling behind him, biting his lips, he stood up, and run further. In the distance, there was light. Very soon he would be out of the forest. However, as he looked behind him, he saw the senior. It was too late.

Libertas rushed out of the forest and then despaired even more. He didn't know what he had expected himself, but he knew now that something had shattered inside him.

Behind him was the senior. In front of him was a cliff. The senior strolled forward while he clapped in hands, "Well done. Very well done. You almost escaped. Unfortunately, you are too slow. If you were a stage higher, you would definitely have escaped. But luckily for me, you aren't!"

The senior stopped clapping. He held his broadsword high. Under the faint starlight, the white crystal encasing the broadsword glimmered weakly. With a mocking smile on his face, he said, "I had fun with you, but let's end the act here and now! It was long enough, don't you think so?"

Libertas bit his lips, then stepped back with step the senior took forward. Soon he reached the edge of the cliff and glanced down. A raging river hit with torrential waves the cliff. Torn off trees were clashing with rocks and boulder.

As Libertas came to a stop at the edge of the cliff, the senior likewise halted his advance. The senior smiled mockingly at Libertas, "Now, what will you do? Will you be obedient and let me kill you? Or will you be brave and fight, just to end with a horrible death at my hand? Or will you pin your hope on surviving a jump, down the cliff, but unfortunately, just to end up drowning in the river?"

Libertas glanced once more behind him, down the cliff. Then his gaze wandered to the broadsword shining the starlight, and finally to the face of the senior. He didn't like that expression. Smug. Conceited. Mocking. Gloating. The senior was looking down at him.

He took a deep breath as he acknowledged his hate against that expression. It let him feel like shit which wasn't worth anything. Hence, he may be resigned to his fate, but he was still glaring defiantly at the senior. While he was firmly gripping his short sword, he took a further step back.

Then Libertas spoke slowly, "You wish to force me to bend my own will to obey yours. I won't do it. It may be stupid, but I was long enough 'smart'. I had enough of it."

The senior smile turned even bigger, forcing the eyes to little slits. It was as if he was enjoying a funny show, and he knew, soon his favourite scene would come. He then asked, but his voice quivered slightly. Occasionally, a suppressed laughter forced itself out of his mouth.

"Hehe. So, will you be stupid and bravely fight me to the death? Hehe."

Hearing this, Libertas mildly smiled defiantly back, "To be stupid and to fight to the death? Why not? I would even have done it if I had no other choices. However, now, I have the choice, and I had rather live. There may not be many reasons to live, but even then, I wish to live. As such, to answer your question, no! I may die if I jump down this cliff, but at the same time, this is my only lifeline. I know, I would definitely die in a fight with you. Therefore, see you never again."

"FUCK!"

The senior eyes widened, as he saw Libertas stepping back and falling off the cliff. He cursed, looked behind him, and rushed forward. Clenching his teeth, he reached the edge of the cliff and jumped down too. He fell faster than Libertas due to his armour. Soon he caught up to Libertas. Swiftly he threw his broadsword away before he firmly gripped the ankle of Libertas.

Abruptly the fall ceased. The senior sighed in relief. Someone had taken hold of his ankle as he had with Libertas'. After a while, that someone had pulled him and Libertas up. Once up, Libertas immediately saw eight armoured men. They were the armoured troop he saw walking out of the village. However, before he could do anything, he was knocked out.

Everyone sighed in relief. Then one man walked to the senior and hit his head. Promptly the senior fell from his feet and crashed against the ground. He stood up while rubbing his dizzy head. Following, he complained indignant, "Leader, what the hell are you doing?"

The leader clicked his tongue and hit the head of the senior again. The senior crashed once more against the ground. Satisfied by the result, the leader nodded to himself. After that, he addressed the complaint, "Did you forget what I have told you? You shouldn't rush off to fight. The target this time may be injured, but even then, he shouldn't be someone you can take on! You could have dragged us all to doom, understood? Sigh. Besides that, where is Alfred?"

This time, the senior didn't stand up. He was only rubbing his head while he sat on the ground. Hearing the question, he shrugged his shoulder as he replied, "Alfred? Oh, you mean that annoying newcomer? He is already dead. What did you expect? Didn't you always complain? With every new generation, the recruits were worse than the earlier one!"

A conflicted expression appeared on the face of the leader. In the end, he frowned in disgruntlement, "Yeah, I said that. There is no need to dispute it, but I didn't expect, he would die on his first mission. No matter how bad the new recruits are, they shouldn't have died."

The senior stood, then patted the shoulder of the leader, "Don't be angry. Isn't his death, his own fault? Who told him to follow me? Just tell your superior, that boy was immature and had often overestimated himself. He wouldn't be worth developing, even if he survived the mission. Alright?"

Annoyed by the patting, the leader slapped the hand away, "Alright, alright. Whatever you say. Now tell us what has happened exactly?"

The senior rubbed his hand, as he answered, "As you know, I chased after that demonic aura. Later, I found a group lead by him, and of course, I have warned them to be aware of that demon. Unfortunately, he used this moment and escaped. We chased but pitifully we fell under the surprise attack of his follower. However, the follower immediately escaped, the moment it became dangerous. As a result, I chased the demon to the cliff, and he jumped off. By then, you should have arrived and seen the rest, right?"

"Yes. But I have one last question. Why did the demonic aura suddenly surge? It can't be a breakthrough, as it was too often."

The senior shrugged his shoulder, "How could I know? Every single time I injured him, his demonic aura surged. However, it was only until his injury more or less recovered."

The leader walked to Libertas and then asked, "Now, what should we do with him?"

"It would best if you could let me go."

The leader jumped all of a sudden back. He firmly gripped his sword and shield, his gaze directed at Libertas. Warily he retreated to his team, then asked, "How could you be awake?"

Libertas laughed gentle. His eyes shimmered in a beautiful aquamarine. Gracefully, he patted the dust and dirt from his clothes, then he replied softly, "Why? Aren't I allowed to be awake?"