I killed them.

I definitely did.

Wasn't it better to try to reason with them and find a peaceful solution?

Definitely.

But, was that option.

Certainly not.

When these clergymen sheathed their blades against Syrus and me, I knew they were serious; there isn't much difference between monsters and humans in that regard; the moment they barre their teeth at you, the reasonable thing to do is to attack before they do.

Was it self-defense?

For me definitely.

But certainly not for these people.

They had no need to introduce themselves, the man in white was surely the Archbishoop Gregor Medvedick and the Armored man might be The Holy Paladin Dominik.

Neither Syrus and I dared to move for we knew the moment we did, we would be dead.

There was a immense gap between mere clergymen and one of the fourteen.

“Oya, Oya … Can someone explain to me, what’s the meaning of all of this?”

“Archbishop… I was about ... to summon you … It was them, ... they suddenly attacked us…” The last remaining priest mumbled trembling and pointing at both Syrus.

The man in white swept an exhausted look at the corpse on the snowy ground, and then suddenly went to where the last priest was, grabbed him by the neck, held him high on the air.

“Not only you mess up but you also got the nerve to lie to me.”

“I am sorry Archbishop, it was us we tried to dispose of the butler so that he won’t bother you when you’ll be there, but the child suddenly attacked us.”

They all threw a glance at me but the man in white was particularly threatening.

“So you’re telling me that you got annihilated by a child, you six confirmed Clergymen of the Church.” The man in white said as he tightened his grip around the man’s neck.

The man began to convulse frantically, with greenish glows appearing all throughout his veins; after a short while, the man in white finally let go of him, the man fell on the ground on all his four, coughing as if his life depended on it.

“I suppose that was all to be expected from a third-rate noble like you.” He announced then looked at us again but this time he seemed to have noticed Vicar Serana who had fainted on the ground for god only know the reason, then looked back at the man “Which one ?”

“The Child. The butler is just a commoner.”

“And that woman over there who is she? She’s Serana, a Vicar of the Church, for some reason she was accompanying the faceless one.”

“Serena… I think, ... I’ve heard of her, … A Vicar huh... I guess that explains how they were able to run away so fast from us.”

Syrus who was on my left immediately rushed to where I was for the man in white was about head to where we were when he suddenly stopped when he noticed that he had walked into a pool of blood.

“I guess, We can’t let these poor souls here, worthless as they were they might still have some use of us. But first…” The man with his hand pointed at us.

At first, I didn’t understand what was the meaning of what he was doing, but I quickly got my answers.

Roots appeared at a monstrous speed in a spike-like manner from the ground four meters away from me,

But their target wasn't me but rather

“Syrus!”

Syrus was standing, and these roots apparition was so sudden that he had no time to react, and as a result, he was impaled in the stomach.

Syrus was thrown away by the roots in a snake-like manner, sending his body flying through the air.

Immediately ran where he flew out, to reception him, to alleviate the shock.

“Syrus! Respond me!”

“Gnah…”

What came out of his mouth wasn’t an answer was a mouthful of fresh blood.

He had six baby fist-sized holes all over his chest, I tried to plug them, but to no avail, blood was gushing out of it like water from a faucet, but he was still alive.

That’s right he was still alive, If I had magic like Grandfather’s magic, I would be able to save him.

This is it; I must bring him to Grandfather Emilien; as long as I do, Syrus will be saved.

I need to immediately get him out of here.

But I was painfully aware these people will let me do that.

While I was focused on Syrus, they had retrieved the priest's corpse and Vicar Serana's unconscious body, which they pilled into a small mountain, before the blonde man accompanying them teleported the corpse with him, leaving only Vicar Serana's body behind.

Only Syrus, the man in white, the armored man, the last priest, and Vicar Serana remained.

“Now, that this is settled. Let us go back to our infamous Faceless One.” He said as he slowly approached us.

Knowing that he was preparing to deal with me, I immediately got away from Syrus.

I need to find a way to extract Syrus from.

I need to …

“Oh~ What a villain toy you’re holding here. This is dangerous you know. Better let it go, before you hurt anyone.” He said as moved sideways as if to show something to me behind him.

I saw the armored man, raising his hand in the air, and slowly bringing it down. Just like earlier with the man in white pointing at us, I didn’t know what to expect, and just like earlier I knew I got my answer almost instantly.

I recognized the villain toy he was referring to; it was one of the daggers I had requisitioned from the priest earlier, and I had my right hand reflexively firmly tightened on it, or so I thought.

The dagger had disappeared from my -

No to be exact it was my right hand that had disappeared.

From the elbow to the nail, everything was gone.

“Aaaah~”

A burning pain invading my body, through what was left from my right hand.

Aina allows you to completely ignore a certain amount of pain but the one I was facing was beyond what I, enhanced on aina could endure.

I fell on my knee as a result of the pain and looked over the man who slowly approached me.

His cold golden eyes were upon me, without a single trace of empathy.

He approached me and squatted just to be my level.

“To think that the infamous faceless one was a child. Even I didn’t want to believe it, yet it all explained everything. Why we weren’t able to pinpoint where exactly were. You had your magic blocked through baptismal.”

“Nine years, nine long years, and I finally found you.” He happily announced. He then grabbed my face with his free which I finally noticed had several fingers missing.”Those eyes, … That explained everything … You are an offspring of the Aubrecht aren’t you?... So that person was part of all of this? … Did he betray the Church? … No that wouldn’t make sense, I doubt that person would do that? ... So does that mean that his family was doing that behind his back? ... Maybe they didn’t even know anything about him being the faceless one, that would make sense. Then there must be another reason for them to hide you from us.”

He doesn’t seem to know anything about me, or my mother yet…

“What is it ?”

“What?”

“The reason your family was hiding you!”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know huh.”

With that said he stood up and pretended to leave.

But immediately afterward I was kicked in the face by the man

The quick wasn’t particularly powerful, it should’ve been something that I normally should have brushed off, but the thing was I wasn’t in my normal state, I even had a hard time keeping my body enhance on aina.

With his feet pressing my torso against the ground.

“I will repeat myself once again, why were they hiding you from us? Maybe you need a little stimulus for that.”

Still pressing me against the ground he reached out his hand onto my face, the moment it made contact, I let out a scream, accompanied by cries and with my body frantically convulsing.

My entire body felt like it was being boiled alive, with lava flowing through my veins, and each of my 207 bones shattered into fine powder.

After a moment retired his hand from my face and with it, the pain immediately vanished away.

“Your answer?”

I don’t know if he was really expecting an answer from me after what he did, but I really didn’t have any force left to respond to anything.

Time-wise it all happened in less than 3 seconds but for me, it felt like an eternity.

“Fine, you can keep that to yourself, I will ask to the Aubrecht and the Edouard myself. So let us go ahead with my second question, why were we, the fourteen charged to personally hunt you down? Huh? What could you have possibly done? What’s so special about you? Tell me.”

With each question, he increased the pressure on my torso to the point where I heard a bone-cracking noise and felt something liquid rising from my throat and a salty taste slowly filling my mouth.

Aaaah~

“I don’t know! Dammit… I don’t know.” I muttered with all the strength I had left.

“You see, I actually believe you. You don’t know, neither do I, neither do we.”

“Then~”

“But, you know what? That won't stop me from doing my duty. This is how the world works …. Whatever your name is: People should do what they are meant to do when you deviate from what you are supposed to do, you end up like those five idiots who died by your hand. Nine years ago you deviated from the path, from how young you are I doubt it was your fault, but it is nonetheless my duty as an Archbishop to put things back to their rightful place.”

“So boy, if you have any last prayer, it is now or never… I see none then.”

With that said he removed his foot pressing me on the ground and walked slowly away, heading where the armored man, the last priest, and Vicar Serena were.

I tried to rose up just to finally fall helplessly on the ground.

The sight of the man in white slowly moving away should have been reassuring, but the sight of the armored man slowly raising his hand was the equivalent of a death sentence for me.

Is it really the end for me?

This can’t be.

I still haven’t accomplished anything yet.

What was the point of all of this if it was just to end here?

Maa, Mother, everyone I still haven’t repaid yet any of them, I can’t die here.

There are still things that I must do.

I still haven’t left any trace of my passage yet.

There are so many things I want to do.

No this is not about that, I just don’t want to die, I still want to live, just that, is that too much to ask.

The man in white reached the armored man and looked at me clearly ready to give the signal to his cousins to put an end to me.

Someone, Please help me. I don’t want to die yet.

“Please, wait a minute, I think I might have the answer to some of your earlier questions.”

The voice didn’t come from me but from Syrius who managed to stand despite the gaping holes on his body.

“Oh, and what might it be?”

“I would be glad to tell but first I would like your armored friend to ease up a little bit, it’s very intimidating to see him like this, I fear I might not be able to correctly voice want I want to say if I’m being this much intimidated.”

With just a glance from the man in white the armored man of the hand, t

“So, it is done, now tell me.”

“You see, I think it would be better if I show you.”

Syrus slowly approached me trying his best to gap the open wound he had.

“You see, I’ve been this boy butler for a lot of years, so I know many things about him, some are pretty normal, some are pretty weird, yet at times I am surprised to discover things that were very unexpected from him: him killing three of your man was a good illustration of that.”

“You said earlier that one should do what he must do, that it was how things are, well I have my own version, consider these as the wise words of a dying butler: One should always strive to find his own happiness. A journey to find happiness, that's what life is all about, happiness itself can take many forms but as long as you strive to reach it, that’s all that matters.” He said as pat my shoulder and murmured weakly, ``Mathilda's men should be there in a minute, just a little bit of patience and you will be safe.”

“Your point ?”

“My point is that Young Lord, your life, your itinerary might not flow as expected but remember as long as you continue the journey, it will all be fine. You see, dear Archbishop, though a little bit different from you, I, Sirius, had once served the Church, yet I have a very different motive for joining and a very different aftertaste of the church. So-”

Syrus took several steps toward them, leaving me under the shadows cast by the moonlight, never his back felt so reliable.

“So…?”

“So as a very important representative of the Church, I would like you to consider this as a Last Fuck Given.”

In less than a fraction of seconds Syrus turned to me, then suddenly ripped the necklace Maa gave him the night before we went to the Ducal castle.

The necklace I was wearing cast a small barrier just large enough to fit me, while a small red glow exponentially grew from Syrus’s, and immediately engulfed Syrus, me, Vicar Serena, and the others in a vivid red and black light, accompanied by what I could only imagine as a huge boom, the barrier I was in seemed to completely soundproof and negate everything happening outside.

From how things were presented we were in the middle of a giant explosion caused by the necklace Syrus was wearing.

“Young Lord, I don’t know where your journey will take you, and I will never know, so may I ask something of you… just one thing … take care of yourself.”

Along those words came to me a sight of Sirus’s body slowly fading away.

It’s only then that I realized that Syrus’s necklace, was by any means protecting him from the explosion like mine did.

Syrus died.

He died doing his best to protect me.

Again.

Me, it’s always me.

Why do I have to always make the lives of those around me miserable?

Tears … they didn’t even come out, for another emotion other than sadness was invading my heart.

After a while the explosion slowly calmed down, giving me a good sight of the aftermath.

Surrounding me, there was nothing left but a giant incandescent crater of at least a 1km radius crater.

And not far from they were before the explosion, stood the Archbishop, his cousin, the last priest, and Vicar Serana. Except for the Holy Paladin, who appeared to act as a shield for them, they were all unharmed.

Aaargh~

Why can’t they just die?

Why? Why? Why? Why?

It's all their fault, if only they never came.

if only they never existed, none of this would've happened.

Syrus would still be alive.

They need to die, not just die, need to .