After this noon's accident, we resumed our march towards the centre of the city.

After a while, we arrived at what seemed like a big square surrounded by pillars. I looked upwards and saw that all the pillars' tops were linked by what seemed like a web of rock, and at the centre of the web, there was the human-like symbol I saw on the carvings.

Alua explained to everyone what she already explained to me, empathizing again the fact that this was proof of Esha's existence. Everyone listened attentively to her and Erian nodded her head the whole time.

After her explanation, she changed the topic.

“Now, heroes, I'm glad to announce your success in the task I gave you, you managed to reach this place in time without losing a battle. You are becoming stronger at a surprising speed, I think you can now protect yourselves to an extent, when we will be back in the city you won't need to hide yourselves in the citadel anymore, I think you will be able to roam the city safely, it's still too dangerous to travel outside without an escort though. Now let us return, don't lower your guard now though, we aren't still out of the dungeon. Your test is over, but consider the way back as training.”

I was very glad we finally got some freedom, I wanted to investigate the city of Hoss by asking its fauna directly for a while now. I was still worried that they would send someone to watch over us all the time though, so I couldn't be too direct with the questions.

First I had to get out of here though.

“Everyone get in formation, we're going back.”

I ordered.

We started walking through the desolated city. We didn't encounter any other adventurer in the city, I knew there were hunting grounds with monsters as strong as the ones here nearer to the entrance, so this place wasn't very popular.

In my opinion, the silence did nothing but add to this place's charm though.

We didn't encounter any sign of monsters for a while, until, near a building, we saw the traces of a fight. There was a broken arrow on the ground and the ground had more earth mana in it than usual, it seemed someone did come here after all. The only thing that I could get from that was that whoever fought here probably killed an elemental and had an archer in the party, nothing out of the ordinary.

Mark looked behind him. He had this bad habit of looking at us from time to time, I told him many times that as the frontline he should keep his eyes ahead at all times but he didn't listen, as usual. He usually would turn his head, look briefly at us and then turn his head again.

This time though, his eyes stopped on Erian, he opened his mouth:

“Erian Watch out!”

He used Flash Leap to get in front of her and then we suddenly heard a shout from the building.

“Long live Zaven!”

An arrow containing a big quantity of demonic mana departed from the building's roof.

I heard Ron saying something incomprehensible, he was fast-chanting.

A magic barrier appeared around Mark and reduced the force of the arrow enough for Mark to block it.

I saw an arrow fly from farther ahead, towards the archer, and suddenly a man with a shield appeared to protect him from her arrows. The one shooting at the enemy archer must have been Alua, she was keeping watch over Oliver while he was scouting, which meant that at least he was fine.

All this happened in a few instants, when it all ended, I barely had enough time to process everything.

I recalled Mark's blessing: to see the death of those in his sight five seconds before it happens.

It seemed Mark just saved Erian.

I sprung into action.

I released a big quantity of illusory smoke around us and then said:

“Jane, behind me. Mark, keep protecting Erian.”

I used Shadow Leap to get in front of Jane, but the enemy archer seemed to be aiming only at Erian. Mark never left any gap towards Erian in his guard and Ron blocked every attack, the same was true for the enemy tank though.

I suddenly heard the enemy scream:

“John, what the fuck do you think you're doing!? stay hidden!”

I saw Mark make a few steps in my direction and scream:

“Jane!”

Another arrow was shot by the archer and this time Ron's barrier didn't make it in time, Erian poured a lot of mana in a desperate magic shield and also tried to dodge, but the arrow just shattered her shield and pierced her shoulder from side to side, leaving a hole much bigger than the arrow.

“Fuck.”

Mark just turned back and resumed guarding Erian.

After his warning I sharpened my senses, even more, it seemed Jane's life was at risk too.

Suddenly stopped to see everything outside the smoke, I had to use Dark Vision inside it so someone probably thought of using the light to blind me.

The light went out and I suddenly felt a great quantity of holy magic coming from behind me.

I and Jane looked back and I saw a mage pointing its staff at us, it was probably going to use an offensive holy spell, I looked at its eyes and saw they were a little darker than normal, which meant he was using Dark Vision too.

Jane couldn't use it so she couldn't see him but still, she could feel the magic power, but there was something she couldn't feel but I could see, two stones with a dark trap rune at her sides. I could feel from the quantity of mana that our enemy was doing an all-out attack and I hadn't a reliable form of protection, so I couldn't tank as Mark did, And although the enemy spell still wasn't complete, Jane couldn't dodge because of the traps.

We were in a really bad spot.

I had to use all the time we had to think of something, but first.

“Jane, don't move or you'll die.”

Now there were three things I could do:

One, use Jane as a human shield and then kill the mage in melee.

Two, use my body to shield her.

Three, stop the spell from here, somehow.

The second wasn't an option, I could pick the first one......... but actually there was a way to stop the spell from here.

I could use demonic mana. The holy and demonic attributes erased each other, so if I could just gather enough mana in front of Jane I could at least make the spell non-lethal. I would expose myself in front of our guardians if I did that though.

The right choice was obviously to grab her and use her as a shield, our pact was broken, after all, I felt reluctant to do that though. I asked myself what was more important, Jane or my trump card?

A part of me felt it was Jane, but another part of me thought that it was my trump card.

I recalled when I saved Lae, back then I followed my heart and it paid off, maybe I had a good intuition.

And also, if as a party leader I lost a member it would be a sign of weakness, wouldn't it?

All those seemed just excuses to do what I wanted, but why couldn't I just do what I wanted? That was what protagonists do after all, right?

I imagined the face of Alua and Ron when they would discover their most promising pawn was a demonic attribute's user.

I smiled.

I took my decision.

“Jane, I can protect you, stay still.”

I started to gather demonic mana in my wand, I could have jumped in front of her, but I decided to shoot the mana from over her shoulder, otherwise, I would have had less time to gather the mana and I would have risked dying, I still treasured my life over hers.

I continued to gather the mana as fast as I could, like this it would have been enough to save Jane's life if she received healing soon after.

The enemy was about to cast the spell.

“Jane, stay still.”

“Purge my enemies' impurity. Holy Lance!”

The enemy spell departed from the staff, it looked like a white cavalry lance flying towards us, I could feel a scary quantity of mana inside it.

I waited, ready to intercept the spell when it would be closer.

Suddenly a golden barrier materialized in front of us, blocking the attack, it seems Ron was watching over us.

We were safe, that was what I thought before I realized what Jane was doing.

She dodged.

She didn't believe me.

She jumped desperately to her right, trying to avoid the attack, but instead, she landed on a mine.

She wasn't ready for it, so she did nothing to protect herself. The Dark mana the trap hit her whole body, draining her heart of life. Her spiritual body granted her some more time thanks to her ki, but it was very little, her spiritual body was also almost destroyed and she was losing mana and ki from everywhere.

I went to her side and tried to use what I knew of holy magic to treat the loss of ki, I could just delay the inevitable though.

I looked at Erian, she was still treating her wound and was far from over.

“Erian, come here right away!”

She tried to get up but fell back to her knees right after. She shook her head while looking in my direction and then restarted treating her wound.

Her eyes were full of hatred, I didn't know if she was angry at me for not saving her or she was angry at herself.

About twenty seconds later I felt all her ki and mana leave her body, she was dead.

I looked at the corpse in disbelief, I didn't want things to end like this.

I felt powerless.

I felt pain, I wanted to repress it, but I felt too helpless to even try.

This feeling felt familiar, I remember I felt very similar back in my worst days.

I let the pain flow over my body, this now foreign feeling was making me go crazy. Why was pain a thing?

I brought my mind back to those days and thought about it.

In those days I never fought back, I couldn't bring myself to feel rage and use violence, at that time I was weak after all, both in body and mind; now I was strong though, at least in body.

An idea sprouted in my mind. If the world was mad maybe the pain was the sign that something had just been broken by it by Madness and I had to fight, I probably had to destroy something to restore the balance.

A signal of sorts.

Once I heard that pain was meant to be shared with the ones you love, but what if it was actually meant to be shared with the ones you hate?

To pour my pain in those who deserve it........that seems fair.

I felt something unlock in me.

I could just stay still and let Alua and Ron take care of the rest and not expose myself anymore.

But I hadn't the slightest intention of doing that, I would have preferred to die rather than to feel powerless again.

I got up and let the Hellflame attribute flow through me.

It felt even more painful than the demonic attribute, it was like fire slowly burning my flesh and boiling my blood, I didn't mind it though, at the moment physical pain felt motivating, it was reminding me I had to fight.

I smiled at the guy that killed Jane and started walking towards him.

He showed a frightened expression and backed away.

I heard a voice from my right.

“David, stay inside the barrier, we'll handle this.”

I didn't slow down.

The moment I surpassed the barrier the enemy launched a few Holy arrows, a basic holy spell, but I dodged them easily. The enemy should also be low on mana so it probably wouldn't be a difficult fight.

But suddenly the tank that protected the archer from Alua until now jumped in front of my enemy, I had no intention to flee though.

“Stay behind me kid.”

He told to my adversary, he then looked at me.

“I'll give you a chance to live boy, leave this kid be and I'll spare your life.”

“You want to spare me? You should be the one asking to be spared. Out of the way.”

He looked at me in disbelief.

“You're crazy.”

He said.

I smiled at him.

“I'm Mad.”

I launched myself towards him.

He prepared his rectangular shield to intercept my attack and infused it and his armour with water mana.

Water mana was the best counter to fire mana, but although it was still pretty good, it wasn't the most efficient attribute against hellflame.

I gathered the hellflame mana in my wand and then released it against his shield.

When I did that I felt the mana flow through my arm and burn my flesh, it would feel even worse to be hit by it though.

The mana took the form of dark blue flames and clashed against the shield. The water mana eliminated a good part of it, but not everything. The flames didn't reach the enemy, but part of the mana still passed through the shield and armoured gloves to the enemy's hand, like heat from real flames, but instead of painful heat, it was pure pain.

“Hellflame? what the hell?!”

The enemy was taken by surprise, he probably mistook the hellflame attribute in my body for fire and was surprised by my attack.

I used this chance and circled the enemy, going for the flank of his weapon's hand.

He didn't try to cut me while I was in the range of his sword but tried to punch me while I got closer.

'Is he an idiot?'

He was on another level compared to me, he was too fast for me to dodge it, I couldn't help but back away if I didn't want to get hit.

And since I didn't give a fuck about getting hit I absorbed the punch while defending belly with the hellflame enhancement.

I then let my sabre fall, grabbed my enemy's arm with my right, and aimed my wand at his head while gathering hellflame mana.

'What is this fool doing? He didn't put any strength in that punch.'

He opened his eyes wide open, he would die if he did nothing.

“Water Blade!”

I felt something cutting my belly, Water Blade was a basic water spell, it was still surprising he knew it, this one didn't seem like a magic swordsman.

I didn't stop gathering mana though.

I smiled again at him, he looked at me with a terrified expression.

He opened his mouth again.

Suddenly Alua appeared behind him and stroke him in the back of his head, making him unconscious.

“Leave this one to me, I need to interrogate him.”

'Guess it's torture time for him uh.'

I reabsorbed the mana and looked at the other enemies.

The archer was fighting against Ron, while the kid that killed Jane was trembling in fear.

I picked up my sabre, put it in the scabbard, took out my stiletto, and started to advance towards the kid.

“David, don't kill that kid, we need to interrogate him too.”

“Don't worry, I'll just bring us ahead with the work.”

The kid was terrified, I couldn't blame him though, after all a guy with a knife, an open cut in his belly, and dark blue flames coming out of his blood was walking towards him while smiling.

“L-light Arrow.”

I blocked his half-assed spell with dark mana and sprinted towards him.

I grabbed the kid and stabbed him in his belly, then I started pumping in hellflame mana.

The kid started to scream.

The screams made me feel a little better, I felt a little less powerless.

I took out my sabre and started cutting the kid at various points while infusing it with hellflame mana, I have also been careful to not cut any vein or artery.

I also felt like the pain I was feeling was flowing out of me and going to the one that deserved it, I still felt it wouldn't be enough to free me completely though, I wondered how much would have been enough.

“Block the impure and protect the pure of heart, Holy Bindings.”

Suddenly white chains sprouted from the ground and blocked my movements.

I looked behind me and saw that the fight was over and everyone was looking at me, Erian was pointing her staff at me.

“It seems David has been controlled with charm magic by a demon, Ron, please free him.”

She said.

I smiled at everyone.

“Don't worry, no one is controlling me, I just wanted to torture this guy, can you please untie me?”

“It feels very realistic, it must be a high-level demon, please Ron, help him.”

Ron seemed very troubled.

“You see, there's no spell on him.”

Erian looked at me in disbelief.

“I-it's a lie.”

I felt the mana in the spell that was blocking me waver, I broke through it right away and the chains shattered.

“It's true, no one is controlling me.”

“Then how do you know heretic magic?”

“I learned it in secret.”

“And why are you torturing that guy?”

“Because I feel like it.”

“Please stop, Alua said he's a hero, he must have been brainwashed by the Zavenians!”

“Oh, he's just like us then, well, if you are done I will resume making him comfortable with interrogations then.”

Her expression became desperate.

“Please stop, I know you are angry for Jane, but if you continue you'll be just like the people that tormented you.”

I froze on the spot, the smile faded away from my face. It seems that after all, she recognized me.

“I will be like them then, it is a necessary price for power, especially in this world, in exchange I will be the one in control, no one will ever step over me again. Power is the only means to fight against the madness of the world, you better realize this if you want to defeat the threat looming over you.”

Her expression became a mix of anger and sadness.

“What worth is there to obtain power if you have to sell your humanity for it? What will be left of you if you sacrifice everything beautiful inside you to something so empty? And don't you think of other people? You will end up destroying numerous lives if you continue this way.”

I smiled at her again.

“Humanity? There's nothing uglier than that. I would gladly sacrifice it for power if I could. That's the thing that held me back for all my life, and it still burdens me, it makes me disgustingly weak. I can't get rid of it, but I can tame it, make it irrelevant, like this I will be able to control my destiny and carve whatever path I choose, and if I also have to destroy the lives of some humans to do it then be it. If you do not agree just surrender to your fate and accept your demise.”

She lowered her head, I couldn't see her expression anymore.

“I thought you were different, I thought you cared about people, but in the end, you're even more disgusting than those nobles. I'm really alone, after all.”

She raised her face, her beautiful face was distorted by her twisted feelings, tears were streaming from her face. She raised her wand and I felt holy mana gathering into it.

'Oh, is she giving me a chance to eliminate the only witness of that night?'

She continued to talk.

“I hate you, you gave me hope and then shattered it all, you make me sick! Holy Arrow!”

There wasn't much mana in that spell, it was just an expression of anger for her, for me though, it was an invitation.

I took out my sabre, dodged the spell, and got near her in an instant.

I neared my sabre to her neck, I touched her neck with it, now I just needed to slice it.

I hesitated.

I felt irritated at it but I didn't want to kill her.

Erian though did something I couldn't believe.

She looked at me in the eyes, she didn't try to get away, she just stood still, looking at me in the eyes.

Her beautiful face was still, she didn't seem angry anymore, just sad, I felt bad looking at her.

For an instant I saw a spark in her eyes, she then closed her eyes by half while keeping to look me in the eyes and smiled. At that moment I felt her expression relaxing, her shoulders dropped and her forehead distended, she seemed almost in bliss.

She felt almost........ seductive.

At that moment she felt very beautiful, but also very wrong like she had just become Mad.

She then moved her neck and moved it towards my blade, making blood start dripping from it, she closed her eyes, waiting.

I.........moved the sabre away.

She opened her eyes, her expression almost seemed disappointed.

I got away from her.

I felt sick, I wanted all this to end.

I looked at the others.

Everyone was staring at me, I needed to change the centre of attention.

“Ron, have you called for reinforcements?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then everyone prepare yourselves, we're going to get out of here soon.”