Chapter 2B: There’s No More Powerful Tool Than Mysterious Fear

One would say that the biggest break any government working noble would receive is the relaxation of going on a trip from their home to the royal capital of Astraea. For Isaac it was an entirely different matter, for the past three days he had been having nightmares of an increasingly disturbing nature. He had been finding himself being tortured by the knights who he trained under his wing, the degrees of torture was different and some of it at times would lead to his death from which he would wake up in cold sweat. The most vivid dream he had was being stripped naked and thrown in a pig sty with his tendons cut off, the result being him getting eaten alive screaming as the pigs which were more ravenous than usual began to leisurely eat him in a briskly slow pace. He hadn’t gotten an ounce of sleep, a curse had been laid on him. Sleep was not a luxury he could receive any more as it was going to torment him time and time again, Isaac looked over the window of the carriage staring at the changing scenery as it turned from being just meadows and farming land to roads and buildings. Isaac had to visit the king first then afterwards the holy church to cure him of his curse, then he would have a bit of rest in his home in the royal capital. The royal capital was in a sense a work of art, close to no slums except for one which was kept under a tight watch and very clean, regulated by the knights of the kingdom. Some might even refer the royal capital to be a heaven of sorts, the carriage slowly made its way down the street with the entry into the royal palace being easy as the flag of his symbol was floating high, Isaac sighed as he got out being escorted by several knights of the capital. He fixes his uniform and walks into the royal palace.

☆

“What honor do you have for me General Salvatore?”

“I bring bad news”

“Is the special demon that got past the frontier town of Albenick”

“Yes.”

“I figured as much from the report that you gave, I even tightened the security of the royal palace.”

“Our assumptions were wrong about the demon’s goal”

“What do you mean?”

“Its not here to assassinate you, the true goal was to gather the negative energy that the Hero’s village had.”

“Hero’s village?”

“Yes”

“Why there?”

“Lingering energy that the demons could use for some sort of spell I am not sure what. When we tried to probe the memories of what the demon looked like the knights who did it ended up screaming as if they saw hell itself and killed themselves.”

“How strange normally a countermeasure for the Death Imagery spell shouldn’t be that violent”

“Exactly leading to my other thoughts”

“That it could be a higher ranking demon rather one of the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“Yes”

“We are certainly in a pinch if one of those guys survived and was plotting revenge against us all this time. If so then it would make sense why the demons waited all this time to attack us”

“What shall we do then Your Majesty?”

“Hmmmm”

The king trailed off into his thoughts as he closed his eyes whilst touching his head sighing as he did so.

“Nothing”

“Nothing?”

“Yes nothing, we will wait and see. The Kingdom of Astraea still has the heroes, we will wait five more days for them to come back home, if the demons do not make a move until that time then we will not act.”

“But Your Majesty”

“Isaac, I can see you’re tired. You haven’t been sleeping and the paranoia is getting to you. You should go get yourself healed and see that you’re being a tad unreasonable in implying we should prepare for an enemy we do not even know what their goals are. The heroes would certainly know which demon is capable of this, let them handle it”

“But…”

“My word is final, have some rest your wife and son would be worried sick if they hear you suddenly collapsed”

“As you wish My King”

Isaac bows as he walks away from the throne. What was the king thinking?Why did he say that?Isaac’s thoughts were swirling out of control but he did not allow this to show on his face as he walked out of the throne room and into the carriage he was in. He was obviously distraught, very much so. The thing that was directing hostility at the kingdom was out there and waiting for them to relax and what does the king say or do about it?Nothing!Isaac was afraid, intensely afraid. The king could have been right about him not receiving sleep, it was obvious to the king who had a keen eye. He had to go to the temple and rid himself of this curse. The sounds of hooves slowly pacing themselves away from the royal palace could be heard loudly as they treaded towards the Holy Church of Zeumaxis.

☆

A confused face was worn by the high priest, he was confused and folded his arms after Curse Dissolve was casted and done with.

“There’s nothing wrong with you General Salvatore”

“What do you mean there’s nothing wrong with me?!I haven’t been sleeping for several days on end!Certainly there must be some kind of curse that is afflicting me”

“There is none, Curse Dissolve would have dealt with it if that were the case, and Cure Poison would have done the same. You are perfectly fine and healthy, are you sure this isn’t just paranoia from handling too much work from the frontier?If so I suggest you rest, the king would understand if I explain that the stress is getting to you and now you are becoming burnt out which is never a good thing”

“Kuh…..maybe maybe….”

His voice trails off unconfidently, he stands up from the bed and begins to wear his jacket, he bows before the high priest.

“I apologize for shouting, I was very tense and stressed out”

“It is alright, most people get like that when they feel like they are cornered when they are not. Get some rest General Salvatore you need it, you have been working for the last two years fighting at the frontier”

“Yes…..”

Not even the high priest could cure him, something was wrong with all of this. Normally he would just shrug it off but if he was right about all of this then something big was going to happen as of that moment, he was plenty uneasy. He had to head home straight away to prepare the defense of his city. If he could do that even if the demon were to attack now it would meet a wall.

☆

A full six days of no rest, it took three days to reach the royal capital from the city of Mayberk and three days to return during all that time he was unable to sleep because of the horrifying nature of his dreams which were getting more and more terrifying as time past. He rather too afraid to sleep at this point, he stops the carriage at a nearby river just before entering his city to wash his face. He stares at himself in the clear water and sees a old man who is sleep deprived and wearing a crazed look on his face, that image changes into the youth who he knew and trained smirking proudly at him, he punches the surface of the water in anger with the image returning to what it used to be. Something was wrong with him, something was wrong with the world and he needed to make the necessary preparations for the survival of the kingdom.

The security of the castle, town and slums was tightened. Patrols happening at all times, people allowed in and out after thorough verification and examination. Nothing could get inside of here, the knights had to be trained everyday in a strict training regime, Isaac was working tirelessly to make sure his city was protected from anything. He gained pitiful gazes from the ones looking at him but he didn’t care he had a goal and he had to fulfill it. The mages in front of him were such people who didn’t understand.

“Lord we understand your concerns but erecting a full barrier over the town is just too impossible”

“The Demon King did it, why can’t we?”

“It requires a large amount of resources we do not have, we simply can’t do it”

“Then work with what you have”

“But!”

“You want to be beheaded?Decapitated?Do you really want that?You are getting in the way of the protection of the city”

“…….W-we will do as you wish Lord”

“Great. Oh I’ll tell the knights that you came over for a special occasion so they do not send you to the dungeons because you were late to reach the curfew time”

“Thank you Lord, we shall take our leave”

It was good that they could understand, if they could understand then everyone else in the city would understand. Isaac wanted the very best for them if he couldn’t protect them what type of leader would he be?It was okay to take away some of their freedoms if it meant they could be protected, his entire territory was becoming like this. If it meant that they could stay safe and alive then being caged up for a small period of time then they should be glad they had him for a leader. It had been four days since he arrived in his castle and he did everything he could to ensure that safety was his main priority.

“Milord it is time for your tea”

“Thank you”

He drank the tea steadily staring at the maid who brought to him, she had a familiar face to her. Very youthful and innocent, a large rack to boot. But that wasn’t what interested him. She had a gentle gaze to her with crimson red eyes and white long hair that was styled in long braids. When had he hired such a beauty?The more he drank the more inthralled he was with her. Soon the tea was finished she replaces it immediately, he stares at her some more and suddenly her image synchronizes with the youth known as the Hero, he wanted to do something about it but he was unable to as pure fatigue had caught up to him, he was now falling into a world of drowned sleep.

“Ara ara, everything worked as planned. The real interesting part begins now Isaac”

She smiles gently with an evil murderous gaze filling her eyes taking the tea cup and exiting the room. Isaac finally slept and rested on this day.

☆

The sound of the door bursting open could be heard with the shuffled boots of the knights entering in a panicked state.

“LORD SALVATORE!!WAKE UP!!THERE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO SEE!!”

After being shaken so violently Isaac finally awoke from his slumber, he looks around and sees the troubled faces of the young knights. He gets up to his feet sluggishly and begins to walk with them to the place they were headed. The town plaza was usually peaceful at night time but at the moment it looked eerie, one would be too afraid to even enter it. The scenery that Isaac found was like a wake up slap, on the walls of the plaza were dozens of knights pinned to the wall. Their heads were pierced through by pitchforks sometimes a shovel was added in, with the looks on their faces being filled with anguish, the closest knight to them had the lower jaw hung in place with a shovel, tears in his eyes as he pointed at the direction of the knight quarters before dying.

“Its here. Let’s hurry!THIS IS YOUR TIME TO SHINE WHAT ARE YOU? CHICKENS?!”

Isaac shouted in a threatening manner as the knights who were with him at the time began to run with him down to the knight quarters which was a good distance away from the plaza. After some time they finally arrive at the quarters which is as of now deadly quiet.

“Alright, we are here. I want four of you to enter, if you see something shout. If you do not make a sound after three minutes I am coming in with the rest of us”

“”””Yes Sir!!””””

The four go in with their swords and spears in hand, Isaac’s heart is beating rapidly at this. How did it get inside?How was it able to bypass them that easily?He did all of this to protect his people but to no avail did that protect them from the danger. Instead of a whistle what they heard were indescribable screams that felt like they came from the pits of hell. Isaac orders his men to rush in and save them, they all enter at the same time and a greater fear than the one they felt in the plaza overrides them. The walls were painted red with the blood of the knights, the ground was soaked in their blood. They faced a terror beyond what they could have imagined, some of the knights had their faces torn off, some had their limbs ripped off, some were impaled from the bottom until it reached their mouths, some burnt along with their armor, some half eaten alive, some had many holes punctured into their skin, there was a lot more but it would be too much to describe for these poor souls. The four knights who entered were added to that suffering lot. Isaac began to walk with other knights in tow as his soul is shaken by all of this.

“Men we shoul-?!”

Before he can say another word all of the three knights were impaled by spears all over, leaving him all alone in his hell. He races over to the door which starts to disappear into a wall.

“Where the hell are you going Salvatore?The party has only just begun!”

A cheerful almost about to sing into song voice called out to him, he froze in fear as he was shaking uncontrollably. It was the person he never thought he would meet. He turned around and there he was sitting on the roof top eating grapes childishly in a relaxed position with his hand on his cheek. He was different from when he last saw him, he now had white short hair and crimson red eyes but he was otherwise the same. This was the Hero, rather what was the Hero.

“Ara he really did fall into it didn’t he?”

Beside him was the maid who gave him that tea that made him slumber to this hour but she was dressed in a black dress that emphasized her curves, showing her seductive cleavage, this time she had longer white hair and eyes that were even more murderous than before.

“Of course mother I intended to make our little reunion party certainly great”

“Why are you here….aren’t you supposed to be….”

“Dead and rotting at the bottom of a gorge?Yeah yeah I was for the last two years but then I came back and boy did I have a score to settle with you~”

“I WAS ORDERED TO DO IT!!IF YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO BLAME DON’T PIT IT ON ME!!”

“Are?I think you are misunderstanding something here Salvatore”

“W-What?”

“I am not coming after just you, no no no no I definitely know that Lucas suggested the idea to the church and the king. But his sword was you.”

That wasn’t wrong, he was the sword that was used to destroy the village. He couldn’t even refute what the Hero said just moments ago, it was accurate to a painful degree.

“Hey Isaac why don’t we just duke it out huh?It would be too boring if you just cowered in the corner like that without fighting back. What do you say old man, we fight like we are going to die. Well I am technically already dead but you get the sense”

“Do your best dear!”

“I will, see mom also gave her approval why don’t we fight like men?”

“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Isaac unsheathed his sword from his scabbard and began to run towards David who leaped from the roof top with a black mist forming something in his hands. He lands exactly on his sword with a heavy impact that could have broken a regular sword with a weapon that he knows to be out of David’s weapon range, a battle axe. His face twists in confusion as he pushes back the Hero.

“Otoo”

David regains his ground before meeting a flurry of sword slashes that drive him backwards but he dodges all of them as he swings the battle axe from a downward swipe that knocks off one of the slashes that Isaac does and greatly pushes him back towards the wall. In a speed he has never seen before the axe is thrown at him which almost decapitates him had he not dodged it. Now he is without weapon it should be easy to kill him but that is where is assumption was wrong, David with chains on his hands and boots sprinted towards him landing a punch on his stomach lifting him up in the process before a kick hits his face throwing him to the wall and making a crash sound be heard. He drops to the ground and stares at David who smirks proudly at him. He uses magic to swing several flame slashes that cruise towards him but he dodges these by crouching low at first whilst running, making the next one go past his left side and front flipping ahead of the last one all without stopping momentum.

“YOU FOOL YOU HAVE FALLEN FOR MY TRAP!!”

His spell explodes as soon as David steps on the area of the ground where he were concentrating his mana in. He laughs loudly before that is cut short by the shadow of the Hero overhead with his weapon changing into something again, this time a jet black sword with jagged edges. Unable to dodge it rips into his flesh, tearing deep into his shoulder and past his bone. The hero smiles as he pulls out the sword and Isaac screams with the pain being immeasurable. He holds his shoulder in pure distress as the blood seeps out in a gushing manner.

“That was fun!I wanted to use my scythe but alas I was unable to use it because of all the stupid stuff you were doing!”

This wasn’t normal, what had he gained when he arose from the dead. Was this the thing the demon was doing?Was this its plan?If so then it succeeded.

“Alright then time to get to real fun part.”

Suddenly that jagged sword vanished and all that was left was the Hero who was walking towards him in a skipping manner humming as he did so. He stops to walk more normally and eyes that are filled with the deep abyss.

“Its kinda interesting to be honest that such a small item like this can cause someone’s social downfall so easily. That’s the way I went from being the people’s Hero to being the traitor of humanity.”

The Hero pulls out a small locket with a glass eyeball floating inside, he waves it around Isaac before grabbing it away from him.

“The eye of the previous Demon King before the one I killed. Pretty strong, enough to mentally manipulate everyone. Your trip to the royal capital was filled with so much good experiments that I grew to know how it works”

“?!”

“That’s right I am the demon you’re looking for. You see I hate you, despise even. But you see I know everything that you did to Elaine, your wife is being tortured by some of the villagers and your son is becoming a service machine to some horny goblins I gave some high quality aphrodisiac. All’s well that ends well right?Wrong, this is where your nightmare begins”

“David please you do not have to do this!”

“David?Who the fuck is David hahahahahaha?!Certainly not me, that man died when he got betrayed by his country and god left to rot in the Devil Gorge. I am Alastor a demon that is going to accomplish his quest of revenge and so much more!”

The monster in front of him was laughing, in his pure despair it was laughing loudly. Look at the Demon King that we created, Isaac thought as he faded into a black abyss.