…Before the raid on Spring-Haven...

---( back in chapter 2)---

…Pike who was unwilling to give up on life started to crawl away from the figures he knew the identity of, bloodthirsty demons.

Then he suddenly noticed a silhouette in front of him, but it was very hard to discern the details of the figure as the moon was directly behind it. Nonetheless, it kept getting closer and closer...

Pike: What are you..."He said while noticing that the figure had a human form?"

Pike: Please stop playing with me and kill me already...You God damn DEMONS!!!

...Then suddenly the human passed right next to Pike, which allowed the latter to get a glimpse of the man in front of him.

He was wearing clothes that were hiding most of his body except his face and it looked like that of a skull but with frightening horns, one of which was broken at the middle and his head transitioned from horns to spiky long hair.

The mysterious mans' appearance made him look more demon than human to the delirious Pike...

Pike: What in the angels name is th... "Before he even finished his sentence the man rushed into the fray and at the demons behind Pike..."

...Pike who was trying his best to stay awake, could only discern one thing while watching the whole thing in the dark, black flames that barely lit the area around the demons and the man summoning it.

But Pike couldn't watch any longer and due to the exhaustion as well as the pain of his injury he passed out, not knowing whether he would survive the night or not...

The man had a peculiar way of fighting as he did not use a “Rouh” tool at all; he actually used a halberd as his weapon of choice.

But the weapon did not hurt the demons and their tough skin, as the halberd was made of regular steel.

The man kept using his halberd since with only the sheer power of his attacks he pushed the demons back away from him.

However, the 4 demons started to slowly surround the man…

The man: Interesting, but that’s not enough to take me on. (He said with a quiet and deep voice. Soothing almost, as if you were listening to the sound of waves at the sea)

He said before blitzing the demon on his left. The monster startled, as he did not expect the human to attack him while surrounded, started swinging wildly in front of him…

The man calmly blocked and dodged all of the demons attacks then took his right arm that was all bandaged up from under his cloak and put up his hand in front of the demons face, right after steam started to emanate from under his bandages as strange symbols began to glow bright red…

The demon confused just kept looking at the hand and just as he was about to attack again, his upper body was blown away by a thin black beam of pure condensed fire that had a bright red outline.

The other demons surprised by what happened to their brother just kept staring blankly, when the mysterious man turned around towards them with steam coming out of his arm…

The man: One down, who’s next?

The 3 remaining demons then attacked the man all at once…

The man: No matter what you do, it is useless…

He then grabbed his halberd and started blocking and dodging their attacks without breaking a sweat and as soon as steam dissipated from his arm after 12 seconds he put his hand up and shot his black beams again, with each shot obliterating any trace of its targets existence leaving only charred dusty remains…

After a few minutes, the man made quick work of the demons without taking a single hit.

The man then set his sights on the unconscious Pike he saved…

The man: What should we do with him now? (He asked loudly as if he was talking to another person)

The man: But he saw me, I don’t need any unneeded attention it’s probably better if I burn him right now. (He then started aiming his hand towards Pike)

He then kept talking and looking behind his shoulder, as if someone was behind him. After a little heated argument, he calmed down then put away his hand…

The man: Now that you mention it he is unconscious so he probably didn’t see that much, yeah let’s just leave him be.

The man then took a bag he had dropped behind Pike put on his hood and started walking away from the unconscious man as well as the demons he had defeated…

While he was walking he suddenly turned around; he looked irritated while holding his head with his left hand showing that contrary to his right arm, it wasn’t bandaged at all as it was covered by his shirt sleeve…

The man: Carla! ...can you please... make the others stop playing their pranks... My head is starting to hurt…!

From the mans' point of view there were a dozen black faceless shadowsin front of him, who had bright white round shaped eyes and many of them were playing with each other and screaming with such a low frequency that their voices could not be heard, yet the pain was unimaginable.

In the middle was one shadow that had a more distinguished figure, that of a girl, who kept stopping and scolding the other shadows as if they were children…

The man then felt as if a load was taken of his shoulders when the shadows stopped screaming…

The man: Thank you Carla, I don’t know what I would do without you.

The shadow shaped like a girl then answered him with a voice that echoed in low comforting frequencies…

Carla: You’re welcome Seth. I’ll always be there for you… (She then whispered to herself)…Always.

Seth: Well then where should we head off to next, we are running out of options after all.

Carla: True, we already investigated the orphanage and most of the people related to the late headmaster. I’m afraid we are running out of clues.

Seth: The only piece of information left is the link between him and a so called Master that remains anonymous. We are at a dead end…

At this rate I will never find out who burned down the village and our orphanage.

Carla: Even so, the only thing we can do is move forward.

Seth suddenly stopped walking, and then turned around started looking at Carla intensely before turning again and continuing to walk…

Seth: No matter how much I look at you I can never figure out what you are feeling just from your eyes.

Are you real? Are you just a fragment of my mind? I ask myself this all the time.

Right after Carla hurried in front of Seth and stopped him from walking and started looking at him intensely. The same way he did to her…

Carla: Well I can’t see your face either with that mask, so right back at ya… (Carla said before crossing her arms and turning her face to the right, pouting)

…Hmph!

Seth: Oh, well that is true. (Right after saying so Seth started snickering quietly to himself)

Then he came closer to Carla and tried to touch her cheek with his hand but it just went right through…

Seth: Well I guess you are real enough even if I cannot touch you.

Carla realizing that Seth tried to touch her cheek jumped back, her black face illuminated by a crimson red…

Carla: Umm…, well… Yes, we should probably… Move on.

Seth: Haha, true that. Well then, let’s go.

Carle: yes… Let’s do just that.

…Soon after Seth made his way towards the capital Brand-Jord.

--chapter:END--