***

(Third person)

As the night arrived, at the capital of the kingdom of Inizio. Inside the castle at the office of the king's adviser, Herbert Conroy.

He massaged his forehead as he turned his gaze towards the man wearing full body armor in front of his desk. "How's the mission, Captain Callan?"

Callan removed his helmet revealing his jet black hair and a pair of sharp gazing black eyes. "All the members of the new magus federation were eliminated. However, Based on the situation in the summoning room, someone made it their first, slain them, and took the Magerna's grimoire, killing 3 of our ambushers stationed inside the forest next to the base in the process."

"Did they manage to summon one?"

Callan chuckled at the question and instantly covered his mouth as if Herbert let out a humorous joke. "Forgive me, sir. I don't think they did, even the best mages in the kingdom can't, how come low-tier mages like them could?"

Herbert paused for a second and nodded. "You have a point. Now, I'm giving you the responsibility to locate Magerna's grimoire. We can't afford to let anybody else get their hands on that dangerous demonic book, that book is the embodiment of catastrophe itself."

Callan bowed. "Consider it done, Sir."

***

(Casimir Kismet)

The wind was blowing through the forest around us, along with the sound of owls and wolves from the distance.

I put my hand near the fire of the campfire I made as our source of light and heat in this cold and dark woodland.

I drifted my gaze on Misha munching the chicken on a stick I bought earlier before leaving the kingdom, I had already eaten mine.

Maybe she noticed me watching her and immediately put her food down and looked down.

"Just eat, don't mind me."

She paused for a second, raised her food, and continued to eat.

I left her alone and just put some firewood on the campfire, the next thing I knew, she was already done and watching me.

I smiled at her. "Where are you from?"

"A village... near the demon kingdom."

"Are your parents still there?"

She shook her head. "They died... protecting me."

I really need to ask, am I?

"I see, forgive me for asking such a personal question."

She just nodded and watched the campfire.

As the night went deeper, both of us took our rest, Misha used her oversized robe as her carpet to the ground while I on the other hand slept while sitting and leaning against a tree.

However,

Something unprecedented happened as I opened my eyes due to the rustling coming near us.

I immediately stood up after seeing a group of knights standing a few meters away from me, where Misha was supposed to be sleeping.

"Do something I won't like and you will see this demon's head rolling on the ground." Captain Miguel announced while holding a sword on Misha's neck.

Around him were about 10 knights clad with full-body armor and swords looking at me with ominous amusement in their eyes.

Really? We're actually doing it?

Captain Miguel laughed. "Look at you, acting like a tough hero, do you really think you can run from me? This is your punishment for messing with me, young man."

8 of the knights with him scattered around me.

"How did you find us here?"

"It's actually simple, you're carrying a demon with you, there's only one place you can go, to the lawless town, and to my surprise, you really are predictable, like a big talk coward that you are."

Yep, he's quite smart if I must say.

I exhaled. "Don't tell me, you're gonna punish me while holding her? Is that how knights in your kingdom do things?"

"Of course not." He pushed Misha to the 2 knights behind him. "Don't let that thing go this time, or I'll crush both of you."

Oh, it's the same 2 knights earlier.

"Let me tell you this first, I will give you a chance to leave us alone, in return, I will forget about this, however, if you still want to go for it? Keep in mind that I already gave you my first warning earlier inside the kingdom, now, don't blame me for what's gonna happen next. You are the one pushing me to do it."

Captain Miguel faced me again and raised his sword, he was using a different sword from earlier this time. "You really are full of arrogance aren't you? So you know, This sword can slice through anything. Do you know what that means? I will turn you into minced meat!" As he walked slowly towards me, his sword gradually became covered in fire. "Don't need to express your praises, I know, I'm an elite who specializes in Fire magic, as you can see, I can wrap my sword that can slice through everythi-"

His scream resonated around the area as his entire body was instantly covered in fire and slowly fell to the ground.

That's the elite who specializes in Fire magic for you.

After a few seconds of being burned alive while screaming in agony, he finally stopped moving and no longer screamed like an oversized white-skinned goblin.

All the other knights could do was watch his agonizing death.

I scratched my head. "Oh, forgive me, I ran out of patience."

"Damn you!"

The eight knights scattering around me sprinted towards me at once.

I activated my Fire magic and burned down 2 of them, then Wind magic and sliced off 3, I gave them a painless death by just slicing off their necks.

"Damn it!" Shouted the other knight as he ran towards me while swinging his sword.

I aimed my hand at him and at the other one on his way to me and imprisoned them inside a huge water ball and used my Ice magic to freeze them inside.

There's still one remaining, but rather than attacking, he tried to flee.

I activated my electricity magic and amassed a huge amount of electric energy in my palm and aimed it toward him.

"It's already too late to escape."

The thunder strike roared as the massive light of energy surged from my palm towards the fleeing knight and instantly annihilated him.

When you try to take someone's life, you should expect the same outcome for yourself.

A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye.

Here we go again, I just killed more people without hesitation, and just like the last time, I can't feel anything. I just killed 9 people, but I'm feeling no guilt, no regret, nothing.

It felt like I just did something very mundane, like killing some annoying mosquitoes flying around me.

What is happening to me?

What that summoning spell did to me?

I exhaled and turned my gaze at the 3 people looking at me with disbelief on their faces.

The remaining 2 knights no longer holding Misha and just let her stand next to them.

However, I'm not surprised, knowing their behavior earlier back inside the kingdom, I already expected it.

"Forgive me that it has to happen." I calmly said.

One of them walked toward me while shaking his head. "No, forgive us that we can't do anything. To tell you the truth, this man is not even a captain material, he just received his rank due to his family's influence. I'm sick of obeying his wicked orders."

Misha ran towards me and hugged my waists. "Mister Casimir."

"He did this out of a personal grudge towards you, that's why he didn't report it to the kingdom. It means, to the kingdom's eyes, you are just a faceless fugitive." He smiled. "Farewell, and I hope we won't meet ever again."

I smiled and nodded. "Let's go, Misha."

Misha waved her hand at them. "Thank you so much, Mister knights."

The 2 knights just exhaled and scratched the back of their heads while trying their best to stop their smiles.

"Just go, brat!"