As Kazius walked with the group, he had a bad feeling in his gut. Why was he so anxious? They had headed off very fast… They have been traveling for a week by foot now. Yet he felt like something in his head was yelling at him. Why did he feel so certain that the church would send people so fast? The continent was not a small one after all, and they had trouble navigating with their very inadequate map. How would the church, that never set foot out, know how to find them? Then again… They had the Oracle.

‘I don’t like this, not one bit…’

It had grown dark already… But they should be close to Vargstam… Maybe less than one day of travel? Due to this, Kazius decided they would keep walking rather than set up camp. Kazius wasn’t sure what the area would look like once they got there, so it was hard to tell. Still, he felt like they had to keep going.

As they walked, they found themselves in a valley with many rivers leading many directions. This of course made their travel even harder. He wasn’t sure where the rivers would end either, they likely went all the way to the coast. That combined with the tall valley, he wasn’t sure which way to go… Vargstam had to be here somewhere, right?

“Azanor, do you feel something unusual nearby? A presence?”

“Can’t we rest, Kazius? We’re exhausted. There is no one else here…” Alice stated with a frown, wondering why Kazius insisted on not setting up camp.

“Sleep and food are good.” Eve added in a pouty manner.

“Azanor.” Kazius stated firmly, not responding to the two.

“Alright alright… Look, I can’t sense anything. I don’t understand what you are so on edge for… You are acting crazy… And that is coming from me.” Azanor admitted.

Kazius sighed. Was he losing his mind? Why was he so worried out of nowhere? “I’m sorry… We can rest, but I will keep watch. I haven’t been needing as much sleep lately anyway.” He insisted. Which was true, as they traveled, he found himself sleeping less… Now he only slept about 3 hours. Did it have something to do with his powers awakening? He didn’t know.

Of course, Azanor did not need sleep, so he could keep watch. Demons slept out of boredom, not necessity...But Kazius still wasn’t ready to trust Azanor with that. Not to mention, he was the one that felt paranoid, he would do it himself. He couldn’t sleep like this anyway.

With that, the group would prepare camp and rest. Kazius remained awake. He would sit up, looking up at the moon and the stars framed by the tall valley walls. The night was very quiet, except for distant howling… Wolves were not a concern to him though, there were far stronger things around than some random wild hounds. He could handle a wolf.

Still, as he looked around, he could have sworn that he saw someone look at them from the top of the valley. Who was that? He would do a double take, but the person was gone.

‘Did I imagine that?’

Just as he was beginning to doubt himself, he would spot someone drop down. The ground shaking upon impact, even cracking the ground. This woke up his companions.

“W-What the!?” Alice exclaimed

“The ground is angry!” Eve whined, startled.

Azanor seemed to spring up. He may have not sensed the intruders, but he seemed to have been awake… “I stayed up because I figured you might not be crazy but…” He trailed off wearily, staring at the two Holy Knights… Very familiar Holy Knights to Kazius.

It was Leo and Alex. Normally the two would not pose a threat… But… The energy they emitted… The mana around them… It was intimidating, it was strong… Where did they get such a power in such a short amount of time?

“Long time no see, Traitor.” Leo stated, his eyes glowing an eerie light blue. His former black hair now a dull gray.

“No, Leo… Traitor implies he was ever our comrade… He was just a dirty monster impersonating a person… He was tricking us… Disgusting… You have no idea… The humiliation we felt by being associated with you… But I should thank you… Thanks to that event… We were able to prove ourselves… To become proper Edict candidates.” Alex stated, his own eyes glowing the same color. His formerly blonde hair was almost white, a twisted grin on his face.

The color of their eyes… It was creepy… Unsettling…

“We have come to fix that though… Now that we have been given the power to.” Leo added in disgust.

‘How did they find us?! That power… Given? What the hell did the church do to give them such a power?! Edicts… There was something weird about them… I am glad I left before they could do that to me… Something about them feels wrong.’

Still, they were his former friends… And they seemed to have no aversions to killing him. He was scared, but also furious… Was this just what the church really was?

“I won’t be killed by you today.” Kazius stated, bringing out his shadows.

“Vermin like you need to die… You even have the heretic princess with you and a Demon… Once we kill you all, we will be able to earn the right to become Edicts.” Alex stated with a chuckle, his grin wide. It creeped Kazius out, even more than Azanor’s. Alex looked like he had lost his mind.

It was then Leo decided to attack. Kazius attempted to block, but much to his horror, his shadows were sliced. He wasn’t strong enough. The sheer force… The two never had this crazy amount of mana. What they hell happened?

Kazius winced, getting a cut to his side.

“Kazius!” Alice exclaimed in shock, levitating her sword before aiming it at the attacker. Only for it to be easily deflected by Alex. The sword would be pushed back, this leaving an opening. Alex did not miss such an opportunity, he would punch the princess in the gut.

Alice’s eyes went wide as she coughed up blood, collapsing. The strength they had… It was overwhelming. At this rate… The group would…

“My friends! No! Leave them alone, you bullies! Meanies! All of you! You are not nice people!” Eve exclaimed, attempting to heal them. She began to cry, clearly worried and distressed.

Of course, this made her a target for the two knights.

They would charge at her with an insane speed. Kazius attempted to help, but he couldn’t move with the speed he wanted to. Not with his injury.

Thankfully, Azanor made it in time. To say the Demon looked pissed, was an understatement. He looked absolutely livid.

“Don’t you fucking touch her.” Azanor hissed out, too angry to even speak the common tongue for a moment. He began to have demonic energy surround him, concentrating in his hands, before he moved at an inhuman speed to attack the two knights.

Leo and Alex were fast, blocking the attacks with their swords. They were not even Edicts yet it seems they could already stop Azanor. Rather than be intimidated at hearing Demon tongue, they grew enraged. Something was definitely wrong with their minds.

The two would attack with speed and fury that pushed Azanor back.

Azanor panted, cursing. He normally behaved with so much class, yet now he cursed like a sailor.

“Kazius… I will be honest… I came here without permission from the king. There is a backlash… I haven’t had time to recover… I don’t have all my power. I don’t think I can hold them off for long.” Azanor stated, his fury dying down due to, what seemed to be, concern… Was it just for Eve? Or his friends? Or both?

“When I tell you go, ru-“ Azanor began. He was unable to finish the sentence before he was attacked again.

Azanor braced himself, he would do the best to block, but instead both Kazius and him would feel the ground shake again… This time, more so, cracks spreading far and deep from the impact, dust in the air. Someone had jumped in between them.

“Buahaha! Someone is having a party here and I was not invited?” Exclaimed a loud and boisterous voice. In front of them stood quite the figure.

In front of them was a male with white hair that went down all the way to his back. The thing looked mangled, almost like a mane. Scars littered his body, or at least his torso, since he wore no shirt. His face had a scar of what appeared to be 3 claw marks over his left eyes. He wore pants with fur and a large coat with fur along the neck. The coat was left open, the garment looking heavy. He was like a mountain of muscle. A real muscle head looking guy that stood at 7ft (2.13 meters).

‘Just who the hell was this guy?’