The leader glanced at his teammates. Their eyes glowed mildly white, as they had firmly gripped their spear in the hands. The leader took a deep breath, a white crystal each encased his shield and sword. The senior had warily hidden, himself, behind the others. And just like the leader's, his broadsword had been encased in a white crystal.

The leader had cast his gaze once more at Libertas before he declared, "Demon, it doesn't matter how you are now awake! We are the paladins of the holy church! We are here to enforce the holy judgement upon you! Surrender and repent on your crime!"

Baffled, Libertas asked back, "Crime? I am sorry, but I don't know which crime I could have done. Dear gentlemen, if the demand isn't too much, could you please tell me what crime I have done? Furthermore, I am not a demon. Maybe this is a misunderstanding between us. Let us lay down the weapons, and we can sit and talk about it. You and I are both civilized people. There is no need to fight! Don't you agree with me?"

The leader frowned in irritation before his expression quickly changed to bewilderment. However, just as fast, the bewilderment turned to annoyance. He replied, "I may not know which crimes you have committed, but I know you have done it. Furthermore, you shouldn't be ridiculous! If you aren't a demon, who else is? We aren't fools! We don't just forget your demonic aura in the next second after you mask it! There is no misunderstanding between us! Besides that, it doesn't seem you want to repent for your crimes. As such-"

Suddenly the senior interjected, "Leader, stop spouting this much nonsense. The newcomer died because he spouted too much!"

The leader glared back at the senior. Nevertheless, he jumped forward while yelling, "KILL!"

Libertas sighed, "Do you really need to kill me? Couldn't we have lived all in peace? Sigh. It doesn't matter any more. We both may lose, however, you will die!"

An aquamarine coloured sword manifested in Libertas' hand. The glow in his eyes dimmed, and a streak of blood flowed down his lips. The leader neared, the shield at the front. Libertas closed his eyes as he slashed out. The sword shattered into dust and scattered with the soft breeze. His hair fluttered, and blood splattered on his hair.

Under the horrified stares of the armoured men, the leader froze in the air. Gradually, his body split apart. The separate body parts didn't fall to the ground, but instead, they floated up, even higher than before. It was almost as if the remaining force of the slash only lingered there, holding the separate parts up, to show off its might. Suddenly, all of them burst apart. A small blood rain descended upon the world. Blood fell into the gaping mouth of the armoured men.

The senior recovered first, and immediately he shouted, "FUCK THE HEAVENS! GODDAMMIT, ATTACK!"

However, no one reacted. Cursing, the senior roared again, "Are you all fucking deaf? If we don't fucking kill him now, he will fucking kill us! ARE YOU ALL FUCKING STUPID? I said, ATTACK!"

The others recovered from their daze. They swiftly glanced at each other to coordinate their attack. Then they gazed at the senior, waiting for him to take the command. The senior gnashed his teeth as he rushed towards Libertas. He cursed in his heart. The others closely followed behind him.

The glow in Libertas' eyes dimmed. His face paled visibly. A further streak of blood flowed down from his lips, and another aquamarine sword manifested in his hand again. The sword slashed out, Libertas closed his eyes.

The senior gnashed his teeth, his expression distorted. All of a sudden, he jumped back as a white crystal encased him. The others were stunned, gazing back at him. Just as they decided to retreat to the back too, it was too late. Their bodies had already split apart. Gradually, the separate parts floated up and burst into a blood rain, descending upon the world. It tainted the ground blood red.

The crystal encasing around the senior cracked, then crashed into countless trees before it finally shattered into pieces. The senior laid numbly on the ground. He panted heavily with a crooked smile on his face. Steadily, blood seeped from his body to drip onto the ground. Libertas picked up a spear before he slowly stepped towards the senior. However, despair didn't creep into the eyes of the senior. It was instead, hope.

Libertas stabbed down with the spear. The senior gnashed his teeth, his gaze terrified but hope still lingered inside the despair. His nails have been desperately burrowed themselves into the ground. Two arrows swiftly cut through the air. One deflected the spear while the other was aiming at his life.

Libertas quickly grasped the arrow flying towards him. While he wrinkled nose, he gazed into one direction of the forest. It was dark, such that he couldn't see anything. Hence he looked at his hand. The arrow had torn his skin apart. A white but bloody crystal was encasing it. Sighing, Libertas said, "Live well, don't waste it. It was your good luck to survive. It won't happen again next time. As such, hope to see me next time! Bye-bye!"

After glancing one last time at the direction where the arrows came from, Libertas rushed into the opposite direction of the forest. Soon a man with beautiful white wings descended from the sky. He wore a shiny white armour and held with his hand a giant hammer.

The man gazed once at the direction, Libertas had rushed off before glanced around. A frown arose on his face. He sighed while shaking his head. Following he turned his attention to the senior. Shards of a white crystal bored into the flesh of the senior. He wrinkled his brow. Then he placed his hand gently on the forehead of the senior. Warily, he glanced around once more for any possible danger.

The man relaxed as he saw a troop of armoured men arriving. Slowly, he closed his eyes and prayed softly, "Oh, Goddess of Humility, your humble servant calls your Holy Name. Please, hear and grant us recovery, as he will only survive under your Divine Grace. Oh, Goddess of Humility, I hereby declare in your Divine Name, for the sake of humility, Divine Healing!"

Soon the wounds on the senior closed up and his breathing calmed down. Immediately the senior kneeled in front of the man as he thanked him, "You have my gratitude, honourable archbishop, but please pardon my rudeness. We don't have the time to waste on the formalities. The demon we are tasked chase has escaped from us. All of my teammates died at his hand. I am the sole survivor. You must not underestimate him!"

The archbishop took his hand back and nodded with his head, "I know, you don't need to tell me, but thanks for the care. Do you know anything else about that demon?"

The senior shook his head, "Regretfully, I know nothing substantial. I know he uses a sword. However, even then, he could attack us from a distance. Besides that, he is very shrewd. At the start, he pretended to be weak to lure us all out, but once we are all out, he ruthlessly killed us. If your honourable archbishop didn't come, I bet, I would be dead by now."

The archbishop thanked the senior again before he turned to the armoured troop, "You there! Yes, you! You will stay here to protect him. As for the others, follow me to subjugate the demon! Any objections?"

"No!"

"Then follow me!"

And the troop rushed off under the archbishop's lead. The protector stopped waving with his hand. After gazing a while at the dark forest, he turned around to smile at the senior. However, the smile quickly vanished as the senior walked up to him and pierced his heart. He muttered, "W, Why? Why are you doing this?"

The senior took a deep breath, relishing in the current situation. Following he smiled joyfully, "Isn't my luck too good this time? How could someone believe to such an extent in this fake goddess? I just can't believe it! Haha!"

Horrified the protector grabbed the hand piercing his heart. However, he didn't feel the skin of hand instead, he felt something hard. By looking down, he saw a white crystal encasing the hand. Though, it was unlike the usual crystal. It had blue veins coursing through it's inside as if the crystal was sucking something inside him from him away. Almost immediately after he thought of the nonsensical idea, the feeling of emptiness came over him. It was like a confirmation. The protector gazed up to the eyes of the senior. A terrified, shivering voice came out of his mouth, "What have done?"

While the senior smiled casually, he slapped the gripping hand ruthlessly away. Lazily, he replied, "Nothing much, except taking your law for myself. However, you don't need to worry about that. You wouldn't need it anyway from today onward. As such, see you next time. Ah, wait. It won't be possible, as you will be dead soon! It doesn't matter much then. Bye-bye."

The senior picked up his broadsword and slashed it at his dear protector. A head rolled on the ground. A faint whistling accompanied the rustle of the leaves.