Chapter 33

After spending a few days under that strange sky, his silver-gray eyes were starting to get used to the brightness of the place.

Although the sun sparked some curiosity when seen for the first few times, it doesn't last long, as the days tend to be irritatingly hot and excessively clear, unbearable for anyone, but especially for someone accustomed to dark environments where their concentration during training can be maximized.

However, the nights are usually very beautiful, with the stars painting the skies phenomenally, some even creating unique designs, like a shooting star. Nothing compared to the unique sight generated by the union of two distinct moons with equally beautiful glows in the sky, of course, but still incredible.

But... despite the stars being as beautiful as they have been on any other day until now... why does everything seem so dull?

So... boring?

The faint light of the kingdom's only moon, a distant blue moon, illuminates the surroundings and shows the way for those who wish to escape from the hellish rain of stars engulfed in flames falling all around.

However, no creature, no matter how fast, managed to break free from the clutches of the one who had been wearing such disinterested eyes for some time now.

"Ah... If it weren't for this damned invulnerability..., those worms would have been underground long ago..."

Whether by land or by sky, no creature was able to leave that blood-soaked field.

Ground-restricted beings like minotaurs are easily split in half without even realizing it. While those creatures that can fly, like chimeras—huge creatures with large, strong falcon wings on their backs—and harpies—beings largely identical to women, with the only differences being the addition of eagle wings replacing their arms and long, sharp claws on their feet—lose their wings without even having the chance to get more than ten meters off the ground.

The man sighed.

"He surely won't miss this chance and will say something when he arrives..."

Even while distracting the basilisks, preventing arrows from hitting his allies is a simple task, requiring only a single swing of his sword even when they are separated by a great distance.

Bites followed by tail attacks, the basilisks' assaults are so obvious and simple that flying all the time to avoid them isn't even necessary.

Thanks to how quickly he moves and how much strength each of his steps is composed of, most of the time his feet leave marks on the terrain, while he takes to the skies only when it's necessary to prevent some creature from fleeing.

"No... at least one of them... if I kill at least one of them before he arrives, he won't be able to say anything."

Gripping his sword tightly, the man took to the skies with his black wings and turned toward the basilisks.

They only maintained eye contact for a few moments, but still, his body shudders as moving becomes painful and complicated.

His charge was made, passing through the first four and aiming for the last creature. Cutting its eyes was easy due to the element of surprise, with his sudden appearance before it. However, the complicated part would come now...

How should he attack directly the inside of the mouth of a huge creature that is in a state of hysteria, moving randomly from side to side while swinging its large tail?

"What had he said before, exactly..?"

The flames surrounding them extinguished, and the arrows stopped mid-air. It was as if an invisible force field was covering the entire place.

For a brief moment, upon hearing that voice, the man's face twisted, followed by an extremely forced smile.

"Ah, I think it was 'I don't need aura, my body is more than enough.'"

"Yes, and there was also that time he said 'Having or not having aura makes no difference; what matters is how strong you are.'"

The man turned, maintaining the forced smile on his face, and questioned, "What are you doing here...?"

"Stop kidding around, Carlos. I've been told you practically begged someone to come get me."

The demon in Ethan's arms trembled. Looking forward didn't seem like a good idea now; he felt he might end up dying if he did.

Carlos sighed.

"Ha! And you actually believed that? It's a lie, obviously," he said, smiling and shrugging.

"If you say so..." Ethan replied, smiling as he set the demon down.

Carlos turned, fury evident in his gaze. "But what about you?!" he exclaimed. "You forced me to leave my training and come to this end of the world. If you were going to come here anyway, why the hell did you make me do it!? ...Damn, I've lost a few days of training, you know?"

With smooth and precise movements, Clovis moves gracefully through the air as if dancing around the basilisk he faces.

After many deep cuts had hit it, a perfect blow came, cutting off the basilisk's head.

The fall of the head along with the body caused a small amount of dust to rise, as well as the remaining basilisks fleeing, quickly running toward the Great Forest.

"Yes..." said Clovis, flying out of the area where the dust settles. "And I suppose it was thanks to those lost training days that you weren't able to kill these creatures..., right?"

"Y-You..."

Clovis's face twisted, creating a strange expression with his eyes blinking strangely, one of them for some reason seeming larger than the other. He seemed on the verge of a rage attack.

"Damn it!"

The episode of rage didn't happen. And Carlos went along with Clovis to deal with the remaining smaller creatures.

"You..." said Clovis, pointing to a group of demons near him. "... call a few more and gather the wounded in a safe place; we'll take care of the rest here."

There had never been such a strangely frightening duo in that place.

While one fought almost gracefully, the other sliced through everything that had been breathing in front of him with a ferocity and a palpable thirst for blood.

"Is all that bloodlust directed at me?" questioned Clovis.

"Imagine... it's just your imagination," replied Carlos, tearing the wings off a chimera with his bare hands while smiling.

It didn't take more than a few seconds, less than half a minute, for all the beasts to be killed, without any of them managing to escape alive even if they were trying to return to where they came from.

The speed of the battle, which resembled more of a hunt where the creatures were completely helpless prey, continued to increase with each beast killed. And as they watched that frightening scene, everyone arrived at the same question;

Doesn't it seem like they're betting on something...?

Looking around, Ethan finds himself lost in thought, surrounded by an immense sea of blood as a sudden nausea sweeps over him, causing his stomach to churn for a moment.

Whether they're human or demon bodies, the fact remains that there are so many corpses he can't count them. So much blood that his boots stick to the ground upon touching it, hindering his movement.

His steps are delayed by the blood constantly binding him to the ground. However, looking ahead, to the basilisks that ran after seeing one of their own being killed, he stopped and drew his sword.

The cut was clean, slow for some and fast for others, given that of the few demons who continued to watch him, none of them could even follow the path made by his sword.

His movement wasn't made with grand techniques in mind; it was just a simple, direct cut, but one that certainly carries something much deeper than that.

***************

When the arrows stopped mid-air, all the knights who were watching the battle against the creatures from afar alongside Elizabeth became confused and unable to comprehend what happened.

"Is that magic..?" one of them questioned.

"No, that's impossible. Magic of that magnitude would require an absurd amount of mana; no one could handle that."

"But there's nothing else that could explain this, is there?" said another knight. "It's only possible to do that with magic."

Unable to do anything before that invisible wall, the knights continued to watch the battle while Elizabeth remained silent nearby.

The death of the basilisk left them all bewildered, making them doubt their own eyes.

"He cut the head off a basilisk! Is that even possible?!"

"According to the stories, no. They have invulnerability."

"But the stories could be wrong, couldn't they?" another knight said.

"Maybe..." Luke replied. "But that doesn't seem to be the case. The other demon wasn't able to make a single scratch on those creatures even after making several attacks against them."

"So does that mean that demon is even stronger than the silver-eyed one...?"

The knights fell silent again. Faced with such a question, the little hope that had once again reached their hardened hearts was slowly fading away.

However, it had not yet disappeared completely. Deep down in their hearts, there was still something there, a small spark that continued to fight to stay alive... at least until they witnessed that...

With her body trembling after seeing Ethan's face after so long, Elizabeth couldn't say a single word.

She had been watching him since his arrival at that place. Every step since he set foot on the ground, as well as the first moment he touched his sword.

"What is he doing...?" Elizabeth wondered. "From this distance it's not... What...?"

Had her eyes deceived her?

Had she blinked once without even realizing it?

If not, with her heightened senses, how could a sword movement so slow escape her vision?

Before her eyes, something strange seemed to be happening again. But it can't be, this must have been just an optical illusion...

"The air... just vibrated...?

Moments ago there was no wind... so why are her hairs moving?

Looking back, Elizabeth wonders;

"Why are the tents swaying...?"

No, that was real. Her eyes weren't deceiving her!

Her eyes sweep the surroundings, only to see all the knights incredulous and agape.

Without their heads, the basilisks were on the ground. And yes, her previous vision was completely correct. The air itself was vibrating, or rather... the air was being cut right before their eyes...

"Get down, now!" exclaimed Elizabeth, jumping toward the ground.

The knights didn't understand, but fortunately, they followed her order while there was still time.

The cuts made in the tents were so clean that they would already be difficult to make if the person was near them... let alone miles away...