Chapter 3: Pursued
The Capital City of Lescatie.
...
The night of the siege has ended, and the red sun rose over a changed city. What was left of the former human city were its citizens, with their minds overcome with lust and other pleasurable desires. Most people smiled and cheered for their occupiers but they had thrown their moral codes of decency out of the window and the Mamono were enjoying their fruits of victory... while doing non-stop intercourse with human men while the women across the city underwent monsterization.
Only half of the female population within the city turned into succubuses, while the others were into many types of monsters. Most of its citizens threw away their religious allegiance with the Chief God and went on to do their acts thus, some were converting themselves into the Sabbath or the Order of the Fallen Faith.
The kingdom's military training grounds; the Hero Barracks and Order Churches were turned into places of pleasures and other centres of entertainment.
Inside the Royal Castle, everything was a display of debauchery as maids and other female servants were turned into lustful puppets, raping the male servants, and Francia, the Queen of Lescatie, was busy with King Castor in their bedroom chamber. In the meantime, Druella was standing on top of the balcony and watching over the newly occupied city of Lescatie as Dark Knights and Warriors marched in formation through the major roads like it was a parade. This scene will make her mother proud with the annexation of the former human kingdom that is about to be integrated into a new Demon Realm, a new realm that its citizens were liberated from their suffering from the corruption of the Order.
"I wonder... where did that rumoured Silver-Blue Knight get to?" Druella wondered to herself as if her forces had already captured him and he had gladly turned himself in to serve the Royal Makai. "Ah~, he sounded like an interesting fellow from what the rumours say, but it's a pity that he might already be an incubus."
While Lilim was fantasising about her person of interest, she heard a knock on the door before an Imp messenger came in. Druella curiously raised one of her eyebrows.
"Yes? Have you found the Knight?"
"Your Highness, we did not find your person of interest but..." The Imp said until her face morphed into a grim expression. "Our soldiers have found something else."
...
Somewhere in the slum areas, a Dhampir looked over a corpse of her beloved comrade Itha, the Ogre captain and leader of her Orc detachment who got her body cleaved in twain. She can see the mixed look of shock and agony on her face, indicating that she had suffered before death. She knelt and closed Itha's eyes and bid her to rest in peace. Sandra looked all over the street that was strewn with limbs and body parts. All the Orcs apart from one survivor of Itha's company were annihilated.
A detachment force found the one surviving Orc named Clarise that had spoken of the rumoured Silver-Blue Knight, who had caused the bloody scene before he escaped the city with a group of other humans. She died shortly after succumbing to her grievous injury.
"Just what is he...?" The Dhampir covered her nose and mouth with her hand to avoid the putrid smell of voided bowels, guts, and fear. "A single human should not be capable of such... carnage."
She wasn't alone. There were other mamonos within the area who were trying to clean up the carnage. Most of them were disgusted, and some even hesitated to grab a dead torso of an Orc with its head fully intact before throwing it in a wagon full of dead body parts. The smell was horrendous, which made her sick. The stench made her want to vomit.
Sandra stared at the dead faces of Orcs. It was a nauseating sight. All of their faces show signs of horrified and painful expressions, which made her mind reel in disbelief; what kind of person could do such horrible things to other living beings? The Mamono knew they were not the only ones to get brutally killed during the siege. Some of her soldiers had found human corpses of Order Guards and priests near an empty orphanage, and that they had died similarly and were even fresh. Clearly, that knight seemed to be not on friendly terms with the Order.
Sandra snapped herself from her thoughts before turning around to see the Fourth Princess and her Royal Dark Knights coming to inspect the area. Upon their arrival, Druella tensed as she stepped backwards with wide eyes as her Dark Guards flinched in shock to see a bloody field of corpses.
"What happened here...?" Druella uttered, her voice tinged with fear before the Dhampir greeted her with a salute. "Sandra, who... who did this?"
"It was the Silver-Blue Knight." The Damphir replied with a grim face. "We've recovered one surviving Orc, the only sole eyewitness of this carnage before she succumbed to her injuries."
"And the Knight?"
"He escaped with a group of humans during the siege." She explained, before pausing for a while. "He's somewhere out there in the countryside of Lescatie."
"Then we must send out every detachment to scour all over this kingdom," Druella ordered with an angry expression that marring her face. "This pain and suffering he caused on my people shall not go unpunished."
Sandra stood firm and bowed respectively to the Fourth Daughter of the Royal Makai.
"At your command!"
...
...
"Solaire! Now's the chance!"
A Knight summoned his lightning spear and hurled it at Gwyn, the First Lord of Cinder.
"I'm sorry, your highness."
Solaire felt pity and full of regret. The Knight of the Sunlight was battling against the Lord of Lordran along with his Undead Ally. This Gwyn is nothing more but an empty husk as if not even the gods themselves had been spared from the Fate of the Curse.
As his lightning spear struck, it paralyzed the Lord of Cinder before Ash saw his chance and rushed towards him. He jumped with his claymore swinging overhead.
'This is the end!'
In a single blow, his claymore struck at the empty husk of Gwyn until the Lord of Cinder fell on his knees. Soon after, his body dispersed into ashes, they achieved their victory.
"It's over..." Ash panted as he dug the claymore's blade deep into the ashen ground. "It's done.."
He looked over to the First Flame, and it dwindled. He decides to leave it behind so that a new age can usher in. Knowing the secrets that Gwyn had interfered with the flame's natural cycle, which caused a severe disturbance of life and death until now. This is the moment in history where the curse was lifted by the two undead warriors.
"Solaire... we have to leave..."
Then something he felt wasn't right. As he turned to his companion, he saw the Knight of Sunlight was kneeling before the dwindling flame.
"Solaire...?"
The Knight of Sunlight said nothing, but it locked his eyes to the First Flame before he extended his hands over the fire.
"Is this... my sun?" Solaire muttered with dilated eyes and it drew his soul to the alluring Flame. "Ah... so warm... so bright."
"Solaire… What in the Abyss are you doing?" Ash walked over to the Knight of Sunlight until it was too late.
He stood horrified that the Flame spread and engulfed the entire area. Then the knight of sunlight stood up as the fire covered his arms.
"Ah, yes! I found it!" Ash could not utter a word. His companion had completely lost his mind. "After years of searching for it, I finally found my sun!"
Then the First Flame became brighter and brighter. Ash shielded himself before the First Flames burst outwards with powerful heat. The Knight cursed himself as he felt his body was burning and turning into ash.
'Solaire... what have you done...'
...
...
...
...
Ash opened his eyes, glancing left and right to look for a target before drawing his Black Bow of Pharis.
'Another memory...' His mind silently uttered. 'It was a long time ago since that happened.'
Then he heard a bush making a rustling sound until a silhouette of an insignificant creature ran from cover. The Knight pulled his string and loosed an arrow.
*SHAK!*
His arrow hit his target, and the creature tumbled to the ground. It was a hare he had hunted down. The Ashen One walked over to his prey and tied it on the rope with two other dead rabbits and hares slung over his shoulder, which he hunted down earlier.
"These aren't enough..."
Ash walked into another area and saw two more hares in the vicinity. The Knight drew two arrows, then he fired them off before the hares got the chance to see their hunter and attempted to flee.
"Now this is enough."
Once he killed two more hares, he looked up at the sky as the sun was about to set and Ash walked back to the camp.
Meanwhile, Sasha is setting up a campfire with the help of the older children. It had been three days since they had left the city and went to the North-Western Region of Lescatie that faced towards Gaul. The former heroine had been wondering how the knight has been doing since that day of the Siege. She could not help but feel disquiet in remembering that night.
She had witnessed the carnage he did back in the city made her uncomfortable and could not bring out those thoughts of his displays of brutality that no person in their right minds would do such a thing. The people that have been telling the rumours turned out to be true that he was an unrelenting warrior, but that did not explain his true nature to inflict so much pain and bloodshed on the mamono.
'How did he... become like this...?'
She tried to shake off her thoughts, but then came a feeling of pain and guilt. Yet deep down, she did feel guilt. It was during that day she witnessed the outcome once the siege has ended, not just because she has turned against the Order, but her actions have caused the fate of the City and the Kingdom itself. She believed in the peaceful coexistence of monsters and humans after seeing the Order's corruption that inflicted their suffering on the people, and they spared not even children in their greed.
While trying to atone for the orders actions, she had aided the monsters of the Demon Realm with intelligence to exploit the defences of the kingdom, hoping Druella can turn the city and a kingdom where monsters and humans can live peacefully, but the result is the opposite. The truth was much more malicious than she realised. Druella and her army were turning humans into monsters rather than coexisting with their human existence and turned the entire city into nothing more but a massive den of lust and unspeakable depravity. Now she felt on what they've been doing to the kingdom's people was not out of true love, as she can still hear their cries of pleasure in her mind ever since the city fell. This time, another sin that she could not atone for.
With the children playing around, her ears perked up, and a female voice whispered in her mind, a husky kind but one with undercurrents of malevolent intent.
'Aww~, poor you.' The voice spoke. 'You've left your friends behind.'
'Who... Who is this?' Sasha's eyes went wide before turning around in confusion.
'Why can't you turn back time and meet your beloved Elt?' A voice spoke once again in her mind. 'I'm sure he would be disappointed if you're not able to meet him~'
"Chief God?..." she muttered in surprise. "Is that you?"
' You did not say your true feelings for him?' The mysterious, sultry voice continued. 'Then why not let the Knight join you?'
"No... I can't he's..." Sasha silently utters while shaking off her head. "H-He's..."
'Oh my~, even you developed your feelings for him~!' The voice of the "Chief God" spoke seductively in a joyous tone. 'I'm sure you will be happier to turn him into you. All you need is to have more faith in me.'
"Faith... in you?"
'Yes... I can make you even more attractive, even more beautiful. It is an existence full of happiness and that is your wish for everyone~!' This "God" spoke within her mind as the warrior nun was now very tempted to follow her words. 'So that you shall have him forever. I think he might be a perfect husband for you~'
As the large bonfire crackled, the children were telling scary stories. Some of them laughed and some of them cried because of the ghost stories. Both humans and monsters were getting along with each other. Then one child, a young boy named Ralph, turned around as he heard footsteps nearby of moving grass and snapping of twigs. From the shadows, Ash emerged with a pack of dead hares hanging on the ropes from his left shoulder.
"Hey look! He came back!"
"Oh boy, Food! I'm hungry."
'Oh look, Sasha, he's back~' The darkness within her mind forms a malicious smile. 'Now's your chance and-... wait.'
When the Fallen God set her eyes on the peculiar Silver-Blue Knight. Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt he had no Mana, which was impossible: no living being should be alive without it. After all, he was alive despite having no mana, a mystery that she needed to know how this was so. She looked into the knight and suddenly she felt something else was there and much more ominous: its presence came from his very being that it was a void that was all-consuming.
But deeper still within him, all she saw was a glow of light that became a flame. It crackled brightly inside his empty human husk. Out of her curiosity; she attempted to look at it further. The Fallen God swore she could see the Flame was steadily slowly growing the more she looked at it. Then she felt a chill in her spiritual form. The Fallen God felt her essence of demonic energy creeping out to the flames, trying to corrupt it. But it was being rapidly devoured by the fire, turning into ash and making it brighter, larger, and even more dangerous.
'No... stay away.' The Fallen God moved back from the flames with growing fear. 'What... what are you?!'
The Flames grew further within the dark abyss of its carrier and the entity itself gives out a primordial aura until it lashed out hungrily in searing brilliance.
The Fallen God felt her being burned away in an extremely painful fashion and unable to even scream in terror. Whatever this thing is, it was something beyond this world, and it was akin to some sort of God. The Fallen Goddess fled from this burning nightmare and escaped Sasha's mind. After that, the Fallen God felt part of her spiritual body had turned into ash and cursed the sight of that thing called "The Flame".
While the children laughed with joy, Sasha, who had been sitting idly for the entire time, perked up in surprise, as she could no longer hear the voice. She swore that something had reached into the mind and tried to possess her. Yet it completely left her alone. She turned around to see Ash was preparing to roast some rabbits before looking up at her with his face full of concern.
'What... was that?'
"Is everything alright?" He asked.
Sasha quickly responded with a smile, yet her eyes betrayed her nervousness. The Ashen One could see that and he thought she was up to something, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. Soon after the meal, the children went to sleep on the covered wagon before the Warrior Nun put out the fires, while Ash watched the entire area as a guard in case bandits or stray monsters were roaming around.
"So... shall we go?" She heard his voice and turned around to see him, still facing the darkened roads. "The longer we stay here, the higher the risk, if the monsters find us where we are."
Upon hearing his words made Sasha look around the vicinity before turning her glance to him once more, nodding. Both the Nun and the Knight embarked upon the wagon before Ash cracked the whip and the horses moved their hooves. Sasha sat down beside the orphans before closing her eyes. The Knight watched cautiously on every edge of the dark corners of the forest while steering the horses under the dark skies.
Even in her dreams... she can still no longer hear the voice.
...
*CLACK!* *CLACK!* *CLACK!*
...
While the sounds of wooden wheels and the clopping of hooves echoed through the eerie forest, Ash looked to the left and he swore his senses told him that someone was watching him. The knight sped up the wagon's pace until he heard a distant sound of moving grass and cracking sticks. Yet they did not stop, and he knew they were following them.
Ash slowly stopped the carriage and calmed the horses. He unsheathed his broadsword and grabbed a torch before wandering into the darkness and waited. He made a defensive stance before something rushed at him.
A dark silhouette figure jumped out from the darkness and Ash swung his sword, cutting the being in half from its torso to its shoulder. The monster screamed in pain as it died. He looks down to see the being was a Werewolf. Her facial expression was that of horrifying agony. He stared back into the darkness and saw the pack. He saw five of them frozen in fear at their packmate's sudden death. Ash hardened his gaze before charging in to deal with them.
...
Demon Realm City of Lescatie.
...
Druella was sitting in the throne room within the castle of Lescatie. She couldn't help but think about the previous day's carnage she witnessed... that slaughter.
She still couldn't even fathom the macabre bloody display at the scene that was left in the once secluded areas of the slums. Sandra, one of her loyal subordinates, was still distraught after witnessing the fate of her comrade and the news about the fate of Itha's company and their annihilation that spread throughout the City. The morale of her armies had deteriorated even further, making some situations even worse. The news had made some mamono lead their fellows into mutiny.
That is until her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the flapping of wings that were coming from behind the seat of the throne.
"Your highness, I bring grave news."
She heard the voice. Her red pupils glanced back and saw a Dark Angel appeared from the shadows. They were once pure angelic beings who have fallen from grace because of high exposure to Demonic Energy. The Fallen God was a great ally to the Demon Realm.
Druella closed her eyes. "Speak, messenger."
"Our Goddess has caught in her sights on your person of interest." The Dark Angel explained. "While attempting to possess the heroine named Sasha Fullmoon, she saw the Silver-Blue Knight."
'So he's still somewhere out there and Sasha is with him? I thought she would join our cause to expand the Demon Realm.' Druella slowly opened her eyes and glanced towards the Dark Angel. "Any other explanations?"
"Well, that begs the question is that our goddess saw something within the Silver-Blue Knight that is rather different from an ordinary human." Said the Dark Angel while looking down anxiously. "He possesses no Mana as if he is an empty husk. But she mentioned a flame within him that will burn her alive if she dares to go deep. She fled Sasha in fear."
'No Mana? That's impossible.' Her eyes widened as her mind spoke in surprise. 'No living being would be alive without it, however...'
"You mentioned the flame, am I right?" Druella said with the word that is being mentioned, which caught her interest. "What did she mean by that?"
"That I do not know. Our fallen god is completely beside herself." The Dark Angel shook her head. "It's nothing we've witnessed a situation with our goddess before and it's highly likely she will not be involving herself in provoking him."
"How so?" Druella raised her brow in question. "There needs to be a reason."
"She... she said that if she dares to intrude on him again." Then the Dark Angel clenched her hand altogether. "Then that Flame would seek and devour her."
Now, this news intrigued Druella even more. The message was cryptic, and she did not understand what it even meant. Did this mean that some unknown "Flame" deity blessed him rather than the Chief God? No, as it was mentioned before, he has no mana and it's completely impossible to gain such a divine blessing without a slightest of its essence.
"Did this "Deity" say... anything to her?"
"No, she simply saw what it did and mentioned that it is not of this world before she left Sasha alone and, in our conclusion, that the man of your interest is extremely dangerous." The dark angel replied with trepidation in her voice and tilted her head downwards, looking at the floor. "We were lacking information since there is no mention of this "Flame" from any known covenants, therefore, its real nature is unclear. That's all I have to say."
"I see, then you're dismissed," Druella ordered as the dark angel bowed and left the chamber
The chamber was silent for a while, Druella sighed before looking up, wondering about the knight. Whatever this "Flame" was, it could be the sole reason that may have protected him from high exposure to Demonic Energy.
"Whoever you are, Silver-Blue Knight." She spoke before making a malicious smile. "Once I find you, I will learn more about you and then you shall become my pet... there is nothing for you to do from escaping my grasp."
...
Lescatie Countryside, North-Western Region.
...
It was sunrise as the light beamed down on the lands across, banishing the darkness. Sasha slowly opened her eyes, yawning from her sleep. She looked around and saw that the orphans were still sleeping before looking up to see Ash. But her eyes widened in shock and made a small shriek, only to see parts of his armour soaked in blood.
"Ash? You're covered in blood!"
"Yes, I know."
"What happened?"
"Monsters, nothing else."
"Y-You should have told me."
"I would have woken up the children." He spoke in a monotone voice while explaining. "It would have caused a panic."
He said nothing more but another crack on the leash for the horses to keep up the pace. Sasha pouted in annoyance before letting out a deep sigh as she sat down and massaged her temples.
It felt like a couple of hours had passed as the carriage kept going down the dirt road and entered the open fields; he saw a sight of a long trail of wagons. Ash stopped in front of the lead carriage and greeted the lead merchant while Sasha strained to hear their conversation.
"Oh? Why hello there! Is there something that I can help you with?" The lead merchant asked.
"... are you heading to Lescatie?" The Knight asked. The answer he received was a nod from the merchant.
"Aye! Yes, we are. Did something happen?"
"The city has fallen under the hands of the Demon Realm." His warning made the lead merchant's eyes widen. "You'd better turn around if you don't believe me, then enter at your own risk."
"O-Oi! Is that why there are increasing numbers of mamonos around this region?" One of the Mercenary Guards asked the Knight, to which Ash nodded in return. His reply caused quite an uproar among the people within the Caravan. "Damn, they should have informed us about this! We never knew that the Siege was coming sooner than we realised."
"I assume that most of you are foreign mercenaries, am I correct?" The Knight asked. The lead merchant nodded.
"Aye, we are just volunteers from Gaul and other Order states. We respond to aid Lescatie with our paid provisions." The Merchant said before pointing towards the Mercenaries. "They hire the Mercenaries for a good price to reinforce the city. But since you've informed us about the fate of the Theocracy itself, I thank you for warning us."
Ash waved his hands before whipping the leash once the carriage moved to the right side of the road. The children woke up and saw a sight of a merry band of armed mercenaries standing beside a long trail of carriages and merchantmen.
"Wow, look at them."
"Some of them are knights."
As the single carriage pressed on, Ash glanced back to see the leading carriage begin to turn away from its intended destination. However, he noticed something when he looked up to the skies to see a flock of birds in the distance coming on their way.
'... hold on a minute...'
As he watched closer, those weren't birds... those are...
"Harpies!" One mercenary cried while pointing upwards.
A massive flock of harpies swooped down to their targets as men armed themselves while merchants steered their wagons in different directions, causing mass disarray on the wagon train. Ash cracked the leash, making the horses run.
It was a mess as harpies swooped down and carried off countless men up into the air, screaming for help. Some tried to fight back, but the monster's numbers quickly overwhelmed them. Some human carriages at the end of the train saw the commotion and attempted to flee, but it was futile once the harpies caught up with them, as the harpies were making an aerial pincer attack to prevent any human from escaping. However, a single carriage that held Ash and the children was lucky enough to be outside of the monster's onslaught against the Mercenaries while Sasha and the children saw the mayhem unfold. Their carriage, despite being ignored at first, soon caught the harpies' attention.
"Look out!" Michael cried out, pointing up at the skies.
The Knight looked up to see six harpies swooping down at them. Ash ducked down just as the harpies claws tried grabbing him, but found only air instead.
"Sasha, grab the leash!" Ash grabbed the Nun by her shoulders and pulled her into the driving seat. "I'll shoot them down."
"Eh-Huh?! Why me?!"
"Just steer the horses and don't let the leash go!"
As the wagon proceeded to move at a blistering pace, the knight stood up while keeping his feet firmly balanced despite the bumpy ride. He watched cautiously up to the sky, seeing the harpies taking sharp turns before swooping down fast in their direction. Ash drew back his Black Bow and took aim. Then he fired. The first arrow struck the first harpy in the neck, who fell from the sky and crashed into the dirt road, the rest scattered in response.
"One down, five more to go."
He shot another arrow, which hit a harpy on her right wing, causing her to tumble to the hard ground. Ash drew another arrow while aiming to his next target, but his third shot missed as the flying mamono anticipating his fire jinked out of the arrow's path. He shot another arrow, which caused them to disperse once more, but they did not stop and were still hot on their trail.
"To damnation with these fiends," Ash muttered with a curse.
One of the last three harpies kept up with her speed while dodging his arrows several times. That was not until he then realised that another harpy was flying on the left side of the carriage.
"Ash! Watch out!"
The knight spun around to see a pair of claws coming right at him and the talons grabbed onto his shoulders until the harpy beat its wings in an attempt to fly away.
'Oh no, you don't!' he thought and with his free hand grabbed one of the monster's legs.
He grunted as he pulled the creature off of him with his prestigious strength. But her free talon slashed down at him, striking against his helmet, making Ash lose his balance, nearly throwing him off the rumbling carriage.
Ash managed to regain his balance while his hand held firmly on the front seat before proceeding to slam the harpy repeatedly against the side of the wagon until the monsters neck snapped, he then threw the corpse at the nearest pursuing harpy who frantically dodged the body fouling up her attack, the body sailed onwards before striking a tree with a sickening crunch
He watched the last harpy cautiously until he realised she was slowing down before flying upward to a safer distance. The Knight notched an arrow to his Black Bow, and he cautiously watched on guard, waiting for more Harpies to attack.
"A-Are they gone?" Sasha asked while trembling.
"They might send another group to pursue us. So don't stop until I say so," Ash replied in his usual gruff voice.
...
Melody was standing atop one of the merchant carriages. Some men groaned in agony as they were being lifted into the air by her brethren. She, however, was one of the rare harpy subspecies, the Black Harpy, who are known for their cunning and intelligence.
"Bring these men to Lescatie, and the rest of the Demon Lord's Army would enjoy mating them." She ordered her loyal subordinates and they nod in acknowledgement.
The Black Harpies were one of the few monster species that did not crave for men all the time. Melody sighed deeply. Most of these men were handsome alright, but the Harpies mating season was already over since the Demon Army had marched across the border. Since they weren't interested in having sex right now, they will bring these human prisoners to the city for any other monsters who would enjoy having a husband and increase the army's morale. Princess Druella would be pleased with the day's catch.
However, she remembered something; the group that she had sent to pursue a single wagon that escaped their notice at the start of the attack. She flew up into the air to see if they had succeeded, only to see one harpy returning.
"Cherry, where is your team?" Melody raised her brow in confusion until she realised her frightened expression. "What happened?"
"It's... It's him!" Her trusted subordinate named Cherry replied in a shocked voice. "The rumoured Silver-Blue Knight, we saw him!"
Her words brought chills to her spine. So he was there all along and managed to escape before she knew he was there.
"Lena and Chelsea were shot down." Cherry hung her head down in sadness. "Gisela, Nesta, and Sarah are dead while trying to pursue them."
Melody couldn't help but tense at those words. Realising the Silver-Blue Knight was still out there, this need to be reported to the nearest detachment of Druella's Army, which was Eristia's Battalion that was currently scouting around the region.
"I'll send a messenger to Eristia, that Druella's person of interest is likely heading to the border," Melody stated, before letting out a sigh. "I'm going to assign a new team for you."
"But what about the knight?"
"Send a team to keep an eye on him. They aren't too far away," Melody ordered. "Keep on their trail before Eristia can send a detachment and only they can overwhelm him."
"B-But he's only one man. Why does he require such a response?!" Cherry tries to protest, yet Melody interrupts her plea.
"Fool, that single man is very dangerous to cross paths with." Melody furrowed her brow, a grim look spread across her face. "Have you forgotten that he alone slaughtered an entire company of forty orcs during the Siege? Even the strongest of the Ogres like Itha was slain by his blade. I doubt our numbers are sufficient to overwhelm him if he is capable of that."
Cherry tried to find her words to protest, but she couldn't. The captain of her company made a good statement as rumours of the Silver-Blue Knight was an unrelenting individual who killed the mamono without even hesitating even if they tried to beg for their mercy. If they keep pursuing them, then there is no doubt that they would not be returning alive.
Once they gathered the prisoners, Melody's company sent several harpies to track down the wagon and send a single messenger to Eristia's Detachment Force.
...
Near a river, Sasha carefully stroked the horse's mane while Ash remained on guard. The horses were exhausted for an hour after the chase until they had decided to take a rest.
"Do you think we've lost them?" She asked.
"I don't think so," Ash responded while holding the grip of his unsheathed broadsword. "They might send scouts to track us down."
"The Mamono are known for their keen sense of smell," Sasha explained anxiously. "They will not stop hunting us until we've reached the border."
The horses lifted their heads and shook their mouths, showing that the animals had finished quenching their thirst before Sasha cracked the leash as Ash climbed up on the carriage. Their journey continued under the orange skies as the sun settled.
...
Demon Army Detachment Camp, West-Northern Region.
...
"So... they're still heading towards the borders, huh." Eristia said while looking over the map of the region. "How sly of them~! Once we find them, then I will probably let them taste my new blade~!"
Eristia Vitral mused with a smile, with a hand placed on her hip while her fingers fidgeting on the hilt of her legendary sword known as Darkleim. She licked her lips, wondering if she could make this Knight her new servant once they met.
"Messenger, you are dismissed." The Harpy bowed before exiting her tent before the orange-haired succubus turned towards a grey-haired Incubus. "Yuriy? How's my dear loving husband doing~?"
"Uh? Oh! I'm here... I... just."
Eristia swayed her hips as she walked towards the man she loved, named Yuriy Karelstein. They were once partners in their time as humans when Eristia was a heroine while her assistant and squire, Yuriy, went on a journey to find the Magic Sword of Truth. Their treasure hunt came to an end once Eristia was exposed to a massive amount of Demonic Energy that turned her into a succubus. He too succumbed to her lust and both of them turn to the service of the Fourth Born. Right now, they didn't matter for what they have become until after the fall of Lescatie, and they had a new mission:
Track down the Silver-Blue Knight.
"Once we find him, shall we have him as our servant... don't we~?" Eristia moaned as the tip of her index finger slid downwards into her vagina. "Even though we are former heroes, I doubt he stands a chance."
"B-But what if the rumours are true?" Yuriy asked nervously. "I-I might lose you-"
"Shhh~, calm down, there's nothing to be afraid of." She hushed him with her index finger, closing his lips. "Imagine with our powers combined, I consider it to be overkill."
Eristia embraced her partner before giving him a passionate kiss and let his hands fondle her breasts. Throughout the entire night, moans of pleasure filled the tent.
...
Chapter 3: Ends