"What is so different about this said Village?"- Raven asked as she couldn't think of a possible reason for them to check out a Village.
"It's not a big deal. There have been some rumors going around of a 'Demon' or something."- Count Oliver explained as he shook his hands sideways to indicate that it was not that big of a deal.
"It's just that I've some urgent business, and I can't send my own men. That's why I've to bother you guys. Don't reject this old guy's request will you?"- Count Oliver said the last part in a hurt tone as if he would break down in tears if they refused him.
Though, as always, Ozul and Raven just stared at him coldly and didn't say a word.
Count Oliver dropped his act and gestured towards Butler Albert as he sighed;
"Sigh... Here take these 50 Gold Coins. If you find an anomaly, just remove it please."- Oliver said while Albert handed out a pouch filled with Gold Coins.
Raven put the coins in her Spatial Ring. It was not the same old Ring bought with only 2 Gold Coins. After so many years, they were quite wealthy themselves now.
Ozul and Raven took their leave after the chit-chat. Well, it was more like Oliver chatting and him being stared at by Ozul and Raven.
After they were gone, Albert the Butler spoke up;
"Are you sure you wanna let them just go like this, Lord?"- He spoke, still gazing at Ozul and Raven's back.
"What are you joking about, Albert. Do you think I can stop them? I can contain the Feral? The Feral who killed people even stronger than me without any signs of him ever being there?"
Oliver spoke in a downcast voice. He may not be the best-natured man, but he always respected power. Ozul had gained his respect.
. . .
Ozul and Raven walked towards their house.
"Should we check it out now?"- Raven curiously asked. She really wanted to test her capabilities against some Demon—if there is any.
"Not right now, later. I have to get one last check for these prosthetics."- Ozul wanted to have them upgrade in size for one last time.
The last time he had them renewed was two years ago. Although he didn't grow at all from then, it was better to have them checked.
They spent half of their day preparing and only left in the afternoon.
"How long will it actually take?"- Ozul asked Raven as he really wanted to sleep. These years, sleeping was the only thing he enjoyed after Raven's lap pillow.
"Don't worry, If we walk non-stop, the village will be by the side of some hill about 2 hours from here."-Raven assured Ozul as they started their journey.
On the way, they met countless Rank-3 and some Rank-4 Beasts. Raven quickly dealt with them. She had created some more auxiliary Spells, but the daggers had become like a signature move of hers.
After two hours, they saw as the outline of the hill began to recede, and the Village structure came into their view.
But, it wasn't anything they expected because the whole Village was covered in ice spikes! When they arrived on the streets, blood flowed like rainwater! There were puddles of blood and dead bodies lying around.
All of them impaled by Ice spikes!
Raven even wondered what kind of demon could do such a thing. But Ozul's interest grew by the seconds while walking down the pavement.
All his life, he had never found an answer as to what he really was. But he still remembered how they called him a Devil's Spawn. Maybe he can find someone similar to him here?
Maybe he can find something more about himself?
Though, he was left disappointed when all he saw was a 19 years old teen sitting in the center of the Village as corpses littered around him.
The man had his head hung down, but Raven could tell that he was alive when she noticed his rough breathing. There were also no wounds on his own body, but the young man looked exhausted.
From the scene around him, anyone could tell the culprit behind this massacre. They easily guessed that this was the 'Demon' that the Count was talking about.
Just when they were getting close to the man, he moved.
He faced up to see the people coming towards him. At that moment, All Raven and Ozul could see was the eyes of some broken little kid. It was like the man lived, but he didn't have to will to do so.
However, the most intriguing feature wasn't the dead eyes, but the ice-like Crystals, which formed a crown on the guy's forehead.
Ozul was again interested in him. The Crystals may not be the same as the life-like symbols on his now detached arms and leg, but they were still not normal.
Raven stopped when the man looked towards them with hollow eyes. But Ozul didn't stop. He deeply looked towards those Crystals as he kept moving forward to get an even closer look.
Ozul didn't even think that the man could be someone dangerous. All such thoughts were pushed aside by his newfound interest in the anomaly in front of him.
'Is he someone like me? Demon... they call him...' Different thoughts ran through Ozul's mind as he slowly walked forward.
Raven was surprised when she saw Ozul so immersed in something.
He never took any risks in a battle. And now that they didn't know if the enemy was safe to approach or not, he was mindlessly advancing. What had happened to him? Just as she was thinking things through,
*sfwoosh* *fwoosh*
Several sharp icicles separated from the giant ice spears and rushed towards Ozul! There was some distance between Raven and him so she couldn't do anything to protect him.
Her eyes widened as she thought that this might hurt Ozul. He was not paying attention whatsoever for crying out loud!
It was evident that the young man in front of them had attacked Ozul!
Yet, Ozul knew what he was doing. His pointed hat quickly turned into liquid before blocking all the ice shards coming towards him.
After a decade or so, the Ball of Purity also had around ten extra needles worth of increment.
Ten extra needles weren't much if you look at it normally. But only when you take into account that each one of those ten needles can rip apart a Rank-5 Mage like butter do you realize its worth.
Moreover, Ozul's body had improved so much that it could rival a Rank-7 Fighter. But unfortunately, even his body reached a bottleneck after that.
He would've already moved onto a new destination in search of something that could help him if not because he wanted Raven to have a strong foundation.
Since Count Oliver provided him with steady resources, he was too lazy to go in search of something else.
The young man was looking strangely at Ozul. He had never seen someone who could also control something without needing to weave hand signs or incantation!
Nevertheless, the young man did not stop there, and the ice all around him started to rotate around Ozul. Occasionally, the icicles would combine to form large spears and shot towards Ozul.
However, Ozul blocked each one of them and did not even bother to counterattack. He just kept advancing towards the strange person in front of him that may have some similarities to him.
Ozul approached the young man as he didn't shy away from him. The young man had a considerable height of around 6.2 feet, while Ozul was exactly 6 feet tall.
The weird man was sitting on the ground so, Ozul had to bend his head to look at the ice-crystal beads on his forehead.
The Crystals were as small as nails and connected one side of the forehead to the other, which looked as if it was some sort of a crown. Only the middlemost crystal was longer than the others.
If people didn't see his dead blue eyes, the man looked quite handsome with his cyan hairs and the Crystals on his forehead.
Ozul stretched out his hands to touch the Crystals. The young man didn't bother to dodge or swat away his hand as he knew that he was powerless in front of this man.
No matter what he did, nothing worked as Ozul had effortlessly blocked all of his attacks while still keeping his attention on those Crystals.
When Ozul touched the Crystals tho, he lost all his previous interest in the man before him. The Crystals only gave a chilling sensation that any ice would.
He just instinctually knew that there was nothing at all common between the man and him, aside from both being called evil names.
Frustration actually showed on his expression as backed away. After so many years, he had thought that he might have found something that could explain his existence.
Raven saw the disappointment on Ozul's face and wanted nothing more than to console him, but she knew that it wouldn't help. Heck, she didn't even know the cause of Ozul's frustration.
Since Ozul couldn't get anything from the man, he decided to get down to the real business.
Ozul coldly looked towards the man and spoke up;
"So... Why did you do it?"