Watching the spear thrust forward, I knew I wouldn't be saving that girl. However, as I rushed forward, the little girl of whom everyone thought would most certainly die, suddenly jumped to the side out of the way of the spear.
Stunned that the girl was capable of performing such a feat, the horsman was momentarily displaced, until she lunged at him, knocking him off his horse.
Uncovering a black knife hidden in her sleeves, she repeatedly stabbed the downed horseman, until he drew his last breath. By that time, the little girl stood up from his corpse, covered in a layer of scarlet blood. She seemed to emanate a presence that spooked the other horsemen, keeping them in place, holding their breaths, as if in an attempt to be unnoticed by the demon before them.
I watched this whole ordeal in shock. The world is quite mysterious, isn't it? The girl wore shabby clothes, stained with soot and blood, as her blood red eyes coldly glared at the horsemen, not to mention, she gave a vibe similar to the demons he encountered in Hell.
Okay, now I'm sceptical of which side to pick. But using the basis of who has the moral high ground, it would have to be the little girl, wouldn't it? I mean, she was attacked first, so for all intents and purposes, the horsemen are the perpetrators behind this incident.
Despite the brief lapse in judgment, I decided to follow through with my original plan. Being, to beat the crap out of the horsemen, after all, they were trying to harm an innocent, not so defenceless young girl.
Hopping across the debris of this little village, I managed to reach the horsemen just as they recovered from their horror and organised them in a defensive position with their spears raised against the girl. It was quite a pitiful scene seeing seven cavalrymen cower against a little girl.
Pulling out my scythe, I jogged up to the side of the formation as I swung his scythe in an arc whilst shifting my weight to maximise the momentum gained, in addition to coating the blade with a layer of my own Heretic essence, allowing for an essence blade to be launched after the initial attack. In an instant, four fatalities occurred, being cleanly cut from the waist down, whilst another horseman merely lost an arm.
"M-my arm! My aRM!"
Of course, I made sure not to harm the horsies. They were, after all, a very loyal race, in fact, one of the most loyal and noble of races. It was unfortunate that they were reduced to mere steeds after the alliance lost.
"You dumbass! Can't you see! That's not a girl, it's a demon!" Seeing my display, one of the other horsemen tried to mediate with me, completely forgetting what they were previously doing in the village.
Not that this would work to sway my mind. Rearing the scythe, I swung at the horsemen who had fallen off his horse after losing his arm, smoothly decapitating him.
"Y-you, c-cultist?" As if having an epiphany at the current situation the last two horsemen backed away from me, however, this left their flank wide open.
The little girl jumped one of the horsemen as she once more, violently shanked him to death. Spears weren't all that useful when someone was right up at you. Seeing the situation falling apart, with his last comrade was being murdered in front of his eyes, he resolved himself, as he took an action that he knew he would regret. But in such a situation, he would do as all men would…
He started fleeing.
After all, it was completely natural for one to flee from a demon, and the girl was literally spewing out chaos energy, or demonic essence as referred to by most. And for positive energy life forms such as humans, it was natural they would be averted and threatened by the presence of chaos energy life forms.
But, as Fate would have it, this horseman wouldn't be leaving here today.
"Gah!?" Holding his throat, he seemed to be in disbelief to find copious amounts of blood pouring out. As he choked on his blood, he fell off his horse smearing blood across the ground as he writhed.
Looking smug, Lily circled around her quarry, she could be useful at times.
Anyway, everyone has already been dealt with. Looking now, it seemed that those horsemen were aiming to kill any survivors, meaning that they were in league with the bastards that razed this village.
"What scum," No mercy, even for their own vassals.
Turning around, I looked toward the girl at the centre of this bloodshed. She stood still amongst the wreckage of fallen buildings as she stared at me tentatively, still on guard at this strange individual.
Getting a closer look at this girl, judging by her height of around five feet, she seemed to be twelve years old, with a rather odd black hair as well as a lingering medicinal scent of herbs and thyme. Having awakened his blood memories, I now understood just how rare and especially how odd black hair was, it was usually an indicator of a fallen race. Though in this case, her glowing red eyes and demonic aura, disproved this theory. She was a demon, and not a frenzied demon spawn, but rather a legitimate demon.
For the term 'demon,' they were separated into two categories. One is demonic spawn, which are merely creatures possessing chaotic energy, which can be as a result of spawning in Hell or can be as a result of having one's positive energy malfunction, transforming into chaos energy similar to a cell malfunction turning into a cancer. In this case, they tend to be mindless and frenzied, however, on the other hand, are the Demons. Of which they have descent from devils, or have evolved from demonic spawn into intelligent beings. Basically, the fine line between the two was that one were just mindless beasts, whilst the other were intelligent, capable of making thought out decisions.
Examining the girl, her essence didn't seem to go haywire, judging by her fixed form and her eyes which didn't show any traces of insanity. Rather it seemed that she has the bloodline of demons, which is extremely rare to find in the Corrupt Realm, as most demons are typically unintelligent beasts incapable of reproduction. Meaning that there was a high likelihood that she is descended from a demon from Hell, but her origin could wait for now, it seemed I was pondering again. A bad habit of mine.
"Who… are you?" She croaked out a hoarse voice due to all the soot and ash flying around, but there were still tones of youthfulness in it.
Ha, what a simple question.
"I'm a city guard," At this, the girl seemed to tense up, mildly confused at his identification.
Oh, wait, I'm not a guard anymore am I?