Levi opened his eyes, still feeling a little dizzy from exhaustion and loss of blood. He never thought that a drop of blood from Lilith would cause him more than half of his own.
He breathed heavily to recover and looked towards Hector, who was beside him. 'He is still going?! How hard is his test?', Levi was shocked.
The 'test' that he was talking about terrified him just by thinking about it. It was hard... really hard.
"Don't worry. Everyone has different tests that they must overcome. He'll wake up soon."
Levi was pleased to see the person who just talked to him. He smiled and grabbed the towel that Luce handed to him while checking his friend's whole body.
'He looks so tired as well.', Levi thought. He wiped his body using the towel that he took from Luce. "How long was I gone?", Levi asked Luce.
"Not too much... Lily told me you guys started at dusk, and now you awoken at dawn. It's not too long for a first timer.", Luce winked at him while smiling.
Levi certainly got his joke and laughed, "Oh, I wouldn't do that again if even if I need to, I swear by the gods.", and shook his head, hands in the air.
Luce also laughed at the old man, seeing them well made him relieved, but Hector doesn't seem to awaken in the next few hours.
"Stay here and rest. Come to me if Hector awakens, I'll introduce you to my family.", Luce patted Levi on the shoulder and walked between the two tubs to exit the pavilion.
Seeing that Luce was gone outside, Levi lowered his head while sighing. He then wiped out his tears that dropped almost after Levi was finally alone.
He forced himself to not cry anymore with a deep breath, then looked at Hector that is still looking like a soulless shell.
"Who are you fighting in there, Hector?", Levi asked his dazed companion. A sign of struggle was showing in Hector's face.
Meanwhile, inside Hector's mind, a blade-like wind came straight at him, aimed at his torso. Hector watched the wind blade slice a flesh of his chest, showing no signs of pain.
"Why?! Why are you not fighting back?!", the woman in Hector's mind grunted. Her eyes was filled with bloodlust.
Hector looked at the woman that looked exactly like his wife, his body was filled with bruises and deep slashes that the woman inflicted in him.
He is trying to approach her, but everytime he moves, the woman kept sending waves of wind blades against Hector, but he was not fazed at all.
"Nothing can stop me from getting closer to you", Hector said to her, taking a step forward until he was standing right in front of her.
"H-how?! How are you still enduring all of this? Don't you get angry at all?!", the woman exclaimed.
Hector closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he reached out his right hand to touch the face of the woman that he loved the most. "You have never changed... at all.", a tear dropped from his eyes.
But the woman wasn't flattered by Hector's praise, then shove his right arm and stabbed a blade made of compressed wind right through Hector's body. "Would it anger you if your dead wife stabbed you to death?", she said.
Hector grunted and spew out blood from his mouth, while kneeling on the floor. He breathed heavily, keeping his head down.
"Hmph.. So that's it? You'll rather die from the hands of your family than dying by the hands of your enemy. I took this form to test how great of a demon you can be with a sinned blood with you.", she let out a satisfied grin.
Seeing her feet under his chin, Hector spit blood at her feet, making her back away. "I'm trying to understand what the heck was this all about, until you showed up and spouted nonsense at me.", Hector wiped the blood on his lips and looked at her while smiling.
The woman felt mocked, seeing him still smiling and even spitting at her. Even the horrible things that she said to Hector before she attacked him with wind blades was nothing to him.
It felt like all her effort was gone for naught, seeing Hector standing up, and smiling at her. 'It seems like this idiot is enjoying this rather than giving him despair. Betrayal of loved ones wasn't effective in him.', she thought.
Then, the woman thought for a second while looking at Hector. "You're right... This test was meant to test your will and break you. Break you from those ethical knowledge you have and let the innermost evil in you take your body."
'This thing is reading my memories!', Hector thought, following her with his eyes.
"Now then, shall we continue this test and get it over with? If you're not interested in bearing your wrath against your loved ones... What about your enemies?", the woman said, gradually changing her appearance and getting away from Hector.
The figure turned to grey liquid after it deformed it's face, then became taller, more masculine, becoming a man with golden hair and a tattoo on the right half of his face.
"What about now, Hector? What do you think about my appearance? Am I pretty?", the figure said, with the appearance of the Emperor from Hector's mind.
Hector became furious! His eyes becoming red from anger, veins popping from his neck, and he started to breathe heavily.
"... LEOPOLD!!!", Hector shouted, bearing his full star path transformation!
"Hahaha! Nice! That's it, come at me and bear your wrath upon the lands!", the figure bent his back while laughing in fervour.
Hector came at him furiously, punching and kicking the figure in every way he can but, the face of the emperor grinning at him made Hector more aggravated.
The figure dodged all of Hector's attacks while throwing more oil in the fire...
"Is that all you've got, Hector?! I would have crushed in three moves!"
"Come on, Hector!! Hit me! Are you blind?!"
"I should have never given Leonora to you! You're not worthy of her!"
"Muahahahaha!!"
Hector roared in anger and desperation, giving all his effort to hit, even only once, the face of the man that he despised the most, the one who drove her wife to her death while carrying Mir on her belly.
His claws reached the chest of the figure, than slammed him down on the ground with a bang! Hector was now only filled with anger as he ripped the chest of the figure and crushed its heart from the inside.
"This is what gonna happen to you when we meet next time.", Hector said with a straight face, showing his bloody hand.
The figure coughed and stared at him, "You'll never do that, as I am your daughter's-", the figure stopped talking as his neck was cracked by Hector like a twig.
"We will see about that...", Hector stood up, wiping the blood on his hands, then walked away from the dead body if the emperor behind him.
Then, the dark place he was in suddenly changed into a hall filled with barrels of ale and wine, even the fireplaces was burning brightly, lighting up the whole empty hall. Hector stopped for a second as he was surprised.
'Is this...' Hector tried to think, but he heard a sharp sounds of clapping from behind.
"Bravo..! Well done, devil. You just destroyed your enemy by letting your blood overcome you.", the now faceless figure clapped by Hector's performance.
"What's going to happen now? Did I pass?", Hector asked.
The figure raised a mug full of ale and drunk it, "....Mm, yeah. This is a good ale! I hope we have this in my place. And yeah, you passed.", the figure said.
"Great... Then, how can I go back?", Hector rubbed his hands.
"You can figure that out yourself, Mr. Devil. I'm just gonna enjoy drinking the best ale from the Iron Mountain, the territory of the Iron Tiger, Hector Velfort.", the figure glugged a whole barrel of ale towards its large mouth.
Hector waved his left in disbelief and grunted. "Faceless bastard!", he mumbled.
"I heard that", a voice rang out from a corner.
Hector pondered for a moment, thinking about the things the the faceless bastard said, 'there must be some clues', he thought.
He was stuck in there with a drunkard that was ransacking the wine storage for an hour when Hector realized something and jolted up.
The faceless figure watched Hector took a deep breath while sitting cross legged. 'Finally... he gets it.'
Hector exhaled, feeling the gracia flowing all throughout his body, then summoned his beast soul out.
A tiger, eight feet long, roared behind Hector's back, glowing in a deep blue color due to its aura! The stripes on its body became more vivid, its eyes more fierce with a elegant but, wrathful temperament.
The whole hall shook by its roar, a laughing sound harmonizing with it. " Welcome to the club, Demon Tiger!! Hahahahahaa!"
That was the last thing Hector heard before never knowing what happened next. He then opened his eyes and saw Levi looking at him with a relieved face.
"You lived, old man.", Hector said with a smile.
"Good to have you back, Hector."
Levi patted him on the right shoulder while he snickers.
He tried to get up, but Hector can't find the strength to move and glanced at Levi with a confused face.
"Can't get up..? Yeah, me too.", Levi just smiled at him in embarassment.
The two stayed there until the sun came down that day.