'That was really tough. I'm quite exhausted' Thought Ray as he took deep breaths while walking. As much as his mana is vast, he did overuse it especially when he made his blood doppelganger. It was his first time and honestly, he didn't even know he will succeed but luck was his ally this time and he's grateful for it. Had it been not the case, Ray doesn't even want to imagine what could've happened.
'I need to get even stronger. This is not enough.' He resolved himself. This was nothing but the beginning and he was not satisfied enough.
It took him a few minutes of walking to reach Flora, he could've run and cut down the time wasted but he didn't want to exhaust himself even further.
He found Flora still sitting under the tree, the light of the moon illuminated her beautiful face and made her silver long hair sparkle like stars in the distant sky. Ray could only stop for a few seconds to appreciate how beautiful she was.
Her eyes shifted from looking at the full moon and gazed at Ray with a sweet smile that could only melt his heart even further.
"You took your sweet time, didn't you?" She joked with a small giggle.
"I was quite exhausted so it took me some time to come back. Are you ok now? You really worried me." He answered with a worried look. He was kinda guilty because Flora had to fight that and monster and risk her life so she could buy him a few minutes.
"It's nothing. Some scratch here and there. I'm quite durable you know." She flexed her beautiful white arms with a mischievous grin on her face.
Ray could only laugh while holding his stomach "Hahaha I know, I know. That's why I fell in love with you after all." He said carelessly. When he understood what he just said his cheeks turned red from embarrassment.
But Flora just instantly turned very red and just hid her face in her clothes "Hey! don't say that so suddenly, geez." She pouted a while looking at him.
Ray just coughed awkwardly and then tried to change the topic "Cough cough, Anyway. What was that monster? I've never seen something like that before."
"It was very strong, agile and quite clever too," Flora added as she fell in deep thought.
"I think it has something to do with what I've heard in the church. Kidnapping people, also the holy kingdom thing. Maybe it's the result of some kind of ritual. The most probable culprits are some cult with twisted believes." Ray gave his deductions from what happened. He wasn't sure but at this point, there was nothing else that could think of. Other people will say it was just a monster who wandered to this town. But that was impossible, and the reason for that is Ray didn't feel its existence near the town. It just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. That left them with one possibility. Someone summoned that thing in the middle of the village. The reason? No one knows.
"That could be possible. Do you want to get to the bottom of this? I think we can't ignore it anymore, can we?" Asked Flora as she gazed deeply into Ray's eyes.
"Mm. You're probably right. But where should we search." Ray muttered while scratching the back of his head.
As they were conversing, they heard a sound coming from the other part of the village. In normal circumstances, they won't be able to hear such a noise from far away, but the silence that enveloped the place made it possible.
"You hear that?" Asked Ray to which Flora nodded with a serious face. It was the sound of someone calling for help along with cries of pain.
They both assumed this person was a survivor. He may also have some information on how that chimera appeared.
So they both went to search for him. As they were passing a part of the destroyed place, the horrible smell of death and despair assaulted their noses.
Because of this, Flora had a small frown on her face that she couldn't hide "What a pity. They didn't deserve to die such a horrible death." She muttered as her eyes wandered between the tens and tens of dead people. They probably had families, people they care about. They also had dreams, hopes and memories they cherish dearly... but all of that was simply thrown to oblivion, forgotten in the pages of history just like that. Such a thing was really what makes this world very cruel.
"We couldn't do anything. But if there was a place where they could go after death. I hope they find happiness there." Replied Ray with an incomprehensible look.
He did also feel bad for these villagers, but that's it. He couldn't even bother to blame himself for what happened. He was quite surprised with how he thought. Was he changing? Is he becoming more and more inhuman? These questions were useless without an answer. So he could only sigh quietly.
'If my loved ones were safe. That's all I care about.' He reckoned as he checked Flora beside him.
Eventually, they found the place where the cries of help came from.
The building was totally destroyed but Ray knew the place instantly. It was the church he went to before. 'Don't tell me.' And his assumptions were right on point.
He found the priest he met before stuck under one of the fallen pillars of the church. His legs were crushed and he was losing blood by the minute. If he was left untreated he would die in no time.
So Ray hurriedly lifted the pillar, his body was quite sturdy coupled with body enhancement and he could lift things ten times his weight easily.
" Flora, give me one of the potions. I will stop the bleeding, it will hurt quite a bit so bear with me." Ray instructed his lover and bent down to check on the priest.
He was barely conscious so he didn't recognize Ray. The young man put his hand on the biggest injury that was on his head and quickly stopped the bleeding. It was a piece of cake with his blood manipulation.
Flora was occupied with searching for the potions so she didn't see what he did.
After drinking the potion the priest finally fully woke up.
"T-thank *cough* *cough*." He couldn't talk properly.
"It's ok don't speak yet. Your body is healing."
After a few minutes he finally could speak and this time Ray was the first to talk "Your name is Iblis, right? so could you tell me, did you see anything just before the monster appeared?"
"I don't understand."
"I mean, did you see any suspicious people nearby or some kind of spell being cast?"
Iblis scratched his hairless face trying to remember but he then gave up and said "No, I can't really remember anything. My memory is fuzzy. I apologise" He said with an apologetic tone.
"Hmm. Fine. It can't be helped then." Said Ray and then stood up but then his eyes changed and he pulled his sword.
He then pointed the tip of his sword at Iblis with an extremely cold face "Who are you....really?"