Far away from the fight, in the plaza at the heart of the capital of Atezia, Dogma decided to project the battle between Sonata and the hordes of zombies for everyone to see using the stealth drone he had with him. Many people who had been desperate for a fight with the Revarents shrieked as they watched Sonata take on the massive zombies and Erfez alone.
"Bah! How strong is this guy?" Tales laughed hysterically. He had fought some Undead and knew very well how dangerous they were. A single zombie bite could be fatal.
The nobles watched the battle with envious eyes, including Kivric of the Parakos family. Although he had caused a lot of trouble, it was fortunate that his father was able to join Cerise in time. This allowed the Parakos family to retain their power, even if it was not the same as before.
"Sonata, bastard…" Kivrik clenched his fists so tightly that they almost bled. It hurt him to be in a compromised state while the headless people were honored like heroes.
It was not just the Parakos who tried to regain power. Many other large families, such as Arxelroth, Hallean, and Ohana, returned to Cerise at the end of the war. These clan members watched Sonata's movements with unease. They did not want to bring Atezia into another war, nor did they want to see any more productive people lose their heads.
The projected image showed that Erfez was completely defeated, retreating with the few remaining zombies. This was a picture that filled everyone with hope as they had previously believed that no one could deal with such a strange creature.
"He's won," Alkaiser revealed an unfathomable smile. "It's fortunate that I've been around for hundreds of years. I've seen good things like this."
"Be too fast to be happy. The general level is much stronger than this," Kivric argued. Even though he only said it out of envy, his words made sense. Erfez was just one of Dark Jester, the Dark Clown's perverted creations. This army also had many other terrifying creatures.
Whenever the Sonatas clashed with the Reverents, Dogma would connect to the signal and broadcast the image for everyone to witness. However, on one occasion, he decided to keep the encounter a secret and let Sonatas handle it himself.
Sonata met two men near the Holy City whom he had seen before but did not expect to encounter again. The first was the poor ex-prince Briden Atezia, and the other was Yaron. The old aide's condition had not improved.
"I've heard that you two asked to stay with the Reverents," Sonata said.
"It's because of you guys," Briden snapped. A few months ago, he was also a prince who had everything, but now he had nowhere to sleep well.
"We're here in Reverent for a chance to get revenge."
"Then why are you so shabby?" Genevieve asked softly, not wanting the two to overhear her gossip.
"Probably because the Revarents didn't value them at all. If they happen to see us now, they might be ordered to capture me and prove their worth," Sonata replied, speaking with a loud voice. Judging by their expressions, Sonata was confident that his guess was correct. They had been stalling until the very end.
"Even without orders, I'll kill you," Briden continued to shout angrily. "Because of you, my father died..."
"Please calm down," Yaron warned, but it had no effect.
"Oh, your father is already dead," Sonata laughed sympathetically. "Come on, you can't make a big deal out of it."
Briden rushed in first with his famous sword. While his skills as a warrior were not bad, they could not compare with those of the Three Holy Paladin. Sonata was able to defend himself with just his bare hands, and it was not long before Briden calmed down. He recognised by himself that this was not an opponent he could defeat in anger.
Yaron was different. He was no longer human. The old man revealed a pair of large white fangs with crimson claws. The pungent smell of death that Sonata detected indicated that Yaron had become some kind of Undead.
The old man was so agile that Genevieve could not keep up. He moved in the blink of an eye and appeared behind Sonata. The young man immediately dodged before the old man's claws could strike his head.
"Vampire! Too fast!" cried Genevieve. She tried to help, but Briden ran to block her.
"He gave up his humanity to kill that guy. You can't go in." Briden actually did not pay much attention to Genevieve. He continued to stare at Sonata as if he were about to drink his blood. Whenever Yaron could injure Sonata, Briden would immediately jump back in.
"Humans can't keep up with this speed." Yaron vanished here and there, then turned around and attacked again.
"Not that much." Although Sonata did not attack back at all, he was still able to fend off Yaron's attacks. There was not a single attack from Yaron that he could not see.
"You're going to get weak," Yaron laughed under his breath. "A vampire like me is a hundred times stronger than a normal human being."
Crackkk
Sonata grabbed Yaron's wrist with one arm and stabbed his other elbow into the joint. It immediately tore Yaron's arm in two. Even though he was a vampire, he cried out in pain.
"He's only a hundred times better than normal people. To me, he's just one in a thousand."
Yaron tried to take back the arm that held Sonata's hand. He put all his energy into speeding up, but as he approached the distance he needed to grab Sonata, the young commander stepped back. The faster Yaron moved, the more he realized that his opponent was far superior to him.
Neither Briden nor Genevieve had any idea what had happened. They had not noticed that Genevieve's knife had disappeared a moment ago, until it was suddenly lodged in Yaron's face. The old man's body was set ablaze by the sunlight created by the knife.
"Lord Yaron," Briden called out to him, but Yaron could not hear it. He let out a shrill scream before turning to ashes a second later.
"Unfortunately, if you're a vampire too, there's more work to be done." Finishing his sentence, Sonata stepped closer to Briden without hiding his killing intent. His eyes told the former prince that this man was more used to killing people than any villain he knew.
"Even if I die today, I expect your persecution forever," Briden said to Sonata.
"Is this your last will?" Sonata burst out laughing.
"Remember my face and name. This face will always haunt you."
"Remember the girl who sold flowers named Norma?"
Genevieve gasped in shock. Briden did not answer, but from the look on his face, Sonata could guess that he did not understand what he was going to say.
"She was a childhood friend of Genevieve and Vanay. Either way, she's considered a friend of a friend."
"What does that person have to do with this?" Briden asked uncertainly, and that was exactly what Genevieve was wondering. She did not even know when Vanay had told the story of Norma to Sonata.
"Years ago, she was kicked to death by an aristocratic horse…"
Briden still had a stunned look on his face. He assumed that he had heard something like that, but he could not remember the details, except that the child who died at that time was just a lower-class person with no relatives.
"Don't tell me that you're arguing with me, Atezia, just to get revenge on that kid."
"How could it be like that?" Sonata laughed. "What I'm going to say is that the story for you and Norma is the same. You will die here today, eventually being forgotten by everyone."
It was then that Briden experienced a fear he had never imagined. He believed with all his heart that the man in front of him was just a beast in human form. Fear made him close his eyes and slash his sword vaguely to keep the other party from coming close. But it had no effect. Sonata just used his bare hands to flick the sword until it slipped out of his hand.
The future man punched his fist at high speed. The outfit he was wearing was not only able to absorb kinetic energy, but it also increased his muscle power. A fist as hard as steel and heavier than a sledgehammer slapped across Briden's body. His thick armor was shattered like tile fragments, offering little protection at all.
In an instant, the white figure was covered in red blood. One bone after another was crushed to the point of being broken, ensuring that the other party would not be able to retaliate. Sonata grabbed Briden's face. He lifted his whole body off the ground and exerted a squeeze.
Even though he was in excruciating pain and had lost physical strength, Briden still tried to fight back. He attempted to pry the hand clamped around his head, but it was stronger than any human strength he had ever encountered. Briden felt as though his skull was about to cave in under the pressure. The unprecedented pain and fear were overwhelming, and his consciousness began to fade away.
"Are you going to let him survire?"Genevieve walked over to look at the unconscious body that Sonata had left behind. At first, she had thought that the guy she had a crush on would kill Briden, but he had only knocked him out.
"It's such a pain that he is hardly going to survive. That blood should have summoned the Undead. He's unlikely to survive, but it would be fun to see if he could survive. Ah, I want to see the faces of those who support this guy, how they would act if they found out that the former prince fled to live with the Undead."
The two left behind a body awaiting the death of the former crown prince. Then they prepared to head north on their original schedule.
Sonata made Genevieve promise not to interfere again for helping others, even him. Erfez had escaped. Plus, he was attacked by Briden and Yaron. Thinking about what happened, it was proof that they were being watched.
However, Sonata did not care that he should do as requested from Genevieve. He instead killed several crocodile zombies to rescue the pony-shaped Deval. He reasoned that undead beasts and Devals were dangerous, and reducing their numbers would make the journey safer.
After several days of trying, they finally arrived at their first destination and peeked from the top of a hill to survey the surrounding area.
"Are you kidding?" Sonata exclaimed as he looked at the condition of the Holy City from a distance. Even though he did not have Alto's special eyes, he could clearly see that the city was different from what he had expected.