After this eventful night the whole village was surrounded by crimson butterflies, they all sucked the blood of the fallen
Crimson butterflies are the most tragic creatures in the world, they can see the bad things but can't stop them, they can warn people but all they do is attract people and animals closer to danger, they want to spread life but they fed on death, they can't be surprised or caught, and the only way for them to die is suicide
Why does god create such creatures? So beautiful yet so scary, everyone asked but none could reply
This kind of thought ran into Rex's mind as he kept running away from Yuta, the village he grew up in, but where was he heading? He had nowhere to go, none to talk to
That was the case until he saw a carriage approach him
"I must be dizzy from driving but is this a child?"
Uncle Jem wondered as he was approaching Rex
"There is indeed a boy walking towards us, but why is he covered in blood?"
Tokkou wondered as he poked his head out of the carriage, it wasn't long until they got closer to the boy that Jem noticed that the boy was Rex
"What happened to you boy?"
Jem asked panickily, as he inspected the blood on him
'This blood is... dry'
Jem thought as he saw the boy
"Who did this to you? Didn't you manage to win?"
Jem asked confused, but the boy didn't say a word, he was too tired to say anything, and his legs could barely keep him standing
"Come on now boy, we can't help you if you don't help us!"
Tokkou said, he tried to play it cool but he too was worried about the boy's answer
"T-t-they a-are all d-dead..."
The boy said before passing out, the boy was about to die out of exhaustion, thankfully Jem had water with him so he quickly gave it to him to drink
What the boy said made Tokkou's stomach tighten up, Tokkou then used his telekinesis power to lift up the carriage and everyone else
"What are you doing sir?"
Jem asked, Tokkou didn't respond, he simply started flying towards the village and brought everyone with him
It didn't take him long to reach the entrance of the village, but he couldn't see anything, only destroyed buildings so he flew down to check everything on his own, he landed right out of the exit of the forest, at this place he couldn't see anything
"I will check everything up, you take care of the kid"
Tokkou said before leaving, Jem cleaned Rex and placed his coat on him, it was a cold morning so he didn't want him to get cold after all this running did, after treating him he made his way through the destroyed village only to find Tokkou stand still watching something that wasn't visible in his eyes, but when he got closer he noticed what made the grand Jack stop
A pile of bodies with their faces torn off were lying there, all of the bodies made a smiley face, which could only mean one thing, Joker did this
As soon as Jem saw the bodies he fell to the ground, he was speechless, but Tokkou on the other hand was FURIOUS, the ground around him was trembling, and the pressure of the mana was heavy, Jem couldn't breathe because of how tense the air had become from the wrath of Tokkou
"Once I find this bastard, I will tear him apart!"
Tokkou said, the person he was referring to was the Joker
'Teras was the only thing in this world that made me feel empty-headed, like I didn't have to worry about anything else, he made me feel like my little brother was still here, he was my getaway from this rotten world but now even this was taken from me'
Tokkou thought as he gripped his hands, he applied so much force that his fingers pierced his skin
After a long gasp, Tokkou told to Jem
"I feel sorry about what happened to your comrades and I'm sorry I wasn't any use to you"
Jem looked at Tokkou with hatred in his eyes
"It's your fault! If you royals didn't ignore our calls for help then everything would have been alright!"
Jem said as he started punching Tokkou's chest, Tokkou didn't react, he simply smiled
"You are right, it is our fault so go on, release all of your anger on me"
Tokkou said as he spread his arms, after Jem saw Tokkou's sad smile he couldn't bring himself to be angry, he simply fell on his knees as tears ran down his face
"Things weren't supposed to be like this... Rex shouldn't grow up without his father, he was the only thing that inspired him but without him, he will not know what to do, plus the others, John the smith, Rea the baker, and his friends, all of them were very important to him, he will not be able to live happily without them..."
Jem said as he broke down, Tokkou sat down and talked to him face to face
"There is where you come in, you are the only person left that knowns this boy so it is your duty to raise him, and trust me, from the look he had in his eyes I can tell you that he won't break as easily as you think, at the start, you may think that it is impossible but after the years pass you will realize how easy it was, just being there is enough to make him grow into a fine man, so be the pillar in his life and guide him to success, after all, you are the only one that can do it"
Tokkou told him as he offered him one of his expensive cigarettes, the man received a light from Tokkou and started smoking the cigarette while crying, Tokkou then got up and started flying
"Things are up to you so do whatever you can"
Tokkou said, and without a word, Tokkou threw ten gold coins in a sack at him and quickly flew away, he had a more important matter to attend to
~Meanwhile on the road to the capital of the Heart Kingdom~
"Hey, guys look at this fruit! It has a weird blue color, what do you think it will taste like?"
Cara asked as she showed them the fruit
'This is the same fruit I ate when I woke up, I really want to see her reaction after eating it'
Teras thought as he watched Cara eat it, surprisingly she liked it
"You guys have to try it!"
She said as she offered it to the others, Lia and Har took a bite and they seemed to enjoy it too
"Try it Teras! I swear it is good!"
Cara said as she offered it to him, Teras took a small bite but instantly spat it out
"How can you eat this? I only ate this once when I didn't have anything to eat and I have to say that now it is way worse!"
Teras said as he quickly drank water
"Are you serious now friend? This fruit is very sweet, how can you not like it?"
Har asked as he took another bite of the fruit
'Sweet? I have heard this word before but I thought it was only used as a compliment to people'
Teras thought, after Teras woke up he had never eaten something that had a sweet taste so the taste of a sweet fruit was very weird for him
The group then continued to walk through this quiet and beautiful forest
"Isn't this weird?"
Teras asked
"What do you mean?"
Lia asked
"There are no animals in sight, no birds, no wolfs, no bears, not even mana beasts, it feels like we are all alone here in this forest, I don't why but it creeps me out"
Teras said as looked around, this reminded Teras of the first time he was in a forest but this time he felt even more in danger, but even after using his mana vision he couldn't see anything that was a threat
Teras couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness
"Don't scare us like that! We are about 5 hours away from the capital so we are probably going to find a village or a cave to spend our time in while we are leaving"
Cara said as she walked further away, but it was not like she was walking faster, Teras simply stopped moving
'It's hard to breathe, what the hell is going on?'
Teras thought as he fell on the ground trying to breathe, suddenly his vision went black, he could see the shadowy figure looking at him with a smile on its face
"What's the matter, kid? Are you feeling tense?"
The figure asked as it giggled
"Did you do this?"
Teras asked the figure but he received silence for an answer
"Is something bad about to happen?"
Teras asked as he struggled to get up, the figure started manically laughing as it pointed at Teras with one of its fingers, the figure kept on laughing with no signs of stopping, Teras felt afraid so as a defense mechanism he punched the figure, this action made him wake up
He was surrounded by his friends
"What happened Teras? I was so worried about you?"
Cara said as she hugged him
"I don't know, I was just walking, and then suddenly my vision disappeared, and now I find myself here"
Teras said as he slowly got up, it looked like everyone moved even though Teras was unconscious but they stopped at a big tree, this area where they rested was surrounded by many tall and thick tress that covered the sky, but even after moving places Teras didn't stop feeling in danger, and in fact, he felt even more in danger
"We have to hurry!"
He said as he started walking away, everyone followed confused
"Are you hiding something from us Teras?"
Lia asked without applying anything
'Have I ever told them about my visions?'
Teras wondered after he was asked this question
"It's alright Teras, if you are scared of the forest then you could notify us beforehand"
Har jokingly said, Teras smiled but it hasn't a smile of happiness, it was a smile of discomfort, after unconsciously walking Teras saw someone standing across them, everything felt scary but the man and the place around him felt peaceful
"There is someone there!"
Lia said as she stopped, when the person noticed them he waved his hand at them
"You there! Are you adventurers?"
Turns out the person was a man, and everyone quickly got closer to him
"Hey what's wrong? Did something happen?"
Cara asked as she approached the man
"Nothing is wrong! I just happen to need some help crossing this dangerous forest, you see many mana beasts roam around this place so I figured it will be dangerous"
'He is LYING, his aura is so tense that I can see it without mana vision, it surrounds him like the reeking smell of blood, why can't the others see it though?'
Teras thought as he saw the others approach him
"Are you sure? This far we haven't seen anything around"
Lia said as she looked around this twisted forest
"Really? That's strange, if they hide around like that it usually means they are aiming to attack in hoards, we have to move fast"
The man said with a surprised look on his face, everyone started walking fast and the man was tagging them from behind, Teras stood silently behind the man and closely inspected his moves, and then was where Teras's suspicions turned out correct, the man pulled a knife out of his coat and attempted to attack everyone from behind but before he could do that Teras, charged his sword with mana and with a powerful strike he struck the man's ribs
'It didn't cut him!'
Teras thought as he saw the man get launched away, it was Teras's first time seeing someone resist an attack by his mana-enhanced blade
Everyone was surprised to see the man getting launched away
"Why did you do that Teras?"
Cara asked confused, Teras simply smiled
"This man is dangerous, so when I tell you to leave you will run as fast as you can, am I clear?"
Teras told them in a serious tone
"What got into you? This man is simply lost, I didn't sense any danger or saw anything wrong when I used my mana vision"
Har said angrily, suddenly a sphere-like bullet made of air was directed at them, Teras quickly got in front of everyone and used his mana-charged sword to slash the attack in half
After he did that the sliced-in-half now attack went out of its way to destroy every tree and rock behind them
Everyone froze when they saw the impact this attack caused on the environment
Then out of nowhere, the man in a matter of seconds ran up to Teras, He then grabbed Teras's head and slammed him to the ground multiple times, Har tried to stop the man by using rocky spikes but the man easily destroyed them and then changed his focus to Har, he hit him with his knee and then kicked Har away
"You are very slow boys!"
The man said with a smile on his face, Teras used mana overflow and tried to attack the man again but the man easily dodged Teras's attack and easily counterattacked using the back of his hand, launching Teras on the trunk of a huge tree
Cara and Lia tried to attack the man too but they failed, the man was too fast for them, both of the girls were lying on the ground, the pain of the man's attack made their bodies go numb for a little, when Teras saw that he got mad
'I will put all of my mana in this attack'
He thought as he launched himself with his mana overflow, Teras then stuck the man in the head launching him meters away, the man's body only stopped because it crushed on a tree's trunk, but the attack didn't come without a cost, Teras's palm was completely broken and his hand was seriously cracked
'Did I actually get him?'
Teras thought as he saw the man stuck on the trunk, Lia helped Har stand up and Cara tried to heal everyone
"We have to run this man is dang..."
Before Teras could finish his sentence the man swiftly appeared in front of him
"Fall on your knees trash"
The man said, instinctively Teras kneeled down, and with his hands, he also forced Cara and Lia who were holding Har to fall, suddenly a massive line-shaped air attack was launched on the top of their heads, the attack slashed every tree behind them, no matter how thick, thin, small, or big they were, everything was cut down by this one attack, but thankfully everyone dodged it
"That's right! Praise the god of the new world! The Joker!"
The man said with a diabolic smile on his face...