Upon hearing the unfamiliar voices, Levi's eyes shot open. A sinister smile registered on his face because he was at the bottleneck of stage one of the first gate. The rate in which he could absorb Gi had expanded considerably.
It was also at night so he was at full power. He jumped from tree to tree following his unweclomed guests' voices, until he landed below the group that was invading his home.
His footsteps were so light that they couldn't be detected, it didn't help that the night wasn't quiet, there were winds that occasionally made the trees complain.
It sounded like the people below were arguing. He didn't want to risk being spot so he stayed hidden at the top and strained his eyes to look through the tree branches.
"Princess Valerie maybe we should go back, we've been in this forest for weeks and haven't found anything." The man's tone was tired and somber.
"General, don't make me come there and cut your head off. Are you directly commanding me?"
When Levi strained for a closer look, beautiful red hair were breezed in the air by the wind and he couldn't mistake that red hair for anything. Only it had been a year and a couple of months since their first and only meeting.
"It's her." He whispered excitedly. Unbelieving that she willingly walked into his home again, after being saved by her innocence. She was either extremely brave or extremely dumb or both.
[I'd urge master to calm himself down.]
"Why do they always have to have red hair?" It wasn't a secret that he had mommy issues, but for them to follow him to another world was nothing short of ridiculous.
Every woman he'd ever been obsessed with had red hair, just like his mother. It was a wonder how that detail managed to slip through his other personality, the feelings must've been that strong.
Levi couldn't hear Lilith's warnings or rather he didn't want to, his attention was undivided. He wondered what her blood tasted like this time, and did that burly man just call her a princess?
"I have to find that demon. I know it was a demon, That's all we've ever been taught at school in case they wormed their way back to Ancieru. I've fallen out of favour with father over this. Everybody thinks I've gone mad."
"Dragging us here, you have to admit too princess, it was reckless and lacked planning. This is a very dangerous forest, it's declared Sin territory for a reason." The general pushed back.
The men she commanded clearly didn't want to be there but they couldn't exactly refuse a Princess, even though it was this one.
She walked up closer to him and stood face to face, it was funny because she was a little shorter. The princess made hand movements and she was elevated from the ground, she really wanted to look the man in the eye.
"Look here General, I own you. You'll do as I say, we're hunting the demon and bringing it to father, your king, its head."
The general backed away and bitterly accepted his fate. There was nothing men like them could do against the throne, any acts of treason were punishable by something far worse than death.
"Sh-she's hunting me? How dare...who does she think she is! I saved her life!" He said through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna kill her!" He was seething with anger.
The rush quickly came to his head and the only thing he could think about was jumping in their midst and killing them all.
[Master, please. Your soul...]
For the first time, he listened. Levi didn't know how innocent the girl was, he didn't want himself immobilised. That was seemingly his only concern, his soul? He didn't care.
Though the fact that she threatened to cut someone's head off meant she was no longer the same little girl but he didn't want to risk it all the same.
"I'll observe, for now."
Lilith vowed that this would be her last warning to Levi. He clearly needed to experience the ripping of his soul for him to understand how serious the consequences were.
"I'm sorry Princess Valerie, we should make camp here for tonight." The man said almost begging because they'd been walking all day.
"Fine, we will sleep in shifts General." She offered.
"No need for the Princess to be on watch, we are here for that. Get your well deserved rest." The bitterness in his voice was very apparent.
Valerie nodded not exactly in the mood to get into it with them again.
The men took that as permission, they, in record time, erected two tents. One for the princess the other for all of them.
There were ten of them and since this was a dangerous forest with sins they decided to take turns by five. The first five would watch while the other five slept, they'd do that in six hour shifts.
They were very prepared because they didn't even go anywhere for wood, they took some from their bags and the general made a strange sign with his fingers—a snake that wasn't there before appeared from thin air.
Levi could sense nothing but Gi from it, it blew on the fire wood and the fire sprung to life. The moment that was done it vanished the same way it appeared.
"What the fuck?"
[Remember how people use different disciplines to interact with Gi? Well these are humans, they use their souls. They can physically manifest their souls, any manifestations that actually take shape of animals are called echoes.]
"I see, that's a very interesting power. What would happen if I was able to kill the manifested soul?" He asked thoughtfully.
[Master, these people are at least at the Mortal gate, going after them would be suicide. That girl too, don't take her for granted. Clearly your encounter has served as a punching bag, she worked hard over the last year.]
Levi understood the dangers but he couldn't get the taste of her blood out of his mind. The animalistic desire was overwhelming him. But he also didn't act rash like last time. He could more or less control himself—more or less.