Chasing chaos was the greatest sight towards those blue eyes of Miden. The sound of destruction was the pleasing melody to his ears; but he did not like that face.
The only reason he left the restaurant to run towards the blast was because he had sensed a strong demonic presence, that he thought had caused the blast. It was none of Miden's concern to investigate this but the had a feeling he had to. He loved a good fight.
Smoke rushed out of an inn in their sight. There seemed to be no fire but there were burn marks on the building. There were only a few seats in the inn and only a few were full. Four people stood near the counter.
"Eleven" said Miden, "I sense eleven people besides the one on the seats. That's the number of enemies. Besides those four there should be seven more enemies."
"Sense, you say?" asked Vortex.
"The Presence" replied Miden. "That is what I was taught. I can sense the presence of beings."
Vortex did not speak. It was a technique that was not known by much people. None the less it was a hard thing to master. Miden could do it flawlessly.
"Could you tell me who they are then?" asked Mavros.
"Those four are humans." replied Miden with a keen eye towards the enemies. "The rest are humans as well."
Then he seemed to think something out.
"Except" he continued, "there is an angel and a demon. They might be leading."
Mavros nodded. It was not the same with Miden. These presence that he sensed were strong: not the type of strong in a student way, but as a skilled mage. This was not how it was supposed to go for them.
The four men were armed with a variety of weapon. They did not belong to a common group, at least that's what it seemed like. It was hard to predict their technique. It was hard to predict any technique.
"What do we have?" said Vortex in annoyance. "Are they Bandits? Why now?"
"There seem to be semi-obvious questions to these questions you ask, Vortex." replied Mavros.
They were spying these bandits. Ariel stood with her eyes closed for some reason. Then there was a flash. One bandit was pushed behind the counter. It was Ariel.
The bandits panicked. They did not see Ariel coming and most of them did not even know that was a person who did this. Is this her technique. Anima?, Miden thought.
Then followed Mavros. They started to recruit hostages. Vortex stood along with Miden before they followed to the gate of the inn. Then there was an ache in Miden's heart. It was a presence.
"Vortex" said Miden, "Listen carefully."
He analysed the location for a while.
"There are seven more people left. All human, as I said before." he continued, "They are scattered around the area. This is but a mere distraction... No. This is an attack. They are guided by the demon. I can't sense the Angel anymore. Handle the situation. You all should be more than enough for them."
Before Vortex had a chance to say anything, Miden rushed out of the road. He followed a path that seemed to be solitary. It was leading to a small hill. It was a shilloute he followed.
The sun was slowly setting behind the cliff the figure finally stood on. His presence was strong, but it was no match to what presence he had sensed of the angle. He stood there at the peak as a phoenix about to descent, it was but pride. Miden hated bad pride.
"You followed" claimed he, "so he was right all along. How stupid of you."
Completing his statement he looked back at Miden and then smirkedwith an unpleasant face. His face was hidden by the obstructing lights of the evening sun behind him. It was something different with him.
"Miden Abyssheart." said the demon, "Is that your name?"
Miden nodded. His face showed no expression and it was calm. The demon observed his face carefully and then his face seemd to be annoyed.
"Oh, what pity!" said the demon slapping his face gentely. "Such an innocent face! That pair of blue eyes. I won't dare kill you but you rekon that this is a order. I will take you alive!"
At this Miden was surprise. What was this attack? Was this even an attack? Whom were the ordres from? Questions wandered through his brain trying to make up an answer at the same time. He did not panic. He said nothing for a while.
His scilence was not long. He had an realisation of some sorts. Then he started laughing. The demon did not realize this for some time.
"That's a prince! That face won't remain like such for long!" said he in an angry tone.
"Those are not words coming out of you. Those are mere decibels." Miden stopped laughing. "Doesn't matter now. I will just kill you."
The demon looked down on Miden. He was, again, an prideful type. A pathetic young kid, thought the demon. He had made a mistake for taking Miden as what he thought.
He jumped from the peak, falling on Miden as he charged his attack. With what seem to be great power, his it landed on Miden. He closed his eyes to protect them from the air and husk that flew in the way.
He landed safely behind Miden after the strike. He looked behind at Miden, who stood still in his original position. Miden looked back with a slight bruise on his palm.
"Are you done?" asked Miden in a menecing tone, then he looked at his palm. "You are not weak, I will give that. A destructive spell, huh?"
"I geuss it's my turn now." continued Miden after streching his arms and then smiling.
Flash. Miden punched the demon on his chest with a great force. He coughed after he crashed on a rock. What great impact, thought the demon. He realised his mistake. He was not underestimating Miden anymore.
Miden hopped a few times and then streched his arms. His hands again turn into a fist, ready for a strike. A flash again. Miden was gone.
The demon predicted where he would strike from again. He smiled having that information.
"Preservative Spell" chanted the demon. "Mana Shield"
A shield formed in the direction. It was not his strongest level of such Preservative Spell. But he predicted the strike would not be strong enough to break this as well.
Sure enough, Miden striked from the same direction that the demon predicted him to. What he did not get right that his attack would break trough the wall. The fist met his face and despite the shield dealt considerable damage. It had broke his nose.
What is he?, thought he looking at Miden with wide eyes. That was not magic or a spell. He striked with mere power. That was raw strength that just struck me. He broke that level of a spell with such ease.
"Huh?" Miden looked at his fist. "That was not your highest spell, was it? You are as arrogent as you speak." mocked Miden with a serious face.
Then again they clashed. Middn did not use any spell while the other demon did. Even tough this fact, Miden was still winning. With every blow, with raw power, he was still winning.
This is bad, thought the demon. He is worse than they thought of him to be. Damn it! I have to use it...
The demon got up after landing on the ground by his hit. His aura changed. Miden noticed that. He wiped off blood from the puch that landed on his face and then glared at Miden.
"I am not playing anymore." said he. He raised his arm in front of his face. He streched his shoulders and opened his palm.
"I have to use this. An-" his voice was interrupted by a slam. A tree crashed behind Miden, in the forest that was there. That drew Miden's attention. What was that? thought Miden.
"I have no questions for the likes of you." said Miden, "You are quite weak for a fight. So... I will just kill you."
The demon smirked with joy. His face looked as though ready to kill Miden. It was a wicked smile. The demon opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice.
"Then" came a voice from behind him. Miden looked back and then he felt air move towards the other direction, towards the demon. A presence, felt Miden. He looked back.
There stood the Angel he had scence the first time. It was a menecing aura, one that might start to choke an ordinary man.
"Answer this." the Angel continued, it's face hidden by an mask, an armour covering his body. "Would you be willing to take on an whole army of them?"
Miden was intrigued at this statement. He put his fist down that he had drawn to attack.
"What do you want?" asked Miden.
"We want doom to shower upon the unjust." he answered with athority in his voice. "It is not your fault that you are a part of this. Thus, we will not kill you; but you must agree to come with us for that to happen."
Miden laughed to himself. His eyes, the only visible part of his face shew an emotion of fury on the rest of his face. His presence got heavier.
"It is a no then." nodded the Angle, "I see... We must not spare you. It's just in your blood."
Miden opened his mouth to ask another question.
"For the next question you might ask next," he said. "We are 'The Knights'. One of 'Twilight'."
The Knights? Twilight?
"I will finish him off" shouted he to the Angel.
He got back to the same attacking position he had gone to before.
"No" replied the Angel. "We are done with the time we had. We must leave."
"Let me do this!" complained the Demon. "I will finish-"
The air got heavier. The demon did not speak Miden was feeling this as well. It got harder to breath. That's just the presence?, puzzled Miden.
"We are done here." he looked at the demon, and then again towards Miden. He smiled at him.
"Farewell, Prince."
Before Miden had time to react, they dissapered out of sight. It was unsure if that was magic. It was hard to tell that because of the speed of that.
The encounter left Miden puzzled. It was a big matter, but Miden's heart took it lightly. The sun had set halfway, only a littile light was in sight. He thought he sould get back.
"How strange?"
__________
Miden apprerdd out of the forst the had disappeared into. Vortex sighted him first. She raised her hand and waved to Miden.
"Miden! We have all of them. All eleven captured. Come and have a look." She pointed at the bandits. "They are ordinary bandits."
There were the guards along with them as well. Of a lower rank, of course. It was no major attack. No harm was caused and only a minor damage had been done, which was paid by Vortex. She paid the money, for some reason.
They had apologised to Miden for what had happened, as he was the prince there. It had been an brought up problem in the counsel. Zen did not have enough guards and security and thus it was to be improved. They conversed for a while and then they bade farewell.
"Did you find something?" asked Ariel.
"Nothing" came the reply, "Nothing at all?"
They did not question furthur.