Chapter 13
Blood and bits of flesh were scattered everywhere in the wake of a golden-haired boy. The ground was soaked in a pool of blood and dangling corpses were spread on it.
Max felt nauseous when he saw the scene. Even though he convinced himself that these people deserved it, he couldn't help but feel pity for them for how they had died.
The cruelty of the boy was inhumane. There was no mercy anywhere. Those who were lucky enough to survive his rain of Magic bullets were in fact the unlucky ones. Because what awaited them was nothing but pain and awful beheading.
However, that was not what scared Max. What scared him was the expression of the boy. It was serene. Like a sunset which was calming and a warm breeze that was soothing to the skin.
He wouldn't even flinch when a life was snuffed by his hand. 'What is this?' Max thought. Was this the world of the strong? Was this his future?
More bandits were emerging from the tents while carrying weapons, but they all died before they could even do something.
The onslaught of the Magic bullets ended at some time. Max suspected that he had run out of mana. But the truth was otherwise, it was the bandits that had run out. Max saw some bandits escaping from the back of the camp. He was about to follow them but saw that his master was not going after them.
He searched tent after tent before he found the held captives. "Come here, Max," Adrian called Max over. Max went to the tent and saw seven terrified women in binds. Out of those seven, five were young girls not older than Adrian while the other two were older women.
"Take them back to the town. Explain to them what's happening." Adrian said before he went to a horse and jumped on it. Max, who understood what his master was about to do, tried to say something but Adrian was already gone by the time the first word had left his mouth.
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"How long before we reach the capital?" A female voice came from inside the carriage, inquiring about their remaining travel.
"It will still take about nine days, Your Highness." A man sitting on a horse outside replied. He was adorned in a black and blue armor. There was a symbol of a raven on it. His robe was blue in color and there was also a raven drawn on it in black.
"I see." The female voice replied before she went quiet. The envoy had been traveling for about a month now. They were traveling to the capital of the Cortum empire to attend the birthday of the head elder of the Cortum empire.
Although the head elder wasn't the emperor, they didn't need to attend but the empire's nobles and the royals of the surrounding kingdoms attended his birthday as if attending the emperor's because everyone knew that the Cortum empire in reality had five emperors.
The emperor himself, his wife who is now deceased, his brother the head elder, the first elder, and the leader of the Silver Sun Knights. All divine grade existences. The envoy of the Ravenknight kingdom was heading to the empire for the very same reason.
There were only five total divine grade existences and four of them belonged to the Cortum empire. The Cortum empire was the unnamed ruler of this world, and everyone knew that. Even the demon empire knew that.
Rustle, Rustle.
The head knight, Stewart felt the bushes nearby rustling and he felt the presence of several figures heading towards them. He wasn't alarmed though. The people heading their way weren't a threat to them, they were running away from something or someone.
Soon several figures emerged from the trees onto the pathway. They stopped when they saw people in front of them. The man in the lead, a man with a gruff beard and a giant body, was about to say something when the head of the man standing next to him exploded.
Even Stewart became cautious when he saw this. Soon heads started exploding until there was only the giant man left.
"You monster. Why are you doing this?" He asked loudly facing the forest behind him.
The envoy and the female figure inside saw the events unfold in front of their eyes. For the knights, it wasn't much of an extreme scene but for the servants, the scene was very overwhelming.
"Why are you doing this?" The bandit shouted again. "What did we ever do to you?" He was scared. Scared out of his wits and wanted to run away but his legs wouldn't move. It wasn't because there were more people behind him, it was because of this feeling. This strange feeling that was deep inside of him. That very same feeling was what made him ask those questions.
He was already dead. He knew it. So, he had to ask those questions before he died.
A figure emerged from the shadows of the trees. A handsome boy with golden hair and golden eyes. He was covered in blood and from the looks of it, wasn't any older than sixteen. Yet the calm expression on his face despite his state, even bewildered the knight's captain slightly.
"Nothing." Came a calm and serene answer. Before anyone could process that answer, a few magic bullets which the knight captain recognized as the weakest magic skill out there in the world, rained down on the bandit in precise spots of his joints.
The bandit leader screamed. Anyone could tell that the boy could have ended his life if he had focused the attack at vital points. He was just torturing the bandit.
He walked slowly with soft steps. His steps were silent and if the boy wasn't in sight of Stewart, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to sense him. That was the second thing bothering him. Since the beginning of this event, he knew that the bandits were running from something, but he couldn't sense from who. He had expected it to be someone of high rank since he couldn't feel it but from the looks of it, the boy wasn't someone very strong.
Then how come he couldn't sense him? How come the boy was right in front of him yet wasn't there at all?
The boy reached the groaning bandit. He knelt down, pressed his hand on the back of the bandit's head, and applied pressure. At first, it was nothing but as the pressure began to build up, crackling sounds came from the bandit's skull.
He was crushing the bandit's head slowly and painfully. The bandit screamed at first. He screamed a lot. He tried to flail his limbs but because his joints were damaged, he couldn't even put up a proper struggle.
He could only scream and even that was muffled by the ground beneath him to a great degree. Eventually, the screaming began to lessen, and not long after there was no more sound coming from the bandit. His limbs weren't moving. He was dead.
And yet, the boy didn't stop. He kept on applying pressure until it got to the point that the head beneath him was crushed. His hand went through the bones and every matter inside the now-dead bandit's head and crushed everything.
It was a disturbing scene for many. Even some experienced knights in the envoy flinched at the cruelty of the boy. Stewart was shaken for a moment because of the boy's action. The servants could only close their eyes. Some were vomiting on the spot.
The boy stood up and saw the people of the envoy staring at him. For a while, he didn't say anything before he stuck up a pose and asked, "What? Never seen someone so handsome before?"
There was no arrogance on the boy's face. To him, it was a fact that he was handsome. Yet with him covered like that in blood and with what he had done to the bandit, his looks were the last things in the minds of the people of the envoy.
Stewart unsheathed his sword out of pure precaution. He had no intention of engaging in combat with the boy, but the boy wasn't exactly giving the impression of sanity. That's why, out of pure precaution.
The boy smiled and about fifty magic bullets appeared around him, staying still in place around him. "What? You got a problem?" The boy asked with a beautiful smile.
Stewart was about to reply when he heard the door of the carriage open and the female figure sitting inside it emerged. It was a girl whose face was covered in a blue veil. Her eyes were also blue whereas her hair color was pitch black.
One didn't need to look underneath her veil to figure out that the girl was beautiful. Yet the boy's expression didn't change in the slightest at her appearance as if it didn't matter.
"I apologize if good sir didn't like my subordinate's actions." She spoke in a melodious voice. The boy's smile widened as he said, "Whatever you say, beautiful."
"How dare y--" Stewart was about to burst when the girl raised her hand, and he stopped mid-sentence.
"I am flattered." She replied to the golden-haired boy. The boy and girl stared deep into each other's eyes for some time and from the looks of it, they weren't going to stop anytime soon. They were interrupted by another voice coming from inside the forest.
"Your Highness! Are you alright?" A black-haired young man emerged from the trees. Stewart was about to be mistaken at the mention of Your Highness since he didn't recognize the young man. That meant that the golden-haired boy was also royalty.
The black-haired boy stopped as he saw the envoy in front of him. He saw the insignia of the raven surrounded by a thunderbolt on the carriage while the knights only had the insignia of a raven.
"Your Highness, are you alright?" The new addition asked the golden-haired boy. The golden-haired boy didn't reply but kept looking into the eyes of the girl. The newcomer also turned his attention to the envoy and recognized the girl in the veil. His eyes went wide as he knew who she was. He hadn't seen her but had heard rumors of the veiled beauty.
But he was quick to collect himself. All matters aside, they were currently in the presence of a higher royalty. An imperial prince. It was by custom that they kneel, yet they weren't kneeling.
"Don't you know in whose presence you are!?" The black-haired young man exclaimed angrily. The people of the envoy were confused at what the young man was talking about. The young man was about to explain when the golden-haired boy said, "Enough."
He then turned around and started walking away. The young man wasn't so keen on walking away like that so he said, "But Your Highness, they haven't knelt in y----" But before he could complete his sentence, the golden-haired boy grabbed him from the back of his collar and yanked, pulling him by his collar, dragging him along.
The envoy was confused as to what had happened. All but the girl. She knew who the boy was. She had seen him before. But who she saw today wasn't the boy she had seen before. Who she saw today was someone else.
'So, the rumors of him having lost his memories were true?' She thought. 'But how could he have changed this much?' She mused while getting back into the carriage. They still had a long journey to cover. Besides, she was sure that all her questions would be answered at the banquet of the head elder's birthday.
The caravan resumed its journey. The servants walked past the corpses of the bandits. Some felt sick while some acted on that sickness. Yet the envoy still walked past those corpses and those corpses were left on the ground like that to be preyed on by animals.