A few kilometers away from where the fight between Damian and The Seven Sages of Destruction was unfolding, two children were running with all their might along the path they had been told to follow.
"We need to hurry, Liam. Those demons might catch up to us." A boy named Luca ran through some bushes while holding hands with his best friend, Lucian.
The surroundings were dark, so they couldn't run very fast without stumbling a few times, but their will to live and the desire to escape the demons were too strong for them to stop.
They knew that Harden's castle was nearby, which is why they were running as if nothing else mattered in this world. "We have to be careful of the monsters; they could eat us before we reach a safe place."
"No place is safe, so we can keep running without making much noise."
Crack!
But at that moment, a figure in the darkness suddenly appeared, and upon seeing these two children, who were easy prey, the creature hiding in the darkness came running, baring its fangs.
Liam stood in front of Lucian; he wanted to stop that monster, which was about to attack them, and made no sound, simply waiting for his death.
Boom!
But at that moment, the cry of an animal was heard, and when Liam opened his eyes, he saw a tall man with pointed ears. This man, who seemed to be a priest, looked at the monster that had fallen far away and then turned around to see the two terrified children.
"You must have been through a lot, but now you're safe." The priest bent down slightly, and with a wave of his hands, the children's wounds were completely healed.
"Who are you?" Lucian couldn't trust just anyone because they could be a demon, but when he saw the pointed ears of the man instead of horns, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am Priest Kraft. Are there more people escaping from the demons?" Kraft had come to this place to make sure no more innocent people would be affected by the demons in this battle.
Liam's eyes lit up as he remembered something and shouted, "Priest, you must save the mage who helped us."
"A mage?" Kraft could sense great waves of mana in the distance and giant explosions coming from afar, so maybe the battle was still ongoing. "Yes, he is fighting against many powerful demons... He's not very big and looks a lot like an older brother I had before he was killed by demons. I don't think he should be more than twenty years old."
Kraft was about to ask what kind of demons they had seen, but at that moment, everything around them fell silent, and a powerful lightning explosion hit the ground where they stood.
"Everyone, take cover!" Kraft took out a Grimoire and muttered some mysterious words; a circle formed around him, covering him and the children around him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The waves that were stirred up swept over everything; trees disappeared, and this fertile land turned into a hell in just a few minutes after those enormous lightning bolts struck the ground.
"What incredible magical power..." Kraft's eyes showed incredible emotion, knowing that this magic could well have reached a holy level.
But there was no time to rejoice; he had to focus on keeping this shield active and regenerating long enough for everyone to emerge unscathed from this devastating attack.
The lightning split the sky, dancing among the clouds before falling furiously to the ground, creating huge craters that burned due to the high temperatures of the lightning.
After a few seconds, things began to calm down. Kraft looked around at the surroundings, which were filled with darkness, but he did not remove his barrier for fear that there might still be more attacks that could affect them.
When he knew that everything was fine, Kraft leaned towards the group of children and said, "Listen carefully; you must run in that direction after I remove this shield; both of you must hold hands and never look back."
"Will you be okay?" Lucian didn't know how strong this man was, but what he had just done was truly something only a priest could survive on their own.
Kraft smiled kindly and said reassuringly, "Run; the Goddess will protect you on the way, so do not fear."
By the time he said these words, Kraft turned towards where there were still large traces of mana and furrowed his brows. "I hope it doesn't lead to such a complicated place to handle..."
...
"I need to see the results." Damian stood up after unleashing that powerful spell that ended up taking a third of his mana, which was a terrifying amount.
Looking around, he noticed the corpses of many demons but couldn't find Schlacht, who had at one point vanished underground. "To think that you will master your best spells, you are truly a terrifying being."
Damian furrowed his brows, raised the edge of his sword towards Schlacht, and, seeing other demons appearing in the air, he knew things wouldn't be as simple as he had hoped.
But he didn't lose heart; suppressing the pain in his body, Damian spent more mana to heal his Divine General and, regardless of anything else, threw himself into battle. "If you come to kill me, wait for me to kill you too!"
Boom!
The sky filled with an orange fire, and in an instant, hundreds of fireballs headed towards Damian, who had launched himself forward.