Darwin said earlier that they should focus on the suspected ones first.
A crowd of people pointing in one direction is most of the time, pointing in the right direction.
If someone was suspected by a lot of people, it boosted the likelihood they were a proselyte, Lucivar understood this, so he decided to investigate. As he approached the commotion, the situation became clearer.
As he deduced earlier, he could discern a gathering of ten people, all of them men.
He could hear their voices raised in an intense mix of anger and accusation.
"Stop lying you rotten bitch, I saw you last night going around that area. It's you, isn't it?!"
"Now there are three people who said they saw you, don't even try to deny it!"
"No, please... I- I was"
"It's no use, we're going to burn you and close down the portal you wench!"
Lucivar observed from the side and saw a frail woman with light brown hair, neatly braided, now disheveled from her struggles at the center of the encirclement. Tears streamed down her pale cheeks as she attempted to flee.
But each desperate effort was met with a cruel shove, sending her stumbling back.
Her sobs were audible even over the men's harsh shouts.
She tried once more to break through, her movements frantic and fueled by fear, but the men were unyielding, as they played with the ropes, to tie her up. With a violent push—the woman was thrown to the ground, her frail form crumpling upon impact.
"Fine, if you want to make us trust you, strip!"
"Yeah, that's right, strip! Show us that you're not corrupted then we'll let you go"
Upon seeing this, Lucivar's heart pounded in his chest as his male instinct came into play.
He clenched his fists and made his way through the encirclement roughly.
Some of the people were surprised, and angry, by Lucivar pushing them to the side—and the one at the very front pointed at him, veins bulging on his neck, "Who the fuck are you, boy?! I suggest you get away from her if you want to live!"
Not even minding the man, Lucivar stood tall with the woman behind him.
Being shadowed, the woman slowly looked up and saw Lucivar was protecting her.
Despite not knowing who she was, he came to defend her, and it surprised her.
"Acting a hero will not make you look cool, boy, get out of the way!"
"She's struggling for bread for years so her mental state is a wreck, the Crossers got to her"
"Don't defend her, she's the proselyte!"
Lucivar gritted his teeth when he heard this, the fact that these people pointed at the woman because she was struggling made him angry. Even though mentally weak people, were prone to be influenced, there needs to be solid proof.
In retaliation, his eyes shimmer with a golden light as he sweeps his gaze to the crowd.
Glowing eyes were the telltale sign of a Hybrid.
And as a result, the crowd backed away in fright realizing that Lucivar was a Hybrid.
"I'm a Hybrid, I'll take control of the situation. All of you should run. My friends, all Hybrids are dealing with the portal, right now" Lucivar said with a cold tone—making eye contact, with all the men present one by one.
Not expecting this to become like this, the people stepped back before making a run for it.
Only when they all were gone did Lucivar deactivate his power.
Glancing over to the woman, who was still sobbing, he could only sigh inwardly, 'They were not wrong, this woman could be one of the proselytes. But I've been helping others in need all my life, I can't let it be if there's even a small chance she might be innocent'
Lucivar had promised himself to try and be a little more self-centered.
He doesn't want to be selfless and be stepped on again.
But his habits were not easy to break—especially when the woman's situation was much like his back in the city. A struggling individual who wanted to be sacrificed for the greater good of the people.
Kneeling down, Lucivar checked on the woman, "Are you okay...? You're safe now"
"I- I'm okay," She replied, wiping her tears even though they were replaced almost instantly.
Bowing deeply until her forehead touched the ground, she added, "Thank you, great sir"
"No need to thank me," Lucivar replied, giving her a light smile.
Just then—Lucivar snapped his neck to look over his shoulder, when a piercing scream could be heard echoing from the portal's direction. His eyes widened when he saw monstrous dog-like creatures pouring out of the portal.
Unlike normal dogs, these ones have muscular bodies, rippling with unnatural strength.
In addition, they also have long and sharp fangs glinting menacingly.
All of them attacked anything that moved, creating even more chaos and panic.
Realizing the immediate danger—Lucivar quickly grabbed the woman's wrist, "Come on!" He urged, pulling her along, as he began to run. 'I need to bring her somewhere safe, I could not possibly fight with her around!'
Seeing that the woman had recovered, he stopped and turned, "Go on without me!"
However, as he said that, his eyes picked up a movement in his periphery.
Glancing over to the side, he saw one of the creatures land on the roof of a nearby house in a rough manner, its gleaming eyes darted left and right. Eventually, its eyes locked onto his, before it growled and bared its fangs.
Lucivar could see a predatory intelligence in its gaze.
He knew that it had singled him out as its target.
Even though he had seen numerous portals in his lifetime and the monsters that came out of them, he had never fought them directly. Lucivar only watches from afar, as the Hybrids take care of them.
But now that he was about to fight, he couldn't help but sweat.
It was true that Tobias also trained him to fight, but he had only been training recently.
Fighting for real was entirely different than training.
Roar!
Not even waiting for him to be prepared, the fierce beast leaped from the rooftop in the next heartbeat, claws extended, and fangs bared. Acting instinctually, Lucivar pushed the woman to the side with a desperate shove.
Lucivar was tackled with immense force, they rolled across the ground in a tangle of grunts.
He could feel the creature's hot breath on his face, and its claws raked dangerously close.
Summoning all his strength, he kicked the creature off of him.
Seizing the opportune moment, he got back on his feet and dashed to a nearby signpost, yanking it out of the ground. A quick glance back confirmed the creature was charging at him, so he wasted no time in swinging the signpost toward it.
Crash!
It was a direct hit, wood splinters flew everywhere as the creature was thrown to the side.
Upon seeing this, Lucivar panted heavily in shock.
Even though he had seen the impact of his strength, from how he blasted Tobias out of the wall, he still hadn't gotten used to it. His hit was enough to throw the creature crashing into the nearby house.
But he was forced to focus again when he saw the creature stand up and shake its head.
Deciding to be the one to attack, Lucivar dashed ahead fearlessly.
"Raargghh!" He screamed.
Clenching his fist, he tried channeling his ether to his fist but grunted at a sharp pain.
He hadn't adapted to controlling his ether proficiently.
Reducing the amount of channeled ether greatly, he gritted his teeth and swung his fist.
Bam!
Unlike before, this hit broke the creature's skull and planted it into the wall.
Lucivar didn't stop there.
Fearing that the creature would get up again, he pounded it with a barrage of punches, each blow more powerful than the last until the wall of the house gave way beneath his attacks. It took a considerable amount of blow before he was satisfied and ceased his assault.
Only when he was sure that the beast would not rise again did he stop.
Stepping back, he panted heavily, his knuckles dripping with the blood of the beast.
"I'm running low on ether after those punches..." Lucivar muttered inwardly.
As this was his first ever fight, as a Hybrid—he was being careless, and he could feel that his ether was running low, from his excessive use. It would not take too long before he ran out of ether and became severely weakened.
Fatigue was catching up to him from that reckless barrage of punches.
"Kyaaahh!"
Before he could take a breath, a piercing scream drew his attention.
It was a high-pitched scream of a woman—and without hesitation, he rushed to the source, fearing that it might be the woman he saved earlier. As he feared, he found the woman who was now cornered by two more of the monstrous creatures.
With a burst of speed, Lucivar sprinted towards them, his eyes glowing brightly.
Lucivar threw his body, and body-slammed the two creatures from the side, his momentum sending them crashing into a heap—across the snowy ground. But the impact reverberated through his body, and he coughed a mouthful of blood, pain flaring across his limbs.
"Get out of here, I'll take care of them while you run," He said as he forced himself to stand.
Blood could be seen trickling down his arm, he was undoubtedly wounded.
Just then, a chilling sight stopped him cold.
His eyes widened in surprise as he saw a dark trail of energy, the one that appeared on the night when he stumbled to Tobias' work room, emerging—curving back and snaking toward his vision from behind.
Its presence stuck unease to Lucivar's heart as he glanced over his shoulder.
Stab!
A sudden sting caused Lucivar to grunt, a warm sensation spreading from his stomach.
He looked down, eyes widening as he saw the tip of a blade protruding from his abdomen.
Shocked, he turned to look behind him and saw the woman he saved earlier clutching a knife with its blade piercing through his back. Glancing at her chest area, he saw her veins bulging and blue, throbbing beneath her unbuttoned shirt and even spreading to her face.
For a fleeting moment, Lucivar caught a glimpse of a smile on her face.
A twisted expression of satisfaction.
But as their eyes met, her smile faltered, replaced by a mask of innocence as she trembled.
"I- I don't know what happened," She said, her voice shaking. "It's not me! You- You trust me, right? It's not me that did it, but something in me! I would never stab a Hybrid" She continued—but the corner of her lips was struggling to not curve upwards as she looked at the blood.
Upon hearing the insincere words that didn't match her expression, his reasoning vanished.
One could see that happening directly through his eyes which were fixed on the woman.
His eyes, once filled with determination, grew cold and indifferent.
Growl!
One of the creatures lunged at him from behind, but Lucivar already anticipated the attack. It happened quickly, he swung his arm—and elbowed the creature in the face without breaking his gaze from the woman.
Lucivar's focus remained unyielding, locked onto her without a care for his surroundings.
But the woman shuddered as he didn't even hide his murderous intent.
"Of course, you wouldn't. I trust you..."
Splash!