"Do you know what you have said?" Wistoria asked Kayden, he simply nodded his head in acceptance, he knew there were not enough words in his head to convince her if he was lying or not, rather it depended on how he presented the truth.
"Go on, tell me why there are only the two of you here," she asked him with a serious expression on her face, the lax look on her face was gone, now she looked serious, sat up properly, and faced him with eyes that bored into his souls, as though searching for something unknown to him.
"The demon has the ability to take over the bodies of others as it comes in contact with the blood of anyone, it then makes it their host and uses them however it sees fit, that was what happened to the warriors sent before us, they all died, not a single one of them survived," he said and a deathly silence overtook the hall, as though they knew that the words that had left Kayden's lips were nothing but the truth.
"We were part of the second group sent to patrol, when we encountered them, they had no choice but to engage them in battle, we were led by our captain, Tharros" As he said the words, he felt the distant pain fill his chest once again, all of a sudden he became vaguely aware of the blade that rested on his hips.
He heard the whispers behind him but chose to remain calm.
"The madman?"
"He's too ruthless, that beast of a man"
"I know of a man split in half by a stroke of his sword"
The voices muttered in unison but Kayden ignored it all, he knew how much of a beast Tharros was but in the end, in the face of absolute power, even Tharros had succumbed.
"We managed to fight them off and escape, the captain managed to kill a few himself but none of us to kill a single one that had possessed our fallen comrades, we escaped the demon and made camp further down in the forest" he paused for a bit and gathered himself together, he knew this next part was not easy for him to say, he looked at Thane for some measure of support and to his greatest surprise, Thane wasn't staring at Wistoria, he simply nodded at Kayden.
"The night came after that and so did the fog, our men all ate merry and happy as we celebrated our survival, they drank wines and ate the meat from their sacks, while I had boiled wine and he had nothing," he said pointing at Thane, then took a deep breath.
"He woke me in the middle of the night, all the other warriors had been possessed by the Fluxxara, the same symptoms and abilities could be seen amongst them and this time, they all attacked the captain at once, he had... "His voice nearly gave away as he remembered the gruesome scene, the imagery clear as the sky above them and the waters beneath.
"He had also been possessed but held it in stronger, he created a chance for us to escape and sacrificed himself to kill himself and all the other possessed that had attacked him," Kayden said in a hurry, he wanted to get that part over with, the memory still weighed down on his chest whenever he remembered it.
"How did you do it? Such a large number of possessed" Wistoria asked curiously, there weren't that many attacks that could completely annihilate those demons.
"He was already at the peak stage of soul cultivation, from what I saw he used all of his soul essence to call down Heaven's Judgement on himself, " Kayden said briefly, he heard the gasps from the elders around him while the guards that had been listening all along looked around in confusion.
Although Heaven's Judgement was a move learned only by the members of the Thunder clan, it was also well known for its destructive ability, it simply couldn't be learned by an outsider and as such, it earned a reputation as one of the most lethal wide-ranged attacks in the realm.
"Hmmm" Wistoria looked a bit thoughtful for a moment then turned her attention back to Kayden, he saw uncertainty in her eyes, as though she couldn't completely believe everything that he had said, and truly he couldn't blame her, only a fool would completely believe the words of two men that can here to news such as this with no physical evidence whatsoever.
"And so you decided to Journey here to tell us about the demon before it came here and took control of our waters and people?" She asked him and he simply nodded.
"I have a few questions, why were you not possessed, you said you drank the wine," she asked suspiciously, but Kayden had already anticipated the question.
"As I said earlier, I drank boiled wine, the only thing that can kill the demon is lightning and fire or heat," he said, "That is the only plausible reason that makes sense" he finished.
"Indeed it does, they are weak to fire and lightning by the history records but anyone could know that if they studied hard enough, what other evidence could you provide of your words saying then as true" she asked insistently.
Kayden had no choice but to bring out his sword from his sheath, the guards immediately leveled the spears at him taking Kayden by surprise, he was shocked at the sudden reaction.
"Stand down " Wistoria commanded but a smile was etched on her lips.
"I apologize, " Kayden said then drew out his Odachi blade and raised it up, the steel was clean and smooth, as though it hadn't gone through the numerous battles and suffering that Kayden and Thane had.
"This is my Captain's blade, the only proof I have, as you all know weapons are forged according to the rank of a martial warrior and this blade is of the martial peak rank" he turned the blade in his hand, it reflected the light leaking into the hall, giving off a blue hue before he sheathed his sword back.
He looked at Wistoria hoping she would believe him, this was the only thing he could show as evidence, and if they didn't believe him all this was pointless, a waste of time.
"You said only the both of you survived and walked all the way here, is that right?" Wistoria asked him.
"Yes, we survived and came all the way here," Kayden said a little confidently but he didn't like where the conversation was heading too.
"Then you must be strong, if it's not an inconvenience you shall battle a warrior of my choosing and prove yourselves innocent by combat," Wistoria said with a grin on her face, but Kayden's hands trembled, the way she smiled, he begged the gods in his heart that he wouldn't be fighting her.