"Who the hell are you?"
She never got an answer and that made her even angrier.
"Makra Ability: Wave of Ice Blades!"
Ernet swung at him with all her might, sending out multiple series of ice blades as she watched her opponent deftly dodge everything and catch the blade of her sword with two fingers without any effort.
"Damn it!" She cursed breathlessly under her breath, as she tried to think of a way out of the situation.
"I expected more from humans, honestly." He muttered with open mockery as he watched her with piercing blue eyes that stone ominously.
Ernet tried to use her ability again, but when she didn't react, shock spread across her face. When her attack was blocked, her makra seemed to disintegrate in midair. It was as if it somehow managed to control her movements and nullify her ability, which is why she couldn't react to its owner.
"How did you manage to do it?" She continued with her questions and jumped back to prepare for her next attack. "Why are you attacking the village? What is your goal?"
"Don't be in such a hurry."
The enemy grabbed her by the throat with his hand and she dropped her sword, which stuck in the ground. He brought it menacingly slowly to his face and stared into her mottled eyes, watching as fear gradually began to fill them.
"You dare to attack me? Velzevul!" He growled in her face viciously, causing the veins on his neck to stand out dramatically.
"Kh..." The Guardian began to choke, because she couldn't get enough air from his grip, trying to free herself.
"I have a hangover and all I wanted was some silence." He snarled at her, showing his sharp teeth against Fent's face, at which she turned pale. "Did I want that much?" Velzevul continued to wail pitifully, as if he were the victim in this case, ignoring her struggle for breath.
"What... a-re y-..." Ernet could barely manage to mutter, her eyes were beginning to close from the lack of air.
"Shut up already, damn it!" He roared, losing the last bit of his patience.
His hand squeezed the Guardian's neck so hard that there was a terrifying sound of bones cracking and her eyes popped out of her face due to the tension, falling to the ground. The body was shattered into many pieces, scattering everywhere around him. Her blood splashed on his face and he slowly licked his lips, tasting it.
"Hmm, not bad..." He grinned smugly and ran his fingers through his pitch-black hair, tousling it carelessly.
Kinra continued to lie frozen on the ground on her belly, while her gaze was horrified and her body was trembling with fear, struggling for breath.
"He killed her! He killed Guardian Feent!"
The scene that had unfolded before Kinra's eyes was etched in her mind forever. He had torn Ernet body apart with such ease, as if she were some kind of toy.
"If I look up I'll die..." She whispered to herself in horror, her voice trembling. "That's why I won't... I won't look..."
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't move, because her body simply refused to listen to her at the moment. Kinra could smell the strong smell of burnt flesh and decay wafting through the air, which made her feel disgusted and cover her mouth with her hand to stop herself from vomiting.
"He killed her... he killed her... God, what... what should I do..." Kinra kept repeating in horror with teary eyes and broken voice.
Guardian Feent was the strongest person in the village and yet she couldn't defeat him. How was she expected to escape alive in such a case?
Heavy footsteps reached her ears, making her blood run cold.
"What... what's going on..." Still shaking violently, Kinra barely moved her head and looked up hesitantly, meeting a shining pair of sparkling blue eyes watching her with interest.
"Well, well, someone else is still alive." Velzevul announced mockingly as he looked her over appraisingly. He didn't feel any makra from her, which meant she couldn't harm him in any way.
"It is more than obvious that humans are not as great as they used to think. Especially since some of them don't even have a makra." He thought with disgust, until he took his sharp gaze from her pale face. "What a pathetic turn, huh..."
Her heart stopped beating at that moment. Her eyes widened like orbits, threatening to pop out. In front of her stood a tall man dressed entirely in black, looking down at her with contempt that made her feel so pitiful and insignificant under his gaze.
The upper part of his clothing seemed to be torn in the chest and abdomen, where Kinra had the opportunity to notice his sculpted muscles that were shamelessly revealed, as well as to notice a few old scars that adorned his pale gray-bluish skin.
His hands were completely covered with dark symbols up to the wrist, with a small part of them also visible on his chest. Kinra swallowed the huge lump in her throat and looked down for a moment, her gaze focusing on the same symbols that were wrapped around his bare ankles. Her widening gaze settled on his huge bare feet, as well as on his sharp and deadly black claws that could easily slit her throat with just one movement.
"This... this can't be human..." She thought in shock as she tried to assimilate the situation she found herself in. "It can't be human..."
His short black hair was blowing carelessly in the wind, and a pair of thick and slightly curved red horns protruded from his head, which were simply unlike anything she had ever seen or heard before. This only confirmed her theory that the unknown creature before her was not human at all, despite its human-like appearance, and was something dangerous that she had to somehow escape from.
"What on earth was that creature...?" Her thoughts raced through her head, feeling her insides start to feel sick from the smell of blood that covered his body. "The blood of Guardian Feent!"
"You see it wasn't that hard to be quiet, right?" He spoke again and placed one hand on his waist, silently assessing her. "As a reward, I will let you live..."
"Saiya, Kinra!..."
A desperate man's cry was heard from afar.
"Ah, not again." Velzevul narrowed his eyes in displeasure and turned to the man running towards him, who was holding a hoe in his hands. "A hoe, huh? How primitive."
"Get away from her, you monster!" The man shouted angrily as soon as he got close enough to them.
Tenthru swung with all his might at the stranger, when he met his gaze for a few seconds and horror froze his body.
"What... what is this feeling..." He asked himself in confusion, feeling how his body refused to listen to him.
"Shut up!" Velzevul cut off the intruder crookedly and narrowed his eyes in displeasure.
Velzevul lazily waved his hand at him and a huge wave of force passed through his body, making Tenthru freeze for a moment. His legs were severed from the knees down, spraying blood everywhere and slowly starting to separate from his body.
"Agh...!" With a painful cry, Tenthu fell heavily to the ground, starting to cough and spit blood. The pain was simply indescribable.
"Huh... human scourge! How did you even survive for so long, when you are so pitiful?" Velzevul snorted with hatred and closed his eyes to calm down. He had been standing still for long enough, so he had to leave if he didn't want to attract attention and complicate his master's plans. "Huh, scourge!" He only hissed, after which huge red wings began to emerge and form from his back. He pushed himself off the ground with his foot and flew up in a flash.
"D-ad..." Kinra whispered in shock, as she looked at his father's miserable condition with a horrified look. The sight was brutal to say the least.
"Kin-ra..." Tenthru whispered in a hollow voice, then a new wave of pain hit him.
Tenthru slowly reached out to her with his last remaining strength, feeling his strength begin to leave him faster than he had suspected. This was definitely not how he had imagined the day would end.
He had planned to prepare dinner to let Saiya rest and when they were finished with eating, to try Mrs. Pott's new dessert, which she assured him they would lick their fingers.
"I'm sorry, darling, I couldn't keep my word. I couldn't... protect you and now... now our child will be left alone..." He mentally reproached himself, while tears filled his eyes.
The pain that had gripped his heart was nothing compared to the one he was feeling right now, realizing that he wouldn't even have the chance to say goodbye to his beloved.
"Saiya, my beautiful Saiya..." Tenthru kept repeating to himself and before his eyes appeared many memories of their moments together, stopping at a single one in which all three of them were present. He had hugged Saiya from behind, while she had lifted five-year-old Kinra in her arms and they were smiling broadly together. "Yes, this memory was definitely one of my favorites."
"Dad!" Kinra cried desperately and tried to stand up, but her legs were too weak and paralyzed from all the horror she had witnessed in such a short period of time. "I'm coming, dad, I'm coming..."
She began to crawl on the ground with all her last might, while the tears were streaming from her eyes. It couldn't be true. She was in some kind of nightmare that she just had to wake up from. A nightmare that had taken away everyone she loved and knew. It had to be a nightmare and when she finally woke up, she would hug her mother and father tightly.
"This is a nightmare... nightmare..." She repeated to herself quietly, trying to convince herself and avoid reality, but when she stopped her gaze on one of the disfigured corpses around, everything in her turned upside down.
"My beautiful... girl..." Tenthru muttered slowly and in parts, while fighting with his own blood that filled his mouth. He tried to force a smile at her.
"Dad, look at me..." She was barely close to him when she met his warm smile and her heart sank in her chest.
"Find your... grandfather, okay... He will... will... you..." He barely managed to say, but he couldn't finish because he spat out a large amount of blood and gasped.
"No! Please, no!" His daughter cried out in horror and reached out to him.
His eyes grew heavy and darkness began to envelop him. His head slumped lifelessly forward, preserving their last moment together. The memory of his wife's beautiful smile and his daughter's happy face made him relax until life left him forever.
"Dad!"
When Kinra finally reached him, she hurried to hug him and look at his face, but he didn't move.
"Open your eyes, dad... please, open them..."
No, this wasn't really happening. It was all a terrible nightmare from which she just had to wake up. When she woke up, her mother would hug her and scold her for something, while her father would protect her and in the end they would laugh together.
"This can't be happening! Someone helps, please!" Kinra began to shout desperately at the top of her voice, but her cry echoed around her like an unanswered echo. "Please, someone..."
She never got an answer. All around her was the sound of the flames burning the houses and the corpses trapped inside. Kinra was silent for a moment. She looked behind her at the burned village and looked back at it. Everyone was dead! Everything was destroyed!
"No... this is an illusion..." She stepped back, staggering and grabbing her head with her hands to shake off what was happening. "Please... someone help..."
She took another step back when her foot slipped on something and she fell backwards onto her back. Kinra groaned in pain and when she got up, she stopped her shocked gaze on the burned body that was only a few meters from hers. Her gaze continued to examine the body thoroughly when she noticed a familiar bracelet on her right hand and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Mom..." She whispered without a voice, feeling how everything inside her began to fall apart. "Mom... no... please..." Kinra stretched out her trembling hand to hers and when she touched the bracelet, comparing it with her own, a painful growl left her throat. "God, no... no!" Her crying turned into furious screams, pouring out the pain that never stopped pulsating painfully in her heart. They were dead!
She would no longer see her mother's smile, she would no longer smell the pleasant scent of her hair that filled the entire house. She would not longer hear her father's infectious laughter, they would no longer tell each other funny stories before bed. They were dead... dead!
Chaos and destruction reigned all around. The fire continued to move from house to house and burn painfully slowly the victims who had fallen into its trap with no way out. Kinra stood on her knees, hugging the cold bodies of her parents, while their blood continued to spread around them, soaking into the ground and onto her clothes, making her skin seem to burn to the touch. Tears streamed down her face and the painful moans that left her mouth were filled with so much pain and despair.
"One day..." She muttered in a weak and hoarse voice. "...we will meet again and you will pay for what you have done!"
Her fingers dug into their lifeless bodies and she slowly raised her head with a look filled with a single emotion: a desire for revenge!