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96. Escape 4

  In the armor that clung directly to his figure, the male demon lord approached the two girls slowly, lingering around them readily. And, as he finally stepped past the fountain, the smile on his face intensified.

  Hesitating just a step before the girl, his arms opened up, his lips parting as well. “Sister, we haven’t seen each other for so long,” he said, briskly stumbling forward to close his arms around her. Yet, they could only hit each other, Zyponia suddenly moving to the side whilst glaring up at him.

  “Don’t touch me,” she quickly spat out, creasing her eyebrows down at his light expression. “The last time we saw each other, you were eager to see my servant die,” she said aloud, only for him to shake his head away whilst getting up to an erect back.

  “It hurts me you think of me that way,” he quickly spoke back, only to turn into a somewhat amused expression. “I knew he was going to get attacked, so I was only curious about his abilities. Well, whatever, he’s actually one of the reasons I arrived early. Is he out on an errand?” Genor said, promptly locking eyes with his sister.

  Alas, the light in them turned somewhat deathly, falling back to the ground before speaking out. “He ran away yesterday, in the middle of the night.”

  “What?” A prompt tongue fell from the man, his jaw clenched slightly. Staring at Zyponia for a while, he finally turned to Raeyine, alas, she nodded as well.

  “Let’s move inside. I’m guessing you want to know more,” the maid spoke up, raising her lady’s head somewhat.

  “Yeah…” muttering out with a slight nod, Genor swiftly followed the two inside, leaving his guards stationary on the horses.

  Another depth was added to the piles of snow on the ground as the clouds passed by slowly, stopping reluctantly, although eventually. Meanwhile, the three sat on the couches around the table, ignoring the steam escaping from the cups.

  “I see,” he spoke tersely, lightly gazing around the faces of the duo. “It’s a shame, I really wanted to have a talk with that little boyfriend of you-”

  Starting to speak away, he was swiftly shut on the lips however, by none other than a Zyponia with glaring eyes. Still, waiting for a while, she simply sighed. “Haa, what is that you wanted to speak about?” Asking while gazing into him, her brows turned slightly.

  “Ah, it’s nothing, really,” he spat out, leaning on the cushions before slowly supporting the back of his head with his hands. “He just looked eerily close to that guy working with the aal. It’s been more than ten years since our ‘hero’ disappeared, so I was quite curious,” he spoke casually, swiftly deepening the furrows around her.

  “He’s not Raphael,” Zyponia said briskly, not losing the intensity of her gaze despite him slowly retrieving the eyes and raising an eyebrow at her. “I was also wondering about that, but I can assure you he only looks similar to him. His blood has a wholly different trace of mana.”

  “Are you sure? What if he found a way to deceive you despite having a brand and just hides his past? He bought that cloak for a reason, no?” The man pried, slowly breaking the adamant features of Zyponia. Feeling the intense blaze radiating from Raeyine’s eyes, though, he simply slumped forward whilst halting his tongue.

  “I fought the sword hero before, so I can attest to Zyponia. Lutiel’s mana is definitely different compared to his,” she said, leaving the man to sigh as he again leaned his head on the cushion of the couch.

  “Yeah, I know,” he muttered, making the ladies shake their heads at him in exhaustion. “I was still curious about him. The way he fought after the humans attacked us was similar to him,” Genor revealed, silence prevailing through the living room.

  “What?” Zyponia whispered out suddenly, her eyes meekly widened. “What did you say?” She asked, quickly raising her head to stare into the smirk he released.

  “Were you not aware? Right before losing consciousness, he slashed his sword in the same style as the sword hero, exactly the same,” the man said, smiling brightly whilst leaving the girl in deep ponder. With a parted mouth, Zyponia wasn’t able to mutter anything out.

  …

  In the middle of a bleak whiteness, the beast ran, leaving divots in the snow each breath it released. As harsh as they sounded however, the animal kept running, battling through the unbeaten road whilst the man guided its moves.

  Gazing ahead, Lutiel saw nothing but snow all around. They had already passed the mountains, but it was more of the same as on the other side. Fields along the hills, entwined with forests that covered most of the horizon. ‘At this speed, with breaks, we should reach the holy capital in about eight days,’ he thought, promptly looking down at the fluttering mane of his horse.

  “You’re a fast one, Runi,” he spoke away as they slowed down, caressing the hair before hearing him break out a proud neigh. Then, Lutiel raised his head forward, staring at the ashen clouds brushing through the skies. Sighing lightly, he still took in the warm gleam from the disappearing sun.

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  Simultaneously, he listened to the harshened breaths of the horse. With a swift decision, he changed their direction slightly. Rather than going straight ahead, he nudged the horse a bit to the right, where a leafless forest scattered out.

  “Come on, we’re almost there,” tapping on the reins ever so slightly, his voice guided the creature to a greater pace, flowing through the deep blanket of snow along the roads. They neared the forest steadily, closing their line of sight more and more.

  A few minutes passed with the horse galloping strongly, however, he could finally rest, his nose releasing deep puffs of steam while Lutiel tied him to a tree with a rope he took from the pouch on the side of the saddle.

  Yet, before going over and making a quick nest for himself, he firstly took off the bag made from his nightshirt, dangling it above the snow and immediately melting it away. Made similarly close to the butler’s suit he kept wearing, the beg never allowed itself to get wet for too long, swiftly drying on its own.

  Revealing a relatively large patch of meekly green grass, the horse didn’t prolong its actions, digging through the soil to refill its stomach. On the other hand, the man finally got to work, starting to thaw out more ground.

  Still, not a few breaths later, his eyebrows twitched, briskly turning around at the neighs Runi produced. The area underneath him cleared out thoroughly, the horse breathed out deeply towards the man.

  “I’m coming,” he said softly before untying the animal. Letting him clear out the grass just above the soil, he made himself an area to camp properly. Gathering the branches from the sleeping trees with his blade, he put the bag over them, sucking out most of the moisture.

  The clouds changed hastily as he scavenged through the woods, all while the disappearing sun had long since hid away. Regardless, he didn’t fret. Sitting on a dead log he had brought over to the fire, his hands slowly rotated the small animal impaled upon three sharp sticks.

  Cooking the skinned rabbit he had caught below the moon, the flames described his straight face, leaving no emotions to the world as he watched the juices flare up on the ashy charcoal below the fresh pile of cut up branches.

  The man then turned slowly towards the horse, seeing it sleeping on its legs, only to gaze back at the rabbit meat after scouring through the serene beast.

  Back and forth, he rotated the rabbit’s sprawled out body, gradually browning the meat. As soon as charred spots began to dot around the thing, he finally impaled the stick in the ground, watching as his fresh meal steamed away towards the murky skies.

  Promptly taking the glove of his left hand off, he took the cut around one of the legs, twisting it apart before starting to munch on it. Steadily devouring the fairly large portion of meat, Lutiel tossed the bones of each part back to the flames, only to start another one.

  Going through it all, he finally raised himself, standing around the space for a while. Suddenly glancing up, in between the bald crowns, the man followed with his eyes towards the moon, lingering on the dark clouds it illuminated through its radiance.

  Hesitating to go back down to the dimming warmth underneath, he simply kept his gaze at it, watching as the peaceful skies flowed through it.

  Nonetheless, his face descended with enough time, tossing his sight around the small shelter he made for himself from longer pieces of wood. Slowly getting under the roof before sitting on the hard, thick branches, Lutiel lay on his back, staring at the roof filled with gaps and crannies.

  He didn’t cover them. Pulling the cloak closer to his body, he wrapped himself inside whilst turning to the side, using his left hand as a pillow. His sword, on the other hand, lay sheathed underneath the makeshift bed.

  Slowly, his eyes began to close, fidgeting as exhaustion took over. Unable to battle the warm sensations coming from the suit, Lutiel simply gave in. While the fire hesitantly dimmed out into the darkness and the moon turned, he swiftly parted his eyes however.

  Sprung open fully, he scoured through the meek night, seeing the tall trees around bend somewhat, whistling under the strain. Together with them, a mellow rustle came, to which Lutiel briskly moved his arms. Flowing down to the ground, he quickly threw himself off the bed, rolling through the new snow that covered the prior ashes.

  At the same time, he grit his teeth after hearing the deafening roar, coming together with a drowned out thud as his shelter collapsed. “Light!” The man shouted briskly after rummaging through his bag, a great tide of rays washing over the space to make him witness the beast.

  Immediately as the staggering monster fell down with its front paws on the snowy roof, the roar threw out strings of saliva, Runi churning out startled noises as it tried to run away from the space.

  Clenching his jaw whilst glancing between the sights, he couldn’t help his horse in the slightest, watching as the monster already accelerated towards him. A guttural roar scattered out, the bear running straight on the man unable to unsheathe his weapon.

  Directly in front of him, the beast’s paw descended at him with ferocious speeds, however, the man looked up with clear sights. Holding the blade horizontally by the flat parts, his flesh vibrated initially, absorbing the shock coming from the paw twice the size of his head.

  Regardless, glancing at the gruesome maw salivating at him, Lutiel didn’t abate in the slightest. Rather, he pushed his legs forward suddenly, tripping the brown fur somewhat before ducking underneath the arms. His right foot acted briskly, kicking its exposed stomach before it staggered a response.

  As soon as the sole sank in the fur and met the flesh, the beast fell on its back, making lutiel quickly run back, skillfully untying the rope around his horse. Watching as the horse ran away through the night, his right palm grabbed the pommel, unsheathing his sword whilst turning around.

  Flowing into a stance, he slashed down promptly. As soon as their strengths battled yet again, his arms tightened up, gripping through the sword’s leather as hard as he could. Yet, watching a red stain verge about along his blade, Lutiel swiftly pulled the sword down harsher, grazing across the cut open paw.

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