Out of nowhere, from beneath the corpses, earthen spikes shredded through them, protruding to accelerate straight at the human. Yet, crossing between each other, the spell only hit dead air and made the guard’s eyes stumble silently.

  “Huh?” He muttered briskly, seeing the enemy appear next to the building on the right. Quickly using his hands, the wall threatened to swallow the human, however, the bricks were still too slow.

  Already escaping his magical grasp, Lutiel’s cold eyes glistened in front of the guard, his sword’s pommel shining ahead of him with flash. Darkness embodied the demon’s eyes as he flinched backwards, the blunt end of the weapon rendering him thoughtless after hitting on the chin.

  Any virtue surrounding his flesh dissipated, his body dropping like an inert marionette. Before he could fully drop to the ground however, Lutiel stared down at him, his foot spreading out to push his plated chest.

  Flying through the alley, his body stopped in the middle, deep into the shadows and far away from the curious eyes. Running towards him immediately, Lutiel grabbed his baldric and the scabbard strapped upon it, along with the bag beneath his cloak.

  Taking them off, he swiftly tossed them beside the lying body, all whilst cautiously listening to the whispers of battle in the distance.

  Each breath that passed, less screams played out underneath the glabrous skies. Eventually, they all died out, both the voices along with the bodies, lying on the bloodied, miserable ground. Mutilated parts scattered everywhere, the guard that stood in the very center of the street looked around, watching as his men slowly gathered up from the place.

  “How many of you are left?” He called out suddenly, his demonic tongue brushing past the streets before immuring in the piles of corpses gathered around. Tossing the bodies away, the guards walked past, slowly gathering close around him.

  A measly ten of them stood beside the man, watching the horses arrive from the side whilst pulling on an open, wooden carriage. Still, despite his underlings, the demon slightly taller than them all kept glancing at the back, a certain alley with the most amount of peasants fuelling his sights.

  Finally, he saw another armor walk through, his purple eyes deeply penetrating through his helmet’s slits before they fell right on top of him.

  “What’s wrong, cap’n? Aren’t you happy to see me?” The guard spoke in a joyous mood, somewhat muffled from the helmet, but not stopping his moves before arriving right next to the man.

  “As arrogant as ever, I see. Even with all those scratches around you. You were battered nicely, Tuy,” the man spoke, lingering around his face for another breath before raising the tone faintly.

  “Alright, I guess we better start to clean up,” he said, promptly raising his hands before the demonic eyes followed after him. The blood pooling around the street swiftly flowed through the place, circling the man before it was transported to another of the demons.

  Then, standing along the paved ground, he still didn’t retrieve his hands. Instead, he tensed the muscles, almost immediately making the gusts change around him. Gales poured out as the bodies began to float in the space, steadily arriving at the carriage in pairs of ten before being arranged on the wooden planks.

  Clenching his jaws slightly, Lutiel still made sure to witness everything happening. Watching as the corpses were being placed on top of the carriage, eventually, the man watched as the vehicle started to bend under the weight, promptly driving away before an empty one replaced it.

  Four full carriages were needed before the place was fully cleared from corpses, though the street still lingered with the blood.

  Jutting his armored chin over at a certain demon, the captain swiftly walked away, watching the guard come over to the center. The others following him in the retreat, they placed themselves right after the blood stains ended.

  Immediately, the pressure in the surroundings changed as the scalding flames engulfed the space, swallowing all of the buildings around whilst making Lutiel’s eyes twitch and widen.

  Seeing the bright fires surrounding the man, at the same time burning the blood and remaining chunks of flesh away, the man couldn’t help but stagger slightly.

  Almost animated, the fires flowed lively, dancing around before slowly retracting towards the main demon in the middle, completely unharmed despite wearing copious amounts of metal on himself. Walking through the dust of ashes, the captain promptly raised his hands, washing the remnants away before the skies took care of them.

  “Good job, boys. We’ve lost twenty five of our own, but we were prepared for that. We won at the end of the day, and that’s what matters. Let’s go back to the palace for now. Also, make sure that at least one of you is awake. If there is a need to help another part of the capital, we will be going,” He explained, swiftly receiving delayed nods from the men.

  Regardless, now that it was all over, they could finally go. Walking deeper into the city, they slowly strode through the space, all the way until a grand structure revealed itself a few streets ahead. Practically covering their horizon whole, the facade was clearly visible, despite being deep into the night.

  Glancing with a decisive gaze at the palace, Lutiel’s mind churned.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ‘I’m back, finally.’ He thought whilst washing over the buildings with his eyes. Unaware of the glances coming from the deep, red eyes on the side, he simply kept watching as they walked through the ornate gates.

  …

  Murmurs scattered across the dark abode, mixing with the periodical squeaks and snores. Albeit forming a mellow cacophony, those lying on their beds simply kept to themselves, sleeping away lightly.

  Yet, as the breaths resounded calmly through the space, almost all of their eyes sparked up, hearing the sudden crash from the side.

  “Eh? Captain? What is it?” One of the demons asked, rubbing his eyes whilst staring at a crimson gaze glancing down at him. Swiftly, all of them groaned as light spread about from the crystals at the ceiling, the man in armor silently watching through the space before arriving towards one of his men.

  “Where the hell is Tuyme?” He asked, standing in the middle of the doorway, immediately making whispers flow about before the man he spoke to replied.

  “Tuyme? I don’t know. He was supposed to check over us, maybe he just went to take a shit,” he said, however, the captain only closed the doors again, as brashly as he had opened them before.

  “Damn it!” He shouted beyond the walls, leaving the men to scatter their minds with one another.

  The captain announced his presence in the corridors, walking past the rooms with brisk steps. Even as priests stopped him on his way, he simply omitted their existence, a deep furrow forming on his revealed face.

  “You should have checked your suspicions earlier, you fool,” he berated himself, caressing the short, black hair on top of his head before suddenly taking a flight of stairs downwards.

  -

  A few minutes earlier, on the other side of the palace, a quick thrust scattered its voice out, the man responsible striking his new pommel on the side of the guard’s armored head. With a loud clang, the second guard had fallen already, his confused eyes unable to reach Lutiel’s.

  As soon as he lost his consciousness, the man grasped the set of keys in his possession, promptly trying out tens of them before getting the correct one. Opening the reinforced, metallic doors ahead, he closed them once inside, slowly pulling the keys out before stopping his motions.

  Hearing the faint whispers crawl along his body, together with the meek rays coming from the small crystals on the walls, he finally turned around. Sheathing his sword before walking against the prison cells, with keys clicking around as he strode through the space, his breathing hastened increasingly.

  ‘Please, just please, be here,’ he thought to himself, taking the free hand before pressing down on his chest and feeling its raciness. Threatening to break his ribs, he inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly, steeling his gaze on the cobbled corridor.

  “PLEASE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, I PROMISE!” Flinching his head to the side, Lutiel watched a shackled man come forward, itching to grab on the dark bars he was contained behind. Screaming with all of his voice, he pleaded to the guard, however, the man simply ignored him.

  Even as he knelt and clasped his hands together, Lutiel could only hear the voice dissipating as he walked ahead of himself. Slowly, more cells appeared in his vision, all kinds of people meeting with his eyes. Much more reserved compared to the previous one, they sealed their fates, resting on top of the wooden beds hanging on chains connected to the walls.

  One by one, he searched through the cells. Alas, even as he reached the end of the left side, he hadn’t witnessed the one he was searching for. Gritting his teeth lightly before turning around, he swiftly reached the previous doors once again, going to the other side promptly whilst ignoring the screaming man on the side.

  A similar instance met him. Not a single cell was occupied by the person, however, instead of an empty wall, he saw wooden doors, quickly opening them before taking the stairs they contained.

  With each step, his heart seemed to grow its beats, almost bursting from the pressure he took on.

  FInally, he reached the second floor, practically the same as the first one, except for the increased complexity in its layout. More like an underground city, each path turned into three others, sprawling out incessantly as Lutiel stepped through the place.

  With quicker feet than before, the man walked hurriedly, clenching the keys tightly before witnessing yet another door ahead of him.

  However, unlike the one leading to the lower floor, this one was made fully from metal, shut tightly so nobody could get in or out. His eyes shaking faintly as they fell on the keyhole, his quivering fingers swiftly rummaged through the tens of keys in his grasp.

  Still, getting lucky on his third try, his unsure hands slowly turned inside the hole, hearing the faint clicks before pushing the metal towards himself.

  All of a sudden, feeling the brisk air crawl up to his nose, Lutiel’s hesitancy disappeared altogether. Staring ahead of himself, he walked through the short corridor after shutting the doors, promptly seeing the dark, cold bars which kept a figure inside.

  Even though his heart dropped suddenly, serenity washed over him seeing the girl, her sleek arms raised above her head, shackled and chained to the wall. Sitting lifelessly, stuck to the ground thanks to the metals restraining her legs, her image struck out to him.

  The pale robes she wore had long since lost their shine, gradually blending in with the shadowy scape. Tattered throughout, he saw countless scars sprawled along the body, some still open, festering with pus.

  Slowly, he raised his eyes, eventually breathing out deeply after staring into her face. Indifferent to the world before her, the muddy gleam in her sapphire eyes simply looked ahead, seemingly immobile.

  The once golden hair shared the same fate, losing any of its luster and becoming a meek comparison of its past self. Dirty and unkempt, countless strands stuck to each other, only wishing for the grime to be washed away.

  Standing right before the doors of the cell, Lutiel slowly glanced down at them, omitting looking at the keyhole and plainly grasping on the metal. Immediately, they squealed under his prowess, however, as he tensed his flesh, the material broke off vehemently, flying to the ground before the door staggered to the side on its squeaking hinges.

  Still simply looking ahead of herself, the girl didn’t react to his actions in the slightest. Even as his heavy breath descended through the flickering space, she didn’t bloom any emotion.

  A few steps next to her, the man towered over the lady, finally parting his lips to mutter through the helmet that stifled his voice. “Sheila,” he spoke softly, making the girl glance at his eyes. But, that was all she did. Merely peering through his purple eyes, she didn’t speak out once, the dried lips shut tightly.