Some groans reached his ears. His confused and clouded mind found it curious for a moment, but then he realized they were coming from him.
Trying to move a little, he discovered he could barely feel his body. Not only did he feel incredibly weak, tired, and very cold, but he also felt like a dense rain bathing him.
Confusion turned to alarm, but he didn't react. His mind sharpened, and with that, memories came flooding back.
Being separated and then attacked by surprise by a zombie, Loft's possession, and the subsequent abandonment of his family. The hex and losing consciousness in the forest with a Wraith lurking...
'I'm still alive... Why- Ah, of course. We faced a demigod from the Arbiter Pathway...' A wave of sudden calm washed over him, aided by the cold that covered him.
This was not the calm of knowing that everything would be all right, but the calm that came after discovering that no matter what you did, it wouldn't change what was going to happen.
While it was usual once an enemy was captured to transport them to a safe location and kill them to divinate using their spirit, it was just as common for valuable information carriers to take something to destroy their spirit once they died, which would make subsequent divinations impossible or extremely complicated.
But the situation was different for the beyonders of the Arbiter Pathway. For them, capturing an enemy alive was much better. Most methods of preventing the revelation of valuable information lose their effectiveness with them.
Amidst these thoughts and falling rain, a tongue clicking with slight annoyance could be heard clearly.
"If you keep pretending to be asleep, one blow to the brain, you'll win. Isn't that right, whiskers?"
"… Open your eyes, Laufu."
An unfamiliar voice spoke a few seconds before a familiar one, but it no longer had its usual tone; instead, it was filled with pain.
Knowing there was nothing else he could do, Laufu opened his eyes.
Blinking once, he was greeted by a bizarre and strange scene.
David Tamara was tied to a log with several thick chains, his chest covered by a thin layer of ice, and his short, choked breaths made it difficult for him to breathe. He could see a bone protruding from his chest, most likely a rib.
His hair was completely ruined, his mustache no longer had its former charm, and he was extremely pale.
A man was next to him, sitting on a wooden chair with his legs crossed.
He was wearing an elegant white suit with gloves of the same color. Some of the buttons on his shirt were open, showing a little of his chest and revealing an old, rusty necklace that looked like the tip of a spear.
But what stood out most about this elegant man was how his head was on fire. Two large crimson eyes looked at him, amused.
'A hunter. Only they can have their entire head casually on fire and no rolling on the ground screaming in pain...' Laufu noted.
"Hello~ Did you sleep well?" the man asked.
Laufu took a moment to respond. His eyes scanned the man's body, taking in every detail.
Whenever he saw someone once, whether in a photo or a drawing, he would recognize them through a supernatural sense.
He could feel he had seen this man before.
Looking around, he saw only the Lumea forest. The thick trees and darkness made it difficult to see.
Apart from them, there was no one else. Of course, it didn't matter that he couldn't see them; his enemies could hide in the shadows.
His eyes dropped to his own body, the corners of his lips trembling.
Thick ice blocks encased his legs and arms, leaving only his torso free. The skin he could see was covered with several black spots, undoubtedly from the hex that was still in effect.
He tried to feel his powers, but while they were there, he didn't have the strength to use them—not even the weakest one; his spirituality was null.
Even moving his head was difficult...
Finally turning his attention back to the man in the suit, he asked the question gnawing at him.
"...Who are you?"
He already knew there was no escape from this, but at least he wanted to die knowing who his executioner would be.
"Oh, right. Sorry about that." He said, pointing to his fiery face.
"I just didn't want to ruin the surprise by revealing my face to one of you ahead of time. That, and of course, I hate repeating myself. Hehe~" Laughing a little, the man shook his head slightly.
A ball of fire appeared beside him, illuminating them.
Following that, the fire on the man's head went out. Long, silky hair of a fiery scarlet red descended and covered his face again.
Calmly, the man grabbed his hair and tied it into a high ponytail, some loose sections framing his face, giving him an elegant and wild look.
Contrary to what he expected from a Hunter to have the rough face of an older man, the face that greeted him was that of an extremely handsome young man. His features were well defined, his lips were full, his eyebrows delicate, and his eyelashes long.
Looking at that face, which was both handsome and beautiful, the supernatural sense of having seen him before scratched the back of his neck, much more precisely.
Laufu's mouth hung open a little, his mind locating the familiarity in the young man.
"A-Adryan Kenway?!"
Scarlet eyes flashed and thick lips lifted in a happy smile, "A pleasure—"
"HAHA—Cough! Cough!" David's attempt at laughter was ruined by a bloody cough, the bone piercing one of his lungs, moving and worsening the bleeding.
"David... Don't talk..." Laufu growled tiredly at his companion, but he ignored him.
"Urgh... Haha- Cough! I can't believe it... Huff huff... The bastard got the Monarch's support..." The Mentor of Disorder growled between attempts at laughter, coughing occasionally.
Although Laufu wanted to silence his companion so as not to worsen his injuries, at this moment, he was too focused on the red-haired man who was watching everything with boredom.
During some breaks they took on the Northern Continent to reach Lenburg, the name of the man before him was often repeated, always accompanied by references to the mysterious existences who called themselves the Fool and the Scarlet Monarch. Even at some gathering beyonders they attended, the name Adryan Kenway was repeated, as were the existences behind him.
The man looked at David with the same boredom as before and calmly extended his hand to one side, toward his shadow. His arm sank into it and pulled something out.
Adryan used this to strike David's cheek with force, a strong and heavy slap.
"Shut up, whiskers, I'll be the one talking now." The redhead said casually, then placed what he had used to hit the man against his chair.
There, resting against Adryan Kenway's side, was a sword. It was sheathed in a black scabbard dusted with gold powder. Despite being sheathed, Laufu could feel how holy yet dark it was.
"That's..." A feeling of emptiness choked him, and Laufu swallowed, unable to finish the sentence.
"The Sword of Dawn..." With a broken lip, David muttered absentmindedly.
Although the appearance was different, that was undoubtedly Mr. Cristhian's artifact. They would both recognize it no matter what it looked like.
"That name is rather simple, and it's no longer the one this little one bears." Adryan calmly pointed to the sword at his side and then shrugged his shoulders. "I could tell you its new name right now, but that's not something I want to share now."
"And what do you want to share now? You already have us trapped, powerless, and unable to defend ourselves. What do you want?! Huff Huff Huff." Laufu spat out with great annoyance, but the sudden burst of energy left him with the air in his lungs.
David stared at him without blinking, his labored breathing making the gesture somewhat disturbing. He couldn't speak without coughing, so he preferred to keep his words to himself. He didn't want to give the man the satisfaction of knowing he had gotten under his skin.
Adryan looked at the frozen Laufu for about three seconds before raising a hand and waving it from side to side with a happy expression, his eyes shining like rubies.
"I just wanted to thank David for his excellent cooperation in making all this possible!"
Those words froze the duo, but the redhead didn't finish.
Resting his elbows on his knees, Adryan leaned over the mustachioed man and smiled with extreme sweetness, his eyes shining sinisterly.
"Without you, we never could have killed Cristhian~"
Thud!
A wet thud startled them, and both men unconsciously turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
A few feet away, leaning against a tree, something was covered by a thick white sheet stained red.
Laufu and David felt dazed.
Something invisible pulled the bloody sheet aside at that moment, revealing what it was hiding.
A body with more than half of its head missing. Although it was unrecognizable, its clothes told them who it was.
"Mr Cristhian..." A faint murmur escaped David, who stared blankly at the body.
His eyebrow throbbed, and his heart began to pump hot blood through his veins. Fighting the pain, he tried to get up, but his arms were too heavy, as if something was pulling them apart, other than the chains that bound him.
"Wow..." Adryan clapped a little with clear sarcasm, "Extra points for trying. But I don't understand why the anger?"
Freeing one hand, he playfully patted the bound man's shoulder.
"You were a key ingredient in the death of a demigod. Come on, show some pride."
"Lies! I never—Cough! Cough!" Interrupted again by his bloody cough, David could only focus on not choking.
Laufu shared the question, looking deeply at the bound man. He was sure he couldn't have betrayed them. Not only did he have no way of sending information, but if he had, Cristhian would have noticed the change without a doubt. David couldn't hide something as big as betraying a demigod.
At the unspoken question, the corners of Adryan's lips rose in a mysterious smile.
"The beginning of your excellent role was simple, in fact..." The redhead paused for a second.
He reached into his coat and pulled out a small notebook with a yellowed cover. On the cover was a crude drawing titled Feynapotter Children's Stories.
Shaking the book intently, he spoke in a low voice.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that divination isn't all-powerful? Especially dream divination?" Adryan whispered grimly, before spreading his arms to the sky and exclaiming with a laugh.
"All you need is something to alter them, and the idiot watching will believe it's a revelation from fate!"
David's deep frown was slowly replaced by confusion and disbelief.
"That's impossible!" Laufu shouted, "He would have noticed the change!"
A Mentor of Disorder would never be tricked by something so simple!
"The wonders of hypnosis, my dear!" the redhead said, before laughing again at the incredulous faces of the men.
"Since you left the train station on Saturday night, you've been under my watchful eye. Did you really think you could hide from me? Cristhian was delusional if he thought he could move without my permission."
Leaning in a little closer, he grabbed Cristhian's cheeks with his gloved hands and forced him to look at him.
With scarlet eyes flashing with great malice, he whispered but spoke loud enough to be heard by everyone.
"But you were by far the most naive and foolish, oh little David~
"Those revelations you've seen these past few days? All my doing.
"I created all those scenes in the woods myself to make you think you were making progress. The route you thought Dabrio took? We prepared that path so you wouldn't notice the traps!"
"No!" David tried to break free, but Adryan tightened his grip on his face and continued ecstatic with a growing smile.
"Ohoho, and that's not all! I also planted little 'cues' that would only be activated at the right moment~
"For example! Once Dabrio sent you flying, you would take the path I chose and lead your beloved companions to the trap I set, while always making the decision that would cause the most trouble when the time came!
"Free will? Since you arrived in Auchiied, you've been doing my bidding like the perfect puppet that you are!"
The more the man spoke, the more memories buried in David's mind began to surface.
David saw himself standing in the forest. In front of him was Adryan Kenway wearing an alice blue glove. Standing next to him was a white-haired woman holding the yellowed book.
He saw Adryan Kenway speaking to him in short sentences, and he nodded with vacant eyes. The scene changed with each sentence, going from a general view of the forest to a specific part, identical to the one he had chosen to fly after Dabrio's exile...
Huff! Huff! Huff!
The man's pupils began to tremble, and he could not focus on anything. Short, rapid breaths escaped him.
'It's. . . It's my fault! All the information I got from the Dream Catcher never came from it! It came from him the whole time! I killed Mr. Cristhian! I killed Loft, I killed Laufu! No, no, NO!'
"No, no, no, no... no..." Weak and helpless murmurs escaped him, his eyes wide open.
The gravity and truth of the man's revelation finally sank in.
Watching the man in his hands lose his mind, Adryan finally let him go, expressionless.
David's head hung down, and the man did not want to raise it.
Rising from his chair, the redhead calmly tied the sword to his left waist. Then, he walked unhurriedly toward a dazed Laufu.
The Disciplinary Paladin looked at him with pure terror and horror, his body visibly shaking.
"M-monster..." He stuttered horribly.
"I'm doing my best." Smiling slightly at the compliment, Adryan crouched down and held his palm open, aiming at him.
Reflexively, Laufu closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. But instead of feeling pain as he expected, he felt something being taken from his pocket.
Opening his eyes, he saw a gold medal floating a few inches from the redhead's palm.
He thought the man had stolen it for a moment, but upon closer inspection, he didn't recognize the coin.
How did it get in his pocket?
The memory of Loft lunging at him just before he was possessed came to mind.
"It was there... But why?" Laufu wondered, dazed.
Noticing the obvious confusion, Adryan chuckled amusedly and straightened up.
"Its negative effect is that it exhausts the wearer extremely quickly if they are in the rain," he said casually.
Laufu froze.
His sudden exhaustion was never because of the Wraith's hex! It was because of the coin! The hex only accelerated what the coin had caused!
Realizing that he had been completely deceived, Laufu couldn't help himself.
"Ha... hahaha! HAHAHA!" A laugh from his soul's depths left him, and tears dripped with his shame.
They never had a chance!
Ignoring the man's laughter, Adryan threw Tauk Millenium boredly into his shadow. He walked a few meters away and casually kicked a bush aside.
Beneath the bush, an altar stood. It was adorned with red candles, red poppies, and a sheet of paper with a symbol drawn on it—that of the spear wrapped in infinity with the book at its feet.
This was an altar to the Scarlet Monarch that he had prepared in advance, and next to it was a pot with several small containers.
Adryan could feel and taste his targets' genuine fear, desperation, and enormous frustration. This was the best moment to advance to Reaper.
Controlling his threads, he made the Blood Dagger he had hidden deep in the forest return to him. It was still burning.
Using the fire from the dagger, he lit all the red candles. It didn't matter that he was in the rain; the intense fire would not be extinguished.
He placed the burning dagger on the altar and knelt in front of it without caring that his suit was getting dirty.
Clasping his hands in prayer, he spoke in Hermes.
"The Scarlet Monarch who burns depravity;
"You are the calamity forgotten by Time;
"You are the stranger who comes from the Unknown!
"Your devoted servant prays for your attention;
"I pray for you to open the gates to your Kingdom!"
Hearing the murmurs reach his ears, he completed the white sphere in his mind and ascended to the City of Calamities.
Appearing on the outskirts of the city covered in yellowish smoke, Adryan quickly found the flame that represented himself and sent his spirituality to it, opening the door but not before making sure it would be a spectacle.
Rusty armor and a red tunic covered him, and he disappeared from his place...
In the real world, the orange flames on the altar exploded into a crimson curtain. Rising several meters into the air, they slowly formed a large arch.
The sudden explosion snapped Laufu and David out of their daze, and they turned to see what had happened, only to see the arch complete itself.
In front of Adryan Kenway, a large, burning crimson door appeared and began to open slowly. Yellowish smoke began to seep out.
When the door opened completely, a background covered by the same yellowish smoke was all that could be seen.
A powerful gust of wind blew out of the door, the hurricane shaking the leaves of the trees and clearing the smoke to reveal what was hidden.
A majestic city rose on the horizon, covered in the same smoke. Patrolling the streets and surroundings, creatures of pure fire and rust-red armor moved about.
All these creatures stopped, looked up, and gave a military salute.
Resting on the clouds above the city, a figure watched everything with power and authority. The armor and robe that covered him exuded an aura of dominance.
This figure casually extended his hand.
The burning dagger on the altar rose into the air and began to spin rapidly, the yellowish smoke enveloping it in a bubble.
At that moment, the figure wearing rusty red armor snapped his fingers.
Boom!
Inside the smoke bubble, a powerful explosion sounded, and the smoke glowed, but other than that, there was no change.
Lowering his hand in the same way he raised it, the figure nodded slightly.
"It's done."
With those powerful words, the smoke receded at ridiculous speeds and entered the door. The bubble descended back onto the altar and vanished.
The crimson door of fire vanished with them, but the candles continued to burn, their flames dancing slowly.
Among them lay the remains of the Blood Dagger, pieces of metal from the dagger that, pulled together by an invisible force, joined into a single piece.
This piece resembled a finger, unusually sharp and made of pure black metal that emitted an icy glint.
Raising a hand in the air, Adryan formed a roof of fire once more. Uncovering the pot, he quickly opened the various containers and began pouring the ingredients one by one.
Swiftly and with an enormous familiarity with making potions, he quickly mixed all the secondary ingredients, starting with the blood from the Blood Dagger.
Next came the Hornbeam Essential Oils, the venom of the Colorful Bearded Horned Lizard, and the fangs of the Forest Hunter.
The blood in the medium-sized pot turned dark. Using his threads, Adryan carefully picked up the metal finger and threw it into the pot.
Bloop! Bloop!
The metal finger melted into the dark blood; it began to bubble and boil. Two seconds later, the blood turned bright red, emitting its own glow, and black metallic chunks began to move through it.
Pouring the finished potion into a cup he had prepared and leaving nothing in the pot, Adryan discreetly performed a short mirror divination to confirm that everything had gone well.
After all that, he raised the cup with the Reaper's potion to a terrified and incredulous David and Laufu in a toast and brought it to his lips.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
Although the smell of blood in the potion was strong, Adryan had smelled much worse during his time in Backlund.
The familiar taste of rust filled his mouth immediately, and he felt like his brain was going through a drill.
He felt as if he were back that same night in Backlund, entering a chaotic war alone and outnumbered, facing werewolves, demons, zombies, and wraiths, dodging ice spears and crimson energy scythes, or hurting himself just to survive.
Wounds appeared on his body, throbbing with familiar pain.
'A re-creation brought on by the potion?!' Adryan thought, astonished, finding himself in the cavern facing the Rose School of Thought once again.
His body burst into orange flames that soon turned the same crimson color as the potion. Without a second's hesitation and with determination, Adryan lunged at the wave of enemies coming for him.
Fireballs, fire crows, and burning white spears broke through and pierced, quickly illuminating the cave with torches that repelled the crimson glow.
Without Tauk Millennium and a way to get rid of the wraith's most dangerous attacks. The already brutal battle turned into a brutal slaughter. Even though he focused his attention on the Werewolf and finishing it off first, it just kept reappearing no matter how he killed it.
Adryan felt his spirituality draining away like a broken bottle, even though he was using his blood to feed his fire and slow down the consumption, his spirituality was running out too fast.
After an unknown period of time, standing on a mountain of burned bodies, Adryan barely remained standing, his strength at its limit and his spirituality on the verge of drying up completely.
At that moment, the ground shook and broke. A crimson light illuminated and almost completely extinguished the fire on Adryan's armor.
From the open ground, the horrible mutant baby emerged.
The same pressure he felt the last time he saw it was present, bringing him almost to his knees and on the verge of losing control. His armor shattered, and his helmet disappeared, revealing his bloody and wounded face.
Gritting his teeth and straightening himself with the last of his energy, Adryan looked directly at the baby.
Although the mutant baby emitted enormous pressure and power, he could sense something beneath that surface... Fear, despair, and hatred.
Adryan's bloody teeth were revealed in a predatory smile.
"So you're still afraid of me, failed abortion?!" Scraping the last of his strength, the remains of his armor detached from his body and concentrated in his right hand.
A spear of fire quickly formed, turning a white-crimson color that began to beat with its own pulse.
His eyes moved unconsciously to the baby's stomach, where a small red area appeared.
Extending his arm backward, Adryan threw the spear with all his remaining strength toward that area, toward the umbilical cord.
A white light erupted, drowning out the crimson light and directly striking the baby's stomach. The spear continued, piercing the baby from side to side.
A baby's cry rang in his ears, and the mutant baby dissolved with the disgusting sound of wet flesh, plop!
His vision suddenly became blurry and dizzy. Adryan blinked twice and shook off the dizziness. With the first blink, he felt the rain bathing him again, and with the second, he found himself back in the dark forest with an incredulous Laufu and David looking at him.
Among the raindrops falling from his body, drops of sweat also fell, exploding into scarlet sparks upon contact with the ground.
Eventually, the sparks stopped.
'This no longer surprises me...' Adryan didn't even have to look at his body to know that something had changed again.
Not only did his clothes feel much tighter than before, along with his shoes—even though he had bought them a size larger in preparation—but he could feel that his hair was longer now. There were surely other changes, but he would examine himself later.
Smiling sweetly at the duo, he spoke, "With that out of the way, there's someone who wants to talk to you~"
His voice had changed little, remaining almost the same, but the grace it possessed had increased a bit.
A sudden pressure made itself known, and the Disciplinary Paladin and the Mentor of Disorder looked to the side where a man had appeared.
He appeared to be in his 50s. His dark blond hair clung to his forehead from the rain, but this did not bother him. After bowing respectfully to the red-haired man, the man's amber eyes focused on the two of them.
The great pressure emanating from his body caused Laufu and David to lower their heads to the ground, unable to return his gaze.
"Mr Dabrio..." Gritting his teeth, Laufu tried to stop his body from shaking, but failed.
Dabrio Tamara looked at them coldly, his heavy voice shaking the very air and echoing through the forest.
"Why did you betray us? Why did you decide it was better to hunt us down one by one as if we didn't share the same blood? Your own family?"
The heavy words of the demigod were like hammers driving the men even deeper into the ground, who never stopped trembling.
Finally, after a few moments of silence, Dabrio whispered in a deep voice, his eyes flashing with electricity.
"Answer me, bastards."