Marie opened her eyes, realizing the world felt upside down. She felt an intense pain throughout her body. Red blood flowed from her forehead, staining her pale skin. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, realizing she was inside her overturned carriage.
What was she doing here?
Her head felt like it was being pierced by thousands of tiny needles. She was sure she had seen flashes of her past. The memories felt vague, like a dream. They say your brain replays your entire life before you die, but Marie seemed to have survived death, so she only remembered a little.
Quickly, she crawled out of there. Shocked, she saw her surroundings were filled with the corpses of soldiers and lesser demons who had apparently been through a fierce battle. Blood was spilled everywhere, and fire danced viciously in the villagers' houses. The entire battlefield was engulfed in dazzling bright light.
Pain surged as a sliver of memory returned to her head. Now she remembered, her troops were preparing to attack, but then the Satyr's body suddenly enlarged. Followed by a massive explosion that shook the world. Ades quickly brought her into the carriage. Then the great explosion hurled her carriage away.
Marie gritted her teeth hard, her fists clenched tightly. Once again, she had to survive because of someone else's sacrifice. She wasn't angry, she just didn't like seeing others suffer for her sake.
Suddenly, Marie heard a scream of pain from behind the carriage. Ades was apparently still alive. Marie staggered to her feet, heading towards the source of the sound behind the overturned carriage. Her eyes widened.
Marie forced herself to cover her mouth with her hand and held her breath. Like prey trying to hide from a predator.
In front of her, flames raged fiercely, illuminating the silhouette of a giant humanoid figure, 5 meters tall, with goat-like legs and 4 large horns on its head. In one of its hands was none other than her knight, Ades. He was struggling in the Satyr's grip.
"One last question before I end your life..." Its grip tightened. "Where is the little girl who gave you the enhancement earlier."
Ades growled in pain, his eyes glaring with hatred from between the Satyr's fingers covering his face.
"I-I won't tell you, you damned demon."
Marie was shocked at the sight. She was afraid to move, afraid the demon would notice her presence. She could only stand still and tremble, watching her knight dying in the demon's hand. Deep inside, she wanted to run as fast as she could without looking back, but she also didn't want to leave Ades to die at the hands of that demon. Marie was annoyed at herself for being weak, for only being able to run with her tail between her legs when things got really bad. She was just a coward.
She hated the feeling of watching those who fought for her battle desperately while she just stood by and watched. She hated it... her own weakness.
Without realizing it, she slowly stepped back. Accidentally stepping on a piece of glass from her carriage.
'Dammit!!'
The Satyr's ear twitched as it detected a small sound wave from a distance. It couldn't help but bare its fangs upon seeing the overturned carriage.
Realizing this, Ades mustered all his strength to scream as loud as he could. "RUUUN!!!!"
Calmly, the Satyr ordered several lesser demons to bring Marie to him. Ades immediately grabbed a small knife from his waist, enveloped it in his aura, and stabbed it right below the Satyr's wrist. Instantly making it scream and drop Ades from its grasp. Ades immediately sliced the Satyr's leg without further ado.
Ades looked back. "RUUUN!!!"
Marie instantly snapped out of her daze and turned around, leaving all the soldiers and Ades behind her. Marie ran as fast as she could without looking back, realizing several dog-like demons were chasing her with thick drool hanging from their mouths.
They were so fast that Marie had to give herself a speed and stamina enhancement to widen the gap between them. She blamed herself for leaving all the soldiers and Ades behind. But she couldn't do much; if she interfered, she was sure she would quickly be turned into pulp. From the start, Marie was never a fighter and didn't possess great physical strength. She also had no talent for swordsmanship or anything else; she only stood in the back, silent and giving support.
It hadn't been long since she started running, but her lungs already felt like they were burning again and her head felt dizzy. So she enhanced herself again and again.
The sharp teeth behind her looked impatient to sink into her flesh. The dogs chased Marie like madmen and showed no signs of giving up. Once again, Marie enhanced herself again.
Suddenly, an old, worn-out church came into Marie's view, a small hope rising in her heart. With all her might, she ran towards the old church. The church looked very old and fragile, so Marie wasn't sure it could save her from the demon dogs. But she didn't care. Marie quickly entered the church, closed the door, and locked it. She also enhanced the wooden door, making sure it would last long enough.
Then, something was heard crashing against the wooden door from outside. The dogs viciously clawed at the outer layer of the wood, trying to force it open.
Marie took a few breaths before turning around. She walked on the red carpet towards the church altar. There stood a statue of a Woman in a tunic, standing gracefully, with an extremely beautiful face as if carved by the best artist in the world. It was the statue of the Goddess of Life, Elyniraya. The goddess she worshipped and dedicated her life to serving, the creator of the world and her hope.
Marie knelt before the statue of the Goddess and clenched both her fists. She cast aside all negative thoughts within her and immersed herself in a solemn atmosphere. Marie prayed, pleading for salvation, not just for herself but also for Ades who was buying time for her to escape.
The next second, a magic circle appeared in front of the goddess statue. The circle shone in a deep red color, emitting a chilling and deadly aura. That feeling, Marie knew, was an aura usually possessed by demons. But this time it was incredibly strong, so strong that she couldn't move.
Marie didn't know what was happening, why that terrifying magic circle had suddenly appeared before her. Fear gripped her heart.
Her hopes crumbled, swept away along with the unanswered prayer. She prayed for salvation, but what appeared was another demon. She felt despair, sure that she would die the moment that demon manifested itself in the human world. Death, she was sure she would die, the sacrifices of Ades and the soldiers would be in vain because she couldn't even manage the simple task of escaping. Marie cursed herself in her heart.
Suddenly, the door holding back the demon dogs collapsed and shattered. Sharp teeth ready to feast sank into her flesh. The world seemed to slow down. Marie thought she would die. The chilling magic circle suddenly shone brighter.
Something moved incredibly fast past her from behind. Marie heard the sound of tearing flesh and pained groans from the dogs in front of her. But she couldn't see what was happening due to the cloud of dust around her. Splatters of blood suddenly appeared on the floor in front of her, making her reflexively step back.
The dust cloud slowly settled, revealing a human-like figure wearing a deep black coat with three black horns on its head, standing among the torn and bloody corpses of the pursuing demon dogs. Blood dripped from its sword, white as bone.