The dirt road was carpeted in elongated shadows as Lusian moved through the dust. Beside him, Thunder walked at an easy pace, releasing tiny electrical discharges that crackled across his dark fur.
Elizabeth and Emily walked a few steps behind, exchanging glances that were anything but friendly.
"Tonight is my turn," Emily said, brushing against Lusian's cloak as she moved slightly ahead of him. "And I'm not taking no for an answer."
Elizabeth gave her a crooked smile, pure provocation.
"Are you sure? After last night, he seemed quite comfortable with me."
"That's for him to decide."
Lusian let out a long sigh.
"Can you two stop arguing for just one hour?"
They fell silent immediately. It lasted exactly three seconds before they were glaring at each other again. Lusian decided not to get involved any further; it was a battle he had already lost.
The small village emerged from behind the dense trees. The houses were low and humble, with dry thatched roofs and weathered wooden walls. Upon noticing their presence, several villagers cautiously peered through cracks in their doors. No one came out to greet them. There was no need.
Lusian continued past them until he reached an isolated cabin on the edge of the settlement. The night passed with casual conversation, light jabs between the two women, and the crushing weight of accumulated exhaustion after days of travel. Nothing extraordinary.
At least, not to him.
Long before dawn, Lusian quietly left the cabin and ventured into the darkness of the forest. When he returned, he was carrying a sturdy young deer over his shoulders. Without ceremony, he dropped it onto a stone table in the center of the village square.
"Share this among everyone," he said.
The villagers froze. One of the elders stared at the animal, then looked up at Lusian in disbelief.
"For... for us?"
"Yes."
"But..."
"If you don't want it, I'll carry it back," Lusian declared, reaching down as if to pick it up again.
"No!" The elder hurriedly waved his hands. "We'll take it. We'll take it."
Little by little, the villagers began to gather at a cautious distance. Some watched Lusian with restrained suspicion; others with a curiosity they could barely conceal. A couple of young men whispered among themselves as they began cutting the first portions.
"They say there's a continent to the north where humans and beasts hunt together," one of them commented.
"So what?"
"They say monsters eat humans there to level up."
"That's ridiculous. That's impossible."
"Are you sure?" The boy glanced sideways at Lusian. "After seeing him, I'm not so sure anymore about what's impossible and what isn't."
Lusian, whose hearing was sharp, caught the conversation.
"You don't level up by eating just anything," he interrupted calmly.
The young men immediately fell silent, frozen by the interruption.
"So... it's a lie?" one dared to ask.
"Not exactly." Lusian gave a slight shrug. "But you'd need something considerably stronger and more dangerous than a young deer."
The boys exchanged glances. For a moment, fascination completely overwhelmed their fear.
"Like what?"
Lusian thought for a moment, scratching the back of his neck.
"I don't know. I've never eaten a monster."
Emily let out a suppressed giggle in the background. Elizabeth couldn't help smiling with a certain elegance.
The villagers, meanwhile, were completely thrown off balance. They had expected a mystical answer, a dark revelation, or a veiled threat; something worthy of the man whom the Kingdom's sermons called the Devil.
Instead, Lusian simply seemed like a hungry traveler discussing breakfast.
And perhaps that was the most bewildering thing of all.
To the villagers, he was a bloody, incomprehensible legend.
To Emily and Elizabeth, he was still simply Lusian.
And Lusian, for his part, only wanted to eat breakfast in peace.
But as he continued north at an unhurried pace, the capital of the kingdom was brewing the exact opposite.
The capital had not witnessed such a human tide in decades.
From the first shadows of dawn, the cobblestone streets leading into the great central square were buried beneath an endless sea of faces. Soldiers in gleaming armor, priests in immaculate robes, hardened adventurers, nobles draped in silk, and impoverished peasants who had traveled from the farthest provinces—all of them arrived beneath the same banner:
The Heroes.
Above the battlements, banners bearing the crests of Light, Fire, Steel, and Nature fluttered proudly. The bells of the greatest temples rang without pause, while priests shouted absolute truths at the crowd.
"The Chosen have returned!"
"The Heroes will crush the Devil!"
"The final crusade begins today!"
The roar of the people swelled like a gigantic wave until it became a dull thunder that made the foundations of the city tremble.
At the heart of the square stood a colossal platform of polished stone. The four heroes ascended in formation. Leonardo marched at the front; behind him, with stern expressions, came Aldric, Maelia, and Branor.
Thousands of eyes fixed upon them with almost religious devotion.
For the first time, Leonardo understood the true weight of his status.
They were no longer merely an adventurer vanguard or four warriors sent to fulfill a royal order.
They were the embodiment of a symbol.
A mercenary raised his greatsword above the crowd.
"For the Heroes!"
The entire square answered with a single thunderous roar.
"For the Heroes!"
A cleric raised his divinely blessed staff.
"For the Light!"
Tens of thousands of voices roared as one.
"For the Light!"
Leonardo raised an armored hand.
The murmurs and cheers gradually faded until an almost sepulchral silence descended upon the square.
"For too long, the world has lived beneath the yoke of fear," he proclaimed.
His voice, amplified by the magical crystals positioned around the square, echoed with an almost divine clarity.
"Entire cities have been reduced to ashes. Sacred temples have been desecrated. Entire families have been destroyed."
Several peasants in the crowd broke down in tears.
"And while we bled our lives away simply trying to survive, a shadow grew unchecked."
Leonardo clenched his fist.
"Lusian Douglas."
The pronunciation of the name detonated a visceral wave of boos, curses, and cries of pure hatred.
Leonardo patiently waited for the fury to subside.
"Many insist on calling him a man."
He paused deliberately, his expression turning to stone.
"I have seen him face-to-face. And I swear to you, he is not one."
The crowd went wild.
"Death to the Devil!"
"Death to the Devil!"
On the platform, Branor remained motionless and silent.
For some reason, the chants that had once set his blood ablaze now sounded hollow, almost grotesque.
He had looked into primordial darkness.
He had felt the terrifying shudder of his own blessing dragging him toward submission before the enemy.
And the lack of answers continued to gnaw at him from within.
Leonardo raised his voice, taking complete command of the square.
"But this time, we will not march alone!"
With a grand gesture, he pointed toward the main avenues.
All along the streets, thousands of legionaries raised their spears. Behind them, bands of adventurers proudly drew their weapons. Priests channeled sacred flashes through their staffs, while nobles allowed their family banners to crack proudly in the wind.
"We are not four isolated heroes!" Leonardo shouted, spreading both arms toward the unleashed crowd.
"We are an unstoppable army!"
The roar that followed was so deafening that the windows of the neighboring palaces rattled.
Maelia wore an arrogant smile. Aldric raised his blessed sword toward the heavens.
Branor, however, simply stared at the sea of helmets and shields.
Thousands.
Perhaps tens of thousands once the columns of recruits marched through the main gates.
Only then did he understand the scale of the tragedy.
This was no longer a hunt for one man.
They were creating an all-out war...
And no one in that kingdom had the slightest intention of stopping it.
On one of the balconies of the royal residences, several aristocrats watched the spectacle with detached coldness.
"Do they really believe thousands of men will be enough to kill him?" one of them murmured, draining his cup.
Another nobleman answered without taking his eyes off the crowd.
"That is irrelevant."
"How is that irrelevant?"
The noble smiled bitterly.
"As long as those people believe it is possible, they will keep marching and obeying without question."
Below, on the platform, Leonardo drew his radiant sword and pointed it toward the heavens.
"Today, the new crusade begins!" he roared. "To purge evil from the earth once and for all!"
Thousands of steel blades rose simultaneously, reflecting the brilliance of the sun.
The battle cry tore through the air above the capital.
And that very afternoon, the first vanguards of the great host began passing through the gates onto the northern roads.
The great crusade had begun.
But not a single one of the thousands of men making up that column truly knew what kind of horror they were about to collide with.