“Why are we running!?” Nivia shouted but Aedan did not slow down for even a moment. This was the third time she asked since Aedan suddenly scooped Aera into his arms and started running without an explanation. Aera was unconscious in Aedan’s arms as he doused her with a speck of potent sleeping dust. He gave no warning when he put her to sleep. It had caused the two Fae to gasp in confusion and horror but Aedan paid no mind to their inquiries.

They were running the top of a hill range, festered with all sorts of wild plants and short trees. The path wasn’t a smooth one and any misstep would mean their death or at the very least, a few broken bones that would leave them crippled. Yet, Aedan ran without slowing down. He was already running considerably slow as he was carrying Aera in his arms and if he ran too fast, Nivia and Lilian would lose sight of him.

“Aedan, dearie, I would appreciate it if you just tell us,” Lilian implored as she struggled to keep up with Aedan and her breaths. Her stamina would be the worst among them if her level’s assistance wasn’t taken into account.

“Shut up and just keep running if you don’t want to be left behind!” Aedan yelled back at their inquisitiveness.

Nivia deepened her scowl that was always there for Aedan.

However, Lilian frowned. “I understand,” she said and turned to Nivia who was running by her side. “Nivia, just focus on running.”

“Now you’re on his side?” Nivia questioned in disbelief.

“Since when’s the last time you heard him raise his voice no matter how hard you two bickered?”

“We don’t bicker! We—”

A dreadful feeling washed over Nivia and Lilian as they heard the wails of the Spirits. Shivers went down both their spines.

“What the hell was that?” Nivia asked with a trembling tone.

“Just keep running,” Aedan retorted firmly.

“Wait!” Lilian shouted and came to a stop.

Aedan, perhaps sensing a worthwhile intent in her voice, obliged her sudden request.

Nivia stopped running as well.

Lilian did not answer Aedan’s inquiring gaze and instead, began a chant.

Aedan raised his brows when he heard the chant. “A Familiar summoning...”

“Way better than your idea of running on foot,” Nivia grumbled as she was catching her breaths.

“Be quick about it, Lilian,” Aedan urged. “They’re catching up.”

After Lilian finished her chant, a glowing circle of magic inscription appeared. Thousands of glitters gathered inside the circle, slowly moulding into a form of a horse-like creature. It had six legs instead of four. It had the antlers of a buck. It had a pair of tusks like a mammoth.

“What in the Spirit’s name is this?” Nivia asked.

“A Kiral,” Aedan answered in place of Lilian who fell to her knees after the summoning.

The Kiral was twice the size of the average horse. It could fit more than two people on its back. Nivia got on to the Kiral first and Aedan passed Aera into Nivia’s arms. He then helped the weakly Lilian onto the Kiral but not before giving her a kiss on her forehead. Nivia stared at him in shock and Lilian had the same expression but it quickly turned into a smirk of triumph.

“Think nothing of it,” Aedan said.

“Can’t do that, dearie,” Lilian smiled coyly but it turned worried. “Will you be alright?”

“I can’t protect all of us, only one. Yes, I’ll be fine if I’m by myself. Now go. I’ll stop your pursuers.”

“W-wait. He’s not coming with us?” Nivia asked but she was ignored.

“Be safe, Aedan,” Lilian nodded at Aedan. “Be seeing you.”

“Be seeing you too, Lily.”

Lilian tittered. There was a tinge of sorrow in her eyes but she wiped it off before it could draw a tear from her eyes. As soon as they said their goodbyes, the Kiral reared before taking into a sprint that put even the fastest predator beast to shame.

Not ten minutes had gone by when the sounds of his pursuers entered his earshot. He had felt their bloodthirst long before he could smell or hear them. Whoever or whatever was hunting him and his companions, they weren’t just some common monsters or outlaws. He was familiar with this thirst, this feeling. He wished he was wrong but now that they were close, he wasn’t.

The pursuers made themselves known as they emerged from the distance. They were an array of individuals from nearly all walks of life. There was even an Umbrum, a Dwarrow, an Augur, a Beast-kin, and so many more. There were nearly a dozen people. They were all enthralled with a spell by someone Aedan couldn’t discern.

The Beast-kin was the fastest in the group. He was currently the one closest to Aedan. He ran with all four of his limbs. There was intelligence in his eyes but not a trace of control. He had a feral gaze that was literally bloodshot. Upon closer inspection, the Beast-kin was infused with some augmentation spell that increased his stats in exchange for his life.

“Mindless pawns...” Aedan mused as he took out a crescent-shaped blade. He threw the blade at the Beast-kin, who dodged it by leaping over the spinning blade. However, Aedan willed the blade to return as the Beast-kin landed on the ground. The blade finely sliced through the Beast-kin in half and returned to Aedan’s hand.

The Umbrum saw the deft skills of his mark who killed his compeer with. The Umbrum stopped at a distance and began chanting a spell, a vast fireball appeared overhead. The other individuals saw what the Umbrum witnessed but they didn’t stop and kept rushing at Aedan.

The next person that came within Aedan’s range was a tall human female who wielded a spear. She thrust with a lunge that carved out the ground where Aedan had stood. Aedan trapped the spear under his foot and slashed the human female’s throat open. His movement was so fast that she only knew what transpired after she felt the warm red liquid oozing out from her neck. Aedan kicked the body aside just as another Beast-kin lunged at him.

Aedan simply raised one arm and got the Beast-kin by his throat who flew into Aedan’s grasp. He simply clenched his hand tightly and crushed the Beast-kin’s throat. He then tossed the Beast-kin’s corpse at a charging Dwarrow that was twice the size of the average human. The gigantic Dwarrow battered the corpses aside with a flick of his arm. He drew the mace from his back and swung down at Aedan.

Aedan rolled aside as the mace created a shallow but vast crater while raising clouds of dust. The dwarrow immediately swung its mace again but Aedan backstepped from the barbed steel ball that was the tip of the mace. Using that moment, the Dwarrow brought mace around and threw it at Aedan. The Dragon-kin clicked his teeth and met the mace with his fist, shattering the steel object into fragments.

“Ow,” Aedan muttered dryly.

The Dwarrow stared and stood frozen in his place. In his augmented state, his strength was around the level of the mid-sixties but his mark fended off an attack from him like swatting a fly. The Dwarrow whimpered and turned to run but Aedan closed their distance in a blink of an eye. Gripping the Dwarrow by the head, he slammed it into the ground, deepening the crater and turning the Dwarrow’s head into a splatter.

The smell of the blood hit his nose and the memories of his old days came flushing in. His shoulders shuddered at those memories but he pulled himself out of the dark clouds just as the Umbrum mage finished his chant. The fireball was now the size of a naval ship.

“Fucking idiot...” Aedan muttered. He quickly picked up one of the pieces of fragments from the mace and threw it at the Umbrum. The fragment flew into the Umbrum’s face before he could unleash the spell. The fireball convulsed and exploded from the disturbance of its conjuration. The fire spread fast and wide, swallowing a radius of a quarter-mile. Aedan was faster and was further away than the fire’s reach by the explosion was stretched to its limits.

Aedan was about to heave a sigh of relief when his skin crawled from the sensation he had been feeling. He thought it came from the militia-like group but it came from one individual. A figure walked through the flames that engulfed the hilltop and were only slowly spreading from there. The figure was a man with dark veins and a good portion of his face was disfigured. Most curious of all, Aedan saw the name given by his Appraisal, Rayor.

“Where’s my daughter?” Rayor asked as he got within twenty feet from Aedan.

Aedan shrugged. “Not here,” he said.

“I don’t know what your relationship is with my daughter but she ain’t worth it. I’m on borrowed time, lad. I have always enjoyed a good fight but not right now.”

“You’re a Demon… but you can still talk and think like normal. The Covenant is really impressive.”

Rayor frowned. “How did you know that name?” he asked as he sharpened his gaze. “Who are you?”

“Someone who’s going to end your miserable life, Rayor.”

Rayor’s face twisted with anger. “I don’t have time for this. Since you knew about the Covenant, I can’t let you live.”

Aedan threw his hands up. “I’m so afraid,” he said, mockingly. “Maybe not?”

Rayor bellowed in rage and charged at Aedan as if he was fired from a bow. Aedan widened his eyes at Rayor’s unexpected speed. He raised his arms in defence but Rayor’s fist found his torso first. Aedan went sliding face-first across the ground.

“How about now? Are you truly afraid now?” Rayor sneered.

Aedan pushed himself to his feet, dusting his clothes off the dirt. “Well...” He stretched his neck. “You hit hard… and fast but that won’t be enough.”

Rayor grimaced and lunged like an arrow flying across the air.

With a rock he picked up as he was standing up, Aedan threw it at the charging Rayor. However, Rayor curved around the rock and continued speeding towards Aedan without slowing for even the slightest.

Aedan saw his fist coming but without his skills and spells, he couldn’t dodge it. The fist collided with his face and lifted him off his feet. He flew into the trees, breaking through the trunks before tumbling to the ground

“Fffuck!” The scream came from Rayor, whose knuckles were broken from that single punch. He could break iron and steel with his fist but he broke his own knuckles when he punched Aedan square in the jaws. “How… is this possible!? I’m supposed to be stronger than when I fought that bitch of a vixen!”

“Vixen?” The word caught Aedan’s fancy. Wiping his lips as if he had drawn blood, which he didn’t, Aedan got to his feet without a single wound or bruise.

“What the hell are you?” Rayor gasped in disbelief. Not only was his mark not dead but he was also without any injuries.

“The vixen you called a bitch, does she have five tails and a gaze filled with only precision and contempt towards you?”

“You know her?”

“I do but it seems like you do too. To quote you, I can’t let you live.”

“Arrogant twat!” Rayor roared and shot towards him with spikes growing all over his arm.

Aedan leaned aside and Rayor missed his punch. Aedan then trapped his arm and twisted it as far as he could. Blood spouted from the joints and a screech of agony erupted from Rayor’s mouth. Aedan didn’t with just a twist. He tore Rayor’s arm off his shoulder and the half-Demon howled agonizingly. Before his demonic energy could regenerate his arm, Aedan grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the ground. The force was so great that it wiped out the spreading flames from the Umbrum’s spell.

Rayor attempted to turn his remaining arm into a shape that could help his predicament but Aedan stomped on his remaining arm by the shoulder, crushing it. Rayor screamed but Aedan crushed his throat too with a punch.

“Erin can be a vixen… I can attest to that first hand. She can be a bitch. She was one to me, but know this… she’s a friend—” Aedan snarled at the mangled Rayor. “—I have few enough friends. I won't let it be fewer.”

Rayor lunged from where he lay, or at least he tried. Aedan headbutted him back to the ground. With the difference in their levels, Aedan’s physical strength was more than enough to handle Rayor. He was a Demon but only half. He had the ferocity and adaptiveness of a Demon but not their nigh-invincibility.

As Rayor kept regenerating, Aedan kept destroying. Rayor wasn’t a full-fledged Demon. His Mana wouldn’t last forever and Aedan had an abundance of stamina that allowed him to keep at it for days.

“Please stop! Stop!” Rayor started to beg at a certain point. His figure no longer had the resemblance of his former and it was not due to his transformation into a Demon. Aedan’s hands were completely dyed red and his face was smudged in just as much red.

“And why should I stop? You threatened and hurt an acquaintance of mine.”

“Please… enough...”

“You can still talk. Obviously, it ain’t enough. Come on, where’s all your ferocity back then? Let me guess, one more punch and that’s the end for you, isn’t it?”

“If you kill me… he’ll send someone stronger...”

“I’ll beat that someone into a pulp too, like what I’m doing to you now.”

“You… can’t… He’s a—”

Before Rayor could speak any further, his veins began turning glistening grey and his body shuddered violently. Aedan squinted his eyes and found something was lodged in his chest and that thing was releasing a glistening grey fluid into his veins.

“White Silver...” Aedan gasped in realization.

Aedan could do nothing but watch the most lethal poison in the world doing its atrocious wonder. It turned Rayor into a dry husk in a matter of seconds. As the wind blew, it carried him off as ashes.

Aedan finally heaved a sigh of relief but the relief was superficial. He cast his gaze at the sky. It was clear but he could see the dark clouds looming in the distance. He sighed again but of exasperation this time.

“Erin… What have you got yourself into?” he mused to himself.