Aristotle couldn't fight one-on-one, the byzantine explosive that he used in the church was just a mere prototype, he still hadn’t mass produced it or even announced It to the world, but it looked as though he used it at the wrong purpose.

But nonetheless Aristotle was still determined to fight, he looked at the eyes of his opponents and noticed something unusual, their eyes weren’t normal, their eyes were pitch black, all of them, the eyes of all the townspeople, excluding Naoki and the Archbishop.

This… is something…

He looked more closely to make sure he wasn’t seeing things and what he saw was right, their eyes were like a cloud darkness covering the light in the eyes. He already knew they were being controlled but he hadn’t noticed that their eyes where that black, did it just happen recently?

“Kill that heretic, traitorous hero! Don’t let him see the light once more for he has already been covered by the darkness, the sworn enemy of her goddess Vita!”

The Archbishop announced and ordered the townspeople to attack Aristotle, the irony that in reality the Archbishop and the townspeople were actually the one that were actually covered in darkness.

As soon as the Archbishop ordered the townspeople, they followed his orders like mindless beasts, they immediately rushed at Aristotle like a cheetah hunting a deer, both were fast. But Aristotle was a lucky one, Aristotle placed all of his stats on his Agility and Dexterity, since he wasn't the one that like combat that much.

His plan was just on the spot but what he needed to do was, to evade them long enough so that they’ll be exhausted, if they can. Aristotle took the gamble since it was his only choice, but can he actually do it? 100+ armed townspeople charged at him, it was obvious that the battle would only last less than a minute, but Aristotle didn’t surrender.

He waited for the Townspeople to get near him and used his sense and guessed at the right spots and maneuvers to escape, he took a deep breath and squinted his eyes at the charging townspeople and waited, like a hunter waiting for his prey.

Aristotle soon held his breath whilst in his defensive stance and relied on his senses, smell and hearing, he couldn’t use his eyes, if Psychology taught him something, its that the human eyes get distracted very quickly even at the slightest hazards.

He soon trusted his instincts and senses and only moved when his body gave the signal, his eyes were closed shut, the armed townspeople were charging at him all together, little did they know that the way they yelled and the way they smelled was giving Aristotle a slight chance to survive.

[Use skill: Foresight]!]

Aristotle casted in his mind, it would support his senses and movements giving Aristotle another advantage.

Then he heard their yells coming closer and becoming louder, he smelled the rust of their weapons and the sweat of the townspeople, as he sensed that, Aristotle made his move.

The first wave, using his agility and reflexes, evaded, whilst kicking down two people on the ground, he then turned around as he sensed another one coming from behind, he heard his yell, a yell filled with desperation, like the townspeople were forced to do something they didn’t want.

Aristotle hastily turned around and made his hand into a spear like weapon, 4 fingers were straight whilst the thumb was curved at the thumb and thrusted it at the yelling townspeople’s neck, silencing him in an instant, Aristotle didn’t know if he was dead or not, he just went silent.

He was still vigilant and attentive of what his surroundings were, he couldn’t allot any time for an enemy, if he dies, he dies, if he lives, he lives. His eyes where still closed and relied on his senses if he was just a millisecond late, he would get injured or even die.

On the other hand, the Archbishop watched as he saw Aristotle evade all of the attacks that were thrown at him with no signs of exhaustion from him, his eyes were closed and yet he was still evading and defeating the armed townspeople, not even a scratch reached Aristotle’s skin, he was like a monster in the Archbishop’s eyes.

“K-kill him Already! You outnumber and you have weapons! How can you lose!”

The Archbishop yelled at the armed townspeople, before hearing a faint but a ghastly voice whisper on his ear.

Hurry up… I sense another one…

The Archbishop trembled in fear and was unable to move nor answer in a few seconds, but he still complied, like a puppet he couldn’t disobey his puppeteer’s orders, like a slave that can’t disobey his master.

“Y-y-yes milord…”

He tried to regained his composure and yelled at the armed townspeople.

“I-is that how you avenge our goddess, Vita! Your giving that heretic time to avoid Vita’s Wrath and Justice!”

Aristotle on the other hand may look like he could still go for an hour but inside his mind, he’s fatigue was slowly catching up with him and it was bad, they kept lunging and attacking him nonstop, just more and his body would collapse resulting to him getting stabbed and then dying.

Fuck, I can’t keep up, if only I requested those goddamn Spartans for training, my stamina could still be favorable.

He was already angered by the enemies that were attacking him, his memories also added up, that goddamn militaristic state. But for emotions to be so riled up in the middle of combat was no good, he was caught off guard, by none other than his former ally, Naoki.

Which casted a strong type of wind magic, the force and its speeds pushed Aristotle from his ground and made him fly over to a nearby wooden house to where he again was concussed, from his view point his surroundings again blurred.

Then slowly he saw the armed townspeople creep up to his defenseless self, the townspeople’s glares, it was nothing more than darkness in their eyes, Aristotle who was now unable to move because of the way he hit the wooden wall.

“Come at me! I got more fire magic inside me!”

Aristotle shouted to the creeping townspeople, who seemed to have stopped on their tracks as they heard his warning, obviously this was fake, it was only a mere prototype a Byzantine Fire grenade, it exceeded Aristotle’s expectations and wanted more, but he was already cleared out of it on his inventory.

Aristotle looked at the townspeople’s faces and eyes and saw, Fear, fear was in their eyes, just like the scream he heard from a man earlier, they are only forced to do what they have been ordered to do, it’s not like they wanted to do it.

But can he take them out of the hypnosis? if so, then he might be able to save both a number of townspeople and Naoki, but it’s a gamble, he didn't have anything to try and counter that entity’s hypnosis, it seemed very powerful.

On the other side, the Archbishop watched as his hypnotized humans stopped attacking Aristotle for some unknown reason, he became frustrated and hotheaded and ordered to continue their attack and not stop until he was dead.

“Attack! Retribution! He has destroyed a sacred ground from goddess Vita!”

He ranted and commanded his men, to which they immediately followed, but little did he knew, Aristotle had a counter for them, he knew that the townspeople and Naoki weren’t completely mindless beings just yet, but they still had their conscience intact, if he was to influence their conscience, he might be stop them from following his commands.

“Alright! Come at me! If you come near me, I’ll show you the true might of the mighty deity, Byzantium! A Deity that wields the power of chaos and destruction more powerful than your mere goddess Vita!”

Aristotle used a simple, ‘more powerful than yours move’ they were normal townspeople, they were religious and firm believers, yet they are still townspeople, they don’t know anything about war, history or maybe basic education, if he could just use his Byzantine grenade as a goad, it will only drive fear into their hearts and minds, they believed that Vita is the most powerful god, but what if there is someone more powerful?

“You said that that is Vita’s sacred ground! Protected by the goddess’s blessings herself! Yet why did it burn into ashes?! Your goddess is no match to Byzantium! You are no more than mere vermin in his eyes! He can exterminate you and your goddess with ease!”

He randomly made a conclusion by what the archbishop said earlier and tried using it for persuasion, it was successful.

“Goddess Vita blessed you?! That is nothing more than the tears of Byzantium's enemies and spit of his almighty, Byzantium!”

He spurred utter nonsense but for the commoners and townspeople eyes, they believed it like it was actually true, people that were illiterate were easy to manipulate Afterall. His oratory and lying skills persuade the mind-controlled townspeople with ease, but the Archbishop didn’t buy it, he knew he was lying.

“he is lying! Are you believing that a deity is more powerful than our goddess Vita! Don’t be ridiculous!”

The Archbishop yelled, but to no avail, Aristotle had already driven a drill into the townspeople minds, but it won’t last too long, once their minds get fully controlled or the hypnosis's power increased by that entity, it was over for him.

Damnit, if that blonde hair girl heard me, she’ll cry in the corner again.

Aristotle still couldn’t freely move as his movement was still restricted and his vision blurry, whether he wanted to or not he couldn’t run.

“Idiots! Attack him! Goddess Vita is the Goddess of Life, a mere deity such as that ‘Byzantum’ will die under her wrath!” the Archbishop continued to yell.

Shit! hopefully they won’t believe too quickly.

“Look! He doesn’t have anything under than bottles of water under his coat! he is no more than a Liar!”

Shit!

Arisotle was immediately found out, who knew not buttoning your coat will lead to your death, the townspeople soon looked under his coat and saw nothing under than bottles filled with a blue liquid, probably water.

As soon as they noticed it, they immediately charged at Aristotle aiming their weapon’s tip at his body, then a townsman suddenly lunged at him with a makeshift spear at him, with intense killing intent it was as if he was an entirely different person, as he was about to pierce Aristotle’s body he missed by a centimeter and immediately collapsed and fell on the dirt ground.

Both parties soon looked at each other with confused glares, before hearing the sound of a chordophone, it was a string instrument, it was neither a harp, guitar, banjo, etc. but it was a stringed-instrument for sure, Aristotle knew what it was just by the sound.

“What is up, Everybody! It Ya boy, the War Bard, ready for another round!”

A sudden voice announced, it was youthful and young, like a teenager, before in the distance he saw a man clad in a violet suit and was holding a guitar of some sorts, he walked casually near the two parties before the man strummed his guitar in a loose, quiet, and relaxed motion.

As he finished his strumming, the townspeople's faces immediately looked tired and collapsed to the ground like nothing, immediately forgetting that there was a fight and fell asleep like a tired child that came back from school.

After that, the violet suited man walked in front of Aristotle's weakened body like some sort of shield that protected him, a Hero.

Aristotle was bewildered with what happened and asked the strange and young man.

“Who are you, good sir?”

The violet suited man rotated his head to the side and looked at Aristotle and giving a smirk, before saying:

“I’m the War Bard.”