***

Waterside Village.

"HAHA!" Avery's laughter echoed through the air, sending goosebumps down people's spines.

Without a sword or spear, Avery killed any soldier in the village who dared to stand against him. Both of Avery's hands were covered in a dense purplish aura, a dark magic capable of cutting through iron and stone.

One by one, the soldiers died horribly, heads chopped off or bodies sliced in half. However, Simon Bert, the head of Waterside Village, was not out of ideas.

He sent the Waterside soldiers back to fight Avery. Simon also ordered one of his soldiers to travel to two nearby cities, Lostharbor and Amberwood, for reinforcement.

While waiting for reinforcements, villagers were instructed not to leave their homes. Simon didn't want any civilians to become casualties in this little conflict.

Avery walked down the muddy, waterlogged village street. It was raining earlier this afternoon, although it is less heavy now.

Every time a soldier approached, Avery dodged their sword attacks and cut their bodies easily.

"HAHA! I love being human!" shouted Avery.

Just when he was at the intersection, Avery was again surrounded by a large number of soldiers. They came in full armor, carrying swords, and seemed to be shaking with fear.

50 soldiers gathered to hold Avery back, as well as to kill the young man. Avery stopped walking, glaring sarcastically at the soldiers surrounding him.

"Do you realize you cannot win against me?" asked Avery.

"We do not know who you are, but we will not allow you to continue killing the Waterside People!" insisted one of the soldiers.

"We will stop you right here."

"HAHA! That's really funny. Do you want to stop me? How powerful are you compared to the Sacred Knights?!" snapped Avery.

They fell silent. It was a comparison that was completely incomparable, in their opinion. The Sacred Knight was mighty; his abilities had defeated the Jommon Demon King in the Crimson Land.

"Your silence makes me sick!" growled Avery.

Avery's right hand stretched out, creating a purplish sphere spinning above his palm. There were other smaller orbs numbering in the hundreds from within the orb.

Avery pushed the purple orb upwards, letting it soar until it caught the attention of the entire army.

The orb burst, not in flames but exploding like a water balloon. The small spheres gathered earlier began to spread far and wide to every part of the village, causing confusion.

"What are you doing?" asked the soldier.

"What is important to you? My death or the villagers' safety?" asked Avery coldly.

BOOOM!

Explosions rang out everywhere in the village. Houses were on fire, villagers were screaming in pain, children were crying from fear and burns on their limbs.

All the soldiers besieging Avery were in shock, turning their bodies around and seeing the village scene that should be dark and quiet at night turned bright and noisy, full of cries of agony.

Not a few soldiers before Avery dropped their swords, galloping away to save their families. One soldier left, followed by another, Avery laughing loudly in satisfaction at the panicked sight of the humans.

Avery strode back around the village, walking alone as the houses burned and the bodies of the villagers lay in the streets.

Avery even had to kick some of the corpses to get them out of his way. It was a sight that pleased Avery, who was still possessed by the spirit of Jommon.

Avery arrived at the Geste family home. Like the other houses, it was burnt to the ground, with Sigor seemingly trying to extinguish the remaining flames while Joyce was helping his injured mother.

Avery grabbed Sigor by the neck in one quick leap forward, causing the middle-aged man to gasp in shock. He turned pale as Avery carried him far away, high into the sky.

"Wh-What the—"

"You insulted me enough this time. Do you even know who I am?!" Avery insisted, interrupting Sigor's words.

"Please... forgive me, Mr. Avery," Sigor pleaded, his voice turning soft as Avery tightened the choke on Sigor's neck.

Avery fell silent, staring solemnly into Sigor's face with a heart blazing with resentment. What had previously been done to Avery, Jommon could see it, as if it too was alive and seeing everything.

"Any human who wishes that always dies at my hands!" Avery explained.

He released the choke hold on Sigor's neck, sending the middle-aged man falling from the sky into his cornfield.

The high altitude caused Sigor's body to fall apart when he hit the ground, and Joyce and Hilda screamed for him when they saw his gruesome death.

Joyce was getting more and more upset. He picked up his pitchfork and prepared to attack Avery. Avery was still hovering in the sky, staring down with blackened eyes.

With a swift, swooping move, Avery swung his hand and cut the pitchfork Joyce was holding, killing Joyce by splitting the man's body into two pieces.

Avery landed roughly, creating a strong gust of wind that blew away Hilda, who was sprawled on the muddy ground with her body wounded.

Slow steps could be heard in the area as Avery's legs lifted up to approach Hilda. A frightened Hilda tried to escape, crawling away from Avery.

But Avery was faster than Hilda expected. Avery's right hand grabbed Hilda's long, flowing hair, and tears began to stream down her face, which was pretty dirty from the muddy ground.

"You did Avery a favor. You're a good woman," Avery replied.

He blew his breath ahead, letting Hilda suck in the same breath as Avery. Instantly, Hilda's throat felt strangled, like something was blocking her breathing path.

Hilda died suffocated, face down on the ground. Avery stood up, looked to the side, and saw that the flames were getting bigger, burning many houses and buildings in the area.

"It's time for me to bring more misery elsewhere!" declared Avery.

Avery began to float in the sky with Jommon's magic ability. However, an arrow was surprisingly stuck in Avery's body when he was about to fly away from Waterside.

"AKH!"

The arrow hit the back, an arrow with white feathers. Avery broke the arrow and looked at the object closely.

"An oak wood arrow with white goose feathers? Damn you, Elf!" shouted Avery.

The arrow's impact spiked with holy spells, and the magic-neutralizing liquid was Jommon's loss of control over Avery's body. Avery screamed loudly, his body burning with broken bones as his body was about to break free from Jommon's control.

Jommon was defeated by the spell. He no longer controlled Avery, and the young man fell to the ground unconscious.

Deep in the forest, someone was watching Avery. A man with white skin and hair, shirtless and wearing pants made of fine white cloth.

One thing that identified them was their long, pointed earlobes, with youthful faces despite being hundreds of years old.

"I didn't expect the damage to be this devastating," expressed the man, lowering his bow.

"If we leave it too long, it will destroy humans and become invincible. That's a worse threat than Jommon itself," chimed in a woman, staring ahead as the village of Waterside was besieged by the ever-burning flames.

A woman with a silver crown adorned with flowers and coiled tree roots walked over, gazing at Waterside through her ranged vision.

The woman could confirm one thing from this incident: Waterside would no longer exist; this place would only be a memory for humans.

"He has been released from Jommon's control. Take him with us to Alfheimr."