Chapter 69: Chapter 69
How was this even possible? Mao wondered, trying not to focus on the vivid pain he was feeling, for he didn’t mind the pain as much as the fact that he let his guards down and walked straight into a trap.
He was shocked, but mostly furious, at himself, and at the bastards who tricked him, and while nothing but a thin sheen of ice appeared on his exterior, the cold was spreading inside him, reaching his every organ and nearly turning it into an ice block if it wasn’t for the divine blessing he carried inside of him which allowed his body to resist the vicious and silent assault, his eyeballs were immobilized inside their sockets, his blood was hardly keeping it warmth, and his lungs felt as if they were being ripped from within.
Glaring at the demoness who was looking back at him with a mixture of fierceness and tiredness, Mao couldn’t help but notice the color of her Irises, she was no ordinary demoness, he thought, she must be of the purest demons to have such dark red irises, which explained how was she able to freeze him in his place.
Swallowing his pain, Mao forced his eyes to move, causing them to bleed, just so he can look at the human who was, young, in a royal armor, but what caught his attention was the way the man was pressing his lips together, his face expression indicating that he was holding his breath while watching over Mao carefully with his smart and calculative blue orbs, as if his piercing gaze saw and understood more than the shell of skin and metal.
Feeling his heart tremble at the intensity of both gazes, Mao cursed himself before closing his eyes, focusing back on the moment, the man was holding his breath, why? Could it be the air around them? He wondered, never for a second abandoning his attempts to break out of the painful icy grip, it was a believable theory, the demoness must have mixed her magic with the air around her somehow, the dark magic then seeped inside of him and froze his internal organs, it was a plan worth the applause, to play dead and lure the ascendants out of their hideout.
A plan that only dogs would rally on, and to him they were nothing but dogs that betrayed their masters, they disgusted him, but that didn’t prevent him from admitting that they outsmarted him.
"What are you standing there for? " both Rima and Henry closed their eyes again once they heard the sound of an approaching figure, holding their breaths in anticipation and worry, Rima had the man in front of them immobilized as her magic seeped with the air to his body and reached his every cell, even his tongue was his frozen, but the alarming part was that the man was still alive and resisting somehow, she could feel her magic being pushed and fought out of his system, he was not a God as he didn’t look like one, nor did he detect the dark energy in the air which they used to hide their lives, but he was no ordinary man, and the rest were probably the same as him, which meant they were again in a tight situation.
“They are dead alright, we should head back and leave the cleaning to the newborns, do you think ten men can clean this mess before sunset?!" the new comer asked while kicking one of the bodies a few times to emphasize his earlier statement, luckily, he was really dead.
"Hey Mao? Are you listening?" the man was getting closer, the thought rang alarmingly in Rima’s head, making her gulp secretly, she was using her magic on the first man who was still resisting her attacks, it would be too much, too exhausting for her already exhausted self to freeze another enemy, especially if he was going to keep resisting like the so called Mao, but what other choice did she have? The man was nearing them, once he finds out what was happening, he would warn the others and their plan would fail, she had to fight them both, her, but was she able to with the little to no strength she had left?
The secret gulp however wasn't a secret to the man holding her securely in his arms, not needing any words, he understood her distress and the reason behind it, earlier, he had instructed the soldiers to return to the ships and hide in the darkness, leaving behind only few troops formed majorly by shadow demons, who, using their magic, concealed all signs of life, the thought of that was born when the golden forest was hiding the shooters of death, reminding him with the dark forest and the creatures lurking in it shadows, and how it felt like death, which was related to the dark energy they carried, using it to create an illusion while other’s faked death, the ice demons on the other hand focused on blending their magic with the surrounding air, the air that would seep inside a one's body till his bone and kill them silently, it was a risky plan since Henry did not know what were they facing, but it was their only chance, fake death until their invisible enemies showed themselves.
"Hey Mao, what is it?" the other man asked suspiciously while stepping closer to Mao, noting that he was too quiet, their commander was never the man with many words but this was something was definitely off about him, his body was also stiff, and even though the commander was a paranoid man, his senses and intuition were the sharpest, seeing him stand that way in front of the two intertwined bodies couldn’t be considered as normal.
"Did you find anything?" hearing his comrade’s voice right behind him, Mao gathered all his strength and will power only to have it released it in a faint low growl, bringing his comrade’s steps to a skeptical halt as his suspicions turned into caution, taking the remaining step, he placed his hand on Mao’s shoulder planning to turn him around and ask him, but all what met him was the painful paralyzing cold.
Before the ascendent could register what happened, Henry shot up standing, using all his strength to push his body forward in an almost unhuman speed, with his sword unsheathed, he stabbed the second man right in the heart, pushing the sword in with all his might until it came out of the man’s back.
"Charge" Henry’s voice roared like thunder invading the shores, giving the soldiers the sign they were waiting for, Henry feared that there might be some men left behind to cover the scouts backs, but with the man approaching them and Rima’s powers being drained, he had to reveal himself and so did the rest of the soldiers.
Hopefully the shadows will still cover them from the further eyes while they deal with the closer ones, he hoped, his ears catching the screaming, growling, shuffling, clicking, and groaning, and without looking, he knew the battle was raging, and just like they trusted him, he trusted them in handling the rest of the men while he focus on the two in front of him.
What he didn’t know though, was that even when his soldiers had the numbers to their favor, with over a thousand human and demon against nighty of the others, and even when the ascendants were taken by surprise at first when the supposed to be dead soldiers raised at once and charged at them like a furious flood, the ascendants were not a prey to be easily taken down, if anything, they were the exact opposite.
Focusing on the mans in front on him, Henry’s eyes widened as he looked at the evil, bloodied smirk on the his face, one which made the young king want to retreat back with how vicious and dangerous it was, because even with a sword in his heart, the man still stood and looked as if the sword piercing his ribcage was nothing but a tiny needle, once the confusion and surprise were gone, he used his free hand to grab the part of the sword which wasn’t buried inside his chest, and with one move, broke it in half.
Unable to keep his balance, Henry fell back harshly, a dull pain erupted in his lower back but he chose to ignore it as he quickly stood up, his mind running miles, trying to understand what just happened and what to do, from his peripheral vision, he caught a glimpse of another sword by his side, grabbing it while the man was looking at him with a crazed bloodthirsty eyes, his hand still working on pulling out the broken blade out of his chest slowly.
Henry felt a new wave of horror washing over him as he watched the huge wound closing slowly, the healing was slow yet visible as the bleeding stopped and the wound shrank leaving behind a pale scar.
“Surprise, surprise!” the ascendent said with an evil smirk once he saw Henry’s expression, not that he could blame the silly human, the healing process was a magnificent sight, even demons didn’t heal as fast as them, “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”
Seeing the way the human stood, who was obviously a royal, made the ascendent bloodthirst rise, he loved the way the human, even if not showing it, was afraid, trying to find a way out as if he was a trapped animal, it was fun, amusing, and very satisfying, something he wanted to enjoy a bit more.
“I would move aside if I were you!” hearing those words, Henry frowned, confused with what the man meant, his confusion however didn’t last long as he saw a spear flying towards him.