Chapter 77: Chapter 77

Could it be someone in the army? Henry thought looking around him, but if that was the case, then why didn’t they sense it before, could it be the place? Were the Gods playing some tricks on them, turning them on each other the way they did thousands of years ago, but before he could test his theory, a demon pointed at something lying on the crystal floor.

Someone! Henry looked closely, a person lying in a pool of blood, he couldn’t see the person clearly but the silver locks were not easy to miss.

Indeed, it was hard to miss! So how did they miss it the first time they walked into the whole, it almost felt as if the body was hidden behind a curtain which blocked their visions, and the only way to see what was behind it and make it vanish was by realizing that something was there.

“It is a woman!” Andrea informed Henry, knowing that the human king wasn’t able to see as good as a demon could, “She is dead, her throat is slit open, her hair is silver and her skin is pale, she looks almost identical to ...”

“To the hybrid!” Henry finished her words, remembering the most beautiful girl his eyes saw during his coronation party, with her silver locks and pure eyes, warm smile and worried gaze, looking like a falling Goddess who came to sneak a peek at the mortals’ world.

Henry tried to not think about the matter of his half sister much, telling himself that it was an obligation, a necessity, what was one life next to millions, even if they had the same father, she wasn’t truly family, but at that second, seeing a woman who looked just like her laying in a pool of blood, her blood, he couldn’t help but imagine the same girl, who was so young, beautiful, and innocent, lying dead as well, even when he knew that Eren did spare her life, and he couldn’t help but feel the painful tug of guilt, realizing she wasn’t such a stranger after all.

"There are more!”

"Eighteen, there are eighteen different smells, eighteen bodies, and they are all…” the demoness who was speaking didn’t get to finish her words, instead, a pained groan left her lips before she fell on the ground, motionless!

Henry stared at the demoness with wide eyes as blood poured down of her, forming a pool around her, not understanding how did it all happen, she was alive not a second ago! What scared him the most was the fact that it happened right in front of his eyes and yet he was still unable to see it.

Right between his feet, a small bloodied mass landed out of the blue, and it took him a second to realize what it really was, making him almost gag.

A heart, the heart of the demoness!

Everyone gasped in panic, they didn't even have time to understand what happened as more hearts were thrown at them with more bodies hitting the crystal floor, one after the other, something fast and invisible was attacking them, too fast even for the demons’ eyes, Henry kept on looking everywhere, running his eyes here and there trying to locate the source of the attack, his grip tightening on his sword, ready to fight, not knowing that death was standing right in front of him.

What Henry felt was a mere pressure on his chest, as if something was pushing through his armor, and by the time he realized it, the discomfort was turning into a vivid pain as he felt his skin being ripped and the pressure intensify on his chest.

He didn’t realize it fast enough, Henry thought as he tried to take a step back before the one attacking him manages to rip his heart out, but it wasn’t fast enough, and in his daze, Henry saw short silver locks and evil eyes, clouded by madness and bloodthirst.

A God! Henry thought, his mind showing him everything in slow motion, the evil sadistic smile, the swaying of the silver locks, the glint of insanity in the eyes, and the lips saying something, telling him something, putting together the silent letters, Henry read the words “Die, mutt!”

What happened next was blurry as Henry’s mind froze at those two words, but he saw something dark and big, coming between him and the reincarnated evil, throwing it away and filling Henry’s vision.

At first Henry thought it was death, that the darkness he was seeing was his eyes losing light and life, but the pain on his behind made said otherwise, making him focus on the thing in front of him, the scariest creature he ever saw, making it impossible to believe that he was actually saved by it.

Henry eyed the creature with a dropped jaw, the...thing was standing protectively in front of him, like the giant he was, it then turned his head and gave him a glance over it shoulder with those terrifying red eyes of his.

"Close that up, You don't know what might get in there!" The creature said in his deep animalistic voice, it was hard to recognize the words in the middle of the growls and gargles, but Henry did recognize, not just the words, but the accent and the faint humanoid tone in them...

"My lord..." Andrea screamed feeling both happy and relieved, unlike anyone else in the castle, she knew who the monster was, for he had mind-linked her a few minutes ago to ask about their whereabouts, location, and state, she didn’t expect him to look the way he did same as everyone, but never the less, she recognized him.

"Eren..?! " Henry whispered, still not believing that this creature is the shadows’ lord who stayed behind them in the sea.

"Surprise, surprise!" Eren said sarcastically, not bothered by Henry’s shocked, almost horrified eyes for he had expected his reaction, he knew he looked different, after the things he went through in the depths of the forbidden sea.

"You...look different!" Henry eyed the creature in front of him, trying to find the slightest resemblance between it and the Eren he knew, but failing to find any, the creature was a giant to biggin with, with a bigger, larger, and bulkier build, covered completely with black fur with a silver shine, his ‘hands’ almost as big as a shield, with long, sharp, and dark claws, the upper half of his face resembled that of a wolf’s, but instead of a snout, his mouth was nothing but a large cut going from one ear to the other, revealing a set of threatening canines that seemed able to munch through steel, his eyes red slits surrounded by darkness, but the most shocking part to Henry, was the large leather wings and tail on his back.

“You have a tail!” he whispered, his voice a mixture of disbelief and sarcasm, which only earned him an annoyed growl.

"We have no time, You have no time, I'll handle things here, you go to her" Eren spoke urgently, unlike everyone else, he was able to see the silver haired man who was cutting their hearts earlier, and even though he managed to rip him off Henry and throw him across the hall, the bastard was back on his feet, preparing for his next attack, He must be a God, Eren thought, his thoughts drifting back to a very beautiful silver haired girl whom he missed very much...

"But..."

"No buts, trust me when I say this, Henry, nothing will matter if she's gone, not the differences, not the disagreements, not the anger, not even victory. Nothing, whatever it is that happened between you two, find a way to work it out with her before it is too late, because once it is, nothing in the world can ease the pain of regret, This....is something I know very well..."

"But she used my friends as scapegoats... "

"Just like you did with me you mean?!" Eren gave Henry a pointed look, hoping to knock some sense into him, he didn't know why was he doing that, urging him to go to the woman he so obviously loved, he just…felt compelled to do so, to avoid another heartbreak even if it wasn't his this time, or maybe he actually stopped looking at the two morons as frenemies and instead saw them as friends.

"I'll handle things here, you are kind of useless anyway... now Go!" Eren growled his last words before charging toward something invisible, colliding with it loudly and roughly, a furious growl leaving his chest, echoing in the empty hall like thunder, he was moving so fast it was hard to keep up but Henry's keen eyes read through his moves and saw what he was doing, he was trying to keep the invisible attacker away from the huge recipient, but why? what was in.... Henry's eyes widened at the sudden realization, this was not a recipient as he thought, but the creation energy's shrine, the one mentioned by the symbols, their main goal, it was right there and the invisible enemy was trying to protect it, or get it...

Henry thought for a while, taking a deep breath he gave the army his last order, seeing the nod given by Eren he knew it was right, he entrusted this last mission to his soldiers before running out of the castle and back into the forest...