Chapter 7: Danger again?

I decided to get in line and get one sweet honey cake for myself. It was hot but tasty. As I took a bite out of it, my mouth was filled with sweet honey. 

!!!

As I was busy savoring the sweet taste, I sensed something that shouldn't be inside a town like this.

It was demonic energy, something that could only be felt from a demon. It was impossible for a demon to exist inside a town like this. Every town in the Empire was protected by the church's priests and no demonic energy should be able to enter here.

I dropped the cake I was eating and made a run towards the source of the demonic energy. The more time one spends fighting demons, the more sensitive he becomes to demonic energy. 

The second regiment had experience in fighting all kinds of opponents. They were basically the ace of the Empire. Yet they were treated like rubbish.

As I jumped from one roof to another, the demonic energy seemed to be coming closer. As I came to the site, the demonic energy was coming from a building. Its banner read 'Sakura's Alchemy'.

My eyes widened as I saw the banner. I dropped down to the streets. It was already surprising enough that the streets were totally empty. There were no humans in sight.

!!!

"It disappeared?"

The demonic energy that I was feeling from inside the alchemy shop disappeared into thin air. I barged into the shop with my sword unsheathed and carefully checked the lobby. There was nothing. No signs of fighting or mana.

I went to the door behind the counter where I was smelling blood from. I placed my hand on the door to check for any traps. After confirming there wasn't any, I slowly opened the door. 

Blood. There was blood. Blood of just one person. I checked around the room, it seemed more like a workshop. There were vials lying around. I closed my eyes and spread my mana through the entire room and found some traces of demonic energy.

My eyes narrowed as I put my hands into my subspace pocket and brought out a scroll. 

Tch

"Why must I use this?"

I got this scroll from someone who I didn't want to meet again. I didn't think there would be a time I would be using this.

As I placed the scroll on the ground, I bit my finger and dripped some blood on it. As the scroll soaked in my blood, a crimson red magic circle appeared on it. I stretched both of my hands to the sides and started to suck in the surrounding demonic energy. As it started to gather on my hand, I put it on the scroll. 

As the scroll's magic circle started to glow red, it started to fold itself taking the shape of a crane. Soon it started to flap its wings on its own. As the crane flew outside, I followed behind it. 

I followed the crane all the way through the city to a nearby graveyard. As it reached near the graveyard, it burnt itself. The sun was already set by then. It was dark everywhere except the few torches that illuminated some tombstones.

"So this is where the owner of the demonic energy is?"

I unsheathed my sword and started walking inside the graveyard. The atmosphere was heavy with demonic energy. How could a place like this exist inside a town? 

"Looking for someone, handsome?"

As I looked back towards the voice, I saw a beautiful red haired woman with a tight red vest and black pants. Her red eyes seemed like they could enchant any man.

"I am looking for someone called Sakura"

"Fufufu, looking for another woman while I am here?"

As her hands touched my chest and eyes looked into mine, I could feel a strange sensation. 

Clang

I knew it. She was trying to enchant me. As I took a step backwards from our clash, she did the same. Just when I aimed my sword for her neck when she tried to enchant me, she blocked it with her twin daggers. She had quite the reaction speed.

"Why would you even want to hurt me~?"

Her eyes were again aimed for mine. Something was wrong with her eyes and my intuition kept screaming to me about it. As I shook off all the other thoughts, I dashed towards her with my sword only for it to be dodged by her.

"Quite hasty now are we?"

This time she took the initiative and ran at me with an incredible speed with her daggers. Just when she was in my strike range, I started swinging my sword. 

!!!

She then suddenly vanished. I could feel that she's gonna appear from behind me. I jumped and rotated my body backwards, avoiding the woman's daggers in the process. She quickly moved her head back as she felt my sword aimed at her head.

We again took a step backwards. 

"What!!?" 

As she touched her nose bridge, blood seemed to flow out. Seems my previous slash worked.

"You!!"

Why do every woman have the same reaction when something happens to their face? 

I didn't want to listen to that woman. She sounded disgusting. Let's finish this quickly. I poured mana into my sword as it ignited with red fire.

I could see visible confusion on the woman's face.

With my sword over my head, I again dashed towards her and aimed my swords at her neck. She tried to block it with her daggers but it was pointless. My sword was way heavier than it seemed. With the extra force that my mana gave me, I easily broke through her defense, giving her a deep cut.

As she knelt in pain, I put my sword on her shoulder to finish her off. 

The women gave me a glare that could pierce my soul itself. As I proceed with my execution–

Boom

Her body exploded. It literally exploded, scattering her blood all around the place. My body was covered with her blood. After wiping my face, I went towards a shed that felt very suspicious to me. 

The door was locked so I kicked it. Didn't work. I clad my hand in mana and punched right through it. The shed looked pretty much normal. If it was actually normal, there wouldn't be any spells on the door.

Upon searching, I found a hidden passage that led downstairs. It was dark so I couldn't confirm anything. I again ignited my sword to use it like a torch and proceeded downstairs. 

As I went deeper, I could see blood stains on the walls and stairs. There were scratch marks here and there as well.

As I finally reached the floor, the demonic energy there was so heavy that it made me suffocate. I took a deep breath and looked around me. It looked like some kind of large hallway. There were no doors. I walked to the end of the hallway and pushed open the big wooden gate.