1 New Life

It was a stormy night in a nameless forest. Two figures could be seen weaving across the trees, leaving streaks of blood on their wake. It was a young couple who were fleeing from a scourge that has haunted them for almost a year. If they were at their peak conditions at the moment, escaping wouldn't have been difficult. However, the young woman carried another life within her, which had severely limited their mobility.

Several hours later, another figure could be seen on a clearing along the path they took, scooping up a droplet of blood from the foliage with his fingers, closing his eyes as he placed the droplet on his tongue.

"Hmmm, the taste of a new life. It has been quite some time since I've had such a delicacy. Hehe, only a little while longer and you will have nowhere to run."

Meanwhile, on a small cave somewhere in the mountains, the woman was already beginning to feel intense contractions coming from her lower body.

"Dear, I can't hold it anymore. It has to be now."

The young man was already drenched and cold from the rain, however, beads of sweat could be seen forming on his forehead.

"Yes dear, don't worry, don't be nervous, I'm here. Just do what you should do, you don't need to worry about anything. Besides..."

The young woman squeezed her partner's arm so tightly that the young man could only grit his teeth as he couldn't finish what he was going to say.

"Don't give me that bullshit! You're even more nervous than me! Arrgh! Fuck! It hurts so much! Why are you so big, my baby, huhu."

The young man couldn't find any words to comfort his wife.

"It's fine, dear. It only means that our child is very healthy. We should be happy about it."

"Fuck! It's easy for you to say because you don't understand shit! Come switch with me!"

Not long after, the young woman began to feel the baby coming out of her womb.

"Dear, it's coming out! It's coming out!"

"Okay, I'm here. Just push, don't worry about anything else."

After several minutes of intense labor, just as the young woman was about to faint, a healthy baby boy had finally come out. The boy had clear eyes with purple irises, looking around curiously. Strangely, the newborn did not let out a cry, as if he didn't want to become a burden to his parents, seemingly aware that they were stuck in a predicament at the moment.

"Why can't I hear anything? What happened to my child?"

The tired young woman began to worry upon not hearing any cry coming from the baby.

"The child is fine, dear. He has already opened his eyes. However, it doesn't seem like he's going to cry anytime soon. Maybe he's just a smart and silent boy like me, hehe."

The young man carefully cut the umbilical cord and wrapped the baby with the soft clothes that they had prepared earlier.

"Sigh. Let's go, dear. We should keep moving. Now."

The young woman tried to gather her strength but her body seemed as if it was a well that had gone dry for years; she could barely perform basic movements.

"It's fine, I'm still here. Don't tell me you forgot who I was. This husband of yours is not some random chump, you know."

The young man looked at the mother and child with loving eyes. He silently swore to himself that he would keep them safe even if it cost him everything, even his next lives.

Not long after the boy was born, a malevolent presence could be felt approaching from the distance. It was a strange aura. It carried a hint of madness, death, and another seemingly contradictory sensation. To put it into words, it gave off a strange feeling of holiness.

The young couple looked at each other.

"I'll leave it to you, husband."

The young man nodded as he went to the cave entrance which was a fair distance away from the mother and child.

A blurry silhouette was fast approaching from the depths of the forest and stopped about fifty meters away from the cave entrance. It was a bald middle-aged man with black sclera and blood-red irises. He had a vicious expression on his face as if he had just crawled out from the deepest parts of hell. Half a breath later after he stopped, he sprinted towards the young man while wielding his black greatsword made out of bones from a dragon-type beast. He wanted to slice the traitor in front of him countless times for taking the object that their clan had spent blood and sweat to acquire.

"Hoh, you arrived faster than I imagined. Quite unexpected from a lower devil."

Seeing the fast approaching danger, the young man remained unfazed as he waved his hand as if he was swatting away a fly. The bald man felt as if he went against an immovable wall and then flew the opposite direction despite the massive momentum that he had gained from charging. While getting back on his feet, the bald man wiped the black blood off his lips and stared coldly at the young man. No matter how impatient and furious he was at the moment, he knew that he stood no chance against the man in front of him on his own.

"Don't think you're safe just yet. My comrades are fast approaching as we speak. Maybe you can handle a single person but can you handle ten? A hundred, perhaps? Don't make me laugh. Give us the treasure and we'll grant your precious little family a quick death."

The young man squinted his eyes.

"I already said I don't have it."

He really wanted to rush to the bald man to end this farce as quickly as possible but he knew of the various sinister methods that were available to his clansmen. He could only stand his ground and remain vigilant at the moment, fearing for the safety of his family.

"You still lie even though you're at the end of the line? You're just a bastard son of the clan lord, don't push your luck."

"A bastard son still has a higher standing than you. You should be kneeling and begging for my forgiveness right now."

"Insolent fool. Oh, my comrades have finally arrived. Let's see if you can still use that filthy mouth of yours."

Several silhouettes appeared by his side as he spoke. Several breaths later, hundreds of pairs of blood-red eyes could be seen throughout the horizon. It was as if the forest was filled with blood-red fireflies, creating a beautiful scene. It would have been a perfect sight to behold if not for the massive deathly aura that they exuded from their presence.

"How is it? Are you feeling despair now, my 'prince'?"

The bald man laughed condescendingly towards the calm figure of the young man.

However, the young man merely returned a cold gaze to his provocations.

"My elder brother must be thinking highly of me for him to send five hundred of his elite guards. However, it might not be enough."

The bald man squinted his eyes and did not say another word. He only raised his outstretched palm and clenched it half a breath later. The five hundred elite warriors then began to charge towards the young man like dried leaves blown away by the autumn wind.

Facing such a formidable force would render almost everyone's knees weak, however, the same could not be said for him. He still had his wife, his child, as well as the promise that he had made to his late mother. He hated the fact that he did not have enough power to seek justice for his mother. After using his last resort, perhaps he would lose the chance to fulfill his promise in the future. However, he knew in his heart that he would never regret it. The lives of his new family were much more important at the moment. He knew that his mother would urge him to make the same decision even if she was by his side at the moment.

"Well then, off you go..."

He manipulated his divine origin using a strange incantation that should not belong to this world. Every inkling of essence poured out from every part of his body, converging on a single point on his glabella. The whole process only took place in a fraction of a second. At the same moment that the first blade was about to reach his nose, the converged energy suddenly released an eye-piercing brightness. Long after the instantaneous release of the blinding light, the curtain of the night had finally returned to the forest. Surprisingly, the forest had returned to its usual calm, as if a confrontation between powerhouses of several generations had never happened in the first place. All that could be seen was an unconscious young man at the entrance of a cave, along with a worried young woman carrying a curious child who was busy looking at his surroundings.