Same reason

Chapter 6 - Same reason

"--Gu-gugh-gu.."

The middle-aged man's body fell to his knees as he stopped talking. What horrified Floyde was that the head of the man was slowly drifting away from his body as it fell to the ground after the shiny transparent collar vanished from his neck. Blood flowed out of the head, spilling from it on the stone floor.

Floyde's heart started beating faster as he shook his head left and right to see if anyone else had witnessed what he saw, but there was none, only the bodies of the people in black who was laid on the ground who also had their head severed. This caused the entrance of the hall to turn to a puddle of blood. The stench of blood filled the hall that would make you want to puke after smelling it.

Floyde, not knowing what to do, panicked while he rushed to the big door and pushed them open. The raging wind inside rushed out of the hall as it mixed with the wind outside. The aura of Floyde vanished and the black glow from his eyes seemed to disappear too. When he stepped out of the hall, the moonlight shone back in through the windows, but the murderous intent and heavy pressure Floyde was releasing stayed as it still surrounded him.

Once Floyde stepped out of the hall, the ground trembled for a second. He could hear the birds croaking as they flew from the trees they were in, as the howl of wolves echoed the silent night. What Floyde saw in front of him was nothing unusual. He was in a forest. He looked back and saw the old-looking building he was in; it was a small medieval-style church.

The height of the church was probably about 150 feet. The trees around were Cedar trees that had a height of 200 feet or taller. From the looks of it, the exterior of the church had stone walls on the outside. Some stones were already broken. If one were to look at it, they would say it would collapse at any minute. The interior was the same, though Floyde couldn't see it clearly even if the moon shone through the windows. But since he was outside already, he didn't want to go back in and see the horrifying scene again.

Even though Floyde didn't want to go in, he still went in to grab the black-looking old book that was on the floor and he took one of the black cloaks to cover his body since his clothes earlier were burnt and he had to talk to the middle-aged man naked. Though Floyde completely forgot he was naked. While Floyde took the old book, he saw another book at the side of the dead body of the middle-aged man; he took it immediately and ran over the bloody puddle barefoot near the door as he went outside again.

The grasses outside the door left footprints of blood. While Floyde was a few meters away from the door, he stood still as he put the old-looking book on the large pocket inside the cloak. He was now holding a brown book, its front cover inscribed a circle array that was divided into 3 parts which each had a weird symbol on it. Floyde opened the book and flipped the pages as he read.

"Beginner magic, intermediate magic, advanced magic."

"...What magic? Haiiiyyyaa... did that guy buy this book from a swindler?.."

Floyde didn't want to talk anymore about the middle-aged man nor think about the people in black. If he did, he would just throw up. Floyde kept the book inside his cloak again because there was another large pocket on the other side.

While Floyde was in a daze for minutes thinking, 'Did I just die?', the murderous intent and heavy pressure slowly diminished around his body until nothing could be felt around him anymore, like any 'normal' person would have.

'Let's believe that didn't happen...'

Floyde came back to his senses. He knew it wasn't any more winter because the snow didn't cover the trees. Knowing now that he was free, he ran through the thick forest he was in trying to find the exit of the forest so that he could return to his hometown.

What Floyde didn't notice after he opened the big door is that the murderous intent and heavy pressure that burst out of the hall covered a 15 km radius that anyone within could feel what Floyde was releasing.

--

"Hmm... Interesting."

Somewhere in the mountains there sat a young man on the ground who was in his late 20s, crossed-leg drinking tea in a cup. On the stone, there was his teapot and a stick. The moon shone through his glistening, long blonde hair and alluring azure eyes. Anyone who would look at him would definitely agree that he was attractive.

Putting down the cup on the stone, he stretched his arms in the air as he stood up and took the stick. He breathed the fresh air of the night. He was wearing a grey cloak that had an emblem on its back. The design of the emblem shaped a grey heater shield that had two Phoenix on both sides. On the left was a white Phoenix and on the right was a black Pheonix.

"Time to go, I guess."

As he stood up, he headed to the cliff of the mountain and jumped. After he jumped, he was now floating in the air as he headed north. In the air, he was passing by the countless trees beneath him. After minutes or so of flying, he finally reached his destination. His destination was the church Floyde was in earlier. As he landed he saw the footprints of Floyde on the grass that had blood on it. The footprint only lasted 10 meters because the blood had already dried up on his feet when Floyde was in a daze.

The young man immediately noticed the smell of blood after he landed. He headed to where the footprints came from inside the big door. As he entered few meters inside the hall of the church he stopped. He was now standing in the puddle of blood, covering his leather boots in red. He looked around his surroundings with the help of the moonlight, only to see bodies laid on the floor that had no heads.

Beside him was the head of the middle-aged man. He kicked it as it rolled to the middle of the dark hall, where moonlight didn't shine. As he said, "What brings you here...?"

At the middle of the hall, there sat another young man on a wooden chair who was also in his late 20s who stopped the rolling head with his foot. "Not much. How about you, why are you here?" he replied.

"It's obvious. We both came for the same reason, am I right?"

"Hmmm... Maybe you can say it like that."

"Sigh, you never change. Always acting secretive."

"Hahaha. It's not my fault 'Mr. Playboy'. If you want to blame someone, blame my superiors."

"Why you! I'm not a playboy like you. If you want to blame someone for me still having my attractiveness, blame my superiors. And don't be jealous of my face because of what happened to you. This is the difference between us. Hahahahaha."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! DO YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE A SCAR ON YOUR FACE!" said the man in the chair as he stood up and clench the collar of the cloak of the young man in blonde hair.

"Hahahahaha. Relax, relax, it's just a joke. Anyway, back to the topic. You fel- Pfttt.. HAHAHAHAHAHA."

"Stop laughing! I'll really leave a scar on your face!" said the man again as he raised his other free hand to readily punch him.

The one who stood up had silk short black hair. His face had many bruises that colored his face purple and red, he had brown eyes, and around his left eye was purple, and his mouth was completely swollen.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry. Back to the topic again. You felt it right?"

"Yes. That amount of mana outburst is terrifying."

"You know where these bodies came from right?"

"The cult," they both said simultaneously.

"It may seem the cult has started their move," said the blonde-hair young man in a tight voice as he clenched his fist.