72 Chapter 71: Casmere

"You have no Taint of Gant...my apologies. You are no demon, but instead one of the few poor souls that Mithiu chose to 'bless'. I am sorry for hurting you." The man drew a piece of cloth and dabbed at his bloody covering. His baleful eyes showed remorse, and his brows were arced up in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Bie had similar confusion, only vaguely aware of the Path's setting. He knew this Mithiu had something to do with redemption, and the fact that he crawled out of a corpse mound...

"Right, it makes sense that you know nothing. To have died so young...what's more, you seem to be a fellow Demon Hunter. I wonder why those haughty 'lords' would have seen it to revive one of our 'ilk'. Regardless, I am Casmere."

A long silence ensued, and Casmere put away his pick and scratched the back of his head. The two looked at each other in this quietness, Bie taking in the staidness of both the man and the environment. Moths lined the walls, bringing in fruit from the outside and hanging them in webs along the ceiling for some reason.

"I had come here to bury my sister, Carem. That is why I was so ready to kill. Forgive me." Bie nodded, the dijon yellow strands of his hair swaying as he aimed his gaze towards the pockmarked corpse. Floating above it was a smiling woman who bowed at him in thanks, and inside of his head he felt a soft whisper.

-You didn't kill him, though he unjustly attacked you. Thank thee.

The woman's ephemeral body shone with a translucent light as she walked away peacefully, slowly fading from Bie's sight as she crossed a boundary that seemed to show cloudy streams that fell downwards like a waterfall. Left above her corpse was an orb that seemed to carry flames, being a bigger one than the generic Remnants in Bie's Inner World. It floated over and bobbed in the air beside his head, poking at the side of his hair until Bie acquiesced and allowed it inside his Inner World.

"...I know it unthinkable to merely leave after committing such a folly. As recompense, I will take you to Central Morris Capitol, as it is the safest place here in Morris. Maybe there, you can find your calling at the Hunter Association. Please follow." Casmere was done drying the blood, and he turned to the passage as he began walking. Bie, with o other options, decided to follow while thinking about where his other teammates were.

The world outside the resting place was dreary, darkened grey skies laced with charred black lines floating above the axis of the world and overlooking all. Withered trees dotted the landscape, the decaying bloom of flowers sapping all the energy they could from the husks of the trees and effusing sickly sweet smells. Weeds sprouted up on cold stony ground, and murky dark pools reflected an unstable light.

"You must not remember the state of our land. The demons have rent our dear Morris asunder, killing off most of the vitality. We Demon Hunters partake in eating their flesh as they have done ours, but those of the Autumn Parish hold the only sustainable farm grounds." Casmere talked as they walked, noticing Bie taking in all of the sights before him as his eyes roamed around. The man shook his head and his long white hair cascaded in turn, though he did not dissuade the boy from being curious.

He clutched his bone pick, his eyes trained as they scanned the terrain in search for demons. They could appear anywhere, after all, and he had fought along this path before as he sought for the Mithiu Grave.

As if in response, a two-meter-tall dog with exposed ribs and a slavering maw that took up all of its face aside from a single horn appeared. Casmere withdrew a vial and threw it at the demon, and it was stained by amber liquid that seemed to cause it to writhe in agony. Bie drew a great axe and lifted it up to his shoulders, running forwards comparatively fast under the heaviness of the armament.

Casmere ran alongside him and snapped; the wheel behind him shot out at his gesture and collided with the horn. He then jumped up and pierced the flesh between the horn and the maw, the canine demon flailing around and unleashing a flurry with its legs.

The imprint of an illusory smiling maw appeared behind Bie's lower back as he consumed his Ink to produce the suctioning force, throwing the strikes off center and causing the demon to falter in its step. Before it could fall, he slid underneath its stomach and imbedded the blade of the great axe into the flesh past its ribs, continuing down until he reached its tail. The axe shattered at that moment, the shards digging even further into the demon's skin.

Bie withdrew a large zweihander and successfully wielded it three times before it shattered, each heavy slash hewing into the beast as flesh and viscera spread from it. He had lopped off the tail and the hind legs, darting to the side of the demon's long side and using Ekulech to draw a deep ravine in its flesh. The handle shattered and mended itself completely while the hand axe itself shone excitedly.

Casmere was holding up a hand, and the wheel seemed to erupt with signs of life as it released bolts of energy into the gaping mouth of the dying demon. He then pierced the demon's face in a weird pattern five times, the holes forming an n and releasing jets of light.

The demon then released a mighty roar containing the embers of life it held, before promptly dying. Casmere sent Bie an evaluating glance, his hand still holding on to his pick as he nodded.

"You were, and still are a Demon Hunter, true enough. That was a small Gania Dog, though they usually come in packs. Keep your eyes peeled, we'll keep to the brick road." They then walked onto a dark green bricked road, passing several broken wooden signs as they made their way forwards.

Hours passed and the two were tireless, having fought several demons on the way. It seemed as if Casmere was completely correct, as they had encountered quite a number of Gania Dogs on their way to the capitol. Casmere and Bie's eyes both revealed the glimmering glint of joy and excitement as they battled, both seemingly subduing their emotions as the conflicts wore on.

If there was something that was bothering Casmere, though, it was the fact that they had not come across a pack leader or anything like it. This meant that there was a sizable amount of the Gania Dogs in the area, having been unpurged for quite an amount of time.

If they were lucky, the pack was simply travelling or perhaps even scrambling around in order to elect a new leader. If they were unlucky, there would be a sizable demon they would need to dispatch along the way...

Suffice to say, them being unlucky was more probable than the prior.