Prologue VIII

[Slash] The knight leaped ahead even though his body was bleeding. His swings cut right through the bandits as if they were made of butter.

Hades extended his hand [Attraction] He pulled one of the bandits toward him and then punched him [Repulsion]

The knight swung his blade upward [Slash] cutting the bandit in half.

{Favor: 300/800}=> {Favor: 350/800}

"Why did you kill him?" Hades shouted seeing that he didn't get the full Favor. He was getting 100 for each human, but now he only got 50.

"Cause you left him alive, kill them!" The knight yelled back.

Hades clenched his fist, it was shaking. It wasn't that he intended to let the bandit alive, he couldn't muster enough strength to kill. His limit was near.

"Let them be, get back here!" The woman shouted at them from the wagons. There was no need for them to keep fighting. "You're way too injured to keep fighting!"

"Then start healing us!" The knight shouted back.

"Shut up idiot, who do you think you're talking with!" the woman yelled back.

As the knight was shouting at the woman, Hades collapsed. His body finally gave in. Even though he was used to hard and extreme work, this was just too much on his starving body.

"Hey…" The knight turned toward Hades, and he then as well felt light-headed. Thud! His eyes rolled back and he fell face first.

The woman leaped from the wagon with the cat and rushed to heal them. They both lost a lot of blood and were in critical condition.

…

"What a good boy." The devil watching from hell through her gift smiled. Hundreds of floating orbs of light danced in front of her.

"A mage's soul, then hundreds of human souls, and now even more. He is better than his father could have ever achieved with puny sacrifices." She poked one of the orbs of light with her fingers.

The orb faded away sinking into her skin, "The plan worked and worked, what a delightful ending." She thought back to the time she gave Hades his power.

She had to use her own blood and power to give him the gift. A risk she took with the hope he will kill a lot of humans and repay her. Such sacrifice was necessary to keep his power and her alive.

And everything went as she expected, the mage's soul was worth far more than a normal human's. But she only gave Hades a small 100 Favor cut from it since he needs to level up first.

Then everyone living on the island. That was technically his mistake. The mage was trying to save the island from falling as he did for decades. But Hades got power and killed him instead, dooming everyone to death. Since that was a part of her plan, she didn't give Hades any Favor.

Even now as she looked at him, the bandit he just killed with the knight. She should give him the full Favor, yet giving him just half seemed fine as he didn't kill him alone.

"What do I need is a hellhound, Cerberus. You never give a hunting dog the prey he caught…right? Hades…" She smiled.

…

Sitting beside Hades and the knight, the woman cast her [Heal] repeatedly to stop the bleeding. The knight's condition was improving slowly, but Hades wasn't, his wounds kept bleeding with no sign of stopping.

"Why? Why?" she started getting stressed, there was no one that [Heal] couldn't at least stabilize.

She started sweating, she is losing him quickly.

As she had no choice, she rushed back to the wagon, grabbed a piece of cloth, and tied Hades's torso with it to slow the bleeding.

She then took a few moments to focus on healing the knight.

"Wake up! Wake up!" She yelled at him and after a few shakes, the knight opened his eyes coughing blood.

"Did I pass out?" He tried to sit up.

"Sorry for overworking you but, he is dying. We must get him to a village quickly." She grabbed the knight's hand and helped him stand.

"Tried healing him?" The knight asked.

"No use, [Heal] didn't work on him." She grabbed Hades by the leg and the knight grabbed the shoulder.

They both then carried him to the wagon.

"He's surprisingly light, all bones and thin meat." The knight said.

"But that strength he displayed, a powerful ability. Most people like that would be nobles or mages, how could such a person end up like this?" She said as they put him in the wagon.

"Probably an abandoned illegitimate child, if not for your mother, I would have already been thrown away as well. Might end up like him." The knight said looking at Hades.

"Mother was just covering for a friend." The woman said with an annoyed stare, "You sit in the back, I will drive." She leaped into the driver seat and gave the poor horse a good whack. "Sorry but go as fast as you could!"

NEIGHAAAA! The horse neighed, lifting his first hooves up before dropping them and picking up speed.

Leaving a cloud of dust and a mountain of corpses behind, the three of them hurried toward the nearest large city where they could find someone to fix Hades.

After driving for a short while, a massive wall appeared in sight.

A long, 100-foot tall grey wall with crenellations and machicolations at the top, guards armed with longbows and crowbows, ballista and Spell-spears (The world's version of javelin but it uses fire magic to get propelled and then explode. Aka, a spear missile)

As they approached the massive steel gate, the guards stared down at them.

"Stat your names, motivation, and any permits you might have. If not then please wait until you're called to the inspection room."

"We have an injured person," she grabbed something from her pocket and threw it to the guard on top of the wall.

When the guard caught and inspected it, it was a gold medal with an insignia carved into it.

"The western church, open the gate for them!" He yelled, throwing the medal back to the woman. "May the light of god guides you through the sky with a thousand winds."

The wagon charged through the street as fast as it could, aiming directly for the church.

"Is that okay? What about the meeting?" The knight asked.

"We still have some time, he saved our lives, let's at least make sure he stays alive." The woman said as they parked in front of the church.

"What may our sister need?" Two nuns that were cleaning at the door approached them.

"An injured man needs urgent attention." The woman said jumping from the rider seat.

"Sorry to ask but, did he pay the fee?" One of the nuns asked with a worried face.

"Saved our lives, that's his payment." The woman said as she signaled for the knight to start dragging Hades out.

"Understood, we will then use gold from the church box for the casting." The nun rushed into the church to get everything prepared.

"Leave him for us, you rest." The other nun said as carried Hades with the woman's help.

The knight stared from the wagon at the church's run-down walls.

'Strong healing magic requires gold as a material component, guess it's better I rest unless I need one.' he thought sitting down, a nun approached him with some water.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah…"