The second Step

Keita stood among the the slowly dying guards. Among their pleas and screams, their cries and curses. The lucky ones died of shock. The rest slowly bled to death while Keita watched. Some crawled to him, asking for help. Others promised to do anything if he just saved them. He found pleasure in their despair.

After the last human breathed his last, he moved towards Helene.

"Let's go home."

He carried her to the hill where they first talked. Where he trained while she quietly watched. Where they spend all their time together. It was the place he wished to be his grave, when the time came. It was there that he made a grave for her. His tears wouldn't stop while digging her final resting place.

Keita was in a dilemma. He could bury Helene as she is. Knowing what she went through, it wouldn't be strange for her to come back as a Demon. He might not live to see the day of her resurrection, but at least she would live again. It would mean, Helene won't disappear from this world. But as a newborn Demon, she will be hunted down and killed almost immediately, after her resurrection. Many things could change in the time it took her to come back but there was still one truth that remained. Helene who had no combat skill, would be an easy target.

"What would you want me to do...?" Keita asked.

Helene has killed herself. She left nothing behind for Keita. No last words, no apologies. She stole his dagger and took her own life.

'Doesn't that mean that I am one of the things you were running away from?' he thought.

He couldn't completely understand her actions but this was the way he choose to interpret them. Killing herself with his dagger could be a way to take revenge on Keita who left her by herself, or it could have nothing to do with him. In the end, Keita decided to leave Helene to rest for eternity. He hoped she was at a place where she would never have to suffer anymore. Somewhere away from him.

He said the words. He prayed and completed the ceremony. A final plea to Arcione, goddess of the humans.

"Please let her rest in peace."

These were the rules of this world. The gods did not bother much with the dead. Most races burned them. It was said to be a way to separate the body from the soul. Humans rarely did so. They believed after the burial ceremony, Arcione's most devoted raised the souls of the dead and guided them to the after life. Orcs on the other hand, believed that as long as they died bravely they would be allowed to drink, eat and fight in the next life among their fallen comrades. They did not have some special ceremony or burn their dead. Keita never thought much of it before now. Burning the bodies and the human burial ceremony was just a measure against Demons. The 200 years after his death as Pride, where all a blank. More precisely, right after his death he woke up as Keita Raigon. Killing a Demon was supposed to purify their souls but he had his doubts about that too. So he never though about after life and what happens next. But if there was such a place, he wished that Helene could find happiness there.

When that was over, he left the village. This was not his home anymore. His father and mother, the village chief, his neighbors. None of them could ever fill the hole in his heart. A place without Helene, could never be a place he could call home. He had no desire to stay or meet anyone. Besides, he already found the answer as to what to do from now on. Violence called him. He had no purpose or goal. Violence for the sake of violence. Kill, tear, burn. Extract vengeance on this world that took Helene away from him. On the humans, Demons, gods. Everything and anything.

It was time to leave. For some reason, even the sight of the forests and grasslands, stretching past the Shierna, that he enjoyed so much looking at when he was a child, filled him with disgust. Keita made his path towards Atestari city. It was the first place that came to his mind when thinking about where to start.

As he slowly walked towards the city, he felt a burning sensation. He felt like that since Helene's death. Not a metaphorical one but a very real pain inside his body. He thought nothing of it at the time, but now, it was making it hard to breath.

"Poison? No, it doesn't feel like it..." he said, clenching his chest.

It felt like his magic power was out of order. Like it has gone wild inside his body. He had never felt anything similar before. There was a river not far from there and nighttime close in. He decided to stay by the river bank and figure out what was wrong with him there.

'This doesn't feel normal. Something feels unnatural about my mana flow.' Keita decided to use his Skills to see if the problem fixes itself.

"Heaven's Path: Tranquility" the bright white threads covered his body but the Skill was suddenly broken. The threads exploded, as his magic power became even more out of control.

The same thing happened with Shroud, Haste, Needle and Statue. Every time he tried to use a Skill, his magic power refused to comply. There was only one Skill left. The last Skill of Heaven's Path which remained a mystery.

"Heaven's Path: Apotheosis." Keita activated the Skill.

For the first time, there was a reaction. His magic power, concentrated in a small point inside of him. He felt his soul being covered by it. Then, it suddenly stopped and Keita lost consciousness.

The next morning. Keita was not feeling himself. His body ached all over but it felt lighter and more sensitive for some reason.

"What is this?" he couldn't help but ask. "My magic power... got stronger? Like Kaito's... No, beyond that?"

Keita tried moving a bit. His magic power has grown by leaps and bounds.

'What caused this?'

Magic power affected the body of a warrior, as much as it affected his Skills. He was stronger than before, faster. It felt like someone else's body. He had to even see his reflection on the water to make sure it was still him.

'Kaito and Raijeto... They both possessed abnormally strong magic power... They also said something about the whole story of Heaven's Path? But why now?' Keita racked his brain. It was not a question that he could answer by himself but he didn't want to rely on someone else at the same time.

'Should I visit the ruins Kaito talked about? There should be something left there... '

So his course was decided. North. Even if he didn't know where the ruins were, team Shinning Sun was from the North frontier. He could find some answers there. Besides, he didn't want to bump into Nao or his past comrades at Atestari. Passing through half the continent sounded like something he should do. He could find quests to do on the way. It was on a whim but he had no destination to begin with. Besides, there were many places he wanted to visit on the human realms. Places he only heard as rumors while he was a Demon.

Two days later.

Keita was scouting some ruins for signs of goblins. Since he found nothing, instead of rushing back to the Aerch headquarters, he decided to take it easy and make camp near a natural hot spring on his way back. He was relaxing inside the water that melted his exhaustion, when he appeared.

"It's been a while, Pride of the Seven Deadly Sins."