2: Cerberus

He once again lost everything. There was nothing left for him to do. He had to run. For the first time in a while, the Unnamed Knight felt fear. He had only ever felt this level of fear once before, and he despised the idea of reliving that past.

For the second time as an unnamed, he wanted to live. He picked up his sword and ran. The Cerberus was still getting used to its new form, and the three heads were not communicating very well. He subconsciously knew that this was his only chance at escaping with his life.

He picked up his sword and ran. It was the only thing he could do. He wasn't a hero, he wasn't a martyr, he was just another unnamed.

As he heard the howl echo from behind him, he was shot back into reality. While running as fast as he could, he began to reason with himself.

"The archmagi can take care of this. After all, I could have defeated this easily with just my physical enhancements, and they are much stronger than I ever was. I just have to make sure they know what's going on. They won't stand for it."

However, telling the archmagi is the last item on his list of things to do. First he needed to shake off Cerberus. It wasn't going to be an easy task, he was neither faster nor stronger than the beast as he was now.

"Unless…" the cogs in his head, long since rusted away from years of inactivity, started to turn once more. "The ford!" he shouted out of nowhere, startling the animals around him even further.

Making a sharp left, he sprinted towards the river with a newfound energy. He was confident that he could live on to warn the nearby settlements and notify the archmagi.

The knight had not felt so alive in a long time, his heart was beating faster than ever and he could feel every once of blood in his body as it flowed out to the tips of his fingers and back into his heart. It was a feeling he had long forgotten about, but never stopped yearning to feel once more. It was almost like being a child again, going through strict routines but enjoying every minute of physical exertion he was forced through.

He had not noticed it, but the trees began going by faster and faster, and he reached the river in what he would have, at one point, considered a record pace. When he began to run alongside the riverbed, he was brought back to reality, remembering the gravity of his situation. All of his hope was being placed in his studies from over a decade ago, which he was desperately convincing himself that his memory was correct.

As he saw the ford up ahead, a dreadful roar could be heard from behind him. Cerberus was gaining on him. He had not even fifty meters to go, and the beast was just over a hundred behind him, but the distance was being eaten up rapidly.

Twenty meters to go, and the beast was thirty behind him. Fifteen meters later, the beast was getting ready to pounce on the knight, and he could feel its smoldering breath creeping up his spine. The hound leaped into the air, fully ready to tear the knight open on the river bank, but as it landed, there was nothing between any of its gaping maws. The knight had also made an all out dive, landing right into the river.

The beast tried to pursue him, but let out a scream of agony as its front left paw touched the surface of the shallow water. Kneeling in the river, the knight let out a well earned sigh of relief, for his immediate danger was past.

When a blood wolf evolves into a hellhound or beyond, it gains the ability to utilize the elements, but in exchange becomes an elemental spirit. However, this is not a normal elemental spirit, because the wolf still has a physical form, it just gains the attributes of the element it becomes. In the case of a cerberus, sunlight can kill it, water is highly dangerous, to the point where a light rainfall can bring it to death's door.

The hound took one look at the relieved knight and let out a low snarl. The leftmost head then shot out a pink fireball. There was barely enough time to move as the fireball vaporized some of the skin on his left leg as well as all of the water in the spot he had been standing in.

The knight now knew he was still in immediate danger and sprinted as far as he could away from the river, hoping that the beast was incapable of crossing it.

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He had been running for as long as he could and his profusely bleeding leg was not making matters any better. However, his destination was in sight and he didn't want to stop.

He didn't want to die.

The knight knew that if he stopped, let himself collapse on the ground, the village was too far away for anyone to get to him in time. So he kept on running. He knew there wasn't much time left before he passed out.

It was just ahead, the village that had allowed him to take the subjugation request in the first place. He knew this was his only hope of being saved at the moment. He knew the villagers would be awake because the sun was just rising, and the fields needed tending to. He could almost hear his legs screaming at him, telling him to drop, that they couldn't work much longer.

He didn't listen and kept sprinting. His movements became sluggish but he needed to survive. He also needed to pass on the message. There was no saving the village if he didn't warn them of the danger that cerberus posed for them.

As he sluggishly limped into the town's square, he slammed his curved blade into the bell at the center and shouted one word at the top of his lungs

"Hellhounds!"

Then, as if struck by an unseen beast, the knight toppled over, unconscious.