Chapter 27 Paladin (part 2)

The tip of the paladin's sword was just inches from my neck. It was then that my mana moved in the direction of Luna's tattoo. Darkness mana shot out of my arm and quickly, a three-foot sword of black and purple emanating purple lightning appeared in my hand.

It all happened in a millisecond, fast enough to block the paladin's greatsword.

"Clank!"

The clash of the two swords made a deafening noise and sparks flew everywhere.

Quickly, after blocking the sword, a huge weight exerted the paladin's golden sword. My body could not bear such a weight and was subdued; the paladin's golden sword hit the ground as I managed to deflect it a little and avoid some injury.

"Dull sound"

I took five steps back as again the paladin looked at me with his deep blue eyes piercing my whole body.

"Swiss!"

It was when his sword again came close to me. I then gritted my teeth and clenched the handle of my sword with all my might.

"Clank!"

Both swords clashed, but after seeing the paladin's cold stare, such an overwhelming weight rushed from his sword. The pressure from his sword was so intense that it again pushed me back without being able to stop me. I quickly stabbed the sword into the ground and tried to stop the thrust.

Then I succeeded. After seeing how much he pushed me, I only opened my eyes. More than twenty meters he pushed me with only force, he didn't even use that golden magic that radiated from his whole body. His sword was clean.

"Gasp, gasp."

Sweat was pouring out of my whole body. My breathing was so labored that I had trouble breathing clearly and my heart was pounding so hard that it felt as if it would burst out of my chest at any moment. Then I looked at the woman with her sword raised in both hands. It was only a glance, but her gaze was more open and her blue eyes again penetrated my whole body.

If I moved a single muscle, it could be the end. I couldn't move; she was on a completely different level than any opponent I had faced before. I didn't even feel this pressure when I fought the monster Fongoru.

"Concentrate your breathing and manage all your mana in your body. Circulate it in every part of your body and fill your entire magic circuit to the maximum," Encrid spoke to me just at the moment when I needed help.

Without thinking, I did as Encrid told me. My breathing became controlled and returned to normal. Then I circulated all my mana in every part of my magic circuit, filled it with all the mana running everywhere, and finally made it in a hundredth of a second, almost like record time.

"My body is different," I reflected as my whole body felt full of energy and my muscles were stronger than before.

This could be called a "temporary power surge". My whole body was stronger, so I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I repeated the movements and the weight exerted by his sword all in a fraction of seconds before opening my eyes.

It was then that I understood one thing well: his movements are not at all complicated to read. I just imagined his movements that he made a few seconds before and understood the situation better.

"I can't beat her, but I can hurt her enough."

"What if I try?"

I kept my expression cold as if nothing had happened, then a memory came to my mind.

During my six-month training, I tried to use magic as a method to empower my body and move magic to my sword, creating a kind of aura. Then I remembered something very useful.

I had a spell called "Aura of darkness." Basically, the mana covers my entire body creating a protective layer. I could move that layer to the sword and, with the recent training to get the "monarch of darkness" transformation, I was able to understand this better. I already had enough basis to be able to move the mana to my sword and create a type of aura.

Unable to finish my thoughts, after seeing the paladin in front of me, his legs moved and in a second he appeared in front of me.

"Clank!"

Both swords clashed and as usual, the weight of his sword was overwhelming. Then I quickly concentrated my mana and created "aura of darkness". Following the step of moving the mana to my whole body, this time I moved it to my arms and it covered the whole sword. My sword glowed with intense darkness.

It was then that my arms took on even more strength and my sword became thicker. This was because of the mana that covered it completely and it took on a more robust shape, though its size was the same.

"Burst!"

Gritting my teeth, I raised my sword hard as the mana covered it and my arms as well. I finally managed to lift the great weight of the paladin's sword and push it back as his back bowed and his sword rose skyward.

Finally, I managed to lift that great weight she was generating.

She opened her eyes and looked at me, as her sword returned to its normal state. She stood up straight and looked deeply at me as her lips suddenly parted.

"What the hell was that?"

"..."

I clearly knew what I had done. I simply used my knowledge in the movement of mana and made all that mana move to my sword. It was then that I called it out.

"This is 'Magic Aura'."

It was the name I gave to this technique I had just created, one that not only exerted more strength in my arms, but also made my sword become thicker and with much more power.

"Magic aura..."

She repeated my sentence as suddenly her sword returned to her waist.

I was puzzled at what happened, then I asked.

"Why don't you go on? I thought you were going to kill me."

"I was going to, but it will be another time."

"..."

I then stared into his eyes and suddenly familiar voices echoed in the distance.

"Asher, are you all right? We'll help you."

I looked at them; it was Alicia's voice, as Clara followed from behind. I just watched them, but my gaze returned to the woman in front of me.

With her blue eyes, she looked at me for a couple of seconds before speaking again.

"My name is Elara Valerion, remember it because this name will be the name of your assassin. You are an enemy to all paladins."

"Ha, we'll see who will have that victory another time."

She smiled as she turned her back and walked in the direction of the carriage. But it wasn't over there yet, because a paladin... no, because a church was bringing sacrifices to a demon.

What the hell did they have in mind? I couldn't do anything because that woman named Elara seemed to be protecting that carriage.

"Are you all right, Asher?"

It was then that Alicia's voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at her and answered.

"It's nothing," I quickly replied with nothing else to say.

Although I wasn't hurt or anything like that, I felt like my whole body was close to breaking down. It wasn't just fatigue; the night before, two ribs were broken by the monster Fongoru and even so, I fought a paladin who is several times stronger than me.

"Dull sound"

The wheels of the carriage began to move, then I quickly acted and stepped in front of the carriage, which immediately stopped.

"What do you think you're doing?" Elara spoke as her gaze fixed on my eyes.

"You people, why are you carrying people tied in chains in the back of the carriage, what the hell are you planning to do?"

"That's none of your business."

"Is that how you call yourself a paladin? Someone who is supposed to protect people. And even worse, a church doing these things."

"..."

Silence flooded the area. No one else spoke until...

"They are murderers."

Elara spoke and my head exploded at the words. Assassins. That word repeated over and over in my mind.

Then, memories of my past life came into my head. This memory was when I killed someone for the first time.

In that memory, I felt scared. I felt guilt and a fear that flooded me for a long time. It was a memory I never wanted to remember until now.

The blood came back to my memories. Those times where I killed without resentment. My mind kept repeating one word over and over again.

I don't want to.

I don't want to.

I don't want to...

Those words of guilt for killing thousands of people in the past kept repeating in my mind. Only when I heard "murderers" from Elara's mouth, those memories came back to me again.

"Asher..."

They were memories I never forgot. The guilt I felt, I even felt the souls of those people killed by my hands coming back to me.

"Asher..."

"Hit!"

It was then that I regained consciousness and looked up. Alicia had slapped me and I managed to be normal again, but tears were coming out of my eyes. A very strange feeling I had never felt before.

This is "guilt", a guilt that is still deep inside me.

"Asher, are you okay, why are you crying?"

I looked at Alicia; she was worried. Then I turned my gaze back to Elara, who was just scowling at me.

"Enough. If you keep getting in the way, I'll come out and kill you."

I could do nothing but stand back and watch as the carriage began to move. Then I looked at the ten people in chains and saw an elven girl.

She was a mere little girl. She looked at me. Her eyes were empty, but those eyes were asking for something.

"Help me."

Those were the words that little girl hammered into my mind and I managed to hear them. I realized that that little girl was innocent and would simply be killed without further ado.

Then I quickly thought.

"What the hell do I do?"

I had to save that little girl or just let her die because of the paladin. They were not what I thought they were, simply this world is different and so are its laws, but I don't like an innocent being involved.

So I decided on only one answer.

"Let's save that girl."

Alicia heard my words.

"I thought the same thing too, but how do we do it?"

"Let's wait. If there's a way to save her, then we'll use that to our advantage."

"And what about the demon? It's possible that after those people die, that paladin will kill the demon."

It was then that an idea popped into my head.

"Those two will fight, then before it's the girl's turn, I'll take her out of there and that's when you, Alice, will throw your dagger in the direction of the demon."

"Why at the demon?"

"What if the demon tries to attack the carriage? Someone is in there who must be very important to Elara."

"I see, then we'd better follow them."

Finally, the plan was made. There was no need to fight. The only fight there would be would be the demon and the paladin. The problem would be one: what if the demon doesn't attack the carriage? What if I fail to rescue the girl in time?

Then I would use a card I have at my disposal.

That is "Monarch of Darkness." It's a power that would give me the strength of an eighth circle mage. With all that, I could easily rescue the girl and push Elara in the direction of the demon the moment he is attacked with Alice's dagger and attacks the carriage.

That would be the quickest solution, but I couldn't know if I would really need it at that moment.

We moved quickly. The demonic mana was just a few meters away. Then the carriage stopped and the whole group of us hid.

That's when Elara got out of the carriage and cut the people's chains, dragging them in a direction where they slowly disappeared. The demon was there.

"Quick, it's time to move," Alice said and I quickly moved from my position.

I wasn't sure why Elara didn't spot us, even though we had closed a distance of fifty meters. It was possible she didn't know we were here.

Finally, I got close enough and that's when I saw the demon, but its appearance was not what I expected.

It was practically like a human, but very different from a normal one. It had two horns that looked like tree branches, with no specific shape and some leaves.

Then he opened his eyes. Its eyes were black and it had green pupils. The demon was lying on the hill while plants and flowers surrounded it. His body and face were those of a human. Seeing her face, he couldn't lie.

She is very pretty for a monster.

The part of her ribs just to the sides and her hands looked like the roots of a plant. She was soaking up the mana from the whole dry forest.

That's when I looked at Elara. The roots attached to the demon peeled off and then the demon fully opened its eyes and stood up. Then it spoke.

"Human... What are you doing?" a terrifying voice that didn't even look good with her face. I looked at the rest of his body. His hands had claws that looked like long fingernails, but not that long.

The demon stood in front of Elara as she held the people's chains. The ten people were behind her, with a fear that could be seen in any direction.

"Take these ten people for your whim, then die," were the words Elara mentioned....