Chương 13: The Blood-Strewn passage
As Raian strolled through the expansive and majestic corridor connecting the outer fortress to the inner sanctum of the giant castle, he maintained an air of composure despite the weight of the impending encounter with the two transcended saints. While he didn't expect himself to do something massive and slay the devil itself and destroy the saints single-handedly, there should be a reason, a purpose for his arrival at this battlefield at least.
Walking as his gaze slowly moved along the grandeur of the immaculate corridor, adorned with ancient tapestries, The towering statues of knights in armor looked cool and they amplified the tension in the quiet corridor.
As Raian walked through the wide corridor, he looked calm and confident, thanks to the years of living and fighting in the slums he learned how to feign confidence.
On the inside, however he hoped that the demons who saw Raian would turn around because of his false confidence aura he had, misunderstanding him for some unknown powerhouse.
As he passed the statues of demonic knights, Raian was praying inside, hoping that the statues would not come to life. Certain of his death from the size of these statues, Raian's roll game wasn't enough to give him confidence in fighting against the marble knights.
A few blinks after passing the statues the seemingly mundane atmosphere of the grand corridor took an abrupt turn as a few demons, adorned in castle worker attire, emerged from the shadows and launched a surprise attack on Raian.
Their sudden assault disrupted the calm atmosphere, trying to catch Raian off guard for just a moment. The demons revealed themselves and charged towards Raian in a reckless abandon.
Raian swiftly summoned his memories but after a thought he dismissed them. From the feeling the demons gave to Raian, he knew they weren't fighters, they seemed to be just workers maids, and helpers of the castle.
Looking at their faces as they swung their weapons at Raian, he saw only panic and rage from them.
Easily dodging the amateur swings, Raian held his hands close to each other at his front and shifted his weight forward.
'My style: Bite'
His hands systematically struck their necks from the opposite directions, Raian easily broke their necks with his newfound strength, focused on trying to kill the innocent workers as fast and painlessly as possible, he didn't even notice the knife entering his back until it was too late.
'Trap?'
Feeling the sharp pain from the knife stabbed in his back Raian immediately turned around to see one of the castle workers look back at him with a completely emotionless face.
'Weird' thinking to himself Raian dashed towards the worker and before the worker could put up any meaningful resistance Raian hit him with an uppercut, sending him in the air, following up he spun in his place launching a Brazilian kick from the ground. As the kick descended from above the worker, it slammed into the worker's body launching the worker to the ground.
Seeing the worker still trying to move Raian got near its head, lifted his foot, and stomped its head creating a crushing sound. 'That one was a spy.'
Seeing the worker's body lifeless on the ground Raian took a deep breath and pulled the knife out of his back letting the wound bleed out. Blaming himself for letting his guard down he summoned his [Cursed potion of vitality] and took a sip.
While he didn't like killing innocent people he would easily kill if he deemed it necessary. Looking at the body of the dead workers around him, Raian didn't feel great about his accomplishments.
'It had to be done I guess.' thinking to himself and reeling from the overwhelming pain he continues walking towards the center of the castle.
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Thanks to the vision granted by Emera and the unidentified long-haired warrior, Raian navigated through the tall and wide corridors with a clear sense of direction leading to the heart of the castle.
As he progressed through the corridors of the castle and entered the last hall that connects the inner sanctum to the center of the castle a haunting scene unfolded before him – a corridor strewn with lifeless bodies, a nauseating stench of blood met him inside the hall.
The bodies, a morbid collage of shattered skulls and twisted or cut limbs, bore witness to the brutality of the clash.
Some of the Holy Church's warriors lay dead alongside demonic foes, at least the demons outnumbered the warriors one to six.
Raian remembered them, while he didn't directly interact with them and talk to them but he remembers them.
Stepping on the corpses of the dead demons, Raian navigates himself through the corpse-filled hall. While a part of him felt sadness for the fallen warriors of the church, his overwhelming logical self pushed emotions such as sadness, fear, and anxiety aside and focused on his final goal. Which is survival.
Trying to survive, Raian immediately thought of different ways to use the dead bodies to his advantage.
The expression that showed fear and disgust when Raian first entered the hall turned blank and indifferent as he searched through the bodies of the deceased residing in the final hall.
Raian knew searching or looting the bodies was basically worthless since everyone uses memories when fighting, after dying the said memories disappear with the owner but on some off chance, there could be something, anything that could help Raian reduce the difficulty of the upcoming battle.
Throwing his morals, Raian was even searching for a near-dead warrior or a demon to kill them himself on the off chance that he could get an echo.
Logically the phrase 'Respect the dead' made no sense, they were dead, and the deceased no longer possessed consciousness, awareness, or the ability to appreciate gestures of respect. The concept of respect is rooted in the emotional and cultural aspects of the living, who attribute value to preserving dignity, tradition, or social order. However, the dead, devoid of any consciousness can't comprehend or benefit from such posthumous considerations.
Easily justifying his action, Raian quickly tore through the blood-soaked bodies that were losing their heat and slowly turning cold. Looking for something that could help him.
While he was rummaging through the bodies Raian heard a breath under some bodies of the demons. Hearing a sound of breath was not difficult in the deathly silent hall he could even hear a needle drop in here.
Pulling, pushing, throwing the bodies of the deceased, Raian pulled out someone.
'Emera?'
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