This time when Cronix was knocked out by Topaz he didn't wake up in the mental expanse, he woke up in a small wooded compartment, with barred windows on two of its sides.
The sunlight was beaming on his face, and although he still had his cloak on him, his hood was down. Cronix was still a bit disoriented having just woken up, but that quickly went away when he finally processed where he was.
Cronix instantly sat straight up, his face was pale and panic was settling within him. A bird's cry suddenly sounded out in front of him, in the corner of the compartment was a small cage which contained the crow.
Cronix scrambled to the cage, but a sudden tug at his leg forced him to stop. He looked back, and found a chain around his ankle.
The heck...
Cronix was still very weak from his interactions with the bear and Topaz, but he gathered every bit of power he could manage, and tried to concentrate it at a single point above his finger.
However these chains were built for these types of scenarios, the moment Cronix began gathering the water elements, the chains became like a magnet and attracted all the surrounding magic elements, including the water element.
And that wasn't the end of it, using the newly acquired magical elements, it created a charge that it then channeled through his body, targeting all his internals.
Cronix couldn't stop himself from screaming out, he started biting his hand to focus on anything else.
The crow watched Cronix with their sad beady eyes, there was absolutely nothing they could do.
"It sounds like he's awake." A voice called out, Cronix didn't have much interaction with the owner of this voice, but the crow did, they recognized it as Topaz's voice.
"That's fine, he would have to at least be in the Core Creation stage to have a chance of breaking free, and even if he was, it'll still be hard." Another voice replied, this voice was rough and belonged to Regan.
It took awhile for the pain to finally settle, and Cronix's body was left trembling. He gritted his teeth, and crawled his way to the barred windows
He grabbed the bars, but another shock went through his body, he yelped and his hands instantly left the bars. This shock wasn't as painful as the first, but it was still very much present.
There was a load of laughter outside the cell which caught Cronix's attention. He may not be able to touch the bars, but he could see outside.
He first saw a group of horses chewing on some grass, but further away he saw a small group of people.
This group wore combat attire, and were racked with weapons, there was also a faint but palpable savage aura, one that could only be obtained by endless slaughter.
They were all eyeing the cell he was in, and no doubt finding enjoyment out of the misery he was in.
When Cronix looked at them, a deep sense of hatred was slowly rising up from the depths of his soul, but inside that hatred was another feeling.
Helplessness.
I can't sense how far they've walked in the magic path...
When he looked at the group, he finally found out how deep in trouble he was in. When you can't tell how far someone was in the magic path, that could only mean, they were too far ahead for you to see.
But there were two people in Cronix's life he could use to get an estimate of their magic power, and they were Mr. Williams and Arthur Mott, who were both in the Core Creation stage.
Compared to Williams which was the higher of the two, the quantity of his magic aura was higher than most of the group, but the density of the auras were way higher in even the weakest members of the crew.
Meaning that while Williams was farther ahead in the magic path, his steps weren't as stable as these guys or in other words, if the weakest member of the group fought Williams, they had a good chance of winning despite Williams being ahead.
A chill ran through Cronix's spine,
I didn't stand a single chance fighting against Arthur, but he now stands as the weakest Core Creation expert I've seen... This is getting scary.
A sudden movement drew Cronix's eyes over, where he saw an emblem that caused his face to become even paler than before.
This was the emblem he saw Tornic wearing, and this is the emblem that he saw before being knocked unconscious.
Cronix looked at the man wearing the emblem, but all he could see was his back and his messy black hair.
This man was talking to a burly man, this man's aura was much like the other members of the group only stronger.
And unlike everyone else here, Cronix didn't have any references to use to estimate how far they were on the magic path
The two men seemed to finally finish whatever they were talking about, because they soon started to part ways.
But before he left, the man with the emblem glanced at the jail wagon Cronix was located and made eye contact, he offered Cronix a lazy smile, before continuing on his way.
Regan watched Topaz leave and mumbled under his breath, "What a bastard."
He then turned to the rest of his group, "Let's head out!" Everyone got on their respective horses, and Regan led the group away.
...
(Near the border of Tidwell)
Regan's face was pale, according to the scout he always sends ahead of the group, there was someone whose magic power he couldn't see through riding towards them.
Even if the scout used Regan as a measurement he couldn't tell how powerful the rider was, but the most scary thing was the fact that the scout was able to sense the rider at all.
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If the rider's power was as monstrous as the scout spoke about, then the rider would have no problem hiding his presence and ride right past them, but if the rider was openly revealing his strength, it could only mean one thing, trouble.
Regan looked at the rest of his crew, he shouted, "Stop!"
Everyone immediately stopped their horses, including the driver of the prison wagon, where Cronix resided.
The dream of the past Cronix was currently having was instantly interrupted by the sudden stop. The crow cawed at him, Cronix waved back, and dragged himself to one of the barred windows.
Aaron was riding away from Tidwell, near the border, when he came across Regan's little crew. He was too distracted to even realize that he was releasing his aura.
He looked at the necklace compass he was wearing, and the compass hand was shining brighter as he got closer to the crew.
Aaron didn't think much of Regan's crew as he rode right by, leaving the group letting out relieved sighs.
But the moment he passed the crew, the compass light started to darken and the compass hand pointed back to Regan's group.
His eyes narrowed, and he had his horse do a U-turn. Regan's face instantly turned ugly when he saw Aaron's unicorn turn back, and he cursed under his breath.
Regan wasn't like his subordinates who were all Core Creation experts, he was a Star Core Magician, but even he wasn't able to tell what stage Aaron was at.
Aaron was frowning this whole time, but soon excitement filled his eyes,
The compass hand is pointing at that Star Core Warrior's group, and it's pointing specifically at the prison wagon at the center of the group.
If the demon he was searching for was in a prison wagon then it could be a lot easier to convince the group to hand it over.
Of course there was always the chance for the group to just give it to him, given his status and power, but that wasn't the way Aaron liked to roll. Aaron stopped right in front of the group, near the leader with the ugly expression.
One of the group members ran up to the leader and whispered something in his ear that made his expression turn even uglier. But he quickly changed his expression back to normal, and hoped the man in front of them didn't mind it.
Regan ran up to Aaron and asked in his most sincere tone he could manage, "Exalted Holy Knight, what brings you to this lowly mercenary group?"
Aaron's mouth twitched, but he quickly shoved his discomfort to the back of his mind.
He didn't have the time to dispel their worries, if the demon he was tracking was really in the prison wagon then whatever chains they were using wouldn't be enough to contain him.
"Hand over whoever's in the wagon and I'll be on my merry way." Aaron told Regan, whose face was turning paler by the second.
"This..." Regan's mind was very chaotic at the moment, he was completing a favor he owed, how could he simply give away the demi-human?
But the person he was talking to was a holy knight, in the Luminescence kingdom their word was law, and the people who went against them didn't have happy ending.
Aaron could see Regan's inner conflict on his face, "Don't worry, I won't let you leave empty handed and I'll talk with whoever your employer is."
This didn't leave Regan satisfied in the slightest, but there was literally nothing he could do, so he only nodded his head.
Regan led Aaron to the prison wagon's doors. Aaron was about to follow, but the light the compass around his neck was emitting suddenly died down, and the compass hand went crazy.
"Damn it..." Aaron's compass acted like this for only a second before reverting back to normal, only there was no light, and the compass hand reverted back into a normal compass hand directed by the magnetic poles.
Aaron frowned, but Regan already opened the doors and entered the prison wagon, so he left the compass alone for now, and approached the wagon.
But this only caused his frown to deepen, in the cell was a cloaked figure peeking at him with a hood on, masking most of their features.
But even with the hood on, Aaron could still tell how young Cronix was.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Aaron's frustration was showing on his face, causing Regan to slowly back up, but there was only so much he could move back within the cell.
Regan had to think fast, or he might be killed right here, right now. He grabbed Cronix and shoved him towards Aaron, taking off his hood in the process.
The moment the hood was off, Aaron's compass began acting up again, it instantly brightened up and pointed at Cronix.
Aaron was even more confused than before. When Cronix put on his hood before Regan opened the door, it was only to make himself feel less exposed, but his actions accidentally created some problems with Aaron's compass.
With the hood off, Cronix's horns were in full view, this coupled with the compass, he was easily able to tell what Cronix was.
Unlike the average person, holy knights were trained to be able to tell apart the horns of a goat demi-human and a demon.
But the problem with everything was Cronix was too weak and young to be the demon he was searching for.
Even if he isn't the one who I'm looking for, should I still kill him? Should I kill a kid that's probably around... 14?
Aaron shook his head,
I'm focusing on the wrong part. While he is a kid, he's still a demon, it's my job to eradicate all of them.
Aaron sighed, he's made his choice, he took out the sword on his waist, while he didn't need it to kill Cronix, he thought this could show at least a little respect to the kid.
"I'm sorry..." Aaron whispered.
The crow went crazy and so did Cronix, they both realized what was about to happen. However, how could Cronix allow himself to die like this?
Both of his wings came out to form a shield, he gathered all the mental energy he could; the chains didn't react since they were built only for magic.
"Descendant of a Magic Sovereign?" Aaron tone held a hint of surprise and his face frowned, he didn't expect Cronix to have wings, he stopped his sword right when it was going to penetrate Cronix's wings.
Aaron looked at Cronix, who had a pale face, and said, "Since you're a sovereign's descendant, I'll give you a better death."
Aaron stepped back from the wagon, he motioned for the stunned Regan to leave the wagon as he stared at Cronix.
Regan left the wagon, but not without taking the crow with him, he was going to at least deliver one of these two for Topaz.
Cronix was panicking, he used all his mental energy to try and fiddle with the lock around his ankle, but nothing was working.
Aaron stared at Cronix with pity, before he surrounded his sword with his own light elements. Aaron then used one of his strongest attacks, he moved his sword in a peculiar set of movements, and these moments created a spell more powerful than anything Cronix has ever seen, heck it was more powerful than anything Regan has ever seen.
A golden dragon with a 10 foot width and a 100 foot length, of course Aaron didn't use his full power, or everyone here would die, but just the small percentage he revealed shocked everyone.
Cronix knew his fate was sealed, there wasn't anything he could do anymore, so he closed his eyes and awaited his death.
Aaron's control over the golden dragon was astounding, he managed to center all of the attack power on Cronix only, so nothing was hurt or damaged.
Every single bit of the dragon passed through Cronix's body and after it went through the first time, it reversed back through his body, basically a double attack.
There were no screams from Cronix and nobody questioned why, because they all knew the answer, the crow inside the cage was going crazy, it watched as its only companion died.
When the attack was finally over, Cronix's body was still there, Arron did this on purpose.
"Take his body to your employer and tell them Holy Knight Aaron did this, and if they have a problem, they should come to me." Aaron didn't look at Cronix's body after he was done, he simply remounted his unicorn, tossed Regan a bag and rode away.
Everyone was in shock, nobody expected that a holy knight would stop their group just to kill the demi-human they were transporting.
Regan could only shake his head, he opened the bag and inside was a load of middle grade magic crystals, but this didn't help with his mood.
Regan went back to the prison wagon, and placed the crow's cage back inside.
The crow had a full view of Cronix's body, there was little to no skin left on his body, but the skin that remained was black and dried up.
There was no blood, it was all evaporated by the blast, the skull's empty eye sockets were staring right at the crow, and there were very few teeth left.
There were no bones left of his arms and there was a huge hole in his chest.
There were no traces that there were any wings on Cronix's body, and the only traces that there were horns were from a small bone fragment still protruding up.
Only things left intact that belonged to Cronix were his cloak, which was strangely completely fine, his magic bag inside one of the cloak pockets, and his pendant.