As Claire and Tia ride they spot a village to the right of them.

“Let's stop here first. We can see by the state of it if demons have rampaged through this area.”, Claire suggests.

Tia nods in agreement and the pair of them instruct their wolves to charge right towards a small village.

It takes them about an hour to reach there, and when they do, it's not a pleasant sight. As they enter the village their noses are immediately filled with the smell of blood and rotten flesh. And as they venture through, they can see why. Corpses, dismembered body parts, blood and guts were scattered all over the village. It looked as if the village had been decorated by Satan himself, as almost a demonic welcoming.

Claire covers her nose and mouth, the smell was revolting, however, Tia, unable to hold her stomach, crouched down and vomited right on the spot. Claire put her hand on her back and patted gently.

“You, okay?”, She asked tentatively.

“Y-yeah, I am. It's just, I can’t believe what I’m seeing, do you think?”.

“Yeah. This was definitely the work of those fucking demons.”, Claire said seriously, anger and disgust in her eyes.

If the demons had already rampaged through, they had surely made it to the capital already, would they find a similar situation there, would they still be hypnotised, or, by some off chances have they survived? So many questions yet zero answered. However, it was entirely possible that humans were close to extinction if not already extinct.

“Should we leave? Or venture further to see if we can find any survivors?”, Tia asked.

“Let's investigate. If by chance, there are any survivors. We should save them.”, Claire states

As they wonder through the village. The smell getting thicker and thicker. More and more revolting, they find no signs of life. Human body parts and even the Demi-Humans, who were enslaved in the village, were all over the place, scattered around, with no regard or care.

Suddenly, out of the corner of Claires eye she spots a little girl, no older them 10, clutching at a sword and then, she suddenly disappears.

“W-WAIT!”, Claire shouts as she runs after the girl, Tia close behind her.

As she rounds the corner she is met by a long staff, with a green jewel imbedded in it. As he spots Claire and Tia, he lowers his staff and sighs. The little girl was hiding behind him, clinging to the long green cloak he was wearing that covered his entire body. The man had long brown hair that went down to his shoulders, hazel eyes, olive skin and a few hairs on his chin.

“Oh, thank God, I thought more of those... demons had shown up.”, The man said in a soft tone.

“My name is Grey, and this little girl is Arella.”, The man said introducing himself and pointing at the girl, who was still hiding behind him.

After smiling playfully at the little girl, Claire asks the dire question.

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“Are you from here? W-what happened.”.

“I was about to ask you that. No, we’re from the capital and... well...”, The man fell silent.

“The king has been a demon the whole time hasn’t he, you’ve finally been released.”, Claire said sympathetically.

Suddenly, tears began to well up in his eyes.

“T-terrible things, we... I did. To Demi-Humans... even my friends. I turned on them too. I can’t believe what horrors we have committed. The extinction of humanity... is surely divine punishment.”. Grey said defeatedly.

“You didn’t mean to; don’t say this is divine punishment please, you were being controlled by a powerful foe... unless you were strong willed. There was nothing you could do. The Beast men are aware of this now and they are really forgiving, they understood there was nothing the humans could do.”, Claire said, trying her best to make the man feel better despite knowing the horrors that have accord.

“No, this is divine punishment. We humans should have been strong enough to repel such disturbing, vile and heinous thoughts... and yet. We were unable to, we let ourselves be manipulated and controlled like puppets. Causing harm, acting like these demons that have rampaged all over the human plains. Whether we meant to or not, to the Demi-Humans, we are no better than demons ourselves and the thing we've done. Can never be forgiven.”.

Neither Claire, nor Tia had any more positive words for him, in fact, to some extent they even agreed with the man.

“How is the capital?”, Claire asks tentatively.

Grey shudders. “Infested with demons, no where's safe, many died. Only a few made it out and they are probably being hunter right now. That place... the capital. Is now home and base to the demons, that is the beginning of their empire and like a plague, they will spread all over this continent and corrupt it. It's not safe there, there's no point in going there, there's nothing you could do. Even if you were some incredible warriors like a hero.”.

Tia was about to say something, but Claire stopped him.

“We won’t let that happen. Me and my friends who have taken refuge at the Southern beast tribe won’t let this world come to an end. Our mission was to scope out the situation and report back. We will war against the demons, and we will restore this world. This is not their place. We still have some investigations to make, we want to travel further to see if there has been any outstanding movements or development. You 2 are free to join us and if you do. We promise to keep you safe and deliver you to a haven. I swear upon that. For I, Claire Vanguard, am the mighty sword hero.”.

Meanwhile, Ray stands in the jungle, eyes closed. His body slowly transforming and becoming more wolf like.

“And now. I will go even further beyond. My new goal is to be able to use this form as well as I do my flame aura. I need this to become second nature to me.”, Ray thinks to himself.

As he stands there, His bright red hair and fur, slowly become fire.

“True flame aura, I’ll master this as soon as possible and I will keep on upping the levels of my fire power, that way the demons will stand no chance.”.

As he stands there, a glowing half wolf, half man. A being of great power watches him from the branches above, this being. Sensing a familiar presence within Ray.