All of the council members were shocked, some were panicking and looking for way to escape, some vomited out of fear. They weren’t soldiers, only politicians and nobles. They didn’t find a way out, as the only entrance was in the direction the scream came from. In a flash, another scream could be heard. A second guard had died.

“Fuck! We are all dead! How did they know we are here?!” Some council members were cursing, angry and desperate. They then could hear footsteps getting closer. All of the council members tensed up.

In a short moment, a man, covered in black robe, entered the room. He didn’t look like an assassin, more like a necromancer. An immense amount of dark energy was emitting out of him, filling up the whole room, making the atmosphere suffocating. At one glace one could tell that he was someone who wielded an immense amount of energy.

One of the council members couldn’t handle it anymore and yelled out. “Who the hell are you?!”

“That’s not important. I got a deal for you that can save your lives.”

“What?!” the whole council said in one voice. They thought that the next few moments would be their last. They didn’t expect an outside help.

Elder Peare then stepped up and asked the man. “What do you want?”

The black robed man pointed at the direction the city gate was in. “Half.”

“What? W-What do you mean by that?” The Elder said.

“I want half of your city’s population. If you do that, the second half, including you, will be saved.”

“That’s outrageous! Who do you take us for?!” Some council members got angry and started cursing. However, a lot of them were silent, considering the deal.

“If we agree to your demands, can you guarantee that the Empire won’t be able to get in?” One of the council members then said out of the blue.

All of the members then looked at him, some disgusted and angry and some were giving him understanding looks.

“Yes.” The dark robed man said indifferently.

Elder Peare then got angry. He wasn’t amongst those who supported this. He would rather die defending the city than killing half the population for salvation.

“Who do you think you are, condemning half the city to its death! You goddamn animal!”

All of the members then looked at Elder Peare. It was obvious from their looks that most would rather sacrifice half the city to save themselves and half the population than die.

“Don’t blame us. We don’t want to die. Who knows if the reinforcements would ever even come.” Some of the council members then took out hidden daggers and swords they carried with them.

“Wh-… You can’t do this! We need to pull through togeth-” Elder Peare said but at that moment a dagger was suddenly stabbed into one of his kidneys. It was one of the men who always supported Elder Peare. They were good friends.

“E-Even you…”

“I’m sorry, but I want to live.”

The Elder was the stabbed several more times and fell on the ground, dead. Some of the council members that didn’t agree with the deal also died along with him.

Aleir just stood there, watching the whole scene. He knew that this was going to happen. People deep down always valued their life the most, there was nothing weird with them turning on others, even close friends if it could save their own lives. If the Elder and other members survived, they would report this matter to the higher echelons of the Kingdom. It was obvious what would be their fate for sacrificing 7000 people. They couldn’t risk that.

The remaining council members then looked at Aleir. He just stood there with a wide grin on his face, obviously enjoying the spectacle.

“We will accept the deal.” One of them then said.

“Good, your families will naturally won’t be used as sacrifices.” Aleir then turned around and left the room. In a flash, he disappeared from the building, moving in the direction of the city gate.

…

At the city gate, there was around 5000 men and women, ready to defend the city with their lives. A lot of them grew up there. It was their home and they would defend it until their last breath.

As the sounds of catapults resounded throughout the city, a something different could be felt in the air. No one knew what, but it felt as if the air turned contagious and suffocated them. Some people were panicking and looking wildly around themselves, searching for the source, but no one could see anything.

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“What is this?!”

“Is someone attacking us from the behind?!”

“The air…”

No one knew what it was. But every felt that something was coming.

Suddenly, a large tentacle emerged from the ground, completely devouring everything it had touched. Then another one appeared, then another.

“What in the Holy Lord’s name?!”

“Argh..”

“Holy Lord, save us!”

Loud screams resounded throughout the whole city district as people were dying in hundreds. No one could resist, not even the mages in the city could do anything and no one could really move as the choke point’s entrance was blocked off by the tentacles. It was a slaughter, some people were trying to climb up the houses to escape but were rapidly caught by the tentacles. No one escaped. A horrifying screams could be heard from the people being devoured by the dark energy. Men, women, none were spared.

When the people died, the tentacles moved into some of the houses that had people in them, devouring them as well.

In a corner of the one of the streets Aleir was watching. He was smiling as he watched the people being slaughtered like cattle. It reminded him of the sense of superiority he felt. It was an intoxicating feeling. To the average folk, he was akin to god, completely untouchable.

Large amounts of life force were flowing into his body, nurturing the dark tree that formed inside him. But when he checked the dark tree, He wasn’t quite happy with the progress. Only 3 more branches grew on the tree, increasing his strength a lot, but still not nearly as much as the last time. The Last time, only a few hundred people was enough to create a branch, but this time even after over 6000 it was only 3.

“The progress must’ve gotten way slower. Devouring average people isn’t as good anymore. I will need stronger targets.” To this day, Aleir was only devouring people who couldn’t resist and were not a serious threat. But in the future, only life force of a strong being could be enough to make a breakthrough. However, his plan was already in motion, so he would still devour much more soldiers. Although it wouldn’t improve his strength by much, if he had eaten tens of thousands, it should get him close to the breakthrough.

A short moment after he devoured all those people, one of the walls finally gave in and crumbled. The soldiers outside the gate started walking closer to the city and enter through the gap. When they didn’t see anyone. It looked like a ghost town.

“Huh? Where are they?”

“It’s weird, I don’t hear anything.”

The men were confused and started walking through the streets, searching for someone. However, the soldiers started disappearing.

“Where is the rest of your squad?” A captain asked one of the soldiers.

“I-I don’t know, one moment they were there and then weren’t.”

The captain frowned. “Useless!” He then went to search for his soldiers himself.

But in a short moment, the captain disappeared as well.

The whole city was silent. Even the soldiers weren’t making any sounds as they searched for any form of life. They couldn’t feel nor hear any presence.

After about an hour, since entering the city the general Dalmar frowned when he heard the report. “A mysteriously disappearing soldiers? What the hell is that?! We are sieging a city, not exploring some ghostly ruins!” He fumed as he couldn’t believe the incompetence of his subordinates.

“How many soldiers are missing?” Dalmar then asked.

The soldier paled when the general asked him. “Around a thousand.” He then said slowly.

“A thousand?!” Dalmar was taken aback as he didn’t expect so many soldiers to just vanish.

“Fine, I will enter the city as well.” Dalmar said.

As he was entering the city, he could feel something ominous about it. He couldn’t quite explain it but the air in the city felt suffocating, as if he was exploring an ancient ruin instead of a city.

“This feels off” The general uttered to himself as he walked along with several groups of soldiers.

In a minute, he got into the area where the suffocating aura was the strongest.

“Show yourself, I know you are there.”

Around a corner, hiding in the dark, Aleir was standing, watching the general and his soldiers. However, he didn’t think that the general could feel his presence and even pinpoint his location. Aleir then walked out of the corner, revealing himself to the general and his soldiers.

When the soldiers saw Aleir, they involuntarily shuddered. They could feel that the being in front of them was way out of their league. But the general had no reaction, it was as if he had already known how strong Aleir is and that he isn’t a threat.

The general looked at Aleir. “Who are you?” he plainly asked, taking out his greatsword.

Aleir was silently looking at him, his mind racing to come up with a tactic. He could feel that the man in front of him was dangerous. He was more dangerous than the cold woman that almost killed him back then. Since his resurrection, this was his first encounter with a strong being.

“I think that the better question is: Who are you? Why are you in an army of a mortal empire?”

The general’s pupils constricted as he heard that. He then sighed. As he did, his sword moved and slashed.

“W-Why…”

“General…”

All of the soldiers that followed him died with a single move of his greatsword. Even Aleir was a bit shocked, a single move of a sword to kill around 200 soldiers just proved how strong the general was.

“Now that we have privacy, we can talk.” The general plainly said as he sheathed his sword.

Aleir’s expression turned serious. This man might not be any weaker than him.

The general then continued talking. “Well, so… who are you? I thought I knew every strong being on this continent. But I don’t know you, which is out of my expectations.”

“Who the hell is this man?!” Aleir was asking himself like crazy.

“I’m Aleir. Former Holy Lord of Nine.”

Dalmar was stunned. He had been through a lot of various situations but this one was too weird. Aleir being a former holy lord was something too surreal. “You are the Holy Lord that deflected from The Supreme?!”

Aleir was flabbergasted. The last thing he expected was the general to know who he was.

“You were supposed to die 600 years ago to Isadora, the Supreme’s hound. I heard that she sustained some injuries in the fight against you which is weird, considering she is stronger than I am and I can clearly feel that you aren’t stronger than me.”

Aleir’s felt his head about to explode. He was confused, he didn’t know who The Supreme was, as for Isadora, he already met her…

“Who… Who is The Supreme and Isadora?! Who the are they?!” He then asked, trying to get more information about the people he is running away from.