Following the small footmark, Furia looked back and realized most of the forest remained untouched. It was almost as if there were no signs of civilization within the vicinity. Even after a millennium, the civilization seemed to have turned backward.

'Perhaps it was only this place.' Furia thought as she continued the journey. A part of her believed that the civilization must've evolved at some point. In a way, if the demons consumed all humans. There would be nothing left to feed on. Maybe this was the answer as to why demons gained some sort of intellect and understanding upon awakening. They couldn't simply kill and consumed all humans on sight.

'Maybe, we awakened to better ourselves?' Furia pondered the thought.

Primal demons like her started by eating and consuming animals, the humans naturally came at the latter part. However, even Furia had no memories of where or when the human-demon war truly began. They simply encountered each other and started the killing. Like many other 'awakened demons' like herself, they just went with the flow.

Kill or be killed. Eventually, the hatred on both sides became unrepairable. At some point, Furia realized that the war would never end until one side was annihilated.

On other hand, the saintess side of her thought of it more like responsibility and passion. Furia was tasked to annihilate demons, and she enjoyed it. The Saintess was born at a time when the relationship between demons and humans where at rock bottom. They were mortal enemies and she was fulfilling her role. Now that she was both human and demon, Furia started to wonder if she could stop this cycle.

However, before she could ponder more about the thought, the footmark went in two different directions.

'Did the children try to mess up their trail? Not bad.' Furia thought.

The children were witty but Furia wasn't an amateur pursuer.

Naturally, Demons had keen senses and Furia had passed the rigorous training of the holy knights. A training that consisted of physical conditioning which included marathons, and swimming. Another part was about mental and spiritual conditioning. It required Furia to pray to the goddess of light and study the common knowledge of the world. Furia also learned fencing and the Divine Arts of the sword, a stance in which she could release divine slashes that cut through long distances. Furia completed all this training before she fought her very first demon. It was a one-sided fight in favor of the Saintess.

Moreover, Furia had been taught to hunt animals in the wild. This means, tracking prey was particularly easy for an experienced huntress like her.

In the end, the trail led the barefooted Furia into a small hillside village. Her hood was folded down revealing her perfect black hair and crimson demonic eyes. With the Dawnbringer sword at hand, Furia entered the wooden village. However, the fox and the catkin people who saw her eyes immediately turned away. Some even kneeled down. Their animal ears lowered, and their eyes faced the ground. A sign of obedience and fear.

'D-demon!' They thought.

In this village, the demons with humanlike forms were treated as nobles. They were their rulers. No one in the village tried to look directly into their eyes. Whenever there was a demon, there was only death and bloodshed awaits.

Fear was deeply carved into the hearts of the villagers. They had learned this after great suffering throughout their life.

Furia never intended to hide in the first place, she needed information but no one dared to approach her. However, Furia arrived at the village square where she was interrupted by an elderly foxkin who was dragging the two familiar children.

The elderly foxkin forced the two children to bow down toward the demon. They were wearing common robes and barefooted.

They were kneeling with their heads touching the ground.

"Please… forgive these children's insolence, milady! They didn't mean to disturb your humble rest."

""Please forgive us!"" The two children cried out.

Earlier,

When Rei and Xei arrived at their house, the elderly noticed their uneasiness. It was as if they had seen a ghost.

He immediately interrogated the two asking about what happened.

Overwhelmed by the elder’s glare, the catkin Xei blurted everything. She narrated about the demon statue in the abandoned villa that was discovered by Rei. And about how they freed the demon using blood.

Rei looked at Xei with a pale face thinking, 'Xei, you idiot!'

Hearing the story, the elderly were filled with bad premonitions. The mention of the ‘demon’ was already bad.

What if it was a bloodthirster? A demon who didn't care about anything but blood. The elder had heard the stories from other villages. It was about a savage demon that leaves nothing but the bones of its victims.

Nevertheless, the elderly had been taking care of these children for 10 years. He had grown attached to them. Like any other tragic story, the children’s parents were eaten by demons. He took responsibility for raising them up but now, a life-and-death situation appeared before them. The children were able to identify the stranger that arrived at the village.

Maybe it was searching for the children? The elderly didn’t know what to do. Furthermore, there were demons from other villages too. There was nowhere to run.

In the end, he decided to beg and kneel. They weren’t strong enough to fight a demon. There was nothing else they could do. If things get worse, the elder plans to exchange his life for the children.

On the other hand, it was the first time Furia saw these people, a half-animal and a half-human. She was amused at their ears and tails. Furia felt as if she was in a different world. Nevertheless, Furia found someone whom she could ask,

"Where is this place?"

The sound of her voice felt like a beautiful melody in the ears of those who heard it.

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The elderly foxkin was able to calm his fearful heart. He carefully chose his words before he replied,

"This is Canine Village, it was under the rule of Lord Gha'Nis, the butcher demon"

Again… The butcher demon.

Furia heard the name once more. She tried to search within her memories, however, there was no Lord Gha'Nis or Butcher Demon that existed.

'A new self-proclaimed title and demon?' Furia thought before asking the second question,

"What time is it now?"

The elderly foxkin was confused about the unusual question. However, luckily, he was aware of the calendar in the village. The knowledge had been passed down from generation to generation.

He paused for a bit before answering,

"T-today is the 3rd day of the 1st moon of the year 891 of the demon rule."

Furia didn't understand the answer. The barbaric demons weren't aware of the years. It was human astrologers who counted the rotating stars. They passed the knowledge on to the scholars, and the scholars passed it onto the commoner's tongue. For each noble visitation, the humans kept updating the calendar making it a piece of common knowledge. Over the years, the knowledge of time spread throughout the continent.

Moreover, the elderly started a new calendar that was different from the one the saintess used. The year was of the demon rule? The last memory she had was the 14th day of the 3rd moon of the year 959 of the daybreak.

This means another ruler had restarted the year count.

Nevertheless, Furia believed that she had been petrified for over 891 years.

'Far too long.' Furia thought before she continued and asked,

"This… Butcher Demon, where is he?"

"In the northeast of this village, the mansion of Lord Gha'Nis was there." The elderly replied respectfully thinking that this demon was Lord Gha'Nis's acquaintance.

Furia thought of heading there immediately, however, knowing about the blood vial, the village, and the wolf child who freed her.

Furia figured out the demon Lord Gha'Nis.

He didn't eat these people to the bones and left this village to rot.

Instead, he let them do their daily lives and asked for a blood tribute. It was smart thinking for a savage demon. This means Lord Gha'Nis had awakened twice.

In the demon's first awakening, they gained their unique blood magic. In the second awakening, they gained their unique form of a horned red-skinned demi-human.

These demons gained personality and higher intellect away from their true savage form. Obtaining a new form, the demon's strength, and bodily constitution naturally increased. All this could be achieved through the cultivation of a blood pool.

Blood Pool was the elixir field of demons. In other words, their energy core. It could be felt after the demon's first awakening. Moreover, the awakened demons ranked themselves based on their power. Starting from the lowest rank;

The Demon Baron - new demons who recently obtained blood art.

The Demon Marshal - veteran demons who obtained blood art, consumed more blood, and could fight divine apostles.

The Demon Lord - Primal demons who obtained blood art, consumed more blood, and could fight divine saints.

To Furia's knowledge, cultivating the blood pool was simply absorbing blood until she felt full and kept on fighting stronger humans. In this way, she was able to survive long enough and reach the Demon Lord rank. However, it had been almost a thousand years. Things might have naturally changed. With enough blood, any demon baron could reach the lord's rank. The demon butcher might be stronger or worse.

Furia also thought about the order of light. The order that protects these villages from a demon invasion. However, another thought came into Furia's mind. The order of light was originally humans but these people were far from humans.

'Am I lost in a new land?'

What happened to this village?

Where are the apostles?

Why do they fear demons?

Where is this village protector?

‘Where the hell am I?’

These questions remained unknown.

Furia wanted to ask more. However, there was business to be done.

The enemy was right at the corner of the village. Furia wasn’t planning on staying at this village.

There was a demon, and a part of her was itching for a slaying.

With these thoughts, Furia asked a simpler question,

"Where are the blood vials?"

If Lord Gha’Nis was keeping this village under control for blood. There should be more blood vials reserved for him.

At this moment, Furia needed the blood more than the butcher demon.

However, the elderly hesitated,

"M-milady…"

The villagers were saving those blood vials for this week's tribute! If they forced more blood out of their body. They would be weakened to work or die in vain.

Currently, the elderly were more fearful of Lord Gha’Nis's wrath than the stranger demon that was in front of her.

On the other hand, Furia took advantage of their fear and put the Dawnbringer around the elderly's neck.

It was a simple trick of dying now in the sword or dying later in lord Gha’Nis's hands.

However, Furia wasn't serious about killing the elderly.

There was a part of her that contained a strong sense of justice.

It was extremely absurd for her demon counterpart. Killing an innocent never felt this hard before.

Nevertheless, Furia continued the trick and playfully leaned the longsword tip on the elderly’s shoulder.

Furia wanted to know where the blood vial was stored before fighting the butcher demon.

To use her Blood Arts, she needed to fill her blood pool. It was necessary.

"Speak… Elder. Where are the blood vials?" Furia commanded in a cold tone.

At the demon's words, the elder shuddered. He felt a slight chill enveloping his body.

'I'm going to die!' The elder resigned to his fate. However, a voice cried out in his stead,

"I know where they are! Don't hurt Grandpa!!"

Seeing the tip of the blade, the catkin Xei cried out. Tears were flowing from her eyes.

“Xei!! No. No… please just take my blood. Leave the children milady!” The elder cried out.

At the same time, Rei who was feeling guilty all this time couldn't hold it any longer!

'It was all my fault!! My fault!! If only!! If only I stayed in the village, none of this would've happened! Because of this demon!'

Blaming himself, Rei found the courage and pounced at the demon! He was a young wolfkin. An instinct to fight for his family remained within his young heart. Even against all the odds. He attacked!

However, Furia felt the young wolf's hostility.

'Goddess of light, grant me strength'

She invoked the first passage and strengthened her body with divinity.

At the right moment, she offered her arm and received the young wolf's bite.

Rei's fangs weren't able to penetrate the divinity even at its weakest form.

In a way, Furia's first passage of belief was 'love for demons.' Fighting non-demons, the divine power that she received from the first passage was halved.

Nevertheless, Furia had enough of this misunderstanding. This time, she let the saintess side of her handle the situation.

Using her other hand, Furia sat down and petted the young wolf's head.

"Rest yourself, child." Furia calmly spoke with a soft smile.

Those who had witnessed this scene felt the tears flowing from their eyes.

Especially the elderly who were so close to Furia.

With her eyes now golden, and divinity was flowing around her body. Furia didn't look like a demon at all.

Instead, the elderly felt a savior had come.

The divine feeling that she exudes calmed those around her.

A sense of peace. It was a feeling that was forgotten since the demons had taken over their land.

"Ah." The elder couldn't find any words. In his lifetime, there was only blood and slaughter. He had lost his beloved one, and relatives to demons.

The sorrow and fear of death were being swept away by the aura of divinity. The elder was at peace.

On the other hand, Rei who was being petted by the stranger felt inexplicable great comfort. His troubled heart calmed down and his mind became clear.

Being at the edge of his life every single day, the young wolf felt tired, his bite loosened up as he rested at Furia's arm.

Closing his eyes, the young wolf slowly drifted into slumber.

Furia gently laid the child on the ground before facing the Elder,

"It seemed there was a misunderstanding. Elder, I did not come here to take advantage of this village. I came here to kill the butcher demon. Please lead me to the source of his power. Help me win this fight."

Furia imitated the elder's first gesture. In the most graceful way, just like how the elder interrupted her, Furia knelt and touched the ground with her forehead. She pleaded for his knowledge.

At this very moment, the Elder was convinced. In this world, there was no demon that would kneel to the commoners like them.