After a long period, Arin slapped himself on the face. This was his defense mechanism of sorts to get out of his monologues.

"There's no use thinking about the past," he said, but his expression betrayed him. Eventually, he finished his food and left the inn.

The guard who had left the capital with him accompanied him. Arin knew what complications going alone in a region where he was dreaded would have.

He was his personal bodyguard, actually—a fact he had learned from reading the personal diary of the original Arin, a find that was sure to help him.

"Nocterin, we are going to the house of an acquaintance of mine. You will have to stand outside his place for a while," he said to the guard.

"I understand, Your Highness," the calm voice of the guard replied with nonchalance.

Arin was facing the guard as he talked with him. Out of the blue, his burly hands grabbed hold of him, and he was spun through the air toward the back of Nocterin.

Just as Arin's mind had processed the movement, sounds of innumerable shots sounded. Arin could see crowds of cloaked figures holding some sort of propulsion canons. Noticing their plan had failed, the armed figures rushed toward Nocterin, planning to take him down.

Arin did notice one peculiar thing, however. Not all attackers were actually participating in the fight; some of them just stood still at the back.

As they ran, the projectiles of fire shot out of their canons simultaneously. Though all of them were being dodged by Nocterin effortlessly as he maneuvered around with Arin in his hands.

The guard himself looked like a tremendously fast projectile as he moved around.

The figures were getting closer to the two, and their barrages of fire were growing more violent.

The surrounding people had already evacuated the place, and surprisingly, the attackers didn't harm them at all.

As the figures were about to get into close quarters, Nocterin pulled out a huge, shining scythe. It looked incredibly heavy, but the guard attacked with ease.

Their attackers had shifted the strategy as well, now switching to a short blade that was luminescent with red light.

Nocterin closed in on one of them, his gleaming scythe slashing the figure's head, causing blood to ooze out of his neck as the corpse fell lifeless.

This was just the start, apparently. The unforgiving scythe of Nocterin brought down one attacker after another, no matter how many of them attacked him in unison.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

4 attackers. 4 seconds.

2 attackers. 2 seconds.

The entire place was strewn with corpses, yet the ones in the back stood motionless. They felt strangely eerie to Arin as if they belonged to a different category than humans altogether.

Another bizarre find was that no town guards, no awakeners, or anyone else had arrived yet. It made no sense; this was a thriving town, after all.

Arin felt that Nocterin had the same thought about the still figures at the back as he noticed the guard getting away from the blade-yielding attackers and toward the ones at the back.

Seeing him approach the motionless figures had turned their companions insane. They crazily threw themselves toward Nocterin without a thought for their lives. It was extremely disturbing.

Their efforts were in vain, though, as the scythe turned their bodies into mush. Nocterin and Arin were fast approaching their intended targets, and it was at this moment the still figures moved.

All of them pulled out a strange rock from their pockets and started to throw them at their companion that stood perfectly between them. As the rocks were brought together, they morphed into one.

The figure at the center threw them high in the air as his lips parted, a lifeless but clear voice radiating out of them. He was chanting something.

Arin was confused by the sudden actions. Suddenly, Nocterin threw him far away and leapt unbelievably high into the air. But instead of going toward the stone, he crashed into the chanting person. That figure tried to escape from him, his lips still chanting.

Nocterin suddenly glowed in blue light, his figure cracking through the air like lightning as he charged straight into that figure. His hands grabbed hold of the person's head as he completely rotated it, finally stopping the chanting. The figure could only gasp as his life flashed before his eyes, but bizarrely, an eerie smile covered his face.

In an instant, Nocterin turned around and shot a beam at the distant Arin, pushing him out of even his sight. Just as he did, a boisterous roar sounded from above, like a dragon was expressing his fury.

The midday sun was swallowed by a blinding flash, white-hot and searing. A deafening crack shattered the air, followed by a shockwave that rippled outward, tossing dust, debris, and shattered glass into the sky. The ground buckled underfoot as flames erupted, consuming everything in their fiery embrace. Smoke billowed upward, darkening the bright day with swirling chaos, while the acrid stench of burning filled the air, choking the life out of the silence that followed.

From afar, Arin could see the explosion wreaking havoc. Being thrown two times had injured him quite a bit, but the fact that a servant the original Arin hadn't even cared for protected him with his life filled Kaius with awe for the valiance and loyalty of the guard.

His eyes trembled suddenly as a light flashed before them. A familiar silhouette tardily exited them. His hands carried a scythe covered with blood, but he himself was totally unscathed.

"Y-You are alive!" Arin's face twitched as he uttered with shock.

"Of course, Your Highness. You should have more faith in me. I was chosen specially by Lord Mikhael to protect you," Nocterin replied, baffled at the prince's sudden obliviousness to his power.

"Here I was thinking he died to protect me," Arin thought as his face turned slightly red. "On the bright side, this late grandfather of mine has provided me such an overpowered protector. Love you, Arin's grandpa," Kaius added without shame.

As he was about to say something to Nocterin, he noticed a few people coming toward them.

"Your Highness, are you injured?" one of them asked while making a saddened expression like that of a child who had been grounded.

"Really? The audacity to ask that! These people are more shameless than me," Arin thought, disgusted at their pretense.