Chapter 90: Crossroads (V)

The crunching and chewing must have lasted an eternity.

Lloyd and the draconic heiress could be said to be veterans, and were those who had seen many sights. And the sights they saw the most, were that of the horrors of war. Whether it was cruel murder, dismemberment, torture or others things that were better off unnamed, they had seen it before.

Now thanks to Zan, they could also say that they saw a man consuming another man, while he was forced to watch from his almost decapitated but still living head.

Needless to say, this was the first time that they ever witnessed such a thing, and all parties present for the scene hoped that it’d be their last.

Lloyd held in the urge to puke, and so did the heiress. But the two were still veterans, and after the first few seconds they were able to shake themselves out of their stunned state.

They did not want to look at the scene any longer than they needed to.

Lloyd grabbed one of the fragments of his shattered sword, and threw it hard at the dragon-winged man’s hanging head.

The piece of metal instantly entered his brain, and just as instantly ended his needless suffering.

Lloyd then moved on to disturbing Zan back into sanity. He was intelligent enough to notice that something was wrong with the young man long ago, and he was smart enough to somewhat determine why he went on his cannibal craze.

The point remained in an experience he had with a starving pet. What else were a beast’s instincts to do, then to ravenously devour when they were starving? Even a tiger raised all its life with a human being would attack, and eat its owner if it was on the verge of dying due to hunger. He assumed then that Zan’s powers and bloodline must have had something to do with his…animal-like behavior. This was the benefit of having a wide array of experiences and knowledge.

Lloyd moved to hopefully shake Zan out of his delirium, but as he took his first step towards that nightmarish sound of crunching and chewing, he hesitated. Although the dragon-winged man was now dead, his body still stood straight, and Zan made no distinction as he freely took more bites out of the still warm body. To him it was like a cake on display at his dinner table, and he was the only diner.

Lloyd wavered further, taking the time to thoroughly think about his next action. While he had the strength to forcefully pacify a rabid beast when things did not go according to plan, he definitely did not have the strength necessary to keep himself alive if the ravenous youth set his jaws on him next.

Anxious thoughts started to appear in his head, and the prospect of shrinking back and cowering away to save his own life, became more and more tempting. No one wished to die, and Lloyd definitely did not wish to be eaten alive.

The swordsman took a step back in nervous fear, but suddenly, he was blown forward by a random gust of wind.

The world in that moment seemed to have heard his thoughts, and in response the winds blew.

A step forward, then, the winds blew again.

He felt a sensation on his hand, which led Lloyd to look down to his broken blade. What he saw, was that the yellow tassel on his shattered sword brushed his hand, before unnaturally dancing forward towards the direction of the youth.

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Due to the importance of the gift and his lover’s last message, his eyes relocated to the object, and hyper focused on the yellow remnant memory.

‘I thought you left…’

Lloyd thought back to the scene of the three specks of radiance rising towards the sky, but he focused back to his current circumstances.

The swordsman placed significant meaning on even the tiniest detail of its movement, and due to this, Lloyd noticed something that no one else could. Well, either he did notice something, or he was going insane and imagining the whole thing.

Nevertheless, the yellow tassel seemed to point at a particular spot, and Lloyd’s eyes followed. There, on Zan’s back, still remained the clumped hole of swarming black blood, to which the crimson sword exited from.

Lloyd stared at it, thoughts swimming in his head like a raging ocean, before he clenched his fists and swallowed his fear. Why was that hole in his back there if not for him? He might not know why Zan had done it, but if he could not at least help him here, then what kind of man was he?

The swordsman bravely took a few more steps, until he was right behind Zan’s back. The sounds of crunching and wet chomping were louder than ever, but he forced himself to carry out his decision.

Though now another problem faced him. While the swordsman’s body was adequately strong, he was currently weak, and the youth’s exhausted body was still very much tough. Punching him recklessly was like throwing a fist at a heavy steel door. It would be very difficult for him to deliver a blow hard enough to shake Zan’s senses. Unless…

Lloyd looked at the hole again.

“…Fuck.”

Bravely, he delivered the only blow that did have a chance of shaking Zan out of his insanity. A trembling fist was raised, before it was strengthened by the steel will of resolve, and it flew towards that same hole to which the sword exited from.

Lloyd’s fist directly entered Zan’s body, and the black blood immediately covered his hand, before making its way further towards his arm.

From the sidelines, the heiress was watching Lloyd’s actions. First, she was surprised that he would take the initiative to end her brother’s suffering. Then, confused and skeptical to what he was trying to achieve by approaching that madman.

Her eyes then opened fully wide, in pure disbelief, when he threw a punch at that ravenous beast. Worse yet, she saw as his fist even entered the demon’s body.

Was he committing suicide? This was a bad way to go out in her opinion. Nevertheless, she could at least take the merit of killing Lloyd Steelrain, this would be a great achievement whence she returned home.

Zan’s body shook, and the pound of flesh that he was currently munching on dropped to the ground. Not a moment later, his gaze turned towards the draconic heiress.

A chill went up her spine. The phoenix-dragon woman saw as his mouth was still dripping with fresh red blood. To make matters worse, as soon as his gaze turned to her, a glowing red light activated in the demon’s left eye. To her it was an obvious signal of bloodlust and savage hunger.

Valiantly she gripped tightly at her sword. A burst of flames resembling phoenixes and dragons dancing manifested around the draconic heiress. In full display they showed their might, majesty and glory. And then in the next moment, she got the fuck out of there.

Lloyd looked up into the air as he saw her familiar figure doing a familiar action, which was fleeing and escaping.

There was a reason why she was still alive even after their numerous meetings on the battlefield, and that reason was because she was very cautious. So much so that Lloyd often called his enemy a coward. Though in this case, in her shoes he would have also probably fled.

The black blood that was climbing up Lloyd’s arm finally stopped, and even proceeded to flow back into Zan’s body. It was fortunate that it did, for the swordsman's layer of clothing on that arm had already been devoured, and his skin and flesh was next.

Lloyd took his fist out of Zan's body, and in the next moment, the young man fell to his knees.

Ironically, when the red glow returned to his left eye so did his clarity and sanity. Blurry and incoherent memories flooded his mind, and as each picture and sound got clearer, he had realized what he had done.

The crunching and wet chomping haunted his ears, and he distinctly remembered as his hands and mouth moved unconsciously to gather more of the human flesh into his body.

The young man wanted nothing more than to puke it all out, but his body resisted those nauseous urges.

It was the same feeling as his first kill, and the same set of emotions when he realized he had murdered groups of innocents.

Those disgusting feelings and emotions came back, and they were ten times stronger.

Physically, Zan regained his energy, but mentally, he had collapsed once again.

Zan once again zoned out onto the surface of clouds, as Lloyd’s shouting could be vaguely heard in the background.

"Retreat!"

"All forces strategically retreat and gather at my personal vessel!"

"Reinforce and defend as we fly north!"

"And send down some fucking rope!"

An arm extended towards Zan’s collapsed body, which had fallen to its knees. A hand came up from below his shoulder, and Lloyd grabbed one of the young man's arms and placed it behind his neck and over his shoulders.

The youth was quite heavy, but he had an elite knight's athleticism. So as long as the youth did not resist he could at least drag him with him.

The two then, limped towards a line of rope that had been thrown down from the ship above.