“Kill your way through the country?”
Marcus burst out laughing after hearing Amelia’s goal.
“Then allow me to crush your goal here!”
He signaled the archers on the roof, and they all began firing at Amelia.
Amelia quickly gathered anima at her feet and stomped the ground.
*Bam!*
The ground underneath her suddenly came to life as it molded into four triangles, which quickly rose up and form a tent around Amelia.
The arrows hit the tent but surprisingly weren’t able to pierce through it like they did the concrete wall. This was because the tent made of earth was being reinforced by Amelia’s anima.
The quality of her anima vs theirs were leagues apart.
“Keeping firing! Earth manipulation of that level takes a great amount of anima, she’ll give in eventually!”
Marcus shouted.
“Hm?”
That’s when he noticed a change with the earth tent protecting Amelia. There was something being molded on the outside.
“Spikes?”
That’s when Marcus knew what was about to happen.
“Find cover!”
However, it was too late.
The spikes on the tent suddenly began being fired in all directions like they were bullets.
“Guahh?!”
The archers screamed out in agony as the spike pierced through their bodies, like they were paper, filling them with fist-sized holes.
After a few seconds, everything on the narrow road had spikes of earth lodged into them. Whether it be building or man.
The only exception was Marcus who manipulated the earth and formed a wall to protect himself. He brought down the wall, and revealed that he was hit in the shoulder by a spike.
“It was a bad idea trying to clash her in element manipulation. She isn’t called the Elemental Star for nothing.”
He removed the spike and said.
Marcus looked around and saw that all his archers were dead.
‘I still have lots of lackeys around the city that can group up and stop her. I should make it look like I’m retreating and bait her into following me.’
He thought to himself.
He immediately turned and started to run. That’s when it happened.
The ground under him collapsed and he suddenly found himself falling into a pit.
“Shit!”
He quickly used his sword and stab the side, to stop his fall. When he looked down, he saw lots of spikes at the bottom of the pit.
“When did she have the time to create this?!”
Marcus shouted in shock.
That’s when he felt that the earth around him was starting to move. He looked up and saw that the entrance to the pit was closing.
“Shit!”
He pulled his sword and allowed himself to fall towards the bottom, but immediately covered his feet with anima.
He landed on two spikes without getting skewered, and jumped upwards with all of his strength. He was able to escape the pit before it closed up.
“You didn’t think you could kill someone like me with such tactics did you?!”
He shouted while midair.
“Of course, I didn’t.”
Marcus felt a gust behind him the moment he heard the voice.
Before he could turn around, he felt something cold stab into his back.
“Argh?!”
He turned his head around and saw Amelia looking at him coldly through the side of his eyes. Electric sparks could be seen emitting from her sword.
“Let’s see how well you fry.”
The moment she said that, Marcus felt a strong surge of electricity flow into his body.
“Ahhhhhhhh?!”
He screamed out in agony after he felt it.
“Don’t-”
However, Amelia soon heard him speak clearly.
“Don’t underestimate me, brat!”
*Bam!*
With a shout, he slammed his elbow on the top of Amelia’s head.
The sudden blow to her head made her senses become blurry, and her movements became dulled.
Marcus took that chance and kicked her from behind and forced them apart.
He landed on a rooftop, while Amelia, who still couldn’t function properly, landed on the ground. Her sword fell beside her.
“Cough! Cough!”
Marcus fell to his knees and started to cough up blood.
“If I hadn’t protected my internal organs at the last second, I would’ve been fried alive.”
He used anima to create a protective barrier around his organs, the moment he saw what Amelia was about to do.
He stood and looked down on Amelia.
“Y-You little bitch!”
His entire body was covered in raging red Anima as he roared. The concrete roof started cracking under the pressure of his anima.
He charged down towards Amelia, thrusting his sword.
“?!”
Amelia saw him and quickly rolled out of the way, while grabbing her saber.
*Bam!*
Marcus’ sword stabbed into the ground and caused large cracks to appeared in it like it was glass.
Amelia quickly got to her feet and readied her saber.
She watched as Marcus pulled his sword out of the ground and glanced at her. The moment she saw his eyes, cold sweat covered her body.
The color of one’s anima can change to represent an emotion, if that emotion was strong enough. Some people also received a boost in power from these intense emotions.
The fact that Marcus’ anima wasn’t the normal green, but a raging red showed how angry he was.
“Amelia!”
He roared and charged towards her again. His every step caused a crack in the ground.
“Taking him on like this is bad.”
Amelia said and jumped on a roof. She then began to jump from roof to roof running away from Marcus.
“You’re not getting away!”
Marcus leaped into the air with an incredible force. He stepped on a roof and caused the roof to crack before leaping towards where Amelia was.
The two began a chase on the roofs in the middle of the night.
Amelia turned around and wind started condensing around her sword, soon fire gathered around it as well.
She stopped running and immediately changed the direction she was going, and charged towards Marcus.
“Take this!”
She thrust her saber forward and a storm of flames charged towards Marcus.
“Useless!”
Marcus gathered his anima in his sword and swung it down.
*Boom!*
The storm of fire was suddenly cut in two by a sharp gust of wind. This wind hit Amelia and the building behind her.
The building had a deep cut inside it, while Amelia was only blown back. She had surrounded herself in anima and formed an invisible armor.
Even so, she still took some internal damage.
“Argh!”
She landed in an alley, crashing into some trash cans. Every part of her body was aching.
“Amelia!”
She looked up and saw Marcus jumped down thrusting his sword down towards her. Amelia tried to roll out of the way, but her body just wouldn’t listen to her.
She was forced to watch as Marcus came closer and closer to killing her.
It was then that her body started heating up, and it seemed that time had come to a standstill for her.
‘I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die!’
That was all she repeated in her head.
The thought of dying caused her mind to think up several ways to survive in a split second. After what felt like an eternity to her she discovered a way.
She gritted her teeth and slammed her fist on the ground.
*Bam!*
Suddenly the ground under her began to elevate bringing her up towards Marcus. She manipulated the earth to throw her upwards since she couldn’t move by herself in time.
“Are you suicidal?! Great! I’ll put you out your misery!”
He put his all his body weight behind his thrust as he saw Amelia flying towards him.
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Amelia smiled and tapped the earth again. That’s when Marcus saw Amelia, who was heading towards him change directions.
“Wha?!”
She had manipulated the earth to move out of Marcus’ way and circle behind him and position her upside down and above him.
She then let gravity do its thing and fell towards him. Marcus twisted his body while falling and saw Amelia with a crazy look in her eyes.
“Checkmate!”
Lighting started dancing in her palms.
“Die!”
She swung down her hand and a bolt of lightning shot down and pierced Marcus straight through the heart.
“…….!”
He released a silent scream as the electricity fired his insides and caused his heart to burst.
*Bam!*
He slammed on the ground with his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
*Bam!*
Amelia dropped not too far away from him on some garbage bags.
“Ugh….”
She groaned out in pain, as she laid face first on the garbage.
“I did it. I won.”
She said with a pained voice.
She laid there for a while before she could roll over on her back.
“Sadly, there’s no time to celebrate. I must hurry and tend to my wounds or else I’m done for.”
She knew that it wasn’t over with Marcus’ death. She was certain that every knight and their soldiers were frantically searching for her whereabouts. She was named as the murder of the king after all.
She sluggishly stood up and lifted Marcus’ body and threw it into a dumpster. She then sat in a corner and covered herself with garbage bags.
‘No one would expect for me to be hiding like this. The only clue of my whereabouts would be Marcus’ body. Since I’ve hidden that, I’m okay for a while until they realize that Marcus has gone missing and start looking for him.”
She thought to herself.
She closed her eyes and entered a trance-like state. She slowly and calmly spread her anima to every inch of her body. She then started to concentrate on the damaged areas and made her anima circulate around them.
She soon felt a warm sensation as if her anima was caressing her injuries and blowing back life into her.
This was one of the ways someone could heal themselves with anima. They won’t instantly heal because healing oneself is a delicate operation. You need to focus and be calm at mind. The rate you can heal yourself is dependent on your talent, experience, and race.
After what felt like a few hours, Amelia reopened her eyes. She carefully surveyed the area before moving the garbage bags off her.
“It’s almost dawn.”
She said as she looked at the sky that showed signs of lighting up.
She began to check her body. It wasn’t fully healed but it was enough to fight.
“The only problem is that I’ve used up too much anima. If I continue at this rate, I might die.”
She said.
She started walking out of the alley.
“……..”
Just as she was about to step into the streets, she paused. She stood motionlessly for a while before drawing her saber.
She took a deep breath and jumped out.
“There she is!”
As she expected, there were numerous soldiers in the vicinity.
She didn’t hesitate and charged towards them while covering herself and sword in anima. She pounced into a group of soldiers, swinging her sword about.
“Ahhhhh?!”
Screams echoed out as blood danced in the air.
Amelia kicked a soldier across the face and cut off the head of another with a spin.
She stomped the ground and earth walls were suddenly erected around her. She waved her hand and the walls started to charged in separate directions crushing soldiers against the surrounding buildings.
She jumped into the air and conjured fire and wind around her blade. She thrust it downward and a storm of flames hit several soldiers and roasted them alive.
“Use projectiles!”
A soldier shouted.
That’s when more soldiers appeared on the roof with bows, crossbows, and even firearms.
“Fire!”
The people on the roof began firing their weapons at Amelia from all direction, while she was in the middle of free falling back to the ground.
She released her anima to maximum capacity and took control of the wind around her. She instantly formed a protective wall of wind around her, tanking the shots.
Suddenly crackles could be heard coming from the wind wall. The next moment bolts of lightning started raining down on all the archers, roasting them alive.
“Argh!”
That’s when the wall of wind collapsed and Amelia fell to the ground. She was breathing heavily and looked really rugged.
“Ugh?!”
She was suddenly shot in the back by an arrow.
“Ahh!”
She spun around with a roar and stomped the ground. A spike off earth burst out of the ground and impaled the soldier who shot her.
*Bam!*
At that moment she was kicked in the back of the head by another soldier, but she held her ground and punched the soldier with all of her strength.
*Bam!*
Her fist broke the soldier's face and smashed his head.
“She has one foot in the grave! Take her down!”
More soldiers suddenly came flooding in from all directions. When Amelia saw that, instead of despairing her will to fight blazed even brighter.
“Rahhhhh!”
She released a loud roar and charged into the endless soldiers.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
She was no longer using her saber or any of the skill she perfected over her lifetime. She was just swinging her fists in every direction.
She was no longer fighting like a knight but like a mad beast.
*Bam!*
She fly kicked a soldier into his peers and then uppercut one to her side.
She then swung her elbow behind her, striking a soldier who was trying to hold her.
She then clawed out the eyes of a soldier, who had punched her in her face.
She was taking and giving hits every second, without any chance of rest. The more she fought, the more bloodstained her body, but whether the blood was hers or her enemies no one knew.
After a few minutes, the rampaging Amelia was showing signs of reaching her limits. Her movements became sluggish, and she was taking more hits than she was dishing out.
The soldiers saw this and started to attack her even more aggressively. At this point, Amelia stopped fighting and was only taking hits.
Her body became numbed and she couldn’t tell left from right. She staggered back and fell. Her body didn’t touch the ground though, she fell on someone’s chest. For some reason, the chest she fell on was naked yet hard like steel.
“Oh? You’re being daring again.”
She heard a familiar voice and looked up and saw a handsome smile.
“….Rory?”
“Yo.”
The man, Rory answered.
“Wha?!”
“Who the hell is this pervert?!”
Amelia heard a soldier shout.
When she looked down she was greeted with Rory’s naked lower body.
“Kyaa!”
She stood back up and stepped away from him.
“Why are you naked?!”
She asked.
“I didn’t like the clothes you left me, so I stayed naked.”
Rory answered with a smile.
“But look. I’ve found some clothes that I like laying around.”
He pointed at his feet and said.
When Amelia looked down she saw two different suits of clothes. A black suit and a white one. However, they seemed to be attached to something.
After looking closer, she immediately realized that what they were attached to were people. People who were reduced to piles of flesh of bones.
“Wha?”
They looked like they were squished by something, and from the fact that Rory was standing on them, it was obvious what that something was.
It seemed that Rory fell from the sky and crushed the two men in an instant. That was the reason why the soldiers had stopped attacking. They were frozen by shock.
“Oh! They’re my size too!”
Rory took up the clothes and said.
He threw away the white top and the black bottom and put on the black top and the white bottom. The strange thing was that after he put on the clothes, all trace of blood and flesh disappeared, even on the white pants.
“That’s better. I have been naked for days now.”
He said ignoring the looks of fear around him.
“Now then…..”
He faced the soldiers.
“You guys were all ganging up on a woman and a beautiful at that.”
His words were light but carried immense pressure.
“You guys must pay dearly for that.”
All the soldiers stepped back when they heard what he said.
“W-Why are we backing away?! It’s just one man!”
A soldier shouted.
“T-That’s right! We outnumber them!”
“Let’s get them!”
The soldiers forcibly boost their morale and charged towards Rory.
“Heh.”
Rory smiled and slowly walked towards them. It didn’t take long before he was directly in front of a soldier.
“Die, pervert!”
The man thrust a lance towards him. In response, Rory slowly thrust out a palm.
*Bam!*
The lance shattered on the palm.
“Wha?!”
While the soldier was shocked, Rory’s palm calmly reached out and touched him.
*Bam!*
“Guaah?!”
The soldier screamed out as his armor broke apart like glass, and his chest sunk in to match the shape of the palm.
It was as if his body was made of mud.
He tumbled over with his eyes popped out.
“……….”
Silence covered the area, as everyone froze and looked at the man in front of them. They couldn’t understand what just happened. All it looked like to them, was Rory pushing out his palm destroying everything it came in contact with.
“That’s one down.”
Rory smiled and walked past the dead man. This time the soldiers were truly scared of the man in front of them.
“Now then, have you prayed to whatever God you believed in?”
He asked.
“Because you’re all going to die.”
“Run away!”
The soldiers began to scatter.
“Heh. You’re all wasting your time.”
He suddenly disappeared after saying that.
*Bam!*
Amelia heard an explosive sound and looked towards it. There she saw dozens of soldiers midair with palm-shaped holes in their bodies.
*Bam!*
She heard the same sound in a different direction and saw dozens of more soldiers suffering a similar fate
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
Before she knew it there were countless soldiers midair with holes in their bodies. But after examining the wounds closer, she noticed that the amount of damage each soldier took varied. She soon realized that from the direction she heard the first sound going over to the opposite direction, the damage increased slightly.
The first one had a dent in his chest, but the last one didn’t even have an upper body left. That only meant one thing.
“It’s a move that grows stronger the more it’s used?”
In only a few moments, countless dead bodies laid on the ground in front of Amelia. She also saw Rory standing in the center with his hands dyed crimson in blood.
His current image was nothing like how he was in the cell.
“Maybe he really is…”
“What the hell is this?”
That’s when she heard a voice coming from behind her.
“I thought that the soldiers were enough to stop her but, Amelia is a bit stronger than we expected.”
She looked behind her and saw five people walking down the streets.
“Looks like she killed Marcus too.”
“Doesn’t that mean she’s the strongest knight in the kingdom now?”
“She’s a criminal, not a knight.”
The five people all stopped and looked towards Amelia together.
“Then as knights, we need to kill her.”
“Shit, so they caught up.”
Amelia said.
“Hey, Elia.”
Rory walked up beside her.
“Elia? Who’s that?”
“It’s my nickname for you. Cute isn’t it?”
Rory smiled and said.
“Anyway, who are those five who are acting so self-important?”
“They’re the remaining knights here. They’re different from the soldiers you made quick work of earlier.”
Amelia answered.
“Hmmm….Are they strong?”
She nodded.
“Stronger than you?”
“Not individually, but they’re stronger than me if they group up. Fighting all five together is suicide.”
She replied.
“I see.”
Rory started walking towards them.
“Hey, what are you going in to do?”
“They’re enemies, right? Then I’m gonna get rid of them.”
“Alone?”
“Of course. You said that they’re weaker than you then it won’t be any different than when I fought those fodders over there.”
Rory answered.
“In fact, all who stand before me are fodders.”
“Such arrogance.”
Amelia cursed.
“Hm? Who is this guy?”
One knight asked.
“I don’t know.”
“He’s probably one of Amelia’s fans.”
“Oh? So he wants to play hero?”
The Knights spoke among themselves.
“Hey, someone go fight him.”
“I’ll go.”
A bulky knight stepped out.
“I love to wreck pretty boys like him.”
The bulky knight approached.
“Hey, pretty-”
*Bam!*
Rory wasted no time and punched the man. However, the man wasn’t blown back like the soldiers earlier.
“Hahahaha! What was that?”
“He must’ve gotten scared and punch out of fear!”
“He didn’t even leave a dent in Samson’s armor!”
The other four knights laughed.
Rory, however, didn’t pay them any mind and walked past Samson and continued to approach them.
“Hey, Samson. Your prey is getting away!”
A knight laughed and said.
“Samson?”
However, they stopped laughing when they realized that Samson hadn’t reacted in the least.
That’s when it happened.
Blood sprayed out of Samson’s armor, and his body literally collapsed into a heap an instant later.
“S-Samson?”
The knights looked at Samson in shock. His body didn’t even have a human shape anymore. He was reduced to a pile of flesh with his skin without a scratch, before their eyes.
He had literally become a bag of flesh.
“You monster!”
The remaining four all charged towards Rory, branding their weapons.
One stabbed him with a spear, one shot him with an arrow, one slashed him with a sword, while the last one shot him with a gun.
The result was either their weapons shattered or their attacks bouncing off him.
“What kind of skin is this?! Or could it be an anima technique?”
Amelia said in shock.
“This is why I said that all are fodder in front of me.”
Rory slowly lifted his hands and swung them in two different directions.
The next thing the knights knew, their worlds were cut in two before suddenly turning red.
Amelia watched as their body was split down the middle and fell in two different locations.
Rory turned his back to them.
“Don’t blame yourselves. The moment I stood before you, your fates were sealed.”
He then walked up towards Amelia.
“So Elia, there shouldn’t be anyone here that can oppose you, that means that you’re currently standing at a crossroad in life.”
He looked down on her and said.
“One path is taking the vacant throne and rule this country as it queen.”
With all the other knights dead, Amelia was the strongest person in the kingdom. That meant that she could easily forcibly take the throne with no one being able to oppose her.
However, she didn’t want that.
“What’s the other path?”
She asked.
What she wanted was a place where she belonged.
Rory smiled at her and said.
“The other path is becoming my companion and travel the world together.”
“Huh?”
What Rory said confused her.
“I’ve been alone for over a century now, so I’ve been thinking that it was time I start traveling with someone again.”
He stooped down and held her chin.
“Your anima is so beautiful and pure that I just had to have you. A beautiful anima reflects a beautiful soul. I love surrounding myself with people like that.”
He looked at her gently and said.
“Was that why you saved me?”
Amelia asked.
“That and you look like the perfect person to warm my bed with.”
Amelia sighed when she heard that. She slapped away his hand and stood up on her own.
“I won’t be warming your bed, but I was just thinking about doing some traveling myself.”
She said as she brushed herself off.
“So I’ll take the second path.”
Rory smiled when heard that.
“I see. Oh, you’re a bit too weak so I teach you some moves.”
“Couldn’t you say that a little less bluntly?”
“Nope.”
Rory laughed.
Not too far away, someone was watching the two talk with a smile on their face. They stood on a roof and watched the whole thing feeling quite satisfied.
She was the female guard who asked Amelia to help arrest Rory a few days back.
“You look like you’re enjoying yourself, Rory.”
She said.
Behind her, the sun was slowly rising. As the light touched her body, her physical features changed.
She was now taller, had short darkish purple hair, a voluptuous figure, and was dressed in revealing leather jacket and a skirt.
On her chest was a tattoo of a demon.
The woman smiled as she looked at Rory and Amelia.
“You two look good together, even if I hate to admit it.”
She turned her back to them.
“But you should be careful, Amelia. This is a mad world filled with insane people.”
She jumped.
“People like me and Rory, that is.”
After she said that she vanished into thin air.
The next day at the border of Buchse. Amelia took one last look before turning her back on the place that she grew up in but never felt a part of.
And thus began her journey with the Devil King.