David stared at him, and so did two people behind him one that looked somehow familiar until he remembered it was the same person that carried Arrianete to the ceremony. Osmian was his name?

This awkward silence did not last long as after a second David smiled with a cheeky smile.

"Yes, I am."

Coming to his senses David tried to straighten his back, but he immediately grasped his waist in pain and then groaned while the girl behind him supported his body. Blood dripped from under his clothes and when David noticed Hildebrant gaze he pushed his clothes away revealing the blood-red vessel that spread through his visible organs and wanted to consume them just for them to be stopped and killed by blue blood and an unknown and invisible force that slowed them down.

Even knowing the blood vessels were under control, Hildebrant stepped back and was prepared to fight.

"Please calm down I know this looks bad but it’s better than many who were injured during the fight. I am at least whole."

David joked and then grimaced while falling to the ground. Hildebrant observed him with cautiousness never retracting the flames that poured into his right hand prepared to sever David's head even though he knew that even while injured it would be still one of the hardest tasks he would need to accomplish.

"David, are you all right?"

The girl who supported him asked and all David did was smile at her before clenching his exposed stomach.

Tilting his head it was hard for Hildebrant to interrupt their sensual moment but as he knew David his ability to attract women would surely bring big trouble so he as a good passerby used himself to shield this injured man.

"Why are you here? Should you not be safely in Great Hall rather than running from blood demons on shore?"

Three people grimaced at the same time.

"Don’t you know what happened yesterday Hill?"

Icarus attacked. It was the reason why he escaped on the shore where no monster dared to step on and no normal human would sleep. It was just thanks to luck he was none of these and was able to use it to pass the night.

It was the intense night that even now made his heart tremble.

"I was unable to return in time, so I found an abandoned vessel before the night was able to strike and hid until the morning. I was thinking about returning now."

David looked at him with a terrified expression and then jumped and embraced him before anyone could react.

"You can’t! If you do, you will die!"

Hildebrant calmly looked down at his waist that was held by David and could feel his finger stabbing into his flesh. Even if he tried it would be hard to tear himself from his grip but then his gaze fell on his hand that still had flames pouring into it and after a second of contemplation, he let his flames return to his body.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

Knowing it was impossible to get away from someone with David's abilities without severely hurting him he used his other hand to grasp David's elbow and then made him look into his eyes.

"What happened?"

David's breathing sped up and as his chest moved up and down, the fear and despair flashed past his eye while he smiled.

"We were preparing to build a new house when the entire great hall trembled, and that inhuman scream passed through our bodies. I didn’t think much at the beginning and continued to work but then I noticed more and more people running my way until I stood up. When we stopped some to ask, they just kept repeating monster came, the monster came."

Disbelief could be noticed on David's face if he did not believe in his world.

"It was so funny at that time. We all knew living monsters feared entering the Great Hall after Darius massacred most of them and obtained a relic. It was a rule, that no one could disobey, many monsters tried already, and it never worked. Even craftsmen known for their cunning could not plot with monsters as a base, which made us all think no monster could get in."

David trembled.

"How wrong were we."

He said and then grasped his waist tighter, his fingers burrowing into his flesh kept trembling, but Hildebrant could feel the great control David had of his body that made him unable to express the size of the fear that must penetrated his soul.

"It was like an infection when it came. Crimson smoke was just beginning, and then all the houses we built began to be overgrowed by blood vessels. Anywhere the smoke went it changed everything it touched. All we could hear were please and voices that talked to someone. It came from people who were unable to escape. Their mouth moved on their own, calling someone's name but I had no time to listen to it as the moment I noticed something wrong I already sprinted to the center where the monster in human skin fought against the lord itself and Ivistar."

"What happened to them?"

Did they win? Or lose? The answer was right before him and hearing his question David lowered his head and a light of fury passed through his mind.

"After discovering that I was unable to join the battle we ran with all our might but before we could retreat Cecilie used her cloud armament spear to create the seal from the fog with the help of other truth seekers that joined. The seal shrouded half of the great hall and almost immediately cut one half of the sanctuary from one other but also people left in it."

Grinding his teeth tears began to come out of his eyes.

"We were unable to escape in time and could not enter behind the barrier even when we hit it with all our might. I thought my friends would die but then one of my old friends took us to her house and opened the lid to let us into the catacombs. Through there we got out but, in the process, we lost half of your members, but what was even worse was after we went out we finally found the reason why Cecilie sealed just half of the great hall."

Hatred now dripped from his voice and his handsome features turned fierce.

"Craftsmen and that bastard took the opportunity when all fighters were busy and attacked. If not for them Cecilia and others might be able to push the monster back or at least keep most of the people safe."

Tears came out of David's eyes and all the Hildebrant could do was embrace a boy of the same age as him and let him cry on his chest.

"Why is fate so cruel?"

Words uttered by David had many meanings but one thing that he was sure of was Cecilie would be still unable to push Icarus back if he did not wish to. She could keep him away but not defeat him, that was the power of transcendent viscount.

In his opinion maybe if she was a transcendent barron she would have some chance but as a transcendent lord, she was still too weak to challenge a monster like Icarus.

Standing in the place he held his friend in his arms while the other two people kept observing their interaction and keeping an eye on three blood demons who still wriggled on the ground and kept cursing and trying to find weapons they lost.

He would try to take care of them but first, he would need to take care of the silver warrior that observed them from a distance.