"Have you found him yet!?"
"NO!"
"Then keep searching!"
"..."
"We're almost there… … There it is!"
"Come here! I think I hear something! He's right around this corner!"
"..."
"?"
"Where is he!?"
As the soldiers turned the corner, they were surprised to see that there was absolutely no one. Right ahead of them was an intersection leading towards the chaotic main road where the explosions of battle and the screams of soldiers and children alike were still heard. And, splitting off from there, straight ahead of them was a stone tower with a metallic door connected to the village walls.
"Do you think he left the village or went back into the battle!? Should we split up and follow him? There might be a door leading to the outside from that tower!"
One of the soldiers laughed heartily at the other's suggestion. "Doesn't matter, let's all go back to the main fight…"
"B-but sir—"
"Don't worry, he's dead either way… If that's the way he's leaving the village, he will be in for a rude awakening from our leader..."
*****************************
Inside the dark tower only lit by Luck's dim, natural light and his own dark vision, Ren was leaning back onto the door, breathing heavily unable to believe he just made that… It was his first time that he had a moment of peace and quiet where he felt safe to slightly calm his mind and think.
According to Luck, the tower he was in had been long abandoned for a reason he was not sure about. So, there should have been no one inside of it. And, the key to the locked door was with him in his armour, as the first guard he killed inside the interrogation room possessed one due to his high status in the village.
Everything seemed way too convenient... Yet, he had no energy or brainpower to question anything as his moment of peaceful serenity was interrupted by the entire tower shaking from above and underneath his feet…
"Lord Alucard! This tower is unstable and we need to leave! The soldiers from the outside might have found out that we came in here! We don't' have time!"
Ren took a deep breath of dust-filled air, steeling himself once more as he slowly approached Luck who was hovering over another metal door.
As he twisted the door nob, it was swung slowly wide open, the sound of the creaking completely muffled by the explosions of the outside.
There, in front of him was a wide, expansive field of high grass greenery that spanned for nearly as far as the eye could see and ended in a forest in the distance. The smoke and ash of the burning village showed masses of smoke floating in the air, which completely blocked out the beauty of the clear night, stary sky he so fondly remembered, reminding him once more of this world's true colours…
As soon as the door opened, Luck flew out and motioned him to follow.
*CRASH*
The tower shook once more, making him eagerly want to head outside and follow Luck.
Yet, as soon as he was about to take a single step outside, he felt a sudden chill running down his spine and fear unlike anything ever before… Like death, itself was waiting for him beyond that door as he looked straight ahead with wide-open eyes.
"My lord!? What's wrong!? are you okay?"
Ren blinked a few times, putting his hands on his unbeating heart and looking at all his limbs with a look of awe, like he was surprised to be still alive.
"It's nothing… I think the fumes starting to get to me… Let's go!"
Taking a leap of faith, Ren left and closed the door behind him, feeling immense relief for some odd reason as he crouched down to blend in with the high grass.
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For the next few minutes, slowly and carefully, Ren crawled after luck that guided him through the thick grass that did not allow him to see anything.
Despite it all being so far safe, he could not shake away the stress and unease in his soul.
And, his concerns were confirmed when he bumped into several dead bodies along the way… All of them burnt to a crisp with an arrow directly to their heads that bore a terrifying expression. It seemed like other cowardly soldiers also attempted something similar to what they were trying...
But, even through that all and the potential danger signs, Ren stayed unmoving and pushed forward, choosing to trust luck who had yet to let him down so far.
That was when they reached the edge of the tall grass… Ahead of them, the grass was no longer long enough to hide.
They needed to ensure their safety and secure a path for them to escape that could be possibly risky.
So, taking small peeks from the grass, Ren and Luck were ready to look around for potential patrol. However… That was when they heard a loud, arrogant voice enter their ears from the left.
"Give up! We've got you surrounded, Orobonian Scum! Call off your men now if you want to leave here alive!"
Ren recognized that voice a million times over… It was non-other than that nightmare of a captain that tortured him out of information.
Hearing his voice once more greatly surprised him, yet what surprised him even more was what he heard next…
"*Sigh* Do you really call that a sneak attack? I saw you coming from a mile away…"
It was a thick, low voice that stabbed deep into the hearts of the masses and demanded the utmost respect. However… The voice was unmistakably female…
When Ren looked to where the sound came with a bad feeling in his soul, he witnessed the figures of 30 men wearing village guard armour surrounding 2 comparably smaller armoured females wearing helmets that hid their faces, their body barely able to be made out due to the thick wall of men in his way.
"Leader… Should I take care of them?"
"No… Let them be for now…"
The conversation between the two girls could not help but make the captain laugh out loud.
"You fools! You're in no position to talk in such a way!! Enough chatter! Guards! Kill them both! Cut off their heads to show to those barbarians terrorizing our village!"
"CHARGE!!"
All at once, the men pounced on the two girls like wolves, the sounds of screaming and metal crashing against metal filling the air.
"My lord! This is perfect! Now is your chance! We can leave while they're all fighting! Let's go!"
All of a sudden, Luck flew out of the tall grass and into the open meadow, darting towards the forest ahead.
And, as if instinctively, Ren followed suit… Or at least he tried to… His body would not let him get out of the grass as he was once again struck with a bad feeling in his heart, his eyes growing wide and shaky once more. It was beyond surreal...
"My lord! What's gotten into you again!? We have no time! Let's go!!" The panic on Luck's face was evident, and Ren fully well knew why.
He clenched his teeth as hard as he could and lept out of his cover, sprinting at the top speed his still injured legs allowed him. He had no idea why he was thinking or hesitating… This was the only chance he might ever get. No way he was about to give up now that he had gotten so far and how much he had sacrificed to survive…
Frantically, Ren continued sprinting behind Luck with his hazy vision through the field, the polluted light of the incomplete moon shining on his face and the sound of battle behind him. He could not help but shake off the odd feeling in his heart yet his adrenaline and will to survive overshadowed all of that.
However, before he even reached halfway… a blinding flash of white light engulfed his vision, with the sound of heavy squealing all at once that, that along with the sound of flesh and blood being cut directly behind him entered his ears…
Ren, and in addition to him Luck could both not help but stop what they were doing... Their entire body was shaking faster than a vibrator out of pure instinct, their eyes grew abnormally wide like they were in some kind of trance.
Without a doubt… Death was waiting for them right behind… The air felt so thick that he was unable to breathe… His vision that was supposed to be aided by night vision suddenly grew dark... Like an invisible shadowy hand was hovering over his lungs and heart ready to take him out at any second...
It was a familiar feeling yet more severe than anything prior in his life. Was this the same death that he had sensed before… Had it not been a hallucination all along?
Without a shadow of a doubt, had his body been normal, his skin would have been completely drenched in buckets of sweat from head to toe, his bowels would have been emptied and his heart would be pushing the boundaries of his rib cage on its way to explode.
Ren was no quitter, yet he knew exactly when to quit and when there was no way in hell out...
He was going to die… Undoubtedly going to die… Yet, he did not want to die like some insignificant bug; he wanted to see the face of his killer.
His father would never forgive him if he died in such away... As a coward...
Taking a gulp of saliva, Ren fought against every fibre of his entire being to turn around, which was far more painful than he expected as it seemed like it went opposite to everything his body wanted.
When he did, his keen, shadowy, determined gaze landed upon the figure of the two girls, a mountain of bodies at their feet from the men who were once standing, burn-marks on all of their bodies.
Yet, his eyes only fell there for a short time… Above the bodies was where his true focus lied… But not at the taller, fully heavy armoured girl aiming a fiery bow directly at his head, the size and intensity of the flame beyond huge, almost like he was staring at the sun itself.
His gaze solely focused on the girl to his left, her armour rather skimpy and revealing with an opening showing off her massive breasts, other armour where it was most necessary.
Undoubtedly, just from her body alone, she was the most attractive girl he had ever seen. Yet, that thought did not last for very long.
Soon after, his gaze shifted slowly towards her cold, yellow, predator-like eyes shining through the slits of her heavy, metallic helmet… The look in her eyes shook him beyond repair deep down to his very core… It was unlike anything he even conceived could be possible.
It was almost like her entire history was tattooed and worn directly into her deadly eyes. Despite her appearance, she was no slut, he could immediately tell…
He had no idea how it was even possible to achieve eyes like her's… What kind of horrors did she have to live through? What kind of heartbreaks had she experienced? What kind of hardships did that woman struggle through? It must have all been unimaginable beyond his wildest dreams.
In a way, he envied her. She had the eyes of a pure survivor. Was that what it took to survive in this world? Compared to her gaze, power, and might, he was absolutely nothing. He had never felt so insignificant in his entire life. He now wondered how those guards were even able to meet her gaze without running away. Were they that much more resilient than him? Had he always been so pathetic?
No! he could not allow himself to fall in such a way, scared beyond his mind. He wanted to survive! More than anything he wanted to live! And if in this world, the minimum requirement was to meet the gaze of this woman, then so be it! It would be better to start now than never!
Even if his entire body was rejecting him and wanting to explode and curl up into a little ball awaiting his death, he could not allow himself to do it. He endured through all the pain and mental turmoil and met her gaze head-on. In his mind, those eyes of hers were like the entire new world, and if he could not even meet her gaze, then, surviving another day would have been completely meaningless...
**********************
The woman's hard, cold stare suddenly grew wide looking at her opponent's deep, blood-red eyes that stared back at her. It was almost like looking into a reflection.
"Put your bow down… Let him live…" She could not help but slightly smile at the sight of that clearly inhuman man for some odd reason as she walked away, heading towards the burning village ahead.
Her subordinate could not believe her own ears, turning around to face her leader who was turning away, her bow still drawn.
"But leader! We can't leave this weed unplucked! We must ta—"
"Just obey your orders and follow me to the village… Don't waste your energy on him… We have much more pressing matters to attend to,"
With a tough look on her face, she gave in and dropped her bow beneath her knees and unlit her fire spell.
"Very well leader… You have never once been wrong… I will follow you to the ends of the earth and back if I must…" She spun around and followed directly behind her leader, walking over all the dead bodies and heading towards the burning inferno ahead of them, leaving the fleeing, red-eyed man free to run into the forest.
[https://ibb.co/LCMjvkR][https://i.ibb.co/p3gVn0w/artt.jpg]