'Fire Escape'

X was swaying from exhaustion, his sore muscles screaming in pain, his brain still in confusion, unable to handle the shift in perspective. The hatchet completely turned away in his hands, the charcoal floating away in the gust of wind caused by his quick movement. X looked at his grandfather's face, expecting to see worry or anger. Instead, he looked upon a face filled with pride.

With a smile on his face, X fell unconscious, coping with all the changes that had happened that day.

Rem beamed with joy as he stared at the kid, fallen down right in front of his feet. Gratitude filled his heart, and he knew what X meant to say with this, whether he actually wished to or not. They both had saved each other's lives. The debt was paid.

The Stage 2 demon got over its shock and re-evaluated its priorities. While the old man was way stronger, the kid had immense potential. The oldie was beyond his prime anyway. Killing him was of no help to the Fifth Lord, but this kid was yet to bloom. There was this uneasy feeling in its gut when he saw that kid turn to flames. If it did not kill the kid, things might get out of hand.

That kid had to die for the Fifth Lord.

The demon left Frederick behind, leaping towards the blond child. Blue streaks of lightning streamed out of its body, arcing all over itself as it charged while moving.

The demon appeared right above the knight, its blood-covered claws falling down with a great force, containing a highly powerful attack charged with more energy than a thunderbolt.

Something sharp sprouted on its back, the force of it causing the demon to fall forward. The sudden movement caused the attack to miss by an inch. There was a shallow cut on X's neck, a few parallel cuts that clearly indicated the clawed nature of the being that left it. The land on his right was scorched black, smoke rising continuously from the previously forested area.

The demon ripped Frederick's axe from its back, wielding the massive steel weapon with a single hand. It charged up the electrical attack once more, this time planning on using the axe itself to attack. Frederick leaped forward, trying to help X escape. Rem stabbed his sharp sword upwards with all his might, cutting through the skin over the demon's biceps, piercing the muscle and nearly touching the bone. It kicked the knight in his gut casually, not even bothering to look at the human who tore through his arm.

In less than a second, the wound disappeared, the only proof of it being the pool of blood that lay near its leg. Electricity arced through its hand, getting brighter and brighter. Fredrick was close by now, almost there. He leaped off, and at the same time, Rem threw his sword, ignoring the injury he had just received.

The weapon glowed blue, and the demon swung it down on X's neck with a large grin on its face. The Fifth Lord would be pleased.

The arm stopped mid-air. The blue energy stopped pulsating and slowly was drained back into the demon's body, the crackle of electricity fading away to reveal a pin-drop silence.

The grass stopped burning, and the temperature went back to normal. No, it went down even more, reducing to a point where despite the high temperatures in the knights' bodies due to their constant exertion, there was a chill in their bones. Frost covered the grass and leaves on the ground which were burning a few moments ago, and mist rose from nowhere, suddenly appearing in the forest.

The knights all saw vivid images, sights that they had never seen before. Wars, deaths, and an endless river of blood. It was not that different from normal hallucinations, the ones that you get when you eat one of those random mushrooms that grew in the forest, yet there was something else. These were not misinterpretations of their past experiences. Excluding Frederick, who was not affected by the visions, all the other knights had never seen anything close to a war. The bloodiest thing they had seen would be themselves after a successful mission.

The cold spread within the knights, threatening to prevent their internal organs from functioning properly. Their hearts were covered in frost, mist filled their lungs and sharp spikes of ice jutted out their stomach. They were going through a literal brain freeze. Outwardly, there was nothing wrong, and yet these professional demon hunters were cuddling themselves, sitting on the ground and shivering. They could feel the sunlight on their cheeks, the heat from their pumped muscles, and yet, all that felt fake.

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The Stage 2 demon opened its mouth, but unlike before when it spoke with a broken language, barely able to form a few words and unable to string them in a sentence, now it was speaking in clear sentences, grammatically correct to the point that it might not have been surprising if it was an author who speaking. It had a young female voice that sounded like a young lady in her twenties, completely contrasting its previous deep, distorted voice.

'No, you cannot kill him. I do not care if that guy is upset with you, but you are not doing it. He could be the one who could free me from this prison, whether I want to be freed or not.'

The demon's mouth continued moving, repeating the two words, but they could not be heard. The female voice was not actually sound. It was only In their head, and yet this seemed impossible. Only the tower Master could actively use telepathy, not some random demon. Suddenly, the demon broke free from the paralysis and flexed its fingers. Sound started to come out of its mouth, the same rasping voice it had before all this ice arrived. It repeated two words, words which Frederick could not understand because it was incomprehensible muttering. But as soon as it became even slightly understandable, Frederick deciphered it.

'Kill...me...Kill...me'

The knights were stunned and did not know what to do. Before they could move, the Stage 2 demon pierced its own throat with its claws. Blood spilled out from the wound, and with a grin, the demon fell down onto its knees. The icy prison was gone. It wished it could apologize to its master, the Fifth Lord, but unfortunately, that would not be possible.

The wound recovered. The demon knew that it would happen, however. But the human would kill it, the one with white hair that looked related to that blond kid. It knew that as well.

Frederick stepped ahead and swung his axe horizontally with all the strength he could muster. A massive shockwave caused the ground itself to tremor even in the Terlem marketplace. A cloud of dust rose higher than the trees, which would draw the attention of the whole village. The demon's head had rolled away after it had been removed from the rest of its body, rolling through the ground. The fallen head moved, and once again, the young female voice was heard in Frederick's head.

'That kid, raise him properly and send him somewhere to train. The time for war is coming, and if anyone from my squad is sent in to fight, the whole Kingdom of Europa could fall. He is one of my only hopes for your civilization.'

The retired knight nodded, unsure of what to make of the woman's advice. But he understood one thing. This being was a demon, and it was very strong. Just the ability to talk to some mentally would be enough to prove that, but this technique was different from the telepathy Dusan used. It was less of talking to someone mentally using some weird magic technique and more of actively changing the person's brain to enter a message in.

'Neither you nor I know what we are dealing with.'

Frederick nodded his head at the female demon's statement. It was true, he knew barely anything about X. But now he knew something. Whatever his forgotten past was, it was important. Important enough for such a powerful being to take interest in him.

'Sir, if you don't mind, could you call for help? I think I am running out of blood.'

One of the knights spoke, and despite everything that had just happened, Frederick could not help but be relieved.

'No, but I do want you all to do another twenty push-ups before leaving. Look at these puny arms. I am sure a child can kill a demon better than all of you. Oh wait, he just did.

The knights continued their requests, and as Frederick listened to those annoying voices, he grinned. X had awakened his abilities. Frederick knew he had some powers ever since he first saw him leaving behind burn marks on the first demon he fought, and the heat attacks only made this belief strengthen. Now that it was proven, he could live a life similar to the one he lived before retiring. A life full of joy and adventure, and of wild threats popping out of nowhere. The life of a knight.

He scooped up his adopted grandson and walked back to their hut, mentally making a note to visit the injured the next day. He had to scold them all properly.