The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m only doing what needs to be done.” said Thill as he flew down to the ground near Amelia and Jenny.

His blood-soaked self stood with such a majesty of a view, one could not expect him to be the same age as them. No one was this strong…to be this brutal, his majesty was like that of a ruling supreme. A king of sorts.

And Velorria saw that all too well.

The tension was lost simply moments ago as he killed each demon in sight in a single technique alone.

And that alone showed his strength…it proved his character.

That he was someone who will do what needs to be done, simply for the sake of it.

If he wants to have fun, he will.

If he wants to end a whole war in a single attack simply out of boredom, he will.

Thill Cicial was strong, and the strong are simply those that lead futures outside of normal means.

Amelia who watched the scene of such a gory feature, looked to Thill in question.

“How are you so strong?” she asked as she knew he was strong…but never did she expect that his strength already came to this level.

And to answer, he simply smiled.

“I just am.” he said, as he himself recognized his own strength. Not a sense of lie was placed on his expression when he spoke.

It wasn’t about being capable to lift the heavies mountain, or being able to slay the strongest of beast…it was simply about technique and authority over his own element. He was able to claim instant victory simply because he had the means at hand.

If he hadn’t…well, nothing would really change. It would still end in his victory.

“You were always like this.” said Velorria as she walked close to his side with a cloth on her hand. She passed that cloth to him simply so that he could wipe his face off of the blood by the demons.

“Thank you.” he said as he received the cloth and wiped off the blood from his face.

“All that’s left now is them.” said Velorria as she turned up to the sky.

There, the Leader who levitated using magic, the Vice Leader who stood on a magic circle that was provided by her brother and Elgor floating using his spear, they were surrounding the four men with their magic, spear and sword. The barrier still held strong, so for the robed-men, not all hope was lost. At least to their own arrogance.

Meanwhile the goat-man who stood as a guard for the robed men, watched in agitation as it itself was the only demon left in the field of battle.

It could not turn its eyes away from the one who slaughtered all of its kin in a single instant. Despite given a purpose to guard the four men, rage was simply not an easy thing to let go for a demon.

“Seeing as how he gave us the chance to act, lets settle this already.” said the Leader as his voice became a little calm. Seeing as how all his attention was now on the four men, he had nothing else to fear.

“I’ll handle the goat.” said Elgor as he looked ever so hungry for battle. Being a warrior and a half-giant, his craving for battle needed to be settled. Yet seeing as how Thill came and settled the fight before he was fulfilled, he wanted to claim the rights for the goat-man’s head.

“All yours.” said the Leader.

“Hmm.” and to that, Elgor pointed his spear towards the goat-man.

In an instant, he disappeared and quickly appeared before the goat-man.

And as they meet, the goat-man had already used his horns not to attack but to counter Elgor’s spear. At their clash, sparks flew and the winds were pushed.

But Elgor, in his simple golden form, he overwhelmed the goat-man with so much force, its lost footing, pushing the goat-man off the barrier above the four robed men. And as he was pushed, he noticed that all that was left to his feet was the ocean.

Following him down, Elgor rushed in and tackled the goat-man until they crashed straight into the sea. Their descent down was risky, for the ocean was filled with rocks that if mistaken, they could have easily been hurt at the fall.

But even so, they descended down and missed the rocks all by pure luck.

What came then after was…silence.

“…Looks like everything’s starting to settle. You four are the only ones left.” said the leader as he manifested a magic circle around the four men.

Meanwhile, Valorie Kind was found readying her sword again. Slowly it started to swallow the light around her and that light became her source of strength. Their eyes were only pointed to the men’s direction…nothing else could distract from this fact.

“Tell me, how did you find this place?” asked Valorie Kind as she pointed her sword to their direction, ready to break the barrier once and for all.

But even to her question, even when they cornered them…none spoke.

“Not willing to talk? Fine then.” said the Leader as he channeled his mana and manifested an attack surrounding the men.

All at once, four dragon-like breaths of black flames manifested at high temperatures. It swallowed the barrier in a blanket of flames. One could not see what was happening inside the barrier…only they could imagine otherwise.

And as the attack continued, the leader could feel his flames piercing through the barrier. Little by little, he could see the damage beyond the blanket of flames around the four men.

Then…all of a sudden.

Above the sky where the magic circled was placed, a disturbing intensity surrounding the area suddenly came about.

Just like before when the four men summoned the goat man, a cloud appeared before the magic circle and from it, a box fell about like a divine item blessed by the Gods…yet this item in particular felt more of a cursed item rather than a legendary item. As if it was crafted by the essence of evil itself.

The size alone was as grand as a small castle and the feeling of its nature was like that of a void…it devours everything simply by presence alone.

This box in particular showed a single eye for each side it held. And in each eye, a certain set of pupils were showing. This summoned item resembled closely of that of a dice, where on one side was one eye with one pupil, while on the next was an eye with four pupils. All in all, the box showed six sides like the common dice.

And seeing it, one couldn’t help but question its arrival.

“What is that?” asked Leader as he stood with a curious gaze. Not once, in his entire experience fighting demons and demon cultist has he seen an item of such evil.

Him and his righteous group never once encountered such an item, so seeing it, theey wer left baffled.

But to those that knew of its function, one couldn’t help but sweat at the sight of its appearance.

***

“…So that’s how they lost.” said Velorria as she turned with an icy glare towards the box.

“That item looks familiar.” said Thill as he stood be Velorria.

“You shouldn’t be so forgetful Thill. Didn’t you remember the war against the Demon King?”

“Oh…I see. Now that you reminded me, I’m starting to remember.”

“Yes…if that thing is used, only the worse outcome is met.”

“…Is that why you came here?”

“…”

“I’m sure that in the original flow of this world, you never came to this place at this time…you weren’t as influential or as strong as you are now.”

“Don’t call me strong. Unlike you who is a talented fighter or my brother who is genius mage, I simply rely on using artifacts.”

“So you came here using artifacts? That giant crystal ball you used on the fight earlier…it seemed familiar. Did you found it on the east plains of the continent?”

“I stole a lot of things to get to where I am…and surely it will bite me in the ass one day, but for now, now I just want to focus on one thing.”

“Right…sure.” said Thill nonchalantly.

As he spoke without a care, Velorria turned to him with a look of plea.

“…”

“What?”

“Thill…please help me.” she said as suddenly grabbed his hand.

“?”

“Without you, I only have a slim chance of defeating that artifact. And if I fail, I’ll lose my family.” she said as if looking ever so desperate.

“…You never were like this. In fact, from what I know…you never cared for your family.” he said based on what he knew about her past.

“…” and she couldn’t respond. Almost as if there were some truth in his words.

But nonetheless…for some reason, he pitied her.

“…What do want me to do?”

Having heard him say those words, Velorria was taken aback. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you…” she said genuinely.

“Just tell me what to do.” he said, trying to sound as if he couldn’t care less

[AN: Tsundere….lol.]

***

Above their heads, Amelia couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the evil that was emmiting from that box.

Worried, she turned to Thill to see if he would act, but then all she saw was Thill suddenly vanishing in a blink of an eye. He flew so fast, she couldn’t track him with her eyes. But one thing was clear when he flew across…

He didn’t wore his armor, nor did he carry his sword.

Seeing it, she suddenly panicked.

“!!?” was it possible that he left?

Worried that she had done nothing in this entire fight, she turned back to Jenny.

“Jenny, what is that thing?” she asked, hoping that someone like Jenny who has worked with the group for five years would know something.

She hoped that if she did, they could do something.

But when she turned to ask, all that Jenny expressed was a confused look, similar to hers.

“Jenny?!”

“Don’t panic…I’m sure the leader and the vice leader know what their doing.” she said while trying to calm down Amelia who was clearly panicking.

But it didn’t help.

For some reason, their sense of reasoning was suddenly being tackled. They could not calm themselves in front of such an unknown item. And what’s fueling their anxiety even more was the fact that their powers, their abilities seemed hopeless to the thought of it.

Then all of a sudden, Velorria walked up to the two.

“Calm down you two. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“What?” asked Jenny as she looked to the princess with a nervous expression.

“Evil has a way of placing anxiety in times like this. Its how demons work to overwhelm our nature as humans. Surely you know this, seeing as how you two are experts in fighting demons.” said Velorria.

“…!” after hearing her, Amelia suddenly realized why they were panicking.

Along when demonic forces appear with strong a demonic essence, it always distorts the mind of humans. It turns them to act on sin and anyway that wasn’t of saintly actions. It corrupts their mind.

And surprisingly, for someone like Amelia who was a saint, she too was being affected. And the only reason for such a sin to happen was because of her actions throughout this fight.

In Thill’s appearance to help them fight the demons, she grew to witness his strength and from it grew both envy and the insecurity of her own purpose as a saint.

Not being able to help as much, she questioned her abilities…

She was given the title of saint, not from a man’s word…but directly from God himself…

And because of this, she thought that she would do wonders as the time would go on, but seeing someone like Thill who was just her age, she couldn’t help but compare.

It was this immaturity of hers that made her realize why she was suddenly swallowed by the demon’s ability to exploit sin and anxiety.

Knowing so. She decided to calm herself.

“…”

And she turned to Velorria.

“Princess Velorria, what are we to do?” she asked.

“Ready yourselves…when things start to become heavy, you must steel your resolve and act quickly at the moments notice.” said Velorria as she brought out an artifact from thin air. This artifact in question was a barrier that grew to protect those inside its range and reflect the attack back to the attacker.

“Us three will be the lifeline of this group.” she said with a serious expression.

***

‘What is this?’ asked the leader himself as he stared at the cube.

All of a sudden, his mind was suddenly overwhelmed by the evil nature of its existence. Just as how it overwhelmed Amelia’s thinking, the anxiety over the leader’s head was filled to its brim.

But despite it, he was unfazed.

But because of its interruptions, his attacks towards the men were stopped and all that was left was the sight of the barrier almost at its breaking point, but fully. In an instant, the four men reinforced the barrier yet again.

His attack became pointless.

But seeing as how there was another set of problems at hand, he had no other choice than to focus on the bigger picture at hand.

“Valorie…can I leave these men at your hands?” he asked.

”Leave them to me.” she said confidently.

And with that, the brother flew above close the dice.

Leaving Valorie Kind alone to the men, she raised her sword and readied herself to barrage them with her attacks yet again, but before she could, she noticed that on the four men, on the very hands of the man on the furthest to the left, she saw a red dice that was almost similar to the one above the clouds. That dice was between his palms.

And just right after she noticed, that man threw the dice.

“Roll!” he said.

And the instant he lets go of the dice…

Something worrying caught her attention.

Although it may seem like it was just her imagination…she could not deny what she saw.

As the dice was rolled to the floor of the barrier, along that dice was a patch of fabric that showed the very face of the man’s soul. It was as if his soul was tied to the dice.

[Roll – ONE]

When it fell on a number, the next thing she knew, a bright light suddenly manifested above.

When she turned her head quickly, the next thing she saw was the leader falling from the sky with his chest opened through by the burning fires colored in gold and black.

She could do nothing but watch as he falls straight down towards the ocean.

How could it be…

The leader was someone who was a genius at using magic. Creating a barrier was child’s play to him. And if he was serious, he could make a barrier that was five times stronger than the barrier created by these men.

So how could it be?

Her world became silent….as she was overwhelmed by what just happened.

He was a genius…he was their leader….and yet he fell so easily.

Before she knew it, the magic circle under her foot suddenly broke. This alone shook her even more as it showed sign that the leader had lost focus in using magic for her to step on.

And with the leader, she too started to fall.

“…”

She could only stare down below to the leader as they both fell in silence.

And as she fell, she saw the light from his eyes starting to slowly fade away.

“…no.” she said as she tried reaching out her hand.

And slowly, they fell…closer and closer, as they went straight below to where the ocean surface waited, all of a sudden, someone came out from the ocean and caught the two.

*Bosh!*

It was Elgor.

And to his ascent, catching them both, he went straight to the land.

Quickly, he tried finding where Amelia was. And when he spotted her behind what seems to be a barrier, he, without hesitation, threw the leader straight at them.

As fast as he could speak, he gave orders to Amelia.

“Amelia! Heal him now!” he said without stopping. At that moment, Amelia leaped over and caught the falling leader.

As for Valorie, he too threw her, but simply not at the same place. She landed on her feet and watched as he continued to fly farther away.

He acted this fast not because he was being rude, but because the next second, right behind him, the goat-man appeared at a rather frightening pace.

The goat-man came out of nowhere and kicked Elgor straight in the face. This kick alone pushed him straight to the floor, halting straight to his path.

“Khk! Stubborn bastard.” said Elgor as he tried reaching out to pierce the goat with his spear, but the Goat was simply to agile to be struck at such a simple thrust.

Dodging and weaving, they both fought again almost at equal level.

But seeing the damage on both sides, the goat was scene with more wounds all over its body while Elgor was left with barely a scratch.

It seems that from their fight in the deep ocean, Elgor overwhelmed the goat.

“Tsk…”

Meanwhile, Valorie Kind’s attention returned to the leader who was found barely breathing. And from the sight of his wounds…blood was gushing out from one end to the other as a clean hole was seen through.

Amelia did her best with her saintly powers to heal the leader, and slowly it was working, but for some reason the wound was barely reacting to a saint’s divinity unlike what other wounds would normally heal in seconds. When she looked around, she suddenly felt the overwhelming nature of evil coming from the wounds made on the leader.

The concentrated evil slowed his healing…but despite it, she didn’t gave up.

“This is your role for the moment Saint Amelia…if you falter for even a moment, the curse of the attack will quickly overwhelm him and he will lose his life. So never lose focus. Meanwhile, sister, I want you to go back and settle the fight with those men. Use this to fight midair.” she said as she handed her an item.

It was the crystal ball she used to attack the demons. The one that could change its size by simple control of will.

“Hinder and distort their attention as much as possible!” she said.

“…” without saying anything, she took the crystal ball and ran back outside of the barrier.

Without even knowing what to do, she threw the crystal ball out to the cliff and she jumped. Not even minding her own life, or the fall. She gave herself the confidence to jump and not before long, the crystal ball followed her will.

It grew in size, and from it, she landed on top of it. Like riding a horse, she ordered the by will to fly forward.

And without hesitation, she flew straight back to where those men were.

***

“Miss Jenny, please leave the leader to our hands and go assist the half-giant in his battle against the goat demon. The faster we handle this entire debacle, the higher our chances are at surviving this tragedy.”

Jenny could only nod as Velorria started giving out orders.

Without hesitation, she ran towards Elgor in his battle against the goat, and right as she was getting close, using her magic, she manifested twenty slim-like doll golems that ran at Elgor’s direction.

At that moment, Elgor quickly caught on to what was happening. And he adapted.

At this moment, from two sides, a battle was erupting and ever the queen that she was in the past, she handled the incident with a calm gaze.

To Velorria, this kind of war was as simple as it goes…It was simply to command and hope that the pieces work in play to her order.

And the greatest piece she had at the moment was none other than Thill who for some reason was nowhere near the sight of battle.

Whatever this castle-sized dice was that was found floating midair, it showed a dominance that no other demon could invoke.

And the men who had control over this dice…they smiled at the champion of its grace. Even to the sacrifice it required, it held ever the most greatest craft to be made by the dark-arts.

The craft of inevitable doom.

A doom that showed no sight of weakness or escape.

But despite it all, not a single one of them chose to run away, instead they fought.

As each one alive here today who fought against the Evil…they will grow to be great men and women.

It wasn’t a question of whether or not they’ll live…it was a question of how to kill the evil present before them.

This was the sole existence of the Righteous Group.

To Kill Evil.