Chapter 10

"You actually have the audacity to speak? You irresponsible idiot? Dumber gnomes haven't been born yet. What did I deserve to get such a stupid son?" The Baron wailed in his Knight state, each word causing a wave of pressure to hit everyone and pushing them down.

"Because of your act, I've lost two third of my guard! I've lost a precious village! I've lost twenty years of my life and I'm left with a crippled idiot of a son who can't think straight for two minutes!"

Jain was stunned by the Baron's words. His worldview collapsed. Even when he was crippled, his mother had told him that they would find a mage to heal him and he had believed it just like that. But now? He suddenly felt dead inside.

The Baron turned to Philora. "Since you decided to lie through your teeth even now. You have only one recourse left. Death!"

"No!" She screamed, but the Baron had no more patience for her. He slashed with his glowing sword in his Knight state. Philora was just wearing a graceful white dress meant for family occassions. The knife split her apart like paper, killing her in an instant.

Jain awoke from his stupor and screamed in rage and pain. Trive was also in pain, but he was more practical than his brother. It was clear to him that all of this originated from his own actions. Yet, his father had found proof that his own mother had hatched such a disastrous and senseless scheme. He was conflicted, but he was clever enough to keep the conflict within his own heart.

As for his mother's dying accusations against Locke, he felt disgusted by her behavior. He had already become favorable towards Locke, when Locke saved him from harm, yet as Philora's son how could he not know the extent of her machinations towards Locke? Yet Locke looked on, serene and calm. Unfazed by her accusations. He felt guilty on her behalf.

Thus, Philora, the Baroness died. The Baron Mith stopped using his Knight transformation and felt like he's aged by a decade once again. His body felt old and feeble. His shoulders slouched and his back hunched forward. He quietly walked back to the mansion.

On the way he stopped and turned. "I am young, but my own wife turned me into an old decrepit man. I am tired. Trive, I want you to stop being a delinquent and run the Barony from now on. Locke will help you with everything. When Cassi returns, you kids can decide who will inherit the Barony."

Locke saw the Baron and truly found it hard to keep a poker face on. That determined baron. That man whose glare struck fear in the hearts of others now looked like a beggar in the clothes of a noble.

When Trive heard the Baron's words, he couldn't suppress his glee. He bowed respectfully and replied. "You have my word father. I will be a responsible son."

Hess shook his head. How could he not know what an absolute mess the Barony was in? He realized that the Baron was testing his second son to see if he could handle the pressure. The first son, he had given up on completely.

---

Herish Village was now eerily quiet. Even the sounds of birds chirping could not be heard. A stench of iron and blood diffused through the air. The village's ground were covered in the stench of death and colored red with blood. No human had entered the village since the battle.

A pale young man suddenly landed in the village clearing from the sky. A single glance could tell anyone that the boy was not ordinary. He had the appearance of a boy, but his eyes seemed immune to the sights of death, more so he seemed to desire it.

"Looks like death passed by quite recently. What a gruesome sight." The boy talked to a black raven on his right shoulder. "What do you think Raven? Does this place appear suitable?"

The raven called Raven shook it's head. "It certainly is gruesome, but the concentration of death is too low for your needs. This death mana can be used to make a toy at best." It said calmly.

"A toy? I love toys! They make things oh so much more interesting!" The pale boy suddenly became energetic. "Let's look around!"

The two creatures, one man and one crow, quietly walked around the village, until they came across a shabby house with a peculiar room. The body had a desecrated corpse. The scene was extremely gruesome, like a beast had mauled a young girl to pieces. What the boy found more interesting, however, was what was written on the wall.

"Someone really hated this poor girl." Raven sadly commented.

"Wouldn't this be fun?" The pale boy began laughing.

"Zabian, you need to stop doing this." Raven said cautiously.

"Oh, but it would be so much fun!" The pale boy, Zabian replied back vigorously.

Raven sighed and kept quiet. Zabian raised his index finger and closed his eyes. Suddenly, all the stench of death, the eerie atmosphere in the village began to disappear and a grey colored flame erupted on Zabian's finger.

The dead mana, as the two were saying, was rapidly collecting into an orb on top of Zabian's finger. He quietly lifted his left hand and the massacred dead body parts quickly began to float in place forming the silhouette of a body of a young girl, but several chunks of her body were missing. However, Zabian didn't seem to care.

He rotated his left palm again and soil and dirt began to fill the places where there was no flesh and magically the body of the girl was completed. Zabian then made the lifeless body open its out like a puppet and thrust the orb of grey energy into it.

"Raven! You lied to me! There wasn't enough mana to make the toy!" Zabian admonished the raven on his right shoulder in anger causing it to sigh.

"Okay, okay. Stop causing a tantrum." Raven said as it shed a single peerless black feather that floated over to the girl's forehead and then fused with it. A dim tattoo of a feather appeared on the girl's forehead, before disappearing.

"She has my blessing now. That should be enough. Let us leave." Raven spoke softly. Clearly the effort required to donate the feather wasn't minimal.

"Alright." Zabian said to the Raven. "Bye-Bye." He said to the still unconsciously standing girl, before the two flew into the sky.