The Will to Live

"Leave no one alive!", the captain of the knights shouted.

A bloody war led by the Holy Kingdom has devastated countless countries, it is their way of executing their own justice by taking away the lives of other just by accusing them as heretics who didn't followed the ways of the Light Goddess Rumias.

"Listen Geld, w-we will be playing my dear. My boy was good at hide and seek right?" said mom as she kisses my forehead and embraced me, "Our God Zyphnos will protect the living. No matter what you hear, do not come out I will join your father and meet the visitors, please my dear.. hide on a place where no one can even find you and win this game." She said and pushed me as a signal for me to start hiding.

That time I wanted to win the game, I hid myself well at the secret passage behind my wardrobe in front of the door. I spent hours in that dark room until a heard the sound of clashing metals, I peek in the gaps of the wall and saw my mother holding a sword and fighting the armoured men. I realized that mom didn't left the room I silently watched her feint the intruders but her feminine body was inferior of a man's, she looked at me at her final moment as if she knew that I am watching behind the wall, that is when the opponents took the advantage to cut her throat.

I puked as I saw her bleeding and the men started yelling and shouting about their triumphant siege,

"The Nilftil has fallen! Glory to the Holy Kingdom!!"

The filthy men dragged mom's body into the bed and stripped her, they are assaulting her dead body and that was so much to see for a four year-old me and their actions are truly infuriating. With the anger that I possess that time, I took my resolve and revealed myself at them, I took the blade that my mom clung at her final moment and charged at them. Of course there is a very huge difference that time because of the gap of our experiences and bodies but I gave all that I had and I did imitate the movements of my father and mother that I saw during their sparring. It was really hard because those movements wasn't compatible with my body but if I am going to die, at least I'll drag them down along with me. With the blade that was as long as me, I managed to break the limit and annihilated the enemies using the Nilftil Sword style, by doing so, it broke my entire right arm but it was worth it. I dragged my mother's corpse down and I saw pile of corpses where my father lies at the top, I also grabbed his cape by biting it and used the rest of my strength to drag them out of the castle and into the garden where Zyphnos' blessings was abundant. The magic circle at the garden's floor was activated and it started healing my wounds that's why I resumed dragging them into the very centre but the circle itself repelled them.

"Why?!!" I exclaimed, "Revive them please! I pray into the God of Life, Holy Zyphnos please resurrect my parents!"

The heaven opened itself once but no one responds until the nearby enemies shot their arrows and a war axe suddenly fell from above that broke the marbled ground where the magic circle was drawn. Seven arrows hit my body and the bleeding was worst, a poor child, no… it was me. My vision was fading due to blood loss but I'm still hoping to survive, a thundering sound echoes as if a titanic beast has descended, I hear the scream of men and it was really horrible. The world was at the darkest that time as I lost my vision due to multiple injuries, all I can do was to suffer in such pain and to listen to the sound of dying people just like me. Until finally I heard a footstep approaching me, I tried to reach the source of the sound with my wounded left hand when suddenly I felt warmth during that extreme night, I feel the pain leaving my body and my eyesight began to function again. It was not a beast, nor human, he was a god to my eye, the purest white hair that I've ever seen and the crimson eye that was staring directly unto my soul, he lifted my severely damaged body and asked me,

"Poor child, do you want to live? Or shall I end your suffering?"

I wanted to! I wanted to live but I cannot speak, I wanted to respond but I cannot even move and then I felt a strange as if it was my soul was leaving my body, he smiled in front of me and said, "Then trust me!"

He recreated another body of a child and transfer my soul onto that vessel, I was reborn that time and started to follow the living god in front of me, I pledged loyalty from that day, my life now belongs to him and my purpose was to live and act according to his will.

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The royal guards surrounded the king and the priests to protect them as the dark horse entered the castle, Geld was burning constantly due to Rumias' Sanctuary effect but endured it and destroyed the pillars as he saw the helpless body of Ryzen lying on the ground. He was infuriated to see that his new master was suffering but his weakened body can barely keep up in the Castle's debuffing effect to demons, the priests noticed Geld's condition and immediately casted a holy barrier to cage him.

On the other side, Ryzen was struggling and desperately wanted to survive, his wounds slowly started to heal and he became conscious again. Geld was pouring every ounce of his power to retrieve his master's body and then he asked him, "Master! Do you want to live? O-or shall I end our suffering?"

Ryzen tried his best and in just a few moment his voice came back, "I-i..I wanted to live!!!!"

"Then trust me!" Geld respond.

Geld gathered the dark energy from the knights' malice and fear to amplify his power and break through the multiple barriers that trapped him, he fetched Ryzen's body and flee at full speed to escape on the tormenting grounds of the Holy Kingdom.