Demon

"They sure are taking their time huh." Paul remarked as he hammers down the last peg into the ground.

Above the vast greenery to the east of village of Orn, two white tents stand out like a sore thumb. They were suppose to regroup with the other teams but they were the only ones to show up.

"Why are we camping outside of the village? I'm pretty sure we can get ourselves lodging if we politely ask the villagers." Paul cannot understand Arsha's decision to camp outside rather than having a comfy bed in the village.

"Hmm... don't you sometimes have an urge to be envelop yourself in mother nature?" Asha replies while trying to dodge Paul's inquiring gaze.

"Hah... should I go and checkup on them?" Paul sighs.

"Nah~ There is no need for that, they will probably come back by themselves."

'If they are still alive...' Arsha thought to herself while staring into the campfire.

*****

Tonight, the halls of local church is full with devotees, they are all waiting silently with a solemn expression as priestess Sarah walks onto the stage and began her speech.

"The Church has declared their hostility toward us! Under the pretense to meet Her Holiness they had sent their soldiers to arrest Her, we shall not tolerate their unjust! We shall not allow them to take away our beacon of hope!" Sarah slams her fist on the podium.

"Tonight we shall make a stand! With the blood the paladin we shall declare war against the Church!" Sarah raises her bruised fist high up.

"FOR HER HOLINESS!!!" (villagers)

After giving her speech Sarah descends from the stage, her eyes are on one person only, that person does not seem to agree to declare war against the Church. She is the nurse that rejected Arthur's treatment.

"Kate, are you going to oppose us?" Sarah questions Katerin's rebellious behaviour.

"Do you know your action puts Her Holiness in more danger? Was She even informed about this?!" Katerin returns Sarah's question with a furious gaze.

"There is no need for Her Holiness to concern herself with this matter."

"If you do not wish to assist us in our endeavor you may stay back but don't ever think of stopping us." Sarah replies to Katerin as she pass by.

Katerin just stood there in silence with clenched fists as the crowd exits the church, there is nothing she could do to stop them.

*****

"Paul, wakey wakey."

"Mmm... Hmm?" Paul rub his sleepy eyes as his vision slowly come into focus.

"Aw~ your sleeping face is so~ cute."

At that moment Paul's heart skipped a beat, his breathing shallow, Arsha's face is so close, their nose almost touching. Snapping out of his trance, he quickly stood up and pat himself from head to toe, looks like all his clothing are intact but what is this feeling of emptiness and relief in his heart, Paul cannot describe it.

"If you are wide awake now, come on out, we have company." Arsha stand up and exits the tent.

The knight's visitors slowly comes into view from shadows of the night, they held pitch forks and spades, their face devoid of emotion, eyes train on the paladin and her companion.

"Hey guys, what are those pitch forks for? Can we talk this out -"

"Paul, if you value your life, find a sturdy tree, climb up said tree and stay there." Paul's attempt to pacify the scene was cut short by Arsha.

At the signal of priestess Sarah, the villagers charge forward towards Arsha. What transpire next was nothing short of total carnage as Arsha proceeds to cut them down mercilessly.

Even though the mob out numbered Arsha by hundreds, their numeric advantage are quickly overturned by Arsha, there are limits on how many people physically able engage the valkyrie at the same time, those who got close were swiftly dispatched by her blade, their heads are lopped off with one clean swing of her long sword.

A surreal sight of a young maiden mowing through the mob, leaving a sea of blood; The once green field now stained red with bodies pilling up left and right blurs the very definition of a monster.

At the finallé of this battle of attrition, only two dancer left on the red carpet of blood, Arsha with her hair dyed red with blood of the villagers she slain and Sarah in her usual cassock. It was a temporary truce while they stare into each other's eyes to ascertain opponents intention. Sarah seems to resign and brings the whistle hanging on her neck to her lips.

'A dog whistle?' Arsha rushes toward Sarah with no hesitation and cuts her throat.

Too late. The whistle is blown.

Arsha picks up the dog whistle to inspect it but it just a normal dog whistle, her only clue... priestess Sarah is now choking on her own blood.

"Sigh. I should have just cut the whistle and not her throat..."

"OOF!"

Arsha's was not spared any leisure as she was catapulted across the field, she manage to put up defense at the last second but the sound of her bones creaking under the blow reverberates in her ears.

'If I did not landing on soft patches of grass the injury might had been fatal.'

The assailant is not kind enough to let Arsha recover. It pounce onto Arsha, pinning her against the ground by her long sword and launches several attempts to bite her head off, each one only results in grazing her cheek.

'A demon with cold breaths?' Onyxia's face flashes across Arsha's mind.

Arsha gave it the slip and roll away from the demon, putting some distance between them. With her posture corrected Arsha reaches for the second sword hilt hidden in her cloak, the hilt removed from its scabbard reveals no blade, instead a streak of light with the brilliance of hundred suns. Her following words came out like thunder signaling the approaching storm.

"Let the round two Begin!"