CHAPTER 29

“Father, what is the meaning of this?!”

Disregarding everyone present, Second Captain Rubia Demkil once again challenged the Twelfth King of Slayers. King Demetrius Demkil turned to his daughter just to glance at her, before turning back to the Head Captain of the Slayers, Zeke Waldhart.

“Prepare your party to advance through the forest. Daybreak is approaching.”

With that ending the conversation between the two of them, Zeke nodded before walking off as the King turned away from him and back towards Rubia. As the Head Captain passed the Second Captain, they shared a meaningful glance, an understanding between the two of them that no one, not even the King, were aware of. When Rubia and her father were left alone, she removed her helmet, allowing her medium-length auburn hair to flow out, and her amber eyes to glare into the King’s dark brown eyes.

“Answer me,” Rubia scowled, forming stress wrinkles across her skin, lighter than her father’s dark skin, but still shades away from pale, “why are you calling him your son? Why are you calling him by that name? That isn’t my little brother.”

“And you believe that Nexus is?” The King immediately retorted, but his daughter’s response was just as quick.

“I wouldn’t even know! You haven’t allowed me to see him since well before that incident! Then, I find out after the fact that you had him sent here to Swinger’s estate, just for him to escape because we all know how perverted Swinger was!”

“For good reason,” King Demetrius responded calmly, in contrast to Rubia’s temper. “You have to understand that I didn’t want you to share in your mother’s tragic fate. In spite of my warning her many times, she still fell for that Monster’s tricks, and she ended up getting crushed as a result. You, who wishes so much to be like her, who reminds me of how she was when she was younger, so naïve and passionate, would have certainly met your demise if I had allowed you to get anywhere close to it. That’s why I sent it to here to Swinger, expecting it to awaken its power in order to escape.”

Though his words seemed to portray his concern for his daughter, she could pick up a sense of scorn from his tone when he referred to the late Queen, Terra Demkil. It was yet another reason their relationship was in the poor state that it was, but Rubia couldn’t allow herself to get sidetracked.

“You still haven’t answered my questions. Who is that guy, and why did you give him my brother’s name?”

“You incessantly ask for answers you wouldn’t even accept…” King Demetrius shook his head and sighed, before turning back to his daughter with a gravely serious expression. “Very well, then. I’ll tell you his exact identity: he is your brother, Rubia. However, he is not a child of the late Queen Terra, as you’re already aware. I gave him the name ‘Axis Demkil’ for two reasons: first is what I’ve already told you, which is that Nexus took my first son before he was even born, and the child that you’d been calling ‘Axis Demkil’ was simply Nexus taking his identity for itself. Secondly, I gave him that name because when I found him, he had simply not been given a name yet. Just as we were abandoned by your birth mother before I became King, his mother had also abandoned him. That’s why I took him under my wing, and raised him separately from you.”

“You…” Rubia could barely contain her rage, speaking through clenched teeth to prevent herself from screaming at the King. “You hid him from us! For all this time, you’ve had another family and not only that, but I bet they were no concern of yours until after Mother had passed away, am I right?! That guy you’re naming ‘Axis’ now, you’re going to make him just another pawn of yours, aren’t you?!”

“That’s enough!” the King spoke sternly. “As your father, I allowed you the freedom to speak your mind, even when knowing the grudges you hold against me well enough already. Now, as your King, I expect you to obey my orders. You shall be coming with me, and we will be returning to the capital.”

“What?!” Rubia was outraged by her father’s declaration. “No, I have to participate in the search! Some of the knights from my own squad are included in the party!”

“They will be under the direction of the Head Captain, Zeke Waldhart. You should have no reason to feel concern over them, so don’t use your own comrades as an excuse.”

“An excuse, huh?! Okay, then why not admit your own excuses?! You know damn well that I’ve been wanting to see Nexus for myself, and you’ve obstructed me at every turn! But it has nothing to do with my wellbeing, or even what happened to the late Queen! There’s something you’re trying to keep from me, some truth you’ve been hiding, and my encounter with Nexus would reveal something, wouldn’t it?!”

The King of Slayers turned to glare at the Second Captain, silencing her while practically confirming her suspicions of him at the same time.

“This conversation is over. We’re leaving now, Rubia Demkil.”

With that, he turned away from his daughter and headed back towards the carriage. Rubia begrudgingly followed him as expected, but this did not mean that she had given up.

I’ll just have to leave it to you for now, Zeke… Rubia thought to herself, but it was more like a prayer that she hoped her ally would somehow hear.

#

“My name is Axis Demkil, and I am the hero who will save this world from your kind.”

While everyone else was stunned to silence, the one who called himself “Axis Demkil” while still puffing out his chest with pride, brandished his bow to display his overconfidence. Of all the odd details about him that have been addressed previously, what confused them the most was how he was able to use that bow to release his projectiles, when he had no quiver equipped and no arrows to shoot. Well, the first Axis Demkil was thinking about something else entirely.

What the fuck kind of identity theft is this?!

With him pinned down by the Slayer’s previous attack, only the Elves could prepare for the next attack.

“Vilda,” Vena called, “I’ll focus on defense if you focus on offense.”

“Offense?!” Vilda criticized. “Bitch, we need to run! He definitely isn’t alone, and there’s no telling how many enemies we’ll have to deal with if we remain here for much longer!”

“First of all, I don’t think we’re nearly close enough for you to be calling me ‘Bitch’ comfortably like that. Secondly, do you really think we’ll be able to escape while he’s shooting at our backs?! We have to find a way to defeat him, or at least trap him before trying to escape!”

Then, “Axis” scoffed while holding out his free hand at his side, as if predicting for an apple to fall from a tree and preparing to catch it.

“It’s foolish of you to think that either option is a possibility.”

Then, though it should have been impossible, the Slayer conjured a magic circle within his open palm, a feat that only Elves had been seen capable of thus far. As if that wasn’t enough, the magic circle unnaturally twisted into an arrow, which “Axis” pulled back against the string of his bow.

“Now, disappear.”

The projectile was fired, packed with enough power to send them flying for sure this time. Yet, Vena acted swiftly enough to erect a barrier to protect Axis, Vilda and herself from the blast. Of course, she still had not fully recovered from her battle with the Necromancer, so she reasonably fell to one knee shortly afterwards.

“Vena!” Vilda called out as she started to approach to aid her, but Vena raised a hand to stop her.

“Like I said, I’ll handle the defense. It’s up to you to find a way to take him down.”

Vilda nodded in agreement, but her stressed expression betrayed her lack of confidence. She had not fully recovered either, and though her condition was certainly better than Vena’s, she was still nowhere close to where she needed to be to deal with an enemy such as the one before her. Even so, she took a deep breath, before charging towards the Slayer while drawing her blades.

Her tactic was simple: even if the archer could fire off high-grade magic spells, Vilda was confident enough in her speed that she could avoid them long enough to close the distance, and once he was within striking range, she could deal enough damage to slow him down so that she and her party could escape. Using the meager amount of mana she managed to store up, Vilda boosted her speed and charged straight at “Axis Demkil,” expecting another of his arrows. As predicted, the Slayer conjured another magic circle, and as soon as it became his arrow, he shot it straight at the Dark Elf.

Vilda was able to easily avoid the arrow, and if the Slayer could only fire one arrow at a time, she would have closed the distance before he managed to get off a third shot. Yet, of course, the Slayer would not allow it to be so easy for her, as he evoked four more magic circles simultaneously, and rapidly fired them as they became his ammunition. Not only that, but the arrows were released in trajectories where no matter how Vilda dodged, she would have been hit by at least one of them.

Fortunately, she had Vena’s support, as another barrier was suddenly summoned before her to protect her and moved along with her, as if becoming ethereal armor that covered her from head to toe. Vilda didn’t know when the spell was cast on her, but she was grateful.

“Thanks, Vena!”

“Don’t get distracted!” Of course, Vena answered her gratitude with a scolding. “You’re only good for two more hits!”

Nodding in consideration to her warning, Vilda continued to advance towards “Axis,” he kept creating and shooting magic arrows like he had an endless supply.

Does he never run out?! Vilda thought as she continued to weave through his arrows to reach him. His use of Magic is so broken!

As she worked to close the distance, she was indeed struck by two more projectiles along the way, in spite of her best efforts to avoid them. No longer depending on the protection of the Light Elf’s spell, the Dark Elf was only a step away from getting the Slayer within her striking range. The Slayer, already preparing another magic arrow, would’ve been able to shoot Vilda while she was taking that last step towards him. However, because he aimed for her head, so sure that his shot would land, Vilda used the last bit of mana she could muster for the sake of a reversal. As soon as he released his arrow, she disappeared from his sight, just to reappear again behind him, swinging down one of her blades to sever one of his arms, preventing him from being able to shoot any longer.

However, her blade struck nothing. The Dark Elf used her mana in a burst to boost her speed to the maximum in an instant in order to get behind the Slayer; the Slayer also used Magic in order to escape from sight, but rather than an incredible boost of speed, he simply teleported. This was significant, because “Axis Demkil” could not only conjure high-grade magic circles and turn them into his arrows, but he could also use high-grade spells without an incantation or magic circles.

The difference between the grades of magic spells were intrinsically tied to the complexity of the incantations and magic circles. The lower the grade, the less mana it required, so using low-grade spells without some form of verbal invocation was reasonable as long as they had a basic magic circle to draw mana from; if they did not have at least a basic magic circle ready to draw mana in for the spell, they would use an incantation to draw mana into their own bodies for the spell, which was more dangerous for those not meant to use Magic. Of course, this meant that the higher the grade, the more mana required, and the more powerful spells required both circles and incantations.

In other words, this Slayer was not only using Magic, but in ways that break the natural restrictions of Magic. Such a being should have been considered more of a Monster than the ones he hunted, as such a being shouldn’t have been able to exist in the World of Eva.

“Where did he go?!”

Unable to track the Slayer since he had no aura to sense, Vilda frantically scanned through the woods in attempts to search for him. Vena was also searching while keeping a barrier around Axis, who was still bounded to the ground, and herself.

They didn’t bother to look up, until it was already too late for them to escape what was falling upon them.

“Vilda…!” Vena called out with a desperate tone, and when Vilda turned towards her, she looked up in horror, causing Vilda to look up as well, and her expression twisted into the same as Vena’s.

“Axis Demkil” had fired another arrow, and the spell used had to be an outrageously powerful one as it streaked down like a meteor, ready to completely destroy the barren forest along with the trio.

Isn’t that overkill?! Axis thought to himself, still struggling against the spell that had him restrained. He’ll blow away his own comrades within the forest, too! Does he even care?!

“What could we even do…?” Vilda asked rhetorically as she stared up hopelessly at the oncoming doom. “This is just too much…”

Then, someone else suddenly appeared, walking past Axis and Vena from behind them, unnoticed by either of the Elves as they stared up at the sky, as the arrow coming down to cut their lives short gained more power and speed as it descended. They had maybe seconds left before the impact, and all they could do was watch helplessly, but Axis noticed the new arrival. He couldn’t help but notice, as he felt an aura that seemed overly familiar, yet unknown to him at the same time.

Axis tried to turn to see while constrained, but the mysterious figure ended up walking into his vision anyway. It was a man wearing the same type of armor as the Slayers, but it was more worn down, and red cloth was wrapped around certain parts of his body as if to cover up the broken pieces and cracks of the armor.

Who the fuck is this now…? Axis thought as he watched the unknown man reached for one of the two swords he had equipped. Hold on… There’s no way he’s going to…!

Axis continued to watch in amazement, as this man prepared to swing his blade towards the arrow.