The night was relatively cold. Nippier than usual in Falia. Grabbing with bare fingers by the hood, a person corrected their attire, promptly breathing out the hot air kept in their mouth before shaded steam escaped below the twinkling lights kept in their arm.
Complying with the cadence all around, the figure clothed in darkness carried themselves with a thick stick in the right hand, engulfed in bright flames at the very top. Shining decisively with warm tones, it carried the tens of similar cloaks ahead.
Hundreds of steps played the rhythm, along with hums of confidence and streams of valor guiding the people. Looking around with their hood, the figure glanced at the flickering shines, the pitchforks and axes enveloping the eyes before settling on the left.
Staring at the clear, purple eyes that didn’t turn pale beneath the blood orange light, James couldn’t help but keep staring, somewhat fidgeting with his lips before Lutiel finally turned right at him.
“What is it?” He asked, whispering under the tough barrage of voices moving through the cobbled street. Still, the question seemingly fell on deaf ears, the boy hesitating to speak up whilst holding onto the torch in his hand.
Only as Lutiel turned ahead of himself again did he finally gain the courage. “It’s always scary, you know?” He said lightly, making sure others beside hadn’t heard him.
“What is?”
“The waiting,” James said, lowering his brows whilst looking at the road beyond the chants. “Any moment now, we could be fighting for our lives with abyssal creatures. Any second and we could disappear into Lucien’s warm light.” Swiftly, they once again fell into their faint silence, immediately beaten away by those around them.
However, Lutiel didn’t stay long in the stupor. No longer glancing at the boy, he simply guided his left palm on top of his pommel. “You’re right, it is scary. However, you don’t have to do this, James,” he whispered silently, just close enough for the other’s confused face to hear him.
“What? What are you talking about?” He asked briskly, with a somewhat jarring tone. Riveting his mind on the question, he made the boy’s brows creased gruesomely.
“You’re not obliged to do this. These people don’t know you, and neither do you. This empire, the heroes, the saintess, what did they do for you to keep fighting like this? At any moment, you can simply toss this torch to the side and run away. No, actually, you better do that.”
“Wha-?!” He raised his voice somewhat, however, Lutiel quickly blocked the path of the voice with his hand, glaring into the boy’s brown eyes.
“James, listen to me,” he said, lingering on the verge of quietude. “This entire continent is festered with demons throughout. And, the only reason for that is that the empire allowed it, no other option.”
Once again, the boy’s brows creased, even deeper than before as he couldn’t understand the words. Trying to pull away Lutiel’s hand from his mouth, he only found himself unable to budge the arm the slightest bit however.
“You’ve seen it and you’ve told it to me yourself. You shouldn’t do this anymore. Are you trying to run into your parents’ embrace?” He asked, promptly making his eyebrows stumble about. “There is no help for the empire with these riots.”
Breaking down as he heard the words, James halted his steps together with the man holding him. Albeit catching the attention of those walking through the city’s outer streets, they simply walked past them, leaving the sole two to linger in the dark space, James’ torch flickering from the meek wafts.
“Go. Run away and live a proper life. Find a job somewhere safe and wait. Just wait until all of them disappear from here.”
“What do you mean, Thomas?” He asked, Lutiel finally taking his hand off before letting the perplexed boy speak. Watching his startled, utterly confused mien play about, he stared at his face, promptly gazing into the dark clouds guarding the capital.
“Lutiel is alive and well, and the demons have found him,” he said, making the boy’s eyes widen completely. However, he didn’t stop. “For now, he’s still here, but soon enough they will be taking him back home. With no reason to keep being here, they will go. All of them. So, just wait, okay?”
“...” The boy couldn’t speak for a long while. Lingering in the space with his mouth open however, he still muttered some words out. “H-how do you know that?” He asked, trembling faintly after forcing himself.
“He’s a good friend of mine. Although I don’t know the truth, I’m not so sure about the story from the saintess,” Lutiel muttered out, putting on a light smile before shoving the man away from him. Staggering abruptly before almost falling to the ground, he just barely collected himself before staring with wide eyes as the man started moving away with his torch.
“Go home, James, before it’s too late,” he added near the end, fully turning around and leaving the boy to himself.
Meanwhile, in just a few, hard steps, Lutiel got near the end of the marching group, all sorts of weapons engulfing his sternful expression. Shining right into his eyes, he caught a long scythe towering over all of the pitchforks and axes, the person carrying it being the main source of chants.
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“Come on, demies, where are ya, heh? Are ya scared, you demon bastards?” Screaming atop his lungs, those beside him cheered his words away, growling almost with the deep agreements. “Hiding everything? The pope? The saintess? The heroes? Demies, where are ya?!”
One street after another, they slowly ventured out into the deeper areas. However, as they kept on going, their voices began to falter, be it either from exhaustion or concern.
“Hey? Why are we able to go this deep?” One of the hooded people near Lutiel asked another one, slightly louder than the jeers coming forward. Voicing the thoughts whilst still holding onto the axe, he continued. “This is just before the noble district, but there are no guards.”
“Didn’t you hear the leader, you moron? He said he’s got a safe route planned for today,” his friend on the right exclaimed, shaking his head whilst letting the one behind them hear all of it.
Musing through the words internally, Lutiel couldn’t help but sigh. ‘Yeah, a route planned by one of the empire’s demons.’ He thought, glancing sparingly at the scythe before turning back at the torch in his hands. Staring as the fire burned the wood away, he let his eyes sit there for a while before peering at the hundreds of humans he was currently walking with.
Staring at them all from behind, his eyes flashed strangely, prompting him to look away. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to. I don’t even know any of you, and James ran away already,’ Lutiel pondered, stashing the clenching sensations away, all under the word that thundered in his head. ‘Sheila, I will be there soon.”
With one last thought, Lutiel shut himself, staring ahead before watching as they entered neater parts of the city, built using expensive stones and materials. At the same time, the air lingered free of taunts, unlike before.
Settling in the people deeply, the worry grew increasingly the more they watched the streets, vacant of guards. Suddenly however, murmurs began appearing. “Did you hear that?” One of the torch carriers asked, promptly receiving a nod from the side.
“Be quiet, everyone,” holding onto the scythe, the leader suddenly uttered, nestling silence in the men. Stopping completely, they still heard the thudding cadence however, even if much weaker compared to theirs.
All around the entrances to the alleys between the buildings, the sounds closed in on them, swiftly getting reactions from the center. “They’re here!” One of the men near the scythe exclaimed, only to fall into silence as his head flew towards the skies, separated by the wide swing from the leader.
Widening their eyes after seeing ten of them disappear, the people acted swiftly, pushing their pitchforks towards the man.
“Good luck, heh~” the man spoke once more, smiling as the blood smeared out from his lips, the metal spikes stabbing through his heart easily. Yet, he suddenly widened his eyes, staring down in horror before parting his lips.
“NO! THEY CONTRO-” He shouted, unable to finish as his head burst suddenly, exploding into pieces before staining the people gathered there.
“Fuck! Fuck!” The people shouted briskly, Lutiel looking around with wide eyes before taking his sword out.
Putting his thoughts away, he briskly watched the people scatter away all around, towards the guards that finally unveiled themselves from the shadowed alleys.
However, rather than moving away, he promptly looked up. Another few armored figures appeared in the sky, jumping from the rooftops all the way down to squash the humans.
Some were able to land on the humans’ heads, while other guards weren’t so fortunate. Jumping straight onto the pitchforks, two out of eleven demons were immediately impaled, the metal going right through the slits in the armor.
Despite just appearing, ten humans jumped each one of the guards, hammering down on the armor with the axes. While half of the demons were able to fend off the assault, the other plainly fell down to the ground, their helmets caving before their bodies stopped responding.
As eerie as it looked to the man standing still, the humans were definitely winning at the moment, with just their sheer numbers.
Albeit, he briskly realized the unutterable might. Four pitchforks targeted one burly knight, clad in deep silver armor from toes to the top of his head. Just about to touch the demon however, their bodies flew away from him, vehemently crashing into other humans before the knight took on more opponents.
‘They’re already starting to use magic, huh?’ Lutiel wondered to himself, briskly looking around the space. Through all the alleys to the middle of the battle, he walked around stealthily, searching with meek results.
‘Come on, there must be at least one out there,’ he said internally, dodging the areas of harsh fights. However, no matter how many demons he had gone through, the answer just didn’t seem to be there.
One alley after another, he watched the demons devour through tens of humans, either spikes moving through the bricks in the ground to impale them or their bodies being tossed through the air.
Out of nowhere, he fell to the side, dodging one of the rocks flying at the humans near him before moving up towards the still large mass of people in the middle.
Then, all of a sudden, a burst of gales came from the very center, the source being the same demon that stopped the four pitchforks from scratching his armor plates. Immediately, Lutiel rolled on the ground, the world before him spinning around whilst ringing away.
Yet, suddenly catching the ground through the hazy vision, he quickly raised himself from the space, standing clearly before running head on towards one of the alleys on top. Condensed with the least amount of humans by far, being just two, it was because most of them lay on the ground, lifeless.
Similarly, ten or so demons lay on the ground, just one that was left fighting against two axes.
Swiftly, Lutiel dodged any of the elemental attacks, covering himself with the humans before easily reaching towards the end.
However, just as he reached the armored demon that lingered on the verge of the alley, he saw two spikes come out from the ground, penetrating through the humans’ hearts before they dropped dead.
Halting his motions completely, Lutiel stared at the demon ahead of him, the guard doing the same. While he stared into the cloak’s shadowy face, the other observed the purplish eyes through the slits in the armor, briskly moving forward with his already unsheathed sword.
“You seem tougher, heh,” the guard spoke in a tongue the human could understand, alas, the shadowed face didn’t respond in the slightest. Rather, he lowered his figure, grasping on the hilt tightly before seeing the demon copy him. “Hoo? You want a sword fight? I can give you that, but don’t be surprised if a spike pierces you!” He said, flaunting the long blade around with one hand before suddenly thrusting it towards Lutiel.
