Alfredo narrowed his eyes at the woman who was on her knees. The strawberry blonde hair that was usually tucked away from view was uncovered with the disappearance of her veil. Clouded eyes stared at him in shock before a howl took her unfocused gaze away.
Alfredo breathed in and walked in front of her to face their enemy.
"It would have been better if you died by her hands."
"And it would have been better if you didn't come here acting like a knight in shining armor." The stranger replied with a sneer, as he raised his hand, signaling the creatures under his command to pump their legs in vigor towards the two.
Imaya quickly uttered a prayer to create a barrier around them, consuming a quarter of her remaining strength. Both eldritch dogs posed a battle stance despite Imaya's release of their connection to the mundane plane.
"Go back." She gritted, but none of the creatures listened to her as they snarled, pumping adrenaline into their bodies and growing thrice in size, shocking Imaya.
Obviously, they weren't supposed to be able to show the full extent of their form in the human world under the summon of the seer. It was nature's rule to protect seers and humans, and so the eldritch loses a portion of their strength when in the mortal plane, so as not to be threat. However, this can be overpassed when a strong bond is created between man and eldritch.
Imaya never expected it. Not after what she'd done in the past.
Bloodbath ensued in a matter of seconds, and Imaya froze as red liquid splattered on the earth with every swing of the knight's sword. She now realized what Bakunawa meant when she witnessed the souls of the dead get extinguished in Alfredo's hands. There had been great stories about the adjudicator in her childhood, telling tales of an old, forgotten great war between human and eldritch creatures ended by the founder of the Gwendolyn family. In her mind as a child, the adjudicator would look like the big painting of a gentle figure garbed in red robes with a sympathetic smile towards an eldritch cub tugging on his robe.
The image had been burned in her memory, she forgot the adjudicator not only enforces the law of balance between Eldritch and man, but also prosecutes those who break the taboo. Those who die by his hand are sent to Baa to suffer a millennium of hell before reincarnating... That is if their soul is strong enough to survive the torment they will be subjected to.
The tides easily turned with Alfredo's intervention, and the enemy seemed to have finally noticed his real abilities so he started sprinting away. Because Imaya and Alfredo have yet to finish fending off the malignant creatures, they couldn't run after the stranger.
However, there was an unexpected turn of events as Klein and Sierra appeared at the entrance of the forest clearing, and managed to catch the stranger.
Klein was nimble and he easily subdued the fleeing man without much effort. When the hood alighted the stranger's head, Sierra immediately recognized the face of the innkeeper she met in Helium.
"You..?" The one who caused her nightmares for weeks. The one who tried to abduct her?
"Hello, child..." He grinned, causing goosebumps on Sierra's skin.
***
𝒢𝓁𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒶𝓇𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝐸𝓁𝒹𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝒞𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒩𝑜𝓋𝒾𝒸𝑒
𝒫𝒾𝓃𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒
𝒟𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓂𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝒻 𝐻𝒶𝓉𝒶𝓃. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝓈𝓊𝒻𝒻𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝑜𝓈 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝑜𝓀𝑒𝒹. 𝒯𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓾𝓼𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓃𝑒𝓊𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓁, 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓈 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝑒𝓋𝒾𝓁 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝒹.
𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝑒 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓸𝓯 𝓪 𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮 𝓋𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝓭𝓮𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓲𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓫𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓱. 𝓜𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓪𝓼 𝒶 𝓂𝑒𝓃𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓇𝒾𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒽𝑒𝒹𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈 𝓁𝒾𝓂𝒷𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝓎 𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑜𝓃𝑔𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓈, 𝓉𝒽𝑒y 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝓊𝓃𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓂𝑜𝓃𝓎. 𝓡𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓮𝔁𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓶𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝓾𝓷𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮.
