On the bank of the river, many bodies lay on the ground covered in a white blanket.
Many priests prayed for them and started the ceremony.
Luna stood at the side with a blank expression. Though her face was expressionless, there was deep sorrow in her eyes.
At that time, an old man with a long white beard standing beside her spoke in a consoling tone.
"Little girl, your mood seems to be quite down."
His voice was filled with warmth and vitality that was quite unusual for his gaze.
The old man glanced around, raising his brows seeing which the people retreated giving them some space.
"Immanuel!Holy Father." The Priest bowing their head greeted him and walked away.
"Grandpa, why do people who can see other's futures can't foresee their own?'' Luna asked with a bitter voice staring at the dead bodies.
The old man caressed his beard and stared at the dead bodies.
All of them were the people who died during the battle waged against the Dark Church.
"It's the laws of nature that bind us, little girl. We can see others' futures but can't foresee ours. And even if you can see the future, how much can you change it? In the end, what is destined to happen will always happen until Heaven intervenes."
"Why?" Luna's grieved words echoed in the place.
"Why do most of the futures we foresee that of destruction and carnage? And when it comes to people who can stop this destruction, we can only see prophecies, not the actual scene."
"Everything is Heaven's will, my girl. The future of destruction we see is a message asking us to be prepared, whereas the prophecies are not fixed."The old man shook his head and spoke with a sigh while walking forward and staring at the deep blue sky.
"Nature is unkind. It treats everyone differently. Some are dear to heaven and are carp born to leap the dragon gate to become dragons but before that, they are weak and have to go through the harsh cruelty of the world. Sadly, 99% of them die and wither before they can leap."
Luna's expression distorted and her eyes became cold.
"It's unfair. Heaven never listens to people call for help and salvage their plight but the moment it's in trouble, it will create filth of evil to become a stepping stone of the son of heaven that will be used by it as a pawn. This had been going on since the beginning of creation so for how long will people suffer this injustice? What about these innocent people who die because of this ploy?"
"The evil and good are all the beings born of nature that fight together to keep the balance so that they can't threaten heaven."
The old man's brows creased as he stared at Luna with a sombre expression.
'Today, she seems to be quite agitated.'
If anyone heard her saying this, she would be reprimanded and accused of committing hearsay, but she didn't care about this and was unrestrained before him because she had grown under his care.
There was no blood relation between them but to him, she was like his lovely granddaughter.
"I don't know Luna. I don't know. People revere him, but I who stood at the epitome of the Holy State had my hands filled with the blood of countless innocents."
"To destroy that bigger evil, we are just some lesser evil." The man murmured with regret and then looked at the sky.
"Still what can we do? After all, can there be a man who can even go against heaven and win at the end." The old man smiled bitterly, however, Luna's next words shook his entire soul.
"There is."
" There is someone, Grandpa."
The old man's eyes widened and he stared at Luna's face, plastered with a large grin seeing that his back was drenched in cold.
"Luna… just what did you see?"
A stuttering voice filled with shock and disbelief echoed.
........
The sudden situation of panic almost made his heart skip a beat. Adrenaline coursed through his body. His heart pounded intensely against his chest, his muscles contracted, his veins bulged and his pupils enlarged to get a better view of his surroundings.
His tired body was suddenly brimming with power and all of his senses were on alert mode.
The first thing that came into Lucas's mind was to escape but with poor visibility dampening his movement, he was now on a slope. The vegetation covering the rocky soil was like bushes and roots entangled with one another making it difficult to run freely.
Lucas tried to put up the stance while noticing the leaves. A strong wind was blowing making the leaves sway, but still Lucas tried to pick up any change in noise.
As Lucas walked back hurriedly, Lucas's eyes caught the sight of a distorting shadow as if it was alive.
Lucas's body flinched and with a lightning-fast movement, Lucas swung his sword.
Swish!
But his sword scratches through the empty air.
"Where are you?" Lucas mumbled with a panicked expression and swung his sword around him while spinning in a circle.
SPLAT!
It was then something splashed like a whip and struck Lucas's wrist.
"Arghh!"
Lucas let out a painful groan and the grip of his left hand loosened due to the momentary pain.
Turning around, Lucas's golden eyes met with a yellow pair of beastly eyes. Seeing them, his throat became dry and his breathing ceased.
Due to the darkness, the only thing Lucas saw was yellow eyes on dark visages. It had black fur that didn't shine under the moonlight as if it sucked all the light.
Like an arrow, it lunged at him.
Lucas was momentarily taken back by its swiftness, but still, Lucas was unfazed as he had undergone this type of situation countless times.
However, this time Lucas committed a grave mistake that might cost his life.
"Shit!"
Lucas's eyes flashed with horror due to sudden realisation. Every time Lucas encounters a strong opponent, he engages in a game of hit and run.
Using flash steps and shadow steps, Lucas had always managed to dodge the fatal strikes and then strike back. However since he can't use mana, he couldn't use that. Since Lucas used this move countless times, it has been ingrained in his instinct and his body can react subconsciously every time he encounters it.
As if a switch had been turned off, Lucas's body stood rigid for a moment. Lucas attempted to dodge sideways but it was too late.
The beast was already on him and might tear off a part of his body if he didn't do something.
"Damn!"
At the last moment, Lucas's body moved.
The ragged cloth and thick ropes wrapped over his shoulder carrying meat were yanked back as fast as lightning and he raised his left arm covered with the ragged cloth as protection.
"Ahhhh!"
Lucas gritted his teeth to suppress the pain as the wolf's sharp fangs dug into his arms through the clothes and met it as if it would crush his arm. Sharp teeth dig into the skin and blood splattered.
A scream came out of the indescribable terrible pain. At the same time, his vision turned black due to the sudden influx of pain.
The shadow leopard glared at him as if it would never let him go.
"Leave me, shithead!"
Lucas gripped the hilt of the sword with his right hand tightly and slammed it on its head repeatedly.
BANG!BANG!BANG!
Both of them engaged in a battle of tenacity and persistence.
Lucas didn't have any intention of dying. When it comes to holding his life, there were very few that could hold up to his will to survive.
"Grrrrrrrr!"
The shadow leopard tried to bite Lucas's neck as he fell but Lucas blocked it with his left arm but it only increased the pain.
Lucas sacrificed his left arm and taking a moment to calm down, he thrust the pointy end of the blunt sword right into the eye of the shadow leopard.
Unpleasant sensations were transmitted through his hands. But the rush of adrenaline pushed away all the pain and made him more resilient.
Kwang!Kwang!
Screaming in pain, it stepped back when its eye was stabbed and burst by Lucas's thrust.
Lucas held his bloody arm and supported it. The bones were crushed and five holes were dug into the arm and his left arm was almost dislocated in the rug and drag battle.
Blood gushed out from it and Lucas wasn't able to feel his left arm.
"Even if it's detached or crushed, as long as I can keep it, I will not lose my arm," Lucas assured himself trying to calm his uneasiness.
Only Saintess and a very handful of people can grow missing limbs so if he loses his left arm for now, it was as good as gone.
Lucas raised his chin and noticed the shadow leopard wailing in pain while scratching its face over and over again.
"No...I can't."
Lucas wasn't confident enough to kill it.
"Let's use this opportunity to run."
Stumbling on his steps, Lucas decided to flee.
Running around madly, Lucas halted his steps and his eyes widened seeing a cliff.
"What the?"
Lucas's heart almost moved up to his throat, seeing deep darkness with no land below the protruding rock.
His hand condition wasn't good, so he decided to give up on climbing and ran around, but he hadn't imagined that running around would make him come across this cliff.
Lucas turned around and was about to dash but the fatigue of the entire day was catching up to him.
And to make it worse, the bushes started to sway.
RUSTLE!RUSTLE!RUSTLE!
Before moving further, he heard the rustling sound of bushes.
Squinting his eyes, he tried to look for the beast that was chasing after him.
As the blood-stained shadow leopard appeared, Lucas's expression hardened.
CLUNG!
Hearing the voice, Lucas looked behind and saw that he was standing over the edge of the cliff.
"Damn, I am gonna die like this."
Lucas's expression turned grave and his blood boiled fiercely with anger.
"I can't die like this."
"It's too early for me to die."
Lucas bent down while staring at the beast and took a chunk of stones with his right hand. If only his sword wasn't blunt, he could have tried to fight back.
He pushed the sword into his belt to keep it there for now.
"Come on. You want some? then come and get some."
Lucas didn't know if it understood his words or felt offended. But as soon as his words fell, baring its fangs, it charged straight at him.
Lucas ran forward while gasping heavily.
As the image of the shadow leopard reflected in his eyes, Lucas squatted down and slid down across the ground letting the beast pass over him.
Startled by the sudden change in scenario, the shadow leopard tried to halt his body to stop itself from falling and managed to stop his momentum across the edge of the cliff.
However, as soon as it turned around, it saw a stone slammed against its face making it lose its balance.
GRRRRRR
Letting out a fearful shriek, its body lunged down.
Seeing the scene, Lucas heaved a sigh in relief.
"Thank god!"
"I should have used stones from the beginning instead of this sword of betrayal."Lucas cursed his fate and walked towards the edge to get a look.
"That pitiful cat must be regretting but it deserves it. Who asked it to look for me."Lucas scoffed.
Lucas hardly took a look when a loud growl echoed and a shadow flashed before him. The protruding platform collapsed out of nowhere much to his surprise.
The shadow leopard used its tail to get a hold of the protruding rock from below and when it fell it used its claws to jump up which broke the platform.
On jumping up it was startled seeing the human.
Lucas's eyes widened and arranging his body, he tilted his body to hold on to something while giving a kick.
BANG!
The kick connected straight at its chest and sent it flying but to Lucas's horror, as it fell, it wrapped its tail around Lucas's feet and pulled him down.
"Holy shit!"
Lucas cursed as he was pulled down from the edge.
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