The Kind of Evil

‎"Prepare the carriage!" Aurelia shouted as she looked at the paladins that stood on guard around her. "The people are in danger!" She added and looked at the small dots in the far sky.

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‎Isador was standing at the far back, and then he heard the sounds of greaves coming from the temple. When he saw his father, Julius with Arandil behind him, he immediately ran toward them and stopped them from coming out.

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‎"Don't go outside..." Isador stopped his father and Arandil from leaving the temple. "If you go... You'll die..." he said with a serious expression.

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‎Isador still took Rasmus's and Aris's words seriously when they both wanted Arandil dead. He still hadn't given them the answer, so he wanted to prevent Arandil or even his father to leave or to be near Aris.

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‎Julius and Arandil furrowed their brows when they saw how panicked Isador was. They slowly moved their gaze toward a tall woman with short silver blue-ish hair, standing still and staring at the sky. They were shocked by how similar and look-alike Aris was to Rasmus's late mother.

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‎"Please, father..." Isador said with fear in his eyes.

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‎Julius had never seen his son have fear in his eyes, and he wondered what had happened to Isador during his short reunion with Rasmus. He then decided to agree with his son's plea and went back inside with Arandil by his side.

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‎"What do you think, Lord Arandil?" Julius asked as he walked in the empty hallway.

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‎"That woman, she seems to be a lot stronger than Count Blackheart's late mother. The way she stood, she wanted nothing but destruction, a walking disaster, Your Imperial Highness," Arandil answered, realizing his fate was no longer his.

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‎"And somehow, the only person who can prevent her from rampaging is Count Blackheart. That man, did we make a mistake to keep him alive?" Julius asked as she rubbed his chin, his troubled expression was written all over his face.

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‎"I believe we made a grave mistake, Your Imperial Highness. We didn't let a child live, we let a monster grow. Now, that same monster has no reason to fight for humanity, and he will use humanity until humanity loses its value..." Arandil answered as he closed his eyes, walking behind Julius.

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‎"Not only did we let the monster grow, we might have killed the lives of those who wanted to eradicate evil. We... I have failed to keep what my ancestors fought for..." Julius sighed as he entered the prayer hall.

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‎Aurelia, Serena, and Videl were in the same carriage, going out to the fifth layer of the Holy Nation. They saw the wyverns begin to rip the roofs of the buildings, toppling the walls and taking many lives.

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‎The paladins tried their best to protect the people, guiding them to a safe place. However, they were no match against the wyverns, a beast that could swallow a whole bison like a pill. The razor-sharp teeth and strong jaw that could rip, tear, and crush thick walls. No steel could keep a human body safe in the face of a beast that was related to a dragon.

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‎Paladins were trained differently than any knights, they were trained to fight demonic beasts where no normal knight could do. However, this time, it was different. They weren't not fighting, they were purely being hunted and massacred by a beast, and they could do nothing about it.

‎The citizen screamed as they ran for their lives while the Paladins raised their massive shields to block the fire breath and the wind breath of the wyverns. The shields were heated up, close to their melting point. However, the Paladins didn't even scream in pain, they held their shields up high and did their job, which was to protect the lives of the people.

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‎They created a barrier made of shields, protecting the tunnel where the people gathered to hide. It was effective until the wyverns began to use their claws and jaws, ripping and chopping the top half of the Paladins' bodies.

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‎The Sages from the Magic Tower who were stationed in the Holy Nation for safety purposes finally joined the battle. They immediately created layers of Mana barriers around the tunnel and in front of the Paladins. They began to invoke magic formations and started to release ice bolts, fire bolts, or wind cutters.

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‎The Mana barriers acted as enhancement as well toward the spells the Sages released from within the barriers. They were both the fortress and the arsenals, however, they knew very well that Wyverns were nothing like any beast. Wyvern had the ability to manipulate Mana around them and if any magical attack reached them, they could mitigate the magic, but only to a certain level.

‎The Wyverns got bombarded by highly concentrated Mana spells that they could barely mitigate the magic. Unfortunately, the Sages knew that Wyverns were blessed with thick skin. Although the Wyverns couldn't mitigate the magic, their second defense mechanism stopped the magic from piercing through their skins.

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‎Only a handful of people around Neva could defeat an airborne wyvern. Knowing that, they were powerless and unable to stop the wyverns from rampaging. They could only watch the walls and buildings crumble and collapse by the force of nature.

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‎Aurelia's carriage arrived at the scene, and saw the wyverns destroy everything that stood tall. She looked at the dome of Mana barriers in the distance, protecting the citizens from the wyverns that tried to break through the barriers.

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‎"No..." Aurelia looked at the dead bodies that had been buried under the rubble. "No..." she gritted her teeth, angry and feeling guilty for the deaths of her people as she walked toward the bodies.

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‎"Lady Aurelia!" Serena shouted.

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‎A deafening screech from the sky made Aurelia look up at the sky and saw a dark blue wyvern dive toward her with its claws ready to butcher her. She immediately created a divine barrier to protect herself as she closed her eyes. Suddenly, she heard a steel hit a tough surface in front of her.

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‎When Aurelia opened her eyes she was baffled when Videl could stop a diving wyvern with its unbelievable weight and momentum with a mere sword. She watched Videl clash his sword against the mouth of the wyvern. She was about to help him but then Videl pushed the wyvern away from him and followed by a vertical slash.

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‎The attack sliced the wyvern's head open before the massive body collapsed and shook the ground. The paladins were dumbfounded with their eyes wide open underneath their helmet. A single man could overpower a wyvern and not to mention the single attack that cut the wyvern's head open.

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‎The other wyverns found Videl as a threat, and so they began to send a breath of fire and wind at him. However, Videl didn't try to dodge it, he was ready to embrace it. Suddenly, Serena stood in front of Videl and watched as the fierce flame approached her.

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‎Serena kept staring at the flame, and when it was close to her, she flicked her left hand to the side. The wall of fire suddenly dissipated, leaving only a trail of smoke. She then looked up at the wyverns and saw the lingering demonic energy around them.

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‎Aurelia saw the traces of divine energy when she witnessed the power of Saint Serena. She wondered if she could do the same, but then she realized it wasn't about whether she could do it or not, it was her that got to overwhelm by the scene and the bodies on the ground.

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‎Aurelia knew she had just made a huge mistake by ignoring the threat out of grief and guilt. She realized it wasn't the time to see the dead bodies, it was time to look at the threat and how to protect those who were still alive and fighting.

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‎"Lady Serena... Mister Paladin... I apologize that I endangered your lives for me..." Aurelia said as she looked at both of them, gripping the robe she wore tightly.

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‎"It's fine, Lady Aurelia..." Serena shook her head as she kept staring at the wyverns. "You were right, those wyverns seemed to be corrupted by demonic energy," she pointed out.

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‎"Yes, we are the only ones who can see them," Aurelia nodded as she looked up at the wyverns in the sky.

‎"Your order, Your Holiness?" A Paladin captain approached Aurelia as he went down to one knee and lowered his head.

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‎"Protect the people, that's it. Please, don't let any more of innocent people die," Aurelia clenched her fists as she stared at the Mana barriers in the distance. "Try to lead the remaining survivors there," she continued.

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‎"Yes, Your Holiness..." The Paladin captain nodded. "But, what about the wyverns, Your Holiness?" He asked nervously.

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‎"That's not our problem, thankfully. We have Lady Aristoria..." Aurelia answered as she looked at Aris on a white horse, staring at the wyverns.

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‎The Paladin captain understood his task and immediately ordered the paladins to find the remaining survivors.