The Kind of Evil

"Who are you people! And why are you trying to kill both of us?!" A man with long wavy brown hair clashed his sword with a mysterious man in a black robe and hood that covered his upper face.

"Stop talking with them, Erd! These guys are definitely assassins! We need to get out of here, now! They know who we are, and we have to run and hide!" A man with black short curly hair blocked the attacks of three mysterious men around him.

"Run where?! They have been following us for hours, Josh! Do you think we can get them off our tails? These guys are definitely not human with the stamina they have..." Erd responded as he repelled the attack of the mysterious man, and immediately dodged the ambush attacks that two other mysterious men had thrown at him.

"Just run!" Josh said as he clashed his sword with the enemy, and then used his legs to push the enemy away. "Hurry!" He glared at Erd, telling him to stop fighting.

Erd sheathed his swords and used both hands to cast two different magic formations. One was ice magic and the other was fire magic, releasing them together to create a thick mist. He and Josh used that opportunity to run away while they could. However, the mysterious men could follow him even amidst the thick mist that no eyes could see through.

"Demons?" Josh asked as he ran into the woods with Erd beside him. "Damn it! How did they find us? We have been living in the dark for more than a decade, but they found us now?" He added, moving swiftly between trees and tight gaps.

"Don't ask me... but they have been researching the Count's history and territory in the past year. I don't know what they're looking for, but whatever we know, they want it..." Erd answered as he looked over his shoulder and saw the mysterious men following them so effortlessly.

Josh grunted in irritation as he began to coat his body with Aura, boosting his physical ability. He began to run in the front, leading Erd toward where he was leading him to, which was safety. On the other hand, Erd formed a magic formation on each hand and placed them on the trees that he ran past by.

The mysterious men noticed the magic formations and decided to spread, not following Josh and Erd from a straight line. The trees began to explode, creating small and sharp wooden shrapnel while at the same time toppling the trees around the explosions. However, it barely slowed down the mysterious men and how they managed to keep up with those two.

"I sense more of them..." Erd said as he looked to his left and right. "They're far away, but they're coming toward us..." He added as he gritted his teeth.

Josh tried his best to find the best route to get the enemy off their tails, however, no matter how fast and how best the route he took, the enemy managed to follow him. He knew there was no point in running away, just like what Erd said, but at the same time, if they didn't run away, they would end up dead.

"Fuck it..." Josh stopped running and immediately unsheathed his swords. "We can't endanger the others if we brought these assholes with us," he said as he breathed heavily, trying to regain his stamina from all the running.

Erd stopped running and stood beside Josh, unsheathing his sword as he looked at his surroundings. He noticed that Josh had taken a different route to their hideouts, knowing exactly why he did that.

"I was about to say the same thing, Josh. I guess this is it for both of us..." Erd breathed heavily as he tried to regain his stamina.

"One day the mouse will get caught eventually. We both know that," Josh nodded as he watched the mysterious men begin to surround them in a matter of seconds.

When they both were about to break the enemy's line of defense, an owl rested on the tree branch, hooting softly, attracting everyone's attention. They all looked at the owl, noticing how the owl was staring back at them as if the owl understood what was going on, like a silent watch. When the owl hooted again, and how the owl stared at both Josh and Erd, those two felt that as if the owl was speaking to them.

As soon as the owl spread its wings and began to fly away, those two began to run and follow the owl was going. They had no idea what it was, but they were moved by the owl and chose to follow their guts.

The mysterious men began to chase them, and this time they were no longer passive. They were trying to kill those two with magic as they chased them, however, Erd managed to repel and block their magic attacks with his Mana barrier. Josh on the other hand, he was focused on leading the way and showed the path to take to Erd.

"Don't die on me, Erd! Keep up with me!" Josh noticed that Erd was slowing down, and he knew it was because Erd had already used too much energy. "I don't want to carry your heavy ass," he said as he kept his eyes on the owl that flew oddly fast than a normal owl.

"Don't make me talk... I'm trying to reserve my energy here," Erd said as he released random fireballs around him, exploding them when he was at a safe distance. He knew that he couldn't afford to reserve energy when the enemy had chosen to become aggressive.

Josh noticed someone in the distance, in between the trees, a man and a woman piercing their swords through the heads of men in a black robe. Josh realized the ones who sent the owl were those two, and he immediately put a huge smile on his face.

"Erd! I see them!" Josh said with a huge grin on his face.

Erd looked at the front and saw a man and a woman sliced the bodies in half, throwing them away. He was in disbelief that someone could effortlessly slice a body in half, and the fact that the ones they killed were the same enemy they fought that they believed to be untouchable and demons.

When their eyes met with Rasmus and Aris, those two didn't feel relief, but rather fear from their gazes. They began to question themselves whether they should approach them or not, but knowing the death that followed them, they had no choice. However, when they saw Rasmus point his hand at them, they felt cold sweat on their foreheads.

The moment Rasmus clenched his hand, they both flinched and felt something just flew past them. In less than a second they heard the sound of a loud thud and something wet being squeezed. When they turned around, one of the men in a black robe had turned into a small ball, painting the trees and grass red with his blood. Josh and Erd were baffled, their eyes were shaking when they witnessed something inhuman, not even them had seen anything like that before.

"What the hell is that magic..." Josh looked at Erd from over his shoulder.

"That wasn't magic..." Erd slowly shook his head as he stared at Josh, signaling to him whoever that man was, he was extremely dangerous.

Rasmus suddenly swirled his fingers, snapping both of them back to reality. Suddenly they saw redness and felt extreme heat on their backs. When they turned around, all the robed men were blazed in fire, making them squeal and squeak that didn't sound like humans at all. They saw the black smoke that came out of the melted bodies, something vile and dangerous.

Josh and Erd flinched as they watched the smoke slowly form into humanoid bodies with the deafening screeches of pain. Suddenly Aris dashed past them, she had gone way ahead but the wind just blew their hair and faces. They watched Aris slashed the demons in their true forms, banishing them and getting absorbed into the blade of her sword.

"Seeing that you two aren't reacting much about their true nature, that means you two have seen them before..." Rasmus said as he stared at them. "Or perhaps used to deal with them..." He rephrased his words.

Josh and Erd turned around and looked at the tanned man with brown hair, staring them in the eyes.

"Yes, this isn't our first encounter with demons," Josh answered, unconsciously placing his hand on his sword's handle. "We were knights that specifically trained to hunt them," he revealed.

"Which family do you serve?" Rasmus asked with a stoic expression and cold gaze.

Josh and Erd glanced at each other, thinking if he should tell the mysterious man. However, based on the man's appearance, he didn't look like from Central Neva. They assumed there was no reason for them to hide it.

"We used to serve the Blackheart family..." Erd answered with a stern look, his piercing gaze stared into Rasmus's eyes. "We are outcasts, nomads..." he added.

Rasmus slowly pulled down his hood, slowly changing his appearance back to his original look. Josh and Erd's eyes were wide open when they saw the white hair and dark blue eyes of Rasmus. They reminded them of their young master, Rasmus Blackheart.

"Young master..." Erd's voice trembled as he slowly went down to one knee and lowered his head. "We have been searching for you ever since we heard your arrival to Central Neva..." he said as he clenched his fist on the ground.

"Yes, I'm back," Rasmus said as he looked down at both of them who had finally found their master again.