Chapter 9: Dual Swords

Aries remembered the empty alley where Pieffer and Siorre had taken him and Sunrei. It was where he had awakened after his death.

The armored man wielding an axe was standing at the end of the alley. This time, he brought thirty more armored men to help him block the way towards the mansion.

A few meters past the axe wielder and his small army of possessed people, Aries could get a glimpse of a huge fire that was shaped like a lion. In the middle of it was a man with blazing auburn hair and glowing red-orange eyes. He was enveloped in a smoldering flame, but he was not burning at all. Only those corrupted souls that were trying to reach him were being torched repeatedly as they keep on regenerating after a minute or two.

Aries thought that it would have been an amazing sight if that man can fight with them but he was not moving at all. He was like a statue burning in the middle of a chaotic situation.

"Let us pass or you will all die," Aries warned just in case it would lessen the number of possessed people they had to kill..

But as he had somehow expected, no one scuttled away in fear.

"If you want to die… then die," Aries tightened the grip on his crimson sword as he rushed towards the man with an enormous axe.

Sunrei, Pieffer, and Siorre synchronized their movements with him.

The enemies swarmed towards them, and with the limited amount of holy water left for them to use, they had to spray it on the smaller opponents with the hope that the corrupted souls possessing them were still weak.

Siorre was an astonishing spear wielder. She was taking care of ten opponents at once. She was moving with that long weapon without a problem. Both her hands can use the stick well. Her footwork was light and swift. She can make a three hundred sixty turn without tripping. She was not showing any sign of dizziness either. Most of the time, she was looking like a graceful ballerina. But with a dangerous stick synchronizing with her movements. She also had this ability to make herself vanish and reappear wherever she wanted around her enemy. But she had to be at least a meter away from her target. The amethyst blade of her spear can shower purple-colored water at her opponents. It was different from the plain water she showered at Aries earlier that day.

Aries had seen Sunrei fight. For a crown prince, he was good at wielding a sword. Aries thought that anyone with a high status was a total wimp. But Sunrei can fight. He was handling seven enemies on his own with irritating finesse.

Pieffer had also shown Aries what she can do. Though she was not as skilled as Sunrei and Siorre, she was doing an excellent job in advancing towards Leon. She was occasionally being halted by one or two enemies, but she could shove them away with her thin sword. She was like a glittering fish swimming through the sea of possessed people.

Seeing that his comrades were doing well, Aries focused on the armored man with an enormous axe.

It was frustrating for him to fight enemies that cannot be killed. Aries never attacked his targets unless it had a one hundred percent chance to succeed.

Ever since he arrived in that hell, he was doing a lot of things that he had never done before. Aries always worked alone and in the shadows. His enemies were dropping dead even before they felt his presence. And even though the House of Lion was covered in darkness, they were still in an open alley where he can be seen by his enemies.

Aries was not being bothered by the weight of his sword, but he was distracted at its length that was nearly the same as his height and it was wide enough to cover his torso. He wanted a sword that was shorter, thinner, and easier to swing towards his enemy.

He was rushing towards the axe wielder when his sword broke in half, from the hilt down to the blade that transformed according to his will. He was now wielding a shorter and thinner sword in each of his hands.

Aries smiled as his movements became faster and more precise. He attacked the axe wielder who already swung the axe towards his direction. He had already seen that attack. It was too slow for him. He had easily evaded the axe and quickly slashed his pair of blades at the neck of his opponent.

The axe wielder dropped dead on the ground and the corrupted soul instantly oozed out of the corpse and possessed another body not far from him. But before the corrupted soul could use that body, Aries stabbed the new vessel to death.

He kept on killing the axe man's new vessel until he had seen Pieffer reached the lion flame.

"You have no more body to possess," Aries stabbed the last body nearest to him and it dropped motionless on the ground.

"You've changed," the corrupted soul was hovering in front of Aries. "How can you kill all these people? They are citizens of Serestral!"

"You devoured their souls," Aries gave the corrupted soul a cold glare. "You killed them. Not me."

"I WILL KILL YOU!!!" the corrupted soul rushed towards Aries. It aimed at his wounded chest.

Aries was surprised at the intensity of the impact. He thought that a mere smoke would not send him on his knees, but it did. It was trying to penetrate his body through his wound.

"Aries!!!"

"I'm fine!" he bellowed back to Pieffer. "Just get Leon!"

"I will devour your soul!!!" the corrupted soul, even without a mouth, can be annoyingly loud.

"Fine," Aries touched the dark smoke and pushed it deep within his chest. "Try all you want."

Aries collapsed with his back on the ground as the corrupted soul seeped within his wound and penetrated inside his body. There was a painful and cold sensation within him that lasted for what seemed like an eternity. His senses were muddled. For a moment, all he can see was darkness and he cannot hear anything. Then memories that were certainly not from him had flooded his already confused and exhausted brain. Everything flashed so swiftly that he could neither recognize nor remember a single memory.

"ARIES!!!"

The memories stopped, his body had been numbed, and darkness covered him one more time.

"ARIES!!!"

The distant voice that was persistently calling his name was somewhat familiar and annoying. But he can only listen to it.

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"ARIES, WAKE UP!!!"

A jolt in the chest had instantly awakened Aries. He was still lying on the ground. The person calling his name was Sunrei. He was kneeling beside him. He looked like a mess as if his enemies had given him a hard time winning.

"Finally," Sunrei helped him up. "Where did that corrupted soul go? I didn't see it leave your body."

"Later," Aries glanced at Pieffer.

Though she had succeeded in reaching Leon, she was having a difficult time calming the house leader down.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" Leon roared and the flame surrounding his body had intensified and pushed Pieffer and Siorre a few feet away from him.

"Leon, it's us!!!" Siorre waved her spear at the flame and managed to cut an opening but it had quickly closed.

"LEAVE!!!" Leon roared as he failed to recognize the people in front of him.

"Leon, please!!! We are here to help!!! Hear us out first!!! Pieffer was also trying to shatter his flaming defense but all the openings she and Siorre were creating had been closing too quickly.

Aries got up on his feet and stood in front of Leon then asked Siorre, "Your spear can spray water. Can't you put out this fire with it?"

"I've been trying ever since you've been knocked out by that axe-wielding corrupted soul," Siorre snapped at him. "But as you had seen, his flame regenerates at a surprising speed."

"Then let's attack faster," Aries swayed as he released his dual sword. For a split second, an axe had flashed in his mind.

"You don't look well," Pieffer was staring at him with concern.

"Let's finish this quick so we can all rest," Aries tightened the grip on his dual swords.

Pieffer, Sunrei, and Siorre also pointed their blades at Leon.

"Attack!" Aries relentlessly slashed his swords against the enormous lion flame.

Pieffer, Sunrei, and Siorre followed his lead. They waved their weapons in quick succession that the flame failed to regenerate on time and Pieffer finally managed to grab Leon by his shoulder.

"Leon, we are here to help," the princess leaned closer to the flame wielder. She was fighting the flame that was shoving her away.

It was astonishing how the fire looked terrifyingly scorching but none of them was burning. One more thing that amazed Aries was the flame sometimes felt ridiculously solid and could shove them away by a few feet.

"He will not listen!" Aries impatiently concluded and slashed his way through Leon. When he was close enough to land an effective blow, he willed the sword in his right hand to vanish then clenched his hand into a fist and punched Leon hard on the face. "Calm down and listen to what we have to say!!!" Aries roared as Leon looked away from Pieffer and glanced angrily in his direction.

"LEAVE!!!" the flame around him intensified and Leon finally succeeded in throwing Pieffer, Sunrei, and Siorre away from him.

Only Aries remained. He grabbed the neck of the flame wielder.

"You cannot make me leave!!!" he tightened his grip on Leon's neck. "Unless you stop this madness and let us help you in protecting your citizens! If you keep on doing this, I will not hesitate to…"

Aries froze. Something within him sent shivers all throughout his body and an enormous axe flashed repeatedly in his mind.

Kill him…

It was a faint whisper that echoed endlessly and pounded painfully inside his head.

The axe wielder was trying to take control.

No…

Aries struggled to maintain possession of his own body.

He blinked away that image of an axe and managed to see Leon, but the flaming fist of the latter was only a few inches away from his face. It landed on his right cheek before he could move his body to evade it. And on the next second, he was flying away from Leon.

When Aries hit the ground, he coughed out blood and his vision was blurred but he could still get a glimpse of someone rushing towards him and someone tearing through the flames to get to Leon.

Aries wanted to get up on his feet, but he was rapidly losing grip on his consciousness. All he could do was close his eyes and succumb to sleep.

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