The Paladin Order Reformed - Chapter 47

Jake and I had just collected our equipment from Rex’s Weapon shop when we began our trek back to Cody to say our farewells before talking to the gate’s quartermaster to collect the supplies king allotted to us.

Jake and I walked the peacefully bustling streets as we talked about the general plan for our future.

“So what’s our first move general? You must have some grand scheme developed for the demons, right?”

I grinned and rolled my eyes at his playful sarcasm.

“Quit calling me general, I’m just a figurehead because of my ties with the Moon Claws. Let’s see….. Nope, nothing comes to mind really. I guess we’ll just have to wing things for now.”

Jake lost his careless expression and he was daunted with fears.

“Y…you don’t know what we’re doing? Didn’t you study tactics and stuff for years?”

I nodded my head, then looked at him indifferently.

“Right now there’s nothing we can really do, we don’t have enough information on the demons to make a decisive strike. Most of their forces are on campaigns through the kingdom and we don’t have the resources the actual army had. We don’t have observation posts or spies or stuff like that, I guess we’ll have to find some arch-demon or something for information.”

Jake put his hands behind his head as we walked, looking up at the sky while smiling he said.

“Well, at least we have you to deal with the arch-demon. Mr. I Beat an Arch-Demon Bare Handed Sr.”

I punched his shoulder, making him stumble a few steps and laugh. I just smiled and rolled my eyes again.

“I wouldn’t want to fight one again, honestly I was lucky to survive, let alone win. Let’s just hope we won’t have to see another one.”

A flash of movement caught my eye from an alley in front of us. A chubby man in a guards uniform ducked into the alley, I couldn’t get a good look at his face, but the man looked similar to the watch captain we stole the documents from. I turned to Jake and asked.

“Hey, did you see that guy? Was that who I think it was?”

Jake nodded his head as he stared intensely at the alley, he whispered.

“Want to check it out? It could be dangerous.”

Walking towards the alley was my only response, Jake followed behind me, watching for any sign of danger. We entered the carefully, I began to ask Jake.”

“Should I cloak us, or should we just…”

A forceful blow to the side of my head stopped me from finishing. I dropped limply to the ground like a sack of potatoes, the side of my face was warm and wet, my temple throbbed with the beating of my heart.

I tried to look up to see if Jake was still behind me, black dots danced in my vision as I strained to look up.

Between flashes of vision and the consuming black abyss that threatened to overtake me, I saw Jake struggling with several men. Jake tried to repel the assailants but there were too many, I could barely make out who was who and what was happening as they wrestled for dominance.

Two held Jakes arms as another started raining down blows on Jakes face, tumbling him senseless. Even with his face dripping with blood, he kicked the man hard in the stomach before the two holding him threw him to the ground, he landed hard on his back.

He stopped resisting after that, the man he kicked stood over him looking down. He began stomping Jake in the chest, I heard Jake cry out in pain as he was being kicked. The man kept kicking him, I heard a crunch as his foot came down, but Jake stop responding after being beaten endlessly.

I clawed desperately, my body was dead weight as I dragged my limp body to the man. As he raised his leg to strike Jake again, I grabbed his other foot. As he looked down in annoyance, I cast [Electric Pulse], filling his entire body with a lethal amount of electricity.

Smoke rose off his skin as stray arcs of electricity lingered, he stood up motionless. I tried to stand with my advantage, but I stopped when he put his other foot on the ground. With my consciousness waining from the use of a costly spell, I desperately tried to conjure a second one.

My grip was ripped away as he stomped on my hand, with his foot on my hand, he slowly squatted eye level with me. It was only when he was right in front of me did I notice his horns. With a natural devilish grin, he said.

“I bet you weren’t expecting to find me again so soon. Do you remember me, Christian?”

My body began shaking uncontrollably with fear as this figure sadistically watched me as I quaked with terror. Because the figure in front of me was the Arch-Demon I defeated and captured.

He began laughing uncontrollably, smiling an unnervingly large grin. “Did you miss me, Christain? Because I sure missed you. I’ve been thinking about you for a long time.” His smile somehow grew more.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot. So what do you say Christian, how about you…”

With all the remaining mana I had, I cast [Greater Lance of Light]. At point-blank range, it should make him into a pile of gore….. It should have.

I looked up after firing, a cloud of steam obscured him. When the smoke cleared, I was met with the same demon smiling down at me. Dread filled my heart, I tried to call out for help, but my throat closed choking off my own words.

The demon just smiled at me for several unnerving seconds before saying.

“That’s it? Well, I’m going to enjoy this. I can’t say the same for you, actually, I think you’ll dislike what’s going to come. Very much.”

With that, I watched as he raised his foot and as it fell towards me, then everything went black.