The priest approached them from the side with open arms and said with a friendly smile, “Orc Slayers! Welcome back to Wedron City”
“Orc Slayers?”, Adhara mumbles in confusion.
Although they know that they’re heroes of the city, the nickname Orc Slayers caught them off guard as they didn’t expect them to be remembered that way.
Rex looks at the priest and asks, “And you are?”
“Forgive my manners. I’m Priest Herman, you can say that I’m the mayor of the city”, Priest Herman introduced humbly.
Hearing this, Rex was not surprised, ‘The city is a religious city, makes sense to make the priest as the mayor of the city’, he thought.
The priest then proposed, “Please come with me, you all must be tired”
“Actually, we’re not here for-“, Rex wanted to intervene but then, he saw Adhara signal to look at Kyran who is breathing heavily.
After realizing that Kyran is too tired, Rex then sigh, “We are tired, please guide us”
The three of them follow the priest to the city hall.
Since they saved the city, they can see that the city becomes prosperous as they saw quite a bit of big buildings built in this city.
Even the wall barricade has some improvement, the number of guards is also increased.
While the three of them walks to the city hall, Rex saw at least fifty guards that hold back the citizen that’s cheering and praising their names.
“Look Rex, one of your friends!”, Kyran points at a man standing on the side.
Rex smack Kyran’s head because of how loud his shout was.
“Don’t say that in public, there may be an Awakened here”, Rex reminded as Kyran rubs his head that just got smacked.
He then glances briefly at the man,
The man standing on the side is a member of the SCO, the black crow tattoo on his arms is overbearing as if he’s boasting that he’s a black hand.
When he saw the man nod his head at him, Rex was taken aback.
After getting a nod, Rex also nods back in acknowledgment but inside he’s cursing Kyran inside his head because of him the man knows that Rex is also a black hand.
His black crow tattoo is located on his chest, and it’s well hidden.
So there’s no other way the man knows Rex is a black hand except Kyran’s shout.
Arriving at the city hall, Rex and the others were quite shocked.
In front of the city hall, there’s a long statue that decorates the entrance of the city hall.
The statue tells a story of the night Rex and the others saved the city.
The long statue starts from the left showing the horde of Orcs attacking the city followed by a priest pointing at the blind woman, after that the statue shows Rex and the others arriving before a statue of a particular Orc kneeling on the ground in front of the crucified blind woman.
It’s clear that this long statue represents the story of that particular night.
Rex glances to the right and finds the statue of him fighting the cursed orc before the last statue shows Kyran stabbing the priest with the torn arm of the blind woman ending the cursed orc.
While they are marveling at the statue, the priest smiles from the side.
“Because of your deed, the city decided to make a memorial for you three to always remind us of the Awakened that saved us from the brink of death”, the priest said lightly.
Hearing this, Adhara’s face blushes, “You don’t need to do that”
“We’re just trying to help out, there’s no need for a fancy memorial”, Adhara added with a red face.
But the priest shook his head, “We heard from Troy that you’re the last help before the city will be abandoned, and your success in saving us leave a mark on this city that we will never forget”
What the priest said surprised Adhara and Kyran.
They know the situation is dire, but they didn’t expect the city will be abandoned so fast.
After talking for a bit more, the priest then gave Rex and the others two rooms to rest.
Upon arriving at the room, Adhara slams her body onto the bed feeling sore from all the travel and fighting they had making Rex shake his head.
It only takes a couple of minutes before Rex can feel Adhara’s steady breathing.
‘She fell asleep that fast? Is the travel that tiring?’, Rex thought.
Rex then walks out of the room before checking on Kyran, he saw that Kyran is also sleeping soundly as the fatigue creeps on them.
The insides of the city hall are empty, not one soul can be seen.
While looking around the place, Rex then suddenly fell the disturbance on the mana in the air before his eyes landed on a door near the entrance of the city hall.
‘Who makes this disturbance?’, Rex thought in confusion.
Rex then went closer to the door near the entrance, and when he arrives in front of the door he can clearly feel there is something disturbing the mana here.
It’s like someone is sucking the mana, but there shouldn’t be anyone like that here.
After nearing the door, Rex can smell an odor of a person before he frowns, ‘There’s an Awakened here? Why is there an Awakened here?’
Realizing that there’s an Awakened here, Rex walks away heading to the priest’s office.
Knock Knock!
Rex knocked on the priest’s office two times before the priest told him to enter.
He opened the door and saw the priest is attending to the city’s need, there’s a bunch of paper on his desk and the priest seems to be troubled by something.
The door closes making a clicking sound,
The priest then signals for Rex to sit before Rex sits in front of the priest.
“What can I help you with?”, the priest asks hiding his troubled look with a smile.
Hearing this, Rex then asks, “Who made the small stone where I got teleported in? Did the city find natural resources to make that?”
“I hope that’s the case, but it’s not”, the priest replied with a wry smile.
Rex looks at the priest questioningly before the priest sigh, “A UWO member made contact with our city, they propose to us to make that transmitter if in case the city needed help”
“Really?”, Rex asks in surprise.
The last time he’s here, the city is not a strategic place and even almost got abandoned by the UWO but now they’re the ones proposing to make the transmitter instead.
‘It seems they started to feel threatened by the SCO’, Rex thought.
Rex then points to his back with his thumb and asks, “I feel other Awakened here, Is that the UWO member you’re talking about?”
“Yes…”, the priest replied with a frown.
Looking at the priest’s expression, Rex then asks, “What’s seem to trouble you?”
The priest looks up at Rex before he looks down at the paper in front of him, he then takes the paper before putting it in front of Rex.
“The UWO offered us to make the transmitter, but they request the black hands to leave the city and let the Awakened protect the city”, the priest said with a frown.
But Rex finds the offer quite reasonable since UWO and SCO have quite a tension between them.
Seeing Rex’s expression that was confused as to why the priest is undecided, the priest then added, “The UWO is probably the more obvious choice but, there are about ten black hands in the city that have the strength around the fourth rank. While the UWO only offered four fourth rank Awakened, and promise that they will send more when the city is in danger via the transmitter”
Hearing this, Rex then asks, “Have you negotiated with them?”
“I tried but they didn’t want to send more, the city also didn’t have anything to bargain with aside from sympathy. The member of the UWO even planted the transmitter forcefully to mock the black hand even when I was still undecided, and he even told us to make a decision as soon as possible, if not they will take back their offer”, the priest said wryly.
Rex also frowns in thought upon hearing this, it’s clear that the UWO is still forceful.
‘At this rate, the SCO will be more likable than any Awakened. I need to get back fast and force them to join together’, Rex thought in determination.
~
Inside the Demon Stronghold,
There is a castle of Demon King in the Demon Stronghold that is just finished being built, inside this castle lies the powerful Arcdemons and the Succubus Donnas.
This stronghold is guarded by the demons and the succubus race.
Many of them roam inside the stronghold while commanding lower rank Supernatural such as Dark Elves, Zombies, Centaurs, and many other kinds of lower rank Supernatural.
All of them are alert and ready as they saw the Cessation Knight on the far horizon.
The Cessation Knights make a perimeter around the stronghold, they will be guarding the perimeter to not let the Supernatural roams freely in human territory.
Inside a room in the Stronghold, Azzen and King Saruth can be seen talking.
King Saruth is sitting on his throne while Azzen is standing in front of him, they both are alone without any guards around them.
“Have you contacted the Vampires?”, King Saruth asks with his baritone voice.
Hearing this, Azzen nodded his head before not long the door is knocked as a Vampire wearing royalty uniform walks in with small steps.
The emblem on the vampire’s chest shows that he’s from Delarosa Family.
“Delarosa, Why are you here? I asked for Queen Nezera or even Demelza Family”, King Saruth said while looking at Delarosa with a frown.
Delarosa slightly bowed before he replied, “They’re busy King Saruth. I was sent by the King to represent him in this meeting that you stated to be very important”
King Saruth scoffs before he signals Azzen to explain.
But before Azzen can explain, “Tell to King Solomon that I respect the alliance between the Demon and the Vampires, and tell him that he owes me one for this information”
After saying that, Delarosa glance at Azzen in confusion.
“My blue demons got wiped out from the Decoy Cities in the human’s territory, this is expected as they also served their purpose”, Azzen said before walking slowly down the stairs.
He then continues, “My blue demons saw something surprising attacking the decoy cities”
Azzen then arrived in front of Delarosa who looks small in front of him, he lifts his hand as a blue fire sparks in his hand before a parchment appeared amidst the blazing blue fire.
Seeing Azzen’s face, Delarosa takes the parchment from Azzen.
He then looks at the Parchment that has a drawing of a human in it before he lifts up his head to see Azzen in confusion.
“We saw the Werewolf in the human territory, and that is the Werewolf’s human form”, Azzen said while pointing at the parchment that has the drawing of Rex’s face.
Hearing this, Delarosa widened his eyes in shock as he look at the parchment.
He looks at the parchment in disbelief before he asks, “Is this true King Saruth? If this is true I know that King Solomon and Queen Nezera will be very grateful!”
King Saruth smiles lightly,
“Of course it’s true, all of the blue demons see can be seen by Azzen”, he replied proudly.
This makes Delarosa excited as he held the parchment carefully, this parchment becomes more important as his life because of what it represents.
But then, Delarosa’s excitement vanished as his face turns normal.
“What do the demons want in return?”, Delarosa asks, he knows that every good favor must have a price to pay especially one such as this.
Azzen glances at King Saruth before King Saruth waves his hand.
“The Vampires gave us the Abaddon Stone, and also help us use the forbidden ritual. I am simply strengthening our bond, it will be better for the Vampires to become stronger than the Werewolves”, King Saruth replied calmly.
Hearing this, Delarosa was still a bit skeptical but finally nodded his head.
Then he suddenly asks, “If that’s the case, Why don’t the demons help the Vampires in finding this Prince so it will be faster?”
“Of course, we will gladly help”, King Saruth agreed.
After a brief exchange of words, Delarosa finally left with the parchments in his hand.
“Do we really need to help the Vampires? Shouldn’t we focus on our strength?”, Azzen whispers while looking at Delarosa’s back who is leaving the room.
King Saruth shakes his head, “If that Prince manage to reunited with the Werewolves, they will be an even bigger threat since our own Demon Prince hasn’t awakened yet”
“The Werewolves will dominate the Supernatural race if that were to happen”, he added.
King Saruth then stands up from his throne before he said, “For your second question, we do need to strengthen our demon power. Our biggest threat is the Dragonman and Sirens right now, If the Werewolf Prince Awakened then that means the Siren’s Five Kings of the Sea and the Five Sacred Dragons might just wake up from their slumber, and if that were to happen before our Demon Prince then the hierarchy will change”
From that explanation, Azzen nodded his head in understanding.
“So we need to act fast. Scour the human’s territory and find more Abaddon Stones, we will wake the Demon Prince first to maintain our power”, King Saruth instructed.