"Evil! Evil!!"
The man crawled backward, a crimson trail blooming from his severed shoulders, staining the dusty ground of the village square. His face was a mask of agony and terror.
"Evil?" Kyle turned his entire body, his gaze settling on the writhing figure. The flickering torchlight cast long, distorted shadows, amplifying the grim spectacle.
"I like that name..." Kyle mused, his voice a low, even drawl that contrasted sharply with the man's frantic cries. "In my life, ten years of it, I only protected Neville. I helped raise Neville to the era it's now in... From a mere kingdom to an empire... Do you think I can't destroy it?" He took slow, deliberate steps towards the horrified man, each footfall seeming to echo in the sudden silence.
"Who are you?!!" The man shrieked, the raw pain from his mangled shoulders seemingly insignificant compared to the sheer dread radiating from the figure approaching him.
"And where are my soldiers?!!" He yelled again, his eyes darting frantically around the deserted square.
"Uh?"
The man's breath hitched as more figures materialized from the inky shadows clinging to the edges of the village. They moved with a silent, predatory grace, their forms clad entirely in black, their faces concealed by featureless masks.
"Who really are you?!"
He twisted his head back towards Kyle, his voice a desperate plea.
Kyle halted his advance, his masked face tilting slightly.
"You really want to know?" he asked, his tone utterly devoid of emotion.
"Yes!!" The man choked out, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and a desperate yearning for understanding.
'Someone who dares go against the golden continent isn't ordinary,' he thought frantically, his mind racing. 'This power... this presence...'
Kyle raised his left hand slowly, deliberately, and reached up to the side of his mask. With a soft click, the concealing metal detached, revealing the face beneath.
"Lord... Lord Kyle!!"
The demon's remaining eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated horror. The Humans might not know the face of Kyle, the legendary protector of Neville, but every single demon soldier, from the lowest grunt to the highest general, had seen his likeness in captured paintings, had heard tales of his unmatched might on the battlefield. Kyle had personally slaughtered more than ten thousand demons in his lifetime. He wasn't just a powerful warrior; he was a force of nature, a monster beyond apprehension. He was also one of the primary reasons the Demon King had, for the past decade, refrained from launching a full-scale assault on the burgeoning Human empire.
"Lord Kyle is in the past," Kyle stated, his voice resonating with a chilling finality. "From now on... I'm known as Nemesis..."
He smoothly replaced the mask, the metallic click echoing in the stillness.
"Go back..." he commanded, his gaze piercing through the fallen demon. "Tell your Lord King Nemesis of Celestia is here to conquer the golden continent..."
He snapped the fingers of his right hand. Instantly, the gushing flow of blood from the man's severed shoulders ceased, the raw wounds abruptly cauterized.
{MS: With Host choice, the quest will be Null... And Host will lose two whole rank... Going back to Rank 8.}
'Hmm... But you said I should conquer the village?' Kyle thought, a flicker of annoyance in his mind.
{MS: Host can't conquer the village without killing all the invaders.}
"....."
Kyle remained silent for a moment, his masked gaze fixed on the paralyzed demon. The demon, seizing the unexpected reprieve, scrambled to his feet with surprising speed and began to hobble frantically towards the village's narrow exit.
"Kill him."
The single word, spoken with cold authority, hung in the air.
Whoosh!
As if an extension of Kyle's will, a figure clad in black stepped forward. The faint twang of a bowstring sliced through the silence, followed by the sickening thud of an arrow finding its mark. The projectile struck the fleeing demon squarely in the back of the head, ending his desperate escape instantly.
With a heavy thud, the demon collapsed onto the blood-soaked ground, lifeless.
Kyle moved his gaze towards the tightly shut doors and windows of the surrounding mud houses. His voice, though calm and conversational in tone, carried an undeniable weight of command that seemed to vibrate through the very air.
"You all have one minute to appear before me."
His voice wasn't raised, yet it reverberated across the small village square, penetrating the thin walls of the dwellings.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
As if compelled by an invisible force, all the mud houses' doors were flung open simultaneously. Men, women, and children poured out, their movements rushed and panicked. They quickly fell to their knees in front of Kyle and his silent, black-clad soldiers, their faces pale with terror in the flickering torchlight.
'The potion surely helped me in that initial clash,' Kyle mused, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling villagers. 'But these guys just hid inside... cowardly.' His eyes lingered on the still form of the dead demon leader.
'He is just a Rank 15,' Kyle thought, a frown creasing his brow beneath his mask. 'And they were so utterly scared... Or, is something else going on here? These invaders managed to infiltrate the village without raising any alarm. They could have easily poisoned the few guards stationed at the perimeter. Second, every village under Neville's protection has at least one registered Hunter residing within, and typically, five regular soldiers are always stationed here for basic security... Yet...'
He looked down at the 101 villagers huddled before him, their eyes wide with fear.
"How did they get in?" he asked, his voice sharp and demanding.
An old man, his face etched with wrinkles and fear, tentatively looked up at Kyle.
"They attacked at night, Great One," he stammered, his voice trembling. "We were powerless to resist."
A figure detached itself from the group of masked soldiers behind Kyle. It was Gabriela, her presence a silent shadow. Her gaze, sharp and observant, scanned the faces of the kneeling villagers.
"By night?" she questioned, her voice soft but carrying. "Do you have no security measures in place?"
"We have none..." the old man, presumably the village chief, quickly interjected, his voice laced with desperation.
{MS: Lie.}
'You don't have to tell me,' Kyle thought, a grim satisfaction settling within him. 'Their fear is palpable, but their story doesn't add up.'
{MS: Ok, Host.}
"None?"
Kyle walked slowly towards the kneeling group, his movements deliberate and imposing. He squatted down, his masked face level with their terrified gazes.
'Hey, BS... What if I refused your quest?'