n

n

nYour Pain Resistance has reached level 02.

n

"HAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

"

nThe pain made Zaos scream from the depths of his soul. Every single movement, every single heartbeat made his body scream in pain, and a wave of coldness pass through his entire body. Blood was gushing out from his body… he had to close the wound, or he would die in a matter of seconds.

nSomehow, Zaos muttered the strength and willpower to grab the short sword, but before he could try to pull it out, he heard a weird sound. When he looked in front of him, he saw the unknown figure's body splitting in two and each side falling to the sides while gushing out a lot of blood. When the corpse fell, Zaos saw another shadow that was slowly approaching him. Even though he didn't recognize the face due to the shadows, he recognized the voice.

n

"Zaos?

" The king asked.

nThe king let out a deep sigh of regret when he saw the sword on the left side of Zaos's body. That wound was just too big. A five years old child won't resist until a decent healer appears…

n

"Don't kill me off yet, Your Majesty,

" Zaos said.

"Pull it out… please.

"

n

"You will lose too much blood,

" The king said.

n

"I can heal the wound… it will be just enough to close the wound,

" Zaos said.

nZaos had no idea if that was actually possible. He at least would do his best. After all, his life was on the line there. If he uses all his remaining mana…

n

"You can use healing magic?

" The king frowned.

"Alright, start the spell and then tell me when you are about to finish it.

"

nAfter heading that, Zaos recalled that he couldn't just start after the sword was out of his body. Zaos made sure to focus and increase the mana spent while he was drawing the symbols. When the last one was almost complete, Zaos took a deep breath.

n

"... Do it,

" Zaos said.

nMuch to Zaos's surprise, the king didn't hesitate even for a moment. The same pain Zaos felt before, he felt again, and his eyes darkened it due to it. Before darkness could cover his entire vision, Zaos finished the last symbol, and the spell was activated. Unfortunately, Zaos didn't stay awake to see the results.

nWhen Zaos opened his eyes again, he recognized the familiar ceiling of his bedroom. For a second, he didn't understand what was happening since he was feeling so under the weather. Still, then when he tried to get up and felt a sharp pain on his left shoulder, he immediately recalled that night.

n

"Oh, **…

" Zaos said, and then he heard a voice on his left side. His voice just woke up Lyra, who was sleeping in a nearby chair

n

"Zaos!

" Lyra said, a bit surprised and a lot happy, and at the same time, she began to cry.

"You woke up!

"

n

"Sorry, mom,

" Zaos said.

"I worried you. Did I sleep for long?

"

n

"Just for the rest of the night and throughout the day,

" Lyra said while she was cleaning the tears from her eyes.

"You lost a lot of blood, so your body is weak, so don't try to move.

"

nZaos just turned his head to the side and saw that his shoulder wasn't even covered by bandages or anything, but he could see a triangular scar. It was surprising that a sword pierced his body like that and only left such a small wound.

n

"It looks like I got better at using magic, huh,

" Zaos said.

n

"You silly boy, you only stopped the bleeding,

" Lyra said.

"But that gave His Majesty enough time to call the healers that attend the royal family. Thank you, Zaos… thank you for giving your best… I am so glad.

"

nLyra began to cry again, and this time Zaos decided to let cry for a while. She must have been pretty worried… in any case. It was surprising that he woke up so soon, considering that he lost a lot of blood. A bit later that day, Zaos learned that some potions were used to decrease the size of the scar and to make him recover faster the blood he lost. It looked like alchemy was pretty handy. Maybe Zaos should study it a little.

n

"What about Drannor and Ameria?

" Zaos asked.

n

"They are alive and well,

" Lyra replied.

"His Majesty was looking for you three when he heard your scream. Drannor broke a few ribs, but only that. Ameria was… locked in the toilet when the castle was attacked. So, the invaders didn't have time to find her. The royal guards and His Majesty defeated them.

"

nZaos recalled that the king split one of the assassins in two with a single strike. As expected, he isn't an ordinary man. Regardless, despite the severity of the situation, things ended without a single loss on the defender's side.

n

"Only a single person didn't invade the castle… who are they, mom?

" Zaos asked.

n

"This isn't something kids around your age should know… but I guess keeping you in the dark won't help anyone,

" Lyra said after a long sigh.

"There is a group of people in this world that still follow the demon god even after all this time. They are the ones responsible for the kidnapping and the death of some families. We don't know why they do that, though. Some believe that they are trying to find a method to revive the demon god, but there is no evidence of it so far. Moreover, they are hard to catch alive and even if some of them are captured they never spit what they know.

"

nLyra seemed pretty angry while she was talking about them. While Zaos could understand her feelings, he thought his mother would feel disgusted rather than angry. Regardless, Zaos finally found the answer to one of the questions in his head. While that was good, a new one popped inside his head: if he decides to obey that voice, will he get on their way again?

n