Chapter 14 - Return of the Devil

With the warning of Charles and the blood-freezing view, people fell into panic. However, unlike others who tried their best to escape the city center, even stepping on each other, Rovshen did not move but stood there silently, observing his surroundings. Charles was leading the king to the carriage, attempting to contact Rovshen so that they could leave here and protect the king. The winged horse had also panicked and attempted to flee, but the carriage was making its escape difficult.

In the panicked crowd, Tiberius also tried to escape, going in the opposite direction of attack, but stopped when he saw Rovshen unphased.

"We have to leave," Tiberius said, hoping to wake him up if he was in shock.

"He'll be out of mana in a few minutes," Rovshen mumbled.

“What are you saying?”

“The caster,” he explained, “this level of illusion is hard to manage for a long period.”

“Illusion?” Confused, Tiberius glanced around and, as if it would help, blinked quickly for a moment.

Rovshen held his arm, channeling his mana through his body, waking him up from the illusion.

The scene Tiberius began to see was completely different from what he was seeing; there were no horses, no riders, no death, and not even people with swords, only a few asleep guards, who were probably under the illusion. The only thing that caught his attention was three people with cloaks covering their faces entering the crowd. They were approaching children, and as they got closer, one of them held out his hand to the children. Nothing visually happened, but Tiberius could feel that something was off.

Kids suddenly started to walk the way those people came from. They were walking as if they were under mental control, with no emotions or resistance. Seeing this, Tiberius walked towards them.

“Where do you think you are taking them?” He raised his voice. He was scared, of course, and even started to shake a little, but spending time here with all these people, he could not just turn a blind eye to someone kidnapping kids.

Only now did he realize that since he walked away from Rovshen (he went in the opposite direction to warn Charles), he had lost sight of those people and was seeing illusions instead: riders, dead people lying, heads rolling on the ground, and guards and angels attempting to fight these foes but failing miserably.

"Agh," he groaned abruptly.

He felt a sharp pain coming from his stomach as the illusion fell. One of the kidnappers had closed the distance and stabbed with a metal that came out of her hand.

“You broke the illusion, huh?” She said, pushing the metal as far as it goes.

As Tiberius kneeled, Rovshen heard him and rushed forward, pushing her away.

“Ty?” His eyes widened, seeing the deep wound and blood coming out of his body; he was about to collapse.

She, getting annoyed by Rovshen’s reaction, tried to attack him with anger, but Rovshen acted quickly and yanked her right hand, which she had metal on, lifted it, and then with his other hand, he hit her in her chest with an open palm as fast as he could and and at the same time, released strong airflow, pushing her a few meters away, crashing into the ground. Then he went back and tried to hold Tiberius, pressing his wound with his hand, looking around.

“Rovshen! What the fuck are you doing there? We have to escort the king!” Charles called him with anger.

“There are only three people, and I took one down; the rest is illusion,” he screamed, trying to inform while still pressing on Tiberius’s injury, who was losing a lot of blood. "Hold on, it'll be fine," he said to him, looking around for a way to get him out.

"If this is an illusion, the caster should run out of mana soon," Charles said aloud.

“Illusion? Who dares to cast an illusion on the king?” said King Tharos, opening the door of the carriage and stepping out.

“This is a terrorist attack, my King. get in the carriage so we can take you to safety,” he said, then turned his face toward where Rovshen was. “Rovshen! Be quick.”

“I will take care of this!” said the king, stepping in front and raising his left hand. Suddenly, everyone in the crowd (whoever was left) felt a heaviness, as if something had both emotionally and physically weighed them down.

It continued for a few seconds, and the King intended to tire the illusion caster even more with his overwhelming power…

But suddenly, this pressure stopped as a man appeared next to him, touching his arm with a light move.

“I don’t think we need to disturb the king; am I right?” said the man with a calm voice.

Hearing his voice, everyone turned toward him, seeing the man who stopped the king.

“You!” the king said with an angry voice, yanking his hand away.

“Glad to see you too,” Rael said, and then added with a sarcastic voice, “What hospitality.”

He put a half-smoked cigarette between his lips with his other hand and sucked a little before having to remove it because he began to cough. He murmured to himself, "It's going to take a while to get used to it," as though he was disappointed by his inability to smoke.

There was confusion among all those who saw him. Especially in the event of an attack, he was the last person they anticipated seeing in the capital.

“What are you doing here?” Charles asked, slowly coming closer to him.

“No need to be cautious,” Rael replied, “I do not plan to hurt your king, at least not yet. All I care about is kids, and of course, the mysterious guy,” he said, slowly walking toward Tiberius.

Rovshen was still trying to stop the bleeding. But Tiberius had lost so much blood that he was losing his consciousness.

"Don't even dare," Rovshen said to Rael, extending his other hand, which was engulfed in flames, with hatred for the approaching man.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Rael said, slipping his fingers between his and extinguishing the flame. “I don’t plan to harm the man, just hand him over and that’s all—”

But he suddenly stopped talking. His eyes widened as he saw Tiberius being hurt. “What happened to him?” he said, then kneeled next to Rovshen.

“You are asking?”

“Don’t tell me…” He stood up and walked toward the girl that stabbed Tiberius, who was still lying on the ground after the hit. “We will talk at the camp,” he said with a smile.

“But he could see through illusi—” she tried to explain. But Rael did not even listen to her words and walked back to Tiberius.

“I will take him from here,” he said to Rovshen.

“No, he is King’s guest and—”

“Look, I am not in the mood to argue. Either I will take him, or you will give him to me.” He said with a tired tone.

Rovshen still did not want to give him back, because he was not just King’s guest for him anymore; they were friends.

Seeing this, Rael turned back, put his hand over his eyes like a cover from the daylight, and called on one of the men in the cloak.

“Hey, come and heal him quick,” he said, waving his hand.

The man he called came rushing and immediately put his hands over Tiberius’s wound, trying to seal the wound.

“It is deep, but I can manage to stop bleeding. We will still need blood, though,” he said.

“Just heal him enough so we can carry him,” Rael replied.

“You are not taking him anywhere,” Rovshen said, standing up in front of him.

“Look, as I said, I do not plan to harm him, and…” He stopped for a moment and smoked his cigarette. “... you will see him in the future,” he said with a smirk.

Rovshen did not seem to be able to find a solution that would allow him to keep Tiberius. He didn’t want to let them take him, but the situation he was in could end up worse if he disagreed. He wasn’t strong enough to deal with everyone, especially Rael. Of course, after they take Tiberius, he could be rescued with help from the army. But he did not see a way that he could convince the king to do it, considering the person they were facing was no ordinary man.

“Will he be okay?” Rovshen asked, understanding the only way out.

“Of course, even better than he used to,” Rael replied, then walked toward Tiberius’s body. “It should be enough, I believe,” he said. “Take him and follow me,” he ordered.

The man, who was healing Tiberius, did as ordered. He levitated him using magic and followed Rael.

As they left, the illusion started to fade away, and those who did not see through it (anyone except Rovshen). The majority of the guards, who had gathered around the crowd to protect them and the king from attack, had collapsed and were unconscious but alive, contrary to what appeared in the illusion. There were no people left in the festival zone except King, Charles, Rovshen, and lying bodies on the ground.

King got mad over the incident and demanded an explanation on how and why this type of cheap trick could work on them. He was enraged, but not because of the attack, but because he could do nothing and was humiliated by Rael. However, there was nothing they could do, only accept defeat and be sure to not fall for the same trick.

The king ordered Charles and Rovshen to take him to his castle and punish all the guards who had fallen.

…

“When will he wake up?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean I don’t know? You are the doctor.”

“I am a doctor, but he is not a daha, you idiot.” He sighed, “If he were a daha, I would say one more day at least. But he is—”

The doctor’s words got interrupted by Tiberius’s cough. Hearing this, he and the man next to him rushed towards Tiberius. The doctor lifted his upper body while still coughing. It stopped a second later, and Tiberius began to slowly open his eyes.

“Where am I?” he said, checking out the room. He was not where he expected to be, but he saw someone whom he had wished to see for a while now. Behind the doctor, Rael was standing.

“You…” he tried to talk, but the pain in his stomach did not let him.

“You still need to rest,” the doctor said. “You will have more than enough time to kill each other.”

“Come on,” said Rael with a smile, coming closer to him. “Why would I kill him after saving him? And why would he kill the one who saved him twice?”

“His face doesn’t say the same,” the doctor informed, and he was right. Tiberius was clenching his fists and wearing an angry expression, but he was too weak from his injury to even support himself without a doctor's assistance.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Rael said assuredly. Before heading out, he added, "He just needs a little guidance."