Crown Of Blasphemy: Rise Of The Legendary Villain

'They have slowed down. I saw a messenger kite fly into their carriage earlier; I'm sure they have gotten the news. Their current location is...' a man hidden in the shadows wrote skillfully on a rough patch of brown paper with what appeared to be a rock.

After writing he then attached this piece of paper to the foot of a small black bird before releasing it, allowing it to deliver his message.

He was dressed in sodden gray wool and shadowy, oiled leather, its colors muted to match the rain-slick stone.

The same stones that he used for cover as he watched the convoy advance, his breath slow, quiet only moving when he had to.

He had the kind of weathered face you'd see and forget in a crowd, his glowing red eyes lacking any discernible intensity.

He wore no protective armor, just layered cloths to muffle sound, a knife striped to his ribs, hidden until drawn.

Suddenly the carriage stopped which confused the Scavenger, his eyes narrowing to slits 'Why did they stop?' he thought curiously.

And his curiosity was soon fulfilled as he watched as a muscular yet slender youth step out of the carriages.

He possessed a sort of Mesomorphic physic, long and messy dark hair, and cloths made of bad quality hide.

'He's obviously a slave. Did they abandon him?' the Scavenger mused as he observed

But more people were coming out of the carriage, a short haired woman in light armor, and a man in full armor, identical to the other guards around the carriage.

The short haired woman then beckoned some guards over and began speaking to them.

Meanwhile, the slave had been staring at the sky for a while now, no he appeared to be sniffing the air, his ears twitching slightly.

'What is going-'

The Scavenger paused as the Slave's eyes fell on his location, no that would not be an accurate description.

Those cold green eyes were peering directly into his. 'I have been spotted,' he realized, and to reinforce that dread certainty, the slave raised his arm, pointing not merely at his location, but precisely at him.

"Swoosh!"

Two guards rushed towards his location green flames blasting under their feet allowing them to cover half the distance in an instant.

The Scavenger had long since tried to pull back but he couldn't run far, the guards were already upon him swinging their flaming swords down at him with chilling precision.

The Scavenger felt a ravening pain assail him, but it lasted only an instant

In the next moment his view changed and he felt his world tumbling

At first he was heavily confused, but when he saw his own slumping body engulfed in flames in understood that he had been beheaded.

Meanwhile, Mr. Valen was like some kind of Orchestra Conductor, waving and pointing his fingers each reach sending a duo of soldiers into a random direction.

It was quick.

It was efficient.

It was merciless.

The reason Mr. Valen could easily discern the location of the scavengers was the fact that he was hungry.

He had noticed a pattern: with the increase in his hunger came a corresponding increase in his sensitivity to life.

The severity of his hunger at the moment was enough to make any normal person roll up into a ball and growl, but Mr. Valen endured.

There was no living being to feed on at the moment, and even if there he was curious, how long could he endure without feeding.

He knew that prolonged starvation would slow, and eventually halt, his ability to heal, but he wondered if there were other... consequences.

Now that he had the mental capacity he wished to test himself.

"I can't believe this," Cerberus muttered, eyes widened beneath his helmet.

"He really can detect them," Sophia mirrored the amazement while Olga just frowned.

But there was no time to be unhappy.

Turning to the remainder of her soldiers, Olga waved them over to herself and said, "You have a duty..." She paused strangely then looked to the sky, "How could I overlook this."

Her attention was caught by a bearly noticable black bird flying into the distance, a small note tied to its feet.

Meanwhile, her strange pause had earned the attention of everyone around her.

"What is it," Sophia asked watching as Olga turned to Mr. Valen.

"YOU IDIOT!" She yelled, before saying, "you put this stupid idea in my head, how could I forget that they'd have to report at intervals, we had a day before, now we have a few hours until they realize something is wrong!"

"Messenger kites," Cerberus said, looking up with narrowed eyes. "It just means we have to move fast."

"Do you all understand what you have to do?" Cerberus then raised his voice, earning him a resolute shout from him men.

"YES!"

'They exhibit no fear of death?' Mr. Valen mused while observing, paying no mind to the deathly glare Olga was presently directing at him.

"I'll be damned if I let a slave erode my judgment next time," Olga grunted to Sophia. "We have to leave—"

"And abandon your men, what kind of Commander are you?" Mr. Valen inquired calmly, his voice stopping everyone in their tracks.

"You—"

"Shing!"

"Commander Olga, this is beneath you," Sophia interposed herself between Mr. Valen and Olga, who had unsheathed her blade.

At the same time Mr. Valen spoke, "I saw the black bird that sent you a message earlier it'd be foolish to assume that the Scavengers didn't have a similar method of communication."

"Then why did you propose this stratagem?" Sophia asked grimly, fingers pressed to her temples; even her divine patience was wearing thin.

«I merely wished to observe how the soldiers would process the confrontation with their impending demise. Having dealt death before, I am intimately familiar with the anticipated response—predominantly, fear. Naturally, with adequate cultural, social, physical, and psychological conditioning, a human may be shaped to endure—or indeed, perpetrate—virtually any circumstance. Yet, to witness the empirical outcome firsthand… there resides a certain elegance within it, does there not?»

"I'm talking to you," Sophia yelled, shocking Mr. Valen out of his short trance.

"I wasn't sure, My Lady," Mr. Valen muttered his tone unusually low, almost apologetic, "but there is good news, it means all your men don't have to die."

Everyone was quiet at this point because even though Mr. Valen appeared unforgiving in his ideas, he was the only one who had ideas.

Mr. Valen smiled a bit.

By making the people in charge worked up and unable to think clearly for themselves, he had rendered them dependent upon his ideas and, in turn, the rest of the soldiers

"Our initial strategy involved traversing the Misty Marsh, and that course remains," he began, pausing slightly for effect. "Now, we shall divide the soldiers into three additional groups. One group will likewise enter the marsh, albeit via a divergent route, while the other two—"

"—will traverse the mountain range," Olga continued, "thereby presenting our pursuers with four distinct paths to track.

"Actually five paths if we account for the carriage," Mr. Valen muttered before snatching a dagger from one of the guards.

In the next breath, he darted towards one of the draft beasts and drove the blade deep into its flank.

The beast let out a deafening, pained howl before bolting into the distance, the rest of the harnessed creatures stampeding after it in blind panic.

Mud and wet sand splashed everywhere as the convoy—now empty sped into the distance.

"That is... astute." Sophia who was surprised by the sudden move acknowledged before asking, "Wouldn't taking the Misty Marsh be slower than taking the mountain range?"

"No," Olga shook her head, "The Slave may be rude, but he is smart, our pursuers would think to search the mountain range first because of that very same reason."

"I see," Sophia muttered in understanding, her brows furrowed slightly.

'She's worried,' Mr. Valen thought as he observed expressionlessly. He was curious about a few things.

What was an inexperienced noble like her even doing so close to a battlefield that she could be captured?

Speaking of inexperienced, Olga herself seemed a little green behind the ears, on the other hand Cerberus who was calmer would have been much harder to sway.

Thankfully he listened to Olga blindly, so there was that.

"We have to move now if we have any intention of escaping," Cerberus said gravely and Mr. Valen nodded.

The Convoy then organized themselves and split up.

Cerberus carried the High Scioness on his back, while Mr. Valen carried a small bag of rations.

Olga on the other hand took the lead hiking off the path with swift and agile steps.

"Hope you can keep up, Alien, we will not wait for you," Cerberus said coldly before following behind, his movements so swift that he caught up to Olga instantly.

Mr. Valen then ran behind them, heavily restricting his speed.

He was fast so as to not fall too far behind and slow enough that they would not question his strength.