Dawn- An Age Of Darkness

"But seriously, kid, you're this strong and you want to get stronger? Just who do you wanna bust up."

The guy got up and started stretching. 

"He's too strong and I'd rather not talk about him."

Actually, even thinking about that guy was trouble in its own right. My nose had more or less healed. 

"Hey! I told you to be at home by noon!"

A scream came from the west side. This wasn't a busy place and only a few people were passing us by every now and then.

'Isn't she from the guild?' I didn't know if she was really the guildmaster or not but I had a feeling she was. Besides, I'd already assumed she was the guildmaster anyway.

The man with me, Travador, started sweating. "I'll be there in half an hour." He said nervously. 

I did not expect this, no. 

The woman went away while grinding her teeth.

Wow, this really was a weird sight. I did understand how things were though.

But anyway.

"Stop grinning." The guy hissed and wrapped his arm around my neck. He was also grinning. "Tell me, tell me, I won't tell anyone. Besides, if you give me enough coin, I'll tag along as a mercenary. I'm kind of broke right now." He sighed. "Wife took it all. Can't even drink in peace." No wonder he ran away yesterday without paying. 

So, when his wife talked about letting sleeping dogs lie, she probably meant, not making this guy go bad again. Then again, I was assuming that woman was his wife….

"Trust me, you really don't wanna get involved."

So why the hell were people acting like this guy was a handful or even a criminal?

I started walking and so did he. "But I do, tell me."

Well, he was certainly a handful, that was for sure. 

I sighed. "The emperor."

"Where! Where!"

He started jumping around. This guy jumped around just from the mere mention of the emperor and he wanted to tag along?

"No, I mean, my target."

'Is it me or is it getting slightly darker?' I guess it could probably rain today.

He looked confused for a second and then the color from his face drained. "The emperor."

"Yeah, so that's why I have to- are you even listening to me?"

The guy was staring up, rather strangely. 

It took me a second but I looked up and… there he was.

The demon Emperor. Namcha Miallianase.

***

My throat clogged up. I still remembered the horror in Moire. 

I still remembered his voice, his presence. I still remembered his name even though I'd only heard it once from his mouth. 

How could I ever forget?

"I'm not hallucinating right?" Travador spoke, slightly shivering.

"Well, pretty sure we don't share the same head, but honestly I would have liked hallucinating."

The emperor of the demons was in the sky, just staying here. Dark clouds were forming and I could never forget that cloak of darkness. There was nothing else in the sky- other than him and the dark clouds- not even the sun.

"He's the real deal." The words escaped from my mouth.

"We have to get out of here! You get your friends and get out of town. I'll go get my family. Trust me, you don't want to mess with that thing!" The guy grabbed my shoulder and stared straight into my eyes. "Look I know it's frustrating and I know you're strong but I've seen much stronger guys than you die a dog's death. I don't know what's your beef with the guy but don't die meaninglessly. Think of your friends, please get them and just leave, okay?"

He didn't wait for a confirmation but just ran straight west.

I looked at my hands. "My friends?"

I could finally understand why the spirit had said those words…

"But wouldn't getting involved with me kill them?"

But it was also possible if I ran away now, they'd get killed with the rest of the city. 

And what if the same thing happened like Hellsing? What if I ran out of the town but the emperor didn't even look at me?

So, there was only one thing I could do- run to the center and get the emperor's attention before any of my friends could get here. As soon as someone would spot the emperor, panic would befall and people will run for their lives. 

But didn't I have a contract with the emperor?

'For fun.'

The words rang in my mind. Everything was fun for the guy. And if the fun ran out…

I had to hurry.

But my legs weren't moving. 

'Fear?'

My body was shaking. I couldn't feel my legs.

"Move!" I punched my thighs and though painful, started running. 

I had to get there, I had to get there and attract his attention before any of my friends ran into me, I had to make sure I was the only one. This was my fight and I didn't want to drag them in though they wanted to.

***

It took one minute. Just one minute for panic to set loose. 

The people of this land already knew just how terrifying the emperor was and because of that, they weren't taking chances. The moment someone spotted the emperor, everyone started running. Didn't matter if they were beggars, guards, or even nobles, they just ran. Life mattered more. 

There were screams, there were cries and people were being run over by other people. 

The colors of the world had become washed up and it was almost as though everything was muffled. 

And since everyone was running my way, and I was the only one heading towards the center- it was more than just hard to move. 

People crashed into me, I crashed into them but I had to move. I just had to.

If I stayed with the crowd and somehow a fight broke out- it'd only cause more casualty.

"Daarc!" Before I could turn around, Ve pulled me up. She was in her hybrid form- a form where she partially transformed and made wings appear though she remained humanoid: her whole body was covered in scales. She sighed in relief. "I know what you're thinking but we have to leave. Daughter of Damsel and the rabbit have already evacuated to the edge of the city. Let's leave before that thing sees us."

She probably assumed I was going to challenge the emperor or something- I mean she wasn't wrong.

She was gently flying over the buildings and definitely making sure the emperor didn't see us.

"It'll be very bad if he sees us and starts a fight in the middle of the crowd," I said.

I know I wanted to run away from my friends but at the moment it wasn't possible. And I couldn't just say I was afraid one of them was going to die and maybe another was going to betray me. I just couldn't. 

"You're right." She thought for a second and stopped behind a rooftop. "How about we move towards the opposite gate and wait there? Daughter of Damsel is wise enough to figure everything out."

"Good enough, but what about Dick?"

"We haven't seen him."

We didn't have time to worry, argue or even think about all this, so we decided to just move towards the other gate.. This wasn't even remotely close to a good solution but we had nothing else.