Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Akkad had heard that a lot of strange and sudden deaths had recently occurred in the small fishing village of Siti. When he entered the village, Akkad instantly noticed the strange atmosphere. Everyone was extremely wary of him, as he was an outsider, so they followed him wherever he went.
In the village square, there was a brand new altar. The head of the village was a thin, old man. As a doctor, Akkad explained that to him that he had come to investigate the sudden deaths of several people in the village.
However, the head of the village rejected Akkad’s requests to see their previous houses, saying that everything in their rooms had been burned and that their houses had already been distributed to other people. Akkad felt that the man’s mood was extremely unstable, as well as being very manic and chaotic. However, the rest of the village did not seem to show any signs of witchcraft in particular.
In the middle of the night, Akkad got up and left the village head’s house to go and inspect the whole village. Finally, inside one of the house’s cellars, he found some of the missing villagers! As he rescued them from their makeshift prison, many of them scrambled to explain what had happened at once…
“It was Heckfoss! He controls most of the people in the village. He persecuted us, and those who did not obey him were sacrificed to the devil.”
“They’ve all become monsters! Everyone’s changed!”
“Danta, Ross, Bothane, they’ve all changed! They’ve become cruel! They weren’t like that before.”
“It’s the devil who controls their hearts now. It’s Heckfoss! It’s Heckfoss who brought this disaster upon us.”
As the villages tried to explain what had happened, Akkad freed more than thirty of them. They had apparently been tied up in the cellar for quite some time. One freckled, red-haired girl in particular kept explaining to Akkad what had happened in the village.
“Where is this Heckfoss?” Akkad asked.
“He lives in the east…” the freckled red-haired girl said.
Before she could finish her sentence, a commotion was heard outside the cellar. Apparently, when the village head had found that Akkad had disappeared, he immediately summoned the villagers to gather together and find him.
As Akkad looked at all of the gathered villagers, he saw that their appearances had completely changed. Their skin had become terribly tough, like leather, and their eyes had no pupils and were filled with strange patterns. They seemed to have been assimilated by the power of the devil from the Abyss, which had caused them to look horrible, but had also given them great and evil power. As such, every villager now had power and speed that was far beyond the Blood Knights’.
The just freed villagers shivered behind Akkad, as the horror and power of these monsters had penetrated into their hearts. Suddenly, Heckfoss emerged from the crowd. It was obvious that he was the leader.
He then transformed from an ordinary man into a giant monster! His arms immediately transformed into waving claws.
“It’s over. We’ve been found! We’re really dead this time!” The red-haired girl grabbed Akkad’s arm in despair. She then said to Akkad, “Thank you, Mr. Akkad, but this time, I am afraid that we are dragging you down with us.”
The rescued villagers wanted to escape, but found themselves surrounded by these ferocious-looking monsters, each looking at them with scary eyes.
“Those who don’t believe in the master must die. It’s a privilege for you to be a sacrifice. Don’t dare try to run away.” Heckfoss opened his mouth wide and roared. Many people covered their ears because the sound was so ear-splitting.
“It really is a devil,” Akkad said as he took off his gloves, exposing the fully metallized mechanical right arm.
Although he was over a hundred years old and his body was beginning to weaken, Akkad was still one of the most powerful wizards. Akkad moved his arm, and though his hair had turned somewhat grey, he was still as energetic as when he was young.
Akkad looked at the monsters and asked, “What are you waiting for?”
“I’m going to swallow you up!” Heckfoss was clearly angry. He burst out a roar and jumped at Akkad.
Akkad stretched out a gun from his mechanical arm, which immediately burst out a fierce flame, tearing apart a monster that was directly in front of him. The gun then turned it into a sharp-edged blade, cutting a monster his other side in half.
Akkad had used his alchemy to fight, as his mechanical right arm was transplanted from the right arm of a magical beast minotaur. This was especially valuable because minotaurs could control metals and metallize parts of the body. After Akkad had attained this metal right arm, he had inherited the superb power of the minotaur!
The enormous power of the mechanical arm easily tore these monsters apart. The arm could also be transformed into guns and artillery!
As the arm functioned properly, the metal elements in these monsters began to react. Metal spires came from inside and pierced the villagers’ bodies, but Heckfoss, who had inherited the power of Stikua, fought against Akkad’s witchcraft with the power of the devil.
He waved a large number of his claws, which sprayed out devil flames. These terrifying flames had a special power that could burn the spirit and soul.
But, after all, it was only a human who inherited some of the power of the devil. So, after Akkad had figured out his fighting techniques, Akkad launched a powerful melting bullet, which ignited half of the villages and left a burning trail on the ground behind it. Its powerful force tore Heckfoss’ body apart and launched him from the beach into the sea!
As he landed within it, his blood turned the sea red. But, in the darkness, Akkad did not see Heckfoss’ body come to the sea’s surface, so he didn’t know whether Heckfoss was actually alive or dead.
Is it possible that he could survive such an attack?
The devil has also appeared, and the world has become more and more strange. Wizards, priests, knights, demons and magical beasts have all appeared. Gods, angels, Titan Dragons and demons have appeared one by one. What else is there?
Akkad watched the coastline for a long time. As it was the middle of the night, he couldn’t see anything clearly, so he finally could only give up. After all, the body may have been washed away by the sea.
Akkad put on his cloak and gloves and returned to the village. He had killed almost all of the monsters in the village, leaving only about 30 people in the whole village.
Surprisingly, nobody in the village even thanked Akkad. In their eyes, Akkad was also a monster, a monster whose arm was metal and who was even more terrible than Heckfoss. As such, everyone had a horrified look whenever they glanced his way.
Akkad sighed and carried his suitcase through the crowd. He was ready to leave.
For Akkad, this matter of his cleaning up the devil’s mess should be over now. Akkad was now going to go to the other Tuten state-cities and enter the inner area of Tuten.
As the sun gradually rose from the coastline, one could not help but marvel at the wonder and magnificence of the world. Its beauty attracted Akkad, who had just left the village, and he now stood silently on his path to watch it.
The fire-red light of the sun shone on the earth, bringing light into the world. At this time, a girl kept shouting at Akkad, “Hello, Mr. Akkad, wait for me! Wait for me.”
It was the freckled girl in the village.. She was gasping as she ran swiftly to catch up to him. “Mr. Akkad, although nobody spoke to you. I wanted to say that we are all grateful to you. We all know that you are a good man!”
Akkad laughed and patted the freckled, red-haired girl on the shoulder. “Thank you.”
She then asked, “Mr. Akkad, can I be your student?”
Akkad was stunned, and his expression became serious. “Do you know who I am?”
The girl replied, “Well, I heard in Tephis that in the far west, there are people that have magical powers. They are called wizards.”
Akkad nodded, then said, “Wizards are also the most evil beings. They bring great disasters upon people. Wherever they go, they leave mountains of corpses.”
The girl nodded. “Well, I believe Mr. Akkad is no such person! Besides, didn’t you do use these forces to save the people of our village? There’s no right or wrong about the power itself, right? It’s just how people use it…”
Akkad did not expect that he would hear this wisdom from such a young girl. He looked carefully at the girl and asked, “What is your name?”
The girl straightened up and said merrily, “My name is Marina!”