Nolan left the infirmary knowing he had achieved something. Another pawn added to his arsenal.

However, he still worried about what he could have possibly missed while he was unconscious.

One thing he could not quite get rid off was that stupid sound: "Kuuu"

A demon he hadn't expected to make a move so early. It was no surprise anymore, was it? What was meant to happen ten years from now could just decide that the next split second was the best time to occur.

Those damn Architects wouldn't give him a break.

As he walked his way in the guild premises, Nolan expected suspicious eyes, hushed gossips and about anything that would possibly get on his nerves. But, to his surprise, he was... hailed?

Well, that was indeed a surprise.

He didn't know that while he was unconscious, their team had been named the Best Patrol Team in the Cerulean Guardians after the Demon Puppet incident.

Tension did rise as the news of the new tactic the demons were using spread, trust being a liability as no one knew who was actually human and who wasn't. But the team's effort in stopping the first attack hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Well, that's one thing," Nolan muttered as he walked past guild members who greeted or bowed their heads with a newfound respect for the man who saw it coming.

Liana and the others were out on another patrol. Healing was faster for them and on the other hand, the guild needed as much people in the fronts as they could. Liana's team was one they needed badly.

Now everyone was sure that humans and demons were working together, but it was a surprise how the reaction was so mellow.

Lady Eva suggested Nolan take a rest, and Nolan did just so as he made for home. Despite being asleep for two days, he still felt this strong urge to go to sleep. Something he couldn't explain.

As he reached his room, his expression dropped. He forgot the part where he had a visitor that didn't want to leave.

The room was scattered and untidy.

Nolan had seen much of this back in the life where they were married. Just that they had a cleaner back then.

Selena wasn't the type to clean after her mess, in the literal sense.

"I'm definitely kicking her out if she comes," he murmured, picking up one of her clothes on the floor. "Why does it seem like she went back to get more clothes? No. I am not taking this."

After a few minutes of cleaning, Nolan finally got his room back to the way it was supposed to be.

As he sat on the bed, his mind reeled. Maximus may have died that day, but the real mastermind behind it was still out there. And what worried him even more was the fact that these demons were powerful, yes, but they weren't even half as dangerous as the real big guys. The A-rank generals, and worst of all... the ones beyond, not to talk of the demon king himself.

"There's still a long way to go. A long way I need to go," Nolan whispered as he summoned something from his inventory. The Pathfinder's Golden Compass.

"I need to get stronger as fast as I can. I hope you have something useful to say," he added, picturing the witch he was taking it to.

He dismissed it back to his inventory and scoffed, laying down on the bed. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to just hand it to her. There was a plan he had.

. . .

An Hour Later.

One of Cloveland's Outer Villages...

Fields, shops, houses were left in ruins, fire burning as demons walked over the corpses of the people who tried to defend the commoners.

All the combined effort of the teams deployed by all three of the kingdom's guilds were futile. The demons had one at this end, and the inner villages and town were going to be next.

However it may seem, the defenders only fell because of the presence of a certain demon in the ranks of the enemies, who led the charge.

General Kraxus.

The mighty demon was the reason for the fall of the wall. He grinned widely, showing off his jagged yellow teeth. The defense teams tried as hard as they could, but they were no match for the demon general.

"MAMAAA!" A little child cried, tears rolling down his cheeks as he ran in the now ruined village. He was lucky enough to be among the few who survived, but the demons were going after them and even crosschecking their kills. But he had no idea where he was even going, hoping to find his parents who he unfortunately had no idea were dead.

Things couldn't have gotten any worse as he stumbled upon a monstrously huge silhouette with red eyes walking towards him, with a massive axe and a devilish grin.

The mere aura Kraxus exuded made his legs give out. He just tried crawling back, which somehow felt as if his body was failing him by refusing to move.

"Little human," Kraxus said, lifting his axe. His smile disappeared as a shadow moved, picking the boy and dropping something that exploded with smoke.

Kraxus swatted at the smoke and smirked, before leaping into the air.

One of the guardians wasn't quite dead. One even the demon general had quite a tough time against. Sir Einicht.

Sir Einicht ran with the boy clinging onto him tightly, crying. The Guardian-rank was in a very terrible state, completely bloodied, yet, his will to protect burned more than ever.

"Shit!" he cursed in a hushed tone as he felt Kraxus's presence closing in on them. And besides, his entire body begged him to stop.

He rushed over to a small space made by fallen walls and dropped the boy, telling him to go inside. The boy crawled in and Sir Einicht said, "Shhh, it'll be fine. Just remain quiet, don't make any noise, okay?"

The boy nodded vigorously.

"Just uh, turn around and uh... close your ears and count to a hundred. Everything will be over then. After that, wait for people with this clothes to come, okay?" Sir Einicht added warmly, pointing at his uniform.

The boy sniffed, nodding. "W-will you b-be okay? Y-you will help me f-find mama and papa when it's o-over, right?"

Sir Einicht felt a lump in his throat as the boy said that, but he gave a warm smile. "I'll... I'll let them know you're fine. Alright, turn around quickly. No matter what you hear, don't look back."

The boy obliged and Sir Einicht stood up, ran into a ruined building opposite, waited a few seconds before running out and making towards another route.

But just then, a loud thud echoed, dust raising in front of him.

As the dust cleared, Kraxus's form was revealed, but Sir Einicht showed no fear or hopelessness in front of the demon general.

He drew his sword and took a stance, his eye focused.

Kraxus however seemed intrigued and was misinterpreting something. "Still weak at the moment, unbreakable will, no fear in the face of death, excellent swordsmanship," he whispered to himself, then he finally spoke out loud. "Ah, are you perhaps... The Chained Regressor?"

The question hung in the air.

Sir Einicht raised a brow, stuck between confusion and surprise, but believing it was one of the demon's tricks to confuse him so he would drop his guard. Why he was surprised though was the fact that it could speak.

Of all he knew about demons, he had never come across anything saying they talked.

"Focus, focus, focus," Sir Einicht repeated like a mantra, his eyes focused on the demon general who now approached him, trying to find a right opening to strike.

"You are not the Chained Regressor, are you? He asks questions about his loop. you did not," Kraxus said, stopping and pointing his axe at Sir Einicht. "Mm, you still are a strong human. I am honored to face you and I will enjoy killing you," he grinned.

. . .

Elsewhere.

Cyndy's Team...

Cyndy shot down the last demon with an arrow, cleaning sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her uniform. "Great, I think we're finally clear."

"ACE CYNDY! ACE CYNDY!"

A voiced cried out from behind.

Cyndy would have normally just groaned in annoyance, but she took this one more seriously because of how panicked the voice was. She spun around to find a Cerulean Guardian member coming towards them from a distance, on a horse, his arm bleeding.

"What's wrong? Where are you coming from?" Cyndy asked, her voice firm.

The person stopped and fell from the horse to the ground. Two other guys rushed over to him, trying to treat his injuries. "Demons... Strong demons... a B-rank. The defenses have... fallen. Fire... the village is destroyed," he voiced in-between ragged breaths.

Cyndy's expression hardened and she asked, "Where's that?"

"W-west," he groaned as they tied his arm to stop the major bleeding there.

"West, west," she repeated, thinking for a few seconds before her brows shot up. "Isn't that where... Einicht's was sent? Damn it!"

Hayden walked over, a serious expression plastered on his face as well. "We need to get there as fast as possible. I just might have lost a childhood friend. Man, he didn't want to die," he said.

"Are you worried about a childhood friend or the many innocent people who died? I don't know how you all do it at Phoenix, but in the Cerulean Guardians, you're already a dead man walking with the purpose of protecting others." Cyndy said to him, voice firm, though not unkind. "You're not the only one who's lost a friend."

Hayden remained silent for a split second as he stood behind her, then his brow twitched in annoyance as he said, "Oh, great. Motivational. Bravo."

Cyndy glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes glowing a pale blue. The air grew colder and a sudden oppressive aura washed over everyone. For all the Cerulean Guardian members present there, they never thought they would live to see THE Ace Cyndy they knew, ever get this serious

"Don't get on my nerves, please," she said, in a hushed tone.

Hayden quickly waved it off with a scoff and walked away. "We're not fighting each other, are we? Relax."

"Everyone, hurry up and get on your rides! We're going west!" Cyndy announced, already walking over to her horse, completely ignoring Alex. "I'm sorry, Einicht," she mumbled, biting the bottom of her lip.

. . .

CLANG!

Sparks flew as weapons clashed.

"HAHAA! You surprise me human. Where did you hide this strength earlier?" Kraxus mused.

Sir Einicht breathed heavily as he leapt back to gain space between them. "I thought we had the best talkatives," he mumbled.

Despite the way Kraxus praised, the man knew he wasn't going to last any longer than this fight. If the demon didn't kill him, his body would eventually fail. It had started already, as he could no longer feel some of his fingers.

He closed his eyes to calm his breath, and for that very moment, a lot flashed across his mind's eye.

Flashback...

"Boy, you ruined the shoe again! Get out! I'm done with you, useless child," yelled a man. A shoemaker.

Teenage Einicht left the shop with his head down. His eyes were dead of emotions and there were bags under his eyes. His entire body was too pale and his collar bones threatened to leave their positions.

Einicht wasn't even moved by what the man had said. He'd heard it a lot more than he could even count.

Father died before he was born, mother struggling to cater for him, no known relatives, no friends. Life just wasn't on his side.

And he ruined everything he got his hands on, no matter how careful he tried to be. This could possibly be the thirtieth job he had been kicked out of because he did something wrong again.

Einicht sat under a tree that evening, using a stick to draw on the sand. One thing about him was, he never felt a sense of purpose. He never believed he could ever be good at anything, nor did he believe he was useless either. He just had no idea why he was still living, but he didn't want to die either.

"Good times on their way, lalala lalala. They are coming soon, lalala lalala," he sang to himself. Something his mother always sang when doing something.

He suddenly got up and pointed the stick at thin air. "I am Sir Einicht of the Cerulean Guardians. Are you not afraid, demon?"

He started to swing aimlessly, a small unusual smile playing on his lips.

One thing he admired so much was the new guild that was made to face the demon threat that had risen. The Cerulean Guardians.

As he spun around, he froze.

An actual sword was pointed at his throat. By... another teenager?

"You swing like you're trying to chase flies," said the boy in front of him. Standing beside him was a girl who looked she was going to fall asleep any moment now. "Name's Melvin. This is Cyndy," he introduced himself and the girl beside him.

"E-Einicht. Th-that's my name," Einicht replied. He wasn't used to speaking with his peers, and this felt very awkward for him.

"You want to join the Cerulean Guardians?" Melvin asked.

Einicht's brows shot up in surprise. This was in no way what he was expecting. "Y-yes. Yes, yes I want to," he nodded vigorously.

"What? That's why you brought me here?" Cyndy complained. "He can't join us, Melvin. You even said he swings like a fly."

"Like he's chasing a fly," Melvin corrected. "Besides, I could teach him a few tricks. It's not like we're just going to be dumped in demon territory and be told to survive."

"That doesn't change a thing," she clapped back. "Just because the old lady needs one more person doesn't mean we can get anyone in, you idiot."

Einicht watched quietly as they bickered over him. But then a sudden feeling washed over him and his expression dropped.

What if he ruined something? What if he made a mistake that will put people's lives in danger? What if he injures someone?

"Okay, okay, Mister Know-it-all," Cyndy said, raising her hands in surrender. "He can come along, tch."

They had come to a conclusion, but when they turned to Einicht, what he said surprised them: "I don't think I want to anymore."

"Great. Good job, Cyndy," Melvin said, glaring at her.

Einicht waved, shaking his head. "No no, don't blame her. I just..."

"Don't feel you belong after you thought about it," Cyndy completed, with a deadpan expression. "Think you will put someone's life in danger, believe you will ruin something, think you will do something that will cost the guild gravely. So... Which is it?"

Einicht blinked. Did she read his mind or something?

"Probably because you don't know how it feels to protect someone. To be a person people look up to," She added, feeling a certain pride flutter in her chest. She loved it... not the work part though.

Her words echoed in Einicht's head and he started to wonder what that feeling was. A baker or a shoemaker's shop wouldn't give him that feeling. He was curious. What was this feeling that came with protecting?

"Quit being a scared cow and let's go meet the old lady. I'm not waiting another year," she said, leaving. "I'll watch your back. 'WE' will watch your back. Let's get you some food as well."

"It's Lady Eva. Have some respect," Melvin said as he fell into step behind her. "Besides, where did this side of you come from?"

"I know right. I hate it as well,"

"You hate everything,"

"No, I don't. I don't hate food for example,"

"You eat an average person's daily meal in three days,"

"Look, I eat out of necessity, not because I like the food,"

"Then you hate it,"

As they continued to bicker, Einicht watched them in awe. Just who were they?

"Hey, be quick!" Melvin called.

"We'll watch your back," Einicht repeated Cyndy's earlier words to himself. After a deep breath in and out, he ran over to them. "Coming!"

Maybe things could turn out different, he believed.

And things did turn out different. He became one of the guild's most formidable swordsmen of the current era, with the guidance of Melvin and others.

They grew closer and indeed watched each others backs. They got to the Guardian-rank together, but Cyndy and Melvin were further promoted earlier.

In other lives, he was supposed to have been promoted to Ace-rank already. But this one turned out to be different.

Through all this time, he had been searching for the feeling Cyndy had spoken of. He felt a little of it, or so he believed.

Now...

All this flashed in just second.

Sir Einicht opened his eyes, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. "The feeling of being a protector. Ah, Cyndy wasn't wrong at all."

The feeling he was looking for. He had finally found it.

A surge of energy went through his body, and his will to fight burned even more. He took off his uniform shirt and tied it on his waist, now in his black vest.

He drew a leg back and pointed his sword at Kraxus. "I know it's the end, but..." he whispered, then he said out loud, confidently. "I am Sir Einicht of the Cerulean Guardians. Are you not afraid, demon?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.