Katherina watched the situation with focused eyes, not wanting to tear her gaze off from what was happening.

  Bernard frowned once he noticed a small trace of blood coming down from his cheek onto his chin. His eyes, which had been playful and expectant, darkened and grew cold.

  “Who would have thought that you would be able to draw blood from my body. It has been quite some time since I last saw it, and I was starting to wonder if I was still human at all,” he said as the wiht in front of him turned deeper into a shade of red.

  The wiht screeched loudly, the sound traveling through the whole forest and reaching Katherina’s and Alhen’s ears.

  The princess, noticing that the wiht was about to scream, managed to cover her ears in time, but Alhen didn’t share the same fate.

  He absorbed the sound attack head-on and felt as if his head was about to explode.

  He gritted his teeth with strength and covered his ears a second later, but the damage was already done.

  Now, besides his blindness, he would have to worry about being partially deaf for who knows how long.

  An angry and pained expression made its way to his face, but he managed to calm himself down in record time.

  ‘How come it feels that every single wiht I meet always leaves me deaf? If this is not bad luck, then I don’t know what is!’ Alhen exclaimed in his mind.

  Bernard, in stark contrast to Alhen, who nearly lost his hearing despite being at a distance, stood unperturbed.

  He had not covered his ears and remained focused, gazing ahead at the wiht in perfect condition.

  The princess looked quite dazed despite managing to cover her ears; the noise was simply too strong for her to block it out completely.

  As they regained their bearings, the wiht became more enraged by the second.

  After its skin turned a deep crimson color, its limbs and body began to lengthen, and the ferocity emanating from the creature increased drastically.

  The wiht looked completely different from how it did a couple of moments ago.

  Before, it was harmless despite appearing scary; at least that’s the feeling it gave, since it had not acted aggressively until it was injured.

  Katherina managed to snap out of her daze and look at the scene in front of her with a trembling heart.

  Behind her, she felt Alhen’s hand reaching out and touching her shoulder, and that’s when she noticed that he was bleeding.

  “Alhen, your ears! Can you hear me?” She loudly whispered.

  Alhen “looked” at her with his blind eye and seemed lost. That answered her question. Alhen hadn’t heard her at all.

  Katherina held his hand and didn’t let go, wanting him to know that she was still there and wouldn’t go anywhere.

  Alhen visibly calmed down, his tense body relaxing as he took a deep breath.

  ‘It must be scary, not being able to see or hear.’

  ‘I wonder how one must feel when all their senses are taken away? Should I experiment once I return to the castle?’ Katherina thought.

  Her lips curved into a smile, but it was quickly erased, and she returned to her previous state.

  If Alhen were looking at her right now, he would definitely be reminded of the royal family’s mental state and be more careful when interacting with the princess.

  For now, however, she was the only person who could calm him down and act as a guide until he returned to the kingdom.

  Katherina returned her attention to Bernard and the wiht before realizing that they had already moved and were engaged in a battle.

  The wiht attacked fiercely and wildly, resembling a rabid wild animal that had lost control.

  Its huge frame was at least thrice the size of Bernard, who looked like a small child in comparison.

  Bernard had a frown on his face as he blocked and parried the wiht’s sharp claws away from him.

  The princess could see that her former bodyguard was physically weaker than the creature, but that wasn’t all when deciding the outcome of a fight.

  She hoped with everything she had that they would both incapacitate each other, but for now, she would have to wait patiently for the moment.

  Katherina felt Alhen’s hand slipping from her grip, and she looked back to see what had happened.

  She saw him take out his revolver and reload it with one hand, being careful when placing the bullets in the chamber.

  ‘Even in this moment of high tension and despair, he has not given up. Once we return to the castle, I will ask my father to make him my personal bodyguard,’ she decided.

  Alhen, unaware of what was going through Katherina’s mind, hurriedly reloaded his revolver.

  ‘If the princess or anyone dares to do anything funny, at least I will have one shot to spare to send them into the afterlife.’

  ‘I cannot lower my guard, especially now that I don’t know what the hell is happening,’ he thought.

  If Katherina heard his thoughts, she would vomit blood, but thankfully, they remained in his brain.

  She turned back and saw the conflict once more, and Bernard now seemed to be in the lead, making many small cuts along the wiht’s body, slowly drawing crimson blood out of the creature.

  Bernard’s previous serious expression was gone, replaced by almost a thrilled one as he dominated the creature in front of him.

  With each slash, his expression grew more wild, looking pleased with what was happening.

  ‘Since when was Bernard like this? Throughout all the years I have known him, he has not once acted like the person I am looking at right now.’

  ‘Everything that he showed to me… was he faking it? That care, and the way he comforted me and behaved around me, was it all a facade?’ She wondered.

  Katherina ignored the heavy feeling manifesting on her chest and shook her head.

  ‘It matters not. He chose to betray me, and he will have to pay for that,’ she thought.

  The wiht looked to be on the losing end, but its expression didn’t darken in the slightest, attacking with the same intensity it had started with.

  Katherina was starting to get worried. A minute had passed, and the situation repeated itself.

  ‘The wiht is strong, there is no doubt about that, but it keeps doing the same thing without changing its tactic,’ She gritted her teeth and bit the nails on her left hand.

  She prayed fervently in her heart that a miracle would happen, and surprisingly, it did.

  Bernard attacked with a confident gaze and steady hands, but he looked almost relaxed.

  In a moment of distraction, something bulged underneath the wiht’s skin and came out with blinding speed.

  Sharp bones penetrated the wiht’s skin and elongated in the direction of Bernard’s body.

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  He widened his eyes and dodged, but was a second too late; he was stabbed in the abdomen and left bleeding heavily on the ground.

  The wiht’s assault didn’t stop, and the bones kept on growing larger and chasing after his figure.

  Bernard had dropped one dagger to the ground and held his bleeding wound with his free hand, having a nasty scowl on his face.

  Katherina didn’t know what he was thinking, but she could see the frown that eventually took hold of his expression, and that was enough of an answer.

  She smiled, looking at the scene, her worries lessening little by little.

  ‘You were always very prideful, Bernard. It was your mistake to underestimate your opponent, even when you seemed to have the upper hand, and that will lead to your downfall,’ she thought.

  Unfortunately, the wound wasn’t as deep as she thought.

  Bernard clenched his abdominal muscles and made the bleeding stop with sheer power.

  Katherina was left with her mouth wide open as she watched her former bodyguard escape his dire situation in a few moments.

  Now that he had successfully treated the wound on his abdomen, his movements quickened, and in a heartbeat, he effortlessly dodged the wiht’s bones, moving with finesse.

  This time, he seemed to have learned from his mistakes, never underestimating the enemy before him.

  He created some distance and began analysing the situation from afar.

  The bones had stopped a few inches away from his face, and Bernard smiled, looking at the limit of the distance they could create.

  “If you thought that was enough to take me down, then you are wrong. You are nothing against me, you will not manage to touch me again,” Bernard talked to the wiht.

  Katherina barely heard his words from afar, but she got a gist of what he said and looked at him with a weird expression.

  ‘I knew not that Bernard liked to talk to himself. He always seemed serious and diligent in everything that he did.’

  ‘I never imagined that the way he would portray himself would be so different from the way he actually is,’ she thought.

  The wiht didn’t take long to follow up with another attack.

  The bones rapidly retracted into its body at lightning speed before it rushed ahead with a manic expression.

  It screeched again, but this time, it was bearable for everyone’s ears. Alhen had stopped hearing well, and he gripped the princess’s shoulder to make sure she was still there.

  At this point, he was useless and would have to wait to return to the church so he could receive treatment.

  ‘My lack of hearing is starting to worry me. What is happening? Is everything alright? The princess hasn’t spoken up, so I guess yes, but still, I want to see,’ Alhen thought.

  As Alhen was submerged in his thoughts, the wiht had rushed to Bernard once more, moving awkwardly but quickly.

  Bernard didn’t move and just looked ahead with a concentrated expression, his eyes took in every movement of the wiht with calculated precision.

  When the wiht was close to striking him with his claws, he dodged, and his right arm blurred with the dagger at hand and penetrated the wiht’s chest.

  “This is payback,” he said.

  Blood flew everywhere, and the wiht didn’t look happy, his body becoming even redder.

  Bernard didn’t stay still and followed the attack with a strike to the head, piercing it with the dagger poking from the other side.

  A wicked smile made its way to his face, but it was erased soon after when the wiht surprisingly didn’t fall to the ground. It was still alive and oozing with vitality.

  Bernard’s hair stood on end, and he felt that something bad was about to happen.

  Without thinking twice, he kicked the ground hard away from him, and he was sent flying backward at impressive speed.

  The ground underneath him tore apart as more bone showed from underneath and chased after his body until he safely left the wiht’s range.

  “That was close,” he muttered under his breath.

  His gaze was fixed on the retracting bones, and he finally saw what had happened. The wiht had pushed them out with its feet to the ground, and they had followed after him fiercely.

  Bernard clicked his tongue when he saw the injuries in the wiht’s body healing at a rapid pace, leaving nothing to show after a few seconds.

  The wounds burned and made a sizzling sound before they were gone, and the wiht looked stronger than before. Its body had grown a few more feet, and its muscles bulged.

  It didn’t look skinny anymore, looking more like a bloated mass of muscle pulsing with green veins and a red body.

  Bernard watched the transformation process with caution; he wasn’t eager to throw himself into unknown territory without assessing the danger level first.

  “There’s no doubt that wiht should have been dead. It seems weird to me that up until this moment, I have yet to see a sign in its body. What is its true rank?” Bernard questioned out loud.

  Despite him wanting to keep his distance until he found out what new surprises the wiht had to offer, it didn’t give him that choice.

  The wiht rushed ahead at slower speeds, and the ground shook from his every step.

  Bernard’s senses warned him of the danger ahead, and as the wiht was just a few feet from reaching him, it pushed away the air in front of him.

  The amount of force generated pushed the wind with a speed greater than a bullet in Bernard’s direction.

  The power of the swing wasn’t to be underestimated; it decimated the trees and ground behind him, uprooting them and sending them flying many meters back.

  Bernard wasn’t fast enough to dodge it completely, and his arm was hit and broken in the process. He landed on the ground with his leg sprained and blood dripping down his mouth.

  Despite his injuries and the pain his body was experiencing, he didn’t dare stay on the ground lest the wiht kill him.

  He bounced to his feet, his expression shifting once he felt the sharp pain in his body, and a frown took over his face.

  He didn’t say a word, but he looked more concentrated now.

  Katherina, who was watching the events from afar, had her eyes wide at the sheer destructive power of the wiht, which appeared even more dangerous.

  ‘If it were me instead of Bernard, I would have died right there!’ She thought.

  The blood from Bernard's lips stopped mid-air and flowed back into his mouth. In a few seconds, it looked like nothing had happened to his body, though the change in his posture revealed his condition.

  ‘This means that Bernard worships Lord Aklas! How come I did not know this information until now?’ Katherina exclaimed in her mind.

  Bernard and the wiht continued to fight, their battle reshaping the landscape.

  ‘If they keep coming closer to our location, we will have to flee and will undoubtedly be found out.’

  ‘Alhen is hurt and disabled, so making a move now will be risky. I can only hope that things do not get out of control,’ Katherina thought.

  Bernard cut his forearm open with his dagger, and crimson blood flowed out from it and dropped to the ground.

  The blood froze in mid-air and joined to form daggers, and he sent them hurling at the wiht.

  Despite the massive amount of muscle mass the wiht possessed, the blood daggers came out from the other side of his body and tore his chest into sizeable holes.

  The wiht, however, growled and healed even faster than before. Bernard clicked his tongue and pointed his fingers upward.

  The blood daggers bent in the air and turned, flying at fast speeds towards the wiht.

  “Slash!” The wiht’s body was mangled, but Bernard wasn’t done and kept repeating this multiple times, not allowing the wiht to make any attacks.

  He stood still, occasionally moving his fingers to control the trajectory of the daggers, but the wiht wasn’t about to take this bullying with closed arms.

  The muscles on its body tensed and hardened; once the daggers landed on it, they bounced off.

  Bernard watched this scene with narrowed eyes, but he noticed that the wiht couldn’t move; it seemed that hardening its body like that had its drawbacks.

  He kept attacking, however, waiting for the moment the wiht would lower its guard and end the battle.

  As this happened, Katherina was submerged deep in thought.

  ‘Being a follower of Lord Aklas naturally means that your heart is wretched.’

  ‘To even be able to gain the attention of this Lord, the person has to kill multiple babies and drench their body in their blood, and that is only one of the requirements.’

  ‘If I am not mistaken, Lord Aklas gives you the ability to control your own blood and the blood of humans and beasts as long as you drink it.’

  ‘The more blood someone drinks, from another creature or person, the more control over their bodies,’ she thought, with her face showing disgust.

  Katherina shook her head and focused once more on what was happening.

  Bernard seemed to have the upper hand, the wiht couldn’t move and had its dead eyes fixed on Bernard’s body.

  The former bodyguard had his guard up in case anything happened; he seemed to have the upper hand, but that could change at any second.

  What he didn’t expect, however, was that it would change this fast.

  A thunderous sound reached his ears, and the lower part of his body exploded and drenched his surroundings in blood.

  “BAM!” The ground shook and tore open.

  His upper body was sent flying, and as he flew through the air, time seemed to have stopped. His mind worked on overdrive, trying to make sense of what had happened.

  ‘W-Why? That damned… wiht,’ he thought.

  Katherina, who watched from afar, couldn’t believe her eyes. One moment, Bernard was standing normally, and the next, he was sent flying her way.

  His body landed a few feet away from their location, and due to inertia, it ended up rolling just outside the bush they were hiding in.

  His gaze landed on the nearby bush and locked with the princess, who stared unblinkingly at him.

  The blood he was dripping started coming back to his body at a speed that seemed slower than a snail’s.

  He smiled lightly, seemingly having recognized those eyes, and said.

  “P-Princess, you better be careful when you return to the castle. There are already many of my men waiting for your unlikely return, and they are prepared to take your life.”

  “Do not think that this is the end,” he said with a slight smile.

  Bernard’s eyes still had fire in them. Katherina guessed that he still had some minutes left to live thanks to his blessing, but his life was soon to be over.

  She didn’t reply to his words and looked back where the wiht was supposed to be, only not to find it in the destroyed forest.

  A bad feeling crept up to her heart, but nothing happened, at least yet.

  With the situation having calmed down for now, she nudged Alhen and told him everything that happened.

  “The situation is already over, you said?” Alhen asked, and the princess hummed in response.

  “Bernard is still alive. Could you kill him? I do not want to get my hands dirty with his blood,” she asked.

  Alhen stood from where he was and was guided by the princess close to Bernard. Without thinking twice, he aimed his revolver at his head before stopping.

  “The gunshot might attract unwanted attention; better to do this silently,” he muttered under his breath.

  He took a few steps closer to Bernard and raised his heel high in the air before slamming it on Bernard’s head.

  He didn’t have the strength to speak anymore, and Alhen repeated this action until he felt his head breaking and making a bloody mess on the floor.

  Katherina watched from the side with approval and seemed happier now that he was dead.

  “We should get out of here; we are still not safe in this forest,” the princess commented, and Alhen agreed.

  Just as they were about to leave, however, Alhen remembered something and approached the fallen Bernard, kneeling beside him.

  ‘I was almost about to leave, but if what my mentor said was true, then I could absorb his energy. I wonder what will happen then.’

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