The war front
/*unedited*/
Ugh…
Feeling a bit groggy and dazed, a woman tried to clear her blurry eyes as she tried to look around the place. She soon found out that she is currently inside a well-decorated room.
When she stretches her hand to touch her face, she noticed that her clothes have been taken. In a panic, she tried to grab the thick blanket to cover her upper body. Then she noticed that she is covered in bandages.
"Oh, you're awake!" a familiar voice entered her ears as she turned her head towards the source of the voice.
A handsome face with a sweet smile on his lips greeted her.
No matter how many times she looks at him, she would never get tired of that beautiful visage. The mixture of kindness with a tinge of ruthlessness is truly something to behold. And for most women like her, she prefers her man to be like that. However, she noticed that this young man never set his eyes on her.
Even with her impeccable beauty and charm, he seems to be immune.
"Here, I bought you something." Shin Jiao said as he sat beside the bed.
In his hand is a tunic inside an injection.
When she saw this, Agnes immediately knitted her brow. And then she immediately noticed that one of her hands is wrapped in a bandage and a strange transparent tube is connected.
"Don't remove that. It's for your body, you've been asleep for 5 days now… So I gave you an IV drip so that your strength would not deteriorate and that, your mana could recover faster." Shin Jiao explained.
Agnes then tried to remember what happened but her mind is still blurry.
"What… what happened? I thought we have… lost?" she muttered.
"Haha… We didn't lose the fight. In fact, because of you, we have won!" Shin Jiao said with a smile.
"Well, technically the weapon I gave you exploded but you were able to still pull the trigger. So, that much power disintegrated Azmodiaz's shell along with him. But you suffered many major wounds in your body…"
Suddenly, Shin Jiao's expression turned serious as he put down the wooden box on the side table and carefully held Agnes' hand.
"I was too careless… I should not have left you at that time… I'm sorry." Shin Jiao said feeling a bit remorseful.
When he saw the long rifle exploding with Agnes' figure being blown away, his heart skipped a beat and almost stopped. Besides the cheering of the crowd because of the demise of their enemy and the sudden death of all the spider-like creatures, two figures quickly rushed at Agnes's side.
Shine Jiao and Moon Fang immediately took her out from the crumbling body of the plant creature. As they weave through the maze-like vines while trying to dodge the thick falling debris, Shin Jiao held her close to his chest. As they flew out, he let her eat a healing pill to quickly stop her wounds. But due to the overuse of her mana and the shrapnel from the rifle, her wounds were truly terrifying.
After they came back to the camp, Moon Fang, the city lord of Glow offered his personal tent for Agnes.
Through their discussion, Shin Jiao learned that Moon Fang is part demon. His ancestor came with Azmodiaz in this continent as a servant. However, due to fear of being turned into a golem his ancestor was able to escape.
Then a few months ago ever since the demon invasion began, he has been receiving a vision. In that vision, he saw the face of Agnes the so-called demon queen. But to his surprise, she doesn't look like a demon but instead a human.
After collecting many data from the frontlines, he discovers something, the coup.
From that time forth he waited and waited because he has a gut feeling that he will see the demon queen herself if he waited.
Shin Jiao felt that the story of the City Lord was true because his eyes didn't have any malice upon seeing Agnes, instead his eyes were full of reverence and respect.
Hearing his remorseful words, Agnes felt her heart happy. So she just smiled.
"Sigh… this is not like you. Where is the dashing guy who is always full of confidence? It was my choice… So don't feel bad about me okay. I overdraft my mana and caused the explosion beside your warnings so…"
While the two are talking, a large figure of a middle-aged man enters the room.
"My queen, are you alright?" Moon Fang enters as he kneels at the side.
Seemingly unable to understand the situation, Agnes turns to look at Shin Jiao.
"He already knew who you are."
"Stand up… I… I am not the demon queen anymore." She nods and said.
The expression of Moon Fang didn't change but a determined look on his face appears.
"For me, you are still the demon queen."
"You knew that I was the one who led the demons in this continent, right? I was the cause of this invasion… Even though you are a part-demon, but still…"
"My queen… In my dreams, this is not so. I saw you convincing the demon generals to just find shelter in the northern part of this land." Moon Fang interrupted.
Moon Fang has a special trait, this came from his mother which is a member of the fox race. The fox race has the ability to shapeshift and some of them are gifted with the foresight of their own future.
When she heard him, an astonished expression appears on Agnes' face.
"How… How did you know that? That was a few months ago before the revolt."
Moon Fang just smiles.
"I… I tried to convince the other demons to stop this war. Although we are winning, many of our demonkind are still dying. I cannot take the loss anymore and decided to just retreat. I was planning to talk to the beast clan leader for a truce. However, it was all a trap. I was set up by my own general… and everything ended this way." She explained.
"Sigh… I think they thought that you have become soft my queen. No matter what at the end of the day a demon is still a demon. They will live through carnage and bloodshed. However, since you are half-human and were only demonized then you still have a trace of compassion within you." Moon Fang said.
"You mean there is no hope at all?" Agnes said with a sad expression.
Moon Fang just shook his head.
"I know you wanted to make peace. But unless the demons could change their way or find their place, their own land, there is no stopping this war." Shin Jiao said.
Silence engulfs the three as the truth of the matter is very obvious now.
"I… I can't believe that there is no other way. I will find the way." Suddenly Agnes broke the silence and suddenly said with determination.
…
After a day of rest, she was able to recover from her wounds and also her mana.
This time, the group sets out towards the other side of the bridge. Many of the beast-men and cultivators also go with Shin Jiao and Agnes. They too wanted to join the war to stop the demons from advancing.
Moon Fang didn't go with them as he went back to the city of Glow along with the other leaders and their soldiers.
However, there are some who decided to build a temporary outpost in this place to guard the bridge from those who would try to cross it especially demons.
As they cross the bridge, Shin Jiao tried to look at the deep and seemingly endless abyss of the ravine and felt a bit uncomfortable.
When he looked down, he felt like something or someone is looking back at him. This made the hair on his body stood on end.
And so a large number of people crossed the bridge.
When the figure of Shin Jiao and Agnes appear on the other side of the natural long bridge, four people greeted them.
Kie Jo, Jinyu Ji, Wuji Jiao, and Ming Si actually waited for them for this long at the other side. And upon seeing the two along with many others a joyful expression appear on their faces.
"Master Shin and Big sister Agnes!" little Jinyu Ji shouted as he ran towards them.
As they once again reunited the six people continue their journey towards the front line.
Right at this time, Shin Jiao suddenly felt the pill in his pocket having a reaction. The pill which holds the soul of Hun Jingan seems agitated. Shin Jiao knew that the pill could not exhibit any action due to the lack of death Qi in the air, but the reaction of the pill made Shin Jiao realized that there is something wrong with it.
So, he controlled the natural energy from his mind dantian and created a dark purple mist surrounding the pill.
"What is wrong? You seem agitated…"
"Master… there is a thick death Qi ahead of us within the horizon. Even though it is still far away from where we are, I can already feel the many souls in that place." When Shin Jiao heard his words, he can't help but turn his gaze towards the northern direction.
And true to what Hun Jingan is saying, in the far horizon a thick smoke covers the sky. And the chill of the death Qi made Shin Jiao and his companions back tingle with a slight feeling of fear deep within their hearts.
Although the distance is still hundreds to almost a thousand kilometer, because of the size of the planet, they can already see many tiny black clouds of smoke rising through the air.
"Sigh… I guess we are really going to the war front now."