Chapter 131 An Unexpected Turn

"I know you've been eyeing my position for quite some time now, but to think that you'd sacrifice the lives of innocent villagers just to get what you want. You can't even be considered human." Gabriel said.

"Oh please, you know I've always wanted this to happen, it was your lack of foresight that caused this, village chief," Aenon responded.

"You can't defeat me." Gabriel continued, commanding the phoenix and his phantom tigers to attack. But before he could do so, Aenon pointed his fingers atop the hill.

And at that point, Gabriel knew that he had already lost.

Atop the hill, where their house is comfortably located, were a couple of villagers on the side of Aenon. They've used the commotion to sneakily come to his place and abduct his wife, tying her on a pole for everyone to see.

It was a misjudgment on his part. The moment he saw some of the villagers get killed he lost his level-headedness and jumped into the fray, totally forgetting that he has a wife he had to protect. The only person he could blame was himself, he has gotten soft, and he had not anticipated that his subordinates would resort to such underhanded tactics.

"Fine, it's my loss," Gabriel said, putting his hand up as a sign of surrender. "You can have my position as a village chief. In return, set my wife free."

"And what's in it for me? How about you give me all of your summons, and then we can start talking." Aenon continued. "You know how easy it is to do something like that, right?"

"Fine, but how do I guarantee that you'll release my wife," Gabriel asked. "How do I guarantee that you won't stab me in the back again? Don't misunderstand, I know what you're capable of after killing all those innocent villagers. Don't play games with me."

With a tense expression on his face, Gabriel gathered all his summons and put them on hold, waiting for Aenon to say something in response.

But to his surprise, Aenon just chuckled while wearing a smirk on his face. He extended one of his hands and grabbed his face with the other as if to mock Gabriel with every essence of his being. His eyes were filled with mockery and contempt. "Oh, village chief, do you think you're in the position to give your terms of the deal? This is a command. If you don't give me your summons, then I'll kill your wife in front of you and kill you. And if you want to fight all of us, know that you can't overpower all of us, and we'll kill your wife. Either way, the position of the village chief is mine! Hahha!"

As much as Gabriel hated to admit it, what Aenon said was true, they have him cornered...

or do they?

For years, Gabriel had been eyeing a beast on the Valley of Hilgathyurim, a beast so powerful that he was revered as the leader of a colony of beasts there. He had been observing him for a time now and a few months ago, he decided to fight against him, bringing him into subjection by the skin of the teeth. This beast goes by the name Toruk Makto, for some odd reason, but he decided to name it the Commander. It was twice the size of his phoenix and because it was his most recent summon, no one knows about it yet. Even he hasn't told his wife about it because she would certainly berate him for putting his life on the line for a mere summon.

'I guess today is his unexpected debut.' Gabriel said to himself.

After muttering a few phrases, Gabriel finally gave all his summons to Aenon, who happily accepted them. He then grabbed that window of opportunity to summon the Commander and fly straight to his wife. Needless to say, the Commander is the apex predator in that forest. No one can hunt nor hurt it.

But...

There was only much it could do against the evilness and the conniving nature of people.

Gabriel and the Commander were late by a split second. Before he could even touch his wife, someone drove a stake through her heart.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!"

.....

Back to the present,

No one knows how many years Gabriel had been sleeping but when he woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar place as a summon of someone or something. He has no idea what happened to him since his body had been replaced with some sort of smoky material. And in his mind, there was a constant order that he should kill every human that enters the Gate.

Due to the incident that happened before he died. He still harbored great hatred towards the entire human race as a whole. That's why he found it convenient that something in his head was commanding him to hunt every human on sight. He never felt any happier.

But when he fought with Satoshi who placed the well-being of others first before his safety, he realized that he had long forgotten the very person he once was. And in time, he turned into someone that he absolutely abhorred. 'Wait, aren't I acting like Aenon and the others? For the sake of my own gains, I attacked innocent people?'

That realization hit him like a truck and the sentiment only came to his mind when Satoshi was about to kill him. There was still a chance for him to summon the Commander and end everything once and for all... but he knew that doing more than what he'd already done will just plague his conscience even more. That's why, as Satoshi inched closer and closer to him, he smiled and resigned, fully accepting the death sentence that Satoshi placed on his head.

"I... I'm glad that I get to die... on your hands, summoner." Gabriel said with warmth in his voice. "You've reminded me of my young self, and you made me realize something I had long forgotten."

[Satoshi, wait a minute] Dex suddenly appeared out of nowhere, causing Satoshi to abruptly stop his attack. He was already aiming for a finishing blow when Dex seemed to have a better idea in mind.

Satoshi was this close to going in for the kill, but the words of Dex and his sudden appearance shocked him and he lost his momentum. He stopped short, wondering why Dex suddenly stopped him from his attack.

"What is it, Dex?" Satoshi asked, his focus still on the Summoner that fell on the ground. For some reason, he didn't try to get up at all. He just lay there, sighing.

[That Summoner... it is a Summon as well! Try using your superpower on him] Dex suggested. [You've defeated him anyway, there's no way he'll resist. He has already accepted his death by your hands, Satoshi.]

Putting his hand on his chin, Satoshi thought why Dex suggested such a thing. As much as he knows, behind the smoke-like body of the summoner lies a human who holds great animosity towards his death or something along those lines. He was dumbfounded, there was no way he could use his blue flames on a person. And if it were to work, that would be even worse.

"Do it, I want to be free of this bondage, summoner," Gabriel said. Deep inside he was crying as he now tried to resist the voice in his head. He didn't want to kill another human because it just reminded him of the betrayal that happened to him... and more so the untimely death of his wife.

Satoshi turned around, realizing that the other summons of the Summoner didn't make a move anymore. Even his summons stopped moving as well since he didn't give them any command anymore. He sighed. "Is this what you really wanted?" Satoshi continued, asking such a vague question.

"I don't know... but whatever it is that you want to do, then do it... I think... It is a thousand times better compared to my state right now. You've defeated me, and for that, you have my life to use." Gabriel continued.

"I understand."

Once again, Satoshi started doing his weird dance while summoning the blue flames on his palms. Somehow, he felt even more powerful than before and his flames were a tad bigger compared to the past. Little did he know, his intent had reached all his summons and they in turn imparted in him more energy than usual. Even Sera, who was the best support type in the group, was buffing Satoshi over and over while he do his ritual. Satoshi didn't notice any of those things, however, the only thing he noticed was his slightly larger flames.

"Here we go," He gulped, sending the flames to the summoner.

Fwuooooom~~~

"AARGHHHHHH!!!" Suddenly, Gabriel started screaming as his body squirmed and violently thrashed in pain.

"Oh no, anyway," Satoshi muttered. He was shocked at first but he knew there was nothing he could do about his blue flames since he had already fired them.

One second, the summoner was there, the next second, he disappeared, and only his robe was left fluttering right above the ground.