[Once a jester and a joyful deity, scorned by all gods, the one known as ???? now sets its eye upon you and, moved by your sacrifice it is willing to lend you, its strength.]
As he was digesting what he had just read, he felt a hand on his shoulder.
It was Don.
Huge man gave him a cute smile and said:
"You guys should be tired, go sleep, I will watch for now"
Lily went to sleep, while sola was still not tired so he stayed.
"I heard you lost your arm saving Seroth and even wounded the creature"
Before sola could answer he added.
"You see, I have no mark, and I'm not fit to be a warrior. But seeing you young people fight, I will split a mountain if I have to."
Sola was saying something but the man still didn't give him any time to answer.
"My son was a warrior. He was around your age when he died. Monster attacked our town. It was worse than this—almost half of the town was torn apart by that devil."
Sola saw tears in don's eyes so he stayed silent for a bit.
"I am sorry to hear that old man"
After listening to Don share fun stories about him and his son, he decided to go to sleep.
Before reaching his bed, sola turned around to don and asked.
"What was his name?"
Don answered without looking around.
"Orrin"
Sola tried to sleep, lying down deep in thought when he heard a shout not too far away.
"It's coming! The monster is here! Everyone, wake up!"
After only few seconds a loud horn sounded.
They retreated with everyone else and headed for the cave entrance, where everyone was standing.
Before they could reach them, however the vile creature attacked their team.
Looking behind, Sola saw Don, who stayed behind to stall the creature when it got close. Warriors were already rushing from the cave entrance to help him, so Sola figured that was where the fight would happen and there was no point in running anymore.
Don was blocking the claws with his heavy shield, but before anyone could arrive, his lifeless body which refused to give up, fell down.
Sola's chest ached at the sight.
Lily was standing right next to him, as were the other soldiers as well.
Battle raged on.
The beast showed no mercy, tearing through soldier after soldier as they attacked from every side. It looked grim for the defenders, hope was slipping. Then, a sharp battle cry pierced the chaos.
It was Seroth.
"Prioritize the left side!" he shouted. "There's a wound there!"
Sola, rushing toward the monster, locked eyes with it. And in that instant, the beast seemed to forget everyone else. It charged killing anything in its path straight toward him.
But Seroth stood between them.
With the help of a few others, he managed to hold it back. He even landed a few solid cuts, but it was clear—he was losing ground. The next blow might be his last.
Something stirred within Sola. A heat surged through his veins, his chest rising with strength unfamiliar and terrifying. Blood streamed down from the mark on his forehead, blurring half his vision. But all he felt was raw, uncontrollable wrath.
His hands trembled, not with fear, but fury. His voice broke loose into a scream aimed at the beast, desperate to draw its attention.
And then, he heard it:
[Your mark has been Awakened]
He could think of nothing else only hatred. Hatred for everything, but most of all, for the beast.
The wrath inside him was indescribable. He lunged forward, faster than he'd ever moved fast enough to stun the beast for a moment.
His axe found its mark again and again, carving into the monster's hide. But the battle was not one sided he was wounded too. He didn't care. He couldn't feel it. The only thing that mattered was seeing the beast dead at his feet.
Sidestepping its claws, he aimed to strike again but was forced to abandon the attack as the creature snapped its jaws at him. It raged, flailing wildly. No one could get near, it was too dangerous.
Only Sola stood close, too close.
His eyes burned with fury, his headband long lost in the chaos. Blood and dirt clung to his skin. In that moment, he looked less like a boy and more like a devil.
'I'll kill you. I'll rip out your guts, you worthless thing. Come! Let me kill you!'
But his strikes weren't deep enough.
And then… it happened.
All it took was a single misstep. The monster lunged, fast and violent. There was no time to dodge.
Life flashed before his eyes.
'I won't die. Not until I've killed you, you ugly bastard.'
But thoughts couldn't stop what was coming.
The claws were only seconds away from tearing him apart
Until all he saw was a flash of silken, golden hair.
It was Lily.
She had stepped in front of him.
The claws plunged deep into her, tearing through her back and emerging from her chest just barely grazing Sola.
Everything fell silent. Even the monster paused, as if stunned by what had just occurred.
Then, her voice shaky but calm:
"Don't look at me like that Sola, we both knew only one would return from the duel"
The monster was pulling back the claws while it abruptly stopped.
In the next moment there was an axe deep withing its skull splitting its head in two, it was Sola who threw It but he had no memory of it, everything went black after he heard lily's voice.
Lilly who had her armes still opened fell on sola embracing him. Barely standing himself, he looked down.
Lily was looking up her eyes full of tears he was grasping for air but she could not breath in properly.
"Healer, we need healer here fast please somebody save her"
He was shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Please I don't want to die, please help me please I don't want to die please do something"
She was barely talking while shivering and hugging sola desperately.
"Let's live here together, it's not so bad, is it?"
"Please sola I don't want to die"
Lights were leaving her eyes.
Sola grabbed her even tighter, his hand covered in her blood.
"No... no Lilly please no hold on for a bit healers are coming you will be okay"
He was crying his eyes out stuttering on every word.
She grabbed her hand and rubbed it on his cheeks.
"You are going to live and we will live here together just stay with me, okay?"
There was no answer from her.
She was already gone.
Her hand swayed and dropped.
There were dozens of soldiers looking at the boy on his knees crying and screaming for help.
High above, clouds were forming a huge symbol of the mark Sola had on his forehead.
The boy in front of them was covered in blood, next to him laid the corpse of the monster its head split open by an axe, rivers of blood flowing from it.
Bit far away there was a huge bearded man laying on the snow long dead, there was a huge smile plastered all over his face.
[You have won the duel]
(End of the prologue)
(Devils never cry)