BXBX NOVEL Chapter 143: Game of Chess
Chapter 143: Game of Chess
There wasn't any time to be wasted.
At first, he thought about getting a carriage, as they were usually faster than just running, but they had to go rather slowly due to the narrow streets and heavy traffic.
Thus, he decided on just running.
There was some distance to the market place. A distance that seemed unreasonably long, but he knew he had to make it there as quickly as possible.
'I didn't know this would happen, cursed!'
Adam clicked his tongue and felt like he should've done something after seeing Loya, the demoness incarnation, back then, but he thought that she was just an innocent victim of all of that.
The timeline had now changed.
Last time, she became controlled by the demoness during the year 2151. It took her another seven years till she was able to swallow the sun.
Now, the Dark God was saying that it would happen today if he didn't stop her.
So, something happened back then that stopped her from swallowing the sun. Perhaps someone stopped her, which caused her to delay plans for another seven years.
'I don't want that darkness to return. Those years were horrible.'
Adam gritted his teeth and pushed through the crowd. The crowd almost fought back, not wanting to move an inch, but eventually he managed to push through and continue his way down the cobblestone streets.
'Back then, King Moriarty restored the sun. What was He saying that it cannot be restored? Could it be that the King didn't restore the sun after all? But the sun clearly returned with all of its warmth and light.
'Strange...'
After a short while, he arrived at the market place. He was looking around frantically, wondering what alleyway he took before.
He had slight difficulties remembering the way to that fire-destroyed building.
At that moment, Adam halted as soon as he went past an alleyway that somewhat looked familiar. Then he ran inside the alleyway, navigated through the maze of narrow paths, and finally arrived at the hidden part of the city.
There, tucked away in the shadow, a smoldering, destroyed building stood crumbled with yellow tape circling around it.
However, on the other side of the yellow tape, at the front of the broken house, a naked, ash- covered woman was crouching, drawing something on the ground with her bloody fingers.
She drew an eight-pointed star with demonic symbols surrounding it, muttering incantations under her breath.
At that moment, Adam saw five figures tied on five broken, charred pillars, their mouths covered with cloth, their eyes wide with fear.
A blood ran down their arms-Loya used their blood to draw the strange symbol on the cobblestone ground.
Adam slowly drew his sword and approached her, keeping his footsteps silent on the dusty ground.
As soon as the family of five saw him approach, their eyes lit up with hope, and they wished they could shout for him to kill her.
Adam cut through the yellow tape with his sword and said, "Loya, it's time to stop."
Loya flinched and turned around to face Adam, her eyes filled with tears.
"I must do this!"
"No, you don't." Adam said. "Don't listen to that poisonous voice. She is lying to you."
Loya's tear-ridden face changed rapidly. Now, she looked like she was smirking through the tears.
"Oh, oh. I did not expect to meet another vessel today," she laughed. "Did Alastor tell you to stop me? A wise warning: don't listen to Him. He taught me how to lie."
Loya regained her focus, and her tears filled her eyes. She heard it all. She then looked at Adam with a wary, teary gaze.
"Y-you're a vessel of the Dark God?" She backed away from Adam. "D-don't come closer to me."
"Calm down, Loya," Adam said and sheathed his sword, then showed his empty hands. "I am unarmed."
Loya's face changed, and she shouted, "Don't listen to him. He is an evildoer, a servant of the evil, a vessel of the greatest plague the world has ever seen!"
The face changed back to normal.
Loya looked at Adam with suspicion.
"Please leave, or you'll force me to kill you as well."
"The ceremony you did in the basement," Adam pointed to the smoldering building. "It wasn't to summon the God. It was to summon the demoness in your head. You had a wrong
inscription."
"What?" Loya frowned.
"The light of God doesn't hurt. The demoness killed all of your friends just so that they can't expose her existence, so she can freely manipulate you as she wishes."
"He is lying!"
Loya looked troubled and then looked at him angrily.
"You don't even believe in God. You're non-believer!"
Adam softly nodded.
"I don't believe; that's true, but I believe that there is evil in the world, and I know one when I see it. That poisonous voice. That demoness. That's true evil."
"She promised me..." Loya breathed heavily, trying to hold back her tears. "That I can finally see Him..."
"You're a believer, are you not?" Adam looked straight at her. "Do you think this is what He wants?"
Loya's tears fell down her ash-clad body, washing away the dust and ash that had settled on her skin.
"No... He wouldn't want me to do this."
As soon as she said that, her expression changed drastically, and she pulled out her bone- hilted dagger from the ground and held it tightly in her trembling hand.
"Fine, I'll do it myself!" The demoness shouted. "This mortal shell shall break, and I will rise again in my true form!"
Adam drew his sword from the scabbard and clashed blades with the demoness. The dagger was very sturdy despite its size. They then circled each other and exchanged blows after blows, sparks flying as they fought fiercely in a dimly lit corner of the alley.
The family of five just watched, tears running down their cheeks.
"Die, mortal!" The demoness screamed like a hysterical monster and drove her dagger
towards the man's chest.
Adam parried it with the blunt side of his sword, and a white hue spread across his blade-he used his Kraft—then exchanged another series of blows with the demoness.
Slowly, Adam started pushing her back. She was struggling to maintain her ground as Loya's body was physically much weaker than his.
Then, with his free hand, he took his shield from his back and used Shield Charge, slamming right into her and sending her flying through the charred wall of the house.
The wall crumbled over her, burying her in a cloud of dust and debris.
A few seconds later, she jumped off the ground, coughing and sputtering. "You are nothing but a vessel of evil," the demoness said with a ridiculing tone. "Alastor is using you. When the time's right, he'll betray you, kill you, and take everything you hold
dear."
"You don't need to worry about me. I'm not foolish enough to get betrayed anymore. Never
again."
The demoness gritted her teeth and lunged at him, her eyes blazing with anger.
Adam blitzed past her dagger, then cut through her arms from elbow to wrist.
The arms, with one of them holding the dagger, fell to the ground, right at the center of the
demonic symbol on the ground.
"Nooo!" She screamed in pain.
Ignoring the pain somewhat, she ran after Adam and kicked her leg forward.
Adam brought his sword from down and cut through her thigh. The leg fell while the blood
gushed from the fresh wound. She fell on the ground on her knees.
"You don't understand!" She screamed. "You're just a pawn in a game of chess played by
Gods. You are nothing to them!"
Adam twirled his blade around and placed the tip of the blade against her chest-the heart
right behind the layer of flesh.
"I am not too bad at chess," Adam said and smiled. "I don't mind playing with them."
"Hahaha!" The demoness laughed. "You think you can outplay Alastor? He is a hundred steps
ahead of you. After all, he is the original Trickster God."
Adam just smiled. Didn't answer back. Then stabbed the blade through her chest, through the
heart, and out of the back.
She let out another painful scream before collapsing onto the ground.