ushernet Chapter 209: The Shadow of Igniel
Chapter 209: The Shadow of Igniel
His gaze subtly crossed with Priscilla's, analyzing the gleam in her eyes beneath the edge of her dark cloak, and then locked back onto William.
Ryan raised his right gloved hand, holding the rough fabric of the brown scarf that covered his face almost completely.
"The SS rank is when you are the most compatible for the deity to take over your body."
Ryan let the words out in a direct manner, watching how the white vapor of his breath mixed with the cold air.
"It does not surprise me that you hide your rank, but. When exactly did you realize that?" Ryan asked in an extremely calm tone, without showing a single drop of surprise.
Priscilla looked at him with evident curiosity from her position right next to the hero.
Her delicate features reflected an enormous amazement, since probably not many heroes were aware of that harsh reality.
The dark secret that the church carries with it in the deepest part of its immaculate territories.
They carry out that vile assimilation process to manipulate all of humanity using the very rules imposed on the world.
They take the strongest human existences on the continent, steal their free will, and use them as simple vessels of divine flesh.
Then, William did not respond immediately to the fugitive's cold question.
He lowered his hands to his sides, losing all the relaxed and haughty posture he had maintained upon arriving enveloped in steam at the plaza.
He clenched his fists with so much force that his knuckles cracked, and he responded in a direct manner, looking down at the stones on the ground.
"It was five years ago, when I fought with the Infernal Igniel." William said, suddenly darkening the tone of his voice.
"In the territory of Demon King Rohan."
After responding, he slowly brought a hand up to the level of his chest covered by fine clothing.
He closed it firmly near his heart, as if he were trying to suffocate a very ancient pain, and he fixed his green eyes on his own fist.
"Igniel killed all of my comrades. Despite being an Infernal, his power probably far surpasses that of anyone you have ever seen in your entire life."
The blonde hero assured him, remembering the unreachable silhouette of his enemy standing over the demonic continent.
"That man is a true prodigy among his race. It would not surprise me if at any moment he becomes the new demon king."
William took a long pause, swallowing hard.
He let the constant sound of the waves crashing against the docks in the distance fill the tense silence of the empty street.
The red-haired girl remained observing William's profile, weakly illuminated by the nearby streetlamps.
Her expression softened completely, looking at him with pure empathy, as if understanding his repressed pain to perfection.
Then Ryan brought his hand to his chin. He rubbed his jaw slowly as if thinking about the development of the narrated events. His analytical mind did not stop to feel pity for the dead; he was only looking to extract the combat data behind that anecdote.
And he asked.
"According to what you are proposing, he could have killed you with ease."
Ryan looked him directly in the eyes with total coldness, tilting his face a little.
"Then why are you still alive?"
William sighed heavily, letting his shoulders drop and suddenly losing all of his imposing heroic bearing.
He showed in his wrinkled expression that he did not like remembering that traumatic moment of his past on the frontlines in the absolute slightest. During that bloody battle, William, being an S-rank, had to face an entire squad of armed monsters.
They were large, elite sentinels who served under the direct command of Igniel on the enemy lines. And together with his experienced companions, they managed to finish off the majority of them.
The balance of the combat was completely in their favor; victory seemed like an immovable fact on that desolate battlefield.
But when Igniel arrived walking into the zone with total tranquility, the advantageous situation changed abruptly. The enormous pressure of his simple presence completely nullified their hopes; they had absolutely nothing they could do against the monstrous power digits of that demon.
William's companions were all captured alive in the blink of an eye, completely unable to defend themselves from the rapid attacks.
They were violently immobilized and mercilessly tortured. Two S-rank mages and three A-rank warriors, screaming, crying, and bleeding right in front of his very own eyes.
And they were tortured in a cruel manner while Igniel amused himself by fighting one-on-one against William.
The Infernal dodged his best spells with total boredom, showing him the clear and abysmal difference in power...
After telling all of that to Ryan. William positioned himself half-turned in the plaza, looking away from him to stare into the darkness of an alley.
He clenched his fist once again in front of his face, closing his eyes tightly as he kept remembering more disturbing details of that moment of sheer impotence.
"It was when they attempted to kill my companions. That I completely ignored Igniel, and I killed that demon's sentinels in a desperate attack." The blonde murmured, gritting his teeth with a burning fury.
The mana absorbed from the fallen enemies filled him with an immense amount of experience all at once.
"That was where I reached the SS rank."
William opened his eyes, remembering the sensation of the new power boiling through all his veins upon breaking the system's barrier.
"For Igniel that was fascinating, or at least that is what he said. I can still remember his cynical gaze watching me assimilate the level."
The demon smiled at him from a distance, applauding his sudden growth in the middle of the massacre as if watching a good show.
"However, in the blink of an eye he finished off all of my companions..." He added.
'With all the power he has now being an SS-rank, he couldn't do anything against a single demon?'
Ryan thought, analyzing his story in a logical manner and evaluating the true threat level of Demon King Rohan's continent.
If William had become one of the top human heroes and even so his strongest attacks were treated like a simple game.
He was realizing the clear limitations of his current power.
"Then, I assume it was Igniel who told you that you would be possessed by the deity, isn't that right?" Ryan asked.
William nodded his head slowly, proving him right immediately.
"Yes, that is exactly what that bastard told me after leaving me on the verge of death. He let me live as a whim, and he told me that."
William swallowed hard, reliving the worst possible humiliation of being spared out of simple and pure enemy curiosity.
"I suppose he was trying to see what I would do with that information to ruin my own nation from the inside. Even though I didn't believe it at first, and I had to investigate in secret, hiding my new rank from the world so as not to be called in by the church."
William took a step forward, slightly shortening the distance separating him from Ryan on the cobblestone street.
His green eyes locked onto the fugitive with an extremely dark and latent warning.
"Did you know that there are currently SS-rank heroes already possessed by the deity?"