AM I THE DEVIL?

Arthur had saddled his horse and had already started his journey. He had packed a few things in his sack bag containing food and a few clothes he'd be wearing to disguise himself.

He was once a knight, disguising himself as one now was not a problem, and besides it had already been ten years since he left the palace. Back then not many people in the palace knew him as he was almost always only around either Andrew or Anna. And he loved to hide his aura all the time so people barely noticed him.

Sometimes it was even hard for Andrew to tell when he was around.

Blending in with the knights in the palace was not going to be a problem. He just had to be extra careful. If caught, that could be the end of him. It wasn't a problem if he was in danger but it might implicate Anna, as his sudden presence might give a hint that Anna was still alive.

This was the first thing he was doing for Anna, he never wanted to mess it up.

Nate and Lucian had arrived at the field this early morning feeling rather tired, though they had just started the day. They had worn the weighted sack bags around their waist from Lucian's Home to the field with Nate cursing Arthur half the journey.

Puffing and panting Nate pouted as he spoke.

"Little god, I have always known Arthur was wicked. I just didn't know what level it was but now I think I know..."

"Hahaha... Really? What level is it?"

"The level to which he can make a handsome boy like me die at age eleven..." Nate bellowed

Lucian chuckled.

"You never spare a chance to praise yourself, do you?..."

"Of course not! The world needs to know am handsome. Also, since you can't see my appearance, I need to let you know that am more handsome than you so you don't get the facts wrong..." Nate said while smiling

"Really! I can't believe am that ugly if am being compared to you..." Lucian said as he narrowed his eyes and chuckled.

"...."

"Little god, could you be any less mean... I am very handsome okay!..." Nate said and pouted while Lucian burst into Laughter.

Raphael was speechless. How come he was compared to Nate? He was certainly not that narcissistic right?

The boys placed on their blindfolds and began their training. The weight sack bags they had around their waist were twice as heavy just as Arthur had said and it slowed their movement greatly. They ran a few laps in it in the woods and repeatedly practiced a few martial arts moves Arthur had taught them. Their physic had improved and they had also learned a little from Arthur about how to channel their qi into their body parts.

Currently, they had only learned how to harness the qi in them which was the first stage. They had yet to learn the second, third, and fourth. The fourth stage was the hardest and technically no one has been able to reach that stage. It was said that at this stage one automatically becomes a superhuman.

Nate and Lucian were currently still harnessing their qi which had made them much better. Their performance for an early first-stage qi was almost equivalent to a normal person entering the second stage.

After training for a while they stopped to rest a little and eat while Nate complained about how tired he was, though he wasn't really.

"Hey! Little god how about we go roam the woods for a while, it's been a long time since we did that..." Nate suggested when they were done eating.

"Arthur said no slacking off..." Lucian said causing Nate's energetic spirit to dampen

"Are we honestly following that? "

"No, let's go roam the woods..." Lucian said causing Nate to chuckle. They safely packed and kept their stuff under a tree and dashed into the woods. Nate especially looked so excited.

They had not walked too long before they both suddenly stopped, each sensing something strange.

'Lucian there's a fierce beast...'

Before Raphael could continue what he wanted to say, they heard screams that sounded like it was coming from a group of teenagers on the other side of the woods.

Looking confused, they both rushed to the scene.

As their senses improved, they were able to tell where the screams were coming from.

Before them, were a group of freaked-out teenagers, the same teenagers they met training at the town's field. They were scattered and the majority of them seemed to be running from something. It looked like they had come out for beast hunting with their teacher, and encountered something fierce.

In front of the teenagers, was what looked like a gigantic serpent.

It had crystalline greenish scales that sparkled beautifully with the sun's rays. The scales on either side of its body had sharp spikes jutting out of it. It had unusually long fangs and two small horns on its head. It was so long and Lucian and Nate could not make out the end of its tail.

Overall the beast looked scary and very angry as it kept spilling a thick slimy greenish fluid that had already engulfed about four of the teenagers. Despite its size, it was very agile giving the kids a hard time escaping as it kept wagging some of them off with its tail. Their teacher Kendrick, who had brought them looked so pale and frightened as he shouted calling out to the students to run.

"Kids! Do not panic. Just run! " He said as he also took off with a few of the kids running after him. One of them was Roland who looked so panic-stricken as he also took off pushing a kid aside to make his way forward.

Lucian and Nate stood at a distance, totally stunned. Some of the kids they were watching just stood completely paralyzed from fear causing the serpent to easily engulf them in its slimy fluid.

'Lucian! You and Nate must leave now. This is a high-level beast and you can't face it...' Raphael said in Lucian's head as he wondered what a high-level beast like the diamond-scaled python was doing in a forest like this one.

Lucian held Nate and was about to run as per Raphael's order but stopped when he saw a familiar soul being engulfed by the slimy fluid, he recognized the soul in an instant.

It was Diana's brother. He had forgotten his name but he recognized the soul. Nate followed Lucian's gaze and widened his eyes when he also saw the person being engulfed.

"Lucian, that is Diana's brother! " Nate said out loud, panicked at how the teenagers like him were going to die.

Not knowing what to do, they both shouted to alert the teacher who was running as he was not too far from the scene.

"Sir your students! They are stuck in the slimy thing..." Nate and Lucian called out to Kendrick. It was then that Kendrick realized the two boys he despised were also there. He cursed at them in his head, were they trying to make him look bad? Of course, he knew that some of the kids had been caught in that slimy fluid.

And he had checked, the Mayor's son and the kids he knew were from influential families in the town, were with him. The rest was not important. He wouldn't risk his life for a couple of kids that were not important. Not like he could fight that fierce beast anyway. Playing hero was not his thing.