DILEmma

The moment he reappeared at the place he had caught the arrow earlier and didn't smell the Gerald,Ren felt his skin crawl.

He didn't know why he still stood at the same spot,his eyes searching through the demons and savages present for any sign of him, holding on to any glimpse of hope the knight was still close by.

But deep down, Ren knew,he could never be mislead by his nose,the Emperor's knight had left the place.

"General Rengyotsu!"a voice called out.

Ren spun in the other direction to see General Fushin who was busy healing some knights some distance away from where he stood.

He didn't respond but looked away almost immediately as their eyes met.

"Do you seek the Emperor's knight?"

At that Ren faced him immediately, locking eyes and awaiting his next words.

"He's not here,left not too long ago in search of his imperial majesty"

Ren's gaze fell to the forest floor as he balled up a fist.

He had one last place to look before his hopes of finding the Knight shattered.

If Gerald wasn't waiting at the last place he had in mind to look for him,he would be devastated.

The forest was enormous,even with his heightened sense of smell and soul sight, locating the knight within a short time would be close to impossible.

Rengyotsu teleported to the part of the forest he had fought alongside the emperor before he had left to guard the horses to find a bloody mess of dead demons,the Emperor's men and savages,the multiple of the beasts being some distance away from the dead Semonios.

The Emperor's men had their heads separated from their bodies

The stench of fresh blood mingled with the evening air in the atmosphere did a good job in preventing him from perceiving the scent of any particular scent he wanted to.

All he could smell was fresh blood,savage corpses and the faint smell of the Semonios he had seen earlier.

Ren held his breath as he flew around the dead corpses.

The moonlight above properly illuminated his below, allowing him to get a good view of the forest floor.

Luckily, Gerald wasn't among them.

Ren heaved a relieving sigh and descended, standing on a dead savage and scanning the area.

The scent of blood lingering in the air was fresh that meant a battle had went down not too long ago.

His eyes caught sight of a demon coughing few paces away from where he stood.

Drawing closer,from the design on the remnants armour and the emblem embedded on it,he could tell he was a general from Edor,an older demon, judging by his grey blood bathed hair.

He teleported to where he was, crouched low then gently lifted his torso up.

The general opened his mouth to speak, but ended up projecting only blood from his open mouth.

"Don't move!"Ren ordered, placing a hand on the General's injured chest in an attempt to heal him.

"No...my lord..I won't last much longer... it...is...too late...for me.You must save the living while there is still time".

Ren eyed him briefly then looked away.

He could still heal him as long as he still lived but the general was right.

Time wouldn't permit his generous attempt.

He had to find Gerald.

Ren dropped him and stood to his feet, watching him cough up more blood with eyes widened,staring into yonder.

The same place he would soon depart to,to join the rest of his fallen companions.

Ren backed him and closed his eyes, bitting his lips.

He had no choice,besides he owed him nothing.

General Ren faded into the darkness to reappear deeper in the woods in search of Gerald.

*************************************

"And where do you think you're going?"

General Fushin yelled at Chief Knight Zero who had a hand holding tightly on his chest as he tried to stand.

"I saw the Scarlet prince, he's searching for Gerald isn't he?...he might be in danger ,I have to help him"

"In this state I am sure you would be savage food before you go any further from here".

Zero shook his head as he gently removed the cuirass of his armour exposing his bare injured chest.

"Or maybe the cold hands of the evening wind would have you before those beasts do...you know I purposely put that back on you after healing you....Your body is yet to perfectly repair itself you ought not move in that grave condition....it will only be another bother if something bad caught up to you!".

Zero arched a dark brow, eying him briefly with displeasure written all over his face as he staggered to his feet then slowly turned in the other direction, his hips swinging side ways as he took one gentle step before the other.

"Curse you Gerald!...I told you not to leave the emperor's side,you read the letter dammit!"he spat out in fraustration.

General Fushin watched him disappear through the trees into the woods.

Having walked a few paces from the lot,Zero paused to catch his breath.

He couldn't understand why but he felt so weak and dizzy and although his injures were healed on the outside,he still felt a lot of pain from it.

He knew he wasn't completely healed, even as he walked he could barely full visualize what stood Infront of him yet he didn't know why he kept going.

At intervals he stopped and held onto a tree in his path to catch his breath, panting heavily as he did.

Zero heard a loud growl up close and stopped by a tree,his pointed ears twitching to localize the sound.

When he did,he immediately took a solid stance,flexed one knee with arms stretched Infront of him in the direction of the growl to summon a magic circle.

A thin wall of earth arouse from the ground to surround the beast,caging it a few paces away from him.

Zero stood up right and took two steps forward.

"I don't have time for yyyoo..."

His words didn't complete before he closed his eyes to the darkness,his whole body went limp.

He crashed to the ground landing with a loud thud.