The Rising of the Scythe Hero

The moment the fight ended, I felt the full spectrum of those "pleasant" sensations you get when you push your body way past its limits. Blasting Qi through myself wasn't just exhausting — I was straight-up forcing the impossible. And the price for that? Yeah, not exactly enjoyable.

"Kh…"

I immediately dropped to one knee, barely able to bear the wave of agony crashing down on me. And this… was only the beginning.

"S-sir… Hero…"

"Huh?" I turned toward the voice.

That woman… she was still alive.

"Grey… he… did something bad…" The words barely made it out of her mouth, so quiet most people probably wouldn't even catch them. "He… made a deal with someone…"

Made a deal… with someone?

"What do you… want from me?"

"Please…" Her eyes were clouding over. "Punish… them…" — before they glazed over completely.

…

She was gone now. Died with her hand still reaching for her husband… who'd been long dead. And even now, it wasn't his hand that killed her, but a monster's. Still… I was grateful.

She saved me. I honestly don't know if I would've survived that strike otherwise. And… there's this weird feeling gnawing at me. Like something inside me changed… but I can't tell what exactly.

Anyway, that wasn't my top priority right now.

Dragging my feet, I kept stubbornly moving toward Night. I could feel it — she was still alive. But not for long.

Her life was draining from her with every second. She was dying. The poison was eating her from the inside.

"Master…" Night barely opened her eyes.

"Don't talk. You're not dying.

And neither am I. At least, I really hope not…

I knew how to save her. And if I had to, I'd do anything for that.

All I had to do… was stir up my Qi again. Not as recklessly as I did before — much softer. I just had to hold on a little longer.

I finally reached my little bird and knelt down beside her, gently touching her wing.

First thing, I poured the strongest antidotes I had into her and over her. That should help ease her condition… and buy me some time.

Now came the tricky part. I couldn't afford to screw this up.

"Portal… Scythe."

Light wrapped around us, so bright I instinctively squinted. And the next moment, we were standing by the Epoch of Dragons Clock inside Melromarc's church.

"What the…?!" two nuns gasped, startled by the sight of my battered self and a giant black bird.

"Bring me… the strongest holy water you've got." I slowly got to my feet, leaning my scythe against the floor to keep from collapsing again.

"What are you…" One of the nuns looked confused at first, but her face quickly twisted into a hateful scowl. "The church will never help a demon like you. Leave now before I…"

I wasn't in the mood to listen to that crap. And unfortunately for her, she was partly right.

"Ngh!"

The nun doubled over from a knee to the stomach, and I pressed the scythe's blade against her neck. A small trickle of blood slid down to the floor.

Then I turned to the other nun, who was still nervously darting her gaze around.

"Take us… to the water." My voice hardened all on its own. "And if you do anything stupid, I'll start cutting down everyone we meet on the way."

My eyes… started itching for some reason, and I think a notification popped into my head, but I wasn't paying attention. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Y-y-yes… P-please…" With stiff, wooden steps, she led me toward a nearby door. Or at least, she was about to, until she noticed I was heading in a completely different direction.

"Birdie…" I turned to Night, who was struggling to breathe. "You need to shift to your human form. I… can't carry you like this."

"O-okay…" She closed her eyes, and for about five seconds, she didn't move at all.

Then came the weakest "poof" I'd ever seen.

Without the feathers in the way, I could see the purplish blotches all over her skin. Some of them even looked like… ulcers.

"You did good."

I patted her head and, with one arm, lifted her, partially resting her on my elbow while hooking her arms around my neck. In her human form, Night was small and light as a feather, so carrying her didn't strain me much — I still had one free hand gripping my scythe, ready for anything.

"Lead the way."

The nun nodded nervously, and off we went.

I was sure the strong holy water would help. Because by now, I already understood what happened to Night and that woman's husband. Or rather… I knew what exactly was the root of all these problems.

The nun led us out of the clock room and through a side entrance into the neighboring building. Smart girl. She clearly understood I wasn't bluffing when I made that threat. I wasn't exactly in the most stable state of mind right now — I was ready to do whatever it took.

I'd knocked out the first nun and tied her up with whatever I could find, just to keep her from doing anything stupid. But even so… I perfectly understood I had a good chance of not leaving the church alive.

The teleportation skill could only be used once per hour. Any noise… could be fatal. There was no way I'd survive until the cooldown was over if I had to fight my way out.

Surprisingly enough, this nun turned out to be both obedient and… proactive. She carefully led us along side corridors so we didn't run into a single other church member. Either my threat got through to her… or… no, I'll think about that later.

We wandered for exactly 18 minutes. The teleport still had 42 minutes of cooldown left…

"H-here. This is the strongest holy water we have…"

We ended up in a room that looked kinda like a bathhouse. There were several shallow pools with water slowly trickling into them from holes in the walls.

Some of the pools were murky, some were clearer, but the nun pointed to the cleanest one — the water there even had a faint glow.

I froze, unsure.

"What exactly… am I supposed to do?"

"Huh?"

"She's poisoned." I nodded at Night. "What do I do to save her? Make her drink it? Bathe her?"

…

The nun hesitated for a second. First, she gave Night a complicated look. Then me. Then the girl again…

"…Give her one bottle to drink." Rummaging through a nearby chest, she pulled out a small glass bottle and started filling it herself. "After that, it'd be best to put her in the water. But only up to her neck."

I doubted there was a way holy water could hurt her, so I followed the instructions without wasting time.

Lifting Night's head gently, I slowly made her drink the water. In a way, she was both lucky and unlucky to still be conscious. Lucky — because she could actually drink… unlucky — because the poison was still in her system, eating her alive. It was obvious from the pain etched all over her face.

While I was giving Night the water, the nun came closer and reached toward her — which instantly made my hand with the scythe twitch.

"I want to help." The girl raised both hands in a peaceful gesture, most of her fear and anxiety already gone. "We need to take her clothes off. They'll only get in the way of the treatment."

"…Do it."

Why the hell am I this jumpy? So far, everything's going fine. And if the curse's concentration hasn't gone beyond the critical level… she should be okay.

That's what I kept telling myself while the nun undressed Night. But the moment I looked down… yeah, it was worse than I thought. Right before my eyes, a new purplish blotch crept across what used to be clean skin, and Night let out a faint, pained whimper.

"Now we need to move her. Help me." The nun gave me a slightly disapproving look. What the hell… where did this sudden confidence come from?

Just like she said, I carefully lowered Night into the pool, resting her head against the edge so that only her neck stayed above the water.

The moment she touched the water, Night let out a relieved sigh. Her face finally started to relax.

At the same time, I held my breath for a few more seconds… and then I relaxed too. For some reason, my gut told me this nun wasn't up to anything shady.

But… bad stuff was still bound to happen, because there was no more avoiding the inevitable.

"Ghh…"

I clutched my chest as a wave of pain shot through my whole body, like razor-sharp knives slicing me from the inside.

I didn't have the strength to stand anymore, so I just collapsed onto my side.

"What's happening to you?!" The nun rushed to me, placing her hand on my forehead. Her eyes widened so much, I thought they'd pop out of her skull. "H-how is this even…"

She started muttering something under her breath, her eyes full of confusion… and then, with a determined look, she began… undressing me too.

Well… I guess fate decided I was about to be a victim of some nun's inappropriate advances. If that's how I go… so be it.

She must've read that exact thought on my pain-twisted face, because she just rolled her eyes and didn't say a word.

Once she stripped me completely — and I simply have to mention how her gaze lingered on… well, the obvious place — she roughly dumped me into the same pool where Night was, then helped position me properly. I couldn't move a muscle, so the petite girl had to struggle to shift my heavy ass into place.

Oh, and she also cast some kind of healing spell on me. Guess she knew her way around magic too…

Honestly, I could've asked why she was even helping a "demon" like me, considering that's exactly what the other nun called me… but I didn't really feel like it.

If she had her reasons but wasn't going to share them right away, then I'd have every right to just forget about it later. I wouldn't consider myself indebted to someone who chose to help me of their own free will. Now, if she had stated her motives from the start — that would've been a different story…

So there we were, Night and I, soaking in holy water. My eyes kept wanting to close, but I forced myself to stay awake. Falling asleep was absolutely not an option.

I didn't even notice when exactly my teleportation skill finished its cooldown, but when I finally came to my senses – to my surprise – I could at least move again.

Funny thing, really. Holy water that heals demons… How priceless it would be to see that church girl's face if she found out I really was a demon. But for now, revealing that wasn't exactly a smart move.

Meanwhile, Night looked a lot better too. The dark purplish blotches now resembled light bruises rather than plague-like spots, which was definitely encouraging. She also stopped grimacing from pain every few seconds. Her breathing had evened out, and I could feel her Qi slowly stabilizing. At the moment, the little bird was peacefully snoring, regaining her strength.

In theory, that should've been the end of the treatment. We avoided the worst-case scenario. As I started to get up…

"Where do you think you're going?" the nun asked sternly, hands on her hips, glaring at me like some schoolteacher.

No, seriously… what the hell happened to her? Just a little while ago, she could barely string two words together from fear, and now she's standing there, all confident, lecturing me. Amazing…

"As far away from here as possible. Thanks for the help, but sticking around here any longer is too dangerous."

I wasn't a complete ungrateful bastard. I saw no problem in at least showing some basic gratitude. Same as ignoring a few… quirks… of my little benefactor.

"If you leave now, it might take you an entire month to recover."

I glanced at Night.

"That's fine. I can handle it myself…"

"No." She rolled her eyes again. "I'm talking about you." — and pointed her finger right at me.

What?

"I don't know what you did to yourself, but you only survived by sheer dumb luck. Your body's condition is so wrecked that even the strongest holy water couldn't heal everything at once." As she explained, her frown deepened, and her gaze grew increasingly disapproving…

What is wrong with this girl?!

"Okay, I can understand a lot, but… what is with you? You were acting completely different not long ago…"

"Pfft." She snorted. "I just got a little flustered at first. I'm actually one of the most promising sisters in the Church of the Three Heroes." She proudly crossed her arms under her chest and lifted her chin.

"Ohh." I put on my best impressed face. "And yet here you are, helping a Hero who doesn't even belong to that fancy trio. What are you, a heretic?"

"What? You're the heretic!" Eyes wide, she instantly reacted to my harmless provocation. She even switched to "you" real quick. But then, out of nowhere, her mood dropped. "Actually… it's a lot more complicated than you think… Not everyone agrees with the church's current politics."

Yeah. Their Pope is some kind of lunatic, right? Either he wants to become a god himself, or he already thinks he is… or something along those lines. I can't remember. Doesn't really matter. He shows up – he dies. Simple enough.

"Anyway… you better stay here for now." She shook her head, her expression returning to normal. "Very few people have access to this room. So chances are, no one's going to find you. By evening, both of you should be fine."

Hmm… If she wasn't lying, and I really would be severely weakened for a whole month… that would be, to put it mildly, bad. Especially with the next Wave of invasion less than a month away.

And in case we got discovered, I could always teleport both myself and Night out of here at any moment, so…

"Fine, have it your way. If you insist, I'll stay."

"I'm not insisting on anything! It's for your own good, not mine!" She pointed out fairly. But who cares?

She was kinda funny, so honestly, staying didn't sound like a terrible idea. At least I wouldn't be bored.