Making his way down the stairs, Theo was met by the other residents of the Orphanage, all children, eyeing him with contempt, fear and hesitation. He paused to look at the glares he was receiving by the other orphans, the sound of an angry mob just outside the house. There was a pause of silence as they listened.
"W-what happened t-to Dominique and Paul?" one of them – a boy of dark hair – seemed to gather enough courage to ask Theo. "W-we know t-they went up there with you!"
Theo just looked at the boy with a tilted head and blank expression, before saying "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to, boy," as he walked past the group of kids and towards the front door. 'You're gonna join them soon, anyways.'
Taking a deep breath, hand on the nob, Theo thought 'Well, here goes nothing,' before opening the door and exiting the beat up house that was the Orphanage. What awaited him was a mob of angry villagers, with pitchforks and torches.
When they saw that he had the galls to walk out the beat up house that was the Orphanage with a calm demeanor and a satchel over his shoulders as if he planned on fleeing, the mob of villagers quieted down, eyes wary but attentive of Theo's every mood. After all, being this calm in the face of such a crowd was unsettling. They weren't sure what kind of game Theo was playing.
Until he spoke, calm and clearly. "Can we talk about this like civilized people? Or do you intend to lynch me simply for existing? Is there no due process? Rule of law?"
His bold accusation sent an uncomfortable ripple through the crowd. Murmurs seemed to pass through them and even Chief Jacky seemed to eye Theo up and down warily, squinting, likely curious of his true intentions. Joshua stayed silent, eyeing the whole situation keenly.
"Don't heed the Devil Possessed 's blasphemy! His silver tongue is how he was able to convince my poor, sweet, innocent children to go to the forest with him where he executed them!" Ovisia's voice was like peppered honey to the mass of villagers, both riling them up and working them into a frenzy.
'Sweet? Innocent? We can't be talking about the same kids, can we, Bitch?' Theo thought internally, making a face, brow twitching.
"What about the children?" She continued to rile the crowd into a murderous frenzy, her voice coming over them like sweet nectar, but to Theo, it tasted like bitter poison. "You think my children would be the only victims he'll take if we let him live? Wake up! He's devil possessed! All our children are unsafe while he still draws breath!"
This seemed to re-spark the fire of the masses, causing the villagers to get even angrier somehow.
"She's right! My daughter — She must be protected!" a mother exclaimed in terror.
"My baby!" another moaned.
"We cannot let his blasphemy remain unpunished!" a man exclaimed.
"We need to kill him!" another said, as the crowd began taking steps forwards towards Theo.
"Go now, bring me his head!" Ovisia's voice was like the lighter to the straw on grass.
"Kill him! Kill the Devil Possessed!" the crowd began chanting, voices loud and reverberating around the village.
'Damn Whisperer and suggestion powers!' Theo thought, eyeing Ovisia even as she smirked maliciously. 'She knows I didn't kill her children — the bodies must've had claw marks on them, so it was guaranteed she figured it was a beast that killed them. She just wants someone to blame, and I'm the convenient choice. I'm gonna kill you, you stupid bitch!'
"Get him! Bring him to me dead or alive!" Suddenly, she thrusted her hand forward, and, like armies by the generals, the mob charged forward, intending to kill Theo.
Not all were awakened — Most were regular people., and the ones that were awakened were, max, at the level of either Primary Stage 4 or Apprentice Rank 4, depending on their choice of cultivation path. One would think that Theo would be able to handle them.
Sadly, Theo was only a primary Stage 1 warrior and an Apprentice Rank 1 mage — His physical stats were basically almost comparable to regular people. He was very much vulnerable to pitchforks and, yes, even fire.
Still, he intended to fight or go down fighting. Either way, he wouldn't fall too easily. Plus, he did have a plan —- He just needed to buy himself some time first.
The first villager had reached Theo, pitchfork raised, intending to stab Theo, but, thankfully, they weren't an awakened individual, so they weren't really a danger to Theo, who saw their movement with a higher perception. It was not necessarily slow,w but very much observable in Theo's eyes.
Activating Fenris claws, Theo repelled the attack, causing the villager to stagger backward as his pitchfork, now merely a spear, flew from his grip and fell to the ground a few feet away, pointy end first.
This caused the approaching villagers to pause in their advances. They hadn't expected Theo to be awakened nor did Ovisia, who was surprised by what she was seeing. Chief Jacky's expression remained unreadable, and Joshua merely raised a brow in mild interest.
"He's an awakened beast!" one of the trembling villagers said, seeing Theo's claws out and about.
"We can't let him continue to grow in power — He'd kill us all!" another said, igniting the villagers' rage.
"There's more of us than there is of him," another villager urged. "We can bring him down to his knees if we work together!"
"Right!" one agreed.
"Yes," voiced another.
"Together!" echoes a third.
Then they charged forward, torches and pitchforks at the ready. Theo tried to dodge and weave his way through pitchfork after pitchfork — He even managed to repel a few and shatter others.
However, he was outnumbered and a few awakened villagers made it past his defenses.
"Agh!" Theo grunted as a pitchfork stabbed him through the guts, the one responsible being an awakened older villager at the Primary Stage 3.
"Take that, you demon beast!" the villager guy said, venom in his voice.
Pain erupted in Theo's stomach, as he registered he was stabbed with a double-tipped, rusty black spear. It felt like someone drove two swords to his stomach and twisted them while inside him, and, considering the villager that stabbed him was currently twisting the rusty pitchfork lodged in his gut, it wasn't too far-fetched a feeling. It was so painful, Theo released a scream that seemed to echo from all across the village and the surrounding forest. Birds flew from trees in panic at the sound and many fauna in the forest retreated further away from the village and source of the startling scream.
[-1 Health]
[Injury Sustained! Primal Regen Active!]
[For every 5 seconds the body is injured, -1 Stamina will be used to sustain Primal Regen.]
[Stamina Consumed! -1 Stamina, +1 Health!]
"Not so tough now, are you, Devil Possessed?" the villager that stabbed Theo with the pitchfork taunted as he lifted Theo with the pitchfork almost effortlessly. "Yeah, you don't look so tough now…".
"Bring him to me," came Ovisia's voice from behind the crowd, as the villagers made a clear path for a mortally wounded Theo-on-a-pitchfork to be brought to her. The villager that had hefted Theo up did as the lady commanded, bringing a disgruntled Theo forward, down the path, to Lady Ovisia.
As they approached, Theo felt his blood pouring, healing and pouring some more, as his wounds were closing and opening, using stamina to heal, only to be ruptured once more with every step forward. He felt his stomach and intestines were gravely punctured and rearranged; plus he was certain some of his ribs were very much shattered. He was honestly surprised he was still conscious.
[-1 Health]
[Injury Sustained! Primal Regen Active!]
[For every 5 seconds the body is injured, -1 Stamina will be used to sustain Primal Regen.]
[Stamina Consumed! -1 Stamina, +1 Health!]
Reading the notification, Theo realized that as long as the pitchfork was inside him, he'd both gain and lose Health, slowly, as he gradually runs out of Stamina and blood for every 5 seconds Primal Regen remained active and he, injured.
'Worst part is, I can't even fully heal until this rusty ass fork is out of me,' Theo thought both in pain and frustration, just as he was released from the pitchfork before a grinning Ovisia.
Groaning and covering his wound, Theo's blue hair fell over his eyes, his form exhausted. Suddenly, a feminine hand grabbed him by his chin, forcibly causing him to look up and make eye contact with a face whose eyes held a mischievous glint, as they watched him back.
"I genuinely wasn't too certain that you killed my babies at first," the crazy bitch had the gall to say, eyeing Theo with an unexplainable hunger. "Yet then you appear to have also secretly awakenned somehow, which is justification enough for what I shall do unto you, so I thank you. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to release my grief. Your sacrifice unto me shall be awarded…. With your life!"
'I swear I'm gonna kill this bitch!' Theo thought, eyes reflecting his defiance.
"Such defiance, even in the face of death," Ovisia said aloud, as she reached for her dagger, getting ready to end Theo. "No matter, it shall all end the same way."
Theo, though outside he looked defiant and wrathful, even as the dagger was being lined with his neck, on the inside, he felt helpless. This was not a good feeling; he wanted to rage. He wanted to show these villagers the error of their way, especially to the chieftain for allowing this to begin with. But he was at the mercy of these people and they wanted him gone.
"Now prepare to die!" came Ovisia's voice.
Yet, as she was about to thrust her dagger forth, through Theo's neck, a familiar sound came from the direction of the western village entrance: A series of chilling howls. "That's impossible…".
Releasing Theo's chin, Ovisia turned, along with the Chief, Jacky, and the other villagers to see a horrifying sight: A pack of over thirty giant wolves had invaded the village, and all of them were angry-looking, all of them with a beast aura of B rank or higher, with the strongest being the alpha, a shaggy grey direwolf at S rank. It was the same pack that had helped Theo escape the Dawson siblings once before, Theo was certain of it, and it looked like they had come to his rescue.