The Mask that was delivered to me

A Master's Duty

[King Darius's POV]

Heading out of the woods, with Lymbard just a mile away. I proceed forward with caution, prepared for everything. Then, I heard it.

Thumkph.

Thhumph.

Thumphhh.

A Thunderous Boom was being heard in the direction of Lymbard. The damage was pretty apparent. The bell tower which you could see from a mile away, has collapsed. At the entrance of the town, you could see many of the soldier's bodies turning purple and passing out. All the priests in town were casting healing magic and using as much holy water as possible. One patient was already bad enough, they had over 30 people who were affected that needed immediate treatment. One of the soldiers on site came to me and greeted me.

"Your Majesty! Thank you for coming. Currently, we ate still shor___"

"They are on their way, where is the beast."

"Go straight and turn right, your Majesty."

I alight from my horse, passing it to one of the stable boys. I still had that uneasy feeling ever since I left the forest. It's weird, I know this feeling but it's just that I have forgotten it.

Thump.

Thump.

Thumphh.

The Thumping continues as I walked along the streets toward the direction of the sound. The soldier followed me and informed me.

"Your Majesty, the creature was slain but____." The soldier hesitated speaking as if something caught his throat.

I took a peek around, noticing that everyone in town, the citizens and the soldiers were all trembling. Trembling in fear. As I got closer, the pressure in the atmosphere felt thinner and thinner. Almost as if the air itself is trying to suffocate me.

In the corner of the town. Was a person, holding on to the giant blade. Chopping something up. It was unrecognizable to see what was being chopped but I had a general clue. The bottom half of a lion can be seen on the other side. Blood was splattered everywhere, into the wall, the floor, and most prominently the person himself is covered in blood.

I notice that there were two bodies at the far end, mutilated. Most probably eaten by the Manticore. However looking at his physique, it was easy to identify that it was Red.

"Red. Enough. Let's go." I said, taking a small step forward.

[Look out!]

In my years' ascension to being a King. I went through a lot. From overthrowing a tyrant King to slaying a beast to survive. It took years to hone my skills and experience to get where I am today.

But there were only 2 times when life was almost killed over and over. One was fighting the said Tyrant king who had complete Sword Mastery and the Great Demonic disaster that threatened the world years ago.

Today, a 3rd time appeared.

In that 0.001 seconds, I stepped a step forward. A spear flew right into my eyes, just barely piercing it through, I swung my sword while leaning back to dodge it. And I widened my distance between him.

Yeap, I remembered this feeling. Bloodlust. Extremely heavy ones, like a feral beast.

"Yyyyour Majesty!" The soldier exclaimed.

I checked the ground seeing a line, made by him intentionally to keep anyone out from stepping in.

[How are thou planning to solve this.]