Sophia Demiurge

Chapter 109: Herald

In the dead of the night, the killing spree of Eleanor continued, and unlike Liyab, the normal devils and vampires were given some respite as they were killed quickly and with haste, however, normally, the splattering of their flesh and blood is something one should never be heard if they are not in the main vicinity, despite that, a certain man in the palace can hear all the sounds that the mass murder was creating, and for this reason, he is unconsciously shivered.

_Captain Hebi has been tricked! We should have never moved out! No wonder we received a punishment notification without us even doing anything..._

Such a conclusion was made by a man with a muscular build, within his overly bulging muscles are veins that seem to pop out at any moment, he doesn't have a hair despite his young age (for devils), he wears nothing on his top and only a trouser and a pair of shoes on his bottom, he is known as the strongest of the vice captains, Herald, however, this so-called strongest in the middle high echelon of the Valentine Military is currently trembling as he made every dots connect that led to all of his comrades fall.

Liyab was tortured and screamed until his breath was finally severed (which is unknown to him), Mico, the puppeteer woman was punched by the strongest soldier of Sophia, and the most baffling one, Flou has yet to appear, and as embarrassing as it may be, because he is deemed as the strongest, he was also trained a leader by their master and Captain and the only reasonable move to do at this situation is to escape and get the hell out of this place, that will mean they will forfeit their mission, but it is better than dying.

_However, the most reasonable is not always the right thing to do, if I were to escape right now, I would be treated as a rogue and all nations will be hot in their pursuit... Even Valentine will surely hunt me to death..._

The most rational member of the vice captains, Herald had such a vexing conjecture as he realized that he, no, the whole team that was sent in Gjallarhorn had fallen into a carefully laid trap, and all of the remaining devils and vampires could do is try to fight to survive after Hebi and Sophia's fight concluded, and alas, that includes Herald.

"Hmm... What do we have here...?"

As Herald was lamenting the ingenuity of such a simple yet intricate trap, he heard a voice, and alongside that voice was a person in his line of sight... well, it is hard to tell if he is a person for the man has a lot of stitches on his face as well as bunny ears instead that of a human, however, instead of having "bunny teeth", his mouth was elongated and have sharp, long teeth, just like that of an alligator, however, from his neck down, he has the same proportion as Herald, maybe a little smaller, but the point is, the mere sight of the amalgamation of different random animals makes his eyes hurt, this made Herald subconsciously question the man.

"What are you?"

The man in front of Herald, Philo squinted his eyes.

"Am I that unsightly? Well, my evolution is purely based on my desire to serve Lady Sophia, though recently I have learned how to retract these huge jaws to properly kiss my wife... and I am not a 'what', my name is Philo, how about you?"

Herald, even though can hear the rather raspy way of speaking by the man named Philo can feel his casualness as if he was just an acquaintance that initiated an idle chat, this irked him somehow, but Herald ultimately chose to suppress it.

"I am Herald... Hm?"

Just as he was about to fully introduce himself, he realized that the man named Philo was leaning somewhat backward, as if he was defending the room on his back.

_Just what is in his back..._

Herald tilted his head a little to see what was on his back, and as he saw the room that was hidden from the huge stature of Philo, he had a baffling feeling that it was something not important, that such a room could simply be ignored and if not for his experience, he wouldn't have remembered what Hebi have said when the mission was just assigned.

_I will take it upon myself to complete the main objective of the mission, but when it so happens that I get pre-occupied, remember this: If you looked at a room or door and dismissed it with something like "that room is not very important and you strongly believed it, you have found the room we want to find._

Herald gritted his teeth and upon seeing this, Philo's face suddenly grinned.

"So you've finally noticed it, huh?"

Herald immediately lowered his stance, getting ready for a fight, seeing such a muscular man with almost the same build as him, he was prepared for a drawn-out fight, at the same time, Philo's grin widened as he also lowered his stance.

"Yes, will you be so kind to step aside? I happen to be under the orders to get the crown inside that place, you see"

"Well, unfortunately, I am under orders to protect the gate to the crown chambers from people who will ask such questions."

After such an exchange, no further words were needed, the two warriors pounced at each other as their fists clenched and collided, Herald's face turned grim when he saw his fist be destroyed alongside Philo's flesh, blood and bones were visible as it got mutilated, however, just when Herald was about to move his other fist, he saw tentacles grew out of the destroyed arms of Philo, this reaction caused Philo's smile to widened further, showing his vicious teeth.

"Stupid."

Philo's Unique skill [Adaptation] has already leveled up to Level 3 as he participated in a lot of war under Sophia, and one of the new abilities he has acquired is [Adaptation Record], it is as its names suggest, it has 4 slots that record adaptation, and one of the adaptations he has recorded is the tentacle he has used when he was surrounded one time in the war of the great forest, long gone is the day that his unique skill just accelerates his regeneration until he found a lucky shot, he can now create that shot himself.

"Ghhh...!"

Herald tried his best to speed up his regeneration, but somehow, someway, it seemed like all of his wounds were sealed by tentacles of varying sizes as they refused to close up, for a moment, because of the stupor of not being able to use his strongest feature as well as the grotesque black tentacles that spread from his enemy's shoulder down, he can just watch as Philo started to bite at the shoulder of Herald and only when he already gnawed deep into his flesh did Herald pounded Philo's head with his free fist, blood spurted out of the head of the bunny but he seem to not mind it as he also struck the ribcage of Herald, the punch was so strong that it also cause blood to drip, making the already blood filled floor to create a crimson puddle.

From then on, a very messy and ugly fight ensued, kicks to the feet, knee kicks to the stomach, sucker punches to the liver, and all kinds of amateur moves that even a child can do was employed, except that, the attacks were powerful, truly powerful they were that every time they hit their target, blood will gush, the flesh will be maimed and bones will be visible, but at the next second all of their hard work will be undone as if it was a movie, but the pain they felt was clear, specially Herald who was being bitten all this while, he was not used to this kind of messy fights, he is used in a fist fight between masters, those who have polished their craft to the fullest, and because of that, he was greatly praised by the citizens of Valentine, but now all of that experience had gone out of the window, this made him angry, it made him frustrated.

_FUCK FUCK FUCK! I SWEAR! THE MOMENT YOU LET GO OF ME, I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!_

And alas, just as he thought of that, a notification appeared in Philo's vision

[Analysis Complete, the cells are fully adjusted to kill Herald in one punch, please proceed.]

Philo immediately let go of all his hard work to pin down Herald with a smile on his face, Herald immediately used all of his willpower to heal himself back to full health, and again, no words were spoken, Philo's stance immediately became weird, his foot went forward slightly whilst the other went backward fully stretch, one of his arms deflated as if condensing all of his muscles he have accumulated all his short life, but Herald who was consumed with anger because of his inability to showcase his martial arts did not care about such change, he immediately jumped towards Philo and coated his fist with mana, the surrounding walls started to be scrapped out of shape.

But Philo did not get intimidated, he looked at the man in front of him with his mad eyes similar to his fighting style as his "deflated arm" was swung backward, and as it did, the arm twisted until its very limit, this was the second ability he has acquired [Analytical Adaptation], it is a self-explanatory matter on what the skill can do, he will let the user of the skill engage in a fight to see the best way to deal with the enemy and the body will adjust accordingly.

On a scale that one can understand, it is like how a science teacher can use paper and two bottles to discuss the laws of motion.

The rotated arm finally stopped rotating and as Philo's teethy grin appeared, he swung his arms forward and it successfully struck the angered Herald in the chest, the shockwave of the force made all the walls to be blown, all the floor crumble and the windows of the crown chambers to shatter, no, the crown chambers itself collapsed and all of its content except the oh so coveted crown remained, if this is what the vicinity looked like, what could the man who accepted the brunt because of his mad dash be felt?

_Woah..._

That was all his mind could say, all of his anger left his body as he looked at his chest caved in and the struggle of his supposed racial advantage to fight the seemingly infinite force to no avail, soon all of the organs, flesh, bones, tissues, everything from his chest upto to his waist was pulverized quite literally as Philo's eyes reflected a large mist with red and white vapor.

[Would you like to record this adaptation?]

Another notification appeared on Philo's vision as he willed [Adaptation Record] to record her recent adaptation, this makes it the second time he recorded something out of [Analytical Adaptation], actually the only adaptation that can be recorded by [Adaptation Record] are those that are from the former, Philo sighed after he successfully destroyed his opponent and looked at the crown in the open.

_Lyra is still outside finding some leftovers of the seemingly half-mad Lady Eleanor, I have to enter at least before the penalty arrives... sudden and rapid adjustments of the cells is really a bothersome weakness..._

Upon analyzing as such, he sprinted back to the Crown Chambers, and just when he entered it, an extreme fatigue hit Philo like a speeding truck as he immediately knelt in front of the Crown, together with this occurrence was a system notification.

[Penalty for the usage of [Analytical Adaptation] has been served, you will not be able to move for three hours.]

_Tsk... I am not strong enough yet to kill a devil without using the advanced abilities of my unique skill... I shall train harder..._

_______

Meanwhile, Lyra was on the rooftop of a certain building, looking at the streets littered with blood, her expression was crestfallen.

_All of the devils and vampires have been murdered before I can even showcase my improvements to Lady Sophia..._

Lyra was feeling frustrated because the hunt he had been raring to go became a torture show for her other Lady, Eleanor who was currently venting out her frustrations, and because it was Lady Eleanor, Lyra did not dare to even let her complaints get out of her mouth, after all, she did not know what will happen to her if Eleanor vented her anger to Lyra, surely she will not die but she will be kneeling in front of her master who is currently confronting a fellow hero of hers.

_Ugh..._

Just as Lyra was about to cry, a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulders and in a sweet voice, the owner of the hand spoke.

"Hello There."

Lyra shuddered hard and turned around immediately, so fast she spun that she fell to the ground, and seeing the blood-filled appearance of Eleanor, her already pale countenance became even paler.

"H- he....llo there, Lady Eleanor...."

As if she were a chicken, Lyra who witnessed the killing spree of Eleanor stuttered, but Eleanor just faintly smiled like she usually is and then replied.

"Don't worry, I'm back to normal... though I admit that it's hard to re-contain yourself once you let your anger take over you... I will not do that again."

Lyra sighed in relief as she immediately stood up and then re-did her courtesy.

"Well, My Lady, what do you need of me?"

Eleanor pointed at Lyra's left and then said, as if embarrassed.

"I let a vampire escape in that direction you see, I was wondering if you could snipe him, don't worry, I will guard the crown chambers for you and Philo."