Way of the Knights

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"So that's what's going on." 

Raven chuckled coldly as he calmly evaded the charging butchers. Instead of playing around with them, Raven went past them and lured them inside the slaughterhouse where they obviously followed.

Once inside, Raven's nose was immediately assaulted by the pungent smell inside but he ignored it, he then purposefully made a commotion upon his entry, attracting another two butchers who were inside the first room. Raven checked every corner of the room with his observation skills to see if he missed any butchers. Seeing that there's only five of them here, Raven then went to confirm if his guesses are correct.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* 

With one mighty swing of his hammer, five phantom fists descended and smashed the butchers into meat pastes. After the deed was done, Raven unfolded his observation skills once more and watched their regeneration with rapt attention.

What's left of their bodies, started wriggling like jelly. Blood started coagulating and forming a human shape, next came the bones and innards as they mended themselves, then the skin and finally their breathing. After they opened their eyes, they glared hatefully at Raven, something that was clearly different from what they showed earlier.

"Hoh?' Raven sneered, "Hate that I found out your secrets pretty fast? Well, that brings me joy so come! Want to kill me right? Let's see if you have the ability to do so."

The four butchers, yes four, charged at him with malice, raising their cleavers to hack down on him.

Raven already unfolded the mystery behind their so called 'Immortality'. The concept was pretty simple. No matter how much one kills them, it would be useless unless they do it in batches. These butchers are not genuine immortals, their bodies just don't rot and their blood doesn't dry off nor being absorbed by the ground whenever they died, it is manipulated by the consciousness present at the slaughterhouse, a will that yearns for endless slaughter and carnage.

Through that Will, their bodies will reform and they will once again, but this Will cannot go against the Heavenly Laws and could only bypass them through some loopholes. 

Inside this so called First Demon Room, there is in fact, only one Demon Butcher. The 'Will' of this slaughterhouse turned them into an artificial humans, capable of cloning themselves. But once all of the clones died at the same time, they will lose one clone. However, the strength of the lost clone will be evenly dispersed throughout the rest of the reforming clones. This will go on until there's only one left, which the original Demon Butcher.

At this state, this Demon Butcher will have recovered it's original strength before the cloning procedure, making them more challenging to face but could also genuinely die in this state. 

This is the secret behind this 100 Demon Slaughterhouse.

"Human!" The Demon Butcher called out after going back to it's original state. "I hate you!!!"

It's roars were treated like nothing by Raven, in fact he even smiled and said: "Aww, that's so sweet of you. Thanks."

"I will kill you!"

*Boom!*

Before it could even move, Raven swung his hammer down and smashed it into a meat paste. 

"Noisy." 

Raven uttered with a dense chill in his voice. He then saw what's left of the Demon Butcher dissipated into the wind. The smell of rot and decay dissipated on the First Demon Room as well as the thick bloodlust accompanying it. Raven sighed and sat down to recover.

He didn't lose too much energy dealing with the first Demon Butcher, nevertheless he still ought to be careful. At first, he doubted if the name of this place is just an exaggeration, but seeing that there really is One Demon Butcher at the First Demon Room. It should be a trend moving forward to this place. If this continues, then his battles would be harder so he have to make sure that he stayed at his optimal condition all the time. He can never be too careful amongst these creatures.

***

"Haah…"

Paul exhaled a mouthful of foul air. He shook his head and cleared his mind off. 

As he go through the Immersion Forest, the illusions he was facing were becoming more and more troublesome. His usual attitude, which is goofy and active, is now nowhere to be seen. There's only solemnness in his voice as he walked forward while keeping watch of his surroundings.

Each step he took made the ground cave in ever so slightly, this isn't because he was heavy nor the ground being too soft, it is because the soil here is alive. If one stand in one place for a long time, the soil will start swallowing their bodies and would digest them to feed itself. This is why the name 'Immersion Forest' doesn't only apply to the immersive illusions this forest gave to it's invaders, it also applies to the ground as well.

The Immersion Forest is at least five kilometers in diameter. According what Raven told him, he just have to keep on moving forward until he reaches the core of the forest, he shouldn't be able to miss is as it was very obvious. There was a faint yellowish light in the depths of the forest, seemingly beckoning anyone to come over. That's his destination.

*Weng!*

Paul immediately halted on his steps. He looked forward and saw an incoming wave of yellow light. Paul too a deep breath and did no efforts to defend himself. He allowed this yellow light to wash over his body and waited.

Once he opened his eyes, he felt somewhat lost. He was standing inside a brightly lit hall filled with bookshelves. The table in front of him were filled with documents and letters, he unconsciously picked on up and saw a seal with a sign on it's surface.

Paul Gregory, Dean of the Heavenly Cloud Institute.

As soon as he read that line, something inside of him buzzed. He felt confused for a second but he ignored that feeling. Suddenly, the doors of his office flew wide open and a small figure could be seem rushing towards him.

The boy had a messy blonde locks, and a pair of auburn eyes. He was adorable, his cheeks were filled with baby fat, his limbs were a bit skinny but he had a bloated belly which added points towards his cuteness. 

Paul felt an indescribable closeness to this kid. He didn't even notice that he was smiling as he anticipated the boy to rush towards him.

"Haha!" The boy laughed merrily as he ran towards Paul and yelled: "Daddy! I'm here! I miss you."

"Come here, baby." Paul laughed as well, he felt that buzz inside of him once again but he was too happy to notice it. He placed the kid on his lap and showered him with kisses. The boy giggled since Paul's beard was tickling him. But he did nothing to stop him. "Daddy missed you as well. Give me a kiss."

The boy giggled once more and kissed his cheeks. Paul's heart swelled with love as he felt this. He lovingly pinched the boy's nose and asked: "How's your day?"

"Good!" The boy answered actively, "Mama took me to play with Justin and Angelo! We flew kites and eat sandwiches." 

"Hoh! When did you learn how to fly a kite?" Paul asked as he looked at the boy's eyes.

"Just today!" The boy answered, "Grandpa Morel taught me how to!"

"That's nice." Paul smiled and ruffled his hair, "Next time, when Daddy's not busy I'll fly a kite with you, okay?"

"Really?" The boy asked, eyes sparkling as he felt excited about the idea. The expectant look on the boy's eyes made Paul's heart ache, he knew that he wasn't spending enough time for his son.

"Of course! Daddy will certainly finish his work and fly a kite with you. You don't know this but your Uncle Mark and Uncle Raven never won against me whenever we flew kites."

"Really! Wow! Wow! It's settled then! Don't you forget about it! I'm gonna go tell Mom!" The boy kissed Paul's cheeks as he jumped from his lap and skipped his way out of his office with a big smile on his face.

Paul stared at the boy until he disappeared, when the boy's silhouette could no longer be seen. A mirthless smile appeared on his face as he whispered: "Daddy won't break his promise. In the future, I will certainly fly a kite with you. I might not know your name or who exactly your mother is but I will keep you in my mind and my heart. Even though you are but an illusion."

Paul unknowingly gripped his fist as a profound pain filled his chest. A few tears ran down from his face before he uttered a difficult word: 

"Break."

*Crack!*

He watched as the scenery shattered like broken glass. His vision blurred and when he re-adjusted to his surroundings, he found himself back in the middle of the Immersion Forest. 

A determined glow appeared on his eyes as he mustered his strength and pulled his legs away from the sinking soil beneath him.. After regaining his footing, he wiped away the tears on his face and continued walking forward with a straight back.