Chapter 9: Preggy
Jinx yelped. He was slapped by Salem's colorful paper fan as soon as they were seen entering the house. Instead of being upset about it or questioning it, a snot dribbled from his nose. He fell on his knees, hugging Salem around his waist.
"Master, forgive me!"
Karma cringed from how hideous Jinx looked when crying. He was already grotesque without the snot and tears and now he somehow improved for the worst.
"It isn't me who you should be apologizing to, Jinx," Salem lectured. He glanced at Kou who immediately waved his hand.
"He seems very remorseful already…"
"Don't be so sure." Karma scoffed at Kou's gullibility.
Fools were not only fools when it came to intellect, but sometimes they also lacked human decency much like this moron kneeling and weeping like a child who got lost in the market.
Salem told Jinx to clean himself and right after the teenager obeyed his command, he instantly fell asleep once he fell face flat on the bed.
Kou stayed at the rooftop, watching the moon with a very nostalgic feeling swirling in his heart. His blue eyes reflected the bright sire of the night while the stars twinkled around it.
The tree leaves ruffled from the soft breeze blowing past them. An owl was hooting in the background. He was gazing at the same moon from a different place and no Kairon beside him.
He was told by his king to see the moon whenever he felt lonely yet every time he did, his loneliness grew even further.
'Do you like the moon, Kou?'
The two of them were staying at the very top of the castle, lying down on the cold cement with hands intertwined.
'Yes, especially when Kou is looking at it with the king.'
Kairon's gaze dropped to Kou and his lips were graced with a smile.
'I particularly like the moon because it reminds me of your hair.' Kairon gently scooped a few silver locks from his head. 'So if you're away because of the war, I always gaze at the moon, wishing that you'd come home to me.'
The knight leaned his head against his shoulder. 'Kou will always come home because Kou is lonely when he is away from you.'
Kairon took the viel into his arms. 'If fate decides to separate us, look at the moon, I assure you that I am also gazing at it every night.'
"It's late. You had a tiresome battle with your old friend." Salem interrupted his bittersweet recollection of King Kairon.
The man sat beside him and leaned back on his hands.
"You knew?"
"I followed you."
Kou was impressed with the human. He did not notice another presence with them in the forest. Basil would have sensed it as well.
"A demon lord has reentered Canaan. Another war is threatening to arise. Are you ready?"
"Kou was made for war. There is no other purpose for him."
Salem lied down, staring at the moon that had always brought him concern. The moon was full and yellow when he had lost everything. He was more capable of protecting what he had at the moment, but there was never permanency. Life was temporary and death, although preventable, would always come out absolute.
"You can weave your own destiny Kou. No one will force you to fight a battle that you no longer want to partake in. I'm sure that King Kairon would want the same for you —to live a peaceful life."
Was there such a thing as a peaceful life for Kou? Everyday, even after the war, he prepared himself for battle. His guard was consistently up. Even in his sleep, his spear was beside him. It was in his nature to fight. There was no other life for him to live in besides a life of bloodshed and an orchestra in which weapons were played.
Salem left Kou on the roof. The knight didn't want to stay in the same room as Jinx. The boy might still have some animosity left. Kou was used to sleeping anywhere anyway which was all the reason for Salem not to complain about his presence. He was low maintenance despite being pampered by the king.
An unholy feeling awakened Salem. His eyes snapped open and his body instinctively rose. He leaped out from the window. Kou was already kneeling beside a dead body, inspecting it. To another set of eyes, they may accuse Kou as the culprit. Based on how the body was killed, this was a vessel's doing, particularly a Stage 1 vessel: Newborn.
There were several bite marks carved across the body. The man was sucked dry. His jaw was extensively stretched; his tongue was bitten out, his chest was torn open with his eyeballs missing from their eye sockets. In addition to the pile of gruesome displays, his stomach was the same as that of a pregnant lady.
"Do you get such packages from newborns quite often?" The knight queried.
"This is the first time."
"Kou does not recall newborns delivering dead bodies before."
It was not a newborn's behavior to carry their victims to another place. Kou snarled at the dead body, alerting Salem.
"What is it, Kou?"
"There is something in his stomach."
A beam of light illuminated from the tip of Salem's index finger. He sliced around the corpse's stomach. Kou did the honor of removing the flap of skin, muscle and fat, exposing a curled newborn vessel that awakened from the sunlight.
The newborn's eyes blinked open, black orbs glimmering. Its pale skin was coated with black goo. Two obsidian goat horns were fixated on its scalp. It had a demonic tail that swished back and forth. Once it realized that it was discovered, its saw-like teeth emerged from its gums. The corpse sat up, releasing a dry screech, dueting the vessel. Its voice was loud, thick, and gritty — far from what a normal newborn baby should sound like.
"H...help me...He-help me!" an old lady gurgled out as if she was drowning from something. She was walking in a strange and drunkard manner in the field. Her wrinkled hand was holding her globular stomach. She had bite marks all over her body and her chest was in the same torn condition. A baby's giggle arose from inside of her. The newborn peeped from her chest, climbing and forcing its way up to her throat and mouth. The lady's eyeballs rolled, her agony could not be expressed through a scream.
Salem's amber eyes narrowed. The newborn from the first victim stood, lashing at him. The excom grabbed it by the face, crushing its skull with one hard squeeze. A dark soul escaped from the newborn. Using Salem's other hand, he opened a cleansing portal that sucked the soul inside.
"May the Spirit of the Elysians be with you."
Kou grasped the newborn's head from the old lady's mouth, dragging it out. The vessel screeched and resisted. With haste, Kou drew a cross on its forehead that illuminated and burned the creature completely into ashes. The knight caught the lady before she could fall, lying her gently before saying:
"Kou is sorry for not being able to save you…"
"Karma," Salem called out.
"I'm awake, master," the youngest responded, popping out of the doorway with a cup of hot cocoa.
"Prepare my uniform, we will be taking a stroll in the village."
"Will there be more of those?"
The knight straightened up, still glancing at the ghastly image. He was used to it but was never used to having innocent lives get taken so unfairly, degradingly, and atrociously. "Kou is sure that there will be."
In a castle that was destroyed not long ago, a handsome and dignified young-looking man stood in the midst of newborns. His horns were matured, his broad shoulders carried a tattered black cape and his red ruby eyes watched the ruins of his home with fondness.
"It won't be long now."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TierGodwin
TierGodwin Now I don't want babies
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone