Rise of the Rejected Deity from Chaos

The demon followed Seiya swiftly at an impeccable speed as Seiya sprinted his way straight ahead.

He neither saw nor heard the demon's heartbeat as he followed right behind him. Only the faintest sound of his bare feet brushing against the ground reached his ears.

However, Seiya could hear the rhythm of the villagers' hearts pulsating through the air, steering his path, and knowing not to go that way.

As he raced through the village, questions swirled in his mind — why hadn't he realized this sooner? Why hadn't he understood?

From the moment Seiya stood in front of the demon currently chasing him…no, from the moment he had stepped foot into the village—he had sensed the faint, distant pulses of heartbeats, different from the demons' and villagers'—their low pulses barely drifting into his ear from afar.

Amid the steady rhythms of the villagers and the demons he had encountered, he had discerned four distinct heartbeats—subtle and subdued. They throbbed so softly that without straining to listen, they would have gone unnoticed.

Why hadn't he paid them any mind until now? Realizing only now, when everything had become clear.

Those heartbeats, they weren't the beats of a human, but of a demon. Blind, Seiya could only rely on those faint pulsations to guide his way.

Since he could no longer hear the heartbeats of the demons Kaeliyus was supposed to be handling, he was sure Kaeliyus had somehow dispatched them.

As he dashed, he extended his hand to the side, and in a calm, weary voice, he commanded. "Come, Kaeliyus."

From where Kaeliyus had laid for a moment of respite, he transformed instantly to a sword, shooting through the air at an intense speed—racing toward Seiya.

Kaeliyus went into Seiya's waiting grasp, causing a ripple of wind that rushed through Seiya, fluttering his clothes the moment it shot into his grasp.

The sword briefly tipped downward before Seiya adjusted his grip around it, holding it firmly to his side.

You're quite heavy, Seiya said to Kaeliyus within him.

I apologize my Lord. For I have accumulated fatigue during the fight.

I'm heading back to the shrine, Seiya began softly, maintaining his speed and making sure he didn't fall behind. Guide my way there because I can no longer see.

As you wish, my Lord.

Though Seiya had a pretty good grasp in his sense of direction guided by the subtle heartbeats that drifted from the shrine, he didn't want to lag behind for a moment to give the demon a chance to stop him.

As Seiya raced forward, with Kaeliyus guiding his leaps and turns, he noticed the absence of the faint sound that had trailed behind him—the soft tapping of the demon's bare feet against the ground had vanished.

Where is he? Seiya asked.

He took another route, replied Kaeliyus.

Seiya instantly realized the demon's intent—he was racing to reach the shrine before him, and Seiya couldn't afford that. Not when his body was already this battered. Should the demon arrive first, it was clear as day that their chances of winning would plummet.

Do you still have enough strength left to teleport us straight to the shrine? Seiya asked, pushing himself to move faster.

Absolutely! Yes, my Lord, Kaeliyus responded almost immediately.

The moment Seiya raised his foot to take his next step, he vanished, and in the blink of an eye, he reappeared at the shrine's ground, his foot that he had raised striking the ground.

However, before Seiya could attempt to take another step forward, the demon surged past them in a flash, leaving a ripple of wind that flew back his hair as he burst his way into the shrine.

Under the cover of night, the moonlight only illuminated the shrine's exterior, while its interior was consumed by a dense, inky darkness.

Realizing the demon had already entered the shrine ahead of him, Seiya chose to wait outside for its exit. Given his current state, every instinct screamed disadvantage, and he wasn't about to worsen his position by stepping into an enclosed space cloaked in impenetrable darkness.

A moment later, the demon stepped outside, his hair bouncing and cascading with every step forward he took. The demon stood on the expansive veranda of the shrine, just beyond the final steps of the staircase.

On either side of him, four little boys, no older than five, stood sluggishly. Two at each side, looking so frail like they strained to support their own weight.

The demon spread out his arms, smiling cunningly as he spoke. "What will you do now?" he asked, a note of victory in his voice, as if he had cornered Seiya.

But his smug demeanor faltered a moment later, his hands dropping to his sides as he recalled Seiya's condition. "That's right, you can't even see," he said, his tone shifting.

Although Seiya couldn't see, he could hear the heartbeats for which he had come. Even more clearer as the kids stood outside, beside the demon. But he had no way of knowing that the pulsations were coming from children, and that too, human children, because he couldn't see them.

However, Seiya had faced enough situations like this to not know how to navigate them. As always, he relied on the rhythmic pulsations to calculate the distance, position, and trajectory—cross-referencing the sound of the demon's voice to pinpoint their positions.

As the children stood beside the demon whose voice Seiya used to pin his position, he compared the faint heart pulsations coming from either side of him to the demon's voice. They were lower than the height from which the demon's voice had come, confirming their source was closer to the ground.

Seiya had a keen understanding of sound trajectories, particularly the rhythms of hearts. The demon's voice had come from above, which allowed Seiya to estimate the demon's height. The pulsations at either side of the demon, coming from below and at a lower level, suggested they belonged to children.

However, Seiya couldn't be certain whether they were human children. After all, a demon's heartbeat would mark the bearer as a demon, no matter their form.

The possibility of them being dwarfs and not actual children didn't escape Seiya's deduction either. Seiya prepared to ask Kaeliyus about the situation but the demon spoke.

"Since you cannot see, I shall tell you," he said, his filthy hands settling atop the children's heads. "These are human children."

Is that true, Kael? Seiya inquired, for he could no longer discern the truth from the demon's words—as there were no more heartbeats within him to listen to, no way to know if he was lying.

It appears so, my Lord, Kaeliyus confirmed.

Then that only means he planted his remaining hearts inside them to protect himself, Seiya reasoned. How do they look? He asked.

Frail, pale, and exhausted. They seem half dead but look like they can live some more.

Before Seiya could utter a word, the demon's voice cut through.

"You, who came here to fight us demons, sparing the villagers you encountered along the way—what will you do now?" he asked. "These are your kin, the little ones of the villagers. Will you strike them down for my defeat, or will you have pity and attempt to save them from their suffering?"

A scoff escaped the demon, a victorious grin spreading across his face. "I wager you cannot harm them. Your purpose has been clear from the start, and you are human—a race ruled by compassion. Not a single villager has fallen by your hand since this battle began, and that is becau—"

The demon hadn't finished speaking when Seiya appeared instantly before him like a swift wind, cleaving through not one, but two of the children—his blade cutting from shoulder to waist in a vertical, diagonal arc, severing their hearts in an instant.