When Strigoi opened the door, the girl was already a corpse, her skin pale from the lack of blood.
Her weak body had collapsed on the ground, laying there she looked so fragile that one would feel regretful for her, there was even a strange eerie sense of beauty in that.
Quite a few villagers were following behind Strigoi. As they saw the girl's body, they all gasped and retreated in fear.
This girl was the village chief's granddaughter, the village bell, the dream lover of many youths of the village, but now she was dead.
She was also once Strigois' dream lover, but now that he saw her dead body, he didn't feel regretful or mourning for her, instead, he felt excitement.
His darkest memories, his moments of cowardice and weakness from a few days ago were being displayed right in front of his face.
He had tried severally to get her to like him she always ignored him. Seeing her 'get what she deserved' made him satisfied.
Sure enough, the girl's corpse began to speak in an eerie calm voice. The dead girl had spoken once more, but she wasn't the one speaking.
"Sigh Strigoi, you have disappointed me once again. There is still someone who is preparing to go against my will."
Strigoi immediately fell to the floor and bowed his head towards the corpse.
"Lord Pilgrim! Please forgive our foolishness and ignorance, who are we to dare defy your will?!"
Affected by him, the other villagers also hurriedly prostrated themselves to the ground.
The dead girls corpse smiled showing Pearly white teeth. The bloodless skin and smile made any who dared to look to shiver.
"You all may not, but there is someone.They intend to contact the heretic enforcers and go against my will. If you do not desire my glory, then I can only bestow a curse upon you."
"Forgive us, Lord Pilgrim! Who would do such a damned thing, please tell us the name of the sinner!"
Someone shouted in a frenzy: "They would be the sinner of this entire village, we would never forgive them!"
After seeing the village chief killed by Pilgrim's Heralds after a few words of disrespect.
The fate of the village chiefs daughter and now her corpse talking, these villagers had completely been convinced of Pilgrim's existence.
They were forced to fear the inevitable coming of a curse, the air of unrest quickly spread.
The dead corpse placed a hand on its chin and furrowed it's brows as if thinking. The villagers held their breaths.
"If that is the case, sacrifice the sinner to me, and your sins shall be forgotten."
Ishar slowly spoke through the girl's mouth: "The sinner is the man known as Samuel Kehrsite."
"Offer him to me, let my Heralds take him away, and perhaps you shall see another day. This will be the final chance I give to you."
After those final words, the girl's mouth closed shut, and Ishar stood waiting for the villagers' reactions.
"Do we have any other choice?" Strigoi stood up and loudly declared: "For his own selfish interests, Samuel has given up the fate of our Weyian tribe, he is not simply just a sinner, he is the sinner of the Weyian tribe as a whole! To protect the village, we have no other choice!"
"This youngster is also growing" Ishar praised Strigoi's performance.
Under his guidance, Samuel was abandoned by his own village, a mob of people were rushed towards Samuel's house.
The mob was already overwhelmed by their emotions. The few that were still rational couldn't do anything to change the bigger picture, for fear of being targeted.
"Two days later, we will go and seek help from the Witch Enforcers."
Samuel sqyeezed his wife's hand: "Before that, I have to bring you somewhere safe, it's too dangerous in the village right now."
"Samuel..." Isabella began but the noise from outside the house interrupted her.
The voices were calling for Samuel to give himself up for the sake of the village's peace. If he did not the would force themselves and pull him out.
"How is this possible!?" Samuel's expression turned grim.
He hurriedly took the sword laying on the table and faced the mob of people that broke down his door, glaring at the young man leading them.
It was Strigoi.
"Samuel, you wanting to seek help from the heretic Enforcers has incurred the wrath of Lord Pilgrim. For the sake of the village put down your weapon and cease your resistance!"
Strigoi was forcing himself to maintain a somber expression, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but perk up a little
Strigoi was now enjoying the feeling of being under Pilgrim's domination. Before, he was nothing but a nobody who joined the hunting party, but what about now?
Even the head guard of the village, someone that the entire village looked up to, someone who was likely going to become the next village chief, wasn't he now completely powerless against Strigoi now?
You never know a person truly until you've seen them with power. And no one or anything curtailing that power.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Samuel clenched his sword tightly, his fingers going pale from using too much force.
Is Pilgrim really so powerful? The things I had just decided a few moments ago were already found out.
As he looked at the mob of villagers who came, the eyes of these people who used to contain admiration and praise, now contained hatred and fear.
Making Samuel unable to swing his sword, even more, were the gazes of the others, the look of begging in their eyes.
Please, lower your sword.
Please, give up resistance.
Please, become the sacrifice.
Please, sacrifice yourself for the village!
If any of this people were asked to do that they demanded from him. They would never be able to do it.
It was always easy to be righteous and selfless when you were safe on the other side.
Samuel's hand holding the sword slowly became powerless.
He knew, he knew that he couldn't go against them, so he turned around.
Isabella was teary-eyed looking at him, shaking her head as if she couldn't accept this outcome.
He smiled, stopped her from speaking, pointed at her belly with gentleness in his eyes, then turned back to Strigoi and spoke.
"I can give myself up and let you do with me as you please. But my wife is innocent, all the sins came from me alone, please let her go."
Strigoi's expression changed slightly and glanced at Isabella's baby bump. The corner of his lip slightly twitched as he spoke.
"Pilgrims will was only for you, the sinner, to pay the price. We have decided to pass your judgment at the big tree behind the village, please come with us."
"Fine by me." Samuel turned around to look at his wife for the last time, before allowing himself to be led away by the mob to the big tree behind the village.
His hands and legs were tied and forced to kneel on the ground. However, even as he knelt, his back was as straight as ever. His eyes were clear.
From afar, three crows flew over and began to peck at Samuel's body without hesitation, the villagers all prostrated without hesitation.
Samuel didn't bother to look at the crows, only at the blond young woman who was crying and praying from afar.
Soon tears began to fall from his eyes. He wasn't afraid of death, but he still hadn't been able to see his child be born.
He still hadn't fulfilled his promise to accompany Isabella until her death, he had gone ahead of her.
As his blood flowed, Samuel's vision began to turn blurry, a scene seemed to manifest in front of his eyes.
In it, Isabella was holding the hand of a blond little boy. The boy was so beautiful that one would mistake him for a girl if they didn't know better.
Ishar was hovering not too far away from Samuel.
"This man certainly had something worthy of praise. If he was given the right opportunities, he may have been able to become a great hero known widely across the land, but that was all it was 'if',"
"Even in the face of difficulties, you decided to stand up, that is bravery. Even in the face of death, you did not show hesitation, that is fearlessness."
Ishar looked at Samuel as he slowly bled to death: "I have bore witness to your death."
A huge cluster of white mist and cool aura flowed towards Ishar.
"Your fearlessness and bravery, I shall accept!."
As Ishar inhaled these attributes he did not notice that right before he died Samuel whispered some inaudible words, making a vow.
Thousands of kilometers away, the higher continent, on a celestial mountain golden lightning struck.
An old wrinkled woman surrounded by all sorts of creatures. Suddenly looked up facing the direction of the Weichy tribe and smiled.