Zaroth gazed at the interior of the building.
The first thing that he noticed were the pristine walls, white as snow, and so spotless that it was like they were glowing.
The ceiling was decorated with beautiful paintings that no doubt depicted different gods and their tales.
On the floor, there was a beautiful red carpet. In the air, the scent of burning candles lingered.
There were about a dozen rows with wooden benches on each side, they were all positioned looking at the big statue from across the room, in front of which there were three humans kneeling.
One was a woman wearing a pristine white robe, and on both of her sides were men with silver armor.
There was one old man checking something in a drawer, and the last person was a woman that was positioned close to the doors from which Zaroth and Midnight had entered.
Hearing the doors open, she turned with a smile.
"Oh? We have believers at such t-"
She stopped mid-sentence as she saw the two figures that were completely hidden by black coats.
Her body trembled as she realized what was about to happen. She opened her mouth to scream, but before she could, her throat was pierced by a short dagger.
In that moment, Zaroth was grateful he had learned to wield daggers. If he had been carrying a spear or sword, he wouldn't have been able to move with such speed and precision.
The moment his blade pierced the woman's throat, Zaroth saw the way her eyes dimmed, indicating that she was dead.
He had killed before… but then he hadn't yet acquired any demonic skills.
As the woman's soul left her body, Zaroth's eyes shined, as did the crimson symbol on the back of his hand.
He opened his mouth in awe, as it felt like he got a deeper understanding of how to use Darkveil and Darkgaze.
A menacing smile spread across his face. In that moment, he knew that killing a person, even if just slightly, did increase his proficiency with his demonic skills.
Taking the blade out of the woman's throat, she collapsed on the ground, and the sound alerted the other four people in the church…
Well, they were now three, as Midnight had moved as fast as Zaroth, if not faster, and had managed to eliminate the old man without him being able to understand what was happening.
"We are being attacked!" one of the two men clad in silver armor shouted as he took a step to the side, covering the woman with his body.
"You take care of the man with the daggers, I will take the vampire!" the other, slightly older man spoke.
A second later, both of them lunged toward their targets, while the woman that was kneeling in front of the statue just a second ago brought her hands to her chest as she began to mutter something.
She was most likely praying, preparing some kind of spell.
In response to her actions, the two men with silver armor seemed to begin to glow as if they had just received a buff.
Zaroth grinned, 'So that woman is able to buff the people on her side… I can see why they are trying to protect her…' he thought as he moved to the side just in time to dodge the man's sword.
'The heavy armor he wears, as well as the big shield in his left hand and the big sword in his right… is that man a paladin?' Zaroth came to that conclusion after observing the man and his equipment.
This was going to be a tough match. He was sure that the Purifiers had some kind of system in place that differentiated individuals from different levels of power like beasts, demons and vampires had. And Zaroth was pretty sure that his opponent was high on that hierarchy.
'Not to mention the fact that he is buffed…' he thought as he dodged another strike from the man.
Not needing a long time to come up with a plan, he took a step back and sent a fireball.
Sadly, it seemed that the fireball he fired missed its mark and hit one of the candelabrum that was holding the candles that illuminated the corner they were standing in.
He fired several more, but all of them missed their mark, hitting the candelabrums behind the paladin.
Meanwhile, the paladin, seeing that his enemy had such a bad aim, scoffed.
"How many times have you missed, sinner? You made a stupid mistake attacking when a priestess is here," the man spoke mockingly as he approached Zaroth, who was slowly backing out into the corner, devoid of light.
Zaroth smiled behind the hood as his eyes narrowed like a hunter's.
In response to the paladin's provocation, he spat, "Don't you find it hard to see in the dark?"
Not paying any attention to his words, the paladin was about to attack, but before he could, he froze as he realized that his body wasn't glowing anymore.
He shifted his gaze to see why the priestess wasn't providing him with buffs anymore. Only for his eyes to widen in horror.
There was a large wolf, about double the size of a normal one, over the body of the dead priestess, with its massive jaws closed on her throat.
Zaroth made use of the darkness that he had created to summon Silverfang behind the paladin's back and send it toward the woman who had been providing his enemies with buffs.
Thankfully, it seemed that she was physically weak, so Silvefan didn't have a hard time getting rid of her.
"YOU SINNER! YOU SHALL SUFFER IN HELL!" the paladin shouted as he charged at Zaroth with full fury and slashed with all the might he had.
Zaroth, not planning to dodge, met the man's attack as he used Darkveil to command the darkness he had just created to wrap around his body.
The paladin's sword pierced Zaroth's coat, as well as his clothes underneath, and hit the darkness commanded by Darkveil.
He felt his shoulder being wounded as blood began to fall from the injury, yet Zaroth couldn't help but smile as he took a step, getting even closer to the paladin.
His skill Darkveil had given out, but it had significantly reduced the amount of damage he received. Under normal circumstances, his left hand would have been cut off completely, or at least the paladin's sword would have reached his bone. Yet, thanks to Darkveil, it only made a shallow wound.
Feeling proud that his new skill was so useful, Zaroth used his right hand to drive his dagger deep into the man's throat, killing him on the spot.
Zaroth smiled even wider, making sure that the last thing the paladin was going to see before he died was his face.
Letting the dead body of the man collapse on the ground, Zaroth took a glance at his right dagger and the blood that was still on the blade.
He had learned three things today.
First, killing humans really made his demonic skills stronger.
Second, he had killed the woman close to the entrance, as well as the paladin, yet he felt more power flowing into him as he killed the paladin.
Meaning that the stronger the individual he kills, the more power he would get.
He shifted his gaze to the woman laying in front of the statue and Silverfang, who was waiting for more orders.
And the third thing was that sadly his beasts' kills didn't count. He had to kill the individual himself if he wanted to gain a portion of their strength.
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"Actually… scratch that, make it four," he muttered as he shifted his gaze to Midnight.
Her opponent was lying on the ground with a scared expression on his face, blood dripping from his two empty eye sockets.
The paladin was trying to scream, but Midnight was preventing him as she had her hand over his mouth.
Shifting her gaze to Zaroth, she smiled as she spoke, "I managed to keep him alive, so he's yours to finish."
Zaroth grinned widely as he felt his body getting hotter at the sight of how dangerous the woman he was sleeping with was.
The fourth thing he learned that day was that Midnight can be much more scary than one might originally believe.