CHAPTER 229: DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

They threw the man at the carriage, he had slowly started to regain himself. While Noel was doing that, Riven noticed the body near Sophie, he looked at her and understood what had happened, so he walked toward her and bent down.

"I’m sure it was hard, and I should have been here to protect you. But don’t beat yourself up for protecting yourself, you did what was right," he said.

"I don’t think I can forget the image," she muttered.

"Well, you don’t have to," Riven replied, and she looked up with a confused gaze.

"No one said you have to forget anything, just accept what you did, and know that the reason you did it was right. That way, you don’t have to live in guilt," he explained, and his words made sense.

She let out a chuckle, then looked at him. "I took you to the butcher house and was worried it would be too much for you to stomach, how dumb," she said.

Riven cracked a smile. "I guess you wouldn’t expect a kid like me to be capable of some things," Riven replied.

"Well, you aren’t a kid anymore, you stopped being one a few days back even if you missed your own birthday," she said.

He scratched the back of his head, then got on his feet, stretching out his hand for her. She took it, and he helped her up. "You should head into the carriage, Noel and I will have to get information out of their leader. We need to know who sent them," Riven said. She nodded and walked into the carriage.

He headed back to where Noel was, and he saw him standing in front of the leader. The leader was still coming back to his senses after the shock, his hazy gaze finally focused on the two boys. He subconsciously flinched when he saw them.

"Scared of us? You are a big man, grow some balls," Riven said. He walked forward and grabbed the man by the hair, lifting his head up.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The man looked a little hesitant to answer, so before he could say anything, Riven kneed him in the face so hard blood splattered around, some teeth went flying.

"If you hesitate for even a second to answer any question, I’ll make your life miserable," Riven said, his eyes cold, his bloodlust boiling.

"Luke, my name is Luke, I am a battle mage of the third circle," he said in a rush, not wanting to get hit again.

"Third circle battle mage? You could work in the army as a captain or something, earn a good pay, or simply be a Royal Guard, or something else, yet you chose to be an assassin," Noel said, a look of pity and disgust on his face.

"Tch, none of those lives give the freedom I need," the man said.

"Freedom? Freedom, what sort of freedom is that?" Riven asked, his killing intent spiking. The man felt it and immediately knew that he had messed up, so he tried to cover up, but Riven continued speaking.

"Freedom to take a life as you want? Freedom to cause pain? Taking the life of your enemy is one thing, but killing someone you have no grudges against for the sake of money and the thrill is utterly irritating," Riven said.

The leader tried to defend himself but was met with another knee to the face, knocking his head back again. He let out a pained groan, his entire ear buzzing.

"Enough of the small chit-chat, who sent you?" Riven asked, and the man hesitated again, so Riven kneed him in the face followed with a second and then a third.

The man’s head bobbed left to right, Riven grabbed his hair again and pulled him up, holding him face level.

"Who sent you?" Riven asked. The leader didn’t want to divulge the answer, he looked at Riven and then spoke, "He’ll kill me if I told you, then go ahead to kill my wife and daughter."

Riven paused when he heard that. The man thought that he had finally gotten through to Riven, but to his shock, Riven sent a punch deep into his guts. He coughed up huge amounts of blood.

"You are the most despicable type of person, lying about having a family? You disgust me," Riven spoke, his face filled with anger.

"Someone that kills for fun does not deserve a wife and kid, and if you did, they deserve a life without you. So let’s end this," Riven said. He pulled out his sword and placed the tip right on the man’s heart.

He started pressing it in slowly, it tore through the skin, causing so much pain the man began shaking, but he didn’t stop there. He stabbed deeper, and was getting closer to puncturing the heart.

Seeing that Riven was genuinely about to kill him, he broke. "Please stop, I’ll talk," he said in a panic, but Riven didn’t stop, he kept stabbing.

The man freaked out, he started speaking, "I was sent by my boss, he is called the Black Dagger. I don’t know his real name, but he leads our organization, called the Devil’s Advocate.

We specialize in assassinations and other missions people find hard to carry out," the man said. Riven finally stopped, he pulled out the sword and allowed the man to fall to the ground.

’The Devil’s Advocate, I don’t recall an organization like that,’ Riven thought, he looked at Noel.

"Have you ever heard of the organization?" he asked, and Noel shook his head.

"Sigh, either way, we’ll have to find out when we get to the capital," Riven said. Then he looked at the man, "You have outlived your purpose," Riven said and then summoned the Hell Hound. He noticed that the Hell Hound had gotten bigger and was giving off a stronger aura.

’Could it be that this creature gets stronger as it kills? That is crazy,’ Riven thought.

The hound pounced on the man, and before he could scream, he was already charcoal.