As Torren started touching her breasts, Iriel's hand started crystallizing before she shoved it into his stomach, piercing through his guts.
However, he only seemed to flinch before his grip on her face tightened, and he slammed her head against the carriage walls, hard enough for her body to give up for a moment.
"There is no point in resisting, my lady," Torren whispered in her ear as a creepy smile covered his face, "You are all mine now."
Tears started forming in her eyes as Torren continued moving his hand against her body, but before he reached any further, he felt something had hit his head.
Aksa landed his knee directly on Torren's head, forcing him to let go of Iriel before knocking him to the ground.
Iriel collapsed to the ground, coughing as she looked at Aksa through her teary eyes, who had landed on top of Torren's body.
His eyes were completely filled with a golden color as he started landing punches on Torren's face, enough to not let him even react.
"What in the world do you think you are doing touching her?!" Aksa screamed each word at the top of his lungs after he landed each punch.
Torren tried resisting, grabbing one of Aksa's arms with his trembling hands, but that only enraged him further.
Aksa gritted his teeth as he snatched his arm out of Torren's hand before he grabbed his head with both his hands. Then, he started slamming his skull against a sharp rock that was protruding from the ground.
Torren started screaming in pain, calling for help as he tried pushing Aksa away, but that only made him go faster, making sure he slammed his head with all his might.
After a few moments, the ground was drenched with the blood flowing from Torren's punctured skull, leaving him trembling on the ground.
However, Aksa wasn't done. He quickly reached for his knife before planting it in Torren's right eye, then his left eye, making sure that even with the few remaining heartbeats inside him, he couldn't see the light of the world.
Once Torren was a motionless corpse, Aksa straightened his back while he caught his breath. Suddenly, his head recoiled backwards. He stared at his palms, his breath becoming heavy as Torren's blood dripped down his fingers. Then, he remembered Iriel.
He swiftly turned his head to face her, only to see her still collapsed on the ground, her breath coming in ragged gasps and her eyes still wide in shock.
He quickly rushed to her, falling on his knees before grabbing her face with both hands and slightly shaking her head before he asked, "Iriel! Are you okay?"
Iriel remained silent for a moment, looking at him with the same expression before asking, "A-Aksa?".
She burst into tears as she hugged him tightly while repeating the words "Thank you" over and over again.
Aksa was startled at first, but he silently hugged her back, stroking her hair as he pulled her head into his chest before saying, "It's okay... Everything is gonna be fine."
Aksa stood still, silently comforting her as she cried. After a while, he noticed that she had fallen asleep, so he stepped back to try and lift her.
But before he could do so, he noticed he exposed breast, so he grabbed her cloack and placed it against her chest, enough to cover her before closing his arms under her back and legs and lifting her.
As he headed to the carriage, Aksa heard the sound of a horse speeding up towards them. Once he took a look, he saw Kael's figure slowly appearing through the fog.
"Kid!" He screamed as he slowed Feye down, "What happened?"
"Wait a little bit while I come back," Aksa said, his voice cold and tired, "I'll tell you everything."
Aksa quickly put Iriel inside the carriage and left her sleeping before going outside. He then explained what happened to Kael, who slowly became visibly upset as Aksa talked.
"I knew something like this would happen," Kael mumbled as he gritted his teeth.
"What should we do with the body?" Aksa asked, "Should we just burn it?"
"No. Just leave it for the mutants to eat." Kael replied as he looked at Torren's body in disgust, "Burning it would be too much of a pleasant ending for his miserable life."
"I'll get the carriage read,y" Kael added, "You can go and rest for a bit while I get it done."
Aksa slightly nodded before heading toward the stem of a fallen tree and sitting on it. He then grabbed the bridge of his nose and started rubbing as he tried to remember what happened before he attacked Torren.
As his conscience was fading away, Aksa heard his voice as he spoke to Iriel, and immediately understood that Torren was behind what happened to him.
He then started feeling immense anger and frustration as he couldn't move his body once he heard Iriel's scream.
He started cursing himself for being weak and helpless, but then he heard Zephyr's voice.
Although he didn't appear in front of him like he usually does, Aksa could hear his words sharp and clear, "If you wish to save that woman, I can help you, my child. Just say the words. Just say that you want my help."
Aksa couldn't help but give in to his temptations. Rather, he started begging him as he became desperate.
Then, all he could remember was Zephyr's smile before he started going berserk. He didn't know if Zephyr was controlling his body or if he was just driven by his anger.
Aksa then sighed and lifted his head, gazing into the sky. He didn't want to think about it too much, as he was thankful that Zephyr interfered nonetheless.
"Kid, get ready to leave!" For a while, Aksa was dozing away in his thoughts, but Kael's voice snapped him back to reality.
Aksa looked around to see that the fog had mostly disappeared. Then, he turned his head towards Kael, only to see that he had finished setting up Feye to replace the horse that Torren left behind in the forest.
He then dusted off his trousers before heading to the carriage. Once he settled down inside it, Kael wasted no time as the carriage immediately started moving.
As the carriage faded into the distance, two hooded figures appeared from behind the trees. They slowly approached the dead body of Torren.
"I guess putting any hope on this man was just a waste of time," One of them suddenly spoke as he touched Torren's face.
"What should we do about the princess?" the other asked. "How are we going to stop her from reaching the capital?"
"Forget about the princess for now, she's well protected by those two," he answered.
"Should we go back and inform Sir Kaelenar?"
"No, we're going to follow after. I'm now interested in that kid."
"The one that killed Torren? Why?"
"While Torren is trash, it shouldn't be this easy to kill him, even if he didn't notice him," he answered, "That kid is hiding something, and he might be of help to us"