Living for years on Earth, the soldiers know that they should protect the civilians- the innocent children, women, and elders. But what if the said civilians will be the ones who will kill them?
They don’t know what will do
Their minds don’t know what will react in this
Even though they are seeing an unfamiliar face clothed in the same uniform that they are wearing, they can’t be more unempathetic
With a raging eye, Dionelle grab the crying boy in his school uniform’s collar “WHAT DID YOU DO THIS TIME?!” he lift him up which made the child bawl his eyes more
“PLEASE FORGIVE ME! I DIDN’T MEAN TO”
His sweet voice didn’t reach the group of men. They are all looking at him, accusing him
Whistling, Astran pats Dionelle’s shoulder making him calm “if you want to add more corpse, I won’t stop you” and with that words, the soldier did not restrain himself anymore
He holds Christian’s throat tightly, not allowing him to breath
Some of the souls moved as if protecting their owner…
“DON’T KILL ANYMORE!”
The child’s shout is not directed to Dionelle or his friends… his words are for him
With sweating eyes, the child hold to Dionelles strangling hands- he did not make an effort to free himself
“I won’t stop you but know that if that woman realizes that one of her children is missing…” Astran doesn’t have to finish his words, the soldier give up- throwing the child’s body on the ground, he got down on his knee and punch the ground
“Why… WHY! We only want to protect your innocence. Your… your childhood! We want you to have a normal childhood that we did not experience but what did you do?!”
Astran looks at the child’s expression, studying how it changes into a grim and antagonizing face while catching his breath. What the demon’s watching right now is so precious, he can’t take the overwhelming mood and emotions- it’s amazing!
“I… don’t want this to happen! We did not plan for this, trust me, uncle soldier! We didn’t mean anything for this to happen” Christian begs for understanding, looking at everyone with pleading eyes
The men only grief in silence
Even if the soldier that he killed were in another platoon, even if they are here with different reasons and missions… they’re still their comrades “we risked our lives to save them, Smith is sacrificing his badge for this. Let’s just… finish this” Amiel voiced out
They know that if they let this child live, no one can tell what monster will he become when he grew up
He can’t even use his ability properly now! What will happen when he master it?
What they can do for this child is to educate him properly, not allowing any negative idea against humanity and he will not turn in the wrong side
They can’t afford to be this child’s enemy
Turning his head to Nathan, Amiel can not hide his anger “watch over him properly” everyone can hear the blaming in his tone
And in respect for their fellow comrades, the soldier finished their task by planting the artifacts one by one in every corner of the city
Lina is still asleep while all these troubles are happening. Christian is still weeping about what happened, Astran is on his side- comforting the child while Nathan inspect the vicinity
“I don’t even see any trace of the Thraias… even the infected” the half-demon walk around the city again but there’s none
And when he come back, he saw a large fur ball right where Lina is resting “what’s that?” he asked the child who was hugging the large bunny
Christian’s gloomy mood brighten up again, his smile is now plastered on his red and puffy face “Sister Sherry send his guardian bunny to protect us! She’s protecting us!” the child’s energetic voice is unsavory for the soldier’s ears
“Oh! You came back early” Astran talked to them as if he’s already their long time friend
Amiel’s frown was evident when he saw how Thomas have a conversation with the demon while smiling, ignoring it- he faced the remaining survivors “mount this rabbit, it can travel miles away in a short period of time” his cold tone was heard and Christian hid to the animal’s fur
Nathan nodded and picked up Astran’s body, he forcefully seat him at the bunny’s top and command him to not move “How about you?” he asked the soldiers
Shaking his head, Amiel and the others don’t want to travel with them “We need to report to the Commander of the deceased soldier. We are sure that the other troops are on the border”
The child wants to tear up when he heard the word ‘deceased’
Christian’s soul army came back to him with more bodies and unfortunately, 3 out of 10 soldiers died and the others have serious injuries “have a safe travel” Amiel end their conversation and the rabbit hop to their destination
Astran was fascinated, who would have thought he who is a demon would have a ride to a sacred creature?
If he isn’t wrong, this rabbit is a personification of one of the heavenly generals of Buddha… which means he’s riding a god!
While the demon is laughing crazily, Nathan scoffed. Reading his thoughts are headache
Lina wants him to know every move and thinking of the devil, suspicious about Astran’s motive Nathan did what she commands… even if she allowed him to read the demon’s mind- he’s restricted to peek at other’s minds especially, her children
“By the way, master” Astran nudge him and point in front “this rabbit is not going to the Houl company… it’s heading to that fortress, do you know what place that is?” he plastered an innocent look, and Nathan can’t help but look at the place he’s pointing
“This place… HEY TURN BACK! NOT HERE!” Nathan looked at the defense of the fortress, he got worked up when he saw that the firearms were moving towards their direction- the big guns are aiming for them
“WHAT THE HELL! Why did you bring us here?!”
“Wahh… Where is this?” Astran watch his master as he grabs the bunny’s hair and pulls it “FUCK! FUCK!” the demon can’t help but be amazed when he heard his master curse
“You know some spells for teleportation! Move us! HURRY!”
Without asking for further information, Astran tried to cast a spell but to no use
“Why aren’t we teleporting! I TOLD YOU TO MOVE US!”
Nathan watches how their distance from Camp Cramo’s Head Quarters becomes near as the rabbit hop. The half-demon grows impatient “HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO WAIT FOR THE FUCKING TELEPORTATION?!”
Astran frantically shakes his head “I can’t use my spells while having contact with a divine being!” he pointed out and Nathan can't help but to be reckless “I’ll throw you away from the beast’s body so chant your spell and teleport! With us! do you hear me? All of us!”
Swallowing a lump of saliva, the demon felt nervous for the first time
Single-handedly carrying the demon, Nathan counted “at the count of three” he started “NOW!”
Astran is already in the air, he hurriedly raps the lines of his spell which is in the language of ancient dragons
“HURRY!”
Nathan urges him more, he’s now carrying the unconscious body of Sherry and the little child, Christian “what’s happening, mister? We are now near Sister Sherry’s location”
The half-demon did not listen to the child, he just realized that the rabbit’s destination is Sherry. And Sherry is in Cramo’s HQ!
A few second was wasted but they still did not teleport, he look where he had just tossed the demon Astran and noticed that he was not there!
‘The audacity of the fucking demon! Leaving us here!’ he can clearly feel the emotion called anger in his veins, wanting to kill Astran
“AAAHH!” Christian shrieked and when Nathan turned in his direction, he saw the person that he wants to kill
Astran showed up without a jaw, half of his face was damaged and if he doesn’t have the long hair that’s dangling from his body- they can’t be recognized who is it
“Who would have thought that humans have a strong weapon!”
The regenerating face of the demon illustrated the bones in his jaw. The child, Christian saw how his skull was reproducing slowly- he watched how to bloody bones and flesh right in front of his eyes
So close
Clearly
Full of blood
The child fainted