Chapter 68: Chapter 68

“Most of them managed to escape!” A young handsome man in golden armor spat out with utter disgust, his eyes narrow and focused on the far shore where the boats disappeared behind a veil of darkness and fog.

“Doesn’t matter, judging by the way they escaped, they won’t be able to survive the mirage, it was quite the experience!” another man replied nonchalantly, a smug smile plastered on his face.

“But what if they did? What if they returned? more prepared this time?” the first man spoke, his thick brows pulled into a deep frown, his jaw clenched firmly, and his thin lips pressed together, he didn’t like the fact that some lowlifes managed to escape, but what annoyed him the most was the way his comrades were so carefree about the matter, not caring that they failed to complete their only task in life.

“Please Mao, you know better that they don’t have much time in their hands anyway! And even if they did, look at them!” the second man pointed at the shore “Look! There are no signs of life left! Only death, have you seen them? All those mighty soldiers and monstrous demons? They are nothing but piles of flesh and ash now! That is the same fate the rest of them are going to face if they dared to think about coming back!”

Following his comrade’s gaze, Mao frown deepened, it looked exactly as described, lifeless, there was nothing left of what used to be an armada, just the remains of humans and demons, chunks of flesh and piles of ashes, the golden sands looked like a crimson carpet, and the clear seawater was tarnished with the soiled blood, the place indeed reeked of death, without any sign of death, however, Mao couldn’t help but feel something was off.

“It was way too easy!” Mao voiced the concerns that couldn’t be washed out by the bloody scenery, those lowlifes survived the children of the forbidden sea and the mirage, and were even able to break the blood seal which was there for thousands of years, to be defeated that easily didn’t match in his head.

“Maybe they were already drained from the sail and our sudden attack was the final blow!” the second man said with a bored tone, already tired of Mao's doubtful nature.

"We must check the shores, the newborns, stay here, keep the scorpions loaded and ready, the rest, follow me" Mao spoke with pride and authority, his chin raised in the air, challenging his comrades to disobey, a series of objections erupted only to be extinguished with his sharp glare, he was always like that, too paranoid and rigid, and annoyingly bossy.

All the men, except ten, jumped from the podiums on the giant trees, landed gracefully at the forest floor and followed their so-called leader out of the forest towards the bloody shore.

How many years has it been since he saw a human or a demon? Mao wondered, disgusted by the idea of their union, he led nighty men towards the shores, adamant on sending any spared soul straight to hell, if he found any that is, the men followed behind him, some still murmuring their objections, but he didn’t care, this was the main object of their lives, to protect the land of Gods who blessed them with the longest of lives, centuries of nothing but light, blessings, and pleasure, all while they only had one task, to protect the center island from any intruders.

Looking back, Mao wondered if the men behind him were of any use, there were ninety of them, but each was given the strength of a hundred men, it was another gift from the Gods, besides eternal youth and long life, he trusted his abilities as he never allowed himself to indulge in pleasurable activities like his comrades, he only lived for the Gods, and therefore he trained himself every day for this particular quest, he trusted himself, but what of the others?

It shouldn’t matter that much! Mao reassured himself, even if some worms escaped death, he alone was enough to end their miserable existence.

Once, he was nothing but an orphan whose village was slaughtered by demons, Mao had a rough childhood, filled with abuses and starvation, one night, he stole a loaf of bread, only to be discovered by the baker who didn’t care that the thief was but a starving little boy, and sent the hounds after him, the dogs managed to take a few bites before they were summoned again by their master, but the terrified bleeding boy couldn’t stop running, afraid that the monsters would return.

Mao’s legs gave up on him in the middle of nowhere after running for hours, and so did his mind, only to wake up in a warm bed inside the holy tower.

The little boy was told that a high priest found him wounded and unconscious and brought him to the tower, but the young boy, who suffered so much cruelty to the point where he forgot that unconditional kindness even existed, couldn’t trust the strangers in grey robes, even when none of them tried to hurt him.

It took Mao a few escaping attempts, all failing but the last one on which he nearly died of starvation, to realize that the outside world was one of the monsters, not just demons, but humans as well, after that experience, he willingly returned to the tower, ashamed and scared that he will not be received again, but he was, the doors were open for him without a word of blame.

He didn’t know anything about the Gods at first, for he didn’t have any means to learn about them, all he know was that he was hoping for something to save him, and then he was feeling grateful, to what exactly, he didn’t know, Sure he was grateful to the kind priests who, despite being strict sometimes, would always feed him, tend to him when he is sick, and take care of him, but even then, they were but humans, and humans were capable of being as monstrous as demons if not more, the grain of evil was always there inside their hearts and the priests were no exception to him.

It was something else, Mao believed, something stronger, purer, more mysterious, it was an existence bigger than the humans and demons, bigger than the world and yet somehow existed in it.

Even before being correctly educated, Mao found himself a path, a doctrine to devote himself to, but it wasn’t until he was taught, by the same priest who saved him, about the Gods that he found what he was looking for.

It was the will of the Gods that lead the old man to where he was, and it was the light of Gods that made the men in grey the kind creatures they were, it was the God who blessed him with a second chance in life, one which he swore to make it meaningful.

It was all clear and easy after that, everything Mao did was for the Gods, each breath he took was for the God, he devoted his entire being to the Gods, his dedication was then rewarded by his ascendance to the center after his death, a gift only few chosen ones were presented with.

Reaching the shores, the ascendants grimaced at the gory sight and nauseating smell, and as expected, there were no signs of life left, the entire place felt like a cold graveyard, and as they predicted, their leader was just being paranoid once again.

“See? There is nothing here! Let us go back and send the newborns to do the cleaning, my toes are freezing!” one of the ascendants said annoyingly, rubbing his hands on his giant bare arms, their armors only covered their chests, backs, and legs, leaving the rest to suffer the abnormal cold and eeriness, he hoped that their leader, who was walking carefully among the corpses and inspecting the remains, not minding the hideous smell, would not make them clean the entire shore, this life was supposed to be their heaven, but with a leader like Mao, it was slowly but surely becoming a living hell.

Not caring about the annoying voice, Mao kept on walking between the piles of corpses, flesh, spears, and ashes, wondering what made the place that cold? The center was a place with a temperate climate, cold was something he didn’t feel in tens of years, could it be the result of the demons’ death? Mao wonder, settling with that conclusion as the dark energy the demons carried in their veins, which might have been released once they died, might have caused an imbalance in the creation energy, it was irrelevant though, the lowlifes were dead, and not a single soul survived, just as planned, scanning the entire shore one more time, he narrowed his eyes and advanced with steadier steps towards a certain body that caught his attention.

Two bodies to be precise, one of a human man in a sophisticated armor embracing, very tightly and protectively, a smaller one of a girl in simple silver armor.

A demoness, Mao concluded, even when he couldn’t see her eyes nor detect her aura, the fact that there were no female soldiers in the human world gave up her identity, and the man, the human, was hugging her as if he wanted to assure that her soul would merge with his after death.

Narrowing his eyes, Mao stood a step away from the two bodies, disgusted by their sight, a human and a demoness! So disgraceful, taking the last step with so much anger, Mao raised his fist to crack both of their skulls, but his hand stopped midair by an urgent and alarming thought.

The demoness, her face looked tired, pale, and lifeless her hands were covered with small cuts, she did look dead, but at the same time, wasn’t she supposed to be burned?

The spears, after being forged by the newborns, were taken to the Gods castle to be submerged in a mixture of fire magic and light, it was a precaution the Gods took once they detected the upcoming threat gathering on the Tahat shore, the humans were not a real threat to the Gods, especially with the children of the forbidden sea, but the demons and their dark energy were capable, even when it was unlikely to happen, to pollute the shrine, and so the spears, once making contact with the dark energy, would initiate wild flames, if the girl didn’t burn then it could only mean that she didn’t die by the spear's attack, did she die of another reason? Or…

Mao’s better judgment told him to retreat, something was fishy, but his body refused to obey his orders and he was unable to move, a cold crept all over him faster than his ability to think or react, seeping through his pores, paralyzing him in his spot.

Mao tried to move, to quiver or to scream, but every muscle in his body was already frozen by cold and pain, ones which was gnawing his bones, looking down, a silent gasp left his eyes as he noticed the pair of blue and red eyes staring back at him, as alive as ever.