Shaula walks through the forest. She checks the form of her black dress on her body. Tori Blentare, one of the women in her house who was formerly a noble, had helped her pick out this dress. In order to infiltrate this ‘party’, she wishes to blend in properly.

It looks quite nice on her. Normally, Shaula isn’t very interested in fashion trends but she does appreciate style and Tori must have been quite the stylish person as a noble lady. Even back in her home world, dresses like this would have cost a lot of money; it certainly cost a lot here too.

It makes her feel beautiful at this moment.

She appreciates her own appearance. She is a beautiful young woman and understands fully the implications of her effect on men due to her loveliness. Towards Ajax, she wishes to look the best she possibly can. To anyone else, even her other friends, she doesn’t really care.

To her enemies though, she wants fear and submission. 

Everyone at this event, every person who would partake in the deranged levels of cruelty here, whether as guard, as attendee or otherwise, will be made to fear her. She wants them to fear her and accept their deaths. Although, it’s more fun if they cry and struggle instead.

Should they fear her because of her outfit or because of her own cruelty, remains to be seen.

Shaula soon encounters security personnel, about a hundred metres in front of her. They haven’t spotted her yet, they’re merely patrolling the wooded area on the lookout for intrusion. Shaula can tell that these men are on alert.

She can hear the sound and erratic thump of their heartbeats.

It also wouldn’t be wrong to think that these guards are also here to prevent the wrong kind of being from escaping this place alive.

Currently, Shaula doesn’t want to deal with these people yet. There is a piece of her mind that understands that some kind of event is happening here today. Whether that event is the thing that Dalm the procurer had mentioned remains to be seen.

Ajax had told her that the festival hadn’t started yet so she can’t be sure that this is that specific display of cruelty.

Sapiora’s Bloodshed. A festival of inhumanity from what Dalm had told him. One where demihumans are tortured, humiliated and killed in a grand display of hatred by various members of the human race. From what Dalm had told her, it occurs every three months.

Shaula is hoping that tonight will be the very last occurrence.

An affair for well-off humans being protected by party crashers. A group of people who have more power than their fellow human as it is and delight in taking perverse pleasure from the suffering of those that a substantial portion of humanity considers to be below them.

The demihumans of Omicron.

Right now, Shaula forgets about it all. Her hatred has festered like a stomach ulcer for the weeks preceding this event. She feels ready to release it. She feels as if she has steeled herself. She’s ready for this.

Although, this will definitely be the most people she’s going to be killing in one night.

But, first… I have to avoid these guards until I can verify that that guy was telling the truth here about what’s happening here.

Shaula takes off her shoes. She’s wearing reserved dress shoes for this occasion. High heels are sold in this world as well it seems. However, they somewhat clash with the dignified female appearance for religious events like these.

Shaula holds her shoes in her hands and leaps to the top of the Spectabile tree next to her. The branches of the tree support her weight and the green and white leaves cover her presence. She jumps to the next tree over.

On trees like these, she isn’t bound to find any feacoda, the bright antlered deer who hop along the tree branches. Those only seem to live on the collosal Ystrian mega trees.

Shaula continues leaping from tree to tree. She takes a path zig-zagging in the general direction that Ajax had told her to run down. She leaps avoiding the gaze of any person. Luckily, on this night, the tree branches are swaying and the leaves dancing from the wind in the area.

Should any guards hear a rustling above them, they would be unsure whether to investigate it. None of them do and it will be their undoing.

Leaving footsteps would be a poor move as well, which is why Shaula avoided the ground. Even broken branches, if they were connected along a path, would give hints to any experienced trackers among the security personnel about unwelcome guests.

Soon, Shaula gains the scent of humans ahead of her in large groups. Many different but distinctly human scents. She follows this collective scent until she starts to hear a mass gathering of heartbeats. She’s heading the right way.

Soon, she reaches a clearing. She witnesses it for herself with her own eyes. There is a stage already set up. There are three food tents in a row opposite the stage. Between the stage and the food tents is where the majority of people are currently gathered, talking amongst each other.

Shaula sees a large number of carriages parked. They’re all near the stage actually.

So, that’s how they all got here. There must be some kind of trail that those carriages can traverse. All of the carriage cars are really shitty looking though…

All of the carriages in this quite large clearing aren’t noble looking carriages at all. No ornamentation, no gold inlay, simple wooden carriages. However, the animals pulling them, the white furred Miella, are quite well fed from the looks of it. Why are they all parked near the stage?

Hm. If anyone who got on stage wanted to make a quick escape, it would be easiest for them to, right? Those are the ones who would be targeted first by those like me who might crash these kinds of events. And of course the carriages are shitty looking, none of the people who came here want anyone to track their noble rich-bitch carriages to this place… 

Shaula leaps from tree to tree on the edge of the clearing as she continues to examine the grounds of the festival. She also wishes to scout for the best location to sneak in as well as any clues as to where they might be keeping the beastkin.

Ajax said that they didn’t seem to be here, right? Shit...

Ajax used his sensory perception techniques to verify that no animal-eared beastkin or draconids were at the festival. He verified that none of the festival goers in this area had beastkin ears or draconid tails. All of the people here at the moment are human currently.

With that in mind, Shaula looks through the crowd ahead of her from her position on a treetop away from them. None of them are demihumans at first glance.

They’re all wearing clothing that commoners wouldn’t be wearing. Nothing too extravagant, rather it is clothing that is clean, stainless and of interesting and unique design. All of it is still rather European medieval in style however.

What’s with that… Oh. Maybe it’s the styles that were brought back with the heroes from past generations… 

The culture of Shaula’s world must have had quite a great impact on the fashion of the nobility. From what Shaula has heard, the heroes who came from her world in the past often married into noble families. This allowed the nobility to proclaim their right to rule was divine.

Heroic purity is also sought after. Those who are more ‘heroic’ in their origins (those descended from divine hero ancestors) were the most sought after as marriage partners among the nobles. It was a source of prestige and power (both political and physical) to be born as the descendant of a hero.

Shaula finds an area to sneak into the festival undetected. It’s behind one of the food stands. She can smell pastries and fried meat dishes. The smell is nice, quite inviting. Maybe she’ll try some while she’s here. She considers the auspicious moment she finds herself in.

It feels like this moment is the dawn of something new in her life. These people here will be sacrificed to bring about this change. She doesn’t know what the change is but it feels like it’s going to be interesting. A day to let go of some of her rage is a good day.

She walks out from behind the food stand and the people around her notice her appearance with a glance and then continue about their amusement. She sees people eating street food, some of which is grilled meat on a stick, something unknown deep fried in batter, some pastries.

How have they gotten away with all of this for so long? Look at all the fucking resources it takes to hold this festival. It’s a literal festival! Money, huh… what can’t fucking fat stacks do to make things happen?

Shaula had asked the people in her home about this festival. None of them knew of Sapiora’s Bloodshed. Shaula declined to explain it to them because it is uncorroborated, however she did keep tabs on the condition and location of her demihuman friends at home whenever she could.

Even Tori, someone who was formerly nobility, made no sign, either on her face or physiologically that she knew anything about the event by the name of Sapiora’s Bloodshed. Obviously that wasn’t a definite indicator that Dalm was making it up.

After all, it’s not like all nobles know each other or attend the same functions.

Tori used to be a noble of the fallen nation of Therea as well so perhaps the nobles over there never engaged in events like this; or perhaps festivals like this had different names over there.

In any case, the last thing she wanted was for any of her friends to be brought to this place. She declined to have any of them accompany her here either; none of them even know what she’s doing at the moment. They understand it was something requiring both of Ajax and Shaula though.

It seems she made the right call to leave them out.

Considering the number of guardsmen there are patrolling the woods, it would be tough to protect her friends at all times.

Shaula walks from the food stand through the crowd gathering in the clearing and slowly ventures towards the front of the stage. She tries to amplify her hearing so that she can hear heartbeats across a greater range.

At the front of the wooden stage propped up by metal, she notices that she can hear dozens of men behind it in the distance and among the trees. More security guards than even earlier and more concentrated. Right behind the curtains of the stage, she hears more people there too.

Perhaps that’s where the VIPs are. Or…

Could that be the area with the demihumans? If guards are posted in that area, perhaps the runners of the festival are expecting some kind of interference? 

If they imagine that pro-demihuman groups are trying to find this area then the best thing they can do to force those groups to make mistakes and reveal themselves is to monitor and secure the individuals that those groups might be trying to save. It’s like guarding hostages.

Shaula listens more intently to the various voices and heartbeats from behind the stage. There is a surprising amount of people back there. It’s hard to sort out the cacophony. Shaula hears something muffled that catches her attention. It was hard to make out clearly but… crying?

“Hello, my fellow sinners!”

Shaula feels a shock through her system. A foreign voice immediately sets her on high alert. The voice seems to be coming from everywhere. Actually, it’s not so shocking, it’s simply the voice that might be emitted from a loudspeaker.

Loudspeakers in this world? So magic can do even that, huh… 

Shaula notices as people from near the food tents and at the back of the festival start walking towards the audience clearing. They talk amongst themselves, laugh, and celebrate the night. Some of them start noticing her. Each of them is with someone but she is here by herself?

More of the men turn to look at her as if wondering who she’s accompanying; who has the honour? None of them recognize her face however so they’re somewhat wary.

“Tonight's festival is well underway! I am going to be your presenter for this evening; you all know me as Siristine Crow! Once again, we have all gathered here this day to give thanks to the world that we were born in, to offer our praises for the sake of our Lord and pray for his safe return! Through our sacrifices and thanksgiving, Sapiora will return once again to deliver us from the evil we are facing!”

Cheers ring from the audience. They turn their attention away from Shaula towards the speaker. Shaula cannot see anyone on the stage yet. She does however hear the original voice coming from somewhere behind the stage. This person ‘Siristine’ must be there.

Siristine’s voice… Shaula recognizes it. It’s the voice she's been made aware of before but she doesn’t recognize the name attached to it. She can tell however that it isn’t a voice she associates with good things.

“To those new to the festival, let me thank you for your sincere devotion to our Lord! It is you all who will pave the way for the salvation of our glorious race! The reason we have gathered here today is because of the peril that we are facing at this moment.”

Shaula makes her way towards the side of the festival space closest to the carriages. If anyone becomes aware of her intrusion, she can destroy those carriages and free the Miella so that no one would be able to easily escape from this place.

She doesn’t wish to pay attention to or contemplate the empty religious nonsense being spouted from the hidden loudspeakers. All that it’s telling her is that these people have already consumed a cult-like mentality before even setting foot on the grounds of the festival.

“But, before we reach this sermon. First, may we present to you the first to be given to the altar of our Lord!”

Lights suddenly appear to illuminate the stage. Shaula notices the black curtains hiding the people behind the stage platform start to open. They had been softly blowing in the breeze of tonight but now is the start of tonight’s festivities.

Whoosh!

The curtains swiftly flap open as two men walk out from behind them. Both of them are wearing armour that is coloured pure white, as if it was plated with some kind of bright ceramic. Their helmets allow their faces to peer through but the nose and mouth of their faces are covered by clean white cloth.

They are not standing alone.

Shaula sees a woman standing between the two of them. They are holding her by her arms. The woman is not chained but it doesn’t appear as though she has the strength to run away. Her clothes are clean but simple as if she was given a prisoner's garb or a cult uniform.

Her eyes are also covered by a blindfold.

Shaula notices the glisten of her face. Tears have streamed across her face past the blindfold down her cheeks. This is the person who was crying. Shaula freezes. She feels sick. At this moment, she feels sick. Sick of everything. Sick of everything.

Sick of everything. Everything. Everything. Shaula knows. Dalm had told her the truth. God had put him in her path and he had told her everything she needed to know. And the truth is truly vile, truly sickening.

Shaula feels rage. Not because of the two powerful men holding complete subjugatory control over the younger blindfolded and weakly walking woman.

Not because of her bare feet forced to walk on the splintery wood of the stage. Not because of the confusing mix of celebration and jeering coming from the crowd as they lay their eyes on her.

Not any of that.

Rather the thing that enrages her most of all today, is the fact that this human woman is walking out here with a round protruding belly. She is pregnant. Shaula has no doubt of Dalm’s words. Tonight is to be the night of her public execution. Both of them will be executed tonight.