Iilea didn't look at him as he glared at her once again. No one knew who had responded first but as soon as one of the enemies started to run away it happened.

 

‘Ahhhh’

 

His howl of agony in the heart of rest kindled the will of life. Some still haven't been able to free themselves from terror, but who could ...

 

All those who tried to run away sprawled on the ground. Their anguishing groans were not the only evidence of their suffering. Blood kept pouring out of their mouth or some other orifice.

 

The eyeballs popped up and sprayed viscous liquid all over the place. Beneath the tremendous gravity one of their skulls was crushed. It gave rise to a splash of black blood and grey matter on the woman standing before him.

 

"Ahhh" the woman's shriek was more bone-chilling than those agonizing howls. It wasn't just one of them, many screamed in shock, many vomited out their intestines, and some of them even lost consciousness.

 

Only when the rest of the enemy felt lucky that they weren't trying to run, Kinoya moved. He tried to take the bare-chested man's hand which was still raised in the air.

 

Looking at the blue flame in the black smokey face, the man couldn't say a single word. And the next thing he knew, was that his hand was rooted out of his shoulders with sheer strength.

 

'Ahhhhh' He wanted to shout, but the fear of the monster had forced him to swallow it in silence. Yet Kinoya caught his other hand at the next second.

 

“No, no…” Knowing the impending pain that was about to come, he started to scream, “NO….”

 

Sudden screaming had scared Iilea. As she attempted to look, she found Kinoya standing between her and the guy. The only thing she could see was the dripping blood.

 

Soon the failed pleading turned into a scream of anguish, and the man fell to the ground. What Iilea had seen sent a chill down her spine.

 

The armless body was screaming, trying to fight away from them. Tear, snot and blood had caused a mess on his face. His lower garment was wet, and he gave off a foul stench.

 

Kinoya stood in front of him, holding a pair of arms in his hands. Just as he was about to take another step, Iilea grabbed his leg.

 

Kinoya stopped at his tracks as he turned to look at Iilea. Iilea, on the other hand, had no idea why she had stopped him.

 

Imagining the demonic face she could not help but shudder in fear. She did not want to look at his face, but she did.

 

'Where's the blue flame? Where's the black smoke in there?' She didn't know what was going on, but she looked at a childish face with no eyes. The face smiled at her as he pulled his leg out of her clutch.

 

Kinoya threw away the severed arms as he took out his dagger. The armless had fallen, still struggling backwards, but had not escaped the reach of Kinoya.

 

Kinoya stepped on his right ankle, crushed it, and then left. His legs were limp and he could not move at all. His screams fell into deaf ears as Kinoya bent down beside him.

 

"Don't you like breasts?" The black demonic face was smiling, but the man couldn't stop shaking his face. No matter how much he wiggled, the dagger's tip was still slicing his flesh.”

 

Kinoya moved his dagger under the skin with a deep concentration and peeled off whatever one might call a 'man's breast.' 

 

The voice of the man could no longer be used to shout. He could see that death decayed his life from his body, and then ...

 

"Haha" He began to laugh like a maniac. Kinoya looked at him for the last time before moving to his next victim.

 

It wasn't too far away from him. Before Kinoya could reach him, his legs had already been given away, and he fell to the ground.

 

Nobody knows whether it was because of fear or the gravity of Kinoya that kept him from moving. He could only look as Kinoya's feet came down on his face and crushed his head, splattering blood everywhere.

 

Shaking off the excess liquid from his feet, Kinoya moved towards his next prey.

 

"Stop, please. I'm going to tell you everything." The man started screaming like crazy, "We're not part of the army. They've just hired us to attack and kill everything outside the city.”

 

Seeing that none of his words had any effect on walking death, he began to cry, "Please spare me, I'm just a Lootera. A bandit. We're not from ...

 

He couldn't finish the sentence as he watched the dagger act swiftly on him. He didn't dare look down as the pain hit his abdomen.

 

Still, he looked down, and what greeted him was the spilt intestines, the organs he didn’t know were inside him, and ...

 

He struggled to gather all those that have been spilt out. Yet more he struggled and more he spilt. 

 

"You ..." screamed the guy at Kinoya. He had given up on his spilt pieces of the body and stared at the blue flame of Kinoya, "I'm cursing you. I am cursing you. You're going to die. You deserve worse than this horrific death. You're ..."

 

He kept crying as he took out a knife and cut off his wrists and screamed, “I sacrifice my life, you will die, you will die, you die. Death. Horrible death. You die.” and he cut his throat.

 

No voice came out but his lips continued to move. All this time his eyes never left Kinoya.

 

The spectators have forgotten to breathe. This wasn’t out of Kinoya's terror but the horror from a human being's desperate struggle. His body soon lost its strength, collapsing on the ground, but he did not struggle and stared at Kinoya till his last breath.

 

Their entire back was wet in sweat. Whether they were women, the enemy or Chand. No one wasn't affected, no one but Kinoya. It looked as if Kinoya were smiling and heading to the next.

 

The next victim accepted his fate. It wasn't just him, all of them were. He looked at Kinoya and smiled before closing his eyes to accept his irreversible fate.

 

It didn't come, though. There was no pain, no agony... 'Could it be a quick death!?' He wasn't sure when he opened his eyes.

 

The monster was still standing, a few inches away from him. It's not moving, however. No, something is stopping it from behind.

 

“Kinoya, please stop,” Iilea shouted as she embraced him from behind. “Please stop.”

 

It wasn’t just she, Palsa and Chanakya also came in. 

“Captain, it’s time to stop.”

“You have done enough, Captain.”

 

The black smoke had begun to fade away, and the human skin was soon restored. A pair of hollow holes replaced the blue flame, yet it was void of any expression.

 

*************

 

“Congratulation minister.” When one spoke, the other chimed in too. But on Nus' face, there wasn't an ounce of satisfaction. It annoyed him.

 

*Boom*

 

Nus slammed his hand, startling everyone. “Leave me and captain Fret alone.”

 

‘What?’ The generals looked at each other, not understanding Nus' intention. 

“I say leave us alone.” Nus’ growling made the matter worse. The frown on the faces of the generals was growing deeper.

 

One of them didn't even try to hide his hostility, “War minister of the south? What is that? You are still a mere official. What can you do?”

“Power had wasted his brain.”

“I want to see what you can do without us?”

 

They weren't secretive about their opinions, nor did they try to do so. Nus could hear it loud and clear, but he had no intention of saying anything.

 

Looking at Nus’ face, Fret felt it won’t be ending in a good way. 

“Captain, what is the situation?” 

 

“They have killed many, burned…”

“So it failed?”

It surprised him, but Fret nodded.

“Why did it fail?”

“The blind devil.”

 

Hearing the name Nus had turned to Fret, however, he shook his head, “It wasn't something that one man could do, no matter how powerful they are..”

 

“But it was the devil who made the first move. He cleared the perimeter of the gate. According to the report, the enemy dared to get out of the city to get involved.”

 

It looked like Nus wasn't listening to him, but he was thinking about something else. "So it failed because the enemy had chosen the right choice."

 

“Yes, only if we attacked where the army could not help them, then we had a chance of success.”

“Captain?” Nus’ sudden outbreak startled him. “Who many have we left?”

 

“834 cavalries, and around 7,324 Looteras. But…”

“But what?”

“Looteras had no intention to attack again. The devil…”

 

Nus shook it off, “They don't have to do that. Each caravan that approaches the city must be targeted. You must strike where there can be no assistance from the city. There's no need to attack anything that's going out.”

 

“Only the incomings?”

Nus nodded, “We've got to stop the incoming supply. Attacking those who go out won't help us at all. We must not waste any of our resources.”

 

Nus continued in a serious tone, “You're always supposed to let the Looteras spearhead the attack. Grind the number away. So they don't dare to use the same strategy against us.”

 

“We think we need to train our soldiers too.”

“Good, good. Do it, Captain. This swift attack troop can be of great help later.”

 

And the silence followed.

“And…”Looking at Fret’s hesitation, frowning on Nus’s face had grown deeper, “As per report, it was the devil again. He foiled the plan of silk poisoning.”

 

Well, Nus just shook it off. He felt he couldn't do anything about it. He had developed a three-phase plan that began with mana poisoning. But before he could take the second step, he was called back to the capital.

 

“Minister, are you going to Godola?”

Nus nodded, “Out of three, the situation in Godola is worse. They've lost one of their capitals. Even the Cantela's reinforcement couldn't help them.”

 

Nus sighed, “Those idiot people think we can't go on without the support of the other country. I've told them several times that I can.” His fist slammed the table, “They just gave me a promotion. A title. A useless accolade and send me away.”

 

Fret could not understand the reasoning, so Nus explained, "Unless we help Godola, Cantela will not send any reinforcements."

 

“Minister, should I go with you?”

Nus shook his head, “You need to continue to harass the enemy. Burn the crops, kill the animals. No matter how futile your effort may be, as long as you can kill one of them, just do it. I'm going to come back as soon as possible.”