Fate Dystopia

Descent into the darkness

'So I'll not prolong your suffering. Right?'

Tatsuma seen with fury what was done by the mercenaries. He could only face them individually and closely, he had to measure his steps, a bullet in the head and everything would end there with his anticipated and useless death.

His stealth was perfect thanks to the arrogance of the mercenaries who only emphasized their goals, burning houses and looting the few things of value they found.

But everything changed after he knocked down one of them, when the others found the mercenary wounded, the level of alertness increased.

Tatsuma was moving forward, held the submachine gun tightly as he gained advantage by approaching the great bell tower of the town, his intention was to set up an ambush, but he needed to reduce in some way the number of enemies to attack.

He stopped near a house, occupied the side of the house to observe the mercenaries who continued to burn houses about ten meters from their position, some laughed, they didn't even take the assault on the town seriously, the Tonomachi guards were not a real threat to them, others, celebrated the feat with alcohol while the assault was still under development.

If you used a weapon, you must be willing to shoot, there is no going back. I have to do it, but I must find another way. Damn it, I cannot kill, I want to do it, I want to take revenge on that scum, but my body didn't react when I had the chance. I should have. I should have killed him, if he recovers he will hurt others again, I'm so stupid. Tatsuma thought, doubts growing inside him.

Immersed in his thoughts, his gaze fixed on the house near his position. He saw an elderly woman watching the sky from her window, performing such a simple and unreal action in an emergency situation. She is, it can't be. Why has not she left the town?! Tatsuma thought. He frowned and clenched his fist, his heart began to beat quickly and his doubts cleared to focus on the woman.

Being a small town, he knew her almost by chance, rarely struck up a conversation with her more than anything because of her disability. An adult woman of advanced age, who made a living making porcelain figures, selling them in the fortresses and in nearby towns, her way of communicating was with a basic sign language or writing, she had lost her hearing a long time ago.

The old woman was unable to listen to the warning bells and, by chance and by the panic generated by her closest neighbors, was forgotten without anyone warning her of the danger. Her life slowly die away, the woman agonized without knowing it, without pain, in a silent way.

'I must do something. They'll kill her, they'll not have mercy. I have to do something to get them away from here or I'll have to cross without them seeing me.' Tatsuma gritted his teeth, every minute, every second was vital.

Tatsuma could cross quickly using the reinforcement spell, the other option was to shoot with the submachine gun and get attention, but both options entailed risks. If he crossed to the other house and the soldiers detected him, he would attract all the attention to that place. On the contrary, the other option was to draw attention when firing, but the armed group could be divided between those who would try to kill him and the other faction that would continue burning and looting the houses.

He didn't have many options and the time progressed without mercy, he breathed deeply. Tatsuma recited the reinforcement spell, concentrated his thoughts on strengthening the legs, and then recited the spell to accelerate his heart. 1... 2... 3! He didn't look sideways, he just went all the way to the old woman's house, all his senses were focused on crossing the street. He ran forcing his legs to the limit, reaching an inhuman speed.

Tatsuma managed to cross the street. He went to the window to try to tell the old woman to leave.

'Something just happened there, I couldn't see well but it happened at a great speed,' said one of the mercenaries.

'Surely it was some dog, if you want, you can go and kill it' replied another of the mercenaries.

'No, it was bigger than an animal, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll take a look.'

Tatsuma heard something from the conversation, but didn't pay attention to the rest, with what he heard was enough to understand that his attempt to cross the street without being detected had failed. His attention had been focused on the old woman's house.

He would have to do something and as a last resort, he would have to use the submachine gun to repel the mercenaries. Tatsuma tried to communicate with the old woman but he didn't succeed, the old woman pointed her lips but Tatsuma didn't understand her, there was nothing to write and the old woman began to babble something unintelligible. Tatsuma pointed to the back door, intending to let him pass and the old woman nodded, went into the house and approached her.

The old woman continued gesticulating, bringing her fingers to her lips until finally Tatsuma guessed what she meant.

'Can you understand me?' Tatsuma asked, speaking slowly so that she could see his lips. He began to worry after hearing how they forced the door.

The old woman nodded.

'We must leave here, they have invaded Tonomachi.'

An error, a serious error. In a moment of great tension, sometimes, the subtleties are forgotten and only direct interaction remains without measuring age or gender, Tatsuma only had one thing in mind, get it out her soon without thinking about the feelings it would generate in her.

The old woman's face deformed almost instantly after reading Tatsuma's lips. Panic seized her, the invisible enemy she would have to face after he had freed him.

She began to cry, to whimper, she refused to read Tatsuma's lips preventing interaction, he couldn't calm her, the panic was unleashed on her in such a way that it seemed as if a demon had taken advantage of the situation to take away all her capacity of reason and courage.

Everything was altered even more, when the old woman saw how the door rumbled and Tatsuma could hear the struggles the soldier made to enter. He grabbed the old woman's shoulders and looked straight at her, told her almost like a whisper to calm down, repeated it over and over again.

It was enough to see the eyes of the old woman to understand that no matter what he said, and although he forced her to read his lips, that demon would not let go and prevent his prey could come to reason. The old woman's eyes ignored his warning, they were fixed on the door that was being savagely kicked by the mercenary. He didn't think twice after hearing the creak of the door, grabbed the old woman's arm and led her by force into the living room.

Tatsuma occupied the wall of the living room and it was in parallel with the old woman's room using it as a restraint to ambush the mercenary while leaning holding the submachine gun. He took a quick look and instantly the door flew open. The old woman continued screaming, upset.

'I know you're here, fucking old hag, I heard your screaming from the street' the mercenary laughed, but his smile vanished immediately due to the hysterical cries of the old woman. 'Shut up, I'll do it fast but close that fucking mouth now.'

Hiroshi's soldier, arrogant and proud, walked slowly down the hall. Tatsuma, crouching in front of the wall, expected the soldier to finish his journey down the hall and take a step forward to have him in his range of vision. He held the submachine gun tightly and looked at the weapon with doubts because of the lethality that would result from firing. If I use it, I can kill it, but if I take the reinforcement spell, the guy will still be alive and will continue to kill people. One step, two steps, the soldier was approaching and the wood of the floor creaked. But I can do it, I must be quick, much faster than him. Three steps, four steps, five steps, death was approaching and Tatsuma couldn't clear up his doubts I must do it, I trained with Misaki, I trained hard, I can do it.' Six steps, seven steps, eight steps. Now! Tatsuma recited the spell in his mind. The muscles of Tatsuma's left leg suffered tears, especially in the calf and back area of the thigh.

He let out a small grunt of pain, but the creaking of the floor and the hysterical cries of the old woman averted suspicions about his presence. Not now, damn it. He brought his hand to his calf, the pain was intense and the time was short. He tried to support himself with his left foot, but the pain, similar to that of thousands of needles pricking him again and again stopped him, without his left leg, he could not fight. I have to...

'I see that you love to scream, you stupid old hag. Let's see if you can keep screaming with a bullet in the head.' The mercenary pointed towards the old woman.

He didn't notice, it was almost as if his body had acted in an automatic way. The mercenary walked without noticing the presence of Tatsuma, observed the old woman while pointing the gun. As if it were an instantaneous reaction, a rebellion of his own body. He grabbed the submachine gun and pointed it up, pulled the trigger without thinking and the bullets went through the mercenary's face, he made a grunt, almost like a groan but more serious, louder, more painful and horrible to hear.

Tatsuma's face was spattered with the mercenary's blood and he could feel the dark red liquid still warm. The mercenary fell to the ground while he put his hands to his face and rolled from side to side, screaming more and more, as if it were a divine solution to his pain.

The old woman continued to sob, terrified by what she was seeing. Tatsuma was breathing agitated, the adrenaline skyrocketing to its maximum levels. He got up while watching the mercenary and pointed the submachine gun at his head.

He had a brief memory of when he traveled to one of the few remaining forests in Fuyuki region next to Hayato and his friend's father, it was the first time they went hunting.

Both Hayato and Tatsuma were children at the time. He remembered the traps that people made and placed in the forest to catch wild rabbits, even rats that served as a source of food. Upon arriving at the place, they observed a rabbit trapped in one of those traps.

His first reaction was of anguish for the poor animal, the rabbit twisted in the trap and the more it struggled, the wire squeezed it more and more damaging him badly. Hayato's father approached the rabbit and without mercy, broke it neck. Tatsuma tried to prevent it but he couldn't, he was only ten years old. Hayato's father looked at both of them.

'I know it may seem cruel, but it's the law of the strongest. This animal hasn't died in vain and will feed us, thanks to him we'll have something to eat on this day,' Hayato's father said.

'Why you killed it?!' Hayato shouted, enraged. 'Why did you kill it that way!'

'The little animal was suffering' Hayato's father said. 'He didn't deserve to continue suffering. It seems cruel, but it was the most human thing we could do for him, we had to kill it quickly and so, we wouldn't prolong the animal's suffering.'

'So I will not prolong your suffering. Right?' Tatsuma thought, referring to the mercenary and almost instantly, pulled the trigger. The bullet went through the subject's skull, the blood sprang up staining Tatsuma on his face and in his clothing. The mercenary's body stretched and contracted, but in a few seconds stopped. He watched the pool of blood left by the corpse, heard the cries of fearless fear of the old woman and felt the blood of the subject drying on his face.

There were no doubts, there was no uncertainty in him. He had become a murderer and had taken the first steps to descend into darkness. He walked to the old woman, and extended a hand to help her up off the floor. The old woman looked at Tatsuma's face, and something looked at him, screamed in terror and spread her hands close to his face in defense. Tatsuma forced her out of the house, forced her to follow a direct path to the place where the emergency bells could still be heard in Tonomachi.

Tatsuma hobbled towards a tree, leaning his back against the trunk and sitting down, seen the old woman go to the other end of the town, where she could be more safe. What have I done? He took a deep breath trying to protect his emotions that threatened to explode and project outward. He grabbed his face with both hands and closed his eyes.