Chapter 47: u-ugh theres so much blood
Middle Fire Month, 6th Day, 600 AGG
"Can't you let your summons take care of the rest?"
"It'll be faster if I go too," Yuriko was infuriatingly adamant. "You stay here. It's safer."
"I don't think I will," when it came down to stubbornness, Draudillon refused to lose. "And how would that be faster than sending summons?"
"..." Yuriko bit her lip and tried to walk around the dragon queen. "... could you let me through?"
"Give me a reason first."
"I just," the angel fumbled for the right words. "I just don't want to be in here right now, alright? It smells like—"
She abruptly stopped speaking and took a deep breath. "Can you just let me go outside? Please?"
"Fine," Draudillon grabbed her hand. "Let's go."
"Thanks, it won't take long—wait, us?" Yuriko tried to pull her hand away. "Draudillon, I'm serious."
"You never gave me a reason," Draudillon cocked an eyebrow. "Wanting to go outside doesn't answer why it'll be faster."
"Why does it matter?" Yuriko lashed out with a fierce scowl that nearly caused her to take a step back. "Either way, they're all gonna die. Why do you care so much about how it happens?"
"Yuriko," Draudillon's voice lowered, eyes softening even as nauseating disgust at her own hypocrisy arose in her breast. "I'm just worried about you."
It was true. She wasn't lying.
But it was ridiculous.
If she cared, then why did she push so hard for them to punish the beastmen? They could've just as easily maintained the borders instead of choosing a more permanent solution. She knew how this was going to affect Yuriko. She just chose to ignore it.
'Because it was convenient for you. Having a godlike killer at your beck and call; did you have fun, Draudillon?' The dragon queen lambasted herself within the depths of her heart. 'Is this how you repay their devotion? Driving them to their breaking point? She's too good for you.'
"..." Yuriko stopped trying to remove her hand. "Look. Thanks for being worried, but I can—okay," the angel cut themselves off with a sigh and pinched their nose. "Okay, fine. We'll go together."
'You're just dragging her down. Can't you even let her do this without getting in the way?' The boast she made before they left for the Beastman Country, how she would cover for the angel's weaknesses, felt incredibly empty now.
"Do you think Varush and the other two will listen to the commands you gave them?" Draudillon changed the topic, hoping to tug her thoughts elsewhere—to no avail. "Asking them to ensure that the angels only target clansmen, it feels a bit too trusting."
"I'll double-check later if it's that important," Yuriko kicked open the door and drew Luminous from her Item Box. "I don't think they were lying though. "
A bloodbath awaited them outside the Raswaran Dham. More than a few buildings were on fire, beastmen lay dead in the streets, and the few that didn't were busy screaming and running away from silent angels that ensured they would join their brethren in due time.
It looked like the kind of Hell the priests of the Four and Six preached about. Only this one was undoubtedly real.
"Yuriko…" Draudillon swallowed thickly. At least it smelled better outside than in, if only because the stench of death could be carried away by the wind. "I thought you only wanted to kill those who've eaten humans before."
"Varush said this part of the capital is mostly clan members," Yuriko sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to justify her actions to the dragon queen. "The ones we're supposed to be dealing with, right? Ithit and that bird guy's clan aren't here, and they're like the only two groups that haven't eaten… y'know."
"You're not going to check?" It was sickeningly funny in a way. Her, the ruler of the Draconic Kingdom, defending the lives of the beastmen. Her, of all people. "Surely there's some who haven't eaten any."
"I know. I'm not messing with anyone who isn't part of a clan. It's pretty easy to tell them apart."
It wasn't the burning city or dying beastmen that bothered her. It was the dimming light in the angel's golden eyes.
"But the ones that are?" Yuriko whispered. "They don't deserve mercy. They don't."
Something exploded in the distance, dull reverberations washing over them.
'This is what you wanted,' Draudillon numbly reminded herself as she took in the sight of corpses being dumped into piles before being incinerated by Sungazers and Infernums. 'Are you happy? Does this make you happy?'
Yuriko pulled out a sword constructed from an unknown light-gray metal with unreadable etchings marked upon its fuller and the glowing aura of an exquisite phantom edge humming a few centimeters away from the blade.
"Don't wanna waste mana in case we need more spells," the angel experimentally swung the sword a few times, her motions far smoother than in her duel against that Bafolk Rajan. "There's a stronghold sorta thing close by that the weaker angels—"
Yuriko stopped talking and looked in the direction of where Draudillon presumed this stronghold was. "Nevermind, Empyrean got in."
To the dragon queen's confusion, they continued walking—heavy steps meeting the well-paved roads of Kruurat. "If it's already inside then why are we still going?"
"It's not great at breaking into super-protected places. Well, I guess none of my summons are," Yuriko shrugged. It was a callous motion that only made Draudillon all the more aware of what she had done to the person she should be cherishing. "Gonna go double-check and make sure there isn't like a secret vault or something."
'Shouldn't that be left for rogues? No. In the first place, I shouldn't have ignored this misguided sense of responsibility she feels,' Draudillon bit her tongue. Correcting the angel now when they were so set on committing to this path—and not just this stronghold, but the judgment of the entire Beastman Country… She should say something.
She didn't.
'Coward.'
A malevolent intent enveloped the carcass-filled boulevard they were in the midst of traversing—a chilling, disgusting feeling that wasn't unlike the mists of Katze. Any beastmen who hadn't been purged shut themselves tight within the various edifices that were lucky enough to avoid the angels' scrutiny.
Her stomach sank even further. How many beastmen had to die for undead miasma to begin forming this soon?
'No last rites to see them off,' the lack of clerical attention given to the bodies was going to create an undead problem in the future. Draudillon couldn't bring herself to care much at the moment; undead were easily dealt with, but for the angel to swing from intervening on behalf of the demihumans to the complete opposite end of the spectrum… "Is this it?"
"Somewhere in here," Yuriko confirmed, leading her into a palace—there was no better term to describe it—and carefully stepped around and over the destroyed bodies strewn on the meticulously decorated floor coverings. They looked vaguely sick as their eyes deliberately avoided the carnage. "Empyrean's waiting by their hiding spot. Probably."
They treaded through what had once been a diligently cultivated inner courtyard, one now filled with uprooted plants laying beside the scant remains of the beastmen who took refuge here.
It was even worse on the other side of the palace. Whatever angels Yuriko used to clean up corpses clearly didn't make it to this section of the city yet.
She and the angel passed by countless rooms, a good number filled with valuables of all kinds: fabrics, furniture, works of art, and magic items among others.
'Ruined carpets and torn upholstery,' the dragon queen humorlessly observed, cautiously watching her steps as they descended a magically lit stairwell. 'All the works of their hands despoiled in a day.'
That reminded her, she needed to recover everything the beastmen might have looted from Caldevera and Almersia. Some had been reclaimed, but the more expensive pieces were certainly floating around in the Beastman Country.
Draudillon snuck a peek at Yuriko. The angel's skin was paler than she could ever remember, their hands struck with a faint quiver they couldn't fully hide, and—
And then the pair turned a corner, finally finding the Empyrean hovering above an island of corpses floating in a lake of ichor.
"—" Yuriko propped herself against the wall and retched. "Ugh, f-fuck."
Draudillon's lips thinned in worry as she hurried to the angel's side, rubbing their back in an effort to soothe them. From the looks of it, Yuriko had been holding it in for a while. "This was a mistake on my part. We should—"
"I'm okay. I'm okay," the angel shakily repeated the phrase like a mantra even while they straightened up and wiped the saliva from their chin. "I can keep going. Can't stop here."
"..." Draudillon pursed her lips and allowed Yuriko to carry her on their back as they glided over the crimson pool. They didn't have to; her feet were stained enough as is.
"Shit," the two angels considered the somewhat submerged monolithic doors. There were a few scratch marks and dents on it from the Empyrean's destructive attempts, but it was plain to see that the summon's struggles amounted to nothing of substance. "『Shining Burst』couldn't break this… Probably really thick and enchanted too."
"We can just leave the Empyrean here—what are you doing?" She asked as Yuriko passed her to the summon. "You're not planning on blowing it up, are you?"
"『Wind Walk』," apparently not, for the angel's body turned into a cloudlike mist that slipped beneath the miniscule gaps in the door. Half a minute later, a『Gate』swirled open in front of the dragon queen.
"Convenient," She muttered to herself before the Empyrean crossed through the portal. "So they did have a secret vault after all."
Blood from outside had seeped through the minute gaps in the door, covering the better part of the hallway. The Empyrean glided beside its summoner until they reached a wide corridor that wasn't reddened before letting her off.
'As cold as a mausoleum,' Draudillon shivered. Considering what they were here for, it might as well be one too.
"It's pretty cool," a bit of pep entered Yuriko's steps. "Like all the dungeons back in Yggdrasil and their secret rooms—"
Her good cheer departed as quickly as it had arrived. "Only, I guess this isn't a game."
"It's alright. Do you want to talk more about these dungeons of yours?" Draudillon leapt at the chance to redirect the angel's thoughts to something less grave. "You know, secret rooms and whatnot."
"Oh, um. Yeah, so like—" Yuriko's head snapped towards one of the many corners branching out from the passageway. "『Hold Species』."
The lion-man gulped as the three drew closer, eyes trembling fearfully in place of his immobilized body.
"Where's everyone else hiding?" Yuriko bluntly asked, pressing the point of her sword against the beastman's throat.
"He's paralyzed," Draudillon reminded the pale-blonde. "He can't talk if you have him under that spell."
"Oh," Yuriko coughed into her fist. "R-Right. Forgot."
She canceled the spell, causing the beastman to fall to their knees, gasping for air.
"Now, where's—" Before Yuriko could finish her question, the lion-man launched himself towards Draudillon, brandishing a wicked shiv that gleamed with a gut-churning aura. "Shit!"
The angel's arm flickered, her sword a lethal gray arc that caught the beastman mid-leap and sliced them in twain. Gore splattered across her pristine dress and tainted her skin with its ugly impurity.
"F-Fuck… you…" the beastman mustered up the strength to spit in Yuriko's face before finally expiring. The angel couldn't be less bothered about his last act of disrespect, instead hurrying to Draudillon with panic-filled eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Yuriko babbled as they frantically checked her over for injuries, ignoring the bloody spit that traced a scarlet line down their face. "You're right, I should've just used summons, I'm so fucking sorry—"
"Hey," Draudillon cupped their cheeks with her hands. "Breath. In and out, slowly."
Yuriko nodded, gulping air and exhaling to an arrhythmic beat. Slowly, the angel's breathing evened out, the trembling of her arms coming to a barely noticeable shakiness.
"We don't have to do this," a part of her called her insane. The other hoped Yuriko would agree. "We've killed the Viziers; their leadership's been crippled—"
"I'm fine," Yuriko shoved her away and trudged onwards. "You don't need to worry about me. I just, just have to get used to all this."
'Do something. Don't just stand there like a mute fool!' But what was she supposed to do? 'After this vault. After we clear this vault, I'm forcing her to go home.'
The resolve felt weak even to herself. Why did it have to be 'after?' Shouldn't she force the issue now?
'She said she could do it. Have some faith in her.'
"『Armageddon - Good』," unaware of the conflict warring in their partner's head, Yuriko called forth a pool of heavenly light from which Angels and Archangels, Principalities and Virtues, Thrones and Cherubim emerged. With a silent command from their summoner, they flew off in different directions: eager to fulfill her will.
『Armageddon - Good』was a spell that typically summoned uncontrollable angels; however, Yuriko possessed a skill removing this limitation at the cost of all her summoning spells requiring more mana. It was because of this that she had been able to bring so many angels into existence despite spending most of her mana on resurrections and healing.
"Over there," Yuriko grimaced as she raised a finger towards the sounds of combat. "They're a little spread out, but close enough."
With that statement, their course was decided. By the time they reached the source of the clamoring, there was only one beastman remaining. Alive, that is.
"Where's everybody else hiding?" Yuriko repeated the question she asked to the first beastman they caught.
"What did we do to you to deserve this?"
"What?" Yuriko snarled and shoved her face into the Lion Zoastia's face. " 'What did we do to you?' You fucking ate people. Draconic Kingdom? Ring any bells?"
"That's it?! You slaughtered us for some, some piddling, backwater human kingdom?" Draudillon scowled as the lion-man impotently raged. Was this why the Beastman Country had no compunctions raiding them? Because they saw the Draconic Kingdom as nothing more than a group of savages? "Even if your people had to suffer a little bit, the rest would've lived far better lives than the pathetic existence you've afforded them! Everyone wins—"
"Shut the fuck up," Yuriko viciously jabbed her finger at the beastman. The Seraph Empyrean floating beside her lashed out with its twin longswords and vaporized the demihuman's upper torso.
Their lower body flopped lifelessly onto the ground, causing streams of spilled crimson to flow in the gaps of the tiled floor.
"Ha… ha…" Yuriko's chest heaved up and down as she glared at the corpse. "Everyone wins? Everyone wins? I, I'll show you who fucking wins."
"Yuriko—"
"We're gonna find them," Yuriko gritted her teeth. "No more holding back. Fucking—'everyone wins.' Can you believe that? Can you believe that, Draudillon—"
"Yuriko!" Draudillon grabbed their head with both hands and forced them to look at her. "You need to calm down."
"I'm calm," Yuriko tried and failed to smile. Her mouth wavered, an inconsistent, uneven line that surely reflected the tumult of her thoughts. "See? Calm. Let's go."
'Oh, Draudillon. What have you done to her?'
They walked around for longer, delving deeper into the catacomb-like vault. After several more minutes of nothing, Draudillon began to suspect that the slaughtered beastmen were only a diversion leading them away from wherever the others were hiding. "We should retrace our steps. The beastmen from earlier were probably trying to have us go the wrong way."
Yuriko grunted and turned around. They passed by the same corpses, the same quiet hallways, the same torturous atmosphere.
She didn't know how long they wandered.
But in the end, the beastmen couldn't hide forever.
"『Widen Magic - Detect Good』," Yuriko stopped before a set of doors and rested her hand against it. "Huh? There's something written here—"
'Oh shit.'
Draudillon dove to the ground, Empyrean dashing to cover her as a searing burst of heat engulfed the angel.
"Yuriko!" She picked herself off the floor and rushed towards her partner. "Are you okay?!"
Yuriko didn't respond, their attention consumed by the demihumans who were cowering on the other side of the trapped door.
"Nice trap," the angel was completely unscathed. "If that's it, I'm gonna—"
One adult. And tens, if not hundreds of children.
The one grown Lion Zoastia unsteadily leveled his masterwork battle axe at the angel, eyes wide and shaking in apprehension. To his credit, he didn't fall and beg for mercy, nor did he collapse in the face of his certain demise.
"Protecting them, huh?" Yuriko quietly spoke. "Am I supposed to feel bad? Like you're suddenly a good person or something?"
This seemed to ignite something in the beastman; all of a sudden, he was no longer shuddering as his eyes narrowed in determination.
"You. Good," the angel laughed, a short bark, her voice growing harsher and louder. "Don't fuck with me."
The beastman refused to budge a single centimeter.
"What about all the kids you've killed? What about their parents?" Yuriko's face twisted and warped in anguish. "What about them, huh?!"
Despite the angel's wrath, the Lion didn't lower his battle axe. Behind him, the demihuman children released small, pitiful sounds of fear they couldn't quite hold back.
"You guys did all of that," Her sword arm shook with how tightly she was clutching the holy weapon. "No. No. You don't get to act like you're doing the right thing now. So why can't I just…?!"
'This whole trip—no. Everything I made her do after we drove the beastmen out of the kingdom was a mistake.'
That woman who wept after their first kill, who spent hours upon hours resurrecting the fallen, who loved her in spite of everything she made them do.
Could Draudillon really ever forgive herself if she let them crumble away like this? Felled by the weight of their conscience and her errors?
In the depths of her soul, she knew this was the last chance she was getting.
Draudillon reached out, and at long last, she realized that despite how much she deluded herself to believe otherwise, the price of revenge was higher than what she was willing to pay.
"Yuriko. You can stop here," she gingerly pushed Yuriko's sword down. "We've made our point, I believe."
"Wh-What?" Yuriko's head spun around in disbelief. "What about everything they did? It's, shouldn't you be angry? Shouldn't you want to kill them?"
"I do," Draudillon honestly replied. "But not if it means…"
'Not if it makes you so miserable.'
"If you're worried that I can't do it, then don't be," the angel raised her outstretched palm towards the axe-wielding beastman and began rambling.
"I need to do this. I have to. Everyone back home needs me to do this," the beastmen recoiled as their slayer advanced. "I can do it, I'm not weak—"
"I never once thought you were."
Yuriko froze in place.
Draudillon loosened the angel's fingers and Luminous slipped from their hand to hers. "Let's go back home, okay?"
Home. A place to feel safe, protected.
"... there's still a bunch of clans left."
What safety had she provided? The first chance she got, she threw the angel into a war. Protection? She only had to look at their tormented appearance to realize she already failed on every conceivable level.
"I'll send people to manage everything," the holy sword was lighter than she thought, yet heavier than she expected. "I don't think the beastmen will want to resist after this."
"Is it really okay if," Yuriko faltered, her eyes shamefully avoiding Draudillon's. "Is it really okay if we do that? Going home?"
She ignored the stares of the demihumans and wrapped her arms around Yuriko, carefully making sure to keep the sword out of the way.
"It is."
Draudillon closed her eyes. It was only her imagination—she knew that; no sound could penetrate so deeply into the ground—but the faraway sounds of merciless slaughter slowly faded to a halt, leaving behind only the distant crackling of the world burning.
"Gods know it is."
Her shoulder grew wet with tears.
'I'm sorry.'
"Take them and hide in there," Bahad nodded at his Rajan's command. Rathim Dlyshi, the father of Rathis Dlyshi, had left for the Raswaran Dham to attend the assembly called by the High Vizier and never returned. In Rathim's absence, Rathis was thrust into the seat of the Rajan and forced to navigate the disaster that was befalling Kruurat. "Don't come out, no matter what. Not until you're sure the outside is safe again."
"Yes, Rajan!" Bahad shouted with more confidence than he felt as the doors of the hidden sanctuary slammed and sealed shut in front of him.
"We need to get going," one of his fellow Kshatra, Karthik, slapped his back. "Keep heading down this hall, take two lefts, a right, and you should find some safe spots. Watch out for some of the doors; they're trapped with all sorts of nasty shit. Password's Saath Shrya. Now go!"
He gulped and turned his back on Karthik as he gathered the children and other Kshatra's. His comrade and a few more would buy them time and distract the winged monsters if they managed to break through.
"Don't die," he couldn't help but say to Karthik before taking the group with him into the bowels of the sanctuary. "You still need to return the money I lent you for that infant."
"Tch, idiot," and that was the last he heard of Karthik. Bahad moved as quickly as the children allowed, making sure to not lose even a single one to the complex pathways of the sanctuary.
"We'll separate here," one of the other Kshatra's accompanying him stopped at a crossway. The rest of his fellow warriors came to a halt behind her. "You take the brats in a different direction."
"What?" Splitting up now was surely the height of foolishness. "If they come for the children then wouldn't it be better if we were all—"
"It's over if they find you," her eyes softened. "None of the Viziers on the Council stood a chance; what makes you think we do?"
"Fuck!" The children closest to Bahad flinched as he slammed a fist into the wall. "This, how can you just accept this?!"
"Bahad!" She socked him in the jaw. Bahad glared at her while he rubbed his bruised jaw. "We don't have the luxury of complaining. You have your duty, we have ours. Go."
He knew they would not meet again in this life.
Even so, he went. And went. And went. Until they were far away from the main entrance of the sanctuary.
Far away from the comrades he left to die.
"Saath Shrya," he numbly opened one of the warded doors and herded the children into the room. "Alright, all of you get inside!"
"Um, Bahad?" One of the kids tugged at the fur of his leg. "How long do we have to stay here?"
A shiver ran down his spine. The beginnings of a dreadful premonition.
"Not long at all," he forced himself to smile. Can't let the children see that he was just as scared as them. "We'll be out before you know it."
With the children all settled, Bahad went around the room to take stock of what they had. Basic furniture, magic items to generate water and food, secret compartments filled with all sorts of other amenities. The founders of Clan Dlyshi had prepared thoroughly for the worst case scenario.
Bahad wondered if it would be enough.
He watched over the children as they began to run around the room: some mingling and playing, others curled up in tearful whimpering. Bahad sighed. He wasn't cut out for this.
'I'm going to go insane if we end up having to hole up in here for more than a few days,' without light to mark the sun's passage across the sky, time was already beginning to blur together. 'Something to worry about if we actually manage to survive.'
His clenched fists drew blood as he castigated himself for the treacherous thought. They would survive; it was the last command he had been given—
There was someone at the door. Not one of the summoned angels for he could hear the muffled sound of conversation from beyond it.
They gently opened the door.
Fwoom!
The ritual boosted『Fire Trap』swallowed whoever had attempted to trespass into the room. Bahad allowed himself the slightest sliver of hope and prayed to all the gods he knew that the interloper perished.
"Nice trap," and finally, he laid eyes upon the person responsible for the Butchering of Kruurat.
'Otherworldly,' was the only word he thought could describe her. A monster that could not, should not, exist in this world. 'Oh gods. Why have you forsaken us?'
He didn't know how he could still stand on his two feet. The very sight of the woman—butcher—filled him with a primal urge to drop everything, forget his duties, and run away.
Scared. Bahad was terrified. Every instinct he possessed screamed at him to run.
But he didn't. Even when his legs wobbled like the slimes of the forests, his feet remained rooted to the ground.
'This person… this monster is stronger than everything and everyone I've ever seen—combined,'
"If that's it, I'm gonna—" She cut herself off as her gaze glided to the children behind him.
Bahad's stomach sank even further. Was her thirst for slaughter still not sated? All the clansmen of Dlyshi outside… all of the people living in Kruurat and the Vahasi Republic… Was that still not enough?
He drew his battle axe, Dyurga's Howl, and with quivering arms, raised it against the six-winged monster who took the appearance of a slender human.
"Protecting them, huh? Am I supposed to feel bad? Like you're suddenly a good person or something?"
'Good?' This had nothing to do with being 'good' or 'evil.' The words brought out a well of courage he didn't know he had, steadying his hands and spirit. 'I'll be damned if I let her get what she wants without a fight.'
"You. Good," the monster viciously laughed, her voice harsher than the scorching sun of Shatterstone. "Don't fuck with me."
His heart was beating louder than ever before: louder than when a Basilisk had trapped him in a cave, louder than when he fought his first mautkshan, louder even than when he heard of what had passed in the Raswaran Dham.
"What about all the kids you've killed? What about their parents?" Her unblemished face twisted, perfect in spite of the fury that marred it. "What about them, huh?!"
The children behind him began to sniffle—unable to hold back their terror any longer.
Still, Bahad did not retreat a single step.
"You guys did all of that," the monster's holy sword shook. "No. No. You don't get to act like you're doing the right thing now. So why can't I just…?!"
He was going to die. Blood deafeningly thudded in his ears, his heart futilely racing to keep him alive for even just another second longer.
'Forgive me, Rajan. I can't even complete this last order of yours.'
But to his eternal bewilderment, the human stepped in front of the angel and pushed their sword down. Were they interceding on their behalf?
'Why?' Bahad could not remember seeing a slave such as her in the compounds of Clan Dlyshi. If she came with the monster, then their origins must lie in one of the western human nations. Enemies.
So why was she petitioning the monster for the lives of him and his?
Bahad recoiled as the monster raised its hand towards him; it seemed the human's efforts had been in vain.
He gritted his teeth as he activated every single Boost Art he knew in preparation for the last strike he would ever make.
And then the impossible happened, for the monster's sword slipped from their hand to the human's—
The human hugged the monster.
In a happier time, Bahad would have applauded her bravery. In the depths of the cold sanctuary, however, he could only stare in bafflement.
Was the monster crying? What reason, what right, did she have to weep?
"We're leaving for now," the raven-haired woman looked at him, eyes cold save for nearly undetectable traces of pity. "But we'll return later to sort everything out. Yuriko."
"『Gate』," the winged butcher released the raven-haired human from their grasp and muttered, casting a spell that opened a portal to whatever hellish realm she flew out of. Without another word, she and the woman who accompanied her disappeared into the purple rift alongside their angels.
The Lion Zoastia slumped to his knees. Behind him the children began to shuffle around again, crying filling the sanctuary in the absence of the monster's presence.
They were saved. Saved by the hands and words of some human, but…
He was the last Kshatra of Clan Dlyshi. His Rajan, his comrades, his friends—all of them were dead.
All of them but him.
Bahad wept.
AN: Well... that's the end of the first major arc! It's pretty surprising to think I would get to this point, but here we are. Thanks for everyone who has been keeping up with this fic, and I hope you all will stick out the rest with the duo!
