Reality is often cruel

As soon as they stepped out of the forest, they could see the massive Asaparagon Tree in the distance, which stood at the heart of New Havens. It easily towered above all other creations and stood guard with its all-encompassing canopy. The Ten Dawns quickly noted it was the same as the Asaparagon Tree in Firecast. If that was the case, then it acting as the source of all the Magical Energy suddenly made sense. But one had to wonder why? Why go through all the effort for a farming town?

In a short while, they reached the Silvera household. Elizabeth's heart was beating so madly that it felt about to explode. It was the same farmhouse that she knew and love, that she grew up in, but now it seemed so foreign. It lacked the previous vitality of life. After coming this far, she mustered up her courage and walked through the front door. She immediately wished she had not. On the floor, four bodies were sprawled together in a pool of dried blood. Two wore the Xingyuu Empire's uniform, and she had remembered their faces very well. She could see them in her nightmares, taunting her. The other two… They were none other than her mother and father! Victoria was lying facedown with multiple stab wounds on her back. Roan was covered in sword wounds, some light, others gruesome, but the horrifying thing was that his head was chopped clean off.

Elizabeth held back her tears. Benedict wanted to comfort her, but he could not do it. Not him, anyways. Elizabeth saw a trail of blood that went upstairs and sprinted up. Even if there was a one in a million chance that her sister or brother was alive, she would grasp it! But she was bound to be crushed. Every Grand Knight had the ability to push their senses to the absolute limit. Before entering the house, they sensed if anyone was inside and it was clearly a no. Even if someone was inside, unless they intentionally suppressed their movements and breathing to a zero, it was impossible to evade detection.

She followed the trail to her own room and an immense sensation of foreboding despair washed over her. The girl hesitated at the door before slowly creaking it open. It was the same as always: the rickety old dresser, the dusty mirror, and the faded blinds. But when she turned her eyes to the bed, what she saw would haunt her dreams. Blood. Blood was everywhere, turning the bed into a dirty red. On top were two bodies that were terribly mangled. One was her sister, the other was her brother's fiancée. The look on their faces was pure horror and misery. It was gut-wrenching and devastating to see that Elizabeth instantly vomited across the floor. She hurled over and over again until it hurt to even breath as she collapsed.

Just when she thought it was over, she stumbled over something. She was almost too afraid to look. It was her brother, Edward. His arms and legs were broken at painful angles, as an expression brimming with hatred stayed even after death. He was stabbed right through the back with the same sword that Benedict had given him. His death was physically the most merciful as the soldiers saw no interest in a man like him. However, his mental agony was… practically limitless. Forced to watch as your sister and lover was vandalized by soldiers and then executed alongside them, there was most likely no greater torment in the world. Seeing this scene play out in her mind over and over again, something inside Elizabeth broke as her vision went dark.

Meanwhile, the Ten Dawns and the Grand Knights had climbed to the roof. While Nassandra specialized in water and wind magic, Tengon specialized in augmenting him or his allies, such as granting others enhanced sight, hearing, or even movement. Combined with the Grand Knights' own tremendous perceptive capabilities, they could roughly estimate the number of soldiers in New Havens, even if they were far away. After several minutes, the knights retracted their senses. Even if they had surpassed human limitations, it was still a very stressful and tiresome thing.

"There's more people than the general expected," a knight stated.

"Doesn't seem like a few hundred," another agreed. "Seems like they're bunkering down. Did the general know this was going to happen?"

"Either way, we should return to Nightwin and report this. This is very important."

"That's fine," Tengon said. "We'll rest a bit longer before we return." He turned to look at his partner, Nassandra, who wore a frown. "What's wrong, Nassandra?"

"Is she okay?" she wondered.

"She?" Tengon asked. "Oh, you mean Elizabeth… I assume this is her family home. It's a real shame what happened here, but we can't do anything about it," he stated bluntly.

The five of them clambered down to see everyone was missing. Tengon frowned and led them upstairs to see the rest of their squadron huddled in front of a room. Clearly something happened, as the atmosphere was strangely quiet. The five exchanged confused gazes and pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Instantly, they could see the two corpses ruined on the bed, and another on the floor. It was so revolting that even these battle-hardened knights flinched. Nassandra looked away, but Tengon noticed that Elizabeth was hunched over in front of the bed, while Benedict was next to her.

Elizabeth slowly rotated her head in Tengon's direction, and he could not help but shudder inside. It was the face. Although her cheeks were flushed red and wet from tears, her eyes told a different story altogether. There was a deep, pure, and vivid hatred lingering in them. As if she wanted to burn the world down with her in it, those eyes were utterly empty and dark. Gone were the features of a young sixteen-year-old farmer girl. What replaced it was a hatred to herself, to the world, and to fate itself that ran as deep as the oceans themselves. She managed to petrify every one of these men with how cold she looked.

"Help me get revenge," she murmured in a low roar. "Help me slaughter every single one of those pigs! I won't rest until every single one of them receives a hundred, no… a thousand times the pain that they felt! I'll make them regret ever doing such a thing!" she screamed.

Tengon was the first to recover his wits. "You want me to use my magic to slaughter them? There may be survivors captured in the town," he said in an equally chilling tone with narrowed eyes.

To deal with so many enemies at once, he would have to use high-level magic given only to the Ten Dawns. To perform it, both Nassandra and Tengon were required, and it would result in a very powerful, large scale destruction spell. It was typically used to turn the tides on a battlefield during the war. However, it was indiscriminate and would kill anyone.

"I don't care!" she roared. "Without my family, no one else matters anymore!"

"You little…!" Tengon shouted and ran forward. Benedict reacted quickly and divided the two. "I will not taint my hands for you! If you want them to die, then do it yourself!" He stormed out of the room, signalling everyone to leave. One by one, the room emptied until Benedict, Nassandra and a Grand Knight remained.