Chapter 12 - The Massacre

The Village.

The silent wind breezed through the village as crickets sang through the night. All the villagers had retired into their homes after a long day in the fields. Lorian Daliyi, a 74-year-old retired knight moved here with his young 5-year-old grandson, Tei to finally build a peaceful life away from the crowd and chatter.

"Grandpa…" a small voice appeared behind Lorian, who was currently adding wood into the fireplace.

"Tei. What is it dear? Can't sleep?" Lorian turned around patting Tei's little head.

Tei nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"Come here," Lorain held out his arms, letting the little boy jump into them.

"Let me tell you a story," the grandfather began, rocking his grandson, "There once was a charming prince…"

By the time the story had ended, Tei had fallen asleep with a peaceful smile on his face.

"Good night my boy," Lorian smiled, kissing him on the forehead.

Getting up, he slowly walked into Tei's bedroom, tucking him into bed.

"It's about time for me to sleep as well," Lorian muttered, closing the door as he left the room.

Arriving at his own bedroom, before he could open the door, a sudden scream rang through the silent night.

"M-Monsters!" The voice shrieked, getting closer.

Snapping out of his daze, Lorian quickly bolted to his spear before going outside to assess the situation.

"Siuai! What monsters? Is it the damn wolves again?" Lorian rushed outside to meet his companion.

"N-No, I didn't see properly, b-but they had these glowing r-red eyes. I-I think it's d-demons." Siuai replied, out of breath, grabbing Lorian's arm.

Lorian's eyes widened, "Are you sure? What are demons doing all the way out here?"

Before Lorian had retired, he had worked as a regular knight in the Nelstrol Kingdom's Army. Making him the strongest person in the village right now.

"Oh~! There's another human here, so lucky~!" a young voice snapped him out of his thoughts,

"Who?!" He turned around to see a small girl around the height of his shoulders standing right behind him, "When-" he was going to ask when he noticed her burning red eyes.

"Demon!" He got into a fighting stance,

"Ah~! Wait!" The girl suddenly blurted out, standing up straight,

"Surrender yourself and we will not harm you for now. Resist and you will die." She demanded as if reciting the line from a script.

"Huh? What kind of bullshit is that?!" Lorian exclaimed with anger, her childlike mocking tone seemingly treating this whole ordeal like a game. He gripped his spear tightly, "This is my home! Of course, I'm going to protect it till the end!"

He charged at the girl with full speed.

"Old man, you're making this really hard for me you know~…" he heard her disappointed voice behind him.

Suddenly, a wretched pain surged up from his left leg as the world tilted to the left. Looking down, he saw his left leg was missing with blood spurting rapidly from the remaining stump.

"Ah! Are you looking for this?" The girl asked, holding out her hand, her hands holding a hairy leg.

"Aaand a kick~!" The girl faked a commentator's voice as she bent the leg back and did a little kick motion with it, clearly enjoying herself.

The next thing he knew, his vision slowly faded to black, the demon"s chatter fading from his ears.

"Eh~ that old man was really weak… I guess we can take that child inside then," the girl sighed, getting up.

"N-No…Not Tei!" Lorian suddenly felt the adrenaline fill his body once more as her words entered his ears. He reached out his arm and held the girl's leg, "L-Leave my boy a-alone," he groaned, pulling himself up, his world still shaking around him.

"Len! Hurry up and kill that guy already!" A new voice rang out, "The Commander and everyone else are done with their sides already. We're all waiting for you."

"Ah~! Sorry!" the girl called out before looking back at him, "Well, you heard what she said~! I'm kinda in a rush~! Well, Goodbye~!"

Her foot crushed his skull.

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Tonia stood on the rooftop observing Len step on the guys head,

"Grab that old man and the kid inside." She called out, "We're putting them in that weird giant looking building,"

She pointed at the Village Communal Center.

"Roger~!" Len replied, grabbing the corpse of the old man and rushed into the house to get the kid.

"Ah~! Found him~" She picks up the terrified kid and carried him by his neck then walked out of the house.

"Tonia~! This one's yours," Len shouts, throwing Tei into the air and letting Tonia catch him.

"Ay, what if you dropped him? That'll be another body wasted." Tonia pouted, tossing the boy on her shoulder, before jumping away.

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At the Communal Centre, the group of 400 or so remaining villagers sat on the ground, each bound by a tight metal chain, their arms tightly secured behind their backs with the rest of the squad waiting around, sitting on the chairs and opened windows of the building.

"Commander~! Got the remaining two~" Len came rushing back with Tonia before tossing the two into the group with the rest.

"You're so late," Leon grumbled, rolling his eyes, holding his giant weapon beside him as he sat on the windowsill alongside Jyn and Enga.

"W-Why are you doing this?" A villager cried out, "W-what have we ever done?"

They got no response as Alastair, Seilon, and Reisa discussed their next plans.

"Leon and Jyn. Destroy the village. Leave no evidence," Seilon commanded, nodding towards the two squad members.

"Understood," they replied, walking out the building.

Within a couple of seconds and a lot of noise, the two returned.

Everything besides the communal center had completely disappeared. Not a single plank of wood was spared.

"A-Ah! Y-you! Aren't you different from them? A-Aren't you a human too? Y-Your e-eyes are blue!" A suddenly called out from within the crowd of villagers, his finger pointing at Alastair, "W-Why are you with those kinds of m-monsters?"

All the burning red eyes of squad 0 stared straight at the brave villager causing him to suddenly feel chills all over his body, the feeling of regret instantly consumed him.

Suddenly, a bout of maniacal laughter broke out from them all.

"You! You think that Commander is a…a human!? Gahahahaha!" Leon wheezed,

"Oh that was the strangest thing I've heard in so long," Enga held his stomach,

"Ahahaha~! Can't…!Breathe…!" Len was rolling on the floor banging the floor while coughing.

"Enough." Alastair"s voice rang out, the tiniest bit of his energy leaking out, instantly silencing the squad. "We're leaving now. Take the villagers to The Cave."

He said, getting ready to walk out to destroy the centre as well.

"Ah, Commander! Let me do that," Seilon called out after him, "I have a new sword skill I want to try out!"

Alastair nodded, "Reisa, cast antigravity and move the villagers outside."

"[Anti-Gravity]"

Suddenly, the circle of villagers began floating outside, their legs kicking around attempting to find something to support them.

"Seilon. Go ahead," Reisa called out.

"OK!" Seilon replied, preparing his stance.

With a quick breath, he raised his sword and slashed over a million times a second from all directions. Moving back to his original position and sheathing his sword, the center was completely eradicated into dust.

"Ah! A success!" Seilon exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"M-Monsters…" a villager mumbled out loud.

"Let's go," Alastair said, heading back to the ravine with the others following.