Chapter 30

Ash had no idea what to do anymore. He was torn between helping the people here or to go look for Flora and the others, not to mention the other worries he had left behind. He had to do something quick, no matter how much he thought he would never come up with something to turn everything back so he had to move forward and minimize the damage.

"I'll go and look for Flora and the rest" he hissed at Lucy "You keep them occupied here". He said and left to go towards the tent in the back where all this had started.

The tent was on fire. Thick black smoke was rising high up in the air, along with the hot flames that were roaring in the wind. People were still running out of the burning carnage. Where were all the women of the Night Angel? Ash thought. He moved to the back of the tent, where Jade had met them a few nights before. He knew it lead directly to the private rooms and the fire hadn't reached this part yet, but it was still full of smoke. As he entered the tent with his hand over his eyes, he had a weird feeling, he acted on it and took out his blade. And surely, the next second, two bandits had jumped out of nowhere. They rounded up on him and attacked, one carrying a sword and the other an Axe. Only then did Ash realize he was still in the mindless state, that's why he had sensed them before. With adrenaline pumping blood in his brain and his whole body heating up inside and out, he didn't hold back.

Even though there were two of them, they were no match for Shade or Kurt. Ash stepped sideways to the first slash of the sword and with a quick slash cut his hand off, the man stepped back, struck with sudden pain, Ash bent backward as a giant axe slashed in the air right where his head was a few seconds ago. The momentum of the swipe left the man defenseless on his opposite side, and Ash moved in; he stabbed him, plunging the whole blade into his guts; he looked into his eyes, stopping his axe-wielding hands with his other hand, as every last drop of blood drained from his body. Ash pulled out the blade from the husk that was left, except it wasn't a blade anymore but a complete sword. The sword was gleaming red, it had some other shades of red too mixed in there; from his blood and the other victim's blood, they were forming weird patterns on the curved blade. It wasn't a regular sword, even beyond the color. He could feel its power even more in his mindless state.

He put the thought of the sword away for now and moved forward inside the tent. He stopped when he heard voices. He was almost at the entrance of the common lounging area where the men picked the women. He hid behind a wall and looked at the scene before him. All the women of the Night Angel were sitting on the floor; a dozen men were standing over them, questioning them. Ash saw Gwen and Jade in the front and sighed. At least they were unharmed.

"Who was working with that woman? Who else knew that she was a spy? You whore better start talking or we'll start cutting limbs soon" a man said. Ash remembered his name as Tamar, the second in command; he was the one they planned on drugging. The women kept quiet even as the men around them pulled out their weapons threateningly.

"You, you are their mistress right, you must know who works in your brothel, right? Or are you also with that wench," he said as he grabbed Jade by her hair and picked her up?

"No, please, I didn't know what she was doing, I had no idea when I hired her, please believe me" Ash was amazed by her acting and grateful that she didn't Gwen up. He had also decided to cut off Tamar's hands. He had to think of something they won't be able to hold much longer.

"What the hell is going on?' shouted a man, and they all turned to saw Knox standing on the side, followed by his men. Knox had always been prone to hiring the brutes of Slarveg, no matter how big they were, they were still brutes and no match in a real fight against the bandits. But still, since Knox was the leader of the operation his voice carried enough authority that the men moved back from the women, except Tamar, who released Jade and turned to face Knox.

"I told you before, you must not hurt any men or women I have hired for this job, I have a reputation to maintain in Slarveg," he shouted.

"I was going to send some men to get you out of your bed," said Tamar moving towards Knox. Tamar was a tall man and looked much more menacing in comparison to Knox. "Did you know there was a spy among these women trying to get information out of the bandits by drugging them, but they were mistaken to put it in my drink," he snarled to Knox's confused face. "And I can think of only one person who would want to find something from us, some secret or someone's whereabouts."

"What the fuck are you saying? I haven't done anything like that; I am not stupid," he spat back.

"Don't worry, once we'll get that bitch talking, we'll know for sure whether you sent her or not," he said threateningly. "And until then, I want you to be found at the dig site; you won't move a muscle from there and get your men to speed up," ordered Tamar.

"You can't order me; where's Zoro?"

"You better wish you won't have to see Zoro, now get out of here, or do I have to remind you what we can do?" he said and Knox had to relent to save his family. He looked around the hall with frustration, then turned back and left his men following him. Ash was so distracted seeing Knox's retreating that he was shocked when a loud blast sounded over him. Long flames of fire came down right where he was standing a few minutes ago and the flames were coming from Drax's mouth whose body flew in, smashing through the walls. Zoro had thrown him through the camp. The next moment taking advantage of the distraction, Gwen attacked Tamar. She was one of the best fighters he had seen, so he wasn't surprised to see Tamar having difficulty dodging her attacks. His other men moved to help him, and one carrying a crossbow pointed it at Gwen. That's when Ash came out of the shade, his red blood sword making him look like the grim reaper himself. The blood sword had a weird effect on him, and he was almost craving more blood, combined with the bandits' mindless state and rage. When he swung the sword at the man in a downward swing, he cut the man in half. He marveled at his own doing for a second but there was no time to rest, he moved from one man to another, his movement getting faster and smoother with every step. He was having fun for the first time.

When Zoro entered the hall through the massive hole in the wall, he saw Drax on the ground unconscious, Gwen and Tamar fighting head to head, and Ash disposing of his men with ease. So he moved towards Ash. Ash heard the loud steps before he saw Zoro, but the enormous shadow he was casting over him wasn't easy to ignore. He turned to see Zoro looking down at him with fury. Ash braced for an attack; he thought he had the one advantage of speed, so he must attack first. He pushed himself to move as fast as possible and aimed for his heart, the last thing he saw was Zoro turning his axe over slowly, and then darkness.