Falling From Grace I

Clap— Clap—

"Listen."

The demonic human leader's voice resounded in the room.

"The evil craft that I have granted upon you should be used carefully. Make sure that you would only use it on ordinary people."

His eyes wandered around the children and continued, "If there's an instance where you accidentally used it on a mage or warrior's corpse, you will die. This is because this evil craft absorbs 100% of the corpse along with their energy."

"If the energy meets the demonic power in your heart, you will explode. I'm sure that you all know the one absolute rule of the world, right?"

Some of the children answered, "That living beings only have one heart, so they can only pursue one path."

The demonic human leader nodded in satisfaction.

Clap—

"Now, try to use it on the corpse beside you."

The children looked at each other for a while before they each placed their hands on the corpses beside them with hesitant expressions.

"Do it." He ordered.

[Indiscriminate Absorption]

A chant echoed in the surroundings as the children simultaneously activated their evil craft.

As Regis chanted, he felt a strange sensation in his body.

He could see the old lady's corpse disintegrate slowly into black gas of energy before being absorbed into his palm.

What followed after was the feeling of strength whelming within him.

'Terrifying…' Regis thought as he could feel the demonic power inside his heart increase in both quantity and quality.

However, he could also feel a certain sense of discomfort in his body.

Brought upon by the rapid increase in quantity and quality was the corruptive property of the demonic power increasing.

Strangely enough, the discomfort only lasted for a very short moment before disappearing.

'Strange…' Regis then quickly observed the other children.

He saw that the majority still had a strange expression on their faces, as if they were feeling something they're uncomfortable with.

As a young boy that lived in the slums, Regis needed to always be observant of his surroundings.

Observing whenever a riot was about to happen was a must for him.

Through this, he developed his sense of observation.

It was what he was using now.

'Again, this might be because of–'

Clap—

"Mhm. I see that there are no problems so far. Follow me, I'll lead you to your last work for today."

The demonic human leader said before exiting the room.

The children looked at each other, wondering what sort of repulsive act would the demonic human leader make them do.

Still, they had no choice but to follow after him.

***

"As soldiers of the Devil, you do not need to learn how to fight."

The demonic human leader's words confused the children.

"A soldier that doesn't know how to fight?"

"Right, we're still too young after all…"

"Maybe the leader has some other plans…"

…

Hearing the children discussed among each other, the demonic human leader only smiled.

It did not take long for them to reach a village after a while of walking.

As they neared the village, Regis could see the fearful expressions of the villagers.

'Hmmm? Who's that?'

He saw an old man with a cane come towards them with a flattering smile.

'He must be the chief of the village…' Regis surmised.

"I-I express my greetings to the leader!"

However, the demonic human leader only smiled and said, "Cut it off. You know what I'm here for. I'll need exactly 113 sacrifices this time."

The old man sweated, "Of course, of course! However, maybe you want some tea? We prepared so—"

The demonic human leader glared, silencing the old man in an instant.

Gripping his cane tightly, the old man shouted. 

"Bring the sacrifices!"

Regis saw a large number of children holding a variety of wooden weapons in their hands.

"Oh? Would you look at that…" The demonic human leader had a smile on his face as he turned to look at the old man.

"W-We apologize to you, Leader! B-But w-we would like for our children to at least be able to fi—"

"Enough."

The demonic human leader observed the children with wooden weapons.

"Well, it only states in our contract that you would provide us child sacrifices in exchange for protection from wild beasts…"

"...and I see that although trained, they are not awakened. It might also be beneficial for us. Very well, I'll permit this practice of yours. If one of your children successfully killed a demonic human, they would be free."

"T-Thank you for your generosi—"

"However."

The demonic human leader looked the old man in the eye and said, "Make sure that you will not cross the line, or else…"

"Of course, Leader. We thank you for your generosity." The old man bowed his head.

'Fucking demonic humans…' He cursed in his heart.

He had been forced to seek the demonic humans for help in driving the wild beasts away.

In exchange, they would need to offer a certain number of children to be used as sacrifices in nurturing demonic soldiers.

However, instead of being helplessly devoured by those demonic humans the old man took a gamble.

He ordered for the children who were to be sacrificed to be trained.

This way, they would still have a chance of survival.

'Even one… I just hope for them to kill even one disgusting demonic human…'

'May the Goddess of Light protect them…'

The old man prayed in his heart as he silently gazed at the children holding wooden weapons with fear apparent in their eyes.

On the other hand, the demonic human leader turned to the children he was nurturing as suicide soldiers and said, "Remember what I said earlier?"

The children nodded in response.

"You don't need to learn how to fight. I'm not nurturing you as knights! You will be the soldiers of Agaroth!"

"Fighting is not our priority!"

"You only need to know how to kill."

His words brought chills to Regis and the others.

He grinned with a crazed expression as he pointed at the direction of the village.

"You see those children with wooden weapons? Kill them by any means possible. Kill them and become the Devil's soldiers!"