The New Way Forward

Kalishar walks around looking at the scene, five zerbarix running in front, three to the right, two below her, and one jumping over them. The girl grits her teeth letting out a rare growl never heard before. Zanzalien looked on, preparing to sacrifice herself, but the girl with her scarf took the liquid and rubbed her scarf with the blood she had and combined vomit from some pieces of zerbarix meat she had not yet directed.

"Let's go, just walk and don't turn around, leave the rest to me, but I need you to somehow take Fenrir with you."

"But I'm hurt."

"We all are and you don't see me crying!!!" she yelled. "Go running or whatever, just make sure you both get out alive."

"Fine, but you mustn't die either!"

Zanzalien runs with what little strength he has and roughly lifts Fenrir, but can only drag him up as he loses blood. Kalishar throws the scarf and places the last explosive flake on him, she runs turning her legs into those of a grasshopper jumping and taking advantage of the explosion to pretend she had propelled herself, she grabs Fenrir and Zanzalien to carry them away from the site.

The girl felt how some needles and pillars were sticking in some parts of her body, a result of her surprise attack, and some sisters still in fighting condition throwing everything as a weapon against her. Luckily none of the attacks had hit an organ and she could heal quickly as long as she kept eating. Looking at Fenrir and Zanzalien suffering from some attacks, she sighs knowing she had to protect the two humans by placing them in front of her so her body could serve as a shield.

"I hear sound coming this far!" shouted one of the knights guarding the entrance to the nest.

"Keep your arrows ready to fire. Until we can verify that they are our friends and can be rescued, we can't risk it."

"We're fine, none of those things are after us!!!"

"That scream, it's Tryforn's."

"Don't shoot! Please!"

"And now!"

The captain orders his men to hold their positions, but not to fire, he sends a small group of five knights to assist in the exit of his knights who need to get out. He imagined the worst by just hearing the voice of two knights out of a group of twelve. He prayed for the souls of the fallen and thanked the gods for the return of at least two of his best knights.

"And the others?"

Bruce wasted no time and wanted to know how the poor unfortunate lives ended, he wanted to know that at least they fell as great heroes to write letters of apology and loss to the relatives.

"Well..."

"It's complicated, we only know that when we woke up, half were dead and the few wounded we had to leave behind to escape. We, we're sorry."

"We should have done more."

Ahori now looked like she was going to collapse in tears, she felt guilty for leaving living comrades behind to die. It was one thing to try to forget comrades who died to try to function in the day, but it was another to abandon a comrade who still had pulses in their hearts.

"I'm sorry friend, but we would have only perished there too."

Before the two continued their wailing, the knight who had announced the arrival of Tryforn and Ahori announced the arrival of more beings at the entrance. The man commented that it sounded like the voice of that strange girl but accompanied by some terrifying sounds that were from those same creatures. All entered in position expecting the worst to fight, some were praying and others were shedding tears for not being able to share their last moments with their families.

Kalishar comes out of the nest with a great impulse below her, some zerbarix that wanted to eat her while she pushed Fenrir and Zanzalien up to protect them. She reacts by turning around with a kick and using Fenrir's gauntlet to explode a zerbarix that had its mouth open.

"Fire!" shouted Bruce to give the creatures no time to defend themselves.

The knights focused all their attacks on the zerbarix as did Kalishar managing to take out the ones that came out and scare the ones below. The insects were annoyed, but seeing how their sisters above had been eliminated without problems, they strategically decided to go down to become alphas and return to wait for their opportunity to attack.

Kalishar moves to land on his feet and catch his two injured, but still barely alive, companions. Without wasting time he demanded that they be rescued. The girl was panting and struggling to breathe, but she had managed to do her duty to Fenrir to save someone other than himself. When the other knights had approached to tend to her wounds, the girl moved quickly saying that she was fine, to prioritize the others, that if they needed her help then leave to find some privacy to rest asking that no one disturb her.

"Help him...please.... Ah?!"

Fenrir wakes up again in the same room as when he had fainted the first time, automatically joking that he should lose the habit of waking up in the knight's bed or he would be stuck with the horrible things about them. He could feel a terrible pain in his chest, it was there that he remembered how his ribs had been popped because of the alpha. However, he imagined they would be worse, but most likely he had already been taken care of, being left with slight damage to his body.

"You woke up, finally, you do like to sleep too long."

"Kalishar, interesting. Finally if we were able to leave the place."

"And I was able to help that stinky skunk like you asked."

"I asked you to help a gentleman?"

"Yes, you asked me to help that guy sleeping in the other room."

"Don't you remember? Literally, when we were about to leave and accept his offer for him to die being eaten by the zerbarix, you asked me to stop him from dying."

"I don't remember. Being honest, I only remember that monstrous thing throwing me to the ground like a baby with its rattle. And if we're talking now in a room of knights, it can only indicate that those insects, preferred, prioritized the promotion of new alphas."

"I think I'll need a moment to walk." the girl said annoyed.

"Okay take care." He lays back trying to think of some things. "Maybe, no... maybe it's too early to think about that."

Kalishar walked to enter the room she had been given so she could have her privacy, there was food and some medicine to treat her wounds. The zerbarix woman at first didn't need them because she thought her condition would return to normal because of her regenerative abilities, but she noticed how some wounds and the feeling of exhaustion were still present. She worried that the loss of one of her hearts was the cause of her slow recovery.

"I still don't feel danger to my life, but maybe my offspring production and some capabilities will be significantly impaired. At least I am no longer in that nest, there is already less sign of my sisters, I think there is only 20% of them left. No matter, my offspring will be the only ones living in the new world." The girl takes the bottle of medicine she had been given for her recovery. "It's the same special health food, just to eat in such cases."

The girl takes the medicine next to the food, she could notice the unpleasant taste of the medicine understanding why it was only eaten under those conditions. She hoped she would not have to take it again. Kalishar touches her chest to remember how she had almost died and a human had saved her. She wondered if the non-herbaria flesh would have that same kindness for her if she discovered the true her true nature. After all, she was nothing more than a monster seeking to satiate her terrible hunger.

Within a week the horrible sounds of insects tearing each other apart began to diminish, Bruce, with a little time and coordination, sent an expedition group to eliminate the straggling and weak zerbarix. Based on the time and reaction factor that Fenrir had developed, it was possible to minimize the terrible casualties to a few minor losses. Other funerals were held to honor the fallen, where Fenrir oppressively participated giving sincere condolences. Although it was the only thing he could do, after all, he was not part of the group and did not yet know much about anyone.

Kalishar went down to the nest to check its condition, death was now the owner of the nest, no zerbarix could survive, and the few that still had a pulse had their minutes counted due to their wounds. It was a terrible scene, but she knew that if she wanted to be the one on top, like the rest of her dead sisters, she learned to evolve using the other species for her benefit.

"Do you really think we could have wiped out an entire nest after years of no breakthroughs?" the knights murmured in disbelief at the possibility of having won.

"I really hope there will be a change, since Fenrir and Kalishar arrived, we have managed to eliminate these things with better results. We lost so many people, men and women who will never see sunlight or moonlight again. I want this, however brief, to be the victory we have all been longing for since we had this job." Bruce thought waiting for the girl's response.

"There, now the nest is clean! Eliminate the ones that agonized as prevention!" the girl shouted.

All the gentlemen celebrated the girl's words, the terrible nightmare they had experienced was finally closed from their lives. Some would even take the opportunity to retire to enjoy a bit of the life they somehow managed to hold on to.

"I must admit that even I am happy to see joy invade the hearts of gentlemen when it comes to good things.", Fenrir commented to the captain.

The swindler's smile and his harmony-filled gaze reflected a genuine and pure feeling on the part of the man who hated knights.

"That's a smile for our fortune?"

"I won't say yes, but it's no lie that I feel cheerful about the atmosphere."

The man's answer kept impressing the old man, Fenrir's attitude was slowly changing. Maybe he was aware or not, but at least he was moving forward with a positive attitude.

"What do you plan to do now that all your pending here are finished. You won't have to put up with our annoying company anymore, though we may meet again one day."

"I well, I don't know. I thought I could go back to my old sad life of stealing, swindling and lying. But, I doubt I can do that."

"Because of the girl with you?"

"No, even if she came with me, that wouldn't stop me from taking advantage of her to make her an accomplice and scapegoat." He lets out a small laugh. "This is more what my brother once said when he graduated to being a gentleman, I think it's about time a scumbag like me starts producing value."

"I think I can help you be a gentleman without that much hassle. Even of you being part of a group."

"Wait a minute, I didn't say I planned to become you guys, I still have dignity!"

The old man laughs knowing that Fenrir did plan to become a knight. He advised him that if he wanted to change the status quo of corrupt knights, he should be the one to take the first step by becoming a knight and returning glory to that title. The man thought about it and said he might give it a try, but did not promise that should he fail, he would obsess about trying again.