Chapter 27: lost memories

Detailed report of the Skars-gaard Manor massacre.

Code name: saber

First first hunt back. 21st official hunt. 89 confirmed dead out of 90 surviving members present pre Arrival. Sole survivor kept alive as a souvenir to regain control of Skars-gaard assets.

It was a massacre to put it simply. The sounds of bones crushing and screams covered the manor. The wails of the survivor echoed, it was Frederick's brother. His left eye Gauged out, his right arm mangled as he pleaded, his mouth filled with blood from his Damaged larynx and Bit tongue. "The young master had been merciless" the assassin recounted.

They were instructed by Lucien to wait until the last sound was heard in an interval greater than 5 minutes. And so they waited, for 3 hours the sounds, although loud, were consistent. Enough to keep everybody outside wondering when it would All end. With Gunshots and screams loud enough to be heard in the 300meter distance between them, the isolated region aiding them with their instructions.

When they arrived at the manor gates, the sight was bone chilling even for meecernaries like them. At this point the sun was beginning to set and the crimson light seemed blue in comparison to the ground ahead. The bodies were littered in tens, covering everywhere, Luciens plan was to attack the manor at their annual 5 day celebrations where the offsprings would do anything to assert dominance over their blood kin. This proved to be his aid for this massacre. It was the 4th day of celebrations, meaning almost everyone Linked to the skaars-gaard name had arrived ready for the grand finale party the next day that they all couldnt afford to miss, or so they thought. Mangled and dismembered limbs torn merciless and crudely, bullet shells lay waste around and even knives covered in blood. Inside the manor was worse, the smell of blood created a foglike mist that made the air extremely pungent. Exposed organs lay around making it slippery to move easy. As the group moved further into the manor, the corpses grew less and less. Upstairs, the bodies of the Skars-gaard Patriarch and his wife's head were cut off and laid on the table. Each room had a corpse or two, with each corpse dismembered in one way or the other but none left alive to struggle. As they advanced up the floors, the brutality only became more unpleasant. "How did he get acid?" they thought collectively as they passed the melting Faces littered across the burnt carpets. "Did he rip out the sockets just to electrocute them?" One of the assasins said out loud as they got to the last open room, a socket visibly ripped out with a man laid beside it, the wires Gouged into his eyes. This was the only room with broken windows, which means he must have thrown a few men through it. But that wasn't the most difficult to believe, the surrounding windows had iron burglaries. Does that mean he ripped them out all while fighting the group? But that would be impossible, removing metal from a concrete enclosement would require inhumane strength, strength they doubt even he could release, especially in that short a time it took to defend himself against them. Upon further examinations, it would seem the door to the room was forced open, a barricade set up with the chairs around. Shards of broken glass with blood littered parts of the hall way, the bodies although too few to restrict movement, were more than enough to further detail his brutality. Looking outside the window, there bodies laid, they were at the 5th and last floor, the distance too high to consider A jumping from. They calculated well over 40meters from the ground up, instant death if thrown off, jumping would cause instant paralysis as well and even with a cushion underneath, safety wasn't guaranteed. What kind of man does this? They were assasins, well aged and experienced, they'd taken on mercenary jobs that put many lives at risk. They'd killed buried and laid waste to multiple men that would make the common man beg on his knees. And even they felt Weak hearted in the presence of this massacre. Lucien had taken his time to destroy, remove and burn the very Name of Skars-gaard. People who could carry on the legacy, children, women, men, peasants, servants, workers. Anyone affiliated with them and was present in that building on the day of the massacre, none of them survived.

Their instruction was to burn the bodies and lay waste to the building, however there were too many bodies. They began with throwing the ones on the higher floors off the window into a ditch, and then using tarps to drag the ones on the lower floors down the stairs and out the door. Meanwhile Lucien had Raymonde, the Skars-gaard sole survivor Tied, heaving and pleading. He was the eldest son of the Skars-gaard House and the immediate elder brother to Frederick. Known as the favored one of their father, He had the second highest authority to the family's wealth and Lucien decided it would be best to compensate himself and his father with the vast fortune of the family he just made disappear. After moments of waiting and catching his breath, Lucien weakly grabbed his phone from the mercenary who stood guard beside him and called his father. "It is done, you can make it disappear now. Leave the wealth, there may be some hidden and we do not wish to alert any hidden helpers from hoarding it all. The asklade or whatever its called here with me and he wishes to comply in exchange for his life." For someone so Favored by his father it was truly strange to witness him kill his parents so decisively in the midst of all the chaos. Especially with him handing over his brother which led to that decision due to their resistance.

The Skars-gaard eldest Son had never truly been the favored one. His mother loved Frederick more than her other 4 children and that made His brother spiteful. His father although making Raymonde the second in access to their family's fortune, put a strict restriction on the money he was allowed access to, with his brother receiving considerably high amounts despite their Farce of an attempt to limit his spendings. It drove Raymonde mad. Made him detached from their families twisted activities. And although Lucien Roughed him up and tied him up to ascertain Dominance due to a lack of trust, he could sympathise with him to an extent. Afterall, that same reason was a factor in him initially abandoning the family despite being the favored heir of his great grandfather.

Sir, we're ready to end this now. The chief mercenary said to Lucien, the Others gathered outside, with a few at the back arranged the final pile of bodies to be burned. They ransacked every room and found a total of 960,000 in cash. Just enough to get by. They were sure there were hidden passages and rooms that stacked more, but Lucien wanted to leave. He had no use of it. His family's fortune encompassed even 10× what the skaars-gaard empire held and he was the first heir to all of it. His injuries were also a problem. His wounds had been given first aid by the workers, but they were beginning to open up, his energy levels low and his bodies system shutting down. And considering they were far away from Home, it would be a risky bet if all of them did not leave as the time it takes to fully ransack the massive Building would be too much of a hassle to be executed at night and considering the grand party being held the next day. Covering their tracks would be difficult and the funds they could earn from absorbing the skaars-gaard empire was more than enough for them. Leaving, he'd asked his people to administer first aid to Raymonde and put him in a car. He picked a few men, to drive, to stay with him and Raymonde, with the rest to be in the other vehicles. He then asked the rest either to use their scattered locations as rendezvous points to Bypass and leave or join their escort, with a total of 4 cars including theirs. Although they'd brought signal jammers, he'd forgotten to Shut down their electricity system, which meant, in some way, the "helpers" would be aware of what's happened sooner or later especially after they burn the manor. Which would mean trouble for them if they don't handle it early.

Upon getting to the private hangar, they headed towards the skaars-gaard hangar. The security stopped them, but Lucien quickly came down from the car berating them for their insolence, "the alskade is In that car, heavily injured and on the run from his pursuers. Currently he is the only known survivor, do you wish to put his life at risk for mere security checks!?" Lucien screamed, his Scandinavian accent surprisingly good. OPEN THE HANGAR AND READY THE PILOTS. We leave in 10". Initially, the security was disoriented. The others in the vehicle didn't come out but Lucien who seemed to be their leader was bruised tattered and showing signs of collapse at any moment. And although the first aid was administered they were still Skeptical in their beliefs. In the end, after much deliberation, they readied the plane and loaded everyone aboard, with others coming in. A few minutes later a group of cars burst into the hangar easily passing the barricade and demanded for the car that held the young master. Shooting around, Lucien and the others in the first car hurried into the plane with the others protecting it. As the bullets flew, and the plane readied for take off, Lucien demanded the pilots fly in that instant, despite their warnings, Lucien held firm with his desires, even rough handling them. Reluctant to risk their lives, Lucien resorted to threats, pulling out his weapon and telling them its either they die within their line of duty or die by his hands. They had no choice than to take off. The sounds of gunshots surrounded the air and although the pilots shivered with fear, the matter was no longer within their control.

Meanwhile in the hangar, a man held a Comm device, the Bodies laid Lifeless around him and his crew, "they have left the hanger, prepare to intercept at landing point." After 20minutes clearing up the hangar of the bodies, a bunch of cars came in, even more than the last wave, they'd stopped infront of the hangar and 3 men jumped out of three different vehicles. One with half his scalp stitched up, the other skinny but towered over the others and the last one muscular with a scar on his eye. "Where are they?" The Disfigured man asked. "Where Is the noble son and his kidnappers?" He demanded again, this time visibly angry. "Kidnappers? Only 12 men came with the Alskade and they seemed visibly hurt as if protecting him from the kidnappers." A man came forward responding. "Although, a few moments later, another bunch came here shooting at the vehicle and the plane. If their leader didn't instruct two men to stay back and help us, we wouldn't have stopped them with our limited numbers. "Where are the men?" The man asked, two men, with bandaged wounds Raised their hands at the distant treatment Table." Although Skeptical, something else had bothered him about the situation, "where are the bodies of the men you fought?" The man who volunteered as the spokesman, led the others to an abandoned shed, emptied and enclosed to keep the bodies. The three men took a quick look at the bodies and noticed something was off but before they could react, the sound of gunshots filled the air once more. "You shouldn't be so nosy to people you don't know." The spokesman said under his breath. The commander had noticed that the Uniforms the men wore had blood stains on them, however the men who wore them showed no signs of injuries to test extent. And the worst part, one of the bodies found in the shed was the brother of the tall skinny man, they'd known him well and knew he was supposed to be on duty but when they couldn't find him, they'd tried to cue themselves through signals, signals that the mercenaries had Seen through easily