Nagi, Tess, Keele, Bandore, and all the warriors of Garuga ran at full speed to Leshva. When they arrived, it was more precise to say it was where Leshva once was. It had been utterly destroyed. Many of the buildings were ruined, their walls collapsed and a horrible burning stench coming from most of them. Nagi lost his voice. He couldn’t even imagine what caused destruction on such a scale.
“What happened?” Tess murmured.
Everyone was thinking the same thing. Keele was the first to answer her.
“Fuckin’ vampires. They used their blood calibers.”
“What?”
“You can’t break buildings like this with any kind of human strength. Blood calibers, on the other hand... It hasn’t been that long since the uprising here. The only thing capable of doing this so quickly is that fucked up power. I bet they set the fires afterward.”
“Weren’t blood calibers only meant to be used in fights between nobles?” Nagi asked.
“That don’t mean they can’t use them against commoners and buildings. There are blood calibers which specialize in it... Lernaean went and gathered a whole bunch of assholes like that.”
“What for?”
“To wipe out an entire town of commoners. Just like this.”
Nagi looked over the scenery. Nothing was moving aside from debris and smoke. He couldn’t believe this was a town filled with people just a few days ago. Was this scene Lernaean’s... and Saya’s desire?
“Let’s look for survivors. We need intel,” Keele said.
Nagi nodded back to him. Their group traversed the mountains of rubble. Once in a while, a horrible miasma would waft over them. Excrement, rotten food... and corpses. The bodies had been left in the open, without being properly buried. Maggots and flies swarmed all over them.
After some time, they finally found a survivor. It was a man trying to move a heap of corpses around. Nagi’s group drew closer, and the man turned to them with empty eyes.
“You’re... the Tainted.”
His lifelessness made it impossible for Nagi to feel angry at his use of the unforgivable slur.
“Yeah.”
“Scavenge all you want. You should be able to find something worth money lying around. Everyone’s dead anyway.”
“We’re not bandits.”
Nagi didn’t blame the man for his prejudice that the Crestfolk were bandits. He just looked so dead on the inside.
“Oh yeah... They did say something like that, I guess.” A small light flickered in his vacant eyes, and words began spilling from his mouth. “I was against it. Opposing the Sovereign wouldn’t do us any good. But they were all idiots. They were all good guys. That’s why they listened to that kid, and that’s why it ended like this.”
“That kid? Kyou?”
“Yeah. That’s him. He got the town involved... Then the knights came... Then everyone died.”
“What exactly happened? What started all this?”
“What started it...?”
The man fell silent. He remained that way for a while, then began retelling his story.
“It all started when the guys in the slum stood up against the government officials for the Tainted. There were those among them who were friendly with the Tainted. It was a pretty common squabble. Ever since the revolution, it happened just about every day... But the official killed one of them. That wasn’t good. Those guys from the slum are tight. It turned into a riot in no time. That’s when that kid came out.”
The man fell silent once more. Nagi’s group stood there staring, waiting for his next words. The wind changed directions, gradually bringing over that horrible stench in the air. Nagi was desperate to hold back his urge to vomit.
“He was apparently... the former Sovereign. He was just a kid, but there was a strange intensity to him. He told us to join forces with the Tainted and fight. He said that after the Tainted, the nobles would kill the commoners next. Turns out he was right.”
The man cast his gaze over the corpses all around him.
“What happened to the kid? Was he killed?” Keele asked.
The man shook his head. “He was captured. Everyone else died. My friends, my family, everyone.”
With that, the man took the corpse he was carrying and violently tossed it atop a cart.
“Need help?” Nagi asked.
“Stop. I don’t want the Tainted to touch them. They were good friends of mine.”
“Why are you still alive?” Bandore asked coldly. It was clear he was angered by the man’s statement.
“I was hiding in my house, trembling in a corner... watching my wife and daughter get raped to death. I just hid and watched... Hid... Watched...”
“Coward.”
“Bandore, cut it out,” Tess said, but the man went on to provoke him further.
“That’s right, I’m a coward... Hey, you gonna kill me? You Tainted filth.”
Rage filled Bandore’s body. Nagi placed a hang on his shoulder to stop him.
“This man spoke the unforgivable slur,” Bandore protested.
“This is an abnormal situation. Let it slide.”
“Hey! Kill me! Just kill me!” the man screamed.
Hearing that, astonishment washed away all of Bandore’s anger.
“Let’s go,” Tess said.
Nagi nodded. There was a strange light in the man’s eyes. Nagi wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.
“Hey! Come on! I’m begging you! Please! Kill me! Just kill me!”
Nagi ran as if to shake off the man. A little ahead of him, Keele had his gaze fixed upward. He was acting on his own, as usual; apparently he’d found something.
It was the building which likely sat at the center of town. This area had also been reduced to rubble, with the exception of a single structure. It looked like some sort of sculpture; the base stood about twice the height of an average person.
Something was placed atop it. Keele stared at it silently. His tranquil profile was one Nagi had never seen before. His gaze was locked onto something. Something was piled atop the stand, like vegetables for sale.
Upon realizing exactly what they were, Nagi forgot to breathe. Vomit surged up his throat. They were human heads. Men, women, children, adults, all mixed together.
“Nagi, isn’t that Cobalt’s...?!” Tess said in a fluster.
Nagi noticed it right after her. There was a familiar face in the pile.
“Senak...”
Nagi averted his gaze.
“Meanin’ these are all the perps behind the riot,” Keele said calmly. His voice was so relaxed it hurt.