Chapter 014:

“Wake up already.” Something was gently poking Anton's face.

“Hey!”

He felt a sharp sting on his cheek, his mind jolting awake. The earliest of the suns rays entered the room.

To his right, Verona was already awake. She was sitting on the bed a foot away from him, using the skin covers to cover her front.

He was about to say something but remembered that Verona tore it off that night. Everything else came back as well.

“Christ, Ver...How are you feeling?” Anton asked, quickly remembering her pain.

She smiled weakly, shoulders dropping as she relaxed.

“Okay, I guess.” Her voice was a little hoarse. “Everything aches though.”

As she scratched her back, he saw the blood-red tattoos on her shoulders. Now, with the morning light upon them, they looked quite beautiful in a wild sort of way.

“They look pretty awesome, don't you think?” Verona asked, looking at the exposed sections.

Anton coughed awkwardly.

“Anyway,” Verona said as she turned away, still smiling, “I want to see what sort of magic I have.”

She jumped off the bed and rummaged through her pile of clothes, finding her other shirt. After putting it on she still looked a little disappointed.

“What's wrong?”

Verona stood and twirled.

“You can't see it, no-one can. What's the point then?”

“So you want something that would show them off?”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“A couple of things. Those marks cover most of your back, down to your legs and most of your sides-”

Verona rolled up pants to look, sighing when she saw that they did indeed travel that far.

“You would basically need to go running into battle naked.”

“That's-”

“That's a terrible idea, a single arrow would kill you and there's nothing between you and cuts and scratches...and I would hardly let you anyway.”

She turned, grinning at him.

“I'd like to see you try,” she said cheekily.

Anton turned his hand upright and formed a large lightning bomb, Verona's eyes widening under the flickering light. She chuckled and raised her hands.

“Okay, I get your point...Do you think I can do that now?”

The lightning bomb dissipated slowly, giving Anton time to think.

“Honestly, no. My mark that allows me to do that is a lightning bolt and yours is a spear in a drop of blood. But...” Anton walked to Verona and spun her around, “I think that we'll find out whatever has changed. It's a little difficult to explain. Do you feel anything 'extra' within you?”

Verona pursed her lips and turned to face him. “Not really, do you?”

“Yes. My whole body feels heavier than what it should be like I'm walking through water.” Verona knelt and grabbed a piece of her armour, motioning for Anton to help. “As I use more mana, it starts to disappear. It's a little difficult to understand at first, but eventually it's pretty simple. At least what little I actually understand.”

Verona fastened the first piece of armour before stopping and looking straight at him, “And if you run out, you get weak or something?”

Her face turned into a grin. “I've seen that. The other day with the flame pillars, it looked like you were about to pass out.”

“Thanks for those times, by the way. I shouldn't take things like that for granted.”

“Well,” Verona smiled and picked up another piece of armour, “I don't feel that 'heaviness'. I wonder if it'll make me better with a spear?”

The rest of the armour was quickly assembled. Verona grabbed her spear and held it loosely with both hands as if it would light up by itself. When nothing happened, she looked quite disappointed. She leapt onto the bed and began practising thrusts, blocks and twirls.

She seemed quite proficient as usual, though he could not see any difference. Verona noticed this as well, becoming increasingly agitated as nothing appeared to have changed.

“This should be working, right?” she asked, finally stopping as the first drops of sweat began to percolate on her face.

Anton scratched the back of his head. “Well, I had my patron gods help me understand how it works. And, they seem to help whenever I need it most.”

“Ah, like with the flame pillars,” Verona noted, looking quite pleased with herself.

“Exactly. For now, we can only carry on as normal and hope we stumble across the answer. Unfortunately, while I would like to figure it out, there is the issue from the other night that we need to deal with.”

She scrunched her face up, knowing that this would involve killing or hurting other humans.

“Let's get this over with then.” Verona did not sound happy in the slightest, though Anton knew she would still do it if necessary. He hoped he would not have to, but he knew he would be killed this day.

---[]---

Bertram and Jeff were talking in front of the burnt barn when Anton and Verona exited the main hall.

“They certainly did a number on this,” Anton commented when he got close enough. The smell of burnt wood and straw occasionally wafted through his nose.

Bertram raised an eyebrow. “I'm...not quite sure what you mean, but yes. Everything was destroyed. Thankfully, we moved most of the food to other areas just before.”

“Now we just need to deal with this permanently,” Anton said. Jeff looked just as unhappy as Verona about this, though for different reasons. Jeff had thought of Jeffrey as a friend. Now that he revealed himself to be insane, he now had to fight his friend. Verona did not like how Anton enjoyed the killing.

“What do you have in mind?” Anton asked.

Jeff pointed to the other side of the plaza where a large group of armed villagers stood.

“I have fifty people, all from the hardest hit areas of the wall, so they know what we're fighting for and won't buy into his crap.”

“You're not coming?”

“No,” Jeff said apologetically “I'm not up for something like that. Avery will be with you. I've told him to follow your lead on this one. I'm going north to keep an eye on the wall after helping dad. Good luck.”

Bertram nudged his son's shoulder, they both gave a little wave and left.

Avery was standing at the front of the gathering of villagers, all armed with the new spears and varying levels of armour.

“Hello, Mr Anton,” Avery said politely as they both approached. “Jeff has already explained the situation, and has told me to use my best judgement when following orders.”

Anton felt the introduction had a bit of venom in the underlying tone, though, from the little that Anton had engaged with the man, it might be his usual demeanour.

“Good. Has everything been cleaned up?”

“Actually,” Avery looked a little uncomfortable, “We still have one to get rid of. We wanted to get rid of it before you arrived. It's the one that was stabbed with a spear.”

That crawling woman. She seemed to hate me more than the others. Speaking of which...

Anton let out a sigh. “Oh well, get something identifiable from that woman's corpse. I want them to admit that they knew what they were planning to do here.”

“As you wish. I believe she had a very distinctive bag with her.” Avery replied curtly, waving a villager over and relaying the instructions. The villagers appeared somewhat disturbed but carried out the order regardless.

Verona grabbed his hand. “Please don't become strange.” There was a desperation to her voice.

“Don't worry, I'm just doing what's necessary to deal with this idiot.”

Despite what Anton said, neither truly believed that answer.

A villager emerged with the bag and handed it to Anton. The bag looked relatively unremarkable except that on its front was a large yellow cross. The significance of which was lost on Anton. There was still blood on it, but that would probably be for the best in riling the cultists up.

“This will do. Everyone! Get ready to move out.”

---[]---

The villagers keeping a watch on the south looked relieved when they arrived. Most appeared to share the same sentiments, that it needed to be dealt with permanently. Having to allow them through, and knowing what they had done, had made them far more willing to take action.

Anton approached a group of four, two men and women, just before perimeter.

“Anything?” Anton asked.

“Since the other night?” one of the women replied, “Nothing, haven't even tried their usual bullshit this morning.”

“Well,” Anton cracked his hands and neck, “Let's change that.”

Anton stood upon one of the stacks of wooden crates, nearly a full height above the others.

“Jeffrey!” he yelled towards the south, “It's time to show your vile and scheming face. I have dealt with your little cultists, those that you sent like lambs to the slaughter. All so you could wrest control for whatever deranged reason your pathetic mind could hope to accomplish. It's time to be a man and show yourself!”

The village went unbelievably quiet, nothing but breathing could be heard.

Verona bumped his leg.

“'I dealt with them'? That's a little bit of a lie, isn't it?” she asked cheekily.

“Just to stir them up. All their anger is towards me, might as well use it.”

It took nearly a minute before there was any movement. A door on a house creaked open, a bleary-eyed man emerging. Another opened, then another, each emptying people onto the road. Man and woman wore very little as they had just woken up.

Twenty-five people eventually emerged, forming a line opposite Anton. They said nothing, just staring without blinking. It made the villagers rather unsettled. Anton also saw the contours of their waists were far too square like they were carrying weapons.

“Their eyes,” one of the villagers whispered, “They look like they've been drugged.”

Anton looked more closely, their eyes did look a little glazed.

“Is that the River-Rush?” he asked the villager.

“Yeah, but you're only meant to have a single stalk a day at most, boiled into a large pot. That looks like they've taken a whole plant each.”

Anton looked towards the group of cultists. He had only seen Jeffrey once, and that was when he first arrived.

“Jeffrey, show yourself! Stop hiding like a rat.”

The silent crowd looked at one another and slowly parted.

A tall bald man was left in the middle. His hands and legs twitched ever so slightly. He looked just like his memory of Jeffrey.

“About time you showed yourself,” Anton said smugly. Jeffrey was still frozen in shock. He must not have expected to have to deal with Anton face to face.

“Why,” Jeffrey stammered, “Why are you here?”

“I think you can figure that out yourself. You think yourself a smart man.”

Jeffrey remained silent. Anton was not sure if he was smart enough to not take the bait or genuinely missed it.

“Okay then. How about all those little stunts that you tried to pull then?” Anton spoke again. “Trying to use the deaths of villagers to start a riot, getting those foolish enough to follow you to try and steal and burn our food.”

Jeffrey was trying his hardest to remain still, but Anton did not miss the twitch on his mouth.

“And what about Cara, then?”

Jeffrey's mouth opened in shock. He quickly regained a semblance of composure, but Anton had not missed it.

“Go on, tell them that you sent her to kill me when the Yellow Goblins attacked. She could have succeeded, if not for Verona.”

Everyone, except Verona, looked at Anton. He stepped down and grabbed the knife from Verona.

“Does anyone recognize this knife?” Anton asked.

He held the blade above his head with just a few fingers, so everyone could get a good look at it. Jeffrey clenched his fists tighter.

“You recognize this then?” Anton asked.

One of Jeffrey's cultists pointed toward the knife then looked at him.

“How does he have that blade?” the cultist asked innocently.

“Shut-up!” Jeffrey hissed at the man.

“But you got it for your tenth-”

Jeffrey punched the man, knocking him to the ground. He rolled around for a few moments before standing, blood dripping from his mouth. The cultist rejoined the line but moved as far away as he could from Jeffrey.

“Didn't you say you would love her, and only her? Pretty cheap for a suicide soldier.”

Anton lowered the knife and twiddled it between his fingers.

“She took her own life when she saw that I could actually heal myself. Did you think that my magic was tricks?”

Jeffrey's face started to turn angry, his followers turning equally angry, though Anton could not tell exactly where it was directed.

Just needs a little push now.

Anton leant down and grabbed the marked bag from Verona.

“Do you recognize this as well?” he asked Jeffrey, “I found this the other night...when we had to kill some thieves. You probably saw the fire, or were you too busy, having too much rumpy-pumpy, to tell?”

Anton chucked the bag at Jeffrey's feet, the cross-section landing up. One of the followers leant down to pick it up, but Jeffrey stopped him.

“Don't,” he hissed, “It's some sort of trap.”

“But, she would never let it out of her sight. She-”

“Shut-up” Jeffrey barked, “You-”

He raised his fist and struck the follower hard, sending him onto the ground.

“I guess that answers the question of whether or not you knew about last night, not that there was any real doubt.”

Jeffrey and the others realized their predicament, going silent.

“So,” Anton stepped down off the crates and walked through the villagers to the front, “Now it's just a question of how you choose to end this.”

“W-What?” one of the followers asked., breaking the silence.

“I personally would love to spend weeks and months constantly having to try and work around you guys. Always letting you run away so you can come back again.” Anton replied, his words dripping with sarcasm. “I gave you far too much leeway when we should have killed you all when you tried to start a riot. But, I don't want to have this drag out any longer. Since we don't have room, resources or desire to put you in a prison, you can surrender and die in mediocrity. Or, you can resist and I'll kill you all where you stand.”

Jeffrey and his followers were stunned, one nearly fainting.

“Another thing, I'm not going to give you all day. So, you make up your mind before I finish counting down from ten. If at the end you can't come to a decision I'll consider you hostile and deal with you as such.”

Anton held up both hands with his fingers outstretched. Slowly he began to close them, one by one. Jeffrey's followers quickly started talking amongst themselves, trying to decide their action. They seemed to not know what to do. Anton slowed down his count to give them a little more time.

“Are they going to surrender?” Verona asked.

“No.” Anton replied, “Not in time and not with Jeffrey there. What is he doing anyway?”

Jeffrey, instead of panicking, was staring straight at Anton. It was unnerving. Both hands were in his pockets, fumbling around for something.

When Anton got to three, the followers were still talking. His whole body started to shake in anger.

“YOUUU!!! PIECE OF SHIT!” Jeffrey was practically spitting with anger.

This should be fun.

“I'M THE SMARTEST MAN IN THIS PATHETIC VILLAGE. I WILL BE THE ONE TO SAVE THESE PEOPLE. AND IT WILL NOT BE THROUGH YOUR LITTLE TRICKS!! THIS IS MY VILLAGE, MY WORLD!! AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT!!”

Jeffrey reached deep into his pockets and pulled out a handful of some small green balls, throwing them at Anton.

Anton closed his hands and formed as many lightning bombs as he could.

The other armed villagers turned away to shield themselves. Verona moved in front of Anton and raised her spear, hoping to swat away the projectiles. He flung the lightning bombs as fast as he could, only a few colliding with the small green balls.

As the bombs made contact, they exploded in a shower of green dust, completely obscuring their sight. The gas appeared to have no purpose other than obscuring sight. Nevertheless, he held his breath as best as he could.

“Run!” Jeffrey yelled.

Despite the sounds of confusion coming from the armed villagers, Anton could hear Jeffrey and his cultists running away.

He formed a few very small lightning bombs, flung them into the green haze and detonated them. The haze moved and cleared under the force of the explosion. By the time it had completely cleared, everyone was gone. In the far distance, he saw a foot disappear around a corner. It would only be a few more houses and they would be outside the village.

Anton patted Verona on the head, lowering her guard in response.

“Well, that was a neat trick.” Anton said, “But at least it gives us an answer.”

He turned to the villagers.

“We're going to hunt them down. Make sure that none of them is able to cause any more shit. If they do that to their own side...If they surrender, great. But don't take any risks, a live rat can still bite.”

The villagers seemed a little unhappy, but Avery stepped forward.

“Understood. If they resist in any way, kill them.”

Avery's direct instructions seemed to take away me of their hesitation.

Remember, these aren't hardened soldiers, just people trying to get by.

Anton and the villagers took chase.

They could hear Jeffrey and his followers running away, occasionally something being yelled to tell them to keep moving.

When Anton and the villagers passed the last building they could see them almost at the bone-yard already. Anton brought the armed villagers to a halt.

“How the hell can they run so fast? Is it that River-Rush stuff?” he looked towards the villager that told him about the drug the first time.

The villager nodded. “Yeah, but they'll be really tired after this. Much more than if they just ran normally.”

So it switches off pain receptors and the ability to recognize exhaustion. Probably does the same thing to hunger and thirst, perhaps. Such a thing may be interesting in the future.

Anton looked towards the bone-yard. Jeffrey had disappeared amongst the mounds along with everyone else.

“Avery,” Anton began, “Take everyone and form a perimeter from the edge of the completed wall to the other. Then get some reinforcements, I want more people with us when we go after them.”

“Right away then.” Avery gave a weak salute, taking the armed villagers with him. They quickly started to spread out, keeping a watch towards the south.

Verona looked oddly at Anton, wondering what he had planned.

He squatted down so he was at her eye level.

“Verona, could you please go back for now?”

She frowned and opened her mouth to protest but Anton raised his hand to stop her.

“It's just that you're out of breath already. And we'll be chasing these guys for a while, possibly.”

Verona looked downwards towards her chest. She was breathing quite fast and heavily, it was quite surprised that she had not already noticed.

“Well, just use your healing magic then.” She stammered, placing one hand on her hips.

Well, I really should have remembered that.

“Okay. But please, this time, listen to me and do what I say.”

Anton held her gaze until she agreed. He placed his hand onto her head and chanted the prayer in his mind. Considerable mana left him, almost half, flowing into Verona. It felt like it was repairing quite a lot of things within her.

A moment later Verona looked a lot better, her breathing returning to normal.

“Thanks. I feel much better.”

Something rumbled in the distance, towards the west. Everyone turned and looked. Grey and black clouds were rolling over the forest. They looked quite menacing.

“Tell me that's a rain cloud.” Anton asked loudly.

“Yeah,” replied a villager, “Looks like it'll be a pretty bad one.” She looked towards the south. “Glad I'm not going to be out in that.”

“I hate those things,” Verona added, “The water would leak through the roof, and the lightning flashing through the cracks scared the shit out of me.”

“But mine?”

Verona shrugged and smiled. “That's different though.”

“This can work in our favor. How long before it gets here?”

The female villager looked over at the growing storm again.

“Not until late afternoon.”

Anton looked either side towards the incomplete sections of the wall. It was a little over an eighth of the total distance.

“We should have this done by then.” Anton commented.

Avery was already jogging back to the centre of the village.

“I don't see why we aren't going after them now.” Verona added, “Did you just want them gone all along?”

“Actually, I would have seen him dead. But, they're crazed fanatics. And the more people looking for them the better. Fewer chances of things going wrong.”

Verona looked down in thought as she stood in silence beside Anton.

---[]---

Jeffrey ran with all his might, so much so that by the time he had stopped he was on the verge of vomiting. He, and his loyal followers had made it past the first main bone pile. From this position, they could see the armed villagers spreading out and forming a perimeter.

All twenty six people, including Jeffrey, sat down to catch their breath. He could see that their flight from Atros had taken it's toll, mainly physiologically.

Jeffrey positioned himself at the very edge of a mound of moss and rotting bones, able to look north but not let Anton see him. Even from this distance, he could see Anton's blond head as well as Verona's silver. Just the idea of them being close together was enough for him to feel ill.

“What do we do now?” Someone asked.

Honestly, Jeffrey did not have a clue. He did not really consider the possibility that the plan to take over the food supply and then the city could fail. The smoke bombs that he used before were a relic from his father, one who dabbled with alchemy and chemistry. There was no way that he knew it would still work, but he was thankful that it did. Now it gave him precious time to think.

Thankfully he had calmed down since his little outburst. No one had commented on it, something Jeffrey was thankful for.

“We should have never listened to you.” A woman said, standing up and confronting Jeffrey. She did not have the courage to physically attack but looked on the verge.

“We need a plan,” another said, “And soon. We don't want to be out here when the rain starts.”

The confronting woman backed down. Jeffrey did agree with the other person.

“Atros is lost to us,” Jeffrey said as he turned to the huddling group. “We can't make it to the forest for shelter, and it won't take long for Anton and his minions to find us here.”

He looked around, hoping to find something to take shelter in, but there was nothing. He knew that Atros was the only village that was still standing for miles around.

Surely we can't be the only village to survive. If that ridiculous village led by those idiots could survive, there should be another...Penketh was governed by some reasonable people. Let's try there.

Jeffrey coughed to gain everyone's attention.

“We make for Penketh.”

The look of horror on their faces shocked Jeffrey.

“That's almost a day’s walk, with supplies. And we have none.” a woman said.

“And there could be monsters on the way. Do we even know if it's they're still alive? We haven't seen anybody, not even travellers in some years. That place was smaller than Atros at the beginning.”

Jeffrey waved away their concerns. “The Marshal in charge of Penketh was an old military commander. He would have made that place into a fortress the moment they knew something was wrong. I met him a few times when I was younger. He should listen to me at the very least, he seemed to like our family.”

His followers seemed a little more enthusiastic. The fatigue from the run and the confrontation with Anton was now starting to catch up with him. Most of the strength left his body. He sat on the ground to conserve his energy.

“We'll take a short break now. Get our breath back, and get a few things that could be useful for the journey.”

Jeffrey looked towards the south. Usually, the sky was clear but now against the slowly greying sky, there was something rising into the air. It was smoke, almost clear but definitely smoke. Judging from the distance, it would be coming over from the horizon where Penketh should be.

He reached into a small bag that he kept on his waist, bringing out several green and red stalks. They were River-Rush stalks. He always kept some on him. He did not understand why, but if he did not eat a whole stalk every day he was plagued with headaches and his whole body felt terrible.

He handed them out to his followers. They happily and greedily took it, quickly chewing on the stalks. Their faces and attitude relaxed considerably. There was none of the anger from before. Regardless, they started to gather some of the River-Rush and Spring-Blossom that was lying around. It may not be much, but it should help.

Jeffrey looked to the south again. Seeing the smoke-filled him with a new sense of purpose, and fear.

Anton sent a scout out in all directions. If there was another surviving village I would have heard about it.

He continued to stare towards the south.

What mysteries are you hiding Anton?

---[]---

Anton did not have to wait long for the reinforcements to arrive, probably a little under an hour. Nearly a hundred armed villagers arrived, looking rather enthusiastic.

Avery walked up to Anton, looking quite happy, for him. He placed two fingers into his mouth and whistled, loud enough for Anton and Verona to wince.

The villagers already stationed on the perimeter returned to Avery.

“I guess these are the reinforcements then?” Avery sounded quite impressed.

“Indeed,” Anton replied, “We'll be scouting to the south past the bone-yard and make it back before the storm hits.”

Avery quickly ordered half of the reinforcements to take up the old positions while the other half would join them.

In the distance to the west, Anton could see a dozen carts laden with stone on their return journey.

The hundred armed villagers moved into a rough formation, awaiting new instructions. Avery stepped back, gesturing for Anton to issue the order.

“Stay in groups and do not get separated as we head through the bone-yard. If Jeffrey or any of his followers refuse to surrender, kill them. Nothing more needs to be said.”

The villagers nodded with grim determination.

As they marched to the south, Anton could not help but notice that there was fresh vomit on the grass. From the way it trailed off into the distance, he guessed that they must have running quite fast and hard.

“How long has it been since they left?” Anton asked as they continued to march.

“Not long,” Avery replied, “Sun's not even a quarter of the way up yet.”

“They might still be recovering if it's this bad.”

The trails stopped as they approached the edge of the bone-yard. The large bones piles would be more than enough to hide twenty villagers. He did not want to be ambushed by drugged and angry cultists.

Anton raised his hand, bringing everyone to a halt.

“Stay alert everyone.”

Everyone readied their weapons, Avery his bow. Anton formed a dozen lightning bombs and kept them flickering above his head.

As they passed the first pile, they head something.

“Movement,” Avery whispered as he brought the villagers to a halt, “Sounds like people packing things.”

A metallic click resounded through the silent villagers.

“A buckle?,” Anton said, “Get them!”

The villagers let out a tremendous cry and charged either side of a bone pile, Anton and Verona running on one side with Avery on the other.

They charged around but found nothing. Each group stopped when they saw each other.

“Nobody,” a villager said with dismay, “I thought we heard something.”

Anton held out his hand, stopping both groups. He knelt down, looking at the grass. The other villagers at the front did this as well.

“This grass,” Anton pointed just in front of him, “has been weighed down for a while. See how it's so much flatter compared to the rest?”

“They were here, for some time.” Verona correctly surmised.

“Yes. And they just left...” Anton looked towards the south, patches of slightly compressed grass leading in that direction. “Keep moving south and spread out a little. But don't go by yourself.”

The villagers began to follow the orders and spread out. Avery made his way through the crowd to Anton.

“Any idea why they headed south?” he asked.

“Apart from running from us, no,” Anton replied. “There's nothing that way. Just massive Thumpers and probably Green Goblins if they go far enough.”

Anton looked towards the south, eyes straining to see anything notable through the gaps of the bone piles. The clouds were moving in slowly, though the villagers did not appear to be worried. In the extreme distance, he thought he could see a tiny trail of smoke rising into the air. He was about to voice his findings when a villager shouted.

“Got someone. Looks like they're in bad shape.”

Anton made his way to the villager, Verona following closely behind. Lying a few meters away, were two of Jeffrey's followers. A man and woman were huddling and shaking in fear as Anton approached. He kept his lightning bombs active as he approached.

The two had the glazed look in their eyes, some blood on their clothes.

“Help us.” one cried. “He tried to kill us.”

Anton felt the situation was odd. For an attack, that would leave them this shaken, there was very little blood. A madman, like Jeffrey, would not leave so uninjured if they truly wanted to kill them. Especially so, since they all seemed to be under the effects of 'River-Rush'

“How about you two get up?” Anton asked condescendingly, “Your feet can move by the looks of things.”

Both looked towards their feet, their leather boots were moving independently of their legs.

“We're too weak. Please, we surrender. We can't stand on our own.”

“Fine, you two,” Anton pointed to two of the villagers, “help them up but keep an eye on them.”

“Ugh-”

The two villagers only made a single step before the man let out a noise. Anton stopped them with a raised hand.

“Would you prefer it if I was the one to help you?”

They looked to be genuinely hurt, but Anton knew that he was not the best judge. However, their eyes kept looking to the piles of bones either side, instead of him or the villagers. Something there was more important than what was in front of them.

Anton summoned two large fireballs, keeping the swirling lightning bombs, and flung them atop the bone piles and detonated them. The moss and vines caught alight instantly, followed by screams.

The two followers on the ground looked at each other in horror.

“A really stupid play,” Anton lamented out-loud, “How drugged are you?”

“YOU KILLED MY SON!” the woman shrieked, pulling a blade hidden from underneath and charging at Anton with inhuman speed.

“AND YOU!” Anton yelled back, flinging a lightning bomb at her. The bomb collided with her shoulder, exploding and ripping the arm clean off.

Instead of fumbling the woman kept running, faster than before, her glazed eyes now focused by the pain. There were only a few meters between them and she showed no sign of slowing.

Is this the drugs work?

Anton flung six of the remaining lightning bombs at the woman. Despite her wounded state, she managed to dodge all of them.

The other villagers had only just started to notice that she wasn't dead and tried to attack, but they were too slow. They had only just started to lower their weapons, and Avery drawing his bow.

The light from the explosions, so close, blinded him. He tried to form a flame from his hands but he could not. Anton was gripped with panic, the knife was a few feet away from his chest. He could not get the simple mana to form properly. A few wisps of flame came from his hands, but not enough to phase the charging woman.

Pain came from his left side, but not from the charging woman.

Verona's spear cut through his shirt and nicked his flesh on his left side, continuing into the woman's gut. It did not stop her, the woman continuing to push herself into and over the spear tip, lodging herself on the widest point.

Anton tried to step back, but his feet dug into the grass and tripped. He used his strength to twist and fall to his right, colliding with a villager. As he fell, bringing another villager with him, he saw Verona covered in red, but it was not blood. Her tattoos glowed bright and pulsed with every heartbeat, visible even underneath her thick clothes. Her eyes had changed as well, the white and brilliant crystal blue replaced with the same pulsing blood red.

“Fuck you, bitch!” Verona hissed. She dug her back foot into the ground, the dirt and grass bulging outwards under the pressure. With a shout, she threw the woman forward and onto the ground. The spear dug into the ground, almost up to the halfway point.

The woman screamed under the pain but still did not try to stop her attack. The knife swung wildly around until Verona grabbed it with her right hand.

“I can't believe I felt sorry for you people,” Verona said through gritted teeth. The woman paid no attention, bending and twisting her body so she reaches to attack Verona or Anton.

She's gone crazy. She's going to tear herself to pieces. Both of them are.

Anton's thoughts were prophetic in a sense.

Verona glowed with a renewed intensity, increasing her grip on the woman’s wrist, so much so that Anton could hear the bones groan and break. Keeping her left hand firmly on the spear, she wrenched her right arm up.

Skin, muscle and bone tore as the woman’s arm separated from her body at the shoulder. As Verona chucked the severed arm at the man, the woman screamed and cried in pain. The wounds she had sustained had finally caught up with her.

Droplets of blood suspended themselves unnaturally in the air around Verona, the stream of blood from the fresh wound starting to swirl around her arms.

She held out her hand, fingers outstretched, and clenched it. The tattoo's glowed even brighter.

The seeping blood from the woman rippled and shook. The next moment they burst into crystals, tearing her skin apart. They grew from the wounds and travelled further along her body, ripping apart the skin and bursting free.

A sickening sound of flesh tearing resounded throughout the air.

Her face buckled and contorted with the sharp edges of the growing crystals. She kicked and writhed underneath the pain.

“Why? We're-” she managed to croak as the crystals started to burst from her mouth and throat.

Verona did not reply. She raised her hand, the blood droplets swirling around her hand. Each small droplet began to spin and form tiny and long blood crystals.

She brought her hand down, the crystals following. The crystals smashed through her head, shredding her face through hundreds of blows. The bones were exposed as the flesh was ripped away. Her skull shattered under the repeated blows, bone and brain fragments flying into the air and driven into the ground along with the crystals.

The woman stopped moving, her whole body going limp.

Anton flung another lightning bomb at the impaled woman, ripping what little was left apart. Remnants of organs and flesh splattered everything around, even Verona.

Verona's body shook from the blast. It seemed to jolt her back to reality, her head twitching either side as she lowered her hands.

The blood crystals quivered and lost their solid form, seeping back into the body and onto the ground. Fresh blood started to seep from the innumerable punctures caused by the crystals.

Verona's tattoos started to lose their glow, her eyes returning to normal. The red receded to the corner of her eyes and disappeared all together.

She started breathing harder. Both hands shook violently as she stumbled back away from the body.

Anton got up, using a villager as a step, and gingerly touched her shoulder.

“Ugh,” she groaned, falling into his arms. He held her tight, her breathing quickly becoming more regular. She grasped tightly at his shirt as she looked at the mutilated body lying on the ground.

“By the gods, how?... Did I do that?” Her voice trembled from exhaustion.

“Some of it. The arm was your work. And most of the other parts.”

Verona glanced at the severed arm and the woman it was ripped from. She grabbed her right arm and pulled down.

“It...felt like I was tearing off a leaf. How-”

“We'll figure that out later, we're still in battle.”

Anton nodded towards the man still lying on the ground. He had not moved, though the ground around him was wet.

“Somebody check on those piles, see how many people were hiding up there.”

The flames were dying out rapidly. A few villagers, those with thick shoes, quickly ran up to where the screams came from.

“Two over here.”

“Three here.” The villagers shouted down.

“Any weapons?” Anton shouted back.

“Some knifes and a pile of smooth rocks. Looks like they're for throwing.”

“Same here.”

“Alright, come on back.”

The villagers ran back, seemingly glad to be off the smouldering piles of remains.

“So,” Anton looked straight through the man on the ground, summoning another lightning bomb and keeping it in front of him, “Why were you left behind?”

Anton's question brought up some insecurities in the man. He backed up and shoot Anton an angry yet fearful look.

“We chose this.” The man did not speak with much confidence. “To buy the faithful time.”

“Faithful...” Anton scoffed at the idea, “To what? Attack Atros while it's down again?”

The man backed up, breathing heavily through his nose and refused to speak. He glanced towards the south once, before snapping his head back and locking it towards Anton.

“Ah, the smoke then and whatever lit it. Too bad our scouts found nothing but grass and monsters.” Anton grinned and looked towards the south, “What awaits him past the Thumpers and Goblins I wonder.”

He turned back to the man.

“Do you surrender?” Anton asked.

The man backed up even further but refused to say anything else.

“Fine.”

Anton flung a lightning bomb at his head. It exploded as the bomb collided.

Verona curled herself into his arms to avoid watching.

He turned to the other villagers. “Scout quickly to the edge of the bone-yard and report back, quickly!”

A dozen villagers, at the back, nodded and ran towards the south. They returned a few moments later.

“You'll want to see this.” one said.

Verona still felt weak in his arms. He used one hand to try and rip her spear from the ground, but he could not. The spear barely budged even when using all his strength.

How far did she ram this thing into the dirt?

Verona started to look a little uneasy about Anton struggling. She tried to remove it herself, but Anton stopped her and motioned for some others to help. It took two to finally free the spear. Almost a foot had been impaled into the dirt.

Verona looked a little sheepish as the spear was handed back to her.

The scouts led them through the bone-yard to the edge. The land to the south was flat and open, baring the depressions that housed the Thumpers. In the far distance, they could see ten figures running away.

“Odd.” Anton said aloud.

Avery and Verona, still under Anton's arm, turned to him.

“There should still be roughly twenty with Jeffrey, where are the rest?”

A villager pointed to a large depression. Out of the hole, a large Thumper jumped out. Then another and another. The three were fighting over something. Their grey-white fur becoming red with every movement. One tossed up the object into the air, charging and fighting the other two.

The object was a body, bloody and torn apart. From their distance, Anton had no idea if they were alive or dead. Any movement could be from being thrown around.

“Guess the rest that aren't still running are now chew toys. I wonder If taking out the Alpha Thumper made the others compete for the title.”

No-one answered, though Anton felt that it was a distinct possibility.

“We're done here. Everyone return to Atros and get some rest.”

I wonder what's causing that smoke, not human I think.

Anton took one final look towards the south before leaving with the others.