That morning, no one uttered a word.

The morning after that, only the call for breakfast, not as lively as it was, and not that willful as well, sounded through the house.

That night, they wished only a few simple goodnights , but nothing seemed to improve.

As the days of the past, two whole weeks passed. Yadratafos officially entered into winter, as well as other continent border cities, and celebrations for Scarecrow’s Trail began. No one in the household had any interest, however festive or joyful the air was, nor the intent to join any activity.

Infirmary drowned in the cold of ice, students suffered from the deathly silence of the trainee mentor, Kowalski felt distanced from Ubel. And the trio clearly understood this point. Yet, even the least wounded Gaobun knew it: If they rushed to get things back together, like the pieces of a puzzle, all they could manage would be a mess of a picture.

Mentioning Gaobun and the terror he spread, nowadays people, or children and teens at the college, referred him as Silent Executor. Not because he was some sorts of dutiful individual, but he could be one if sect wished so, and also not due to him executing people. It was because of how ruthless he acted at the sparrings against the disciples.

He didn’t mind breaking bones or tearing one or two gashes at the chest or arms of the disciples. Half of them already feared to get on the stage to fight against him, even the rare few who were at the cusp of breaking into path finding. The most courageous ones, as one would expect, came from the poorest of the backgrounds. People who caught the eye of some teacher and got an invitation, youngsters who bit and gnashed their teeth and flesh to enter, and people whose families paid astronomical amounts of money to get them registered. Although the lattermost included some rich children, they all almost comprised of under-average citizens.

To Gaobun, this was a weakness of the sect and the system. If they gave power to individuals, then the next generation of it would always turn out useless or low-quality. Products of harsh backgrounds and paths of thorns always gave refined, excellent graded outputs.

The whole system of vassal-kingdom-sect depends on that basis, too.

Stopping his train of thought, without using any Qi, Gaobun flipped a disciple he held from his arm and smashed his back onto the steel stage. Crunching and breaking of the bones resounded among the silent crowd of disciples and Gaobun threw the disciple off the stage. ‘’Get him to the infirmary.’’ He said and looked among the crowd again. Some shuddered, some puffed their chests out; although it was evident some had done to falsify and hide their fear. As tense as it could be, a sound broke the mood when Gaobun pointed at a random student who raised his hand.

‘’Let’s end it early today,’’ Russell said while clapping twice, ‘’No one wants to miss the scarecrow’s preparing tonight, am I right?’’

‘’Yes sir!’’ Students shouted aloud, fervor and, most easily noticed, gratitude shone from their eyes.

‘’Then you may leave. Tomorrow there might not even be any lessons, I will inform your families if it is a holiday.’’

With one last announcement, everyone except the trainer duo left. It was then Russell, his eyes blazing for the first time, out of not revere and respect but anger, shouted.

‘’Gaobun!’’

Gaobun stood rooted on the stage. He did not pay any heed to the words of Khaltakkıran.

‘’Are you on your right mind?’’ Russell questioned, ‘’What do you want to do by instilling fear into their hearts? You think it is easier to become a warrior by breaking one’s bones and pouring their blood?’’

‘’Yes, I think so.’’ Gaobun then fell silent, contemplated, and turned to face Russell. ‘’No, I don’t think. It is a fact. Without tasting your own blood in your mouth, without feeling the pain of losing something of value, both material and spiritual, and facing with difficulties you can never overcome without pushing your limits, no one can be a warrior.’’

‘’But we aren’t raising warriors, Russell. We are raising pigs, cows, sheeps. Animals of no value- even the money spent on the real animals worth more than the training here.’’

‘’Is that so?’’ Russell gritted his teeth. ‘’Is this how all of the Cindersnow thinks of our children? Animals to raise? Tools to use? Shields to block and protect themselves?’’

‘’No, this is my sole own opinion,’’ Gaobun refused, then told in a whisper, ‘’But I’m sure everyone thinks the same.’’ He then shook his head and leaped down the stage. At the same instant, a brown tree branch appeared out of thin air and stabbed towards Gaobun.

‘’Hm?’’ The Qi barrier of Gaobun deflected the attack without any effort. The green particles of Qi comprising the attack flew back like a harsh wind to Russell and he absorbed them back. ‘’What do you intend to do?’’

‘’Seeing how you react, lest you backstab me at the incoming battle.’’ Russell, in a mocking tone, uttered and left the hall. Gaobun only watched behind his back, feeling a boiling emotion inside his heart that embed itself on his face as well.

Pleasure.

‘’We shall see, of course.’’

*********

Hordes of thousands of beasts ran rampant.

The mountain of kings, so huge and wide and majestic enough to cover a place in three continents and pierce the clouds, had more than plenty passageways one could pass through. They laid low and high, former paths had steep cliffs and narrow hall-like tunnels, painted by people of old ages with gods and beasts’ illustrations with crude craft, and saw no sunlight other than when the celestial body hit the top of the sky. Latter tracks led into the heart of the mountain and down the molten ground to the habitat of fearful goliaths. No exit existed there, only a shelter of some sorts for the monstrosities led by the munchur duo and their master corrupted Archura.

And now, at the aforementioned low passages, many sounds overlapped into a chaotic tune. Steps of the goliaths, giggles of the lightning imps, laughter of maddened wood spirits, shrill screams of flying harpies; then came the loud shouts and grunts of the munchur duo, one covered in brisk blood red armor, covered in flesh and skin of hundreds of humans who knew wherever from, and the other equipped with a double-edged axe, longer than its ten meter body. From behind, covered with other wood spirits-snakes, bats, insects, bugs, and so on- Archura came along and listened to this wonderful song of salvation; salvation, in the literal meaning, for their people.

It had been four weeks since the youngest of the munchurs left to declare the frenzy. Lady of the passage wouldn’t let any soul enter into the pathways from the northern side of the mountain, facing the city of Yadratafos, for what reason other than hate, Archura didn’t know. But, this made it infinitely-no, impossible to get back any information about their enemy. Even so, Archura didn’t feel worried. The exact opposite, she felt the throbbing of her heart with excitement, with fervor, with no other negative emotion than the hatred for the immortals they’ve lost their lands to. Subconsciously, she fastened her steps and walked right between the two giant munchurs. Munchurs didn’t like to be near their master and showed it with a forceful grunt. She knew why. The pitiful creatures, created and bred for war and slaughter, yet who also had hearts as boundless as the Cursed Ocean, only wished peace and a life on the mountains. Contrary to their wishes, however, what they had on hand was nothing but battles and bloody fights. So, her gaze showed the pain and pity she felt for their lives.

No warrior loved pity.

Armored munchur let out a long grunt, only then Archura retracted her gaze.

‘’We will reach soon,’’ Her voice was sweet and lovable, yet the chilling killer’s cold voice surpassed that. ‘’And when we reach, you will feast more than you had the past century.’’

‘’Do you hear me, little ones!’’ She shouted and the steps of the horde halted. ‘’When we reach the gates, we will prepare for the banquet! We will prey on the weak and drink the blood as wine! Then we will eat our morning meals at Yadratafos, and the lunch at Karnival!’’

‘’So don’t stop! Be eager and restless!’’

Then her voice stopped booming and turned into a subtle whisper.

‘’For they forsake us.’’

*********

A day later, at the gates of the Yadratafos, a group of guards spotted a dot in the horizon.

It came fast, faster than a human should run. As it closed on, they could see it held a child, or baby, on her bosom. The woman’s silhouette cleared by the time the crunching of the snow under her feet resounded long and wide. ‘’Help me, my lord!’’ She cried and reduced the distance between herself and the walls. ‘’My child bears dire wounds, he needs help!’’

‘’Halt your steps!’’ One young guard, clad in a captain armor, shouted. Yet, the woman didn’t stop. Her frantic eyes darted around at the guards, filled with endeavor and fear that instilled pity in the guards’ hearts, and she ran faster than ever.

‘’I said halt your steps! Damn it!’’ Captain cursed and called one of the juniors, ‘’Shoot her down!’’

‘’But captain-’’

‘’Which sane people don’t know north has no village or city? I said shoot her DOWN!’’

Young guard gulped and took out his crossbow, aimed at the woman and shot. But he was too late. With a leap, the woman dodged the bolt and landed on the walls twenty meters away. Wings of steel feathers sprang from her back and she scraped her golden claws on the young guard’s face. Flesh and skin, alongside with his head, rolled down the ground and fell from the walls out to the snow-ridden gates.

‘’Ala-’’

‘’Ring the be-’’

Shouts ended in a second as the feathers of the harpy flew like daggers and pierced the throats of the present dozens of guards with accuracy. Blood poured down like flood, roses of red painted the white scenery, organs adorned the painting. How beautiful it was!

Harpy’s admiration lasted a split second as the baby she held burst into flames, thick smokes rose into the air. Several flashes of thunder on the horizon neared in two seconds, then a dozen lightning imps appeared next to her. Without any word, they flew into the city with strange talismans hung on their neck and wrists, only then the city lord appeared.

‘’Damned pet of the forsakens!’’ City lord raised his hand and sent a slap. A Qi destruction level beast like her had no chance of retaliating. Even so, her last shrill laugh instilled a wound no flesh bearer could inflict.

She gave the man anxiety, stress.

Then her body turned into a meat paste and flew tens of meters behind, landed on the ground with a splash.

And City lord felt it, how gazes of thousands gathered on his stature in the moment of her death.

He did not like the feeling.

He did not like it at all.