“Bam!”

He instantly felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t die as the others did, giving him some hope.

He lifted his hands trying to rub his face, only to see his charred stubs releasing a fragrant smell.

“Ah!” He screamed as he instantly felt all the pain in his body as tears streamed down his face.

“Bam!”

A second strike came upon him.

He jolted as he stared at the skin on his arms cleanly spreading apart, even feeling his teeth fall from his gums as he spat them out.

“Bam!”

Jumping from the 3rd strike he tried opening his eyes, only to see darkness.

Desperate, he tried opening his mouth to beg for forgiveness, only to notice that he couldn’t feel anything anymore, not even the pain that seemingly lasted for years.

He could think of nothing except one thought, “Why! Why me?”

Karlen stared at the scene of the people turning into dust one by one from the strikes with horror.

He was a soldier, so he had been on the battlefield a couple of times, yet the most horrible thing he had previously seen were people whose limbs were missing from artillery shelling and those who were crushed by rubble or vehicles.

He spoke with a shaken voice, “I.. Isn’t this too cruel?”

“They decided this, the guilt and crimes they have committed caused this. Those who had less crimes on their shoulders experienced a quick death, did they not? Even the mad woman could be said to have gotten a relatively quick death. Though, it is surprising that man provoked such punishment, even I didn’t expect that.” Flaut spoke with a solemn face as he rubbed his hands, discharging the electricity into the air.

“Ahaha! Sorry about that!” A smile appeared on Flauts face as he looked at Karlen.

Karlen felt his head and noticed his long hair becoming like spikes, as if he was a porcupine.

He gave Flaut a forced smile as he patted down his hair and looked up towards Kan-Celeste. The massive land was slowly descending towards them.

“It’s landing?” By now it had already positioned close above them.

“It seems so. I’d have to guess that we need to recharge a bit, after all, such a large scale teleportation would require enormous energy, which couldn’t have been from His Majesty alone, some of it must have come from the city storage.” Flaut shrugged with a smile.

“Huh? What’s this?” Flaut eyes darted to a spot as he walked to the execution spot and looked through the remains.

He crouched down near the spot the man had died and picked up something.

“Eh? That’s a gun. I didn’t think they’d be armed considering they didn’t use it.” Karlen walked forward and took a glance at it.

Flaut offered it with a smile, thinking it was just some trinket.

“This is a weapon…” He gave Flaut a stiff smile as he took it.

It was a simple revolver that had a small barrel, decorated wooden grip and only held 4 bullets.

Flaut gave a laugh as he saw Karlen handling it carefully, “A weapon? What can you do with it? Hit it over someone's head, hahaha!”

“Please wait a second… Ah, here, look carefully.” He looked around the remains and picked up some thick silver jewelry.

He ran towards a small oak tree and hung them on a low-lying branch.

Walking back to them, he raised the gun and took a deep breath as he concentrated.

“Boom!” The moment he pressed on the trigger, smoke flew out of the revolver and he instantly felt his hand become numb from the recoil.

Slightly massaging his hand, he looked to the jewelry and couldn’t help but feel prideful.

He had hit the small target on a tree 16 meters away. He threw a glance to Jaharn and Flaut who had both put on a serious face.

“This weapon… Is dangerous.” Jaharn concluded with a grim face.

He, who was a demon with superior ability in every aspect to most beings, had seen the bullet shooting towards the target. Seeing its speed and the damage it caused upon the jewelry and the tree behind it, he grew apprehensive.

“Well, we also fought with swords and sabers, or cold weapons as we call them a century ago. That was until we obtained these firearms from the east.” He rolled the revolver on his finger as he thought about his excellent aim with a smile.

“Hmm, shoot my hand, I want to see the damage it can inflict upon us.” Jaharn stretched out his hand as he looked to Karlen.

“Errr sir.. I.. I won’t do that.. Sir Flaut can do it in my stead.” He quickly gave the gun to Flaut who looked at it with confusion.

“So, you aim the barrel, this part, to where you want to shoot. You can look through this thing called the iron sights to get a better view of where you want to shoot and when you’re ready, just push on the trigger, this part.” Karlen pointed to the parts of the gun as Flaut studiously nodded.

Flaut lifted the gun as he prepared to shoot.

“Ah, wait! I forgot to reload it, you can just push on that thing at the top, the hammer, yes, that. Ok you can shoot now.” Karlen quickly ran behind cover, worried that Flaut might mess up somehow.

“I’m shooting now, Team Leader.” Flaut gave him a smile as he pulled the trigger slowly.

“Boom! Tink.”

Two different sounds appeared in the air, both sounding completely different.

“I guess it would make sense that you missed, but what did yo-” Karlen didn’t finish his sentence as he saw the crumbled up bullet lying near Jaharns foot.

“Hmm, it tickled a bit, but my body seems to be much more superior.” Jaharn scratched his palm with his other hand.

“Wh.. What! I can believe that you can use magic and what not, but.. You can stop a bullet with your hand!? Aren’t you just a tank then!?” Karlen stared in disbelief, feeling frustrated.

“Haha! Don’t worry about it kiddo, our garrison is the strongest fighting force in all of Kanas, apart from His Majesty of course. In fact if w-” He was interrupted by the sound of an air raid siren from the fort.

“Quickly, let’s return.” Without waiting, Jaharn grabbed Karlen and jumped on his Hellflame as they galloped. The other demons that had separated slowly gathered together behind Jaharn as they formed a neat formation.