We didn’t linger for too long because we didn’t know when the guards would catch up with us; the adults especially seemed like they were in a hurry to leave, even considering the circumstances. There was a mix of various expressions throughout the group - excited, depressed, horrified, nervous, etc. What was odd was that an invisible boundary formed between Nor and the rest of the group - it seemed like he was an outcast, but I couldn’t think of any decent reason as to why. There were a few that still came up to him and stayed by him, but the majority seemed to keep their distance. I ran next to get next to him, stumbling along the way, but managed to get close enough with the help of the girl.

“Nor… what’s with this awkward atmosphere?”

I whispered a question to him and he just looked over with a grim expression - one that I had never seen from him.

“I…couldn’t control myself…”

He spoke in such a depressed, sorrowful tone that I can’t remember a time when he had even spoken like this in the past year I had known him. It didn’t seem like he wanted to discuss it any further so I stayed quiet but continued to walk alongside him. We passed a familiar testing spot and entered the entrance building for the first time in what seemed like eons. I assumed it was still night out because no light entered my field of vision. Nor took the first step into the familiar busted, wooden building - the rest of us followed from behind, still afraid of what lay in front of us. As we neared the exit of the building, I could see the vast land that had not registered when I had first come here.

It all seemed so close to my outstretched hands. There were beautiful, green mountains enveloped by the tremendous size of the trees that grew on those mountains. The trees flourished even in the darkness of the night. The two moons in the sky seemed to conceal the true beauty of the painting-like image of nature that lay out before me. Streams of water flowed from all sides of the mountain as if the mountain was showing off how prosperous it was. It seemed to refute the fact that I had been in the depth of hell just moments before.

“We’re free!”

“HAHA, look at those beautiful ranges of mountains, what more could you ask for?!”

“Comon guys, let’s get out of here!”

People who had moments before been in the depth of despair had done a complete turnaround and run ahead of Nor.

“Hold On!!”

However, Nor seemed to hesitate running out into the night sky, illuminated by the two full moons. Moments later, the beautiful view of nature that seemed just within my grasps was splattered in red. I heard a loud explosion and chaos erupted. What had been only moments from freedom turned into pure carnage of screaming and panic, but even that did not last long. All of a sudden, there was the sound of trumpets that descended with a loud thud. The wooden building was leveled and the explosions ceased. Everything was happening too quickly and I couldn’t understand how the situation was unfolding. One moment there was death and the next there was a giant cloud of dust to hide what was going on in front of us from view. While we were in shock, Nor nodded at something amidst the dust and spit out orders, his previous sorrowful tone gone as if it were a lie.

*roaring* “Everyone, run towards the cover of the mountains! Don’t go straight, run to the sides!”

Nor let out a bestial roar and everyone obeyed without question. People ran either left or right as their life depended on it. The girl next to me quickly grabbed me and pulled at me to run away. I didn’t have much strength to go against her - even if I did, there wasn’t much I could do to help - so I ran with her to the cover of the forest.

Nor’s POV

People took their distance behind me and I didn’t avoid it. I knew that I had gone and done something horrible, but I knew that it was the only option at the time - that man would have killed us all anyways. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone in the moments leading up to our eventual escape; I only gave Sol a short reply because of how shaken I was by what I had done. I knew that there was no alternative, but my mind kept playing tricks on me to make me think that I had done something wrong. I did kill people and some were even allies, but would they have not died anyways from that man who swung his sword with such immense strength, however, I understood that people saw me in a negative light due to the actions I had taken.

We slowly made progress through the cave system and eventually found where it had all started - the wooden building. However, I felt something was wrong as soon as we came out of that goddamn cave. It was all too quiet and not a single guard had appeared before us. There was no way we could have already killed all the guards in the first confrontation, but the people behind me didn’t know that. Before I could tell them to stay put, many of them started shouting and running towards the exit - moments later, they were killed by hundreds of arrows and explosions of magic from the front. Before I could react, another sound blared from above and there was an enormous thud as dust flew up and my view was hindered.

I could make out something amidst the dust. Then, I made eye contact with it; I knew who it was instantly because we beasts were connected regardless of what ancient species we heralded from - the creature in front of me was Nao. I did not know why he had come back or where he had gone in the first place, but it seemed that he had come back to fight and I was relieved - I was ready to fight to the death with him. But before I had the chance to drink my blood and turn bestial, the creature… Nao seemed to shake his head at me and pointed away from here. He wanted us to run away towards our freedoms while he would stay behind and fend them off as long as possible. I did not agree with him, but there was not much time until the dust settled.

I roared louder than I ever had and had everyone evacuate as quickly as possible before the chaos resumed. Once everyone started moving, I took one last glance at Nao who seemed to nod his head before disappearing along with everyone else.

Nao’s POV

I had run away once and I swore that I wouldn’t do it again. After knocking Nor out and leaving him back in the cavern for others to take him away, I made plans to help them successfully escape out of here. I wanted to escape alive if possible, but if it came down to it, I would happily give my life to atone for what I had done leading up to this point - I had ruined many… countless lives. As I approached the entrance of the cavern system, I passed the burning pit of dead bodies as well as dead guards and slaves all around the ground - they were all but corpses after death, nothing separated them. As I got near the wooden building where everything had started, I realized it was eerily silent. I sneaked my way around the shadows of the two illuminating moons high above in the sky.

Today’s the perfect day to release my disgusting power

I thought to myself as I snuck outside and above the cave system where I would lay silently until Nor managed to bring most of them out of the cave - after all that was the plan and I knew Nor would more likely than not follow through with it. I lay there thinking to myself as time passed by. I sensed that there were many backup soldiers in the surroundings, but I was sure Nor would notice before anything bad could occur. No longer was I sure about my survivability after this confrontation. I dwelt on these thoughts as I slowly drank more and more of my blood - until even the moon seemed crimson. Finally, I heard the sound of hundreds of footsteps from under me and I got up, preparing to unleash my final retaliation against this country, but I came in slightly too late. Several people had idiotically jumped out even when Nor had warned them against it.

To prevent any more unnecessary casualties, I fully transformed into a beast and lost the ability to logically think as a person - I had turned into a beast. All I could do was watch as my bestial instincts slowly took me over like a deadly poison in the body. Before I was completely out of control, I turned around to look back at Nor who stood there as if he were going to join the drays of battle - I wouldn’t allow him to. He still had a wife as well as a Sol to take care of… his life was not meant to be over so quickly. After pointing off into the distance and sending him away, I looked towards the front and all control left my body. All I was now was a four-legged creature, moving like any beast you would find in the wild. I felt disgusted at myself for becoming such a creature, but that was what I happened to be - a hellhound. The dust cleared and the humans fired at the first thing that appeared in their vision - me.

“FIRE WITH NO MERCY! ALL HAIL RAKSHA!”

“ALL HAIL RAKSHA!”

The soldiers chanted like a bunch of religious fanatics and fired magic and arrows while the frontal soldiers led the charge directly at me. I leaped into the fray of battle, swiping left and right at their insolent attempts to suppress me, but injuries were injuries nonetheless and this would be a battle against time. Jabs flew left and right while I knocked down the arrows from the skies, but there was nothing I could do against the power of magic. There was an inherent resistance to magic when transforming into the beast state, but even then, injuries would get deeper and blood would continue to flow out. Regardless, I continued to tear through the ranks of the insolent soldiers in front of me and the world was dyed in a deep color of red. Bodies continued to build up around me as I tore through their torso with the razor that was my mouth. Instincts allowed me to persevere much longer than I ever could in my human form.

However, strength was not endless, and over time, I became exhausted and sloppy. I had dwindled the human army significantly, but there was still a significant amount left to kill. I decided to go on a suicide rush to destroy the remaining army as much as I could. I let out one last howl before charging directly towards the deformed ranks. Then, I collapsed to the ground with no strength left to run on. The world that was dyed red returned to its original colors and I became a beastman once again. I lay there exhausted, but glad that I had managed to save as many as I had indirectly killed - it was an atonement for me in some ways. I lay there, prepared to be pierced through the heart, but that moment never came. Instead, that bastard of a Paladin stood over me as the two luminescent moons lit up his face.

“Tie him up and bring him back… We’re sending him to the front lines.”

As soon as I heard what he had said, I tried to commit suicide, but they held me down before I had the chance. Had I not atoned yet? Would I not be allowed to die peacefully on this final battlefield? I internally cursed my own fate as dreadful thoughts swirled within me.