Silence...

There was only an infinite silence that was ever-present in this abandoned town that seemed to have just undergone horrible devastation.

The many houses on either side of the road that parted the whole town were left in rubles. But, what truly made it known to Blade and the group that something was very wrong, was the lifeless bodies lying on the street, some even, with missing limbs. This went on to cause the whole town to reek with a horrible rotten smell since it seemed that these bodies were like this for days...

As the group made their way deeper into the town, more and more bodies were present as the streets were painted red by the amount of blood. The fact that all these bodies were male, made it known to them that whoever had done this also held the female captive, making it now not just one person but a group who were responsible for this bloodbath.

The face of Athena slowly morphed into disgust and wrath while mumbling.

"What is this... What kind of monsters could do this..!?"

Brittany wasn't faring any better as she also had an expression of repugnance while Alexandria remained as stone-cold as ever.

Dolion also remained expressionless while Blade seeing this was reminded of the mass slaughter he did to the city which was his origin point in this world. And knowing this, unlike Athena and Brittany, Blade was someone who wouldn't be disgusted by these actions, otherwise, wouldn't he be a hypocrite?

'If everyone's dead, there is the possibility that there'll be Life Stones in the Town Leader's Mansion!' He thought. The City Lord was the only person who would've been in the possession of Life Stones as the commoners use Gold Coins as currency.

And as he was about to venture deeper into the town to find the Mansion, his movements came to a halt when perceiving something rather interesting.

Unlike the other corpses that littered the streets, this one he had just passed, released something that Blade, with his extremely honed senses, was able to hear.

BA-THUMB!!

It was the sound of a heartbeat.

And a heartbeat that rhythmically pounded revealing that the one to be in control of the body, was in a state of utter calmness, which in this situation, was rather unusual. Blade instantly darted his gaze toward the location, startling his group with his sudden actions, as he then went on to approach an area where there were three corpses on top of one another.

His group watched on in confusion as Blade pushed the top corpse away, revealing the 'dead' body of a little kid with short and disheveled black hair who was seemingly unconscious.

"Hey, little kid, you should stop pretending to be unconscious, and tell me what happened here. I am someone with little patience...!"

Huh?!... These were the words appearing in the minds of Blade's group as they were shocked by the fact that Blade, was seemingly talking to a corpse. But, they were left even more shocked when the scene of this corpse shut its eyes open, revealing a pair of black orbs that gave one a chill if ever they were caught in them.

Why!?...

It was those emotionless and hollow orbs that would cause one to be placed under an illusion that the kid was an iceberg. The group was caught off guard by these pair of eyes as one wouldn't expect them from a child, but taking in the situation he found himself in, it was only normal that he would end up so... Well, at least, this was what Blade thought.

'These eyes, so dim and so lifeless... He's already given up hasn't he?' Blade thought in his mind while the kid uttered with a weak voice, caused by the fact that his body was starved for days...

"T-The r-river... T-They're up there, by the waterfall... T-They took mother... please, save mother...!"

CRACK!!

Shock...

Blade's group members were left in utter shock by what he had just done.

Right after the boy's words, Blade gripped the boy's neck, snapping it with ease, and giving him a painless death. Of course, his actions went on to trigger some of the members of his group,

"B-What the hell did you do...!!!?" Athena shouted in anger as she grabbed hold of the staff located on her back and pointed it toward Blade.

Brittany didn't speak, but she also unsheathed her sword from the scabbard on her waist as she also got into a fighting stance. Even though Alexandria's cold expression didn't change, she followed her roommates and took out the pair of blades on her waist as the only one who remained unmoved by Blade's actions was of course... Dolion.

Tsk!

An annoyed expression surfaced on Blade's face while he uttered, "If you people haven't undergone such torture, then shut your mouth and let's go. The boy doesn't have the will to live, if he is forced to, it would cause him even more suffering." Blade said, "And even if we find his mother, we all know the true reason why those people who did this took the females...

I'm sure when we go there, even his mom would be in the same situation where she only wants to escape this hell known as the living world...!"

THRUM!

His cold and ruthless words drummed in the minds of his group as they were left shocked and also curious. Shocked by his words which, even if heartless, made sense, and also curious because they were now left wondering, what type of things Blade underwent in the past to reach this mentality.

Blade, on the other hand, slightly understood the boy's situation. As someone present as he saw how his parent's bodies were torn and scattered across the road by a drunken truck driver's truck, Blade understood the empty feeling that came with it.

The feeling of questioning one's existence.

That feeling of utter powerlessness as a human being.

It was a feeling that left him scarred overtime when he was just a boy, as he thought and dreamt of that time when he could only watch as the two people he loved and respected were mutilated in front of his eyes.

...

"What sickening creatures," Dolion mumbled. He had counted, and it was at least ten that they had passed while following the river stream..!

It had been more than an hour since they had found the river that the boy spoke of, which was outside the city, and close to the city walls. The group then went on to follow the opposite path at which the water rushed, with the hope of finding the so-called waterfall.

What Dolion and the others had seen over time while walking up the path was truly sickening even for them. It had started with one. They had seen one after walking for more than a half-hour, but just after passing the forty-five-minute mark, they had gone on to see nine more as they were now aware of how close they were to those sickening and utterly disgusting humans.

'Even I find this repulsive, and that says something, coming from someone who once ate raw creatures which had just been killed!' Blade said in his mind when the scene of the naked corpses of some females entered his vision.

The faces of Athena and Brittan worsened every second as the group inched ever closer to the cause of a day filled with higher blood pressure than usual.

...

Soon, the day turned to night as the bright blue moon made its appearance in the skies which were filled with many stars that radiated many different colors. It was a majestic sight that would leave someone in a stupor as they would question what was there... What was outside this world, and in the infinite darkness that was decorated with multicolored shining dots of light?

But, even though this beautiful sight was ever-present, the group of Blade, Athena, and the others didn't care for such a sight as they were hidden up in the trees that were situated close to what seemed to be a campsite filled with tens of camps.

'So this is where those bastards are..?!'

Athena thought while her cold eyes radiated killing intent. On the other hand, Blade gazed at the many camps while thinking, 'Surely, these people would surely have many Life Stones, and probably even Life Coins. After all, for a large group like this to survive, they most likely raided many towns...!'

While Athena and Brittany were raging, Alexandria remained as cold and emotionless as ever with her unreadable expressions.

Blade only thought of the benefits that would come after killing these sinners who most likely defiled many innocent women, and finally Dolion...

Hidden away in the leaves of one of the trees, was the figure of Dolion who observed the figures of these bandits who were drinking and dancing around what seemed to be a campfire. The screams of females coming from the tents would sometimes echo out.

He who observed all this, Dolion, this one had a wide and demonic smirk on his face...