Floating above the outskirts of the oasis, I quietly observed the beautiful, blue sky as streaks of clouds floated by, highlighted in the red and yellow of the sunset. Nightfall was not too far off, which meant it was about the right time to get started. Below me, Asunam finally reentered the greenery of the oasis, from where he had ridden away hours ago. His horse, having been retrieved by me after our initial meeting, trailed after him placidly. To anyone watching, it would seem like nothing more than a weary scout returning from a fruitless search.

However, only Asunam and I knew what was about to happen. He had returned here on my command, something he had no choice but to obey. Whether it was because of fear or because of his desperate desire to live, he had willingly sold his freedom to me.

Up til now, everything that I had killed or forced into submission had been inhuman creatures that had been sentient to some degree. Did that make me a bad person? Maybe... though I could argue that they had been my enemies and that I was longer biologically human.

By using the high tier spell [Enslave Will] on Asunam in my throne room, however, I had crossed the line into the realm of being an aggressor towards humanity, breaking the morals that I had grown up with. What I was going to make him do next was going be me stomping on those very morals.

The truth was there had been no hesitation when I sent Asunam back here to the oasis with my orders. All I had felt was a coldness that told me that my decision was 'right.' I knew that it was not a 'rightness' based on some law or sense of justice that I had once known but one based on what I now believed was 'appropriate.' Maybe what I had in store for the sand thieves was just arrogance or maybe it was 'evil' as defined by the world, but I only felt it would be the 'appropriate' reckoning they all deserved. In the end, it was just their shitty luck that they had run into me in this place and at this time.

Below me, as Asunam finally caught sight of the first of his former allies, I began casting [Body Reinforcement] on him. It was a low tier spell designed to slightly strengthen an individual's strength, endurance, agility, and dexterity. I figured I might as well give him a fighting chance.

Asunam's POV

He felt like he was going to puke. Maybe the great sages of Halasun would have found eloquent words to describe his predicament, but Asunam couldn't think of anything else. He was barely able to able to keep walking forward, but he knew the consequence if he did not. In fact, when his new master had first sent him back to the Sulvanc, Asunam had tried to run, believing he could escape.

However, the agony that had torn through through his mind had left him gasping and rolling in the dirt, digging his fingernails into this head. He had not only felt mind wrenching pain, but he had also seen horrors from the depths of his soul come to life, whispering a promise of suffering beyond his understanding. What more, he knew he could not kill himself even if he wanted to. His master's promise of 'eternal servitude' had taken on a new meaning at that moment.

So, Asunam found himself willingly walking back into the oasis, not finding any comfort or relief from the verdant surroundings. The spear he carried in his right hand felt slippery as sweat from his palms weakened his grip, and the scimitar felt heavy in its scabbard on his waist. His heart was beating frantically in his chest, with the weight and clanking of his armor becoming more irritating as time passed. Though his legs trembled with every step he took, the cold sensation in his head mercilessly drove him forward.

“Asunam! We all thought the sands swallowed you, you lazy whoreson!” The voice drew his attention to a clearing near a few palm trees, where a man with a familiar, smiling bearded face was lounging in the grass. Rachan was maybe one of the few, fellow thieves that Asunam considered a true brother in arms, as the fellow sand thief also came from farmer stock and wasn't as shortsighted as the rest. As his friend waved in greetings, Asunam wanted to yell at him to run, but the words froze in his mind before he could even vocalize them.

It was then a surge of power filled him, and he felt like his body was swelling up. His grip on his spear became more sure, his trembling legs steadied a little, and the weight of his armor decreased. Asunam wasn't a fool. He knew the Great Fallen One or at least his greater servant was watching, and the gift of strength he had just received was as much a warning as a blessing.

Feeling numb, Asunam let go of the reins of his horse and walked forward hefting his spear in a firm grip, and then as his friend began to get up, he thrust the spear without any warning. Asunam felt his spear jolt as it punched through Rachan's lamellar armor right above the stomach, but the armor wasn't sturdy enough to slow the thrust as Asunam drove his spear through his friend, until the spear's serrated tip came out his friend's back.

Asunam watched mutely as his friend looked up in shock while grasping at the spear shaft and opened his mouth as though gasping for air. It was the same disbelief and fear that Asunam had seen in the last wagoner he had killed on his last raid. Back then, Asunam's answer had been the same as the present. With a hard yank, he pulled out the spear, leaving blood and guts spilling out and kicked his friend backwards onto the ground.

As his friend weakly began dragging himself on the grass, Asunam walked to stand beside the dying man. “I'm sorry, Rachan.. I have no choice...” A few drops of tears mixing with the sweat on his face, Asunam plunged his spear downwards again, this time into his friend's chest, twisting it as it penetrated.

When he was sure Rachan was dead, Asunam dropped to his knees beside his old friend and slowly closed the man's eyes, that seemed to hold confusion even at the very end. He didn't have long to mourn as a cold voice spoke in his mind. “Back away from the body.”

Asunam flinched and stumbled backwards onto the ground as a dark mist covered his friend's body. Horrified, he watched as the dark mist solidified, and his friend's body stood up, as blackened clumps of flesh fell off until all that was left was a skeleton with green flaming eyes in bloodied armor. The skull, once belonging to his friend, turned to look directly at Asunam, but in those eyes, all that he saw was death.

The familiar voice broke through the horror gripping his mind. “Your friend can help you in your penance. Remember what I told you... All sand thieves in this oasis must die. No slave is to be harmed. Fail me, and you will learn that death is not the end for your soul.” Staring at the skeleton that had once been his friend, Anusam finally knew that he had no choice left.