Chapter 478 - Fragmented (1/2)
It was a tough battle they had faced fighting the twenty advanced tier beasts infected by the shadow, as well as the two hundred or so Dark Guild members. Thankfully the fight had ended with little casualties on their side. From their thousand or so strong army, it had only lost around fifty men.
At first, the Redwing members and leaders were thankful that they hadn't lost so many people. It was a great achievement and they felt like they had foiled the Shadow's plans in weakening their large army, but soon they came to realise something.
”I can't find Harry anywhere.” Martha said. ”Katy said she had saved him and then went on to fight some beasts, luring them away from the army. When I got there, there were two dead beasts and some red blood in the snow.'
”Then I fear that the Dark Guild has actually been successful in their plans.” Said Lenny. ”They have captured or even killed who they had originally come here for.”
”What makes you so sure of that? We attacked and fended them off.” Dan replied. ”I'm sure they never expected us to get rid of so many of their people yet lose so few of our own.”
”We were blind.” Bliss added as she sat down on the snow, she looked defeated and tired. In fact they all did. The main members of the Redwings were the ones who were fighting the Dark Guild members. Although they had come out pretty unscathed, that was due to their own skill and not the lack of skill from the Dark Guild members.
”The Dragon knights were too focused on trying to protect Van and me.” Bliss added. ”That we didn't even focus on Harry. They had already targeted him once, so we should have kept an eye on him.”
The others felt this was true, they just never thought someone like Harry, who was stronger than most of them there would need protecting.
”We need to make a decision.” Sir K said. ”Do we carry on moving forward having lost one of our commanders or do we head back to Avrion and have our last stand there? The Shadow has achieved their goal and so far we have just run into bad luck after bad luck. I feel if we continue forward we may all lose our lives.”
”We can't go back, that's exactly what the Shadow wants us to do!” Bliss shouted.
”We have to face the facts.” Roy added, ”They were prepared for our surprise attack, it was a risky move in the first place heading into their territory. We would be better off fortifying our own defences and setting up small traps along the way just like they have done.”
”Then are we just meant to leave Harry with the Dark guild members? Although I may not agree with Bliss's decision I can't leave without knowing what happened to Harry.” Martha complained.
”And risk more lives?” Roy said. ”Following this God blindly might be exactly the vision she is seeing in the first place. Just because she is a god doesn't mean she will always get it right.”
The tension was already high between people in their own group and now it was higher than before, but it was understandable with the lives of others on their hands, and having lost someone close to them.
”And Kyle, what do you think of all of this? I have yet to hear from you.” Sir K asked.
”I feel conflicted. Like Bliss says they are trying so hard to make it so we don't reach the fortress, maybe we can do something when we get there. If we head back I feel like Avrion is done for without Ray. What I'm more concerned about is why Jack and his group didn't transform. If they did they could have dealt with the beasts and Harry wouldn't have had to go and try to save those people.
Jack stood silently with his hands in his pockets as he looked to the ground. He had fought hard, but it was true, Jack had told those with him and himself to not transform in this fight, but he had his own reason for doing so.
Ever since Ray hadn't come back from the Empire, he felt like it would be his burden to take on Gary. He knew how strong he was before and could imagine how strong he had gotten. Because of this, he wanted to reserve every last bit of energy he could for the big fight, but now it kind of seemed pointless having lost a dear friend.
”I'm sorry.” Jack finally said. ”I agree, I too don't want to leave without getting Harry back.”
”Then it's decided. We shall proceed further with the main goal of looking for Harry.” Sir K said with a smile. He was proud of these former students of his. Although it wasn't exactly the best decision to put their real goal on the back foot, he also thought that the Shadow's reason for taking Harry played a bigger part in all this than Bliss originally thought, an oversight on her behalf. There was one thing Roy was right about, trotting the vision might very well be their downfall in all of this.