Chapter 307 Retaliation 2 (1/2)
”Shin...” Elrin cried out in worry. During her year-long interactions with Shin, the youth had always kept a cool and calm mind. There has never been an instance where he lost himself in despair or anger, and even if he were emotionally unsound, Shin would always hide his mental state.
Yet, right in front of her, the youth was now drunk in a pit of fury. Barbaric, that was the only way to describe Shin as he was. Gone was the wise sage that never resorted to brute force. Using his own two hands, the berserk young boy charged through the beast pack and clawed his way to the centre.
After punching his hardened fist into a beast's gut, Shin felt something peculiar. He felt a familiar sensation, one that was uncommonly found in the stomach of a Spirit Beast.
'This is?' Feeling confused, Shin pulled out the strange object with one swift motion.
”No… No way...” Shin's eyes quivered in anguish once the object came into full view. It had been partially digested, and bits of its flesh had already been corroded. However, Shin clearly recognised the object that he had pulled out from the Spirit Beast's stomach…
Pale as a sheet, while being slightly longer than a twig… Shin had pulled out a dead child's hand…
”Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!!!” Shin immediately threw the hand to a side and washed his own hand with his created water. Adding fuel to the flames, Shin's anger spiked tenfold.
'Black Masks! Junius, this is the organisation that you joined! This is the organisation that the Awter Clan joined!!! An organisation that kills innocent for their own gains!' Shin cursed the face that he associated with the Black Masks. Not even a child was spared!
”ARGHHH!!!” Digging down further and further into the hell that was eternal hate, Shin used his seismic step on the next beast that charged straight at him and continued to wreak havoc among the beast pack.
At his side, Isadore sensed the shift in Shin's conduct and the massive outpour of emotions from the depths of his friend's soul. Gritting his teeth, Isadore swung his majestic spear and sliced through the Tier 1 Spirit Beast before him. Crimson, warm blood spewed out and stained his pristine grey robes, but he didn't dare to stop.
Based on how Shin was acting, he would only stop once the beast pack was thoroughly annihilated. Isadore didn't want his friend to continue on rampaging like a brute and thinned down the numbers as best as he could.
”I suppose… Master Shin, hasn't killed anyone yet...” Watching as Shin vented out his frustrations, Reginald stroked his beard with a melancholic sigh. ”It's always novel to watch how a man behaves after he claims his first life.”
”Uncle Reg? What do you mean?”
”Lady Elrin, can't you tell by the way he's behaving? Master Shin's mental condition can't be described as optimal right now.” Reginald patiently explained to the young girl. ”The mercenary killed his partner and then committed suicide. After which, he pinned the blame on Master Shin. Based on how he's reacting, Master Shin must have never killed anyone before.”
”I see...” Elrin nodded in comprehension. She had never taken a life before and couldn't understand what Shin was going through, but seeing how crazed it had made the youth, it was apparent that Shin would never be the same. ”Is there a way to help him?”
”Time.” Reginald succinctly replied. ”Letting him vent out on the Spirit Beasts is a good idea as well, but ultimately, time is the best healer. Should he continue down the cultivation path, Master Shin would definitely meet enemies much worse than the mercenary we've just met. Sometimes, the people that he would be forced to kill are good samaritans as well. At that point, the guilt that he would experience would far surpass what he's feeling right now.”
Reginald closed his eyes as he remembered the first time he claimed a life. It was during his escort guard days where merchants would hire him to guard their trading caravans. Bandits were rife back then, and an unguarded convoy was basically a sitting duck for the criminals at large. No matter how cold-blooded a killer was, he would always remember his first kill with great detail, and the same rule applies to all cultivators.
In the cultivation world, where the strongest reigned supreme, murders and deaths were a common occurrence. In fact, Reginald was willing to bet that anyone above the Spirit Spectre realm has slain a few enemies, even if they were auxiliary cultivators. For instance, Lady Seph, who was widely regarded to be one of the most dominant healers alive, had tainted her life-saving hands with blood before.
Elrin's eyes turned misty. As much as she hated to admit it, she was still a small fish in the cultivation world. Not only had she never been in an actual battle before, she had never had the burden of claiming another's life. How heavy was it? The white-haired sheltered girl questioned herself. How heavy was another person's soul?
'If Kanari were here, she would know what to do...' For the first time, Elrin felt inferior to her bosom childhood friend. As they say, every rose has its thorn. Being the heir to the Highgarden Duchy, it wouldn't be shocking if Kanari had already taken a few lives in her 'training' to be the best.
Furthermore, Elrin knew that Kanari had participated in multiple battles before, albeit as a spectator. Compared to her lack of experience, Kanari was the far superior candidate to console and support Shin in his time of darkness.
Evidently, the young girl wasn't the only one that was conflicted. Isadore, who had been at Shin's side the entire time, carefully observed his buddy's reactions. In this day and age, where war was an afterthought, young children like them never had to worry about claiming another's life. Yet, before Shin had turned sixteen, he had directly caused the deaths of two individuals, just for the sake of advancing his cause. Was Shin capable of dealing with the trauma? That was Isadore's burning question.
BBRRTTT!!! BRRTTT!!! BRRTTTT!!!
As the last beast fell in Shin's hands, a loud siren bellowed out from the horizon. The ground shook in tremulous fear, bringing all movement to a halt. The three Spirit Emperor's perked up their ears and brought up their guard. If the Black Masks had returned with yet another beast horde, they would immediately grab hold of the youths and fly back to the Empire at top speed. Thankfully, their caution was unwarranted as the familiar sigil of the Imperial Army came into view.
”The Empire sent the entire Second Army?” Reginald raised his brows. He had expected the Himmel Empire to act, but to send an entire army was unheard of in the modern age. ”Looks like things are escalating faster than I thought.”
”The Second Army? Shouldn't they be permanently stationed at the northern border?” Madam Warulee exclaimed in shock.
The Himmel Empire military consists of approximately twenty-two armies, each one ranked by their importance and overall might. If the First Army was responsible for protecting the Capital as well as the Imperial Family, the Second Army was directly accountable for the most volatile land in the nation, the northern border.
Throughout the years, even though there had been no wars, the relationship between the Himmel Empire and the Kori Federation had been deteriorating rapidly. Skirmishes between the two superpowers were bound to occur and the ones to react to the threats by the Kori Federation were the courageous Second Army.
”If the Second Army is deployed, it must mean that the Kori Federation had agreed to that movement. Otherwise, there's no way the military elders would have moved the entire army.” Reginald gave his two cents. Turning to the three youths that he was supposed to protect, the butler continued: ”We should stay here and tell them our story. If we run now, the scouts may think that we're the enemy.”