Brutality

"Beautiful, don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

An Imperial soldier was holding a wolf-headed beastkin. She was a female beastkin, and to Imperial soldiers who had guarded Kurotsuchi Fortress for several years, "female + decent figure" equaled "beautiful." As for the wolf head, it could simply be covered with clothes. After all, beastkin only differed from humans mainly in their heads; their body structures were similar.

The female wolf beastkin kept her head lowered. She felt no fear—only numbness. After being ravaged by prolonged war, this was simply the fate of civilians.

"Ah!"

A scream rang out. A male dog-headed beastkin, covered in wounds, was hanging upside down while several Imperial soldiers watched nearby.

"I suggest bleeding him out."

"Burning him alive would be more satisfying."

Several Imperial soldiers laughed as they discussed how to execute the wounded captive. These soldiers might be kind fathers or good husbands, but in war, they were all butchers.

In the end, they decided to burn the captive alive. The other veteran Imperial soldiers who witnessed the scene were already used to it.

A fire was lit, and the beastkin captive let out a painful howl. But he did not beg for mercy. He only cursed and berated the Imperial army.

More than a dozen recruits witnessed the scene. They were soldiers newly conscripted to Kurotsuchi Fortress. Although they had undergone training, this was their first taste of actual combat.

The recruits had only just grown accustomed to the cruelty of the battlefield, but the scene before them was still difficult to accept.

What they did not know was that if Imperial soldiers were captured by the tribal army, they would suffer the same fate: being burned alive, having their throats slit, or even being skinned alive.

War had no humanity. Even if