Chaos Worshippers

Daylight arrived. Warm sunlight swept across the land, and wherever it touched, the Grey Fog retreated.

"Finally, it's over..."

After taking a little time to recover his strength, Xilian noticed the change in the concentration of Soul Marrow within his body.

At first, Xilian had thought he could steadily increase it by killing Demons. But once the number he had slain reached a certain point, the gains visibly dwindled, then stopped altogether.

"Figures. This thing isn't so easy to satisfy."

The Ouroboros Mark had grown tired of the Demons offered to it. Xilian suspected it wanted more powerful creatures of Chaos as sacrifices.

"Ugh..."

Xilian sighed helplessly. He had thought he could keep cutting down Demons until he became a Giant God. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"That reeks."

Mick appeared beside him, fanning the air in disgust.

Demon corpses lay piled around the high wall. Under the sunlight, they began to catch fire one after another.

They burned quickly. Within minutes, the heaps of corpses were reduced to hollow husks. Ash rose on the wind, swirled into the sky, then turned to fine dust that settled in layers across people's faces.

Xilian sniffed but smelled nothing. He blew his nose hard and came away with a hand covered in blood.

"That smell's nothing compared to some."

Tim came over. A night of fighting had taken its toll on him too, and his towering frame swayed as he walked.

"Wow. You smell like a towel soaked in your post-training sweat and left to grow mold."

"You little brat!"

The farther Mick backed away, the faster Tim pursued him. Tim caught him by the collar and crushed him against his chest.

"Ah!"

Mick kept screaming.

Only after Tim had rubbed the filthy blood and grime from his clothes all over Mick did he let him go.

Mick stared blankly and staggered on his feet. That ordeal seemed to have shaken him more than a whole night of slaughter.

Tim ruffled Mick's hair. "Already sick of me? I'm the one who raised you, brat!"

Nuen clearly wasn't the sort of man who knew how to care for a child. After he adopted Mick, Tim had been the one to look after him.

"If you won't call me Dad, you could at least call me your foster father!"

Mick flew into a rage. "Fuck you!"

"My mother died ages ago!"

Tim cracked the joke at his own expense without hesitation and lifted Mick with one hand.

Strength still beat agility.

"Haha."

Xilian stood to the side, arms folded.

Footsteps sounded, and a familiar figure appeared.

"Teacher."

All three immediately stopped their horseplay and spectating. They straightened up and spoke in unison.

After a night of fighting, Nuen was covered in filthy blood, but otherwise showed only a trace of weariness between his brows.

A smile appeared on Nuen's face as he gave his approval.

"You did very well tonight."

Praise from Nuen was rare. Delight lit up all three of their eyes.

"Tim, Mick, go get some rest. Leave the maintenance to the guards."

The high wall still stood, but after a night of clawing by the Demons, it needed inspection and repairs. The depleted Soul Marrow also had to be replenished. White Cliff Town's survival depended on those tasks; no one could afford to neglect them.

Mick and Tim bickered and scuffled as they walked away. After fighting all night, it was hard to imagine where they found the energy.

Xilian stayed where he was, waiting for Nuen's instructions.

"How do you feel, Xilian?" Nuen asked.

"A little tired. Otherwise, I'm fine."

"You adapted quickly," Nuen said with concern. "Were you hurt?"

"Just a few scrapes."

Xilian moved his limbs to show that he was all right.

"Just scrapes?" Nuen smiled. "The first time I fought in a battle, I nearly died."

"The fighting at White Cliff Town can't compare to the Dark World," Xilian said modestly.

"True."

They climbed the high wall. Looking out, they saw the corpses burning like clusters of fireballs. Townspeople bustled before the gate, repairing the gouges the Demons had torn into it.

"You saw it for yourself last night," Nuen said. "To the extraordinary, Demons pose little threat."

"Yes," Xilian agreed. "With just a few more Torchbearers, I think we could even lead a squad into the Demon horde and drive them back to the Interstice Gray Domain."

Xilian had killed dozens of Demons in one night and suffered nothing worse than a few scrapes.

One man alone had held them back so effectively. With enough Torchbearers, the Demons would no longer pose any threat to White Cliff Town.

"In some large city-states, they don't even need Torchbearers to clear out the Demons at night."

Nuen spoke of what he had seen in the past.

"The spirit artisans of the Court of a Thousand Mechanisms build bulky autonomous defenses atop the walls. The moment they detect approaching Demons, they unleash a deluge of ammunition. The scholars of the Modian Society need only sing softly to plunge the Interstice Gray Domain into deathly silence, leaving the Demons paralyzed, nothing but empty shells..."

Nuen dug through his near-empty pockets and pulled out a crumpled cigarette.

"The ones who truly pose a grave threat to city-states are people affected by the power of Chaos."

Nuen narrowed his eyes and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Most ordinary people corrupted by Chaos mutate into hideous Demons. But a tiny few survive the corruption, or else have blasphemous marks placed upon them."

Xilian rested a hand lightly on the hilt at his waist and listened intently to every word.

"Don't mistake them for the lucky ones. On the contrary, those who don't turn into Demons are far more terrifying.

They gain power from Chaos and hear some kind of voice. Seduced by its power, they regard Chaos as a god, worshiping it and placing their faith in it."

Nuen continued, "And it isn't just ordinary people. The extraordinary can fall to Chaos too, like the rebels during the Twelfth Expedition."

"Those corrupted by Chaos are the greatest threat to the Civilized World. By comparison, Demons are little more than a harmful byproduct, hardly worth mentioning."

"Teacher, have you killed many Chaos worshippers?" Xilian asked.

"Many? Plenty of rebels died by my hand too," Nuen said, his voice tinged with nostalgia. "Back then, we treated hunting rebels as a rite of honor. Some bloodthirsty madmen even kept their heads as trophies."

Xilian's becoming a Torchbearer had stirred Nuen's memories of the Sunflower Clan. He found himself recalling the past from time to time, an inconsolable sadness in his expression.

The sadness vanished in an instant, and Nuen's steadfast look returned.

"Xilian, what I want you to understand is this: never show mercy to anyone corrupted by Chaos. You don't even need to hear them explain themselves. Just cut off their head."

He stressed it again. "Just do it."

Xilian nodded, though he wasn't sure he fully understood. His nose was filled with the putrid stench of burning, filthy blood.

Before, Xilian had killed without hesitation because his targets were hideous Demons. But what if his target was a flesh-and-blood human being?

Xilian repeated a name in his mind.

Bell...

Bell was the corrupted townsman whose name had belonged to the first Demon Xilian had killed.

In the days ahead, Xilian would kill many more "Bells." They would weep and plead, but he would have no mercy left for them.

Xilian had already seen the folly of mercy.

"I understand, Teacher," he answered firmly.

"Good."

Nuen turned his gaze from Xilian toward the distance.

The Interstice Gray Domain receded like a tide, leaving nothing behind but burning corpses.

Nuen felt no relief at the end of the Tidal Night. Instead, his expression grew increasingly grave.

"This Tidal Night came far too suddenly."

Nuen leaped down from the high wall and wove between the burning remains.

He was no Starwatcher and could not foresee the arrival of a Source-Energy Tide. But as a high-ranking Torchbearer, he was still keenly sensitive to the movement of Source Energy.

With Nuen's abilities, he should at least have sensed the Source-Energy Tide by nightfall. Yet he had only realized what was happening when the Demon hordes charged the gate.

Nuen passed through row after row of fires. The vast wilderness was empty, with only White Cliff Town standing amid it.