Turmoil

"Hello!" The villagers near the village entrance enthusiastically greet the visitor that enters. It's extremely rare for them to have a visitor since the mythical beast outside the village is incredibly powerful to get past and the spirits' illusions are also hard to overcome. That's why whenever there's a visitor they give them the utmost welcome because they knew how tough it is to reach their village.

Seeing the amiable villagers welcoming him without a hint of malice, Leon clenches his fist and closed his eyes for a long bit. 'Is it really worth sacrificing their lives for my son?' his heart and spirit are extremely reluctant to act but his mind is clear.

"Are you okay?" Seeing the visitor quiet and unmoving, one elderly asks with great concern and gets close to inspect Leon to heal him.

'I promise Elaine to protect our son.' Leon hearing the concerned elderly tries to convince himself to act by reminding himself about his ultimate goal, to protect his son no matter what.

Gathering his resolve, Leon opens his eyes. His eyes were cold and piercing.

The change in his aura quickly alerted the mythical beast that protects the village. Swiftly they move to confront Leon.

But they were one step too late. With one quick draw of his blade, everyone in the immediate surroundings is cut in half.

Blood splatters everywhere.

And the massacre begins.

***

"Make sure to kill all of them, or else…" Arkham the head of the Ruya Church then shows Leon his 10-year-old son, Fio, writhing on the bed while hoarsely shouting and both tears and snot running down his face uncontrollably.

"Fio! I'm already here! So of course I'll do what you want." gritting his teeth Leon answers.

Seeing his son's torment through the Ruya Church's magical communication device that looks like a serpent bracelet, Leon can't help but curse at the Ruya Church in his mind.

The Ruya Church is well known and worshipped for its superior healing arts. And they want to be the only ones to be recognized as the greatest in the field of healing arts. They actively eradicate any competition fiercely. That is why they are also well versed in dark arts as well to cull competition effectively. But of course, they keep that fact hidden.

But then an ancient script uncovered by one of the leaders tells them that a tribe in the abandoned peninsula of Arcum lies a tribe with heaven-defying healing arts. The Ortus Tribe can even herald a great change in the world with its healing arts. Seeing a potential threat to their prestige and core foundation, the Ruya Church leaders unanimously agree with the annihilation of the tribe.

They even took drastic actions to make the world-renowned retired swordmaster follow their order of annihilating the entire Ortus Tribe. They had to make sure the deed is done fast, cleanly, and discreetly.

That's why they 'coerced' one of the most powerful men to do it since the Arcum Peninsula is inhabited by savage magical beasts that most common folks call mythical beasts instead. Besides, letting someone else do the dirty deed leaves them a scapegoat to use later on if the public finds out about the eradication of the Ortus tribe.

"We are monitoring you, so don't think about being merciful. Destroy the village and bring back any useful tool for healing. The artifact that checks lifeforce also records your every action just so you know. And don't forget to mark the corpses with the hex artifact!" Arkham with a smirk adds as he disconnects.

Leon with lifeforce detection combined with his sharpened senses starts his sinful task to kill everyone.

The fact that Leon is a renowned swordmaster shows when he swiftly deals with numerous mythical beasts simultaneously with ease, mythical beasts said to destroy kingdoms overnight. Now that he has dealt with the main protectors of the villagers, he briskly kills the villagers not wanting to make them suffer a painful death.

With his overwhelming power, he quickly reaches the far end of the village. There he sees a lady handing his son an overstuffed backpack with panic movements. He pauses, the lad looks like his son, with wavy brown hair with green eyes. But he regains his composure immediately.

Emily senses bloodthirst of Leon and turns quickly toward him

"Run Leo! Run!" She knows the man in front of her, covered in blood, is way out of her league to fight, but if there's a chance that she could stall just enough time. Just enough time to let Leo reach the forest to seek refuge in the spirit realm. So of course she'll fight with all she got.

Leon draws his sword with lightning speed and attacks Emily, to his surprise the lady is able to reflect his attack. But it is only a momentarily surprise, he swiftly regains balance and increases his strength.

Emily already suffering from internal injuries by invoking a reflective barrier when she doesn't have enough mana to do so. Seeing her assailant unfazed, she can't help but press her lips and think how much her kids will grieve when she dies.

Now without wasting time, Leon attacks one more time with much more power. Emily felt the overwhelming power but still manage to gather enough strength. Letting out a roar she faces the attack head-on.

But alas it wasn't enough, and her head falls to the ground and her body crumples to the ground.

Leon grips his sword tighter. His lips trembling he whispers, "I have become what I hate the most."

Hearing his mom roar and then the sudden silence after, Leo drops his backpack. He knows that his mom is gone so now he needs to be faster to reach his sister to protect her.

Seeing the young boy rushing toward the forests, the swordmaster hesitates. The lad looks so much like his son that it shakes his resolve.

Running with all his might and not stopping even if it feels like his lungs are on fire and his legs might fall off, Leo is thinking about his baby sister who might be frightened and crying. But in reality, he has to think about his younger sister or else the sadness and fear might just overwhelm him.

"I need to get to her, it's only two of us now so I could protect her!" Leo tells himself as tears blur his sight. Seeing the forest getting close, Leo thinks it's not hopeless after all.

Leon sees the boy almost entering the forest, and the image of his own son writhing in agony flashes into his mind.

He's not my son…

And with that in mind, Leon immediately delivered a powerful slash on the back of the boy.

His hands were shaking, that attack felt like he actually delivered a blow to his son instead. He looks at the boy expecting to see him dead on the ground but to his amazement sees the dying boy desperately crawling toward the forest.

Leo manages to stay conscious for a bit, a great feat considering it was a fatal strike. But alas death is near and he knows it.

So in his last effort, he struggles to call out his sister's name one last time with outstretched hands "Kash…hi…la…"

Being close enough to hear his dying words Leon engraves those words in his mind. A feeble attempt to somewhat appease the soul of the dead boy.

Looking away from the dead boy's body, Leon double-checks if anyone is still alive with the help of the artifact that the Ruyua Church provided.

He widens the search area to encompass the whole mountain range and forest, and it only detected non-human lifeforce. He looks around him and sees the devastation he brought upon the peaceful village. He looks at the artifact confirming that there is no one left alive.

Blood and silence surround him. The image of the villagers' death quickly presents itself in Leon's mind especially that of the last lady and the young boy. As if to taunt him about how grave his crime is. He throws his sword to the ground and kneels down looking at the gray dreary sky.

"What have I done…"