Chapter 8: Hilichurl Village

-The World Of Teyvat, Teyvat Continent, Mondstadt Region, Windwail Highland Area-

After they left their house, using one of the maps of the area they had stored inside, Venus and the girl moved deeper into the Windwail Highland area, and to the south of Springvale, moving further into the first area up there, they managed to find a small Hilichurl village in there as marked in the map. It wasn't too big and it seemed that only the basic Hilichurls lived there, if Venus had to give an estimate, he would say about 50 to 70 some Hilichurls could be found there, but that wasn't something he was worried about. There were no Hilichurls carrying ranged weapons, which was what Venus cared about since even if they are weak, attacking a whole village especially if they have ranged fighters was plain stupidity.

"Me and Mera are going to be at the front while Elesia and Sarah follow right behind us without getting too close. I have an ability that allows me to somewhat paralyze the enemies, and ill try to use it, if it works I'll give you the signal to go all in, if not stay in formation. Understood?" Venus explained his intentions since he didn't care to go in stealthily, and they would simply charge in with the swords they got from the house, though Venus already intended to visit the blacksmith in the city of Mondstadt, to commission weapons for them.

"Yup!"

"I think I can do that."

"Let's just go, I'm itching to kill these monsters."

"Good then, charge!" Venus commanded as he himself went in, but what he didn't expect was his speed! Instantaneously he was already in front of the village as he was moving at Mach 100!

That was only a lapse because of how unadjusted he was, but soon, his focus came in, and managed to stop relatively well only causing a small crater on the ground, while Mera had no problems whatsoever and just stopped graciously next to his crater. Elesia and Sarah on the other hand both and bounded off the ground multiple times before cruising into one of the buildings in the village.

"Fuck! I forgot getting huge strength buffs could do this... Mera, why didn't you remind me?!" Venus jumped out of the crater with ease.

"I thought you were taking that into consideration, how would I know you forgot something that obvious?" Mera retorted.

"Now's not the best time, we can have this argument later, let's go get the other two." Venus changed the subject.

"Okay, just don't crash in front of the Hilichurls, I heard they like taunting their enemies." Mera smirked as she made fun of Venus.

"Tsk! I'll be better than you at this in no time!" Venus announced before blitzing towards the Hilichurls village.

"If you say so... I would actually like to see that." Mera mumbled to herself then also blitzed into the village with pure speed.

Inside the village, about 50 or so wooden houses could be found with mud and bones in their construction, and of those 50, 7 of them had been crushed by the bodies of Elesia and Sarah, who were now surrounded by anger Hilichurls cursing at them in their language, while in the back there were a few Hilichurls laughing at the girls for their performance bouncing around until they crashed.

Almost instantly Venus appeared behind their ground followed by Mera, and the expression on his face was not inviting as he activated <Destroyer's Glare> and the 25 or so Hilichurls in front of him began to crouch as an unknown force increased the gravity on them and the pressure wasn't impossible to overcome, but it felt as if their bodies were covered in weights. While Venus' eyes were glowing with a very intense dark hue.

Without saying a word Venus began cutting down the Hilichurls beheading them one by one, while Mera on the side was doing the same. While the Hilichurls could see this adversary there was not much they could do with the pressure imposed on them, and in a few seconds, 28 Hilichurls lay on the ground dead, as Venus killed 10 and Mera 18 of them.

Both Elesia and Sarah had looked at the two who had just massacred the Hilichurls and realized something, they were killing living beings... And as the blood on the Hilichurls rest on the ground they had somber faces. These kinds of realizations come sooner or later, but they always come as one used to a peaceful world would be likely to question the morality of these actions.

"Are you two ok?" Venus asked seeing their expressions.

"... Yes, I guess I just wasn't ready for how real this was going to be." Elesia responded sincerely.

"So much blood... I want to vomit..." Sarah followed with a hand covering her mouth as she seemed to be stopping herself from vomiting.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it eventually... Though it's pretty rough for most in the beginning. But you must not forget that we aren't with someone who is just going to live a peaceful life in seclusion or something like that, Venus has big plans and wants a lot! If we don't want to hold him back, we can't falter at something on this level." Mera expressed as she looked at mother and daughter.

"..."

"..."

None of the two said nothing in return, they had chosen to be with Venus and to ultimately be a part of his harem, so they have to be prepared to follow him or simply give up before it's too late.

"If you don't feel up for it today, we try again some other d-" Venus felt it was best to stop for now as they didn't seem like they could do it just yet, not necessarily something he considered seeing how up for it they were.

"No! It's not good to do that. The more time you give them the more hesitant they will get... Let's do it now and make it quick, the faster they get the first kill the better or they can just decide to not do it, and what happens after that is up to you." Mera interrupted Venus as she brought two Hilichurls since she believed that he was too soft when it came to these two.

Holding down the Hilichurls, Mera presented them each to be killed by one of them.

Elesia stood there looking at the sword in her hands before looking at the Hilichurl struggling to get out of Mera's grip, and Mera could have knocked out the Hilichurl, but that would make less of an impact on them, and if their resolve was to be tested, this way it was much better, cause the other opponents they will face won't just be incapacitated, and it might leave too much lingering hesitation in them if they start that way.

Sarah was in a similar position, not knowing what to do, could she actually just go and do it? Her hands were shaking and she felt like everything around her was just getting way too hot, to the point where it was slightly hard to breathe. Her head felt all jumbled up and she was getting dizzy... But even still she got up and walked to the Hilichurl, her eyes were kind of empty yet with how full her mind was, nothing felt like the right answer, and everything felt like it could happen... What should she do? She wasn't sure how many times she asked herself this in these brief seconds, but one was for sure, she wanted to be able to do more and to be there and not just stay at home, while Venus was out there getting himself into trouble... She wanted to stand next to him, not behind him.

The sword fell to the ground and tears left her eyes, as Sarah looked at the now-dead Hilichurl, whose neck she had just slit.

As she was about to fall to her knees on the ground, Venus hugged her, pulling her in close so that she could cry all that she had to, not everyone was strong and a lot of people she didn't have it in them to do certain things, that's why when those people resolve themselves to go beyond what would normally not have the heart to do, having something to lean on to and rest for a bit is a blessing like no other.

On the other hand, as the second sword fell down and Elesia observed the Hilichurl... still alive, she understand something, she didn't have to in her, at least as she was now, she wasn't resolved enough, not that she wouldn't if the situation forced her to, but she just didn't want to willingly take away a life like that, it wasn't something she could force herself to do.

Killing the second Hilichurl, Mera went and hugged Elesia instead since Venus was already a bit busy. Embracing her friend's comfort Elesia was happy to at least know this was some sort of ultimatum... She had a line she wasn't willing to cross, and at the end that was fine too, not everyone was born to fight in the same way, so she would find her own way to help and fight the fight that those on the frontlines didn't have time to, or maybe didn't know how to, that was the path she decided to take on that day. Maybe things would change in the future or maybe that was just who she was, regardless of the truth, this was a day that served them well to understand a few things about themselves.