4 Ascension Show

"Move! Move your filthy peasant arses over here! Faster! And you there, ain't you 'eard the fucking order?! Yer damn rustic!"

Symphony of a soothing zephyr never had been broken so badly; abysmally was abolished by many insolent cries of steel-armored marauders against a bunch of scaleless innocent villagers being herded towards a small agricultural land which seemingly barren of any humus – situated at the center of eight houses village that was surrounded by a few small hills,

And on this sterile soil that was supposed to be a farmland—at least it used to be, seeing from the dead crops scattered around, died and dried up under the bright sun that was capable only of watching at most at the miserable reality from which the native dwellers suffered. No less than eight families crowded while being cramped within the narrow observation area for those steel-armored marauders whose steels had been long unsheathed as if they were ready to carry out the execution only if their superior ordered to do so.

Every head of the households embraced their own wives, trying in vain of protecting them with their shaking bodies, hiding their wives' scared faces inside their spouses' chests, while the wives hugged their own petrified children–––if one had a child within their families–––never to let go each and one another. The children were afraid as well as confused by the fast sequences that happened before their yet-innocent perspective, watching those steel-armored adult figures raided and ravaged every single house in the village as though looking for something.

"All safe. They all have been herded out. No one left inside the houses!"

"Everything's clear!"

Yelled a group of steel-armored marauders once done inspecting each and every house, to a specific man in the back row whose armor differ from others—emanating more of the figure's intimidating value and power that he might be held. Greyed nearly black in tone, while dark blue lines were seen spread from the chest plate like a crack cloaking the entire body armor that looked denser and more durable than those common ones. Many kinds of beast fur could also be seen covering and filling the gaps around the neck, wrists, and ankles, likely serving as a warmer, as well as to absorb and reduce any physical damage it might receive,

Beyond any doubt, a place of superiority was reserved for him for the menacing aura already spoke for himself. Without a visible helmet to protect his cranium, thus showing off that sly grin of his as he approached with heavy and dragged steps, looking down on the frightened crowd of villagers before himself, 

"Oh, as I recall… the number of your populace was much more than this," the conniving trait of his was even represented through his timbre, the way he cowardly behaved towards the victims who couldn't even defend themselves, "Ah my bad… reckon I failed to overlook it. You only got one less, hahaha!" sniggered his arse off in front of a middle-aged man seemingly meant to bring up a past that made that old man felt distressed and sorrow upon listening to it – and with a bit of abhorrence inside the old man's eyes,

While the rest of the villagers could only huddle in fear, that middle-aged man who seemed to stand out from the most, bravely spoke up before the intimidating aura – bravely yet meekly, "L-Lord Redo, you come a week earlier than we have agreed. S-so we… we are yet to meet the requirement that which you desire."

The old man's response however, came in a form of an unexpected reaction… by a mere second after his statement begging for leniency, a single hard swing of a steel boot collided right with the old man's head, causing him to fall into the ground with bleeding head; hence moistened the barren soil beneath by the stagnant crimson liquid that of blood, then followed by the abrupt contempt of the culprit none other than one of that dark-blue armored figure's minion,

"Know yer fuckin' place, you lowly rustic! Yer think we should beg for your ignoble consent? Why we ought agreein' with ya? We come as we pleased, take what we desire, and leave y'all with nothin' but dirt and dung!"

The situation became more severely bad for the villagers and the consternation within their hearts thrived into more agitated reactions, which resulted in a panic-stricken scream of the whole victims… mostly because they were concerned about that old man,

"Chief!"

"Chief Jovier!"

"Take it easy, my lad. About that agreement, it's true indeed. We're supposed to come a week later. So it's quite understandable they're unable to meet the requirement at the moment…"

The dark-blue armored figure by the name Redo––or the so-called Lord Redo in a way that seemed many villagers referring to him as––he coolheadedly tried to calm the heat one of his subordinates by a single pat on his shoulder for acting so outrageous; then proceeding to help the middle-aged man, who appeared to be the village's leader, to stand up on his own feet in a harsh manner… yet… by choking his neck to such an extent that his feet were no longer touching the barren ground beneath him so that the dark-blue armored figure was able to whisper right in front of that bleeding face,

"…but about that silo you have, to be completely empty… we never agreed to such a deal, did we? Even if we come the next week, I'm sure you still can't meet the quota, can you?"

Releasing his grip, the Village Chief, Jovier, fell yet again for the second time. Instead of being supine on the ground, he took a kneeled position before the dark-blue armored figure, coughing to relieve his throat from the pain before being able to explain their situation, "W-we… we beg your pardon, Lord Redo. Something unfortunate happened that caused all of your supplies washed away by the river. We were trying to redeem it by replanting it… but… as you can see… our soil became withered all of a sudden. We have yet to grow a single crop since. Bu-but nothing to worry about, we will definitely able to please you, Lord Redo. Please, give us a little bit more time!"

As disgusted as a serf, begging while clinging to the dark blue metal-plated boots… the so-called Lord Redo began to feel annoyed as his thin layer of patience had reached its breakable limit,

In somewhat a sardonic tone, he asked the Village Chief begging around his feet, bringing up a topic that somewhat brought fear upon the middle-aged man, "And now you're begging me not to bring 'home' one of your own kin… again?"

"Yes… please, Lord Redo… have mercy on us! A week––no, three days is all we ask to fulfill what you desire." the village chief desperately and tirelessly tried to prevent anything that dark-blue armored figure intended to do afterward, even when his own life was at stake.

Lord Redo gave a revulsion stare for a brief moment, then with a slight nod hiding such a hideous intention, "Very well, I won't bring one of your kin 'home' this time around…"

A sense of relief reigned over the agonized middle-aged man in a positive way, as he was about to show his deep gratitude to a figure known for his scoundrel… though he knew about it, he couldn't help but to express his deepest gratitude for the Lord before him, bowing down to the Lord as if the pride was no more within him as a man – that, nonetheless, would only prove a pride to protect his people that would never be unchanged, and that was okay to him. He, however, should've trusted his gut in the first place, for Lord Redo had yet another plan inside his twisted mind—one unscrupulous plan.

"…but I am bringing a few of them back to their 'own home' right before your very eyes, so you may wish them 'godspeed'."

At that very moment, the middle-aged man realized that it was all always nothing but had been simply the Devil's sweet lie, bringing a false sense of grace upon his desperate heart… and such a declaration would only mean one way – end in one way, "No! Please! You can't do this!" the chief's plea, unfortunately, wasn't heeded at all, nor he expected it would be. After all of those efforts, the result ended up in the worst scenario… worse than watching his people being taken away.

Lord Redo looked down at the chief and whispered, "Think of it as… a censure, because one week for now if the sitch is still the same, I can't guarantee if this little village of yours would still exist in the near future."

The odium became unbearable in the end, discomfiture in the upcoming action to protect his people, ended up cursing the figure he abhorred the most, "You wretched snake! You are more evil than devil!"

By saying so, he had prepared himself for a severe consequence as another swing of a steel boot he received, not one but two, and the second one was a hard stomp. Right after he fell to the barren ground, steel-plated feet stepped on his shinbone. A brittle bone of his couldn't survive the damage from the density and toughness of a steel. Consequently, a cracking sound of a broken bone was then heard, and loudly, followed by a strong shriek out of pain.

Disregarding the abusive 'response' of which the chief had to brave, Lord Redo simply smirked over his insult, "Hah 'more evil than devil' you say? The way you said that like you've met one." he then looked at one of his underlings, the one who did a dirty job of his, "Don't let him passed out just yet. He's our honored audience after all."

Turning his gaze around, Lord Redo looked at all of his men to announce one hell of a show of his, "My loyal comrades!" his voice issued an echo traveling throughout this solitary village and croaking the atmosphere, giving another order for his loyal and twisted acolytes, "Feel free to pick a few participants from amongst them for our Ascension Show."

After hearing such news, the frightened crowd entered a new level of fear in such an extreme way. They felt not only the need to protect the loved one, yet also the need to defend and defy, for almost from every single angle and every single corner, the steel-armored marauders were about to approach and to pick a few chosen ones as the main actors of their so-called Ascension Show… or in a gratingly harsh layman's term… public mass execution.

One of the steel-armored marauders walked closer to a single mother who embraced her single child tightly, despite with her shaking arms, she didn't show any intention to let out her only child… matter not what might happen to herself thus closing her eyes and tightening her shaking embrace; never wanted to be separated from her only child as the steel-armored figure slowly came towards them.

"Well well, look what we got here… think we've ourselves mama's favorite boy,"

His cold and hard gauntlet suddenly reached for the mother, choking on her face and then pushing her away… while the other arms trying to release forcefully a mother's caress and pulling the child from his mother's hug. He was apparently targeting the child all along,

"No! Please… not my son. Please, don't take my son!"

Of course, it was not a simple task, even for a battle-hardened marauder… the mother wouldn't just let her only child be taken. The mother cried in plea, her child cried in fear while the other villagers were trembling in terror and could only watch with their empathy in eyes. They wanted to help, yet there wasn't so much thing they could do but to pray for the mother and her son, and mostly for themselves so that one of their family members wouldn't be chosen.

That steel-armored marauder eventually managed to get the child free from his mother's arms after breaking a few fingers of hers and shoving her hard enough till her body tumbled down to the solid ground, hard enough to rupture a small portion of her skull for it was the very first part of her body that received the direct impact.

Dragging and toting cruelly the crying child, who was now screaming for his mother in rigid and cold arms sure break anyone's heart that witnessed it,

"Mom! H-help me! Help me, Mom!"

Regardless of the physical wounds the mother had suffered from, all of it couldn't compete with the scars she received inside her heart when her only beloved child was taken away and about to be killed right in front of her eyes, and so in this very moment, maybe something that many regarded as the power of maternal instinct began to show up, thus crawling the mother was… crawling with four enfeebled limbs to the source of her son's voice, all the way with her broken and dislocated fingers later managed to grasp for the steel boot of a wicked felon about to take her son away,

"You let go of my son! Take me instead!" the mother never gives up to give her son to such a wicked group, crying as loud as she could, so may her plea would be heard.

"Let go of my feet, you freak woman! Just give 'im up already!" with one of his steel-plated feet which was still free from the woman's hands, so he used it to kick and stomp on her face, hoping she would collapse or at least give in. After a while, however, after receiving many beating all over her face, no signs of despair became apparent. The steel-armored marauder, in the end, became impatient and said to himself that 'enough is enough'. Therefore he was then holding the young boy with his right hand, because the left hand he was about to use to slide his sword out from its scabbard… and about to thrust her back with it, all the way through her chest before eventually maimed her lungs and heart.

Such an insidious thought, fortunately, wouldn't come true in the end, for the arrival of the unforeseen third party whose slender hand popped out and easily stopped the thrust of a steel sword by simply pinching it between the fingers… stopping the blade completely from touching the skin of the mother's back. Such an occurrence; not only it did shock him, but the entire witnesses who presented in this incident as well who witnessed it happen – both the villagers and mainly the group of steel-armored marauders.

He then gaped up to the owner of this pale hand, only to be stared back by a pair of beautiful golden-yellow eyes and then was being greeted by one intimidating horn. Dazed and confused, all of those suddenly broke at the same time as his steel sword snapped into small fragments using merely the strength of a pinch of two fingers of that mysterious figure,

"What the—?" 

Not enough time left for him to be awed and to feel the disbelief over what just happened, for now, he could clearly see such an alluring face of that one-horned figure swiftly moving closer to him just to land a gentle finger-poke on his steel-plated armor. One second later, that steel-armored marauder was thrown backward so forceful, and only stopped solely because a formation of a huge rocky hill was in his way – shattering the rocky structure which then buried him alive,

The young boy and his mother miraculously didn't end up with the same fate as his abductor, as they both were practically attached to that marauder one another way. The tension and tremble that was felt by the mother, somehow and slowly began to ebb away, and she was now more at ease so that she was able to release her grips, while the young boy was falling slowly, and smoothly landed into the arms of this one-horned girl,

"Easy now, little one… everything's gonna be fine." the one-horned girl whispered gently to the young boy who just landed into her arms, trying to calm down his innocent mental state. And once his condition had become calmer now; no more tremble could be felt across his body. She then helped his mother to restore her energy back so that she could stand on her own feet and be reunited with her only son.

The mother then hugged her son so tightly as tears of joy starting to wet her son's clothes, "Thank you… thank you so much, stranger," a lot of gratitude was being sent to that one-horned girl, seemingly did not mind if the savior was a human or not, for the only thing she cared that her son was safe now – within the reach of her arms.

"There's no need to. It's good knowing you two are alright. Wait here with the others, and let me handle the rest from here."

Upon done with her words, introducing herself as no threat to the villagers, a downward swing of two steel blades came from behind her at high speed and furiously… a surprise attack carried by two steel-armored marauders who couldn't accept the truth that their fellow marauders just got beaten out of the blue, merely because a gentle poke of a finger.

She had anticipated the outcome after such an offensive action obviously… two marauders who sought revenge over their beaten up brother, and that number was only the beginning… as now she had to overcome the other two and a half dozen of steel-armored marauders by herself as part of a chain reaction after her initial strike.

It was nothing but a chore for her nonetheless,

The one-horned girl quickly turned her body to greet the two steel blades with a sweeping gesture carried by a dorsal side of her hand. A horizontal sweep that was supposed to negate the attack, rather than such a counter move completely disfigured those shining steel swords into pieces beyond repair – hardly noticeable that the scattered debris was once part of a steel, shining blade. Astounded and baffled so much the two marauders felt, for they never had a thought of such an outcome would befall over them, thus thinking not for the further move, leaving them vulnerable for an open attack… or rather another gentle poke of a finger on their steel-plated armor. Using the exact same move, the one-horned girl briskly lowered her body so that her fingers could reach their torsos; and in the end, the two raiders ended up with the exact same fate as their previous fella… thrown many yards backward.

The rest of the marauders who were once eager to storm over her before, now seemed that hesitation began to take control over their bodies… feet felt heavy, not because of the steel-plated boot, but more like out of fear – moreover after witnessing two unexplained occurrences that proven to be true. Let alone proven, because all they needed was to make a glimpse of contact with those yellow eyes and that one horn protruding from the girl's left temple, to tell themselves that their foe right now wasn't a human at all. They had already drawn their blades, but preferred to wait for an order from their superior to perform a move.

However their arrogant, and cunning superior was no more. All that was left were the anxious and terrified human inside that dark-blue rigid attire. Sweating cold a lot beneath his prideful pieces of armor as he gazed at those yellow eyes, he then shouted at the one-horned girl just to give the impression that he was still a leader and a prominent figure to be reckoned with, "Who are you?! What's your purpose in coming here?!"

The one-horned girl gazed back at him, choosing a simple smirk to be displayed across her pale face as her pair of golden yellow eyes silently frightened him, "I'm just a wanderer… wanting to participate in your Ascension Show."