Mercy Kill

Leo's face was ashen as he, the deacon, and Ash all walked into a tent for the two White grade soldiers set up next to the barracks. Leo looked at the two soldiers who had fought for him, the two he had forced to come back to Fallen Star City before the battle with the Queen. Leo had naively thought that sending them back to the territory would save them from that sort of cruel and unjustified death. However, here Leo now stood, standing over the soon-to-be dead bodies of his former soldiers.

Leo tentatively and nervously walked up to the two soldiers, who noticed his arrival and both gave a small smile. Leo's heart nearly jumped out of his chest when he saw that.

The two men were quite literally on death's doorstep. Their eyes had sunken in, leaving only white eyeballs, which were reddened from weeping behind to barely be able to look out at the world with. The two men were both cutting a very small figure, like they had been starved for more than a week, too weak to properly feed themselves. They had cuts and bruises all over their bodies, exposing bloodied sores and untreated battle wounds that seemed to ooze black blood.

Leo was not accustomed to seeing such a sight and immediately felt the need to vomit. It seemed Ash already knew this as he brought him a small wooden bucket to vomit into. Leo was certainly not prepared for the sight before him, he had never seen such a gruesome sight, not even in the movies that they had back in his own world.

Leo finished vomiting up the rest of his breakfast and returned to checking out the injuries of the men on the cots in the tent. Leo was no doctor, no knew anything about medicine, yet even he could tell that these mens were most likely in terrible pain. The infections from their wounds were spewing pus and blood here and there, making their already ash white skin somehow even paler.

Leo walked up to one of the soldiers and asked him nervously, fear apparent in his voice,"How are you guys doing in here?"

The soldiers, despite everything, chuckled a little and then immediately grimaced in pain. The soldier Leo walked up to first simply responded in a forced, raspy voice,"I've been better…"

Leo was starting to tear up as he said,"Ash said you need to talk to me, what is it? What do you need from me?"

The soldier closest to Leo sucked in a haggard breath and replied,"We… are soldiers Lord Leo…" the soldier coughed up a great amount of blood and continued," This is what we are born on this earth to do. So when we are gone, do not blame yourself."

Leo now had tears slowly forming in the corner of his eyes, and those tears were now on the verge of breaking out onto his face. Leo smiled and said,"I led you into that cave, into that…. ambush. If it were not for me, you would still be alive and well, living to see the great dawn with our brothers and sisters."

The soldier's face stiffened a little and he replied,"Lord Leo, look at me."

Leo looked at the man's sunken and poor face and nearly started crying at the sight right there. The soldier smiled a little but Leo could see the pain clearly marked all over his face, as he was unable to hide it due to the injuries he had sustained. The men had been suffering for almost 24 hours now, and it was readily apparent they were going to be dead soon.

The soldier and Leo now had locked eyes as the soldier slowly said in a raggedy voice,"Lord Leo, we are soldiers." Leo didn't know where this was going, but continued to curse himself within his mind, afterall if he didn't order them to go to that cave, they wouldn't be here, dying in front of his very eyes.

The soldier continued,"Lord Leo, it is not your fault.. we chose to be soldiers. This is what we decided to do with our lives, and we always knew that death was always just around the corner. This is not your fault, we do not blame you, nor should you blame yourself for what has happened."

Leo could no longer hold it in as he started to cry, losing more and more control of his emotions. He whimpered and quietly said to them,"But, if it wasn't for me, if I hadn't ordered you to fight those ants, you would," Leo slightly choked on his words but continued," you would still-"

The soldiers weakly grabbed Leo's hand within his own and said,"Lord Leo, no matter what you did, at some point, this would have been my fate. This will also be the fate of many of your future soldiers and my brothers and sisters that I will never know."

The soldier smiled and the other soldiers who were watching the moving scene also added," Lord Leo, do you remember the words that you used before the ants attacked us outside of the cave?"

Leo shook head and replied, teary eyed,"No, at the time I just said what I thought was right."

The other soldier weakly nodded his head and said,"Sounds about right, you were basing that speech off what you felt based on instinct. You knew the battle was going to be tough, hell we all knew the battle was going to be tough, yet we went unconditionally with you into that great darkness. We knew that death would reach a majority of us, if not all of us."

Leo was starting to sob as he listened to the man's rant, angry at himself but the soldiers still holding onto his hand, squeezed it a little, and said,"Lord Leo, do not weep for the fallen and the destitute. We have chosen our lot in life, and we knew that one day this would be our fate. Your words on that day stuck a cord within us, and we saw you make a miracle on that day. We only lost a few brothers on that day, which was more than we could ever ask for, yet even more surprisingly, you, the lord, fought alongside us as equals on the field of battle."

Leo could no longer contain his tears as the man continued his speech," 'You men will see horrors inside that cave, and I feel like it is my job to lead you men into the cave, so I will not sit back Idly and force to commit suicide while I lounge around. There will be times, like now, where you will be forced to fight, however that does not mean that is not for nothing. There is always a reason! For our brothers and sisters…"

Leo nodded his head as the man recited his former speech. Leo had said that speech based on a whim, something to help motivate the troops at the time.

The soldier continued,"These words, they are righteous, and I feel no pain or regret over dying for a Lord such as you, one who has the heart for people. A lord who can cry for a mere White grade soldier is someone who can win his future battles and make sure that reason for his battles and wars is justified and righteous. Lord Leo, you have an amazing heart, and I trust you will give me a clean death, a death that may ease my suffering and let me enter a deep sleep that I will not have to wake up from, a death that will let me return to goddess Vias' embrace."

Leo nodded and quickly asked the system in his mind,"System, can the poison element focus in on one specific toxin?"

[Yes, Lord Leo, as long as your mana allows it too]

Leo, still crying heavily, beamed his toxic chestpiece onto himself and quickly said,"Inducement: Paralyzation. Inducement: Numbing Poison"

Then men who had been rather tense from the pain visibly relaxed themselves as the paralyzation and the numbing effect kicked in after Leo's new spell spread over them.

The soldiers had big grins on their faces as the one still holding Leo's face said,"Thank you Lord Leo, our time together may have been short, but you gave me a reason to put my life on the line. If I could salute you, I would, so you will just have to take my word for it haha."

Leo was bawling his eyes out now as he beamed his shark tooth spear into his hands, calling forth a small water blade.

They both said at the same time,"Thank you Lord Leo, until we meet again in the next life" and didn't say another word as Leo quickly shot his water blade down on their necks, killing them both instantly.

Leo immediately fell to the ground, knees weak, vomiting all over the ground, not caring about the bucket anymore. As Leo sat there, now traumatized, the deacon came forward and said,"You grab the one and I shall grab the other, we need to burn their bodies so that they will not spread this horrible disease."

Ash nodded and the two men grabbed the now dead soldiers and carried them outside to a collection of wood. It was a pyre meant for the deceased.

Leo, on stumbling knees, followed after them, wanting to see this through to the end despite his anger and grief towards the situation. Much of the Fallen Stars City population had stopped their work and were now gathered around the pyre, looking at it with an aggrieved expression. That was when a lot of them saw Leo stumbling out of the tent, looking like a mess with vomit, blood and tears covering a lot of his body.

The citizens looked at one another, surprised to see their Lord who seemed invincible in their eyes, lowered to this state simply because of the deaths of a few White grade soldiers. The deacon and Ash piled the two corpses on top of the pyre and both men stepped back.

Ash called out,"Ignition!" and fire jumped from his palms onto the pyre, which now burnt a crystal golden yellow and orange hue.

Leo dropped to his knees, yelling out,"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" over and over again as the fire raged in front of him.

The deacon stepped forwards and started a prayer,"Our goddess Vias, please see that these weary soldiers who fought the good fight for our city are treated well within your embrace. These children did nothing wrong in this life and are pure, please treat them well. These children of yours gave their lives staving off the evil of the world, and now they wish to return to their mother to play in the fields of their homeland once more."

A Lot of the women in the crowd were silently crying as the men all had faces of grimness and sadness plastered over their faces. Leo however was still crying non stop as he watched the pyre burn, watching as the bodies slowly disintegrated into nothing but ash in the wind.

The deacon continued,"Goddess Vias! I beseech thee, let these souls peacefully cross the river of damnation into the field of life and hold them in your arms once more as your children! They have done what they must for the others in this world, now it is up to you whether they will enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice in the afterlife. May the dead rest eternally at peace, amen."

The light from the sun seemed to peek through the rolling clouds at this moment, making the area seem extremely beautiful, as if it was being touched by a god. Leo was still begging for forgiveness as the light from the sun consumed the area, touching the pyre for a few moments before receding back behind the clouds once more.

The deacon simply repeated a phrase once again,"May the dead rest eternally at peace, amen."