章 3: Bloodshed

"Any news from Kei?" Kenn asked. They sat on the couch opposite the bedroom after confirming that Asuna's condition had stabilized. Hasumi, Seyuu together with Oyui and Kenn, took turns respectively in advising and reminding the pair on what to do and what not to do, repeating each sentence at least twice while Toma calmly sipped his coffee from the sideline. Asuna had already fallen asleep after drinking the concoction. She had a hard time keeping her eyes open and in the end, she chose to succumb to the darkness in the midst of eavesdropping on the men's conversations.

"Now that you mention it," Kousei furrowed his brows. "It's been five days since they last sent news back."

He was concerned over Asuna's health that he had pushed all other matters to the back of his mind. Usually, they would send updates on their progress regarding the matter they'd been busy with – or just some casual conversation at least once a day to keep in touch. But he hadn't received any soul transmission over the last few days, much less any news from the other side.

Soul transmission was a form of communication where you'd mark a little string of someone's soul with a bit of your own and afterwards fuse them with magic. It would create a soul hologram of the other party. You would be able to communicate as if the other person were present even if you were a realm apart.

"You didn't contact them either?"

Kousei smiled wryly at Toma. If he remembered about it he'd been long contacted them even before Toma stated the obvious. Since they hadn't contacted him yet, it meant that there was trouble from the other side and it was inconvenient for them to start a conversation.

A shadowy silhouette morphed in mid-air forming a full body of a man seconds after before finally settling down on one of the couched. His ruby red eyes glanced at Asuna before he gazed back at Kousei.

"Father." His baritone voice was solemn.

———

"What is it, Kei?"

Kousei's worried voice brought him out of his reverie. He had been anxious for the past few days. How could he not be when he certainly knew the extent of his mother's illness. He was worried that while he was out, a realm away from home something could've happened to his mother. Now that he saw his mother was fine, sleeping comfortably on her bed, he could let out his breath in relief.

No wait, something seemed wrong.

Why did —

"Father, did something happen to mother?" His gentle gaze held a trace of uneasiness and suspicion. It couldn't be what he'd thought, could it?

"En," Toma answered instead of Kousei. He first put down his coffee before he continued. "Kei, your mother had a moment of relapse."

"..."

"Her life force was deteriorating, Kei. The pills and elixirs are no longer effective. Even the healing spells are useless."

"..."

"We used some sealing magic to calm the chaos inside her."

Toma continued the one-sided conversation. He knew Kei was listening even though he didn't let out a sound.

"Now we can only rely on Gaoru and that whatever fruit he had been talking about. Kei, you only have a few weeks at best. If this happens one more time. We are hopeless."

He didn't need Toma to finished reporting everything as he'd already had a guess from the heavy atmosphere in the room. The five old men also wouldn't be so unreasonable as to just suddenly want to hang out knowing the predicament they were in – much less in the room where the patient was.

His mind buzzed. He already had a guess but hearing it directly from Toma – a brutally honest old man – was an entirely different thing. It took him a few seconds to organize his thoughts.

"Mother is fine for now, am I right?"

"Yes, for the time being."

"..."

Silence. Kei didn't respond and Kousei and Toma stayed silent too.

Kousei's eyes hardened as his expression became unreadable.

"Father, we'll be home soon." His voice was firm.

With that, Kei disconnected the call. Their figures instantly disappeared from his view.

"Brother?" A golden blonde man with green eyes called out. "What did father say?" He was absent when Kei made the call and what came into his view after was his brother with a gloomy air. Something must have happened, something back at home.

"How is it? Did you manage to find a way out of this tomb?"

"Well, yes." A question should not be answered with a question, right? Something was clearly bothering him.

"Then let's head out now." He walked away from the brightly lit room. Kanneki ran after him with a confused expression on his face.

"Brother, tell me. What happened?"

Kei glance at him as he spoke. "We need to hurry, something happened to mother. Father said we only have a few weeks at best." He simplified the news as much as he could. He knew Kanneki would understand the underlying meaning.

And he was right after Kei finished speaking, Kanneki quickened his steps and went on ahead.

"Where's the exit?"

"On the other side of the tomb. South from here. But brother, I must tell you, after we successfully escape the tomb. We'll have to face the crowd ambushes." He gave Kei a playful smile. "What will you do?"

Kei knew what he meant. He had been giving orders to their party to minimize the killing. That 'unnecessary bloodshed' was unneeded. But along their way, they had been harassed numerous times and all they did was flee, only killing if things went wrong. His brother was right, even if they didn't have the intention to kill others, others will find their ways to kill them first. With or without reasons. It was either kill or be killed.

"Alright. I won't hold you back any longer. But try to restrain yourself."

That, he understood. He won't bother those who didn't do him any wrong. He would just give them a souvenir to remember.

"Of course, big brother." He gave a cheeky grin.

———

"Give them all you've got. We no longer need to restrain ourselves. The faster we finish this the better!"

"Yes!"

The tomb vibrated with the roars and the ground shook under their feet. On the crystal roof of the tomb, there was a large symbol array. Group after group of people began to jump into the array and appeared on the other side of the tomb.

The people hiding on the other side of the tomb preparing their ambushes were caught off guard. They began to surround Kei's party; countless people rush to the frontlines while others attack from the side. They have been gauging Kei's party strength on their journey since they first arrived in the Forbidden Forest, some from even before that. They came here as they heard the news about a heavenly fruit growing in the Forbidden Forest. But who could have known that the moment before the fruits ripened, a tomb suddenly appeared out of nowhere? The other party managed to get into the tomb before the tomb's door closed leaving them outside, not knowing what to do. Their prize also unknowingly disappeared along with the tomb. They have been patiently waiting outside for the other party to appear as they planned to attack the other party. They brazenly laid out an ambush and planned the attack based on what they observed before – the other party would only flee without any proper counter attacks.

Swords danced, spears flew and magics sparked. The once vast field of flowers came to ruin. The ground trembled and the sky cried. Blood spilt but was washed away by the rain, dead bodies littered the ground. With every step they took, dead bodies fell. Two hundred against ten thousand. Strange as it may sound, it was a beautiful sight to see. It could be considered a one-sided killing. The uninvolved party trembled and the one who'd initiated the fight shivered. At this moment, they knew they had fucked up.

Can we negotiate peacefully? That was one-sided bullying! God forbid! Have mercy ah!

The fight continued and they could only grit their teeth. There was no medicine for regret.

Those who were unwilling were let go. And to those who regretted it, Kanneki showed a rare moment of mercy. But those who feigned surrender, he slaughtered them without a second thought. It was a bloodbath.

When the rest of the opponents finally surrendered, the fights came to a stop.

In the future, the survivors would remember this event and tell tales of it to their descendants while showing drawings of all the figures, and thus they avoided a calamity.