Chương 47: Pitter-Patter

One hour and fifty-seven minutes that's how long Isaac had been captured. Everyone thought he'd be tortured for his sword's properties.

Many even said he was already dead.

But they couldn't have been wrong.

The dozens of men ready for combat could not help but stop in their tracks. Their mouth gaping in witness to what's before them. A mountain of carcasses, of monsters they were ready to lay their lives to defeat.

But all they arrived at was the aftermath of the carnage.

Blood flowed like a river inside the ring of fire meant to capture the enemy. The mountain was no more, only remnants of a defeated army.

Saying anything but a mountain of the carcass was an understatement. Butchered by a scythe remaining clean of any gore. The monsters' bodies piled up, and Isaac looked down at his rescuers from the peak. The people who braved the dangers of the fire and monster to save him. He was silent, looking over the moon in solace and fatigue. Blood stained his ripped white shirt that barely covered his body. His hair was longer as though years had passed, his pants barely hanging on one side, and his body riddled with injuries and scars strewed other than his back.

"Isaac?" Talon hesitatingly uttered his name.

"Oh? What is it?"

The entire atmosphere surrounding the dread-filled land appeared to have shifted with a single utterance. With Isaac acknowledging their presence, his bloodlust and killing intent rose to the sky; he got up from the peak and picked up his scythe.

His scarred body looked down upon the high-level warriors, whose response was to hold their weapons tightly. These people have fought light and death battles dozens, if not hundreds of times, yet before a level 273 young man, they felt an overwhelming sense of pressure and dread.

"I expected you all to arrive much later."

"What happened here? The monsters… where's the Anarchy Lord?" Talona asked.

Isaac did not answer until he finally stopped a step above them all, "I killed them all."

His words were ridiculous. Without evidence, or so it would seem if not for the mountain of monsters piled behind him.

Standing near him, they also got a better view of the claw marks on his body. The deep serrated cuts, the burnt marks around him, and the fleshy wound on his chest. Isaac was casual,

"A-all of them?" Talon could not believe him; no, he refused to think, 'What's the point of this subjugation if someone like him could've just ended it all? Dammit… is he another one of those people?'

Isaac, however, chose not to answer him directly and looked back at the masterpiece he had created, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

'Something's wrong.' Talon immediately picked up.

"The epilogue of a dance that is life and is the epitome of beauty. How you look at your death is the most beautiful when you fall, limp, lifeless, and without your breath. How tempting it is to see the wail of the soul, the reprieve from the pain… How glorious! The monsters showed me ferocity even in death. But, I want to see more."

"Hey, Isaac, are you okay?" Xerxes reached out and grabbed Isaac's shoulder.

Slash!

Blood was drawn as a cut appeared on Xerxes' body.

The scythe moved at the first notice. The scythe moved fast and deadly. Its sharpness cut the wind and drew cold wind. Xerxes would lay on the bloody floor if not for Talon pulling him back, and even then, the strike could not be avoided altogether.

Isaac smiled, "Activate."

BOOM!

Suddenly, Xerxes' seemingly shallow wound exploded into a fountain of blood and sent the barbarian flying tens of meters away.

"With me!" There was no time to even reason. Talon had already moved in to suppress Isaac, whose mind was clearly not on the right track. Talons called for the others and grabbed Isaac's left wrist, but no one else was there to help him.

When he turned around, all he saw were the dark faces of those they called elite. In the face of a low-level man, the Knights he was so proud of froze in fear, "Dammit! They're all afraid of him?"

"Hey, you're saying that out loud, you know?"

"Huh!? Shit!"

Talon cursed loudly as Isaac grabbed his arm after letting go of his weapon. He was pulled close to Isaac, and then, a light whistle echoed in Talong's ears, "I told you, didn't I? Not everything will go your way, and like I said… every action has consequences just.like.this."

Crack!

"AAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhh!"

A loud scream came out of Talon's mouth as Isaac kicked Talon's elbow, crushing and breaking it. Talon staggered, and Isaac grabbed his head and pulled him to his knee. Isaac smashed Talon's nose upon impact and sent him flying to those who broke free from their fears.

In a sequence that barely lasted five seconds, Isaac managed to draw blood from the two different leaders.

"Everyone… be careful. If I got it correctly… then… we can't hope to take this any less serious than fighting the Anarchy Lord." Talon recovered himself from the exchange, cleared his clogged nose off blood, and straightened his broken nose, "... you're facing an Otherworlder."

Pitter… patter.

Isaac's footsteps sounded as he advanced with his scythe, and the others stepped back slowly.