Chương 5: Past Demons and Raid
"What? What do you mean, not your first time?..." Nico was confused, it felt like he suddenly didn't know his brother anymore. What was he hiding?
Cassian sighed heavily, might as well get it over with.
"It happened a while ago, back home. For some time I ran with a group of kids. They were around my age. They had a good heart, but a tendency to make dumb choices, which could be said for me too I guess."
"Wait, are you talking about Joseph and the others? When you used to be gone for days at a time?"
"Yeah them, we were pretty damn close, and all kinds of dumb stuff together that almost got us killed multiple times. One night we were chilling at Anna's place when someone started banging on the door. They asked for Darrion, something happened to his sister. Apparently three men assaulted and violated her. It-I… God, I can still remember the look on his face, when he heard that. I-I don't think I can properly describe it, the despair he felt." Cassian was clenching his hands hard enough to draw blood. Even after all this time, it was still a painful memory.
"We rushed over to her as fast as we could. The state she was in, when we found her… God. It took her a week to be able to speak again without breaking down or having a panic attack. That's when she told us who did it. It was a bunch cunts from a small gang. We knew immediately, what we were going to do then and there. We didn't need Darrion to ask us, all of us had already decided they would pay."
"There were thirteen of them in that gang, and they almost always hung out together. We had to be careful, otherwise it would be us getting taken out. So we stalked them, and learned what they did, when they did it, how they did it. We found out they enjoyed getting cracked out with drugs quite a lot, while also getting wasted with cheap alcohol. That's when we knew how it would play out. We watched their gathering spots several times, it didn't work out cuz of bad situations, but finally, they were at one of their homes getting wasted."
"We waited for a couple of hours and then snuck in from the fire stairs. They were out like a light, it was 4 am and they were not waking up for a long while. The three guys, we would grab and take away with us, but the rest had to go, we couldn't afford them to come after us. I was one of the ones who volunteered to take care of it. I slit the throats of 2 of them and stabbed the third one in the temple. It… I don't know. I didn't feel anything at that time, I was far too nervous to really process my actions."
Nico didn't know how to react. It-It was terrible, he had no idea such a thing happened, to his brother no less, and he didn't know. He continued blissfully unaware of everything Cassian was going through. He felt guilty and horrible because of it. Cassian always talked about how he wanted a normal and good life for him, and he always thought he was exaggerating, that it was okay as it was.
'So this is what he was talking about.' Nico realized with tears running down his eyes.
"We killed all the ones there and took the three responsible to an abandoned warehouse. There, we tied them up and waited for them to wake up while Darrion's sister showed up. Darrion said this would be good for her. After they woke up and realized they were neck-deep in shit, they started begging for mercy. They didn't get it."
"Darrion gave his sister a sledgehammer and told her to take back what was taken from them with it. She did. The three men cried, begged, and screamed in agony, but no one cared. The girl with tears running down her face continued regardless. They were tears containing all her pain, grief, rage, and humiliation. We were worried, but seeing the look on her face, realized it would ultimately help her and be good for her recovery. After she turned their genitalia into red sludge, Darrion took over. After that, there was little left of them that wasn't broken. We burned the bodies, discarded what was left, and went home. The cops didn't care, they didn't hold much power in that area and wouldn't mourn the deaths of a bunch of criminals."
"That's it, that's how it was. I never regretted it, and I never will. I wanted to shelter you from it, but in this new world, I would be sabotaging you if I kept you in a bubble. That's why I told you and that's why I'm giving you this choice now. I am going to that village and I will kill every single one of the attackers. Will you come with me?"
Nico stood still for just a second, before wiping his tears away and looking up at his older brother, his hero, with a steely resolve and unbreakable determination.
"I will stand by you. Always."
—----------------------------------------------------------------
The village of Visteria was enjoying a peaceful day. Ever since the the armies of Warsa we wiped out and Shalzad's throne was taken back by the prince, the danger had significantly died down, slave traders weren't roaming around in as big of a number again and people were finally starting to prosper. Alas, it was not to last…
It came suddenly when two of the guardsmen were cleaved in half and warcries started sounding, breaking into the village. The situation quickly devolved into chaos and the people descended into panic. Everyone started running away, grabbing their children and loved ones, and yet it was not meant to be.
"Attack! Kill the men but spare the women and children! Can't make money with corpses now can ya?! GO!" They broke in and started going on a rampage.
A man had gathered his wife and children and was trying to run, but was blocked by one of the bandits.
"Hoh, that is a fine wife you have there, don't worry I'll be sure to take good care of her after you DIE!" With a sick grin, he swung his scimitar ready to cut the man in half, while they could do nothing but watch in despair. But right as he was about to strike them a projectile impacted his weapon, tearing it out of his hand and launching it away.
The bandit could only blink in confusion for a second before a second projectile, what looked to be a small bolt made of wind, impacted his head and went straight through, leaving a gaping hole behind and making the man crumple to the ground, dead.
The projectile came from a young elf, Nico, who did his best to calm his heart and mind at his first kill. 'Deal with the situation first, your mental state later!' He told himself and continued to the next target.
"Tempest's edge, carve! Wind Blade!" A crescent moon of winds surged forward and bisected two bandits in half. The remaining 6 bandits in the vicinity now had their full attention on him and charged with warcries.
'Fooo, alright you got this Nico, Common!' And thus started the young elf's first real battle.
Meanwhile, Cassian was going on a rampage in a different part of the village, although he never strayed far from his little brother, in case he needed his help.
He had already cut down 5 bandits and was now moving to a group of 8.
The first one didn't even see him coming before he had a blade spouting out of his neck, but the other seven immediately noticed him and surged forward.
Dodging the first two and weaving under an overhead strike of the third one, he found himself in the middle of the group and smirked. 'Time to see what these babies can do in combat.'
"Aard" he whispered and shoved his hand toward the middle one. A surge of telekinetic energy shooting and blasting the torso of the poor fella into a shower of gore. The blood splashed heavily on the other two, including their faces blinding them. They yelped and quickly started wiping it off, but it was too late.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Cassian quickly beheaded them, at the cost of leaving himself vulnerable.
The leading bandit immediately took advantage of this and with a laugh swung his sword at his head. "I've gotchu now you bastard!" And he truly did. His sword impacted the boy's head, but instead of the boy's head being cleaved in half like he expected it to, his sword came in contact with a yellow barrier and was deflected, which then broke with a shattering sound, befuddling the bandit.
The momentary confusion was all Cassian needed and quickly thrust his sword into the throat of the bandit.
'Four down, three to go.'
"Zephyr's shield, protect! Air Wall!" Nico quickly activated his air shield and blocked the two in front of him, while casting Wind Cannon at the enemy behind him, which blew his body apart at impact. Only two remaining now.
"Tempest's edge, carve! Wind Blade!" Bisecting the final two, Nico dropped down with a heavy huff and vomited all the contents of his stomach. His first time killing, and he ended up killing 9 people in one go. He didn't regret following his brother and he didn't regret any of his actions. He knew these people were the scum of society and he didn't feel an ounce of sympathy, but all of those were only logical reasons. Nico was still a 14 year old kid and this was hard for him.
"Hey-Wait Wait It's Me!" Cassian quickly shouted when he saw Nico whirl around and was about to shoot him with a spell. Nico let out a sigh and dropped his hand. "Are you okay?"
Yeah, yeah I am, just… Just give me some time to process it okay?" He said while catching his breath.
Cassian nodded his head in understanding and spoke. "All of the bandits in the village are taken care of. Only 2 remain with Resheph. You rest here, while I go to take care of them, okay?" At Nico's nod, he set off to them.
It didn't take long to find them, they were legging it away from the village as fast as they could, but not as fast as Cassian.
Dealing with the remaining two bodyguards was as easy as the others, leaving only the god face-to-face with him.
(Image)
"Awww man, how come everyone is constantly ruining my fun lately, here I was hoping to wreck some destruction, kekkekke" Resheph looked up at the figure before him, his face was completely covered in rags, making him unable to see any features.
"Freya made a mistake not sending you back to Tenkai. A mistake I intend to correct." The reason Cassian had covered himself up was so that Resheph wouldn't be able to babble his identity to others.
The god's eyes went wide for a second before he started laughing uncontrollably. "Pfftt, ahahahahhah, is that why you're covered up like that, you idiot. That won't protect you, there's a reason why mortals killing gods is taboo. We gods have a rule that states, that if a mortal was the reason for their return back to tenkai, that mortal's soul will become that god's property to do as they wish to upon the mortal's death. That scarf isn't going to save you, your soul will be inspected in Tenkai just like everyone else's before undergoing cleansing and whoever does so will see you killing me and hand you over to me. And guess what I will do to you for the rest of eternity." He finished with an evil smile.
"How scary" Cassian was unperturbed and lent down to Resheph's level. "But does it look like I care?"
Now Resheph was truly taken aback. He was presented with the threat of eternal torture and he doesn't care? That was ludicrous, an obvious bluff.
"I will kill you Resheph, today is the day you will be sent back to Tenkai." Resheph's eyes widened, try as he might he could not detect a single falsehood in his statements! This Madman was truly going to kill him. Terror started to set in him.
"W-WAIT A MINUTE! Are you mad?! I will torture your soul for the rest of time, making you go through unimaginable agony, are you truly alright with killing me?!" Being sent back to Tenkai was basically a death sentence, the reason they descended was to escape the infinite monotony and boredom of that place, especially the likes of Resheph, being forced back was an utterly terrifying notion.
"Oh, I am more than alright with it, I will enjoy it." Cassian whispered and just as Resheph was descending into delirium and dread, he threw his fist and crushed his nose, knocking him out. While he was going to kill Resheph, he wasn't crazy enough to do it in a public place, where people would know and link it to him. Especially with that big ass pillar of light, these gods puke out when kicking the bucket.
Of course, Cassian was not insane. Eternal torture would be an utterly terrifying possibility for him but there were reasons he was completely unbothered. First, he had Jump-chan in his corner and he sincerely doubted she would ever allow that and these Danmachi gods may as well be fancy bugs to her. Second, his lifespan. As an Aen Elle Witcher his lifespan is already in the thousands, add future Falna on top of that, and he can't even imagine how long he will live. And finally, his elder blood, once he masters it. If things get too bad he can always bail to another universe.
Bundling up Resheph in rags, Cassian still had to deal with the remaining 4 scouts and find a secluded spot to off the undignified god.
It was proving to be a long night.
—----------------------------------------------------
Cassian won't be a goodie two-shoes hero like Bell or DC heroes, he won't hesitate to kill those he deems undeserving of life, but he also won't be a sociopath and will help people in need when he can. However, that does not mean he is self-sacrificial, especially for people he has never met. If this was the Resheph Familia before Freya curbstomped them, back when they still had level 3s and even a 4, Cassian would have turned around and left. Nico will resemble him, although a lot kinder and less cruel.
Also, do you guys have any feedback on the fight scene? This was my first time writing one so I'm kinda nervous about how I did it. Did you like it? Not like it? Any advice on what to do and improve if not?
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