Ch.115Then the Devil Came Through the Front Door (9)

The children laughed brightly. Maria raised her hand. Like a conductor, she waved her hand up and down, keeping the beat.

“I’m not sure if you know this song. It’s okay if you don’t. Just follow along by watching your friends. I’ll sing first.

Ring around the ro-sy

Ring around the ro-sy

Pocket full of po-sies

Pocket full of po-sies

Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down!

Now, let’s sing it again. One, two, begin!”

The older children sang hesitantly. A short, simple song that was easy to learn. The younger children followed along with their older brothers and sisters.

Ring around the ro-sy

Ring around the ro-sy

Maria linked arms with the children beside her. Those children linked arms with others beside them, and those with others beside them…

Pocket full of po-sies

Pocket full of po-sies

The tip of Lily’s halberd pierced a guard’s body. The guard fell with a groan, clutching his wound. The thugs, with no sense of camaraderie, trampled over him as they charged downward. Kain stabbed at each one that came.

Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down!

Maria bent slightly forward each time she said “Achoo!” The children sitting in a circle found this amusing and followed her, bending forward too.

Ring around the ro-sy

Ring around the ro-sy

Lily used the axe blade of her halberd to strike the foot of a shield-bearing guard. Despite wearing crude gloves and being somewhat well-dressed, the man howled in pain. He forcibly rolled down the stairs. He dropped his shield and sword, but used his heavy weight to push against Lily. She gritted her teeth and withstood it, but the stitched wound on her back reopened.

Pocket full of po-sies

Pocket full of po-sies

The ruffians grabbed their fallen comrades by the scruff of their necks to use as shields. They pushed forward using their comrades as human shields. But Kain wasn’t just taking it. He thrust his sword between their legs, wounding ankles and knees. A ruffian screamed and fell backward.

Achoo! Achoo! We all fall down!

From the top of the stairs came a thudding sound. Not footsteps. The sound of something heavy rolling down.

Achoo! Achoo!

The guards screamed as they forcibly pushed Kain and Lily aside. A boulder tumbled down the stairs. The boulder, angered from hitting things here and there, crushed people against the stairs.

We all fall down!

The blood-soaked boulder wouldn’t easily stop. Though they knew they shouldn’t, knew it was impossible, Kain and Lily blocked it with their bodies. Lily suppressed a cry of pain. Blood dripped from under her sleeve. Her upper garment was already soaked with blood.

Ring around the ro-sy, Ring around the ro-sy

The guards came charging down, shouting. The children’s song grew louder. The light protecting the children grew brighter, and the darkness surrounding Kain and Lily grew deeper.

Now the light blazed so brightly it was impossible to look at directly. Maria wept while the children laughed. Guards who looked at the light screamed and covered their eyes, while Kain and Lily, with their backs to the light, bled alongside them.

Endure. Endure it. Kain told himself twice, three times. He thought the same when another soldier came down to the landing. He saw a crossbow in the man’s hand. Even when two crossbow-wielding soldiers took position on the stairs and aimed at Kain and Lily.

“No.”

Sparks flew in Lily’s eyes.

The soldiers pulled their crossbow triggers. Lily blocked Kain, holding her halberd like a shield. One bolt missed and stuck in the ground. Another hit the axe blade of the halberd and deflected. But the last one

Achoo. Achoo. We all fall down.

penetrated Lily. She collapsed.

Ring around. Ring around. Ring around the rosy.

Kain leaped up the stairs like a beast and swung his sword. Crossbow bolts grazed his ear, blades slashed various parts of his body, but he broke through like a demon. Cutting, slashing, breaking, stabbing.

Terrified by his ferocity, the guards fled up the stairs. Kain couldn’t think. His body was covered in blood, but he pursued them. All he could hear was his heartbeat.

The thump, thump of his heart.

With each beat, he took down one enemy after another.

He climbed to the top of the stairs. He passed through the corridor of prostitutes. The corridor was filled with the bodies of servants and maids who had fallen with knives in their hands. Having fought against the guards, their faces were peaceful.

The path of corpses led to the soldiers’ resting place, where they had toyed with trinkets.

He swung his sword. He killed every guard he saw. His imperial sword, unable to withstand the force, broke with a clang. Men with clubs and spears beat down on Kain as if trying to catch a mad dog.

Thump. Thump. We all fall down.

Kain’s world turned upside down. That couldn’t be. That shouldn’t be. Kain bit the throat of the man standing next to him. He spat out the flesh and seized a sword, swinging it wildly. From the other side of the cave, the count’s guards, with crazed eyes, swarmed like a pack of wild dogs.

“Stop it, stop!”

Someone clapped their hands. Fine armor. A plump, shiny, greasy face. A carefully groomed mustache. It was Count Bördem.

“That’s enough, my friend!”

Kain threw his sword toward the count. A guard beside him blocked it with a shield as large as a door. It deflected with a ping. Soldiers gripping spears formed ranks and charged at Kain.

Whoosh.

A piercing whistle. A flash. An eerie sensation. Instinctively, Kain ducked. Throwing axes flew into the soldiers’ bodies. They tore through arms and chopped into legs.

A buzzing sound rang like tinnitus. Heavy axes flew through the air. The count’s guards stared with terrified expressions at the throwing axes stuck in their shields.

Masked figures walked in from the entrance. They didn’t say a word. They made no sound as they walked. They merely wiped the blood from their blades with gloved hands.

The guards charged like wild dogs.

But the masked figures broke the count’s soldiers with a single, simple gesture.

They picked up hand axes that had split foreheads, wiped off the filth, and threw them again. Crossbow wielders were the first priority, archers were next.

Faced with weapons that penetrated so skillfully, the soldiers all grabbed shields, and those without shields picked up wooden tables rolling around. Only then did the masked figures draw their real weapons.

They didn’t make a sound.

They inhaled when they stabbed.

They paused when they twisted. They exhaled when they pulled out.

At the end of each breath, they swung their blades to spray blood, then breathed again.

It was simple.

Block, stab, cut. Really simple. Block, stab, cut. There was no technique. Just the basic movements from a swordsmanship textbook. No complex movements. No deceptive feints. Just pure orthodoxy.

Concise. Fast. Strong.

They stabbed and cut before the opponent could block. When they needed to catch their breath, they waited for incoming attacks to create openings. Once they found their breath, they jumped back into execution.

The White Blood executioners continued to carry out their sentences.

What is right and just needs no explanation. What is pure and straight needs nothing added or taken away.

The last guard threw down his weapons and knelt. The executioners waited.

The most concise among them, the White Blood Chief Executioner, placed a knife against the guard’s chin. He raised the knife, forcing the guard to stand.

“Execute.”

The executioners simultaneously thrust their knives. The guard’s body, standing as a knife rack, crumbled like rotten fruit.

“Uh…uh…ah…”

The only one still alive was Count Bördem. The count tried to flee, but his legs betrayed him and threw him to the floor. The executioners awaited the Chief Executioner’s order.

“Pull.”

Four executioners grabbed Bördem’s limbs. Two executioners trampled his body.

Crack. His right arm was torn off. Bördem squealed like a pig. His left arm bent backward until his left wrist touched his right wrist. Bördem fainted. An executioner kicked his lips to wake him.

“Pull!”

A stern command. Two more executioners joined in. Two each grabbed Bördem’s legs and bent them back. His legs, already split like a clown’s, were torn further. They pushed the legs back, breaking the joints, until his shins touched his shoulders.

Bördem trembled like a frog thrown onto a hot summer road. Pulling out each joint was just as easy. Like moving the limbs of a dying frog. Grabbing the elbows and finger joints and pulling them out.

With a rope around his neck, Bördem was dragged away. He was still alive.

“Kain…”

Kain turned around. Lily stood there, supported by White Blood Knights. Blood flowed from her torn side. But it wasn’t Kain who stopped walking, it was Lily.

“Kain…!”

Kain was covered in blood from head to toe. He looked as if he had crawled out of a pool of blood. Knowing the state of his body, Kain hesitated to approach Lily.

“…Pathetic. Really.”

Chief Executioner Astrid, who had torn off her mask, approached. She pulled a handkerchief from her bosom and handed it over. After wiping his hands, Kain finally picked up Lily.

“…My… My God…!”

A familiar voice. Kain looked toward the entrance. It was Albin. And that was certainly strange. He had definitely given him money to leave, so why?

“This… this is too much!”

Albin wasn’t alone. Behind him were numerous bandits. Awkward serfs. Slow-witted men. Tough women who had walked all the way here despite seeing such scenery. People who got angry over a drink and calmed down over water, who had taken the wrong path but still hadn’t crossed the final line.

“The children.”

Kain called out with difficulty.

“The children are down there!”

Albin ran quickly. “Hey! Hey!” Others followed. After a short wait, the peasants-turned-thieves came up, each carrying a child and sobbing loudly. They had placed small cloths on the children’s heads so they wouldn’t see the gruesome sights.

Finally, Maria staggered up. “Water.” A White Blood Knight handed her water. Seeing what had happened before her, Maria closed her eyes and prayed.

“…Do you understand, Liliana Brynhildr?”

Astrid asked.

“Today we won. But tomorrow we might lose. We might suffer the same fate as those we’ve defeated, just as White Blood did in the past.”

Lily, in Kain’s arms, listened silently.

“Correcting good deeds? That’s good. Correcting evil deeds? That’s good too. But even that affects someone. Look at what we’ve done to do good.

We can do this. We can tear people apart alive, and we can cut down unprepared people without spilling a drop of blood.

Is it only White Blood who does this? No. Anyone can. Anyone.”

Lily tried to stand. Kain supported her. Though she leaned on him slightly, Lily stood straight before the Chief Executioner. Astrid’s eyes remained cold and fierce, like the perpetual snow on White Blood’s mountain.

“When Valkyrja moves, it means this: When you move, we must move too. Following the will of the strongest warrior. That’s what White Blood is. Why do you think the past Grand Masters, the Berserkr and Valkyrja, never left Valhalla? You are the Blood Standard-Bearer, Liliana.”

“…A festering wound… needs a knife,” Lily coughed. Kain supported her.

“Squeezing out pus is treatment. Cutting out a tumor is treatment. The Empire is festering. We don’t grow by tearing fresh blood. We just… cut out what’s diseased.”

“Who told you it was diseased? Who was it? Tell me.”

Lily remained silent. Astrid’s eyes turned to Kain. Kain answered.

“Here.”

Kain pointed to his head.

“Here.”

Kain pointed to his heart.

“And here. The head and heart that every human possesses told us so. That’s why you came here too, Chief Executioner.”

Kain pointed to his empty scabbard. A smile flashed across the Chief Executioner’s face. Like sunshine occasionally warming a winter day. But then she slowly shook her head.