The Hammers

'Why do we even have to choose? Because the dragons said so?' Infy was communicating with Null privately.

'Do you think you could get the gate information on your own?'

'Won't be a problem, I will just sneak off if you can make a bit of a scene.'

Null made a bit of a show about finally accepting Kikei plea.

"Okay, let's go save some humans they better be worth it," Null said as he let out a bit of his aura making sure everyone eyes were on him.

Jania vision was different from the rest and she spotted a mini Infy running away. She thought to herself 'you sneaky, sneaky boys. Well done don't let others control you'. She was on Kikei side, she believed the boys' will find a way home no matter what and saving the humans was more important but she also owed those elves some payback.

They all ran towards where the humans were being kept. It was an ancient hollowed-out tree. One that was most likely used for grand occasions but was now the prison for 400ish humans. The doors had been locked and barricaded from the outside preventing the humans from escaping. They could see there was some type of accelerant was around the tree.

"Bastard, They are trying to burn them alive" Jania was angry, that wasn't right at least give them a fair fight.

Null had the perfect spell for this situation, it was one he accidentally developed when first training with Vark. He directed every single molecule of air, to move away from the outside of the tree. Unlike the first time, he kept the spell going creating a zone of complete vacuum around the tree. The elves that were too close to the tree couldn't escape in time and died a painful death. The other elves seeing the devastating effects of the unknown spell decided it wasn't worth sticking around and headed to the evacuation point.

Kikei stared on in disbelief she had never seen someone killed before, it was not at all how she imagined it to be. It didn't seem real one minute the elves were trying to set the tree on fire but being unable to, the next their blood was boiling.

"First time? It does get easier. His signature move is a real heart mover. Remember Kikei they would have killed us if we didn't kill them" Jania whisper into Kikei ear on her way to see Null.

Kikei had the protection of the other so she hadn't felt scared for her life, she now realised how naive she had been thinking everyone could escape without dying. She realised that each arrow she was carrying was shot with the intention of killing them. She didn't want to get used to killing or seeing people be killed. She believed there had to be a better way.

Null let the spell go and all the air rushed back in. He then went to open the door.

"Kikei you go first and explain what going on, and I will open a portal back to our ship it should be safe there. You will need to stay with them and answer their questions. Is that ok?"

"Yes, I can do that".

It was rather simple to open a portal using magic on the same planet. It took a few minutes but all the humans were able to traverse to the relative safety of the mountains including Kikei.

"You didn't want her to see this?" asked Jania, she knew what they were about to do.

"Jania, are we doing the right thing? You saw her face are we the monsters?" Null was having doubts over his path. In his head, he knew the elves had to be punished and that payment in blood was due. It was the martian way, but his heart was telling him maybe he didn't have to.

"They started this Null, remember nulla misericordia, non secundi casu"

"Nulla misericordia, non secundi casu" Null steeled himself. Null didn't even have to remove the mandate, they could feel it had been lifted on its own.

The mini-Infy had returned. "I shut down the gate and got what we needed. It is so ingenious. There are about 50 elves who have remained behind to defend the city."

Mini-Infy had returned to the real Infy and the boys' were now in their hybrid mode but Null was not in sync with Infy. He kept seeing the face that Kikei had made when they killed the elves. He didn't understand why it was affecting him to this degree.

"Look Null, we will give them a chance to surrender, but that will be their first and only chance. We don't give second chances" state Infy. Null decided he could agree to those terms.

Jania didn't know what to think about this change, she wanted them to have restraint but indecision leads to people getting killed. The three of them walked deeper into the city, none of the elves surrendered. The elves tried to resist to the bitter end, but they were completely outmatched. It hadn't been a battle but a slaughter.

"This is wrong, they were too weak to be from a tier 5 race." Jania had to agree with Null's assessment. They had spirit, but their equipment and tactics were amateurish at best.

One of the will-o-wisp had followed them and would go each body and pause for a bit.

"Do you know why they wouldn't surrender?" it asked the three of them.

"no, do you?" answered Null.

"Yes, these Elves belong to a hastily assembled militia. Not one of them was a soldier, Their leaders had informed them that you would slaughter and torture their children, and lay waste to the forest. Their names will be sung as the hero who stood up to the devils of Ollhelian."

"They started it, they kidnapped the Arkships, then attacked me. No, I refused to be made to feel guilty over this" Jania was upset and struggling with her self-doubt, She spoke more to convince herself than to convince the others.

"We are not here to cast judgement, but merely to give you the context" spoke the will-o-wisp.

Null was done with this day and just wanted to return to the golden chariot. Before that, they had to go check in on the humans.

Null had collected what he need from the elven gate device, with this they hoped to be able to link back to the golden chariot. Now ready they teleported back to The Eous.

The three of them found the nearest water source so they could wash off the blood and dirt.

"Why is this so hard? we have trained for this. Why do we feel guilty" Jania couldn't deny her emotions any longer and sat down at the edge of the stream crying with tears that wouldn't stop.

Null and Infy had no answers for her, even Infy was starting to question if they had been in the right. They sat down next to Jania and let her rest her head on their shoulder.

Kikei had seen them return. She saw the blood and knew what had happened, she wasn't sure how she should feel about it. She watched from a distance as they washed up and she could tell that Jania was crying. She tried to sneak up from behind them to hug the three of them.

"Kikei, you can't sneak up on us"

"Ahh, you're no fun Null" but she didn't stop and still hugged them from behind. "Thank you, it's because of you three, I still have my friends and co-workers." She could tell something must have happened after she left. "So what happened?"

Infy went on to explain what had transpired.

"I see, so your three are hammers" her statement made no sense to the others.

"Huh, have you hit your head or something?" asked Null.

"No silly, the three of you are trained to be hardcore soldiers, I can't begin to fathom what level of training you have undergone. This training has trained you to be good at one thing and that is being a soldier. So like a hammer you have one job that you specialise in. For a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For you, everything looks like an enemy. Sometimes a nail is a screw and sometimes an enemy isn't an enemy"

"Huh?" Null was completely lost

"She means, we kill because we are killing machines, but sometimes a killing machine isn't needed. We need to upgrade ourselves."

"oh I see now"

They sat there in silence contemplating the lesson of the last few days when Infy said something unexpected.

"I think we should take this planet"