87 The Purge

*August 15, Year 774*

"I'll be going now, you guys have fun in Crocus, and Cana here is some pocket money for you while I'm gone." John said as he handed a stack of Jewels to Cana, which is about 200,000 Jewels in total.

"N-no how can I take your money, John?" Cana waved her hands as she pushed the money back to John. "Besides, I still have some savings left that I can use."

"Just take it and use it to eat in good restaurants and buy what you want, I don't lack this much of money." John forcefully put the stack of jewels into Cana's hand and then hugged her.

"John, let go, there are other people here." Cana Squeaked as she patted John's back to let her go. But, John didn't listen and just kept hugging her and whispering in her ear.

"Then let them watch, it's not like they can hurt us."

"H-huh?" Cana's face turned bright red as faint smoke seem to come out of her head.

Ur who was at the side teased her. "Tsk tsk, it seems that you and John are progressing fast."

"You two should go get a room." Lyon added with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

A while later, John let go of the steaming red Cana as he rubbed her head and smiled. " Okay, it's time for me to go, take care of yourself, alright? And don't skip up on the expenses with the money I gave you."

"Hmmm. You also take care of yourself, it's okay even if you didn't finish the task." Cana nodded as she hugged John one last time before he parts for his task.

"Just go already, kid, you and Cana are making us uncomfortable with how sweet you two are." Ur joked with Gray and Lyon agreeing with her words.

"Alright, I'm leaving now, it's for real this time." John laughed as he summoned Dragapult and sat on its back.

Cana, Ur, Gray, Lyon, and Ultear waved their hands goodbye for John as he flew away from Crocus on Dragapult.

"It's been a year since I last went to Shirotsume Town, I wonder how Ishikki is doing right now?" John murmured to himself as he watched the scenery pass by.

*A Day Later*

"I should be able to reach Shirotsume Town by this afternoon, then I'll quickly deal with Ghoul Spirit, so that I can return quickly."

While John was eating breakfast inside the carriage he brought out, he saw whisps of black smoke rising from a mountain in the distance.

"Black smoke?" He then took out a magic tool telescope which he bought for his adventures, he took a look at the black smoke as he inputted his magic power in the telescope to zoom in.

As the telescope started to zoom in he saw that the was black smoke raised from a burning village, and there are villagers running to flee from the village while screaming in fright.

Then stiff figures with stitch markings on their bodies came to chase them, although their movements are stiff, they are fast and much stronger than the zombies John met when he was young.

John quickly packed up the camp and rode on Dragapult to quickly rescue the villagers in that village and he might get unexpected clues from the dark wizards that are attacking that village on Ghoul Spirit.

15 minutes later he arrived at the village and he saw dark mages in different clothing ordering zombies to lock villagers in cages.

John knew that they should be saving the villagers to use them as fresh as possible. A deep anger erupted from his heart when he thought of what they would do to the villagers, so without wasting any more time he released his puppets.

* Dark Mage Leader POV*

"It's a big harvest this time, leader." A member laughed as he pushed a villager into a cage.

"Handle those villagers well, don't be too rough on them, we don't want fresh ingredients to be bruised, right?" I laughed as I looked at the villagers, especially the one imprisoned in the most luxurious cage.

I approached the cage with a big smile, inside is one of the best ingredients I captured in this village, he was a mage great at body-strengthening magic and a skilled swordsman.

I can't help but smile wildly at the strength of the zombie I will create with his corpse, it's definitely worth it to sacrifice two strong zombies just to defeat him.

As soon as I arrived in front of the cage, the man cuffed inside tackled the cage as he roared at me in an angry voice.

"You won't get away with this, Ghoul Spirit! The Fuji Clan will surely avenge me once they found out what happened here!"

"Hahahahahaha, by the time the Fuji Clan noticed the disappearance of this village, I would have already left this place and burnt it to the ground."

"And how could they know it was done by us? When the time comes, they'll just assume that a bandit group nearby did it."

I really enjoyed the looks he's giving me now, those angry and vicious eyes, just one look at it gives me shivers down my spine!

"Such a good look you are giving me, don't worry, I'll make sure to treasure you well when you become a zombie and have your blade stained with the blood of those from the Fuji Clan."

Caw! Caw!

Just as I was about to taunt him some more, I heard a bird call and then everything went pitch-black, I panicked as all that I can see was within ten meters, and beyond that everything is just black.

"What happened?!"

"Why is it all dark?!"

"Leader?! Where are you?!"

"Calm down everyone, summon your zombies to guard yourself against any attacks!" I quickly shouted to calm those around me or else the whole place will descend into chaos.

"Hahahaha, God must be angry at your actions, so he sent someone to punish you, Ghoul Spirits." The man inside the cage laughed wildly.

"Shut up!" I shouted as I whipped him with an undead spell leaving a bloody wound on his face.

Whistle*

Then out of nowhere, I suddenly hear a creepy whistle along the wind which sent shivers down my spine, a different shiver from the ones I got earlier, this one was a shiver of fear.

Wait! Bird calls, pitch-dark surroundings, creepy whistling? Could it be? I quickly looked at the sky in hopes that my guess is wrong.

Despair.

That's the only thing I felt when I saw the bright red moon in the sky, along with its appearance seals the deal for his guesses.

"When the night descends with a murder of ravens flocking, as the whistle of death blows, the only thing you can do is pray for your dear lord."

I muttered as I feel all the hope for survival seep out of my body, I slumped on the ground knowing that I can't escape death today.

"Hahaha, Hades is here, Hades is here! How could we ever hope to survive?!" I shouted in despair as I felt the darkness looking at me like a group of wolves looking at their prey.

"Hades?! Hades is here?! It's over, everything is over!"

"Sob* I don't want to die!"

Along with my shout, the others fell into chaos realizing that they were all gonna die today under the hands of Hades.

*POV End*

In the skies of the village, John released all his puppets to the ground as he ordered with an indifferent face.

"Soldiers, it's time for some warm-up. Go! Let the purging begin!"

The puppets sneaked quietly into the village killing every dark mage that they saw, and the chaos inside the village grew even more as the dark mages heard the screams of terror from those killed.

[A/N: What do you guys think of this chapter?]