Familiar With Death

The full moon continues to shine in the sky, but now a little further away from the highest point above the forest.

It's almost two in the morning and it's been almost an hour since Draven found Arthur surrounded by mutilated pieces of people and covered in blood.

In the last half hour they haven't spoken a word, each one sitting in silence on the edge of the trail.

Arthur made it clear that he doesn't regret anything and is ready to kill the entire group of bandits.

And Draven simply doesn't know what to do.

He doesn't even think about the bandits anymore; what was an annoying but not-so-uncommon problem an hour ago now means nothing.

How can he care about one of the thousands of bandit gangs on the continent of Eldoria when his only son has just shown potential to be a psychopathic killer?

The worst part for Draven is that even after seeing what Arthur can do, he can't stop loving and caring for his son.

He looks at Arthur and can't help but make an affectionate expression. "Are you okay? I mean, are you hurt or anything-"

"We have to do something," Arthur interrupts his father and speaks in a determined tone. "I can't handle the remaining seventy-two together and it's going to be tricky to separate them all into smaller groups…"

"What?" Draven is surprised and confused by Arthur's words.

Arthur looks at his father with a friendly expression. "I'm asking for your help to defeat them, but you don't need to land any final blow, just knock down a part of them; I take care of the rest."

"You already have everything planned, don't you?" Draven asks. "You've never seen these guys but you've already planned how to kill them??"

Arthur nods. "I already know everything I need to know."

"So tell me, because I don't know what you're talking about," Draven asks.

"Okay," Arthur walks to the middle of the trail. "Their leader was a farmer in a town about four hundred miles to the north..."

"About a year ago, a nobleman showed up and claimed his and other farmers' lands in that region,"

"This guy was not just an ordinary farmer and had some military training having worked as a guard,"

"Outraged by the nobleman's attitude, he gathered the other farmers to revolt against that noble,"

"But the noble had many soldiers and massacred half of the gang... those who survived fled with the farmer leader,"

"Since then, they have hated nobility and laws, becoming common criminals,"

"Since most of them were farmers and not soldiers a short time ago, they have only attacked small villages as they head south, as far away as possible from that noble."

Draven listens to Arthur's words but is confused. "Wait! How do you know all this?"

Arthur points to what's left of the bandit spearman. "This guy told me everything in detail after seeing what I did to his friends."

"Damn!" Draven can't help but imagine how that spearman suffered at the hands of his son.

"Ahem," Arthur continues. "This piece of shit told me a lot, as he and his friends, resentful of the injustice committed to them by the nobleman, pass such evil ten times more to all the poor souls they encountered along the way..."

"They attack any person weaker than them along the way, steal their food and belongings, recruit anyone who wants to join the gang, and worst of all... they kidnap all the defenseless women they find to force upon them their most sordid desires..."

Speaking about that, Arthur can't help but feel a powerful fury growing inside him and his eyes become even darker.

Draven also feels anger towards those bandits, but the strongest feeling now is concern for his son.

"I told you that the world is not made of beautiful and peaceful places like our village," Draven comments. "You are not ready to come into contact with all this shit that's out there..."

"I'm fine," Arthur immediately responds. "I won't sit and cry for the victims of these bandits, but I will kill all of them, with your help or without."

Draven can hear that his son is determined, nothing can change his mind now, so there is only one path a decent father could follow.

"I will help you," He sighs.

The response is positive, but Arthur still shakes his head with clear disappointment in his eyes.

"Right now there are twelve bodies of young women rotting in these trash's camp... twelve innocent girls who were tortured by these guys to death..."

"AND YOU STILL SEEM TO HAVE PITY FOR THEM?!?!" Arthur loses his calm and ends up shouting at his father.

Draven suffers a reality shock.

Arthur's words make him realize that even though he takes so much pride in his honor and morals, he stopped caring about a group of villains and their victims to focus solely on his son's psychological problems.

He feels ashamed of himself.

"You're right," Draven says and gets up. "But don't confuse things, I don't pity them just because I'm not in a hurry to kill them."

"Also, I would bring them to justice, all of them, if we were near a city or an army," Draven explains. "But in this current situation, killing them seems to be the only option."

Arthur doesn't say anything but walks to one of the dead bandits, picks up one of his arrows, and approaches the bandit that Draven brought alive.

The man is lying motionless on the ground in the same way Draven left him there.

But Nyx has already warned Arthur that this man is awake, just pretending very well to still be passed out.

Arthur approaches that bandit with his bow, prepares the arrow, and positions it ten centimeters from the bandit's head.

Draven doesn't say anything and just exchanges looks with his son.

Arthur's eyes shine darkly. "This is what I am..."

The bandit understands what's happening and tries to beg for mercy. "NO, PLEASE-"

*Whoosh* *Crush*

Arthur releases the arrow, which pierces the bandit's skull, killing him instantly.

Draven feels his heart hurt more than ever. He feels like he's failing as a father.

But now, trying to argue with his son will only make things worse, so he just supports Arthur even if that seems crazy.

"Let's do it your way this time," Draven says.

Arthur can see in Draven's eyes that he won't give up on changing him, and that's not a bad thing, in fact, it makes him like his father even more.

But now he doesn't want to think about such things, now it's time to kill.

"Let's go," Arthur says in a cold tone and continues walking down the trail toward the bandits' camp.

Draven lets out another sigh and follows his son.

The pair only walks down the road calmly under the moonlight.

Alone, Arthur would have to make several strategies to kill the bandits separately; and since the spearman reported that their leader and a few members are Fighter rank warriors, Arthur would have trouble dealing with them.

With his father by his side, Arthur has nothing to fear, so he keeps walking even after being noticed by bandits who quickly report to the group.

When the father and son duo arrive at the camp, there is already a group of fifty bandits waiting for them at the end of the trail.

The other thirty-one are scattered around the place, hidden behind trees, inside makeshift huts, and other places, with bows and daggers ready.

The leader is in the center of the camp, looking at Draven with a curious expression.

"So you finally arrived-" He starts to talk but stops when he notices Arthur preparing an arrow.

He doesn't stop walking while he prepares the arrow and shoots it in the direction of the bandit leader.

*Whoosh*

"SHIT!!" The leader clearly dodges but gets very irritated by that action.

"Someone bring me that kid!" He yells, furiously.

And the bandits attack with everything they have.

Those with swords and spears advance, the archers shoot arrows, some rogues skillfully throw daggers, and even some bandits throw axes at the father-and-son duo.

Seeing that coordinated attack of more than fifty bandits, Arthur can only think that Liam would be dead in less than two seconds,

And not even he, trusting in his current incredible agility and senses, could emerge unscathed from such an attack.

But Arthur is calm, after all, he is with his father, and even if they have started to disagree recently, they are still family.

*Whoosh*

Arthur feels the wind generated by his father's movement, who takes a quick step forward and draws his sword.

Until now, in fourteen years, Arthur has never seen his father draw his sword or use his Astral Beast's powers, so he can't help but get excited to see it.

But even with his incredible senses focused, he only sees his father's arm become a blur, and then a wave of golden light appears in front of him.

*BOOOOOOM!!!!* *WHOOOOOSH!!*

The wave of golden light explodes furiously, completely destroying the bodies of the bandits closest to Draven,

The ones further back are pushed by the incredible force of the explosion, which continues forward, expanding in an arc and destroying the entire bandit camp.

"WHOW!!" Arthur can't help but exclaim, impressed by such power.

Being behind Draven, he suffered nothing, not a scratch, but the half-mile space in front was devastated.

The entire bandit camp knocked down and their bodies thrown to the ground.

Yet, not all the bandits are dead, thanks to Draven holding back. Along with the leader, the most resilient members of the group survived the explosion because they were far from Draven.

But of course, they are severely injured and none of them have more than a few minutes of life before they die due to brutal wounds.

Seeing that scene of pure destruction and violence in front of him, Draven feels bad, he can't help it.

"Is this what you wanted?" He asks Arthur. "Are you satisfied now?"

Arthur walks towards the center of the destroyed camp. "I wish that nobleman had never attacked these guys..."

"That they hadn't let the shadows take over their hearts... and that they hadn't come here to be a threat to the people I care about..."

Draven is happy with Arthur's words, because he thinks exactly that way.

But then Arthur lifts some debris of what were makeshift huts by the bandits, revealing bodies of dead young women.

They were not killed by Draven's attack since their bodies have been rotting for a while now, with clear marks of all kinds of abuse as well as hunger and ill-treatment.

Arthur doesn't feel pity for those women because, as Liam, he went through the same situation, he experienced all kinds of pain, especially the kind that can break someone in the worst possible ways.

And after going through such things, death is pleasant, it's the end of suffering, it's peace...

That's why Arthur is happy that those women are at peace and no longer suffering at the hands of those bandits.

But such a heinous act cannot go unanswered, so Arthur goes back to the bandit leader, who is still on the ground, choking on his own blood.

The man extends his hand to Arthur, a desperate plea for help, or a plea for a quick death...

But Arthur's eyes are cold, and his heart is burning with the flames of vengeance.

So he crouches down and thrusts his hand into an open wound in the man's belly, crushing his organs and causing his death in the most painful way possible.

As Draven watches his son do such a thing, Arthur gives his father a cold look.

"I didn't want things to end like this... but I'm satisfied with this ending."

Draven can't blame Arthur for feeling that way, not after being exposed to that kind of evil.

He just watches his son put a painful end to all the wounded bandits, and then, they bury the bodies of those women together.

In that last act, Draven can see compassion in Arthur's eyes, which makes it clear to him that there is still light within his son, there is still kindness there, even if it is shrouded in shadows.

After the last girl is buried, Arthur finally lets out a relaxed sigh.

"Let's go home," He says to his father.

"What about the others?" Draven looks at the bodies of the bandits. "We better bury them too, no one else will."

"No," Arthur quickly denies. "They don't deserve the same respect as these girls."

Draven doesn't agree with Arthur, but he doesn't want to argue with his son now, so he just nods.

"Let's go home,"