236 walk away

"Eh?" While everyone had been tense, Zhao Wei had gone blank for a moment there.

"You okay?" Thirteen checked with him, all the while her eyes never left Faris.

"I'm fine." He said as he rubbed his head. "You guys go ahead I'm going to go back first, I must not be feeling well."

That was definitely a lie, as far as Thirteen and Jeff were concerned, as long as they'd been watching him he hadn't even weakened a little after an injury. One day he'd be getting hurt and the next day he'd be using that injured area to do some physically strenuous activity as if he didn't feel it.

But right now, he looked like he had left his body somewhere, and only the pale flaccid soul of his had taken it's place. He staggered back, it was almost as if each step was accompanied by a tidal wave, crashing into him and washing his spirits away.

They could only watch as the solemn figure retreated. For a moment, they had forgotten about the humanity in a person, fitting the heart of a man into the shape of their enemies, all because he came from their world.

"Thirteen, I think..." Grendolyn wanted ask her to accompany Zhao Wei.

"Understood." She didn't even need to finish her sentence for Thirteen to understand the directive.

With things reaching such a point, no one knew what to say to remedy the situation. Ode turned to Jeff and Grendolyn who were still understandably angry about the situation. "Don't worry I'll find whoever is responsible of committing something like this in my city and give an explanation."

"You better." Without even giving him a glance, Grendolyn began to walk to wards the city, the earth needles retreating back into the ground, making it as if a potential altercation never occurred in the first place.

All they felt was a surge of mana coming from her, but there didn't seem to be anything going on. What they couldn't see was actually happening on the walls of the city. Several tendrils of earth began to creep up and cut the bodies loose, dropping them into holes that seconds ago weren't prepare to swallow said bodies up and gave them the bare minimum of decency they should receive.

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It was small, but the vestiges of it's origins remained. The stone buildings stood strong and maintained the vestiges of it's powerful origin, a testament to either the great architectural integrity of their constructions, or their ability to recover from great disasters in such a short amount of time. Either way, anyone who saw it could only call themselves impressed.

The houses which were once built upon flat earth now climbed upon displaced land which climbed section by sections like stairs from all the displaced land. The visage of nature in collusion with the structure of an organized city somehow fit naturally into an enviable piece of scenery.

But while the sun shone brightly and the birds chirped upon their beautiful little piece of heaven. But they weren't, the air was heavy, almost suffocating, it was like an invisible weight dropped itself in there. Not even the children dared to play around outside, choosing to block out their windows and bar their doors. Any parent would've been proud to have their kids listen to orders so willingly, though it would've been better if there wasn't the threat of death weighing in on their minds.

But maybe the adults should've listened to their own advice, because the moment Grendolyn and the rest found out what they were doing, the only word she could actually think to call them was disgusting. Because they gathered in the center square with a certain pep to them. Once she squeezed her way through, Grendolyn's eyes snapped wide open.

They were watching the torture and executions of war prisoners on a stand that stood half a feet above the people's head. The things they did incited all manners of screams and wails from their victims, with every subsequent victim just begging for death straight and becoming more desperate for it the longer they stood on that stage, but death was a long process and those handling the bodies knew how to make sure their trip to hell took as long as possible.

However, what turned her pale weren't the victims, it was the people watching these executions like they were some kind of show for them to enjoy. The spray of blood excited them, their eyes in a daze of euphoria and their mouths a child-like grin at the horrors that were being played out in front of them. Relishing in the throes of death like a beautiful melody which captivated their broken minds.

Of course there were always people who were opposed to such atrocities. But from where she was standing, those people weren't part of the majority.