Chapter 100: The Scent of Carnage (Part 1)

It was before all this madness took all of these strange turns. Before we stepped into this puddle of carnage, when we had only just finished forming our "alliance" and were left on the island as we waited for Sona.

Kais: "You can't be serious about this!"

It wasn't surprising to me that Ethan Kales would give such a suggestion but it was surprising that he would involve himself in the suggestion.

But,

Ethan: "I am quite serious, actually."

I could tell from his heartbeat that there were no tricks involved. He was genuinely suggesting it. And, I suppose, it was in my power to follow through with it.

Ethan: "So?"

It wasn't a difficult decision. In fact, it was a very easy one; so easy one that I was left unable to not be suspicious and waste a few moments thinking about it. But, at the end of the day,

Kais: "... Fine!"

I agreed to it.

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Sona: "We need to reunite with all of them as soon as possible."

That we do. Because of one thing after another, we got separated from one another. But, we need to reunite now and fast.

Sona: "Any idea where they could be?"

Asks the Spirit-User as we run towards Kesley as fast as our barely healed bodies can carry us.

Kais: "About that-"

Through the corner of my eyes, I spot someone familiar. And, seeing my reaction leads to Sona spotting her too.

Sona: "Sneha?!"

And she looks hurt, pretty badly hurt in fact.

Needless to say, we fasten our pace as we approach her while keeping our guard up, but it doesn't seem like there's any threat waiting for us around here. The only possible threat could have been the third of three Hellfires who we saw earlier, but,

Sona: "Is that … that bitch?"

"That bitch" translates to "Laurie Brown", of course, the third Hellfire.

Sneha: "Yeah."

Having sensed us, without turning back, she answers so.

Sneha: "It seems, all three of us had to face a Hellfire by ourselves."

She says with her hands on her stomach as she looks at the corpse of the Hellfire next to her. Sona, seeing so, immediately rushes to her to check her wounds, giving me an opportunity to take a good look at the carnage around us.

And it is carnage after all.

The broken trees, the broken ground, the bloodstained sand and a skull cracked open from the top - all laid out on the ground around an Aural like a beautiful painting made by an artist whose eccentricity I would never be able to comprehend.

It is, by no means, a pleasant sight.

But, it is awfully delightful to know that someone capable of creating this site is on our side.

Also, I doubt I have any right to comment about bloody carnages after what I did back there. Speaking of which, I feel like I need to think about what actually happened back there. Did I really do all of that?

I was definitely completely in control and consciously doing everything I did but, now that it's over, I feel a strange disconnection to it all, as if I wasn't even involved in what happened there.

Sona: "Kais, snap out of it!"

Kais: "Huh?"

Her voice brings me back to reality and makes me realize as I look at Sneha's injuries that I might need to do some healing again.

But, just like is the case with that entire incident, I feel like I am not the person who was healing myself and Sona's arm back there either.

It's strange, and it makes me unconfident in my abilities despite having used them so effectively before.

Regardless, I try to heal her, hoping that I don't mess up.

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Rosevelt: "Can you feel it, Reaper?"

With an enigmatic smile befitting of him, The Phoenix asks. And, with a shallow laugh and a sigh, The Reaper answers.

Grisham: "Yes, I can feel it. I can feel the bloodlust in the air. I can feel the death in every speck of Aura around me."

Turning his nose up with disgust, he says with a paler face than before.

Grisham: "This city is filled with it, this disgusting scent of bloodshed."

And hearing so,

Rosevelt: "Hahahaha!!! Hahahahahahaha!!!" Hahahahahahahaha!!!"

The Phoenix laughs as, having regenerated enough, he lets go of The Reaper.

Rosevelt: "This scent, Reaper, is more intoxicating than any toxin out there. It feels disgusting at first, sure, but once you have breathed it long enough, it becomes impossible to live without it."

Grisham: "Ha! Glorifying war, are you?"

Rosevelt: "No, no, not at all. War is terrible; there's no room for debate there. But, you know, there's nothing in the world that doesn't have a single good thing come out of it. And this scent of carnage, insanity and chaos is the one good thing that comes out of this terrible thing. And, it just might outweigh all the bad of the war."

No sane human would agree with you, says The Reaper but only inside his head as he visibly sighs.

Grisham: "Still, you may not be completely wrong."

After all, war is something that has happened countless times in mankind's history. If not because of this scent that The Phoenix talks about then because of something else, but surely mankind is addicted to war in one way or another.

Standing on the scorching battlefield that marks the beginning of the city of Kesley, the leaders of the two most powerful factions in the world gaze at quite possibly the ugliest scenery they would see in their lives.

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