A Moment of Peace

"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it."

(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)

It was a beautiful evening, the sky was painted a light orange by the setting sun.

The air was fresh, carrying the scent of blooming flowers and freshly cut grass. A gentle breeze passed by, rustling the leaves of trees.

Birds flew in the sky, chirping in a sweet melody.

Among all this, I was running around the palace garden, sweat dripping from all my pores as I took in quick and sharp breaths.

Inside the garden were the prince and princess, who were told to observe me so that they could learn something from the 'Hero.'

There were also many other people spying on me at all times, but they were from the empire. They were probably just keeping an eye on me, since they hadn't interfered at all, so I let them be.

It has been around five days since we arrived here.

Students have slowly started to arrive at the palace. The king has given them luxurious places to stay as well as to train.

Silvas has taken the role of the leader of everyone, guiding them in their training.

However, I refused to do so. There are a few reasons for this.

I don't want to show my training to him as I might accidentally show him some of my hidden cards.

Moreover, I wanted to personally train Eva and Nect, as I wanted to keep track of their progress and train them in certain aspects.

Silvas was the first to arrive to the palace, at our third day in this world. Eva arrived the next day, while Nect arrived a few hours ago.

I stopped running, still panting, I walked into the garden towards the table where the prince and princess were sitting.

I sat on a chair, opening the bottle kept on the table and gulping it down.

The prince's eyes were widened in awe, while the princess's face lit up with admiration.

They had introduced themselves to me, but I didn't bother remembering their names, it wouldn't be important in the future.

"I didn't think anyone could run for so long without stopping, and you don't even look tired. Your stamina is incredible, I've never seen anyone move with such grace and speed. You make it look like such an easy task, as if running around the whole kingdom would be as natural as breathing for you. Not to mention, you looked so elegant and cool as you took every stride, each step meticulously practiced and calculated. You truly are an–"

I sighed and looked towards the sky while the princess was yapping on and on.

I closed my eyes, trying to relax for a few seconds.

But suddenly, an image flashed through my mind...

.

The sky was red, as if the heavens themselves were bleeding. There was a foul smell of blood was wafting in the air in the deserted place, which looked like a battlefield.

An eerie silence engulfed the place, a lone flower in the middle of the battlefield was the only color other than crimson.

The silence was heavy, broken only by the occasional gusts of wind. The ground was wet with blood as thousands of corpses lay around the battlefield.

A single man came forward, his body shaped like a beast. He looked unhuman as he walked out slowly from the middle of the corpses.

Blood dripped from his head and his left arm was torn off. His right arm held the head of a heavily injured woman.

He was dragging the woman across the blood-soaked ground, her screams of agony echoing in the silence.

Her stomach was bulging...she was pregnant.

"Please! You can do anything with me, but let this child live...I beg you!" The woman screamed, her voice was filled with pain and desperation, pleading for her unborn child's life.

The man ignored her pleas, continuing to drag her, leaving a trail of blood behind them. His left hand started to regenerate as he kept walking.

He suddenly stopped, his apathetic expression turning into a smirk. Pulling the woman to his front, he unsheathed the sword on his waist using his regenerated hand.

He placed the sword on the woman's swollen belly, where an innocent baby, which hadn't even had the fortune to see daylight yet, was present.

"NO, PLEASE!" The woman screamed, tears falling from her eyes. The tears mixed with her blood and fell to the ground, making it seem as if she was crying tears of blood.

"Did you really think I'll leave you if you get a hostage?" A deep voice rang out.

The man's smirk widened as he pushed the sword into the woman's belly.

A thin line of blood seeped from the wound, trailing down the blade and dripping onto the woman's already stained dress.

The silhouette of a man walking leisurely closed towards him. His silhouette was illuminated by the bright crimson sky behind him.

As he walked closer, the man's heartbeat raced, his grip on the sword tightening.

"Go on, stab her, kill the baby, let's see how much I care," the man mused, his voice casual, as if talking to a friend.

He stopped a few meters away from them, his presence oppressive.

The woman's eyes met his, the words that came out of his mouth crushed the last glimmer of hope that she had.

"You're in the way. Sadly, I can't use Dismantle like this. Well..."

He mused, the tattoos on his face seemed to be shining in an ominous light.

He looked human, but had two pairs of eyes, one like normal, and an extra, smaller, eye below each one.

He had a huge grin on his face, an expression that the huge man holding a sword soon mirrored.

The woman was stuck between the battle of two monsters.

The man slowly pushed the sword into the woman's belly.

A deafening scream rang out in the battlefield as the her stomach was slowly cut open.

The men maintained eye contact, their grins unwavering, indifferent to her agony.

Soon, the woman's screams died down...she had taken her last breath.

The huge man pushed down her corpse, trampling her belly, creating a splatter of blood that reached the tattooed man.

The man blinked his four eyes, wiping the blood from his face.

He stretched his arms as he opened his mouth to say...

"Shall we continue?"

.

My eyes suddenly opened, I was brought out of my trance by someone shaking me by the shoulders.

My breath was ragged as sweat dripped down my forehead. These memories weren't mine.

Was this something from the future? Some kind of prophecy? Who was that man?

Dozens of questions formed in my mind as I thought of the memory.

My breathing slowly stabilized as I turned to my right, meeting the eyes of a student of the academy.

This was a senior I had sent to find me a certain thing.

"How can I help you, Senior Brother Lan?" I said, joking with myself to lighten my own mood.

Sadly, this senior brother seems to have no sense of humor.

His face contorted into one of confusion as he continued. "My name isn't Lan, and I found the thing."

I nodded. "Is it good?" I asked, my voice serious as I got up from the chair.

"Good enough," he replied, his voice nonchalant.

He handed me a paper with some words scribbled on it. I put the paper into my pocket and started walking away.

"Alright, I'll get you the money after we get out," I said, waving to him, as well as the prince and princess.

"Don't forget about the promise to protect me during the Ruins exploration," he shouted.

"Yeah yeah," I replied nonchalantly, walking away.

I immediately walked out of the palace, the guards saluting to me as I passed.

On the way, I ran into Eva.

"Yo!" I said, raising a hand.

She just nodded, before responding. "You look happy today."

I just smiled and pulled her by her hand. "You come with me."

She was confused but followed nonetheless. At the gate, I was assigned four guards that would follow me around the city.

I gave the paper to one of the guards and told him to lead us to the place written on it.

We walked around the city, which was extremely beautiful and peaceful, If we ignore all the crimes that happen on a daily basis-stealing, kidnapping, molestation.

They have maintained the natural beauty of a few places quite well, even though they have a threat of extinction on their shoulders.

The guards led us to a shop, which looked quite shabby and not well-maintained.

"Stay here," I said to the guards, who immediately followed my command, stationing themselves outside the shop.

I walked in without hesitation, Eva following me. Going to the counter, I found a woman, who looked as if she had just passed her teens.

She was wearing a normal dress, her hair styled neatly. She was fairly beautiful, but compared to Eva...meh.

"Welcome!" She said with a smile. She seemed to not have recognized me as the Hero, which makes it easier.

The four guards stayed outside the shop as I had told them to.

"I'll take two coffees," I declared, my voice excited.

She paused for a few seconds, as if thinking about something.

"Ah, yes! A person came here saying that one of our products tastes like this cawfi you speak of, I'll get it right away!" She said, maintaining her smile.

We waited on the counter as Eva eyed me weirdly.

"You sent that guy to scout for coffee?" She asked, her voice uncertain.

"Sure did," I responded, my voice enthusiastic as I gave her a thumbs-up.

A slight chuckle escaped her mouth as she covered it with her hand.

The coffees arrived, we picked up one each. I motioned one of the guards to pay for it.

As he was passing me, I whispered into his ear. "Pay her triple, as a tip."

We walked out of the shop, sipping our coffee, aiming to just chill and explore some places.

We walked around the town, the four guards following us expressionlessly.

Around 30 minutes later, we ended up in a deserted street which was eerily silent.

As we were walking, some wannabe thug-lookin' teens blocked our way.

"Oh, what do we have here?" One of them said, eyeing Eva top to bottom.

I had already motioned the guards to not do anything, and they had already backed off, a worried look on their faces.

I had already decided to deal with these fools myself.

I tried sipping my coffee, but I realized it was empty. I threw the cup away, my expression morphing into a disappointed one.

Eva seems to have noticed my struggle, so she passed her cup to me, about half of the coffee still in it.

"You can take mine if you want," she said with a little smile.

I gladly accepted the coffee, giving her a smile in return.

"Oh? You're not scared...will your boyfriend 'save' you?" One of the wannabe thugs said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

It was very obvious that these people were drunk.

"He's not my boyfriend yet," Eva said, her voice filled with disdain.

"So you're available then?" The guys said, coming closer to us.

Two of them came towards me, no they weren't gay, they just wanted to make sure I didn't try to save her.

Three of them went towards Eva.

Now that I think about it, is getting drunk so bad that you don't even notice 4 guards behind your victim?

I hadn't ever gotten drunk so I wouldn't know.

The three 'thugs' closed in on Eva, who was standing there indifferently, as if daring them to even touch her.

One of the thugs raised his hand, trying to wrap it around her waist, but just before it touched her, I felt something in my mind snap.

My hand moved on its own, the following events were done while I was in a trance, but I regret none of it.

.

A few minutes later, we, along with the guards, were walking back to the palace.

There was a splatter of blood on my clothes, which was ignored by everyone.

The guards seemed nervous after what they had seen.

"Didn't you go overboard?" A sweet voice reached my ears from the side.

I turned to my right. Eva asked me this question, it seemed like pity, but she was amused by my solution of the situation as well.

"They deserved it," I replied, my voice nonchalant as I looked back straight.

"You cut off their arms and beat them to death with them," she said, chuckling.

"I didn't kill them...two of them, at least," I replied, correcting myself in the middle.

She just laughed lightly in return.

I looked at her, looking at her smile sent an emotion through my mind. It felt...warm, like when my sister laughed, but it was different.

I just smiled, I'll know soon enough, after all, we have all the time in the world.

.

Two weeks to the Ruins Exploration

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This took way too long to write, I was having a little too much fun with the pregnant woman part xd

Anyways, did you like this chapter? Tell me what you think :>

Now, GIMME POWER STONES :3