Securing my sword, I leave the office and check the interior of the stall.
I count all the soldiers there, a total of 40. Standing at the wall, I look out and see that the previous caravan has already left.
It's a good time to act.
Walking towards the central courtyard behind the wall, I see several soldiers lounging and drinking.
I want to finish them off quickly so I can move on, so I head for the armory in search of explosives.
Entering the armory, a perfectly organized room the size of a bedroom, I approach a soldier organizing weapons.
"Soldier, give me 4 incendiary bombs, quick!" I yell as I enter.
The man stops in panic, reaches for my order, and asks for my signature to withdraw.
Seeing the notebook and bombs handed to me, I take the notebook and write Hero Ezekiel. I throw the notebook roughly at him and take the bombs from him as I walk away.
The bombs are small vials about 5 inches long. They contain an extremely volatile green liquid that any mage who can use fire can detonate. Basically all you have to do is spark it off and it takes about 5 seconds for the bomb to react.
I go back out to the yard and set up under a very wide half-shade, arrange the bombs on the supports on the wall, lift up some dirt and use a makeshift rope to make a connection. Using my slow fire, I set it off and it will explode in about 10 minutes.
Standing up, I sit down while using energy to shout, "Useless idiots! I want every fucking soldier in this compound in front of me now!" I step back and look at the wall in front of me.
The soldiers start to come, all in a hurry, with fear on their faces. They line up in front of me, side by side, with their backs straight.
I'm counting the minutes and the soldiers, the explosives will go off in 1 minute and 5 men are missing.
"Where are the missing soldiers?" I asked in a calm voice.
"Sir, the other 5 are the soldiers on the ramparts, they are not allowed to leave their positions," a boy of about 16 years answered me.
Well, what now?
I will just kill them after this.
"Well, I have gathered all of you useless assholes here to make a proposal," I said as I looked at these soldiers.
"The proposal is simple, you die without complaint and I let you die without pain, how about it?" The soldiers became alert and their hands went to their swords.
Unfortunately, I was lying, they will still die with pain.
"Sir, what do you mean?" said the same teenager, his hand wrapped tightly around the handle of the sword with a look full of fear.
I'm sorry, boy, but I have plans to carry out....
"So you reject my proposal" After speaking, I drew my sword as the walls exploded, sending chunks of concrete crashing down on the soldiers' heads.
Muffled screams could be heard as the concrete shattered the skulls of the soldiers, some less fortunate were left with their legs trapped under the stones, slowly bleeding out.
A few were still alive, so I drew my sword and began to cut them down as I moved among them, pushing this weak body to the limit.
The body I have is wearing out very quickly as I force it with essence. My legs are all bleeding from overuse.
Killing several of the remaining soldiers with quick cuts, I see the boy from before lying on the ground with a crushed arm, crying and clenching his teeth to keep from screaming. When he notices me, he looks at me in fear.
I slowly approach him, my sword held high.
"Sorry boy, but I have my own goals and this place is interfering with them," I say as I slash down, cutting the boy's throat.
As I look down at the dead boy, my sword falls from my hand and I kneel limply on the ground.
I remember Victor's son, he would have been a few years younger than this one.
When did I become so inhuman?
(You are inhuman, yes. But what do you care, you're one of the filthy elves, aren't you? You have always slaughtered us. I'm going to die here, I know, but I'm meeting an elf who has remorse, that's a sight you can say goodbye to).
I heard the officer's voice. I forgot that the moment I turn my concentration away and stop pushing, they can speak and hear my thoughts.
But he is right.
I am not human, not anymore.
Humans have betrayed and sold me. They spit on everything I have done for them.
Why should I care because I killed some humans?
They are beings that need to be purged, replaced.
And we elves will replace them.
I am not the hero Ezekiel, that life will no longer haunt me.
I am a dark elf who will destroy the Church and conquer the humans.
I am Marcus Runa. The elf who was once human.