Round four

I followed Kain into the woods. Kain—her face now streaked with rain and blood—drew another dagger and lunged at me, but her movements were clumsy and panicked. I caught her wrist mid-strike. She cried out as bones snapped audibly, the dagger falling from her grasp. I kicked her in the stomach, sending her sprawling backwards into the mud. She gasped for air, clutching her broken arm.

"Mercy," she choked out, looking up at me with **** eyes. "Please."

"You came here to kill innocent people. You called me a heretic for not worshipping your demon queen. And now you beg for mercy? I don't do mercy." I grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet. She whimpered, her broken arm dangling uselessly at her side.

I slammed my fist into her face, feeling bones crunch beneath my knuckles. She crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from her broken nose. She was now crawling away from me, leaving a trail of blood in the mud.

"Please," she whimpered, "I have a family. Children."

"I don't care," I said coldly, advancing on her. "You chose this path. You chose to follow a demon queen who would have you kill innocent people. Now you'll pay the price."

Kain, still crawling, tried to reach for her fallen dagger. I stomped on her hand, hearing bones crack. She screamed in agony, her fingers now bent at unnatural angles. Kain lay in the mud, sobbing and clutching her ruined hand, her face a mess of blood and mud.

My hand shot forward and clutched around Kain's throat. I lifted her off the ground.

"You took children," I snarled, tightening my grip. "You hurt them. You deserve worse than ****. Where were you taking those kids?"

"Fuck you." Kain replied.

I tightened my grip on Kain's throat. Kain choked.

"Last chance," I growled.

I loosened my grip and Kain took a deep breath. I asked again: "Where were you taking those children?"

Kain gulped. She finally responded. "We were taking the Temple of the Endarkened."

"For what purpose?"

"Why do you care?" Kain growled.

"Your answer may determine how long you live," I stated matter-of-factly.

Kain choked out a bitter laugh. "You overestimate how scary I find you."

My grip reflexively tightened. I slowly warned, "And you're underestimating how terrifying I actually am."

"That's not what I meant." Kain groaned.

"Care to elaborate?" I asked.

Kain paused.

Kain smiled savagely. "There's an individual called Halicarnassus. She's the pope of our organization. She has us take the kids for... for breeding stock. Bitch never involves herself in our inner workings, just tells us what to do and when to do it."

"And me guess, failure is punished rather... harshly."

Kain laughed again, "Rather harshly is an understatement. The torturers she has on her payroll tend to get creative with their craft. They frequently use techniques even King Reala herself doesn't have the guts to dish out."

So high-level demon cult shit. Duly noted. Wait, isn't a woman king a queen?

"Where is the Temple of the Endarkened?"

Kain sighed. "That's the part you're not going to like. The Temple itself isn't in this world, but the doorways to get in are. They frequently change the entry points. The one I was told to arrive at won't be there in a couple of hours."

I paused to process that information. After a brief moment, I asked one last question.

"How do we hunt down Halicarnassus?"

Kain laughed darkly. "That's easy. You don't. She comes to you if you anger her enough. She'll hit you through what you care about. I hope you're ready to fight tooth and nail to kill anything and everything she throws at you."

I briefly thought of Daisy, and how I'd found her. That this pope would try to hurt her again if it meant a cheap shot at me.

No, that was not going to happen. Because I was going to find and kill her and every last one of her followers first. As well as any demon she dared hide behind. I raised SkullHacker and brought it down in a brutal arc. The blade cleaved through Kain's shoulder, severing her arm cleanly. Kain's scream echoed through the trees as she clutched her ruined shoulder, blood pumping between her fingers.

I simply turned to head back to the wagons. Kain screamed as I dragged her by the remaining arm, her severed limb leaving a trail of blood in the mud. I ordered Kain to take off her shoes. Kain's remaining hand fumbled with the laces of her boots, her severed arm still trailing blood in the mud. She winced as she yanked them off, her face pale from blood loss and pain. The boots were simple, worn leather—nothing special, but serviceable. Kain sobbed and fumbled with her boots, fingers slick with blood and mud. She managed to get one off, then the other, leaving them in the dirt.

I grabbed Kain by the collar and hauled her to her feet. "Get moving," I said, shoving her forward. She stumbled but caught herself, wincing as her bare feet met the cold, muddy ground.

Tomoko and her party arrived, as I **** Kain to walk ahead of me. Kain limped forward, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She glanced back at me, her face streaked with blood and rain. "What are you doing?" Tomoko asked. I ignored her.

"Hey, you barbarian!" Arthur drew his sword in anger. "Tomoko asked you a question!"

"Arthur, don't!" Tomoko warned too late.

Arthur took a swing at me, who punched his armor hard enough to shatter it completely, leaving him in his underwear but unharmed.

"Arthur! What were you thinking?" Tomoko scolded the knight as Citrinas healed him.

Arthur growled, "He insulted you by ignoring you, noble Hero! Surely you understand, such an insult cannot go unpunished!"

Tomoko groaned.

"Drop it, Arthur. If the Scourge kills you because you kept on antagonizing him, you've brought it on yourself," she said sternly.

Arthur promptly shut up after that.

When we reached the clearing with the wagons and children, Tomoko suddenly stopped.

The lone cultist who hid under the wagon was attempting to pull the panicked Gartornis down the road when I finally returned.

I drew my Shotgun and aimed at the cultist.

"Please... I have a family," he whimpered, holding up his hands.

"Then you should have thought about that before **** children."

BANG!

The members of Tomoko's party all jumped at the Shotgun's sudden bark. Arthur even covered his ears tightly. Tomoko too jumped up. The cultist's head exploded in a spray of gore, his body crumpling to the ground. Tomoko swallowed hard. "I... I understand what they did was wrong. But killing them like this—"

"Is efficient," I interrupted. "And necessary. They're not going to stop. The ones who survive will just try again somewhere else. Better to end it here." The children were silent now, watching me with wide, uncertain eyes. Some were still crying softly, but most were simply staring. A little girl with matted brown hair clutched a rag doll to her chest, her thumb nervously creeping toward her mouth. The boy and girl who had been whipped earlier stood straighter, their expressions hardening. The boy had stopped crying, standing tall despite the blood on his face.

"She won't hurt you anymore," I told them, my voice carrying over the rain. "None of them will."

"Thank you," he said, his voice small but clear.

I nodded once. I grabbed Kain by the collar again and dragged her toward the wagon. She stumbled, her bare feet slipping in the mud. She whimpered but didn't resist. I tied Kain's wrist to the back of the wagon that didn't have the axle broken.

Tomoko tilted her head in curiosity.

I still paid them no mind, instead I moved towards the wagon with the broken axle. I inspected the damage and accessed that the wagon would need to be dragged back.

I then chose to address Tomoko. "It is fortunate that you chose to follow, Miss. Sakurai." I commented, "We need to return these children to their home, but one wagon's axle is broken."

"Why should we help you, barbarian?" Arthur growled at me.

Tomoko casually elbowed Arthur, shutting him up. "What do you need us to do, Mr. Scourge?"

I turned and using the SkullHacker, cut the reins and saddles binding the Gastornis to wagon two.

"I am going to have to carry this back to the Lutia District myself." I explained, "All we need you to do is drive the other wagon behind us."

I tore the scrapped mechanism that the Gartonis pulled on, before bracing the front of the wagon. The wagon's broken axle screeched against the mud as I lifted it. The children gasped, watching in awe as I carried the entire vehicle, its contents shifting slightly but remaining stable. I nodded to Tomoko. "Get moving."

After processing what she was just watching, Tomoko managed to fumble out a: "Um... Okay." before climbing onto the other wagon and taking the reins. The Gastornis pulled forward, and I began walking behind them, the broken wagon balanced easily on my shoulders. I began to drag the wagon around towards the Lutia District.

The wagon was heavy, but not unmanageable. I set a steady pace, dragging it through the muddy road.

The little girl with the rag doll finally spoke up. "You're strong," she said softly.

"I have to be," I said simply. Kain was still tied to the back, being made to walk behind wagon two, her bare feet leaving red prints across the rough terrain.