"..."
Ash flew upwards into the opened ceiling while a chilling breeze carried them up into the heavens. Cold air entered the broken prison, freezing the skins of every single soul within the four walls. However, for two beings, the world wasn't just physically cold. Kin and Gin knelt down silently, one was sobbing away like a disheartened widow. At the same time, the other was stone-faced and completely ashen. They tapped on the remnant ash that was left behind from their youngest sister, both of them unwilling to comprehend what had truly transpired.
"Sister Momo… You idiot..." Gin spat. Though he was cursing the deceased Moon Rabbit, the one he truly hated the most was himself. How could he have treated Momo that way all this time? Gin had ignored her, plotted against her… He'd even fantasised about killing the Moon Rabbit in her sleep to open Moon Valley's gate.
"Sister Momo! Why… Why did you do that?!" Kin was in a similar mental state. Her eyes were bawling and her entire body, shaking. The one that instigated Gin to ostracise Momo was none other than herself. In her pride, the Golden Fox had failed to see through the Moon Rabbit's lies. She'd always blamed Momo for leaving Brother Haiiro behind while they joined the Black Masks. Kin had always thought Momo was a fool and a bitch that couldn't be trusted.
As it turned out… Kin herself was the fool.
Yet, even after all the shit that the twins had put her through... In the very end, Momo had still chosen to sacrifice herself for her sibling's survival. She had even gone as far as begging on her knees, something the prideful Moon Rabbit, a highborn Spirit Beast with barely any equal, would never do. From the very beginning, Momo had placed her life… her survival below the lives of her siblings. She'd even joined the Allfather, allowed her soul to be corrupted, all because she wanted to reunite Kin and Gin with their Brother Haiiro.
That innocent love was so pure that Shin paused his resentment towards the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts, even if it were for one moment. He looked at the twin siblings crying their hearts out, and his mind was taken back three years. Back when he was the most active among the members of Guardian Sword, Shin had seen countless broken families. Unmended homes with family members torn apart due to the war. Whenever he delivered a corpse to their families, the children would weep in the same manner as the twins. Unrelenting and remorseful.
'Why did I not spend more time with you? You're such a fool! Why… Why did you do that?' Those were all questions that Shin had heard countless times before. He'd seen burly men, people that would never cry in a million years, break down into tears as they embraced their dying sons. He'd seen children turn into orphans at the deaths of their parents. And all of them shared the same faces that Kin and Gin had.
It was so uncanny that it opened up a pit in the Prince of Water's stomach.
'They are… just like humans...' Shin bit his lower lip as the forbidden thought came to mind.
In war, there was no sympathising with the enemy. An hour prior, Shin hated the twins to his guts, torturing them to get whatever he wanted. When Kin confessed her nonchalance when killing her victims, Shin felt gut-wrenching wrath, one that could burn the lowest level of hell itself. He wanted to slit the Golden Fox's throat, leaving her to bleed out and perish.
The same went with Momo. The Moon Rabbit was a vile creature that worked for the Allfather. The number of Alliance members that perished under her thumb were too many to count. She was the bane of humanity, and her death would be celebrated in the streets for months to come.
However, as he watched Kin bawl her eyes out for her deceased sibling… Shin felt his heroic facade… The noblest soul of them all… break down into pieces.
Wasn't a hero meant to save? So what was he doing, torturing the Noble Beasts that cried like humans and forcing them into suicide?
Sacrifice. Shin had thought that only the bravest of humans… Fathers, mothers, beloved leaders… Only those people were willing to put in the sacrifice, to lay down their lives for another human being. Those were the heroes that Shin admired the most. So… Does Momo's sacrifice classify her as a hero?
The Moon Rabbit that served the Black Masks' faithfully. The Moon Rabbit that killed humans for fun and used their corpses as servants to serve her needs. Was that being a hero as well?
Shin's mind was in disarray. He didn't know what to feel at this given moment and fortunately for him… He wasn't the only one.
"Sister Momo… Why are you so stupid..." Kin's never-ending supply of tears flowed like the river as she laid down on the scattered ashes of the Moon Rabbit. At the side, Gin's grieving face quickly contorted into one with gritted teeth and flushing skin. Shin had seen that look in one's face before, ironically, with the same victims that he'd been dealing with all this time. It was the face of pure, unadulterated wrath.
"Sister Momo… I'm sorry," the Silver Monkey thought out loud. He turned to the black-haired man, who was still amid his inner turmoil and spoke: "Shin Iofiel, you will keep your promise to my sister, right?"
"... As long as you share everything about the Black Masks, I will spare your lives." Shin nodded.
"We have gained our freedom from the Allfather. We don't share anything with him and the Black Masks anymore. Of course, we'll oblige!" The Silver Monkey pumped his fist up in the air. "Whatever you need to know, just ask! I will tell you everything!!!"
"Good..." Shin gulped. "First thing's first… Tell me everything about Black Masks' resources. Manpower, supply situation… Overall power."
"Yes," Gin nodded and got to thinking. "We have an estimated one million personnel hidden under the Abyss. The majority of them are mindless Dalits that had been corrupted by the Allfather's influence, but those there are also many who made it out of the Dalit class. Upper-class Black Masks, such as Rank 60 Brahmins, we have about a thousand of them. Rank 70 Spirit Emperors, about two hundred. And finally, fifty Rank 80 Spirit Venerates."
The Silver Monkey spilt out everything that the Alliance needed. Everything from how the Black Masks' were recruited, how much food they had to sustain their army. How the command worked from the inside. Locations of the major bases... Nothing was left to the imagination.
Some of Gin's information was so comprehensive that even the Mercenary Guild's juggernaut, Saint Atossa, dropped her jaw at the minute details provided. Gin had even divulged the Immortal-Grade Spirit Armaments that the Black Masks had, and the powers that each one of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts had. Needless to say, all the Spirit Saints who heard of the details turned grey in disbelief. The amount of resources that the Allfather had stockpiled was truly unfathomable! It was a good thing that they didn't launch an all-out attack in the decade-long ceasefire.
"All of this information will be integral to ending the war!" Lady Seph whispered into Shin's ear, hardly able to contain her excitement. "We will be able to finish the Black Masks' reign of terror in the next year if we play our cards right."
"Mmmm..." Shin nodded. Though his Master was talking, Shin's attention was solely on the Silver Monkey's mouth.
"I have another question… Why are the Black Masks in such a hurry? Killing Spirit Saints to create more Spirit Saints… What's compelling them to rush when they had been lying low for ten years now?"
"Haha, you finally asked that question!" Kin turned her face around, showing her reddened eyes. "You're sharp, Shin Iofiel. So don't you already know the answer to that question?"
"That..." Shin paused. He did know the answer to the question. Shin just needed verbal confirmation from someone who came from the inside.
"That's right… The Allfather's days, they are numbered."