The whole camp was in chaos, tents were on fire, dead bodies were everywhere. Those who didn't die were in the worst situation amid chaos.
'Could there be mole between us? No, that is not possible. But…' As he ran through the devastated camp Nus was trying to reason of failure.
'There is no way it could be General of the west. He might good at petty tricks, but he is not brave enough. The only person who could do this is…' Thinking about that person official Nus couldn't help but shudder in fear.
'But the Moon general was reported to be at Godola. There is no way he could come here. Then…' No matter he thought about it, he couldn't find another person of Moon general's calibre.
Soon enough he had reached the supply station but what greeted Official Nus, made him very scared. Headless bodies piled up at the one side. Blood was making the path slippery. The stench of blood was so heavy that he had almost vomited.
On his way here he didn't see much of fighting. So he couldn't comprehend what was happening right in front of the supply station.
'Can the empire sent someone to protect the place?' The question appeared in his mind but he quickly removed it as soon as he saw it.
'Is heaven really against us?' A devil is not an entity that a mere human can control.
It felt hopeless, yet he flashed the badge and shouted, "By the order of General Kirmac, burn the supply station."
The soldiers looked at the badge and their face darkened. They were reluctant, nobody wanted to dive right into the grave but they were soldiers after all.
Though reluctant, they ran towards the supply station with their weapons. The next scene wasn't something a sane person could take. Nus couldn't control himself, just vomited.
'If that being is a devil then there is nothing we could do anything until it dies of exhaustion.' Yet it was the time he was lacking most right now. With each moment the empire's infantries were closing in and he was running out of options.
'There is still another way.' He shouted his order again. "Archers shoot the supply station with fire arrows." Those who had tried to fire the arrow before were already dead, but neither Nus nor the new batch of archers was aware of the fact.
The moment the fire arrows were about to reach the supply station the black smoke enveloped them and the arrows vanished in mid-air before reaching its destination.
The archers' fate wasn't different from their predecessors. Before Nus could move, he was laying on his back. And the devil was sitting on his chest.
Nus opened his eyes and the smile greeted him. "Devil." The words escaped his mouth.
"You should control your urges better. You have wetted yourself, you know." The words were clean, it was Kinoya's voice. "You seems to be someone from the upper echelon. You have the authority and the badge but you are not a military man. Could you be the strategist?"
Nus couldn't respond to the words. He couldn't even believe that a devil was talking to him. There was no record that a devil could talk after transformation but it was happening right in front of his eyes.
"You don't look like a one. You are more like a civil officer. A logistic officer maybe. Go back and tell the strategist, not to come in front of me. I will kill him as soon as I see him."
With the weight on his chest gone he stood back up. The sweats that had formed on his back felt colder against the light wind. He strumbled as he ran, however, he didn't dare to look back.
Soon it became peaceful. The order of retreat came and the kingdom's army had abandoned the camp without hesitation.
It was already dawn but it was still dark in front supply station due to the dark smoke. It stood there like a statue. The guard captain was here a long time ago but never dare to approach him, neither did the other 28.
"All of you should come out. If I have wanted it, you would have died even before you could turn back." It was a clear threat. But none of them dared to disobey. Soon all 29 of them came out. Seeing that every single one of them was the empire's soldiers Kinoya breathed a sigh of relief.
"Protect this place now." With the words, Kinoya fell on the ground. The blood from the wounds was flowing like water. In the puddle of blood, he lost consciousness.
*************
[Level Check: The host have reached Level 1]
[Innate talent [Extrasensory Vision] Activated.]
[Level Check: The host have reached Level 2]
[Level Check: The host have reached Level 3]
[Level Check: The host have reached Level 4]
Kinoya opened his eye with the mechanical voice ringing in his ears. At last his hard work bear fruits. His lips curved up thinking about the problems he had to go through to level up.
"Never did I had heard of someone who wasn't able to level up even after four years of training." The old man didn't have an answer to the peculiar situation he was in.
He had talked to the old man before, "But, those who possessed the system had different conditions to level up. Sometime it would be easier but sometimes..."
His situation was little different, he could increase his stats with training even without levelling up. " 'The Broken system'? The name couldn't be more perfect." That was the old man's conclusion.
'The amount of work I have to do to level up is much greater than ordinary people.' He understood the truth and he trained like crazy but... The result came from an unexpected situation.
'But how did I levelled up?' Now that he was able to do it once, he had to understand how did that work.
Kinoya remembered how the black smoke engulfed him when he touched the sleeping man and turned into something that they called 'devil' in this world.
'But if my memory serves right then the devil is the mindless killing beast but I was in control throughout the whole ordeal.'
He remembered the guy whom he speared to deliver his message and the entry of the 29 guards. It was just like all constraints on his body was released when he turned into so-called 'Devil'.
'And now I am paying the price. Even breathing is too painful for me.' His face distorted but he gritted his teeth and sat back up. But that was it, it was hard for him to move even an inch after that.
"Don't move, boy. You will strain your body." The one came in the tent was General Korai.
"Sorry general I couldn't…"
"Don't worry about the little things." General came close to Kinoya and said, "Major Vrom was right, after all. I should have given more effort to get you in my regiment."
[Author note: General Vorm is a three-star general under the general of the west.
Major Vrom is a major under general Korai (one-star general) and also an instructor during Kinoya's training.]
Kinoya smiled and added, "Well general I wouldn't mind changing the regiment. Somehow I have a feeling that my current general doesn't like me much. If not for captain Amogh I would have a hard time in the regiment."
"Well, you are not wrong about the feeling. He dislikes you, not just you, he dislikes most of us. If he would have gotten the chance then he would have left us long ago. He felt that as Red corps is an independent corps, he was missing the chance to rank up. It is really bad luck that Amogh had died. He was a good instructor."
It was a reminder for Kinoya. The massacre that happened on the second day of the battle was the reality. All the squad-members he had lost, Amogh and all those he trained with for the last 6 months were dead. All he could now was to sigh.
"What about the war?"
"We have about 90,000 left. Whereas we are estimating there were around 50,000 enemies who had escaped. But what matters that they lost 200,000 soldiers." Korai said with a big smile on his face.
Kinoya smiled in his heart bitterly. "We have lost far too many."
Korai shook his head, "That is what war is. Don't worry about it, just rest. General Akai will call for you soon."
Kinoya lay down again as the general left.
**************"
"Here take it." There was no one else in the tent other than general Akai, the silent general and Kinoya. Akai gave Kinoya two bag full of gold.
"There is 200 gold coin, this is one of the award, directly given by the commander-in-chief."
This is the first time Kinoya had seen such an amount of gold. Even selling the beast meat in the Arviga never gave him more than a few tens bronze coins. The bandit camp gave him 20 gold but he gave it to JB.
But now, there is a 200 gold coin in front of him. Two gold coins will be more than enough for a normal family to live well enough for a year. So he doesn't have to worry about at least for 100 years. But he had another idea in his mind.
He pushed back both the pouch to the general and said, "General I need your help."
"Out with it."
"I want this 100 gold to be given to my previous squad members' family. I don't know their background of them, so I ask general's help." Akai was surprised for a moment then he said, "You know the empire has a pension system for all the dead warriors' family."
"It doesn't matter, also relay that if they need anything anytime they should look for me first."
"Good." with a nod, Akai added, "Consider it to be done." There was praise in the eye of the silent general too. But Kinoya didn't notice it and said, "I don't need money in the war. Can you keep it somewhere safe?"
"Don't worry I have just the place." Akai took the other bag too, "Now about other gifts. Kinoya Arviga…" Akai's voice turned serious all of a sudden.
"From today you are promoted to a captain with hundred man squad under my direct command." He pushed a red badge towards him.
Kinoya was surprised in one, elated in another and respectful on the next moment. "Captain Kinoya is reporting for duty."
Akai smiled and accepted the salute, "It must be the first time 12 years old became captain after his first war. Well about the troop, there will be 90 heavy infantry and a squad of cavalry."
Kinoya was surprised at general's words, "General I thought are no cavalry squad in the corps."
"Well, it's a special circumstance," Akai added.
"But General, you shouldn't change the military rule because of me."
At Kinoya's remarks, Akai couldn't hold his laughter. "It's not you, we are talking about. It's Vinshnugupta. When it was announced he came to me and asked for it. Due to special circumstances, I had to accept it."
'That guy must have some big backer to change the rule to such a degree.' Kinoya was surprised, "I have no problem about it. But I have another request."
"Go for it."
"Well I need 30 horns of Eale bulls, I saw they are used for food. And some cattle guts and bowstrings too."
Looking at the surprised faces Kinoya had to explain, "I am good at bow and arrow I want to use them. I want to use them if it is not a problem."
Akai nodded, "I will see it, look for Vaikus later. Go and meet your troop now." Kinoya left after saluting them.