"Attention, soldiers!"
A man shouted on top of his lungs. The soldiers clamoring about the reason behind their summoning begin to zip their mouths shut. They all face the direction which is the opposite of where the exit door is.
There, they watch as a man wearing formal attire stands before them. The middle-aged man who got everyone's attention is none other than Takkot's alkalde—Agno.
"Is everyone here?"
The soldiers in black armor responded in unison with a resounding yes. However, among the crowd of soldiers, Riko is the one who's not present.
Right at this moment, the young knight is with Mila who continues to mourn for her father who had passed away.
"When will Riko arrive?" Marlo whispered towards Magdalo.
"I doubt he'd come," Magdalo replied. "I'll just inform him what he'll miss."
After receiving confirmation from the soldiers, the alkalde continues to speak.
"You already know why you're here." Said Agno. "The news about Lyrica, the girl who saved Agario's squad from the Guardian Snake, the one who claimed to have come from another world has reached the Hari."
"With that being said, the Hari himself gave me an order." A deep voice spoke from behind the alkalde. "Thank you for bringing everyone here, Agno."
The man violently shoves the alkalde down to the side, taking the center stage for himself.
"It's him."
"The high commander."
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
Agno scowls at the man. However, the man's palpable figure accentuated by his black armor, made more intimidating by the villainous expression on his face left the alkalde cowering on the floor.
"You."
Agno jolted in fear, thinking it was him that the man was referring to. He slowly looks up, only to see the man's finger, pointing at one of the soldiers standing on the far side of the town hall.
"Come here."
"M-M-Me?!"
The knight gulped air nervously as he reluctantly walks towards the man. The others who are sweating profusely watch him do so. It's almost as if they know what's going to happen, yet they all seem so afraid that they can't bring themselves to utter even a single word.
"Hey, walk faster!" The high commander angrily ordered the knight.
"Y-Yes!"
Panicked, the knight makes haste in front of the man.
As the two stare at each other, face-to-face, all of a sudden, a bright smile forms on the man's face. It left the knight quite confused. Not sure what to do next, he tried to smile awkwardly as a response.
"Let me give you something that feels both physically bad and painful."
"Huh?"
The knight's eyes opened in bewilderment. In that instant...
Craaashh!!
"Ugfh!"
'Wha?!'
'...!'
The crowd of soldiers froze in shock as the man grabbed the knight's face and violently smashes him to the surface. And when they thought it couldn't get any worse, the man continues to pound the knight's head to the hard floor without hesitation.
Slam! Crash!
Meanwhile, as the other knights watch their fellow soldier in pity, Roberto's hand slowly turns into a fist as it begins to tremble in anger.
Grab!
"...!"
Startled, Roberto looks at Agario who then looks back at him before shaking his head. After that, Roberto's hand slowly begins to relax.
Roberto is one of the few knights who fought the Guardian Snake yesterday. While they didn't do as much as wound the monster even a little bit, if they were to fight an enemy with the same level of strength as them, they would win without a doubt.
Crash!
They are strong, brave warriors who are willing to risk their lives confronting even the Guardian Snake just to save their comrade. And yet, they can't bring themselves to stop the man who's mercilessly pummeling their fellow soldier to the ground. But it's not just them, everyone else who is watching the scene play out cannot muster the courage to take action either.
Crash! Slam! Crash!
In truth, every single one of them, even the one whose head is being crushed right at the moment, is capable of taking on the man. If they are to strike all at once, there'd be no way for a single guy like him to win nor even fight back. Even so, for whatever reason, they all decided to stay idle and hope that it would end without the poor knight losing his life, knowing full well they could fight back if they want.
Looking at the expression on their faces, it seems like the reason they cannot retaliate is that they are afraid of something. Something utterly terrifying would happen to them if they decide to intervene. But what is it exactly?
Crash! Crash!
What exactly are they afraid of that even those who faced the terrifying Guardian Snake could not make a move?
Crash!
"Huh? Hey, you still there?"
The man pulls up the knight by his black short hair. Right then, the knight whose face could no longer be recognized starts wheezing, struggling to breathe in air.
"Good, you're alive! We can't let you die like this, or the Hari will be mad."
Said the man as he smashed the knight's head to the ground one more time. Ultimately, the knight loses consciousness.
"Just because the Hari forbid killing every single one of you, doesn't mean I can't do this much."
He lifts the unconscious knight's body before throwing it towards the alkalde sitting on the surface.
"Get him treated before he dies."
The mayor obediently bows his head towards the man. He then stood up while carrying the unconscious knight with him. Soon after that, they make their exit from the scene.
"Now then, anyone else having any bad feelings about this gathering, hm?"
The high commander nonchalantly asked the silent crowd as if nothing happened.
"Hmm... No one else, huh? You guys aren't being honest with yourselves." Said the man in a relaxed tone. "Come on now, I know you're all angry. I know you guys want to kill me right here right now."
And yet, despite how much they want to do that, they just can't do it.
"That's right, you can't! Because if you do, you'll explode. Boom! Dead! Without leaving any trace of your existence!"
The twisted man let out a cackle, mocking the knights before him.
"To be honest, I'm quite impressed that you guys survived this long without killing yourselves." Said the high commander in a compliment. "However, no matter what you do, it's useless. IT will only keep on FEEDING until your last breath."
As the words spilled from the man's mouth, the knights who could do nothing but listen avert their gaze from him.
Some knights who seem to be disheartened look down to the floor. Meanwhile, the others turn right or left, trying to hide their despondency.
"But in any case, if you ever feel like meeting the others who already went to the afterlife..."
The man cracks his fist that looked as if he's threatening them. But contrary to the gesture he's making, the expression on his face appears as though he's a helpful high commander willing to give anyone a helping hand.
"I, the high commander, will lend you a hand."