" Hurry! Take him inside!" Sablethorn roared pulling everyone out of the shock.
He sent two teams to ambush the village, it was not a full blown attack but a reconnaissance mission. They were to take out the young man if they could or even dwindle down the fighting power of the village. It would also act as a deterrent for Flame emperor and Mera to rethink their decision.
The soldier was badly wounded but he was still breathing, Sablethorn gathered some of his trusted knight and also took the representatives of Silver to find out what happened.
They were under the assumption that it was a mosnter tide that wiped out the second team. It was getting dark outside which meant each second count beside there were many powerful species congregated in central area, it was entirely possible they set up a chain of events underestimating these feral monsters!
Instead of calming down, Silver's man started a shouting match with the survivor. There were few people that he knew in that battalion that didn't make it back, he was furious about second leader's recklessness!
" It wasn't monster! O-one man, he took down the whole army on his own!" The injured man tried his best to recount what really happened but his pale face was enough to tell them that his mind was slipping away.
" One man? Did you see him controlling fire? That son of a bitch Flame emperor! I knew that he would switch side and help the enemy!" Sablethorn only knew him as capable enough to do something like this but the first battalion leader immediately objected.
" That's not possible! He was on the other side of the forest fighting with us. We manage to deal with the enemy but right when we were about to finish the leader of their group, he came to their rescue. Since we already discussed not to face him head on, we hurriedly left."
" Then...is it thr young man or his students? They don't seem competent enough to do something like this." Sablethorn had seen what these strange sticks could do. Cyra and Bijan might be powerful against knight but they wouldn't be able to stand against the might of these strange projectiles.
" He...he is a mosnter! I saw it with my own eyes, we had a upper hand when we were facing with a bunch of kids. They had similar weapons to us but it was more powerful and sophisticated, they didn't even need to replish ammunition and could fire uptp twenty rounds in one go. The boss was cautious about it but we outnumbered them atleast ten to one." He coughed up blood rapidly loosing his strength.
Everyone knew that he was going to die but no one cared, they were mercenaries always ready to put their life on the line. The man himself knew his family would be taken cared off in case of his death so he kept giving more intel.
After fighting for Silver for months, he had a general understanding of what the man was like.
" Even when we utilise the canons, somehow they survived. Then one man clad in strange clothes came, he threw some strange balls, we thought he was trying to mess with us but suddenly everything around us turned white. I felt the searing pain all over my body, next thing I know the leader was pulling me out of the fire telling me to run and report everything we went through. He...he wanted to say we couldn't win....it was impossible.... because that man....is the devil..." Those were his last words before his body went limp.
The whole tent was silent, devil? Isn't that a made up concept from neighbouring island? Such a thing exist?
Every island has their own myths and beliefs. It was diverse as they were separated by a body was water and for centuries of isolation, it was only granted they developed in different directions.
It was also a hint for Sablethorn, who still didn't know about Silver's origins or purpose. It might come in handy in future so he took a mental note.
On the other hand, the leader of first group was utterly confused by the dying man's revelations. Just from his description, he could tell enemy had similar weapons as them but they seemed more advanced, how was that possible?
He knew about the secrets of these weapons, these things shouldn't exist in the vicinity of this backward village. He began to have some doubts about this mission, it was suppose to be a walk in a park type invasion but if such weapons were in hands of enemy, even winning might be difficult.
" You don't seem surprise? Why didn't you tell me about this?" He turned to look at Sablethorn who was acting suspicious.
" I don't know what you are talking about. I did see a similar thing but I thought it was part of his ability as a sorcerer.Beside it looks completely different from what you use."
" You bastard! Do you think boss would be happy knowing that a whole team perished because of your negligence? We are leaving, I don't want to deal with some rich brat that doesn't care of my people!" The man had enough of it.
He was sure his boss would take his side,his jolly mood about the success of his team turned sour after being betrayed!
" Are you sure about this? It was you guys who planned everything from the start. I merely helped in cleaning the surrounding monstera. Whatever happened is because you were careless from the start!" Sablethorn wasn't going to let him talk down to him.
" Don't you dare pin this on me!" He roared pulling out hsi weapon aiming straight at his face.
Sablethorn wasn't fazed. These crude thieves, it was easy to manipulate them through his words.
" We made a deal. I know you want someone to take responsibility for your friends death, but Silver would not like you deserting this place without any proper success. We have much more information on the enemy and they have much less manpower to spare. Isn't it a perfect opportunity for a full scale attack?"