Two days have passed.
Most of the children have died, there were some who had already had their corpses rot with rats biting through their flesh. A rotting stench pervaded the entire area, drowning the other children in its disgusting embrace.
Aschura stared at the scene, her eyes still cold as she held Gwynnevere in her arms, hiding her from seeing this sight.
"..."
However, unbeknownst to her, Gwynnervere had already seen the cruel sight, countless children dead on the ground, their bodies eaten and rotting, flies swirling above them. The light of the moon drizzled past their corpses, as if to greet them in death and embrace them to find light.
Every child in the area fell silent as they stared at the other children they themselves killed in order to survive. Their gazes turned cold as they felt disgust for themselves.
Aschura stared at all of them, then sneered, earning the sights of the other children.
"Now everyone feels guilty? How amusing." She gave them a sneer as she let out a chuckle.
One boy stared at her, his fist clenching as he stared at her. "…Monster."
He says underneath his breath as Aschura gave him a glance.
"It seems you killed the most."
The boy stared at her, then looked down and muttered to himself again, "Monster…"
Holding Gwynnevere in her arms, she strode towards him, her eyes looking down at him even though he was a head taller than her. She then gently put down Gwynnevere and asked, "What did you say…?"
The boy turned his head up to look at her, then pushed his hair to the back of his head, "Im a monster."
"..."
"Its what the people want. A monster who can eat other monsters, a monster so powerful that other monsters would shy away from it. They want to create something like that monster and then call them Hunters. This is what we've signed up, if we want to survive, we have to kill, eat and kill to survive. We're the monsters."
He put down his hand and turned his head to address everyone.
"From now on, we're not Humans. You best remember that."
The other children fell silent.
He then turned around and walked away, his back heavy as if he carried a huge burden.
Aschura blinked, then laughed, "Monsters?" She asked the world, then she raised her hands high up in the air and praised.
"Praise be to the benevolent Crimson Moon." She placed her hand on her forehead, then to her left shoulder, then to her stomach.
"We're Hunters, not Monsters. Don't delude yourselves as victims, carry your sins and use it for the betterment of Humanity." She gave them a nasty smile, then scooped Gwynnevere and turned around.
Gwynnevere stared at her, then stared at her bloodied hands.
Even though Aschura protected her, there were times she was busy trying to protect herself and left her alone. She would take up most of the opponent, leaving Gwynnevere with 2 or 4 children to fight against.
She remembered the exact ammount of life she had took.
23.
23 lives were lost in her hands.
It was disgusting.
She was disgusting.
But when she heard Aschura telling them to carry their sins and use it for the betterment of Humanity, her eyes shone with resolve.
Aschura swiftly turned to her side, seeing a serious look on the serious girl's face. Her eyes widened for a moment, before she let out a chuckle.
Interesting.
She thought.
***
Aschura glanced at the boy, who was lost in thought as she put down Gywnnevere, patted her shoulders to dust her off before turning back to the boy, who had already stared at them in a daze.
The boy softly shook his head to gather his thoughts back and turned to Aschura.
"Are you two sisters?"
He asked.
Aschura blinked. Then softly shook her head.
"Then lovers?"
"..." She stared at him blankly, then asked, "How old are you?"
It was his turn to be silent. After a moment, "14." He answered.
Just a bit more till adulthood… Still, im older than him. She mused to herself.
"Call me big sister from now on."
The boy, flabbergasted, stared at her with confusion in his eyes. He turned to the little girl that this cold girl brought with her, asking if she was being serious.
The little girl, much to his dismay, just shrugged her shoulders while shaking her tiny head.
"Excuse me-" He then turned to Aschura, only to be met with a fist heading straight to his skull which prompted him to swiftly grab the incoming attack and parried it to the side.
Then he leaped back and assumed a stance.
Aschura stared at him, then softly shook her arms up and down, "That hurt, you know?"
She gently tilted her head as a smile bloomed on her face, her eyes curling with mocking and amusement.
"Shouldn't you apologize to your big sister?"
The boy stared at her, his gaze never leaving her silhouette as he readied himself for combat.
That strike was inhumane, replicating something like that would be hard. Is she also trained? Who trained her to be this strong with such small frame? Curiosity flickered in his eyes as he observed his opponent.
Aschura only stared at him, a smile still forming in her face.
Fast reflexes… To think he managed to parry my sneak attack. He would get even more careful and alert from now on, what bad luck.. She thought to herself.
Though she was confident in her strength and martial arts, that doesn't mean she could fight against a trained child that was at least a head taller than her, much less if the child also trained in martial arts like her. The only chance of defeating him was using a sneak attack to damage him significantly before giving him a barrage of attacks.
That was her plan but the moment he saw her fist, her plan crumbled into pieces.
Still assuming a fighting stance… He won't let his guard down yet.
Aschura peeked towards Gwynnevere, who was watching them.
"If I won, you will obediently follow me and call me Big Sister from now on."
Then she turned back to the boy and asked, "What is your name, my beloved little brother?"
The boy, bothered by what she just said, answered her, "Arthur. Arthur Feysaff."
Just as he finished answering, Aschura suddenly bent her body down after she dashed near him, placing her two hands on the ground, she let loose a fierce kick straight to his head, using momentum to further accelerate and boost the power of her kick.
"And if you lose, your life ends here!"
Arthur immediately moved his feet to dodge the incoming attack by ducking down, during that time, he clenched his fist and strike down at her head, only for his fist to meet the ground. He swiftly looked up and found Aschura in the middle of a cartwheel, prompting him to grab a handful of dirt and swiftly threw it towards her.
Aschura softly wiped the dirt away and landed. Before she was tackled by Arthur, making the two of them go down on the ground.
No! Aschura thought to herself, as Arthur let out a flurry of punches towards her head. Aschura, her arms pressed down by Arthur's legs, moved her head side to side, trying to dodge before prompting her legs to grab him by the neck and pulled him down. Not after he managed to punch her in the face did he fall down.
She wiped the blood that came out of her nose and licked her lips, then she gave a kick to his crotch.
With the law of men's weakness, Arthur choked on his saliva as he felt his nether region transmit a pain he never felt before.
"I won." She looked down at Arthur and touched her neck, feeling dizzy.
Gwynnevere swiftly went to her side and held her, helping her balance herself.
Arthur stared at her with unhidden malice as his face grimaced with pain.
After a while, the three settled down.
Arthur was a few meters away from Aschura while Gwynnevere was near her, just to her side. After all, she was just a 9 year old child compared to the 15 year old Aschura and the 14 year old Arthur.
The three were in a circle as they ignored the other children killing each other in the distance. As if the hopeless horrifying scene didn't happen infront of them. Aschura glanced at the children who were hesitant on going near to attack them and scoffed.
"Do they not think that a supervisor would oversee this test? They would rank you base on your abilities to adapt and whatnot."
Gwynnevere turned her head to her in shock. As if a revelation just popped in her tiny head.
Thinking about it more, there should really be a supervisor, or similar to one, if this place intends to foster Hunters. These supervisors would pick the children who did well and probably put them in a different team than those who just did nothing but hide and beg for mercy.
She turned to Arthur, who seems to also understand Aschura's reason as he glanced at the children killing each other.
Then it dawned on her, if there was a supervisor, then that meant that they had to somehow gather their attention in order to get a higher "grade" for this test. That was probably the reason why the two of them went and killed the most children out of everyone in the group.
They were trying to gain the attention of the potential supervisor that was overseeing this test.
But then a question arose in her tiny head, won't the supervisor put them in a different team, even possibly killing them because of their blood lust? No matter how well something performs, if it has disabilities, then it was worth throwing away than keeping. After all, a broken item is still broken item regardless of its usefulness.
Aschura gave her a grin as she stared at her, as if she understood what Gwynnevere was thinking about.
Then it hit her, Aschura saved her to counteract that potential crisis. If the supervisors saw that even though Aschura killed a lot of people, she still saved a child and protected her. A Testament of her Humanity.
It was a plot to decieve the supervisors.
Gwynnevere, understanding why Aschura chose to save and protect her, turned to Arthur.
To which he responded by saying, "That speech of mine is proof that I still have Humanity left. If I pose myself as a monster who is disgusted by what he was doing but cannot stop, then they might not execute me immediately."
Seeing her two companions having plans of their own, Gwynnevere felt that she was surrounded by two foxes in sheep's clothing.
***
I made a mistake. The previous chapters seemed long, the longest should be Chapter 54 having beyond a 4000 word count. The volume was nearing its end and I had a goal that the first volume would only have 70 chapters, and that I would cram the volume into 70 chapters.
I realized that was a mistake. I tried sacrificing the quality in order to gain more time for my studies. There would be times I cannot publish chapters for months due to work and studies but this is really one of my dreams, to write and spread stories. I really like creating this book, I even have power systems and whatnot in place already, plans and the plot.
For now, from this onwards, I would publish atleast a 1500 word count chapter.
I apologize for the slow updates….