The northern side of the village was a battlefield drenched in chaos. The Judge, clad in his Brotherhood cloak, wasted no time as he entered the fray, his chain weapon unfurling with deadly precision. The creature resembling Haizen roared, its twisted form lunging at him with unnatural speed. The Judge met its attack head-on, his chain slicing through the air like a whip. The clash of steel against flesh echoed, and in a single devastating strike, the Judge bisected the creature. Its grotesque halves fell to the ground, writhing momentarily before becoming still.
"Support Urilo!" the Judge barked, his commanding voice cutting through the cacophony. Talon and Kenta immediately flanked the young mage, guarding him as he began casting his detection spell. Urilo tilted his head slightly, murmuring the incantation under his breath. The air around him shimmered faintly as his magic sought to unravel the source of the dark energy plaguing the village.
Meanwhile, the Judge turned his attention to the green-eyed villagers advancing with crude weapons. They moved with a twisted desperation, driven by an unseen force. The Judge's chain lashed out, striking the ground with a resounding crack, a clear warning to the villagers. Though he had the power to kill them, he hesitated. These were innocents, enslaved by some dark magic.
"Stay back!" the Judge commanded, his tone laced with authority. But the villagers, heedless of his warning, continued their advance, their glowing green eyes filled with madness.
Across the battlefield, Talon and Kenta fought valiantly. Talon's sword danced in the moonlight, parrying strikes and delivering precise blows to the creatures swarming them. Kenta, with his sharp reflexes, incapacitated villagers with non-lethal strikes, knocking them unconscious where possible. Yet, their task was complicated by the creatures' eerie abilities. One twisted its face grotesquely, mimicking Urilo's features. It screamed in a voice uncannily similar to a human's, causing Talon to falter.
"Are these things… still human?" Kenta muttered, his hesitation evident.
"Don't waver!" the Judge shouted, his chain spinning in deadly arcs. "To kill them is a mercy. You don't want them to live like this!"
Talon clenched his jaw, steeling himself. "Damn it," he growled, driving his sword through the head of the mimic creature. Its body convulsed before collapsing in a heap. Kenta, inspired by his comrade's resolve, resumed his attacks, though the moral weight of the battle still hung heavily on him.
The Judge continued to hold the line, his chain cutting down the creatures that dared approach. He moved like a force of nature, his weapon a blur of motion. Yet, even his precise strikes couldn't prevent the rising tide of horror. The green-eyed villagers screamed, their wails piercing the night, and new creatures—like the one the Judge had slain—emerged from the shadows. They killed indiscriminately, tearing through villagers as they charged toward the Brotherhood team.
Urilo, still deep in concentration, finished his spell at that moment. His eyes snapped open, glowing faintly as he pointed toward a dense patch of darkness. "There!" he yelled.
Without hesitation, the Judge vanished from his position, moving with inhuman speed toward the direction Urilo had indicated. The trance-bound villagers collapsed to the ground as the source of the dark magic was severed. The Judge reappeared moments later, standing over the body of a hooded figure, its life extinguished by his blade.
With the caster dead, the remaining creatures fell quickly. Talon's sword flashed as he cut down the last of them, while Kenta delivered a crushing blow to another, its deformed body crumpling into the dirt.
The battlefield fell silent, save for the labored breathing of the Brotherhood recruits. They stood amidst the carnage, blood and sweat mixing with the dirt beneath their feet. Talon wiped his blade clean, his expression grim. "That was… something else," he muttered.
Urilo nodded, his face pale from the exertion of his spellcasting. "Whatever this magic was, it wasn't ordinary."
At that moment, Haizen and Orion arrived, their cloaks billowing behind them as they sprinted into the clearing. Haizen surveyed the scene, his sharp eyes taking in the bodies of the creatures and the unconscious villagers. "What the hell happened here?" he asked, his voice a mixture of concern and confusion.
The Judge stepped forward, his chain coiled tightly around his arm. "We'll debrief later," he said firmly. "For now, regroup and secure the area. This isn't over."
Orion's gaze lingered on the body of the hooded figure, his expression unreadable. "Something about this doesn't feel right," he murmured to Haizen.
"Yeah," Haizen replied, his grip tightening on his daggers. "I've got a bad feeling about this too."
As the team began to regroup and assess the situation, a foreboding silence settled over the village. The battle was won, but the mystery behind the dark magic—and the sinister forces driving it—remained unresolved.