Chapter 20: The World Went On As Usual

Chapter 20: The World Went On As Usual Nun Maria stepped back as she said goodbye; she felt she was left over. The laughter of the orphanage children echoed through the place. The branches of the trees rustled in the cold breeze, while the snow fell softly, painting the ground white. Kael watched the young man with an expressionless face: "Name." The boy lowered his head. He spoke hollowly, without a trace of will, "I don’t have one." "You never got one?" Kael looked at him without his expression changing in the slightest. "Haha... My mother used to call me ’Fucker’, ’Dog’, ’Scumbag’, ’Garbage’ and a few others I can’t remember." The boy replied with a light, cold laugh, but there was nothing funny about his tone. "I see..." Kael muttered, though he knew the boy now didn’t have a name, and said, "So, now you have one... your name will be Eren. It’s short and easy to remember." The boy nodded half-heartedly, accepting the name. "Can you write?" asked Kael. "Yes." "Read?" "Yes." A slight cold smile appeared on Kael’s lips. "Kill?" A silence fell, but it only lasted a second before Eren answered in a hollow voice: "Yes." Kael got close enough to look at his reflection in Eren’s lifeless eyes. The age difference was barely noticeable. "Your eyes... they remind me of my own." Several memories of his past life, when he had left Kiran Mountain after his mother’s death, came to his mind. "Empty, lost, without a definite path..." This time, Eren reacted. He looked at him for the first time with a certain intensity. It wasn’t hatred or respect, just a spark of something he couldn’t quite explain. "And you, did you find it?" Kael simply smiled. Seeing that smile, Eren continued to ask, "Tell me, how should I find my way, what am I missing?" However, he got no answer from Kael. It was not up to Kael to answer those questions. He had to find his path and the meaning of his life. For he was very clear: he knew what his path was. Then... BOOM! A deafening explosion shook the foundations of the orphanage, followed by a shockwave that shook stained glass windows and toppled chandeliers. A thick curtain of black smoke enveloped everything. "Attack!" roared one of the nuns, her voice torn with panic. "They are attacking the place where we serve our lord, Ancient God of the Sun!" A choked cry answered her words. "Ack—!" The sound cut off abruptly, as if someone had been forcibly silenced. "Protect the children! Don’t let them get to them!" Chaos erupted in seconds. The screams of the orphans, high-pitched and desperate, mingled with the clatter of toppling furniture and exploding glass. Hurried footsteps echoed in the corridors, some approaching, others fleeing. Kael took his coin sword and put on the coin mask, ordering, "Lydia, protect Eren." "Understood!" Lydia’s voice didn’t waver. She planted herself next to the boy, her hand disappearing under the folds of her skirt to emerge with a pair of short daggers. The air was filled with the creaking of metal. The nuns, far from being simple guards, moved with the precision of trained warriors. Their habits, stained with dust and ash, fluttered to the rhythm of their attacks. Some wielded swords hidden under their clothes; others, the Zu Masters, began to use their Zu. "Zu Dawn Light!" "Zu Moonlight!" The screams of the Zu Master Nuns pierced through the chaos, followed by flashes of gold piercing the thick curtain of black smoke. Flames crackled in the distance, mixing the smell of burning wood with the sweetish iron of blood. Kael, for his part, began to move calmly, but with his senses at their maximum. He circulated his mana essence towards the dantian, preparing to convert that energy into aura. As a nine-star knight, his combat power was not exceptional, but neither was he helpless. Then, the smoke swirled. A dark silhouette lunged, a gleaming dagger pointed directly at his throat. Kael didn’t blink. The coin sword spun in his hand with deadly grace, tracing an arc toward the attacker’s left eye. The hooded man managed to twist the neck, but not enough: the blade opened a bleeding furrow in his cheek, hot and deep. Before the first drop hit the ground, Kael had already shifted his stance, his weapon hissing in a second attack. This time, the enemy recoiled with agility, melting back into the smoke. Heh, he’s not that stupid. Kael circulated his mana essence into his magic circle and, maintaining an indifferent expression, cast a first-circle wind spell. [Breeze.] A gust cut through the air like a whip, dispersing smoke in a five-meter radius. The hooded man stood exposed, blinking against the sudden light. There was no time for curses. Kael was already on him. "Shit! They didn’t say that...!" The scream was drowned out in a shriek as the coin sword flashed twice: hands first, then legs. The man fell like a bundle, dark blood soaking his black clothes. Kael plunged his fingers into his mouth, pulling out a molar before the hidden poison could reach his gums. One down. The man’s groan rumbled, but Kael didn’t flinch; his expression remained indifferent. He needed him alive. The orphanage was no longer a shelter. It was a battlefield. ... The smoke had not yet completely dissipated, and the screams of the children broke the atmosphere like invisible blades. Fallen stained glass windows stained the floor with blood-stained colors. "Stay behind me," Lydia ordered, without looking at the boy. But when she turned, Eren was no longer where she had left him. Her eyes searched for him. Not out of concern... The sound of rapid footsteps and guttural gasps alerted her. A hooded figure emerged from the smoke with a short spear, aimed at her heart. Too close! Lydia spun on her axis, dodging by a hair, and plunged one of her daggers into the attacker’s armpit. The other went straight for his throat. A warm, thick spray splashed across her face. But she didn’t have time to clean herself. Because just then he heard it. A scream. A scream that didn’t come from fear... or pain.... She turned. And saw it. Eren. On top of one of the attackers, a man of stocky build, possibly a professional killer. But in that instant, he was nothing but prey. Eren had knocked him down, unarmed, and was on top of him, beating him with his bare fists. The attacker was trying to scream, but Eren stuck his fingers in his mouth and tore his cheek from the inside. "AAAAAGGH!" The teeth flew out. The tongue hung out, broken. Lydia felt a shiver. This wasn’t a fight. It was carnage. Eren didn’t scream; his expression remained indifferent. With both hands, he plunged his thumbs into the man’s eye sockets, pressing until a viscous "pop" was heard. A dark stream stained his arms. The attacker convulsed, his legs kicking the air. "No... no... please!" he stammered with a disfigured mouth. But Eren didn’t stop. He dug his fingers in until his nails scratched the bone. Then, with a sharp jerk, he ripped out her eyeballs and threw them on the ground as if they were waste. The man shrieked until Eren broke his jaw with one punch. Then he grabbed his neck and started slamming his head into the ground... once, twice, five times... Until the face became an unrecognizable mass. Lydia couldn’t look away. The boy... that empty boy... was a monster. The snow was still falling, and the golden rays of the sun filtered through the black smoke. The corpse beneath Eren shivered out of pure nervous reflex. But he just stood there, panting, his hands full of blood and chunks of flesh under his fingernails. Then he turned to her. His eyes were still the same. Empty. "...Did I do it right?" he asked. There was no pride. There was no remorse. Lydia tightened her grip on her daggers. "Yes," she said, without thinking. The snow continued to fall, indifferent. Outside, the world went on as usual: slow, cruel, impassive. No life mattered too much, no corpse stopped the dawn. In this world, acts were neither just nor unjust. They just were. And those who survived were not the good ones, nor the strongest. They were the ones who knew when not to hesitate. Those who did not ask for forgiveness.