51 Burden of someone's death.
A lifeless figure lay sprawled on the ground, its limbs intact to the torso, but the head was a few feet away from where it was supposed to be.
I looked at the head of a dead bandit; the scarf still covered his face, and the eyes stared blankly ahead, void of all emotion. A pool of dark crimson surrounded the body, evidence of the fatal wound that had claimed its life.
The scene was eerily silent, or maybe it was just me whose world had stopped,save for the distant sound of fighting. As someone arrived and began tapping on my shoulders.
"Hey, don't space out in the middle of battle." Henry said, He rushed to my side immediately after he killed the bandit.
"You killed him? Why?" I asked,"It's not like us; we don't kill people."
"Look over there; what do you see?" Henry points his finger over my shoulder to make me look back, and I turn my vision.
"Barbara!!" I saw Barbara; previously, she clashed with bandits with full power, but now she wasn't full of vigour but on the dwindling line between life and death.
She lay on the ground, curled up, as two long swords were stabbed through her abdomen. The crimson blood made a pool around her while she tried hard to remain conscious.
"Get it together, Ana; these are not the bandits we are used to; they are here to loot, and they'd kill us if it were to complete their goal." Henry clutched both of my shoulders as she shook me.
"Then what should I do?" I stammer as I ask; I can't get the image of an injured Barbara out of my mind.
"We... you have to kill them." Henry's expression turned cold as he said that.
His hand left my shoulders as he engaged in the battle with bandits. I looked around myself. There were multiple corpses of the bandits lying limply; some of them had their heads crushed, and some of them had holes punched in the middle of their stomachs. The numbers have gone from twenty to eight, meaning we've killed more than half of them; we killed humans.
G u l p
It's horrifying to look at all that blood. They all let out cries of agony as my companion brought them to death.
I saw Zark using his magic on the enemy in front of him from the corner of my eye. He imbued mana into his staff, and the next moment, I saw the bandit's body explode on the spot. All his limbs scrambled in the air, and blood painted the ground.
Henry was holding his front, facing multiple opponents at the same time, while Ali also jumped in to help him. They are both protecting Barbara.
"!!" I jumped forward and twisted my body in the air to avoid the attack that came from behind. The spell brushed past me.
"It's a wind spell." I thought until now that this bandit was the only one who used elemental magic; all others were just brawlers or rogue fighters.
"I'll kill you." The bandit formed another wind spell. This time, it was a wind blade.
He dashed towards me at full speed with a wind blade; he's using the wind to increase his mobility.
I made a compact sphere of wind and waited for him to come at me.
"I'll kill you!" The bandit kept repeating the same words desperately as he advanced towards me.
He swung the wind blade as I leaned backwards to avoid it, but he changed the trajectory of his attack in the middle, and the spell hit my left arm.
I felt excruciating pain, but I still managed to step forward and smash the wind sphere on his chest.
"Ahhhhhhh!"He flung himself away as far as possible and slammed into the tree trunk, losing consciousness.
I looked around.
"Ana!Help me!" Ali's voice brought my attention to my left; he was cornered by three bandits at once, and Henry was nowhere in sight as he was busy fending off the bandits that were attacking Barbara.
I made a pattern with my palm and felt a sudden shift in the air as I manipulated the air particles to change their position, creating strong wind and making them stronger.
I pushed the wave of strong wind on those guys; they covered themselves to be safe from incoming strong winds.
"Ah!" That gave Ali enough time to stab one of the bandits in the back. The spell dissipated itself as I lost my concentration and saw another death in front of my eyes.
"Focus Ana!" Ali said that as he struck down another one, the remaining one ran towards me, holding the sword horizontally with the tip aimed at me.
"Guh!" My eyes briefly went blank, and I suddenly felt pain in my back. The robber in front of me stopped running, and Ali's eyes grew incredibly big as he turned to face me. They aren't focusing on me, but rather on my
They gazed at me, and I looked down. My back thrust out a long metal blade, revealing the top of the blade in front of me.
Without even glancing back to see who was behind it, I generated a wind slash and swung it with all of my might. I witnessed a person being sliced in half when the wind slash struck its target.
'Isn't he the same guy who went unconscious?' I dropped to my knees as I looked at the remaining lower half of his body.
"Anabelle!" Ali came to my side; did he kill that other guy? I suppose he did because it's not possible to come at me without killing me, right?
I know I won't die just because I've experienced much worse while handling mana beasts, so this wound is nothing, but I still felt incredibly cold. It's like there is no soul left inside me; it's like I've done something I shouldn't have. My eyes could not leave what was in front of me, like it was forcing me to look at the person that I'd killed.
Ali stood by my side to keep me safe as Zark and Henry eliminated the last of the bandits. A few more agonising minutes of scenery later, the conflict came to a conclusion.
'We killed all the bandits; we killed all the humans.' I thought I was given a healing potion after Zark carefully pulled the sword from me. I didn't experience any pain; instead, it appeared as though everything that had transpired had been replayed in front of my eyes: how I killed them, how my friends killed them, etc.
The knights who arrived later took Barbara to a qualified healer; we gave them the bodies of every bandit, and you know what they gave us... Yes, they gave us a prize for murder.
"Why did we have to do that?" I asked once everything had calmed down. Zark and Henry followed the knights and Barbara, while Ali remained at the site to look after me.
"Are you talking about killing bandits?" Ali asked, and I nodded in affirmation.
"It's because it's our job. Now rest here; I'll keep watching outside." Ali got up from his seat and left the tent, leaving me there to think about the words he just said.
' because it's our job.' this sentence kept spinning in my mind like a mantra.
Silence
"I hate this job." I muttered these words; tears started falling from the corners of my eyes, and soon muffled crying turned into sobs.
I never knew how much of a burden comes with someone's death.
....
Ren Hilton's POV
"I made a declaration that I would be leaving the group six months after that incident," said Anabelle.
I took a taste of the long-gone cold liquid from the coffee mug.
"Well, that's heavy." I reclined in my seat. I had no idea that she would mention a particularly unpleasant event when I questioned why she had left the mercenary organisation.
"You must not have anticipated me to be a killer; therefore, I understand how difficult it must be for you to process." Anabelle gave a feeble smile.
Anabelle killing someone is not something that's hard to digest, but her emotions of self-hatred and guilt are things that I can relate to.
There was a time when I was same as her.
"Listen, Anabelle, have you talked about all this with your friends?" I asked, if not then current condition can be explained.
"I haven't; if I do that, then it'll only make them feel bad about themselves." Anabelle answered.
"That's true." I never imagined that Anabelle, whom I am accustomed to knowing, was concealing such emotions behind that smile.
"Ren,I might sound selfish, but would you help me mend things with my friends?" Anabelle asked,her eyes expectant.
Sigh
"Nope." I know I sound like a jerk, but I have a reason and a good one at that.
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