Neil Parlose, a commander who prided himself with his tactics and resolve felt nothing other than rage and humiliation at the presence of the two. Their cuddling only a salt to ruffle his feathers. "What? Are you going to avenge your fallen comrades or not?" Callista posed, her smile stretching into something that was no longer human.
He didn't give a response, merely stared at the two in disbelief. "Why? Why do this?" His voice finally rang through, his tone filled with disbelief as he wondered what motivated the two. 'Had they been bought off by the demons? If so then why would they protein Horshaw?'
Questions piled in his mind, no logical answer came to quench his bewilderment. Jarren tilted his head, gauging what to say not out of fear of offense but amusement. "Why not? If I chose to kill you right now who would care? My mission would still be upheld of protecting thus town, wouldn't it?"
His mission, to prevent the demons from gaining access to the mines and protect the people of Horshaw, sure he breached the latter but he seemed apathetic about it. "You... both of you aren't human. You're no better than these demons. Killing aimlessly for your own amusement."
His tone rang through, hoarse and dry. "I wouldn't call it aimless since it's a game but perspectives are subjective. Besides, all of this will be swept under the rug should I ask for it." Neil clenched his fists, his teeth grit as he recalled who Callista was. Her father was no joke, the counselor for Reuthar.
An isolated incident like this would go under the kingdom's radar. "You have power and with it comes responsibility, to help those who can't help themselves." The two chuckled, Callista breaking away from his embrace. "Responsibility? That's for the weak, a ruse to tie the strong to help the weak. Look at the people in this town. Do you think those who suffer is because of their own doing or not?"
Her tone playful as she inched closer to Neil, he backed up in response. "Some of them have no say in their lives. It's a matter of luck which not everyone can be blessed with." He retorted, hitting the wall of the tower they were in. "Luck huh? Well that's a very intriguing way of looking at it Neil."
She went on till she finally came face to face with him. "Since you think that luck has a role to play, how about we play a game. How many people do you think I've killed since I got here?" A simple yet terrifying question. Neil tried to recall before he finally said his answer.
"As of now about sixty people. Ten from your earlier attack and fifty now." Callista hummed in agreement before pressing on. "In that case then how many do you think that I'll kill by the end of the week?" Neil nervously gulped, his face tense as he bore into her eyes. Flat yet playful shimmering faintly in the light.
"I... don't know?" He mused, stuttering and fidgeting. "Come on, take a gander. How many people do you think I'll kill? You can estimate." Her unnerving calmness further provoked him, making his scalp tingle at the prospect of many more losing their lives at their hands.
"About a hundred to two hundred people." He finally gave his answer. Callista merely let out a smile, playful before heading back to her original spot. "You think so little Neil, however I'll take you word for it and kill about two hundred men of yours." Neil grit his teeth, cursing inwardly at what he had done.
'Have- have I just killed my own men by stating such a high number?' He pondered whether her response would have been different if he had chosen a smaller number. "As for the common folk, I'll make sure that my dear won't get his hands on them, though I can't guarantee that. But I'm a merciful lady so I'll wager with you."
"If you manage to find the traitor then by tomorrow then for the rest of the month I won't touch a single soul, so will my dear but if you don't find him then I'll double my kill record." Neil glanced at Jarren, his face as he embraced Callista before the two took their leave.
The rest of his men wore fearful faces at what was to come. "And don't bother running away. My golems will kill you without question." She further added as she boarded the carriage. "Commander Neil, what do we do?" A soldier walked up to him, his face dripping with sweat. "We have to find that traitor before the sun rises."
Neil concluded as he sent out his men for intel. "Search the streets, alleyways or the taverns if you have to! Just find something, anything that could help us find this traitor." His voice though loud and filled with bravery had an edge of fear behind it. The order was from a man who was on the cusp of losing more than just his men, he was about to lose everything.
***
"They've declared that they'll kill about four hundred soldiers by the end of the week. Any form of fleeting from Horshaw will be met with execution by death." The hooded individual mused as he glanced nervously at Nucanor, his smile from before was now replaced with a grim visage.
"These two..." Nucanor soothed his temples as he recalled what the pair had been up to. 'At first I thought that they would be the usual saintly brigade but this, even I wouldn't make such a request.' The more he thought about it the more of a headache it seemed to be. "However these two have something clouding their judgement, hubris."
"They think that they can just kill endlessly with no consequences or price. Even for monsters like them, they must have a limit." He recalled the obsidian golems, Jarren's inferno attack and Callista's rain of glass. Saying that dealing with the two would be anything but easy.
"Don't make your appearance, once they kill the soldiers then we'll launch out final attack. I've heard some acquaintances of mine lend some of their beasts, they won't be as easy to take down as they think." Nucanor smiled evilly as he could see his plan coming together. "However the two asked for the traitor. How would they know that it's not some fall guy handed to them?"
Nucanor's smiled vanished in an instant. 'If they made such a statement then that would mean that they already know who the traitor is. But for how long have they known?' He couldn't help but wonder before a subordinate made his entry into the room. His face once filled with glee now darkened.
With a wave he dismissed them before clasping his hands together. "It's clear that they're onto us. So far four of my men have already been killed, no explanation just turned up dead. It's best that we end this conversation here." Rising to his feet, Nucanor already dreaded whether the two would find him.
"Very well. I'll take my leave as well. That idiot is probably stressing on how to find the traitor by now." The meeting came to an end, both parties heading their own separate ways.
***
"Damn it!" Neil cursed as he watched the sun finally set. For the entirety of the day he had been searching every crevice of the town to no avail. None of his men had found anything out of the ordinary and time was running out. "Nothing." Geraint mused as he walked in the tent, he had just come from every bar tavern in the town.
"No suspicious activities, no rumors, nothing." His voice flat as he looked at Neil who covered his face with his hands. I've failed my men!" He groaned as he could already picture his men being killed by the pair. Their bones jutting, their screams haunting his dreams and their loved ones weeping till they grew weary.
A truly burdening task for a man. "What if we simply take a fall guy to take the blame? They wouldn't know." Geraint mused hoping to calm Neil down. The torch flickered faintly, on the verge of snuffing out, their shadows stretching to the walls of his office.
"For them to ask for the traitor like that, it's quite clear that they are aware of who it is. For helping they're more troublesome than the demons were fighting." His brows furrowed, trying to figure out who the traitor could be. But so far he had nothing to work with, no traces, no rumors or strange cases to help him lead on, nothing.
"The two sent a letter to me, saying that I should give it to you." Neil quizzically hummed as he saw the letter handed to him. Quickly tearing through it, he read the contents of the letter. By the time he was done, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"What does it entail?" Geraint asked, perplexed with what Neil had read. "They say that the traitor isn't in some hole or far away cave but in the town. Closer than I think but I what does that mean? I'm sure that you're not him, you've been by my side the entire time so it can't be you."
Geraint picked up the letter, skimmed through the contents with each passing second his face growing visibly disturbed before placing the letter back on Neil's desk. "I'm beat by what they meant by this but I'm sure that something should occur during the night. It has to."
As much as he wished to, the night passed by with no fruitful progress achieved. The next day began, his face heavy as he made his way to the pair. The two were already prepared waiting for him in advance. "So did you find him?" Jarren asked, the carriage making it's way to the outskirts of the town.
"...No. I couldn't." Neil mused, bitterness and bile in his words. "Where is your morality?" His question went unanswered as the carriage finally made it's stop outside the city. A huge row of soldiers stood in rows, their faces dark with what was to come. "It's a shame really that you couldn't, but don't worry, I'll make it quick and painless."
Callista smiled, the three on a tower looming above the soldiers. Her glyph flickered instantly covering the sky, four massive pillars formed on each side of the rows of soldiers before fully encapsulated by a dark box. To the outside, they couldn't see what transpired in but those inside could see the events of the outside world.
*Whoosh*
Needles emerged from each face of the cube as it rose to the sky and with a snap of her fingers darted all over. The cries of men could be heard fill the air, those outside of the box recoiled with fear as the jarring screams slurred with blood before they came to and end. The cube folded back in, compressing the contents inside to a meter by meter before revealing what was inside.
Neil nearly gagged at the sight. Bones, flesh and blood all mushed up, the bodies of four hundred men reduced to a meter by meter cube was jarring to see. The remaining instantly grew wary of Callista, Jarren however smiled it off.
"With such a massive lead, don't you think that it's fair that kill the traitor and the demon?" His voice calm as Callista snuggled in his embrace. "Well... even if you do manage to kill them you still wouldn't be able to catch up. Adding the rest of the army into it of course." The two went on with their conversation, overlooking the damage they had caused not only to the army but the people of Horshaw.
They perceived the pair as not saviors but demons who killed with no remorse or reason. Once hailed as heroes now became the monsters they grew to fear. "Can I ask a simple question, who is the traitor?" Neil who had prepared himself for the sight was still shocked. The screams, the crunching and melding of flesh still clung to him, now embedded deep in his mind.
"It was a game of luck Neil, you could have chosen a fall guy and hoped that he was the one but you feared to gamble. Who knows whether you would have managed to pick the right guy." Neil couldn't help but wonder what form of education this was. 'There is no room for failure, it was either I got it right or not.'