Asti saw Tony and Dina coming out of the forest and rushed toward them to help Tony.
"What happened to you, Tony? Why are you in such a state?" asked Asti.
"Let's just say I pushed my abilities a bit too far… But if you could lay me down, that'd be nice too," replied Tony, pain in his voice.
Asti laid Tony next to Hikiri, who was barely conscious.
"Damn, Hikiri, they didn't go easy on you. With that many wounds, were you even fighting back?" said Tony with a chuckle.
"Bastard, what do you know? I had to take on three of them by myself. And you, what were you doing all that time, huh?" Hikiri snapped back.
"Me? I was busy exterminating their whole village," Tony replied seriously.
Everyone looked at him—except Lucien, who still hadn't woken up, and Dina, who stayed by Tony's side.
"You're insane!" shouted Simone, furious.
"We're a team! If you know we're in danger, you have to tell everyone!"
"I told Hikiri, but he didn't believe me. What else was I supposed to do?" Tony shot back.
"You should've told me! I'm still the team leader! Maybe I wouldn't have believed you either, but I would've at least asked where you got that information!" Simone yelled.
Tony, out of words, remained silent.
"Uh… guys, small question… Where's Aconé?" asked Dina.
Simone, already on edge, exploded in anger.
"That damn coward abandoned us and ran off God knows where. But if I see him again, I swear I'll kill him," she said with rage.
Then, turning to Dina:
"But before anything else, Dina, you're going to explain what you and Tony did."
Dina sat down and recounted everything that had happened.
"You guys are insane…" muttered Hikiri.
"Tony, the last guy you fought… was he using a wooden staff?" asked Asti.
"Yeah… A really disgusting guy. As soon as he got close, he started drooling all over the place, telling me he was going to eat me—and everyone I'd killed," Tony recounted.
"I don't think you needed to wipe out the whole village…" said Simone in a calmer voice.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You said it yourself—we're outside. And honestly, if I had to do it all over again, I would," Tony replied.
"How can you say something like that? You massacred an entire village, other human beings!" Simone protested.
Tony was starting to get angry at the criticism.
"Stop with your bullshit! Those so-called 'human beings' had no problem hunting us down—and for what? To eat us. You know, Simone, when I was in the sky, I saw kids playing with intestines… and eating them. I saw people using human blood as sauce. Hundreds of corpses, reduced to bones. And you're talking to me about pity? With your mindset, you would've puked your guts out until you died if you'd seen that!" Tony shouted.
"All right, calm down, both of you," Hikiri stepped in. "We need to recover from our injuries. After that, you can argue all you want about right and wrong."
He continued:
"Simone, instead of crying over the fate of the ones we fought, remember this: there will always be evil people. I don't know what kind of people they were—nice or not—but let me tell you something: if Tony hadn't taken them out, we would've had the whole village coming after us. And you really want to raise hell against the guy who saved all of us? Cut the crap. This is war. When you're a soldier, your priority is survival. Not mourning your enemies. So if you ask me, yeah, I agree with what Tony did."
Dina said nothing. She had seen the number of villagers… and she agreed too.
Asti, not knowing what to say or do, stayed silent and went to check on Lucien's condition.
One week later.
The group had remained in place due to the high number of injuries.
"It's been a week… This isn't how we're going to complete the mission," grumbled Simone.
"Sorry for slowing you down, but I feel like I'm missing a lung," replied Lucien.
"It's honestly surprising that you're still alive," commented Tony.
"So what's it like having just one lung?" asked Asti.
"When I'm out of breath, it takes me much longer to recover. I feel something missing in my body. But aside from that, my other wounds have healed, and I'm doing fairly well," answered Lucien.
"Good, because it's time to get moving again, my dear comrades. We can't stay in one place for more than a week," declared Simone.
"Tony, Hikiri, you both look better. As for me, even if my many wounds haven't fully healed, I can walk. But listen closely: normally, it would take us a month to recover completely, but we don't have that luxury. So, for the coming week, I strictly forbid anyone from fighting—unless it's a matter of life or death. Understood?"