Chapter 115: WHO IS HE?
Aaron. I thought you were dead. Where have you been all this while? Alice too. And… who's that little boy beside you?"
Leo's voice cracked with relief and disbelief, his eyes darting between familiar faces. The tension and exhaustion that had weighed him down seemed to lift for a moment, the faintest spark of joy cutting through the carnage around them.
Aaron allowed himself a faint smile as he walked forward, the ruined ground crunching beneath his boots. "Let's just say I took a nap… one that dragged on far too long."
But the moment of reunion was shattered by a guttural roar.
"My arm! You bastard!" Derios' enraged voice shook the air. Blood gushed freely from the stump where his arm had once been, yet his fury burned hotter than the pain. "I'll crush you into pieces!" he bellowed, raising another massive limb and swinging it toward Aaron with murderous intent.
Before the blow could land, a small, almost childish voice interrupted, dripping with disdain.
"How dare you try to lay a hand on Father?" Flameborn's eyes glowed faintly as he lifted his tiny finger.
A single drop of blood fired from his fingertip like a crimson bullet. It streaked through the air and pierced Derios' massive shoulder with pinpoint accuracy.
"Urgh!" Derios staggered, clutching his shoulder, blood oozing between his fingers. But instead of fear, a grin split his monstrous face. "You missed… you should have aimed for my heart." His cold voice dripped with mockery as he advanced on Flameborn, momentarily ignoring Aaron.
"Actually," Flameborn replied evenly, already turning his back on the hulking brute as though he were beneath notice, "I didn't." He walked calmly toward Alice, focusing instead on the terrified unawakened huddled behind her.
Derios' rage boiled over. "You dare turn your back on me?! Fool!" With a thunderous leap, he launched his massive frame skyward, his immense shadow blotting out the firelit ruins. Every ounce of power went into his descending strike, intending to crush the small boy into bloody pulp.
But Flameborn didn't even glance back.
Still suspended midair, Derios suddenly convulsed. His eyes bulged, his veins glowing faintly red as if lit from within. A heartbeat later, the blood drop that had pierced his shoulder ignited violently.
"ARGHHHHH!" His scream echoed as his entire body erupted in flames. The inferno tore through flesh and bone alike, consuming him from the inside out. In the blink of an eye, the towering orc was reduced to charred ash, falling lifelessly to the cracked ground.
"B-Brother?" Prelis, the four-armed orc, froze in horror. His monstrous face twisted in disbelief. The terrifying force that had once been his sibling was gone—erased as though he had never existed. His survival instincts screamed at him to flee.
"I… I have to run," he muttered shakily, muscles straining as he tried to leap away. But then his body stiffened. His limbs refused to respond.
"Why… why can't I move?" Prelis' voice broke in panic.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The slow, steady sound of footsteps drew closer. The air seemed to thicken with each step, pressing down on Prelis like a mountain. His heart pounded, and with dawning horror he realized… his heartbeat was syncing with the rhythm of those steps.
Lifting his trembling gaze, he locked eyes with Aaron. Two crimson orbs glowed like burning coals in the dark, and in that instant, Prelis knew. His body wasn't his own anymore. His soul itself quivered before that gaze.
"Please… spare me," he whispered, the words slipping past his lips unbidden. Every fiber of his being urged him to run, to fight, to resist—but nothing obeyed him.
Aaron's voice was cold, almost bored. "Pleading? Tell me, did you spare the humans who begged for their lives when they were at your mercy?"
Prelis' eyes widened in terror. He fought to stay silent, but the words spilled from his mouth, dragged out against his will. "No. I didn't."
"And the worst way you killed them?" Aaron pressed.
Prelis' body trembled violently. He screamed inwardly, desperate to resist, but his voice betrayed him. "I… I tore their limbs off, piece by piece, and ate them while they screamed. When they finally broke, I crushed their skulls under my foot."
Leo, Lily, Draken, and every survivor who listened paled, bile rising in their throats.
Aaron's expression didn't change. "I see." He turned away casually, as though finished with the conversation.
Prelis' relief was overwhelming. He exhaled sharply, his monstrous shoulders sagging. He's letting me go…
But then his body betrayed him once more.
With a sickening crack, his left leg wrenched itself from the joint. Blood spurted as the limb floated upward. Prelis' eyes bulged in horror as his own hand stuffed the severed limb into his mouth. He chewed, gagging on the taste of his own flesh, but no matter how he tried to resist, he swallowed it down.
One by one, his remaining limbs tore themselves free—legs, then arms. He devoured them all, the agony unrelenting, his mind drowning in pain and nausea. Yet no scream, no vomit, no refusal came. His body obeyed Aaron's will alone.
By the time only his mangled torso remained, blood loss had left him pale, his breaths shallow. And still, the torment wasn't over. His final arm floated toward his mouth, dripping crimson as it forced him to eat.
Aaron's cold voice cut through the silence. "As for crushing your head under my foot… you're not worthy."
The blood pooled around Prelis surged upward, coagulating into a massive foot of liquid crimson. It loomed above his head like a divine judgment.
"P-please…" he mouthed soundlessly, eyes wide with despair.
The blood-foot slammed down.
Crunch!
Bone shattered. His skull collapsed under the impact, his brains splattering across the cracked pavement. His body twitched once, then went still.
The survivors stood frozen, horror etched deep into their souls.
"W-Who is he…?" one of the awakened whispered, voice trembling. The image of Prelis' brutal end would haunt them forever.
Leo, however, smiled faintly, his gaze fixed on Aaron. "You haven't changed," he said softly. "Ruthless to those who deserve it… yet kind to the innocent and oppressed."
Aaron finally turned back, meeting his old friend's eyes. For the first time, warmth touched his expression. "Mind filling us in on what's been happening?"
He stood tall among the ruins, crimson eyes gleaming, a smile tugging at his lips.