"C-Commander Goss is dead?" A soldier muttered, gulping in fear, still reeling from the aftershock of the battle that just transpired.


    "The enemy is still alive. Kill him!" Another soldier shouted, riling up everyone, "As long as he''s dead, it''s our victory. Taking over the weakened fort is easy!"


    "Right!" A soldier muttered in excitement, "Now that ourmander is dead, the one that performs the best would be the nextmander and even be turned into a Blight Human."


    A couple of soldiers around him heard his mutterings, bing excited as they rushed at Yihan, intending to deal the killing blow.


    But of course, Xuna wouldn''t allow that to happen as the crow hovered in the air, opening its beam to unleash a fierce gale that caused the soldiers to lose their footing due to the sheer dust that blew into their faces.


    "Charge!"


    Some of them covered their faces and rushed into the dust, leaping onto the location where Yihan had been lying, only to find that the bodies of both Yihan andmander Goss were now missing.


    "What the…?" They looked around, iling their weapons, only to find the wilting vines, failing to see their target. But, that only continued for a minute before the dust cloud began to settle down.


    Buzz!


    At the familiar sound, the soldiers stared at the sky to see Yihan flying there calmly, uninjured, brimming with power as his insect eyes stared at them, his voice resounding with an insect''s sharpness, "Surrender if you don''t wish to be my meal."


    ng!


    Feeling the intense winds generated by the pping wings, the soldiers were aware that if they were to run away, Yihan would ughter them all. After all, they had zero chances of outmanoeuvring him, especially when he had aerial superiority.


    ? One by one, they dropped their weapons, kneeling on the ground to surrender. With that, the soldiers on the fort could heave a sigh in relief at their victory.


    ''Thankfully, Xuna healed me.'' Yihan patted his chest, feeling pain in some ces as he controlled himself to put forth a strong front. There wasn''t enough time for Xuna to heal his injuriespletely.


    So, she only treated the worst of his injuries. This meant that he had to endure the pain while hovering in the air, watching the soldiers of the fort exit and take the invading side as prisoners.


    As to how the prisoners would be treated, he wasn''t concerned. That wasn''t part of his task, but one left to the actingmander of the fort.


    "Thank you for saving us, my Lord." The actingmander bowed before Yihan, "If not for you, our fort would have copsed."


    "How''s the condition of the people?" Yihan asked, returning to his human form as he walked around the fort, entering the building within to see droves of people huddled on the floor, trembling in fright, nervous.


    They were those from the surrounding viges that had been evacuated to the fort the moment the war erupted.


    "But, we didn''t manage to bring in everyone." The actingmander expressed his helplessness, "We couldn''t save everyone."


    "You did everything in your power. So, don''t be disheartened." Yihan patted his back, consoling him as he asked, "Who has the authority over the viges here?"


    "My father, followed by my older brother." The actingmander said, tearing up as he said, "But, both of them were killed by that sted Blight Human."


    "Then, that means you''re the next Lord of this region." The crow perched on his shoulder before saying, "So, you should make a trip to the capital and be a Horned Human. Don''t dy, as war would be frequent after this. You need all the power you can get to protect your home."


    "I''ll do as you say, my Lord." The actingmander bowed in response.


    Even though they had won, there was nothing to celebrate, for they had lost too many lives in the process. Sad, the vigers began to return to their homes, beginning to conduct repair work.


    After all, the invading army had destroyed the viges along their way, piging the stock there for supplies that they relied upon to mount an invasion for a longer time.


    Moreover, they had applied scorch and burn tactics, burning up the fields to ensure the vigers couldn''t get back on track even if they were to survive. Abandoning thisnd was their sole option, left with no food to sustain themselves with.<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Keuk!" Ady teared up, clutching the burnt body of her son that fell victim when his house was set fire by the invaders, seething in anger as she bit her lips, "Those bastards…will pay."


    She then stared at a meat cleaver among the debris, lifting it up, ignoring how hot it was by remaining in contact with the burning home for so long. She slowly made her way towards the captives being escorted into the fort, staring at a group that had attacked her vige as she rushed at them, "Die!"


    "Aunty, stop!" One of the soldiers escorting the prisoners shouted, but it was already toote as thedy hacked the hot meat cleaver into the skull of the captive, killing him in one blow as she pulled it in a hurry, tumbling to the ground in response before iling in response despite that, cutting into the leg of another captive, causing him to scream as he copsed to the ground.


    She dragged her body, applying weight on the meat cleaver to sever the captive''s leg, enduring kicks to her face from his other leg.


    "Arrgh!" The captive screamed in pain as his leg got severed when thedy climbed over him and stabbed his face repeatedly.


    "Die! Die! Die! Why did you kill my son? Die!" She screamed hysterically and hacked at any captive that came her way.


    Even though the captives had surrendered, that was only because they didn''t wish to lose their lives. But now that a viger was trying to kill them, despite being unarmed, they struggled to survive, killing her in the process while she was hacking the third captive.


    "That poor mother lost her son to these savages…" A middle-aged man said, tears dripping down his eyes as he grabbed a hoe and approached the captives. And following him came the other vigers, those that had lost their loved ones to the invaders, grabbing hold of anything that served as a weapon.


    The soldiers escorting them tried to stop the raging crowd but failed as most of the angry vigers, left with no outlet to vent, beat up the captives, killing them slowly by breaking them little by little through blunt hits or amateur stabs through their flesh.


    The mob became violent as the soldiers could only stare in a daze, unable to stop them. It wasn''t just that, some of the soldiers even took the lead in ughtering the captives, having lost their precious ones too in this war.


    "T-This is…?" The actingmander exited the fort as he stared at the carnage of the vigers, rooted to the spot in shock. But immediately after, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "STUPID IDIOTS!"


    His shout was like a thunderp, causing the vigers to break out of their bloodthirsty rage as they turned around in unison, staring at the actingmander that was expressing his rage.


    Though barely a youth, the actingmander didn''t shy from his responsibilities as he walked through the crowd of vigers that parted way for him, his eyes spewing forth anger as he red at everyone, "Imanded you to take them prisoners, didn''t I?"


    He pointed at the captives strewn across the ground, "Are you happy now? Did you fully vent? Now, what do you think this makes us?"


    "Monsters!" He uttered coldly, "You see, if we lose our humanity now, it wouldn''t be them that ughter us, be we ourselves."


    "If you wish for such a future, then continue this senseless ughter."


    At his words, one of the vigers gritted his teeth to ask, "Then, what should we do? These bastards ughtered my entire family. Do you want to spare them?"


    "Spare them?" The actingmander red at the viger in disdain, startling everyone, including Xuna that was observing everything from the air. "Are you a fool?"


    He then spoke slowly, "My family too died under their hands. The reason I asked to take them captive was to use them to rebuild our viges."


    "They are dead men in my eyes, but before they die, they have to pay for their sins by helping us rebuild our vige. And once they''ve served their purpose, we can kill them." He red at everyone in anger, "But now, you''ve killed most of them. This means we lost this extra manpower."


    "Do you understand what I''m getting at?" He emanated killing intent beforemanding everyone, "Now, escort those that are still alive inside. Once we patch them up, we''ll use them for all the hard work and tide through this situation."


    "Wars would be frequent after this, so these captives would be useful as meat shields at the very least."


    He then arrived before Yihan, bowing in response, "My Lord, I''ve observed your regenerating powers. Will you be able to treat our injured?"


    "Sure," Yihan nodded, thinking as he asked, "What''s your name?"


    ''He''ll be a viciousmander in the future.''


    "Gha," The actingmander said, "You can address me as Gha."