Star of Blood

10 | Mass Murderer

When the dust settled and the screaming stopped, Jude—having protected himself with a magic barrier—looked around.

Smoke and fire danced together over the charred remains of the tavern. The roof and walls had completely blended with the dirt beneath Jude's feet, making this place recognizable no longer. And it wasn't just this tavern—as everything cleared up, Jude could see that several other houses had been destroyed. In fact, almost every structure in sight was in pieces just from his outburst.

Only at that point did realization strike the Mendaxian—he did this. He'd decimated everything here without a second thought. His eyes widened, and his golden barrier and magic dissolved.

He turned to try and find Prema, but the first thing his foot landed on didn't feel like wood or stone. A bit weirded out, Jude looked down.

He had stepped on a severed human hand.

Jude instantly recoiled, almost tripping over some rubble. He stared at the hand, sprawled across wooden planks painted vermillion and reaching for something it could never hold. It was sickening—very much like the remains of the five he killed at the Diamond Rivulet on that rainy day. For some reason, though, Jude was having difficulty prying his eyes from the body part without a body to be part of.

When he finally did, however, it was even worse.

This time, when Jude looked around, he noticed the bodies. Crushed Doroban after charred Doroban after dismembered Doroban. Their corpses littered the collapsed tavern, bathing the debris with their own revolting fluids and flesh. It was enough to make Jude's stomach twist and turn.

Shit, he thought. Holy shit.

He was then alerted to someone coughing behind him. Jude turned and saw Prema on all fours, hacking and wheezing from all the smoke. She was alive, albeit with quite a few scratches and wounds. Seeing her like this hurt.

He stumbled to her body and dropped to one knee, frantically trying to help her up. "Prema, are you alright?"

She groaned and managed to stand up straight, with some difficulty. However, the expression on her face when she looked at the hellish environment showed even more pain than her body. Once she eyed Jude, he already knew what she thought of him at this moment.

The "Saviour of Mendax" shook his head and tried to usher the Hantri woman away from this place. "Come on," he gasped, "we need to get out of here—"

"Sister? Sister!"

While Prema kept going, Jude stopped when he heard the desperate Prince of Dorobo. He turned, and sure enough, there was Shin, kneeling by some nearby rubble and a familiar body.

"Just stay put, okay? I'll find you a medic—" Shin stopped when he looked up and saw Jude staring. Then, the former stood up, drew his sword, and wasted no time. "You godforsaken piece of shit."

Jude opened his mouth, but nothing came out. What could he even say?

Besides, the prince wasn't giving him a chance to speak—straight away, Shin barrelled towards Jude at an impossible speed, and the bloodlust in his eyes could be seen from miles away. He was going for the kill. He was going to bring Jude's head back to the Emperor on a silver platter for what he did here.

But Jude himself didn't intend to die so soon. Despite having no time, he was ready when Shin reached him. When the Prince of Dorobo slashed with all his might and magic, the "Saviour of Mendax" unleashed as much Atman as he could muster in a short time.