Once Nathan slain the Demon General, the humans easily began overpowering the demons. It wasn’t only in Nathan’s area that the demons were being overwheld. Across the entire Sentinel lines, Thunderbanes were slaughtering the demon army as if it weren’t a war, but a one-sided massacre. Realising the demons’ confidence was crumbling and their morale shattering to the core, a low yet commanding voice, laced with Soulforce, echoed across the battlefield.
"Retreat!"
The mont the demons heard the voice, they instantly ceased their attack and began retreating. The humans did not follow them, as the land beyond the Sentinel line was demon territory—an area no human had ever set foot in due to the impure and corrupted Soulforce saturating the environnt.
Seeing the demons retreat for the first ti before the rise of the sun boosted human morale to its peak.
"Go back to the hell you crawled out of!!"
"Get lost, demons!!!"
"Weaklings!!"
The human army roared, hurling insults at the retreating demons. The demons wanted to lash back but could do nothing except clench their fists; it was a complete defeat for them that day.
---
"So it was your first ti killing soone, huh?" Nathan said, his voice clear as he stood beside Taranis. "You did well. And yes, the decision you made was the correct one. Otherwise, it would have been your teammates lying dead instead of those corrupted demons."
Nathan had initially thought of Taranis as a spoiled prince who was only here to have fun—soone who didn’t understand the suffering and gravity of this war. But when he witnessed Taranis killing demons for the sake of teammates he had only just t, despite it being his first kill, Nathan’s respect for him increased severalfold.
Taranis didn’t respond, nor was he in any condition to do so. However, the sword in his hands slowly stopped shaking as he tried to regain his composure.
The other cultivators had already lined up behind Nathan when Taranis finally pulled himself out of his daze.
"I’m fine," Taranis said, his voice calm and his face expressionless, as he moved to join the line as well.
With a wave of his hand, Nathan’s subordinates were bound once more by invisible threads, their bodies following him as his feet left the ground and they flew back to the top of the wall.
At the wall, so soldiers were tending to their wounds, so were crying over fallen comrades, while most wore smiles of satisfaction and joy.
It was the first ti the demons had retreated within an hour of attacking the walls. This fleeting victory—and the faint promise of an end to a war that had once seed impossibly distant—finally ignited glimrs of excitent in the eyes of soldiers who had been fighting without rest for the past thirty years.
However, Taranis paid no attention to either the crying or laughing soldiers. Without saying a word, he quickly returned to his abode.
Once inside, Taranis removed his clothes and imdiately stepped into the bathtub, which the maids had prepared beforehand. The water was cold as ice—exactly what he needed at the mont.
After spending half an hour in the cold water, ditating in a futile attempt to calm his troubled mind, he stepped out of the bathtub and dressed again.
When he pulled aside the bathroom curtains, he found Voltrex seated in a chair beside the table in his abode.
"F-father?" Taranis called out, startled by his father’s sudden appearance.
"Co here," Voltrex said calmly, his voice carrying an undeniable command beneath it.
Taranis obeyed, walking to the table and taking the seat opposite Voltrex.
"I heard you killed demons today," Voltrex began, his tone composed.
Taranis gave a slight nod, his face expressionless, as if he felt no joy from the outco.
"How do you feel after taking soone’s life?" Voltrex asked.
Taranis’s half-closed eyes snapped open at the unexpected yet stinging question.
For a mont, he remained silent. After a brief pause, he parted his lips and murmured softly,
"I... I... I feel terrible."
"You should," Voltrex replied steadily.
Taranis raised his head, confusion flickering in his eyes as he searched his father’s face for jest—but found none.
"It would have been a problem if you didn’t feel terrible, son," Voltrex continued, his cold voice softening. "Rember this. Every life you take consus a part of your soul. Never take a life carelessly. However, rcy shown to a criminal often becos an injustice to the innocent they have wronged. Thus, a life taken from scum can also heal the soul."
Voltrex’s words slowly lifted the invisible weight that had been crushing Taranis since the battle. They etched themselves deep into his mind—so deeply that even if all his mories were sealed away, he would never forget his father’s teachings.
Voltrex stood, gently patted Taranis’s head, and chuckled. "Now brighten up and stop wearing that long face. I don’t want you worrying Aestra when you speak to her like this."
Taranis flinched, processing his father’s words.
"Talking to Mother?" he murmured, confused. "But she isn’t even here."
"Before leaving the Hundred Sky Mountains, I promised your mother she would see you at least once every month," Voltrex explained, pride evident in his smile as his gaze shifted to a face-sized mirror with an ornate golden fra resting on the table.
Distracted and restless, Taranis hadn’t noticed the mirror until now.
"Go on, take it," Voltrex said mysteriously before leaving the abode.
With a raised eyebrow, Taranis lifted the mirror, holding it parallel to his face.
The mont his fingers grasped the handles on either side, his reflection vanished. In its place appeared the image of a beautiful woman with raven-black hair, her expression a mixture of excitent, worry, and hidden relief.
Taranis’s saddened face instantly lit up with joy. The woman in the mirror was none other than his mother, Aestra.
"How was your first battle, son?" Aestra asked. Her voice flowed like gentle rain, seeping into the cracks of Taranis’s burning heart. With every word, the tension knotted within him loosened, and the storm raging in his chest slowly quieted.
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