Amber Sword

"Daddy... Daddy... save me..."

The little girl crawled while crying, her small face covered in a mixture of snot and tears, her once white dress now utterly blackened, dyed in dark red color.

The village outside Bunoan Guard City seemed as if it had been painted with blood pulp, the streets, by the well, everywhere in sight were bloodstains. Demons from the River of Sulfur skewered the residents who couldn’t escape on hooks, dragged them from their houses, murdered them cruelly, and then hung them in the trees throughout the village. The little girl screamed, calling for her father, but her father might have already become one of these unfortunates.

Yet the demons seemed to be toying with this small prey, deriving great pleasure from the girl’s anxiety and panic. They let her struggle in the pool of blood and mud, only for a Hellhound to come forward and bite her white little leg every time she crawled a distance, dragging her back.

The little girl screamed and struggled, while nearby little demons laughed shrilly in unison. To them, it was like a banquet. They pulled a nearly lifeless maiden from a pile of corpses, grabbed her flaxen blonde hair with claws, then used a sharp knife to open her chest, and amidst the splattering blood, extracted the heart, voraciously swallowing it whole in a competition.

The little girl was already terrified stiff at the sight. When the Hellhound came to her side, it seemed to lose interest, bit down, and then shook its enormous head, her lifeless body swinging like a broken doll with its massive jaws.

But at that moment, this Hellhound, standing taller than a person, with a huge collar, resembling a giant wolf with deep-colored fur, suddenly raised its head, shook its ears, its flame-filled eyes showing a wary expression. A sharp arrow whistled from the distant night sky, piercing through the powerful wind and torrent, striking directly into its smoky nostrils, causing the sulfur-smelling beast to scream miserably, its entire body flipping backward.

A female knight dashed out from the rain, the sharp sword in her hand resembling a cold gleaming spike, her eyes showing a hateful light. She lifted the Hellhound’s jaw high with one hand, as flames burned through the Hellhound’s fur, scorching her fingers. But she clenched her teeth and thrust the sword upward, burying the blade to the hilt.

"Die, demon, go back to your hell!"

The Hellhound let out a mournful whine, a stream of scorching, stinking blood spurted from the wound at its throat, splattering onto Frey’s face.

More knights then charged out from the rain, Beth wielding a longbow, killing a little demon with each shot. These red-skinned fiends held strength only at the Black Iron Upper level, far inferior to the Hellhound slain by Frey.

The knights passed by Frey, loudly calling the female knight’s name. But Frey seemed to have lost all her strength, heavily collapsing the Hellhound’s corpse onto the ground. Then she bent down carefully and picked up the little girl, who from neck to chest was a bloody mess, her eyes half-closed, her mouth feebly opening and closing, struggling to utter even the faintest sound:

"Sister... it hurts so much..."

Frey bit her lip tightly, tears uncontrollably streaming down. The scene before her seemed familiar; it had played out in Buqi, Erune, and many other places. She had personally experienced and endured the same agony. The flames of war scorched the earth, but those who suffered in its fire were not the kingdom’s nobles, but its people.

For a year, the kingdom seemed at peace, yet the same pain repeated again and again. This time it was the Cruz people and the northern nobles bringing such calamity, but who would it be next?

Erune is powerless to change, just as she is powerless to save the little girl in her arms. Frey felt all she could do was weakly watch her die, the little girl finally losing warmth in her embrace.

"Brand, what should I do..." Frey gently laid her down, involuntarily murmuring.

She turned around, Beth, at some point, had already come to the female knight’s side, gently patting her back. "Frey, this is war, you have to learn to get used to it." Beth sighed and replied.

"When will Erune end the war?"

"When it becomes stronger, strong enough that no one can manipulate our destiny."