Heaven Destroyer

The trio shuffled through the obscured path and searched for the duo. "I can't see anything. This damn mist!" cursed Noor furiously. 

Ayaan also frowned as he could also not see anything because it was not night's darkness but mist. Therefore his dark element was useless in such a situation. Without speaking Ayaan proceeded and carpeted further and further.

"Cough~ Cough~"

Ayaan stopped and looked at his two companions. "Did you guys cough?"

"I thought it was you," Noor said.

"What nonsense are you spouting? It was the girl's voice..." Ayaan trailed off halfway through and increased his speed and dashed forward followed by Noor and Isobel.

"Cough~ Cough~"

The intensity of coughing increased, it looked as if someone was trying to vomit a dust or blood out of the throat. After scuttling over ten metres Ayaan saw two bodies struggling to get up but failed every time miserably. Wood covered their full body but now the wooden armour had been torn from many places while the blood gushed out from their wounds. Blood pooled out of two bodies and coloured the water or ice underneath them. Their faces scarred and charred and covered in bloody damp.

"Rebecca! Leafwhisk!" Ayaan roared in horror when he saw their condition and sprinted like a maniac towards them. He first arrived in front of Rebecca and supported her head and placed it on his thighs comfortably. Noor and Isobel went to Leafwhisk. "You alright?" he asked, face filled with panic. 

Rebecca looked at him and chuckled. "Am I looking bad?" 

Ayaan winced hearing her sentence. Her face was completely disfigured and charred due to the thunder Elder Luan's body released after self detonation. He placed his hand on her face and caressed her cheeks gently. "Don't worry about these minor things, you are still as beautiful as before to me."

Rebecca smiled bitterly and knew that her speculation was correct. Her face was completely gone. Which girl doesn't like a beautiful face after all?

"Why do you look as if someone had died?" while they were talking, Leafwhisk arrived with the support of Isobel and Noor on either side of her shoulders. Her face burned and her nose looked crooked and the meat of her one cheek had completely disappeared, leaving three or four teeth visible in that place, and yet, she grinned. Though she looked ugly beyond comparison, Ayaan did not turn his face away and gazed deeply at her.

"Thank you," Ayaan said in the end.

Leafwhisk frowned hearing his thanks. "Don't think too much about it. I saved her because I consider her as my sister." 

Ayaan said nothing further as he knew it wasn't the time for such things. When he saw Rebecca covered in wood, he realised it was Leafwhisk who saved her with wooden armour, and by doing that, though she saved Rebecca, she had to pay a huge price, because her armour became weak after sharing its effect with someone else.

"Humph! These wounds are nothing, in at most six months I could make these wounds treat and make our skins as smooth as before." Leafwhisk saw through Ayaan's thought and grinned that made her face even more grotesque.

"Really?" Rebecca, who was silent all this time chimed excitedly. She looked at Leafwhiks and could not help but think about her own face. Even if she wasn't as ruined as her, it wouldn't be much better. Therefore when she heard Leafwhiks could restore their face once more she became unexpectedly excited.

"I told you I care little…"

"Before six months our face will be as good as new." Before Ayaan could complete his sentence, Leafwhisk cut in. "As good as new."

"Let's go," Rebecca's smile as well returned. "Or are we gonna stand here forever?"

Ayaan saw her smile and his heart calmed down. Even in this condition she was the wisest in the group. She looked at Leafwhisk and lips curled which he himself did not realise. 

"Huh? What's that?" after walking over twenty minutes, Isobel squeaked. She hurried towards her left and took something from the ground. "Ring?"

"It's that suicide manic's ring!" Ayaan exclaimed. "That old bastard must have hidden many things in the ring."

"Damn you," Leafwhisk suddenly cursed. "I am fucking shaking and my legs about to give up, and you are talking about some old fogy's ring, instead of taking us somewhere comfortable!" 

"Umm… let's go," Ayaan could find nothing wrong with her words, and Rebecca was also not feeling quite comfortable even though she was on his back. 

The group hurriedly walked out of the river and saw two little fellas standing in front of the broken bridge while looking towards the misty river that obscured everything from the outside world. They clasped each other's hands in worry and anxiety. There were many times when Akash wanted to dash towards the river but was held by Ifre.

And to not let him run away into the fight the girl gripped his hand tightly, making him helpless—when Ayaan arrived he heard them arguing and could not help but think about his own condition. He was the most stupid guy in this group while his ladies helped and supported him very time he did mistake but also stopped him when he was about to do something stupid—they say women are most emotional creatures in this world, but here we have, two weird men even more emotional than girls.

"Big brother!" Akash screamed excitedly when he saw Ayaan coming out of the mist, but when he saw Rebecca's condition on his back, he became horrified. Then he turned towards his back and saw three more figures and one figure was so much disfigured that it was difficult to recognise who it was. "Sis-sister Rebecca… Sister Leafwhisk." Ifre muttered and tears rolled down her smooth innocent cheeks.

"What are you crying for?" Leafwhisk chided when she saw two children crying. "This is war, and war is cruel. Lives would be lost and innocents would be slaughtered with no care. War is such, and you have to be realistic about these things if you want to live longer."