THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

KEVIN DRAGONROAD POV:

"This is stupid." 

"You can say that again."

Four days after the Saintess's visit, we have reached the fort outskirts. I heard one of the soldiers reading a report to the commander yesterday. It seems there were 15.000 soldiers deployed here. And out of them, 3.000 have died. It's true that I noticed their had slightly diminished from when we arrived. I guess the kirsurks were the main cause of death. 

"And they didn't even protect their city.."

The problem now is that the fort is covered by a halo which seems to be made of Regas. All the soldiers who have touched it got instantly vaporized. It looks a bit like the one Borgas summoned so I hope a dragon will come out of it. I want my revenge. 

Also, the city still has people in it. We are supposed to breach it today but since this morning, we have only been observing from afar while the soldiers are assembled at the gate. Surprisingly enough, none of them are holding weapons.

"Those guys are really going to ask before killing them, so boring."

Willhem and the others are playing a sort of game while we wait. I don't know what kind of game it is and I don't really care but it looks fun. K'nor is lying down behind me, sleeping as always. 

We are a bit far from the soldiers so I can't hear what they are saying while waiting there. Are they not going to destroy the doors of the city? And how can they be sure that there are no Longinus inside the city? This is really risky.

Though the mortars are still there. They have been brought in the middle of the field but none of them are pointed at the city so I guess they will worthless as well.

"Hendrick, do you know why aren't carrying weapons?"

"Because of the treaty."

"The treaty…That thing that prevents the heroes from intervening in human affairs?" I remember when Farner explained it to Judy.

"It's not just the heroes. All of the eternal army is forbidden from participating in any kind of human warfare. Directly or indirectly."

"But we already know they are cooperating with the Longinus. There were Longinus men among those we have fought as well."

"Can you really tell whether those guys were titanies or not?"

"Wait. That's all?"

"Yep, that's all they need to do what they are doing now. I had hoped to would send us to confirm first to confirm any Longinus presence but that old man ain't reliable after all." 

"Don't count too much on him. He is hiding something." Willhem who was looking at the sky until now enters the conversation.

"Yeah, I agree." That guy is here to uncover something about N'donkeu and Maria so I know not to trust him already.

Finally, the doors of the city open. Titanies start coming out with their hands in the air. But there doesn't seems to be a lot of them. Maybe the rest are still inside, hiding.

The commander brings out a paper and start reading it. Then the titanies are transported one by one by soldiers. There some children among them, women as well. None of them are chained so I guess they aren't prisoners. Not yet at least. 

"Okay. Now, it is our turn." The guys all stand up and bring out their weapons. Why?

"What are you doing?"

"Those who could surrender have surrendered. Now, the rest are considered rebels and will be killed. That was the paper he was reading." 

I see. Well, I think it is fair enough.

***

When we enter the city, it looks really empty. There are no sounds aside from the wind going through the windows here and there. A ghost town so to speak.

"They said most of the townfolks were brought to the fort but there might still be people here."

A platoon of the eternal army has entered the city with us. While the soldiers are dispatching through the city, their captain is explaining the situation to us.

So far, I don't sense any Longinus presence here. You can also see the halo that is covering the fort cutting through the buildings. I really wonder what they are doing inside.

While walking with K'nor, I smell the putrid odor of rotten corpse coming inside a house. I enter it and see a barrel at one corner, there is a dark fluid flowing here and there from it.

"That's not a good way to die, I guess." I have opened the barrel only to see the corpse of a child. Did somebody tried to hide him there and forgot about him? Or…

"Woof!" K'nor suddenly barks while looking outside. There must still be somebody alive. I don't feel any Longinus's presence though. 

We go outside and  I follow K'nor as he runs through three other buildings. We get out of the last one by the door of the kitchen then stumbles upon a group of three women and two children walking aimlessly. They all look skinny. But the titanies who came out of the city weren't that skinny. Why are they like that?

"Kya!!"

When they see K'nor, the children scream with all the strength of their lungs. Two of the three women carry them and try to run away. The last one stands her ground as if she can still fight.

"What happened here?" I feel like there is something wrong going on here.

"Who are you? Haven't taken everything already? You said you wouldn't take any more people!!!"

The woman runs to me but falls before even reaching me. She is too weak to even run. Not only her, even those who took the children aren't running anymore. Is it because they are titanies as well that my heart hurts seeing this. No, I don't think so. It's just because I am reminded once again of how a parent should be ready to sacrifice himself for his child.

"I am here to help all of you. I am with the church."

"AHaha!" The woman starts laughing instead. "The church?! They will just brand us as slaves again for cooperating with the longinus and our nightmare will continue. We would raher die here!!"

"K'nor." I send K'nor to stop the women who are trying their best to run away. They could die of exhaustion at this rate. "Are you saying you guys really cooperate with the Longinus?" 

"We cooperated with the representative of the hammer hands, our liberator, yes." I help the woman stand back up then brings her to a barrel where I help her sit. "If you still have mercy, then kill me now."

"I will if it is your wish. But first I would like to know what happened here." 

"Capt'!"

The others arrive as well. There are two soldiers with them.

"What will it change? Your fort will soon be destroyed anyway."

"I see." The commander got tricked. "Willhem, take care of her for me."

"What?: Why?!" 

"Just do it!" 

I fly and rapidly accelerate above the buildings then use lightning Angas as well. The men who came out earlier were certainly working for the hammer hands. That would explain why they were still so good-looking. He tricked us into thinking that Longinus men were the only threat. And the fact that the city remained close with no titanies on the battleflied greatly helped.

"Shit!" 

When I pass by the mortar, I hear a cracking sound behind me. I turn around and see that the the halo covering the fort has started breaking apart. At the same time, an explosion resounds once again.

"Fuck."  They were faster than us on this one. The fort is destroyed. A huge pillar of smoke emanated from it already. There is nothing more we can do there. 

"Krieekk!!!" 

Finally, the long-awaited scream resounds as Longinus restarts coming out of the fort. I could leave it alone but like dumb chicken, the people operating the mortars have started coming out of their safe place. How could their timing be any worse. 

Out of the fifteen mortars, twelve people have come out while I am coming down and the Longinus are coming. There is enough distance between us but will be enough? 

"What was that explosion?!!" 

"I don't know!!" 

The twelve people out start discussing while trying to go back inside after seeing the Longinus coming. I land near a one of them and grab her. It's the girl who called me a pervert.

"What are you doing?!!" 

"Is it not obvious? We are going to shoot them down!!" 

"Won't you die?!! Run away!!"

"To where?! the camp can't be safe right now!" 

Shit. She is right. The camp is lost and the village isn't safe either. The only solution is to fight. 

"Okay." I release her and she enters her mortar.

"If you want to help then stall them for time as much as you can. Meanwhile we will give everything we have to destroy the fort. You are alone so I don't hope for anything great though."

She closes her small trap door and I hear a gradually increasing sound of something. Like a bird's chirp getting louder and louder. Then…

"Krieek-"

The mortars retstart firing, hitting the rest of the halo covering the fort. Yup, time to exercise a bit.