Their faces were pale and strained, their expressions flickering between anger and disbelief as they processed her cold declaration.
"You…you want us to kill them?" One of the older students stammered, his voice trembling.
He gestured toward a group of broken students, some rocking back and forth, others muttering incoherently to themselves.
"They're still alive!"
Adelasta crossed her arms, her icy gaze sweeping over the group.
"They're not alive," she said flatly. "Not in any way that matters."
A murmur of disapproval rippled through the group.
"They're our classmates!" Another student protested, his hands balling into fists. "We can't just…we can't just kill them!"
"They survived the storm just like we did!" Another voice chimed in, their tone desperate. "We can help them recover! We can bring them back!"
Adelasta's gaze turned colder, if such a thing was even possible.
"Recover? Look at them. Really. Look at them."
Elyonari glanced over her shoulder at the broken students. One girl was clawing at her own skin, muttering something about the whispers never leaving. Another boy was cradling a pile of clothes, rocking it like a baby.
"They're not coming back," Adelasta continued. "The storm took their minds and their sanity. What's left of them is nothing but a shell, a fragment of who they were."
"..."
"They're suffering. Every second they're alive is another second of agony, for them and for us. If we let them live, we're not saving them. We're prolonging their torment. We have to kill them. It's the merciful thing to do."
The group erupted into protests.
"You're insane!"
"There has to be another way!"
"We're not murderers!"
Adelasta's lips curled into a faint sneer.
"And what would you suggest? Do you plan to carry them across the desert? Care for them while they scream and claw at their own skin? How long do you think we'll last, dragging the dead weight of broken minds behind us?"
Her words were brutal, but they rang with undeniable logic.
Elyonari stayed silent as the group turned to her, their eyes pleading. She was the one who kept the group together and whatever she said would decide their fates.
She looked down at her hands, still trembling from the storm. Her eyes, dull with exhaustion, flicked toward the broken students.
She wanted to disagree, to suggest another way, but Adelasta was right. These people weren't going to recover. Their minds were gone, leaving behind only suffering.
"I…" Elyonari's voice wavered before she forced herself to speak. "I don't like it. But she's right. Letting them live would only prolong their pain. Death is the only mercy for them."
Her words sent another wave of disbelief through the group, but she held her ground, even as guilt gnawed at her insides.
The students began to murmur among themselves, their voices heavy with dread.
"When does this end?" One of them whispered. "Every time we think it can't get worse, it does. Is this how it's going to be? Just…endless death?"
Adelasta turned to them with a sigh.
"The nightmare doesn't end,".she said bluntly. "Not here. Not now. The desert will kill us all if we're weak. If you can't handle it, you'll be the next one we leave behind."
Her words sent a chill through the group.
"Start now," Adelasta ordered coldly. "Kill them. Quickly. Before they suffer any longer."
No one moved at first. But eventually, one of the older students stepped forward, his hands shaking as he unsheathed his blade.
"I'll… I'll do it," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Elyonari watched as he approached one of the broken students, a girl who was staring blankly at the sky, her lips moving in silent whispers. Tears streamed down his face as he raised his blade, his body trembling with the effort.
"I'm sorry."
The girl didn't react. She didn't flinch.
The blade came down.
The group watched in silence, their faces pale and haunted. One by one, more students stepped forward, their movements mechanical as they carried out the grim task.
The desert wind howled relentlessly, carrying the stench of death with it as the broken students fell.
And Elyonari… Elyonari had a role to play.
Elyonari's fingers twitched at her sides, a barely perceptible motion. The air crackled with tension as she raised her hand.
In an instant, the white bow materialized in her grip, its smooth, polished surface gleaming in the harsh desert light. A golden string vibrated as she tugged it taut, the faintest hum of power radiating from it. The bow was no ordinary weapon.
It was a Divine Weapon.
It was a weapon of mercy, or so she told herself.
As the bow took form, she drew the string back, her fingers moving fluidly as though she had done this a thousand times before. A surge of energy flowed through her and from the ethereal string, a green arrow materialized. It shimmered with Nature Energy.
Yet here it would take life.
She aimed the bow with a steady hand, her heart hammering in her chest.
One.
She released the string. The arrow shot through the air, piercing the skull of the first student, her body slumping lifelessly to the sand.
The impact was immediate, the sound of the arrow's strike punctuating the otherwise still air. Elyonari's gaze lingered on the fallen student. Her eyes were wide, pupils frozen in terror.
Her stomach churned.
But she didn't hesitate. She couldn't.
She could hear the faint whimper of a student behind her, one of the more fragile ones, still unable to come to terms with the grim task at hand.
Their footsteps faltered but Elyonari did not look back. She focused on the next target, the next broken soul who needed to be ended.
Her breath shallow, she readied another arrow.
The bowstring hummed again. She released the arrow.
Two.
Another student fell. Another soul that would never see the sun again. Their bodies vanished.
Her hands were steady but the world around her felt unreal. The air felt heavy with sorrow, thick with regret. But her fingers kept moving. She pulled the string back, releasing yet another arrow. The motion was automatic.
Three.
Four.
Her mind began to numb.
She barely registered the faces anymore. Their pleas. Their gasps. The sound of bodies hitting the sand. The shimmer as their bodies and souls vanished.
All she could hear now was the soft, rhythmic hum of the bowstring, the almost serene release of the arrows as they ended lives, one by one.
Five.
Each strike felt like a hammer against her soul, but she couldn't stop. The task had to be done. The suffering had to end.
Her thoughts, her very sanity, felt like they were slipping away with every arrow she fired. She started to count them because if she didn't, she would lose herself entirely.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
Her breathing became ragged as she continued to fire. Her hands trembled slightly now, but she didn't stop. The arrows flew faster now, each one finding its mark with precision.
She was sparing them. She told herself that over and over again.
The others around her moved slower, still hesitant, still haunted. They watched her, their faces pale, eyes wide with disbelief.
But none of them moved to stop her. None of them had the strength to do it.
Ten.
Twelve.
Her mind was a blur. Her hands were growing numb from the continuous motion. But she had to keep going.
Her stomach tightened as she aimed her bow again, her heart pounding in her chest like a drumbeat. She was suffocating under the weight of the task, yet there was no other choice.
Fifteen.
Seventeen.
The counting was becoming harder. She wasn't sure if it was the heat, the exhaustion, or something deeper. But something was breaking inside her.
Something was slipping. Her mind was beginning to fray. She gripped the bow harder, her fingers aching. She had to keep going.
She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her blurred vision. The faces… the faces of the fallen were becoming distorted, twisting as though the very air was warping around her. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her body trembling with each new kill.
Twenty.
Twenty-five.
But Elyonari didn't stop.
She had to finish.
Her grip faltered as she reached for another arrow. The string vibrated under her fingers, but this time it felt wrong.
Her vision swam before her eyes. The faces of the students, their broken bodies, their shattered minds, it was all consuming her. She felt herself losing control, slipping into madness.
Thirty.
Her heart thundered in her chest as her mind screamed for her to stop.
But she couldn't. Not yet.
Her hand trembled as she pulled the string back one final time, her vision blurring. She barely registered the next student in front of her, their empty eyes staring up at her.
She released the arrow.
Thirty-one.
And for the first time, she dropped to her knees, the bow falling from her grasp.
The stillness of the moment was shattered by a sudden, unnerving sound. Elyonari flinched, her heart skipping a beat as a bright green holographic notification flickered into existence before her.
____
[You have killed 31 students. 7 of the Fifth Enlightenment. 24 of the Fourth Enlightenment.]
[Your body and soul has grown more powerful.]
[Congratulations! You are now a Second Phase Ascender!]
[Ascension Progression: Second Stage of Ascender, 3/2000.]