Awakening the Divine Spark-Chapter 75: No casualties!

No matter how ruthless the kidnappers were, one had to commend their effectiveness and competence. And speed.

While Lee's group proudly marched all over the place, with the corner of his eye he saw the scourge groups quickly gathering and adapting wagons found on the streets. No matter the size, the wagons were filled with crying and despaired children and pushed away, towards the direction of the rift.

Most of the kids were at the age of four to five, and from the looks of it the scourge ignored everyone younger or older than that. At one point Lee caught himself thinking it's not that bad then, but felt like slapping himself right after.

It didn't matter whom the scourge didn't kidnap, they still took children from their homes, and it didn't matter whom they didn't kill – thousands of people died on this day. And Lee's main problem was – he was one of the scourge now.

The idea made him depressed, and from the looks of it, he was the only one feeling this way. His squad members proudly stomped their feet, covered in the blood of the locals as if it was some kind of mark of honor.

The boys surely were happy about their first conquest, even though they only made up the numbers of the invaders and nothing more.

Fortunately the effectiveness of the kidnapping units was a blessing in disguise for Lee.

The relatively large city was combed quickly and the scourge fell back towards the rift. There was a brief moment of panic when the newbies realized the rift wasn't there, but the vanguard members were not bothered and joined the others who were already organizing a wide camp next to the earlier battlefield.

No one was bothered by the sight of the earlier massacre and no one was running around, looting corpses. There were few kids who ran off to find their lost weapons, like Olpax, but no one payed attention to them.

Then there were those who went to find their buddies who got trampled earlier. And surprisingly, while the absolute majority were dead, there were a couple of shocking exceptions where the kids still had signs of life.

It was questionable, though, whether they could lead normal lives with as many broken bones as they had, but at least they were breathing.

Lee's squad settled down at the side. Normally he would've enjoyed the sensation of finally being able to lie down in the grass, but no matter what he touched, it felt like everything was covered in thick layer of blood.

'Funny, huh?' Lee bitterly laughed to himself, 'I still have human values while being a part of the scourge.'

Of course, he knew he had no choice – except for one, of course. But he was not ready to commit suicide either on his own or by attacking the scourge warriors. Potato's implications of potential limited reincarnations kind of scared him more than the prospect of becoming a murderer.

Well, technically he already was one. He had killed Smirnoff in his second life and in this one even caused the demise of a whole bunch of people.

'Ethics is hard ...' Lee sighed to himself.

He didn't have much time to contemplate, though. One of the vanguard members came over and said, "Get ready. The rift will soon open."

"How ..." Fenax wanted to ask what was on everyone's minds, but held back.

The vanguard soldier was much friendlier than expected, though. He took off his helmet, showing the scarred face of a seasoned warrior from one of the scale-covered races, and said, "The Lord doesn't keep the gate opened all the time. After the initial charge it gets closed and afterwards after every two thousand breaths Lunax opens the rift for a span of fifty breaths. It allows us to avoid chaos and group up here, in addition to making sure that locals won't attack our backs."

"So there's someone counting breaths ...?" Olpax blurted, but immediately got smacked on the forehead by Fenax.

"Actually there is." The vanguard guy said, amused by the harmless scene, "You did well, boys! I expect you to train well so you can watch my back in the future. Not all conquests are this easy!"

'Right!' Lee grinned to himself, 'You don't want to meet another Valen Sunwell, do you? Or the guys in the Potato head's place. Judging from his attitude, the ability to ignite your own spark gives a completely different power level. Were those monsters in the underground pyramid back then also like that?'

"Sorry for the earlier, guys!" Olpax said, and patted Lee on the shoulder, interrupting his train of thought, "If not for you ... if not for Leax ..."

"Don't sweat about it!" Lee said.

Him pulling the kid up and then carrying together with Kilax was purely on instinct. Of course, he would've preferred to carry a drinking buddy from a bar rather than bringing terror to a beautiful and peaceful place, slaughtering the innocents, but no one asked his opinion.

"Ye! Our squad is hard as a rock!" Killax happily said.

"Ye! Hard as a rock!" The rest joined, but the other squads were already crowding at a spot where the rift was supposed to open, thus the six boys rushed over.

Probably because they were leaving the place, or it was the impact of the general mood – all of the sudden Lee felt much better. He stopped thinking about what-ifs and should-haves and focused on gathering information about the protocols the raids had in general.

It was possible that during one of these he'll have to attempt to escape and the more he knew, the better his chances would be.

Sadly, similar to the fortress, the main policing was done by the own squad members. The idea of someone wanting to run off never crossed anyone's minds, and even the squads who now lacked a member or even two quietly discussed the ways to recruit more promising new members.

***

"Congratulations on completing your first conquest!" After the return Roganax gathered his trainees for another session of brainwashing.

They sat in front of the one-eyed instructor and listened to his teachings, similar to the other groups who had their own preachers.

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He said, "You might think it was only a practice, but, in fact, this was a masterful demonstration by the Lord's vanguard. Did you notice? There were no casualties! The Lord's vanguard, his children, didn't suffer any casualties!"

'What the actual fuck?' Lee stared at the cyclops in disbelief, 'Are you retarded or think everyone else here is mentally challenged?!'

Even if none of the vanguard warriors died, tens of kids were trampled to death during the charge! But then again, after throwing a quick glance around, Lee found the answer to his question. These kids were brainwashed for years and, probably, if their instructor said something, it didn't matter whether it was true or not.

"As the result we saved hundreds of suffering souls, and Lunax saw your performance, and decided to reward you!" Roganax continued, and when the kids jumped to their feet in excitement, he quickly dampened their moods, "... but only few of you! The best of the best! When we return, we'll hold a competition to decide the three best squads who will become the next elemental warriors! Now rest! We'll depart tomorrow morning."

"... what do you think the competition will be?"

"... we have to win!"

"... we don't stand a chance ..."

Each individual squad gathered up and began heated discussions while eyeing the rest of the kids from the fortress as their mortal enemies.

The squads that lost their members though were desperate, but soon some realized they could poach a member from another squad that lacked a member. Their leaders ran all over the place, trying to recruit and even went to their instructors to persuade to assign them the best possible candidate.

'This will be a pain in the ass!' Lee said to himself.

He was certain his group lacked the ability to go against the older boys and even if they had, he would find a way to sabotage it. The problem was that his young colleagues had the delusion of having a chance, and it was clear the upcoming days would turn out to be annoying and full of headache.