Taking a step forward, Al looked at the celestial with a grim look on his face.

‘Now everything makes sense. If the barrier still stands, if the great spirits don’t respond, if the celestials are still here…’ Riling himself up more and more, resolve filled Al’s veins. Sensing the aura of their leader, his men fell in the formation, before following after him.

All the while, the celestial looked at them with a confused look on his young and gentle face.

Then…

‘Not again…’ Before Al could even form his thought, the buzz returned. FIlling everyone’s mind with sense-shattering pain, it laid waste to the formation of Al’s men. But at the same time, while falling to his knees once again, the leader of the clan could see that the buzz worked on the celestial as well.

‘Just what the hell is this thing!’ Shouting in his mind with desperation, Al could only shut his mind off when another wave of unbearable pain came.

And then, just like before, everything came to an end.

Groaning heavily as he moved his head to the side, Al confirmed that once again, the forest population enriched. Given the dense vegetation, Al was no longer able to count the number of people appearing.

“Ki…” Once again, the same scenario almost appeared. Almost, because rushing to his feet, Al shouted from the bottom of his powerful lungs.

“CEASE THE FIGHTING!” His throat was burning. Even in battles he rarely would use this devastating technique. Not only was it extremely tiring, but its aftereffects would also leave the man nearly mute for a few days.

Miraculously, it worked.

Given their long-lasting enmity, the red banner tribe knew Al’s abilities pretty well. And using such unpractical technique just to stop them from killing each other had to have a reason.

And surviving in the face of Gener’s tribe might for over twenty years, red banner clansmen were far from being too stupid to understand it.

Ignoring the celestial altogether, Lessen jumped towards Al, landing on his knees right beside the leader of the tribe. Noticing the intent, Uffer quickly shielded the two of them with his enormous body clad in thick furs.

“Not… place… moved…. time.” Uttering those words through his burning throat with the utmost effort, Al had to rely on his friend’s help. “Barrier is still up… Celestials…”

Before Al could finish, Lessen’s eyes dilated, before his eyebrows turned them into thin slits.

“I understand. Leave it to me.” Abandoning his leader without any shred of care, Lessen stood up. While Al finally could bring himself back to his feet, his close friends already approached the group of confused warriors from both clans.

“Our grudge is no longer valid. We are back in the unforgiving world we fought so hard to thoroughly destroy.” Lessen’s voice sounded grim. Utter lack of hate on the youngster’s face even when he looked at the soldiers of the enemy clan seemed to be the greatest factor behind his apparent credibility.

Sadly, before he could utter another word, a pained groan alerted everyone’s attention. Clearly overcoming a struggle far greater than either of the clansmen, the young celestial attempted to climb up to a half-sitting position, only to instantly roll to the side and start vomiting.

“Oh fuck…” It was this sight that ultimately convinced both sides of the truth. In fact, even most of Al’s troops found themselves stupefied when they heard their officer’s explanation.

But the aura of the man couldn’t be mistaken. Only those abandoned by spirits could possess the aura of the spirit’s enslavement!

“Wait, what’s going on…?” Despite the ordeal he was going through, the sudden wave of the chilling cold born out of the combined killing intent of all the clansmen was still enough to shake the celestial awake.

And the first thing he saw when a bit of sanity returned to his mind, was something that could be considered the worst nightmare.

A huge group of burly, fur-clad warriors whose weapons were already dripping with blood. And all of them stared at the young man with clear and unending hate in their eyes.

“Wait, aren’t you…?” With his eyes suddenly widening in a shock so great that all the hints of fear disappeared from his disposition, the celestial attempted to say something, when his face suddenly twisted in the utmost terror.

“No, no, NO! PLEASE NO…!” Surprised by such an act of cowardice from the member of this lofty race of celestials, clansmen were rooted on the spot. This young man wasn’t even a shadow of the terrifying monsters that they all had fought back in the late days of the apocalypse.

Buzz…

Striking out of nowhere, the strange force once again forced everyone into an embryonic position. With a headache capable of splitting mountains now targeting everyone’s brain, the entire forest turned silent as if someone threw a spell on it.

Already slightly used to the torture, Al managed to look around. And just as expected, he could see people appearing out of nowhere, only to fall unconscious to the ground. Then, the torture ended once again.

‘So that’s what’s going on…’ As little as the change was, Al was slowly getting used to the excruciating sensation. It wasn’t the first time when he had to toughen through something like that after all.

“Make the others stop the fighting.” Forcing the words out of his throat, Al instructed Lessen while standing up. Bit by bit, Al started to close the gap between him and celestial. Moving faster and faster with each inch, he was already running towards the youngling by the time he only started blinking his eyes.

‘No hard feelings. I just can’t let you regain your strength.’ Swinging his hammer-holding hand to the back, Al dampened his momentum, stopping right above the youngling. Raising his axe high above his head, he looked down at the opening eyes of the celestial.

“It’s either you or us. That’s how it always has been.” Reaching the perfect position for the hit, Al got rid of the signs of mercy from his face, dressing up the proper expression of the clan leader.

In the end, even executions had their proper rituals.

“I am Al, of the thundering axe. In the name of the Gener clan,” speaking up, Al swung his axe down, “I sentence you to death.”

Slamming the sharp edge of his axe right into the face of the young celestial, Al mercilessly split his head into two. And just as the brain matter and blood splattered on everyone around, a surge of energy washed over the place, rejuvenating the clansmen tired after two days of constant fighting.

“Ah, raise to the skies and be free, spirits.” Feeling the familiar surge of strength, Al instantly fell to his knees before raising his arms high to the skies. Still holding the bloodied axe in his hand, his sight lost its sharpness as he stared into the ephemeral energy floating away.

Then, his body suddenly tingled.

‘Okay then, let’s get this over with.’ Turning his hand around to the rest of the warriors, Al smiled before uttering. “Whoever conquers the pain first, will have the right to claim my leading role!”

Encouraging both his and the formerly enemy clansmen, Al smiled.

Then, the buzzing came once again.