Location: City of Marhiel Status: Devastated. Survivors: One.
The walls had collapsed hours ago. Smoke from the storehouses still floated in the air. Blood stained the streets as if the city had been slaughtered.
Eldros, General of Marhiel, rested his sword on the ground. He was breathing heavily. His armor was broken, covered in soot and ash. Around him, no one remained. No soldiers, no civilians. Only corpses.
And the sound… of slow footsteps.
The man emerged from the mist like a golden specter. His armor was worn, dull at the edges, but still gleamed with a sickly glow. A hood obscured part of his face. His voice was soft, as if reciting a prayer.
"They do not cry… they do not scream… They have already accepted their fate," he said, stopping before the general.
Eldros lifted his gaze. His eyes burned.
"You did this?"
The Purifier nodded, serene.
"Not I… The goddess Kise, through me. I am merely the instrument."
"You're a monster!" Eldros spat. "A murderer! Children? The elderly? There was no one armed!"
"And does sin ask one's age before it is born?" he replied calmly. "Does impurity only belong to warriors?"
Eldros staggered but did not fall.
"I have fought in more wars than you can imagine. I have seen death up close. But I have never seen someone smile while slaughtering innocents."
The Purifier stopped just a few steps away.
"Innocents? There is no such thing. Only souls yet to be cleansed. Today, Marhiel has been purified. They have returned to the embrace of the goddess… unburdened. Without pain."
Eldros tightened his grip on his sword's hilt.
"Then… purify me too."
The Purifier smiled.
"I will. But not out of hatred. Not out of judgment. Only because it is right."
Eldros roared and charged with everything he had left. A direct thrust to the heart.
But time did not grant him mercy.
The light was brief. Silent.
Eldros fell to his knees before he could understand. His sword clattered against the ground. His blood soaked the stone.
The Purifier knelt before him, as if offering a blessing.
"Your soul weighed less than I thought. It took you time to accept the truth… but in the end, you came to me."
Then, in a lower voice:
"Rest now. You won't have to fight for a tainted world anymore."
He rose. The beasts surrounded him in silence.
The city was utterly still. Only the echo of a sacred whisper remained:
"Kise, it is done."