Ash... Approaching the location of the fortress, Suuki and I saw scorched earth, with burning planks and belongings scattered all around, abandoned by the fleeing residents. The bodies were not visible, but they could definitely be felt: behind all the debris and piles of ashes lay people, either whole or torn to pieces. All that remained of Shen Guan was stones scattered over a very large area, some of which had been thrown so hard that even the nearest rocks had been shattered. Most of the trees were either knocked down or burned by something; along the entire length of the well-built and fortified clearing were craters from massive explosions, as if it had been bombed by winged missiles — I had never seen anything more destructive in this universe. The closest analogy really came from my home world: bombing, in its most dangerous form — it was not difficult to imagine how easily any modern civilisation from my world could crush the local inhabitants: no troops near the city, no long-range TNT attacks, no chance of preserving the infrastructure — it was as if someone who valued efficiency above human life had really let loose here. Someone at a safe distance simply took it upon themselves to fire on the fortress, ignoring the fact that it had been built by hundreds of the best architects and that there were only simple defenders inside. Perhaps if the latter had not prepared escape routes, they would already have been killed.
Even my fortresses wouldn't stand a chance here.
"Afka, what do you know about fire mages? - While Suyuki climbed onto the ruins of the city, horrified by the realisation that the outside world was a much more cruel and dangerous place than she had imagined, that the war of the fire people was taking lives by the dozen, the equally shocked fox could only wave her paws distractedly.
"All information about the subtypes of fire magic was burned along with the library department..." Afka muttered quietly, lowering even her ears. I remembered Wang Shin Tong's words about the destructive nature of humans, but I personally understood that these were isolated incidents, while Afka... felt only disappointment; it was a big blow to her. The fox was more empathetic than anyone I knew, and I understood her emotions well. "But there are almost no creatures left that could do such a thing. Explosive magic is a rare gift, and people with this ability formed a clan, but because of their dangerous nature, they were eliminated. But how this was achieved, and by whom, I do not know.
It sounded alarming. Until all the strongholds were destroyed, the nations had to take desperate measures to exterminate the owners of such explosive magic. Whether they were buried under corpses or there was some easier way, again, is unknown: the weaknesses and killing habits of certain enemies had been deliberately erased, and at such moments, Zhao's actions seemed particularly ingenious.
However, I did know one thing: Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Man was a mercenary, not part of the Fire Lord's army, so someone had ordered Shen Guan's destruction, and for some reason, Zhao came to mind. The explosive approach was too obvious. From Oza's point of view, it seemed like a rash decision to keep a siege engine around all the time, and considering the prosthetics he had received during experiments with his magic, he was really some kind of cyborg assassin. It would be much more useful than giving such a person complete freedom of action; Shen Guan could have fallen long ago, but controlling someone like that... Perhaps it was the Fire Lord himself who ordered the destruction of the dynamite mages, because if they had decided to seize power, they would most likely have succeeded. No tanks, airships, or other wonders of modern engineering would have helped them. Fortresses and platoons of soldiers? I have proof that it's pointless. And what if one of them challenges Agni Kai? Then it's either pray or refuse to agree under any circumstances. But lightning could easily kill them... from a distance. It's a pity they didn't kill them all, now it's my headache — I promised Lya that I would take care of everything.
Perhaps it would have been better to just run away, but she made it clear that defending the fortress was her duty as an architect. And I just didn't want to leave my friend alone with such a dangerous enemy.
"If this place was so easily destroyed, why is your fortress still standing?" At the same time, Suyuki returned to me, looking several times angrier than before. She was breathing heavily and clenching her fists tightly.
"Good question. Lya said that the fortress I built was bombed several times, but the enemy didn't attack with full force again. It was as if they were shaking and intimidating them, but not ready to destroy them yet...
"Whoever did this is worse than an animal. They could have done the same to us," she spat out in utter contempt. "Dagoth, maybe I don't understand the world around me, and I'm angry at things that seem normal to everyone else, but promise me something," she said, taking a step forward and grabbing my hand. "Kioshi's philosophy... no, stoicism calls for the strictest punishment of criminals. Swear that you will execute that bastard. If you throw your discs at him, the ones that cut through stone cores, you'll kill him easily! Think about it, Kioshi would have done the same.
"Killing again? We have to be better than that, not like the most cruel people. His fate is to live in prison. He's the last of his kind and could restore history and knowledge to our library," snorted Afka.
They both stared at me with different expressions. On the one hand, there was a girl who had begun to change, for whom murder was a way of enforcing modern laws, the simplest form of getting rid of the most dangerous criminals. Most of the world was now in the Middle Ages, albeit with spiritual practices, and murder was a common occurrence. On the other hand, there was Afka, even more repulsed by the thought of bloodshed. She couldn't understand why people were so obsessed with it and wanted to move forward into a new era. The mage's knowledge could tell us a lot.
"Choose:
1 - Side with Suyuki (Effectiveness - you've seen with your own eyes what a cold approach can do. You have kept your enemies alive for long enough, but sooner or later this choice had to be made. Since you did not swear an oath to Wang Shin Tong, you will not be cursed, but you do not know what else he is capable of. Afka will leave, and the library will be closed for centuries. Your relationship with Suyuki will change to - beloved)
2 - Side with Afka (You do not share Afka's point of view, but you agree to respect it out of simple respect and to preserve the possibility of using the library. You promise to capture the enemy alive. Suyuki will no longer see you as her life partner, but Afka will be very grateful. Relationship with Wang Shin Tong will change to - friendly
And... that's it. The choices did not allow you to maintain relationships with everyone. There was no third, fourth or fifth option, no tricks, as is usually the case. But no, I saw a way out, why didn't Anubis mention it? There were many options that could have worked.
"You won't be lucky."
"How many times have I made decisions on my own, without your prompting? Let me... just let me sort this out now. I'm sure it will work." "Suyuki, please... just a second," I held my finger out in front of the girl and stepped aside, staring intently at Afka. "Listen... I understand you well, but do you really want to spare the life of a complete monster?
"The explosion mage is the last of his kind, and the library needs to recover the lost knowledge," she frowned.
"What if you can't get anything useful out of a maniac who has killed hundreds of people? Life isn't always measured by knowledge," and at that moment... I understood what Anubis was talking about. I understood Afka's thoughts before she said anything, and they contained a much deeper understanding of the subject than I could have imagined.
"The life of the flesh is insignificant. But when they pass into the spirit world after a violent death, beings replenish the mist of lost souls. I'll tell you about it later, if you want, but you must prevent souls from ending up in that terrible place. Better yet, learn how to purify people so that no one can get there.
Yeah, I'm like a librarian, but I don't know anything about the secrets of the universe.
But more importantly, the agreement with Wang Shintong has been based on some place in the spirit world all this time? They talked about it in Kora, but all I remembered was crowds of wandering souls, frozen by the surrounding aura. Now this raised even more questions, but Afka's deep gaze made it even clearer that I wouldn't get the answers right now. Perhaps it was my good relationship with the owl that would allow me to understand everything? Would they begin to reveal the secrets of the world? I didn't know. I didn't even know how important it was, whether it was worth taking this new factor into account, but the principle was clear. I had to choose between two options.
It remained to decide who was more important to me... Damn, why did this happen? Why can't relationships just be good?
"Okay," I said, patting Afka and nodding heavily. Her fox tail wagged quickly, and I returned to Kioshi, the cosplayer who was stamping her foot. I didn't want to talk about it now, but I made my choice. "Suyuki, I promise that the life of the person who did this will be as difficult and hellish as possible, and they will regret being born... but I won't kill them. You see, I have a certain view of the world...
"She won't understand you."
Yes... from Suyuki's look, it was clear that she literally couldn't share my view, even if I explained everything to her. We are different.
Turning silently away from the frozen girl, I headed back. There was no reason to stay here any longer. I had achieved the main thing: I understood the extent of the destruction, on the basis of which Afka would create a plan. Suyuki could think whatever she wanted, clench her fists and stamp her feet, probably even be disappointed in me, but that didn't mean that our human relationship would be severed. I wanted to hope so. I was still the only one who could help them all, and so, even if she didn't want to, she followed me ten steps behind, sad and hurt. And my head was filled with thoughts of how to become friends again. Soon we returned to the fortress, where peaceful residents and soldiers of the Fire People had already settled in. The latter were sent to prison and assigned a couple of Kioshi warriors as guards so that none of the locals would do anything foolish. At the gate, I was met not by Leah, but by the commander of the earth mages, a man in traditional cloth garb, with a small beard and a pair of well-groomed moustaches, and a typical hat that resembled an upside-down bowl. Captain Baoqin
"Any ideas?" he asked mockingly.
"Not now," I shook my head, disappointing the soldiers who were watching intently and drawing the captain's disapproving gaze. Maybe that increased the overall tension, but I had no time to maintain relations with all those damn whiners. "Better show me a map of the area, I need to know the surroundings in detail.
"Tsk, I can't believe we have to rely on an outsider... Let's go," the man looked rude, and his manner of speaking showed his disapproval of the fact that I was their only hope, but he still led me to a guarded tent with a map. Afka got to work, and Baoqin looked at me harshly. "We figured out that the explosions don't happen right away. Less than a second before the bang, a small fireball appears at the site of the detonation, thirty centimetres in diameter. I have no idea how the three-eyed man creates it at such a distance, but it is the only way to determine where the blow will come from. It's impossible to defend yourself, no matter how skilled a mage you are — you can't stop the explosion. It destroys any wall, and then you yourself, and you're lucky if it kills you quickly, otherwise you'll suffer and writhe in agony with your arms torn off.
"Isn't there too much mockery in your voice towards someone who can help you? - Suyuki took a heavy step forward. I even froze, surprised by her defence. But then I just spat out in disappointment and stood against the wall. Baoqin just looked away.
"A dozen of my men were torn to pieces. How are you any better than them?
"…
The situation became even more difficult when Afka found herself at a dead end. She simply didn't know what plan to come up with — all her defensive strategies were falling apart in the face of the enemy's power. Traps, fortresses, golem forms, none of it made sense. What's more, defending themselves was dangerous, because, as the destruction of Shen Guan had shown, debris was a problem; it could become more dangerous than the explosions themselves. Crawl underground like a mole? The locals had already tried that; it was an obvious tactic, and the enemy had learned to shake the ground around them, blowing up everything in sight. You'd be lucky if it just buried you.
But there was only one plan, and it wasn't quite what Afka was used to.
"We'll have to take a risk," she concluded, waving her ears. "And fight without thinking about defence. Can you do it?"
Glancing at Suyuki, who was leaning against the wall and not even looking at me, I nodded wearily. I had so easily cut myself off from quick access to the fourth chakra, ruined my relationship with a good person, and now I felt like cats were scratching at my soul, which meant I had to at least show that it wasn't for nothing.
"Win without getting hit? - I exhaled quietly and turned my back to the map and the captain, slowly climbing onto the wall. Taking off my upper clothes, I sat down in the lotus position. I had to learn to listen. Renounce and just listen.
He had to solve a complex dilemma like some kind of monk and achieve enlightenment.
***
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