Maybe it wasn't even about the Church…

Fire sparked beneath my arms.

Maybe this was just a problem of humanity…

The spark came again, fiercer this time.

Maybe everything just needed unhinged and unhindered destruction.

The white flames in my arms blazed without mercy.

One of the horsemen had already sighted me as I stood. He wore a ragged black vest that showed off his muscles, had ugly piercings studding his face, and rough black hair that looked like it hadn't seen water in weeks. Whistling like some native bird, he was already spurring his mount toward me — before he belatedly saw the flames surge outward.

The fire blazed and he immediately tried to rein in his horse. But the bloody beast of burden was already too committed to its speed.

The white flames consumed them as the fire flared wide, and the next thing I heard was their screaming — both his and the horse's — as the two of them thrashed around, dancing like a madman and a rabid animal burning alive.

The running and smashing that had filled the air, all that noise and wailing from the villagers, stopped for a moment. Everyone heard one of their own screaming and yelling.

The horses drifted to a slow stop, their riders wearing shocked expressions. The villagers got a moment to breathe. They helped each other up, even removing their wounded, albeit sluggishly.

One of the riders slowly came forward. With a cold expression, he watched his subordinate fall and crash through a wooden canopy with a coal pot underneath. The flames surged higher, igniting the canopy of dried hay and casting a harsh radiance across the area around me.

Immediately, I could hear footsteps. People were emerging from their homes. Among them came old man Ephraim, and Nisha appeared as well. I briefly wondered why she'd stayed indoors and allowed all this to happen in the first place.

'Where do her morals really stand?'

Old man Ephraim approached the raiders. He had a strong look in his eyes.

"We had a deal!"

The leader of the riders turned his head to Ephraim with a condescending look.

"We pay tribute to you… and you stay off our land! There has not been any relapse on our side. You have no right to do this!"

Some of the riders behind him muttered to each other and laughed.

The leader scoffed with visible disdain. "Ephraim. Things have changed. Haven't you heard of the promise of ten thousand silver flying around?" He gestured lazily with one hand. "Either you give me something worth ten thousand silver right now, or I'll ravage your land and overturn every corner until you bring me the heretic. Oh wait, no…"

He paused dramatically and turned to me, lips curling into an ugly smile.

"Found him. Guess he really does go around announcing himself with the flames, doesn't he?"

He laughed, looking down at me with clear and dangerous malice etched in his eyes.

"My Raiders!!!"

Different varieties of war cries exploded into the air — sounds like those of different tribes originating from different mountain corners.

"Wheeewheee."

"Ouuwaaa!"

"Awwuuuuuuu!"

His voice rang out again, dripping with glee.

"That ten thousand silver will be ours!!!"

Nisha stepped forward and exhaled slowly. "Pa Ephy, you tried it your way. It didn't work." She cracked her neck. "Please excuse us."

She clapped her hands together, and her eyes glistened with a faint, cold light.

"Come. Black Shadow."

As she spoke, the atmosphere dropped several degrees. The raiders felt it. Their noise died down, and they began cautiously looking around them, hands drifting toward weapons.

It was as if the entire world blinked, and when it opened its eyes again, the darkness had grown darker.

The first thing we heard was a sharp noise from behind — then a sickening squelching sound, like something tearing through flesh and bone.

The leader of the raiders now wasn't looking so pumped up. He glanced back from atop his horse, trying to understand what was happening as another pouncing sound echoed through the night. It was followed by the cry of a horse, then the cry of a man.

"Youuu!!" He shouted angrily and dashed at Nisha.

She vanished. Her body turned to liquid darkness, sinking into the ground like water through sand. A heartbeat later, she emerged from the shadow behind me, making me stagger sideways with a sharp intake of breath.

"Calm down. I won't bite you." She snarled at me silently, but in a feral and oddly sensual manner. That too in the middle of a bloody battle.

'Who bred this girl?'

The sounds of crushing and pouncing continued. Horses cried out. Men cried out and ran, but they were merely prey to the darkness now — unable to see what was leaping from shadow to shadow, killing them one by one. Even I couldn't see it clearly.

It was like the darkness itself had come alive and chosen violence.

"Your summon must be quite a powerful one."

She shrugged. "He's a Champion Tier. Doesn't come close to having a Heroic Spirit, but I've learned to use him well. Besides, we're stronger at night." She watched the carnage with clinical detachment. "If I tried to use him during the day, I'd lose against this many."

Hooves of horses tumbled against the ground. Some mounts fled screaming into the night. Others were torn apart by Nisha's summon, which even I couldn't get a clear picture of in the darkness — just glimpses of movement, flashes of something low and fast and hungry.

We managed to grab hold of three horses that survived the assault.

The leader of the raiders, with all his threatening presence, died somewhere amidst it all. A few cowards made a run for it, their hoof beats fading into the distance.

At last, the town was peaceful. Although now quite bloody.

Ephraim came closer, looking pale, shaking his head slowly.

"What… what have you done?"

He didn't look pleased by what we'd accomplished. The gore was understandable — but there wasn't any note of gratitude in his tone either.

It made me frown slightly.

"We helped you kill people who were oppressing your folks. Why do you sound so dismayed?"

Another man emerged from his home — most of the villagers had locked themselves indoors during the fighting and were only now creeping out. His face was pale.

"You don't understand what Ephraim is saying…"

'Of course I don't. We just saved all your asses.'

The man continued, his tone heavy and full of fear.

"Because of what you've done here tonight… it is imminent now. We won't be able to get out of this alive." He swallowed hard, looking at the bodies scattered across the square. "We are all going to die."

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