People gathered around a large stage that had suddenly appeared about 150 meters away from the city center.
Many were confused as to why the stage had appeared, and why in such a place that was not that populated until they saw 6 people walk on top of the stage and wait. They knew the six as they were the only survivors of what used to be the fighting force that was in the group led by Carlos and Marco.
The betrayal of Carlos had shocked everybody, and they all felt pity toward the six that had suddenly lost not only their two leaders but many friends, some of which were killed, while others turned out to be traitors that pointed their weapons at them.
With the six standing on top of the stage and seemingly waiting for something, a crowd started being formed around the stage as people were interested in what was happening. Asking the six about what was going on did nothing as they would simply reply with 'You will see soon', making them all wonder even more about what was going on.
Their questions were soon asked as they saw Reign and Wolf walking from the prison while dragging Carlos and his men that were shackled and bound by chains. All of them looked terrified and tried to struggle, but their struggle was meaningless against Wolf and Reign's strength.
The mana-draining chains that bound them caused them all to be weakened and even walking wasn't easy for them, not to mention struggling or trying to escape.
Upon walking through the city center, people started following after them, interested in what they were planning on doing. Upon reaching the stage and climbing on it, everybody suddenly understood what was about to happen.
An execution, a public execution to be more exact.
Reign had already done so with the draif leader, but that was different. It was a monster, one that people hated thanks to the many casualties that were caused by what it did together with its brethren.
As for Carlos and the others, even though they were traitors and were hated by all, some had been saved by them in the past and owed their lives to them, making it a bit hard to watch the sight of their weak bodies being forced to go up to the stage and kneel on it.
Public executions had been a thing of the past, but the last one to be done was in France, all the way back in 1939. Ever since then, public executions stopped being a thing, and they were even frowned upon.
In a civilized world, something like this would definitely not be done, but they were no longer living in the civilized world. Earth had changed, life had become dangerous and the law of the jungle was the only one that still stood.
Reign thought about whether he should do something like this and decided on it in the end. Even though many would feel that this was a bit too much, he wanted to show everyone what happened to traitors, he wanted those that felt anger at them to have a sense of relief after seeing them dead.
"You should all have understood what is about to happen by now!" Reign shouted out as the people nodded at his words.
"If you thought that this was a public execution, then your thoughts were correct."
"All those that do not wish to see this can leave, nobody is forced to do anything here, and we have chosen this spot, a more secluded area in the territory because of that."
"The execution will be carried out by those that were directly wronged by the traitors, even though all of us felt the repercussions of their actions, these six are the only ones left of their original group after these men, the ones they fought side by side and thought were their friends, turned out to be traitors that had been working together with the enemy for a long time."
"They broke bread together, slept under the same roof, saved each other's lives multiple times, and yet, these bastards felt nothing when they took up their weapons and turned them at their friends, slaughtering many of them during the battle two days ago."
"You may begin with the execution when you wish to." Reign said to the six that all nodded to him.
Their faces showed expressions of grief, anger, and sadness. They grieved for those whose lives were lost during the battle, were angry at those that betrayed and killed their friends, and were sad by the fact that they were now going to kill those they had once regarded as friends, people that they would trust even in the worst of circumstances.
Still, they wanted to do this, their anger could only be placated if they were the ones to end their lives. Their grief would only lessen if they had their revenge.
They all took out a sword.
The swords were all black and red in color, to be more exact, they looked like they were made out of stone and had red symbols on them.
The swords were given to them by Reign and Wolf and they were specially made by the two blacksmiths after the battle had finished. Wolf had ordered the swords, and he had ordered a total of 6 of them.
They were actually made of stone, a special kind of stone that was further reinforced by the symbols. The swords would actually take a part of the power from those they would kill, of course, the power was minimal and it would not help out the user that much, but Wolf had ordered them like that more for a symbolic purpose.
If they had any kinds of executions in the future, they would be carried out by these six swords, and they would become a symbol of sorts, each carrying parts of those that had betrayed them or done something similar.
There were 9 traitors excluding Carlos and the six all came in front of one of them. The traitors stared down at the ground, not even able to look at the eyes of the men they had once called friends.
They weren't ashamed, no, they always knew that this day would come, that they would end up killing those they were close with. From the very start, they were members of the organization, not the small order that Carlos was leading.
With mixed emotions, the six raised their swords before executing the six people in front of them, each was stabbed straight through the heart.
The swords shone a red color before they died down, and the six all collapsed on the ground. Even though nobody knew it, their souls had been taken by Reign the moment they died. For those that had betrayed them, they would never find peace, not even in death, he would make sure of it.
Three traitors were left, and the six all moved toward them. One person stood in front, while another stood behind a traitor. They lifted their swords before stabbing through them, one sword from the front, one from the back, each one penetrating the heart.
When the three collapsed, they moved toward the final person, the one that had led them in the past and the person they all looked up to.
Carlos didn't look down, he instead held his head high and stared at all six.
"So this is how it ends, killed by those I had raised as sheep to be slaughtered." Carlos chuckled as he saw how their faces changed, all of them angry at his words.
"What, not in the mood for jokes?" Carlos asked as he started laughing slightly.
The six all clenched their swords before moving. They surrounded Carlos before pointing the swords at Carlos. He simply continued chuckling before even laughing at them.
"How laughable, I am to be killed by weaklings whose sole existence was to serve as a disguise for me and my men."
"Well, I guess things never go as planned, do they?" Carlos asked as he stared at the sky with a smile, a smile that didn't go away even after six swords penetrated his body and blood started flowing from the corners of his mouth.
He closed his eyes, only to soon open them again and stare at Aethion's smiling face. He knew that his soul would be taken by Reign, he just never expected it would be done so quickly, right after his death.
"Who – who are you?" Carlos asked as Aethion simply continued smiling before turning around and going to a table that was nearby.
Looking around, Carlos could see the souls of his nine comrades, each one in a small cage, just like he was.
"Don't worry, we will have more than enough time to get acquainted with each other," Aethion said with his back turned to Carlos as he picked some stuff up from the table.
"You, however, will probably not like my methods of getting to know other people," Aethion said with a smile as he turned around with a knife in his hand.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢