Amber's corrosive fog was still clinging to so of the walls and streets of the city as Erik, June, Amber, Mira, Emily, and the three Chimaeric Demons entered the now-dead outpost.
Erik gave Amber a quick glance. She was clearly shaken, because she knew many of the people here died because of her. Mira, instead, was unperturbed. That might have been because of how the two won grew up, or what they did during these years, or it might even be a matter of personalities and beliefs. Erik didn't know that.
Emily was the only one among them who had a neutral expression. She was sorry for those who died, but not as shaken as Amber.
Only silence reigned around them. The stench of death perated everything, and that was because of Amber, since her power just reduced every living creature into a puddle of goo.
As they made their way towards the center of the outpost, the true extent of the carnage that had just unfolded within the outpost beca clear.
What remained of the corpses of soldiers and civilians alike littered the ground. They weren't the only ones.
Among them, what remained of the thaids that attacked this place could be found, along with the burnt-out husks of buildings and the skeletal remains of so dead leviathan thaid that had been killed by the blackguards or Amber.
Emily swallowed hard, her rifle hanging at her side. "This," she said. Her voice was strained; she had always known that Amber's powers were ridiculously powerful, but she couldn't fully understand how destructive they were. During battles, she often had to restrain herself because of friendly fire. But now that she had no such constraints, her full might was in view.
At that point, everyone was sure her ability would turn terrifying if she got over the 54 neural links mark.
Emily turned to look at her childhood friend, but Amber said nothing. However, her face was pale and drawn. She stared at the corpses, or better, what remained of them, with haunted eyes, her fists clenched tight at her sides, because she was the one responsible for what had just happened. Well, at least in part.
Mira glanced at the two won and shook her head. "It had to be done," she said. Mira spent enough ti with the woman to understand what she was thinking.
"Those blackguards would have wiped us out given half a chance if they were in our shoes. We're fighting for our survival here. Why should we feel sorry for them?"
"I know that," Amber said, rounding on Mira. "But this... this is..." She trailed off, gesturing helplessly at the grueso scene. Then, her eyes fell on the puddle of goo having civilian clothes inside.
"They didn't have to die."
"War is ugly," June said. "And Mira is right. We did what was necessary."
It was ironic. To save their people, they had to sacrifice so... a lot of them. Could this still be considered a victory? Could this be considered doing what they needed to achieve this goal?
Amber didn't know. Honestly speaking, no one among them did. What was certain, though, was that Frant's citizen died because of what they did.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Erik cleared his throat. "Alright, enough. June, take Amber, Mira, and the Chimaeric Demons and go check the armory. See if there's anything useful left. Emily and I will look for provisions."
June nodded. "Yes, Master." June motioned for the others to follow him towards the outpost's central compound.
The clone knew that Erik just wanted to know what was here and send people to claim whatever was inside.
Truth be told, Erik was also thinking about placing so Chimaeric Demon eggs here so that he could plant spies, or actually taking control of the place.
But as things were now, he suspected the blackguards were going to abandon this place once they learned they had been attacked.
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