The team finally exited the borders of the Dektaria Empire into the Shakdu Principality, but it was only an hour into their journey when a strong acid storm struck. Their vehicle was unaffected, but their progress was slightly delayed. Once the storm subsided, they continued traveling through a rugged but uninhabited mountain range.
It was noon, and Doctor Dukken was driving. Milish sat in front of Geno, smoking despite the young doctor’s repeated objections, polishing his massive pistol while the scientist stared at him. When the soldier’s annoyance reached its peak, he grabbed the gun, pressed it to the old man’s forehead, and pulled the trigger, nearly causing the terrified driver to veer off the cliffside. Milish burst into laughter, exhilarated, as the gun had been empty. Dukken took a deep breath and continued driving, while Geno stared silently at the perplexed soldier, unmoved. Then, suddenly, he said: “Smoking will shorten your lifespan”
“Not interested in a long life to collect madness like you”, Milish replied.
With childlike innocence and determination, the elder responded: “Did you know I could develop a cure for the incurable illness caused by smoking?”
The young doctor was stunned and enthusiastically expressed his eagerness to begin developing it once they returned home. Milish, however, raised a skeptical eyebrow, flicked his cigarette away carelessly, and asked the elder: “Then why haven’t you developed it already?”
In the blink of an eye, Geno’s excited expression turned distant. His gaze wandered as he replied: “That’s a question you should ask yourselves”
Milish didn’t understand what Geno meant by ‘yourselves’, unlike Dukken. The scientist then posed another question to the soldier: “Have you grown tired of life?”
Milish was puzzled, and Geno continued: “Heroes of the nation like you are granted every wish they desire, within the realm of possibility, of course. So, I assume you’ve tried everything and grown tired of everything to the point where you don’t want a long life, most common folk do want”
Milish studied Geno’s face. Though it appeared unsettled, the elder spoke with awareness and clarity. The soldier felt a strange unease but suppressed it, maintaining his composed demeanor. He folded his arms confidently and looked out the window behind him: “There’s one thing I still find thrilling…”
He stopped abruptly as his gaze caught a glimpse of a small village in the distance, clearly inhabited. A wicked spark flickered in his eyes, and his mouth curled into a terrifying grin. “Looks like we’ve found some pesky little bugs”, he said to his comrades.
Dukken, noticing the village on the radar, responded: “We’ll stick to the route Mr. Geno planned, and none of the locals will even notice us”
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“Yes, yes! By sticking to the route, we won’t… face… trouble…”, Geno added.
Milish cast the elder a sly glance before turning to Doken and saying warmly: “Let’s switch, young man. You must be tired”
“But my turn isn’t over—”
Milish grabbed Dukken’s arm firmly and said gruffly: “We’re switching. Now”
The young doctor relented and moved to sit opposite Geno. Suddenly, a barrier rose between their compartment and the driver’s cabin. Dukken banged on it loudly, shouting for it to be lowered. Geno cowered under his seat like a frightened mouse, clutching his knees, fully aware of what was about to happen. Without warning, the vehicle jolted, and Dukken’s head slammed hard against the barrier, knocking him unconscious.
Milish had veered the vehicle off the mountain road, speeding down the slope toward the village. Once there, he unleashed the full arsenal of weapons, a hail of bullets and energy beams tore through and shredded the bodies of the simple villagers struggling to survive amidst the war. Houses burned, exploded, and collapsed on their residents. Milish laughed maniacally, his sadistic delight evident in the massacre. Geno wept, trembling amidst the screams and cries for help, mingled with the sounds of explosions and gunfire. Meanwhile, Dukken, semi-conscious, struggled to process the cacophony of sounds inside and outside the vehicle…
When Dukken finally came to, the first thing he saw was Geno’s concerned face. He jolted upright, wincing at the pain in his head, realizing that the elder had tended to his injury and cared for him during his unconsciousness. He then asked nervously what Milish had done. Geno’s previously joyful expression turned somber, and he said nothing.
Dukken rushed toward Milish, shouting at him about what he had done. The soldier replied: “I took out some enemies of the nation like any loyal Dektarian would”
“They were just ordinary villagers! We didn’t need to do that! There weren’t any soldiers among them, were there?! They weren’t even armed, right?! How many did you kill?! How many?!”, Dukken screamed violently.
Milish coldly replied: “All of them”
“But why?! What was their crime?!”
“What’s the crime of our civilians?”
That phrase silenced Dukken for a moment, and Milish continued: “Everyone’s an enemy in war. They treat us by that principle, and we treat them the same. Not all civilians are innocent. Those who support their regimes are participants in the war, and I don’t have the time to differentiate”
Dukken was frozen for a moment before muttering: “But Shakdu doesn’t even have an army…”
“But it has dozens of Saru Republic military bases, and they’ve attacked us from there”, Milish added, glancing at the doctor: “Don’t let that lunatic fill your head with nonsense. You know what we do to the enemies of the state and their associates”
Dukken was stunned, his thoughts a whirlwind, before he sank back into his seat, silent. He whispered with trembling lips: “How did we come to this?”
Geno, raising a finger with a vacant yet knowing expression, answered: “Because it’s our nature… We are a vile race, each of us delighting in consuming the flesh of our brothers”. Then Geno’s mouth curled into a bitter smile before he buried himself in his papers once more.
Dukken’s thoughts were a chaotic jumble, then surrendered to sleep, experiencing the most restless night of his life. Tossing, mumbling, and haunted by nightmares, he envisioned pleading, flying heads, burning bodies dancing around him, flames in the sky, and a flat, blackened earth sprouting massive red mushroom-like plants. Then came the voice of rebuke and reproach, a woman’s voice…