Joonbum promoted interracial marriage, but he was always sad to see fewer pure Ainos people as a result. That was when the poisoning happened. They were after Joonbum’s rifle that he presented to the Ainos. It was impossible for the attackers to acquire it otherwise than using poison. Five Ainos people were fooled by human hospitality and fell for it. Howen was enraged. Luckily, the Ainos had a strong resistance to poison that kept them alive. The group behind everything was Horun. Even when they called in their priests, they were plotting against Khalodian at that every moment.
-How are they?-
-They’re quiet, sir.-
-Those devil worshippers… what are they up to?-
-They might not care about anyone dying because they worship the devil?-
-No, they are still human.-
-Something’s off. Maybe they’re working in the shadows.-
-No, my spies found nothing suspicious.-
-This is irritating.-
-Why don’t we try one more? Since they are not responding?-
-No way! Brother Morrison, if they find out…-
-It’s dangerous. They’re not fools.-
-Yes, but that’s why we can try. We will cut our ties and try again on a much bigger scale.-
-Bigger scale?-
-Yes, we will spread the poison among the restaurant districts.-
-Are you plotting to poison civilians?-
-Preposterous!-
-What’s preposterous? They are devil worshipers! They must feel God’s wrath upon them! We will skin them and burn them to death! That’s the only way to purify them. It’s mercy!-
-Oh, I see… but how much poison will we need?-
-We will kill thousands. We need lots of poison.-
-That will surely cause great chaos in the city!-
The radio tapped to reveal their secret meeting transferred such evil messages to Howen who was listening to it. His face grew colder. As he quietly listened, a group of Ainos warriors entered the room.
“First squad, ready to enter storm the front.”
“Second squad, ready at the left.”
“Third squad, ready at the right.”
“Fourth squad, ready from the rear.”
“The fifth through ninth squads have finished setting up the perimeter.”
“We are investigating all possible secret passageways and there are warriors scouting the outer part of the perimeter.”
They all fell silent. The people over the radio were still talking about their evil plans to kill thousands of innocent people. Howen opened his mouth.
“We will charge in. Capture them alive, but kill anyone that seems dangerous or shows resistance.”
“Yes, sir.”
Howen nodded as the men answered in unison.
“We will rout them out for good. For the future of the Ainos, do not show mercy. These are evil men.”
“For Ainos!”
“Now, GO!”
Every man moved out of the room quickly. Howen then turned to the window and looked out to the building at a distance.
Horun was corrupted to its roots. They spoke of peace and mercy but this did not include any non-human beings. Even then, they did not show the same affection to commoners. The religion only existed for the nobles. They accused complaints as heresy and killed anyone in their path.
-They do not deserve mercy. I will rout them out of this land for good. I’ve decided.-
-Prince! There will be heavy resistance! This religion has existed for thousands of years!-
Joonbum was firm on his stance against them even with Jackson’s heavy concern. As he made his claims, Horun was being dismantled from within.
At the sound of a sharp whistle that filled the night sky, the people inside the building awoke in terror. Before they found out what was going on, all Horun priests lay dead within their temples. The surrounding roads were brightened up with oil lamps and the area was now so bright that there was no way to hide.
“Horuns are running through the west alleyway!”
“DAMMIT!”
“RUN!”
Priests that tried to run had been caught by the lights.
-WARNING! TO ALL HORUNS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER!-
A loud siren filled the area with a thundering voice that followed. The Horun priests, however, did not give up.
“DIE! You devils!”
“Curse the devil worshippers!”
“How dare you attack the Horuns!”
Priests cursed and fought with swords in their hand. They were nowhere close to the loving priests they always tried to be.
“Drop your swords! We will let you live!”
“HAH! Ainos, the devils! We will not trust the devil!”
At that moment, a man who shouted and spat was suddenly thrown to the back. There was an arrow on his head that killed him instantly.
“I hoped you would say that! We have orders to kill anyone that tries to resist.”
Another priest that stood next to the dead priest was shocked. These were not the Ainos they used to know. Before he could run, a sword was swung at him, cutting his arms off from his body.
“ARGH! MY ARM!”
There was no answer. Another attack followed, killing him instantly.
“OPEN IT UP!”
A large axe was swung upon a wooden door as the men inside shivered.
“We should run!”
“High Priest! We must flee!”
“We have been compromised!”
“There are hundreds!”
High Priest Glen turned pale as the reports came in.
‘How have we been discovered so easily?’
He could not believe it. He had put so much time and effort to build this secret hideout.
“High Priest! We must run! We cannot be captured!”
Gren quickly discarded his thoughts. He remembered how they tortured the other non-believers and figured he would be treated the same if he were captured.
“Y-yes. We must go now. NOW!”
“WE’RE LEAVING!”
“What? But our brothers-”
“YOU FOOL! We cannot fight them! This is their city! We’re running. NOW!”
Then everyone inside began running into the secret passageway.
