The cold echoes of chains rang through the cave.
The eyes of the young children, who questioned fate and resented the gods, were red from crying.
For the last time, they clung to a glimmer of hope.
The only thing reflected in their eyes was a pair of regret-filled purple eyes.
The flames had grown beyond the height of a man, hot enough to melt iron.
The wind only served as their bellows.
Elan stood at the cave entrance, Zelid in hand.
"Since you understand the plan, it's time to move."
After saying that, he opened his mouth and began murmuring something in the Forgotten Tongue.
Drawing his greatsword, Karon took flight and rushed over the flames into the cave.
Moments later, the fire surged several meters higher before scattering.
Winds howled from every direction, burning whatever stood in their path.
Half of the men gathered outside the cave had already perished in the flames.
The rest were being subdued by Karon's massive wooden sword.
After beating down several of them, he headed toward the cave entrance.
A middle-aged man with brown hair and a slightly overweight build emerged from within.
"Were you the one who caused all this chaos?"
Karon glanced behind him, then to both sides before looking back at the man.
"No idea."
The man drew his rapier and launched a swift thrust at Karon.
Expecting the sudden attack, Karon slipped aside.
Despite clearly dodging the blade, he felt pain shoot through his arm.
Ignoring the blood running down it, he spoke.
"I wonder what kind of artifact you're using."
The man paid no attention and continued attacking.
Even though Karon avoided every strike, small cuts continued appearing across his body.
Realizing dodging alone wouldn't work, he increased the weight of his sword severalfold.
Each swing made the wind groan and the earth crack beneath it.
Even when the man tried to evade, the pressure from the blade sent him flying and left him vulnerable to Karon's blows.
He hastily raised several walls of earth and retreated deeper into the cave.
Karon smashed through them and followed.
The cave reeked of rotten flesh and waste.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Karon's hand began to tremble.
The chained children were little more than skin and bones.
Some were already dead.
Others were on the verge of death.
Huddled together for warmth, they waited for the end.
A few looked at Karon with curiosity.
The rest had nothing left in their eyes but death.
Tears welled in Karon's eyes as he shrank his sword down to pocket size.
"Why?"
The slave trader casually slipped a coin from the table into his pocket.
"Why?"
Karon didn't bother wiping away the tears streaming down his face.
All he could do was repeat the same word with a trembling voice.
"Why, you son of a bitch?!"
The cave shook under immense pressure, cracks spreading outward from the crater forming around Karon.
He lunged forward and attacked.
Every strike carried crushing weight, threatening to bring the cave down around them.
The slave trader opened his mouth.
"I wish for the use of mana to be forbidden within this cave."
The power in Karon's hands vanished instantly.
Yet he paid it no mind and kept attacking.
Even stripped of his strength, his pain remained.
The slave trader drew his rapier and struck back.
"Why, you ask?"
"It's simple. Money."
"Every one of these children was sold by their own families."
"Why should I value children their own parents didn't care about?"
Karon ignored the attacks.
He endured any blow that missed a vital point and caught the ones that didn't with his bare hands.
His body was riddled with wounds, yet he continued advancing.
At first, the slave trader ignored Karon's punches.
Before long, however, he began losing his balance.
Every blow landed on his head.
His eyes swollen and his lip split, he swung his rapier desperately, while Karon, covered in blood, kept throwing punches.
The two grabbed onto each other just to stay standing.
Unable to use his sword at such close range, the slave trader tried to throw a punch.
Instead, he met Karon's forehead.
Karon slammed his head forward and shattered the man's nose.
"I'm going to destroy both your money and you."
Then he kept punching.
First the man's eyes burst.
Then Karon grabbed him by the hair and smashed his head against the walls.
The man's cries of,
"Please... stop..."
were nothing more than meaningless buzzing in his ears.
Even after the man's voice fell silent and death claimed him, Karon didn't stop.
He kept slamming the corpse against the ground, dragging it across stone, and crushing it beneath his feet.
By the time the face had become completely unrecognizable, Karon was still lifting the body by the leg and smashing it into the ground with the last of his strength.
A while later, Elan found Karon unconscious from blood loss—and beside him, a corpse that could no longer be recognized as human.