Chi-Long marched forward.
Ha Joon carrying Eun Byol on his back behind her.
Words came out gentle as she slowly turned to look toward them.
"I understand this will be your first time seeing what real fighting looks like. An all-out war."
A pause.
"You will see where humanity stands in the higher order of creation."
Her eyes moved between them.
"And where you stand as well."
The noise behind her like a thunderstorm refusing to stop.
Screams of different origins bleeding into one another.
---
Ha Joon and Eun Byol's eyes moved slowly beyond her face.
Stoic in nature.
And they saw it.
The battlefield.
The ants.
The carnage.
The chaos of it all.
Their eyes lit up different colors.
Sparking.
Giving light to their faces like fireworks.
---
Black whips flying through the air.
Three soldiers ahead.
Two of them raising their shields.
The whips clashing against them.
Pushing them back.
Cutting pieces of the shields away with each contact.
The third soldier rushing forward.
Throwing a grenade.
The explosion pushing the ants back.
The whip moving through the smoke and the force of it.
Finding the third soldier.
His arm flying through the air.
Screaming.
Tears falling out of him.
Another whip.
Another ant.
A head spinning through the air.
Landing between the two soldiers still standing.
The body following after.
Falling last.
Fear visible in the eyes of those two remaining soldiers.
One stood up.
Pulled out his sword.
The other closed his eyes.
More ants rushing forward.
Screams and whips cutting through wind and metal and flesh simultaneously.
---
Ha Joon and Eun Byol watched in confusion.
Not fully understanding what they were seeing.
Their minds trying to process it.
Failing.
Processing again.
Chi-Long's eyes remained unmoved.
She spoke.
"They don't really understand what's coming."
A pause.
"This is only the beginning."