No one spoke for several seconds after Ash said those words.
Then Jacker's laughter broke out, loud and sudden, followed by all of his men. Several of them bent over gripping their knees.
Ash did not move, his eyes fixed on Jacker's face.
"You killed it." Jacker repeated the words between his laughter, then wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. "With what, kid? That thing didn't go down from bullets, it even crushed our iron cannon."
He paused for a moment, his smile widening. "Did you shove your cock in until it choked to death?"
His men's laughter grew louder. One of them squatted on the ground and several others coughed between their laughs.
"I drove a sword through its jaw," Ash answered flatly. "From below until it pierced through its head. The thing didn't get the chance to fight back."
Jacker waved his hand, his laughter dying down. "Haha, damn. Alright, good enough for a joke, but right now I don't have time for your jokes, punk."
"I'm not lying."
Jacker's face changed. His laughter was gone and what remained was the expression of someone who had run out of patience. "We've been tracking that pack for four months."
His tone dropped, but that was precisely what made the atmosphere suddenly tense. "50 Aegis soldiers dead, 4 of our aircraft destroyed. Now we've lost its trail after it passed through this area."
He stepped closer, stopping directly in front of Ash, his breath warm on Ash's face from that distance. "And you want me to believe that a farmer, with only a sword, managed to do what trained and fully armed soldiers couldn't?"
His voice dropped to nearly a whisper. "Are you mocking us, boy?"
"I'm only saying the truth." Ash still insisted.
"If that's the case," Jacker stepped back one step, "show me the body. I don't care if you've buried it, just show me the location."
Ash didn't answer right away. He himself didn't know where the creature's body had gone, nothing remained when he regained consciousness except blue blood that had already dried on the ground.
Before he had the chance to answer, Elira's voice cut in from behind.
"I saw everything!" Elira rose from her position, her voice steady even though her eyes were red. "The pack carried the large Oars' body away toward the northern forest after the fight ended. My husband is telling the truth."
Jacker glanced at her briefly, then back to Ash, his teeth grinding, then his hand moved.
BANG!
A bullet tore through Ash's thigh and the man collapsed to the ground with a cry of pain. Elira immediately knelt beside him, her hands gripping Ash's shoulder, her eyes on Jacker.
"Stop! Please, he's not lying, please stop!"
But Jacker's eyes weren't on Elira. They were on the ground near Ash's feet, on the spreading pool forming beneath Ash's thigh.
His blood wasn't red.
Bright purple, nearly blue at the edges, flowing from the gunshot wound and soaking into the ground. The remaining crowd of villagers froze. Jacker's men exchanged glances. Jacker himself stood without moving, his jaw dropping slightly.
Then the bullet moved.
Not flowing out with the blood, but pushed slowly from within, the metal tip emerging at the skin's surface and falling to the ground. The wound on Ash's thigh slowly closed from the edges inward, until all that remained was a thin line that then disappeared.
Jacker's voice came out quietly, only for himself. "Abysswalker."
His body trembled slightly. In his mind he already knew what it meant, already knew what had to be done next, and he didn't like any of the remaining options.
An Abysswalker created outside laboratory protocols, could not be tamed, could not be commanded, and could not be controlled. The only thing that could be done was to eliminate him before his power fully activated.
"Tie him to the post." His voice returned to flat. "Now."
Four of his men moved immediately. Ash struggled as his hands were pulled behind him, but his strength wasn't enough against four people at once. His hands and feet were chained to a large wooden post at the edge of the field, his body facing the villagers still kneeling with anxious expressions.
Elira lunged toward them but two people caught her from behind. "Let go! He's not lying! You can't hurt him!"
"Hey!" Ash's voice was hoarse. "She has nothing to do with this. Let my wife go."
Jacker walked closer to Ash, stopping in front of him with his hands in his coat pockets. "Sorry, kid." His voice sounded almost bored. "I've grown tired of your jokes today."
One of his men came with a jerrycan and poured its contents over Ash's body from above his head. The smell of gasoline immediately filled the air, the liquid running down his face, over his body, soaking into the ground beneath Ash's feet.
"Jacker, don't!" Elira screamed, her voice breaking. "Please! Please don't! I beg you!"
Ash didn't scream. He fixed a sharp gaze on Jacker, his teeth grinding.
Jacker's pistol rose, fired once into Ash's body, and the spark from the bullet grazing the iron chain was enough to ignite the gasoline on Ash's body.
The fire blazed instantly.
"AARRGH!" The heat and pain attacked at once.
His body tried to regenerate, the damaged tissue trying to close, but the fire kept burning faster, making Ash feel the pain slowly and continuously.
"NO! ASH!" Elira wept and wailed, trying to break free, but it was useless.
The people still knelt, some turning their faces away, some crying, trembling with fear, some grinding their teeth in frustration, but not a single one moved from their position.
One of Jacker's men walked toward Elira, his eyes sweeping her from top to bottom. "Boss, what do we do with this woman?"
Jacker turned, looking at Elira with a cold and calculating expression. His hand moved, his fingers gripping the fabric at Elira's shoulder and pulling hard until a long tear opened there. "This woman ... her body is decent enough for a village woman."
"Maybe we could sell her in the city, boss," said one of his men.
Jacker glanced toward Ash still screaming at the post, the fire not yet out and his body still visibly intact. Then his eyes returned to Elira. "No need. Let her follow her husband, I don't want to leave any grudges behind."
However, the corner of Jacker's lip rose slightly. "But before that, there's no harm in having a little fun." He turned to his men. "Strip her."
The people reacted at once, unable to contain their fury, several rising from their positions. Old women cursed and condemned Jacker. Shouts began to ring out as Jacker's men took pleasure in tearing away every piece of fabric from Elira's body.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Jacker fired into the air three times in succession.
"I have no more business with any of you!" he shouted at the crowd of villagers. "Anyone who still wants to live, leave this place now!"
A barrage of shots from all his men into the air caused panic to erupt, people running in every direction. Several of Jacker's men grabbed the village women they had been targeting as the crowd scattered.
Ash watched all of it from the post.
His skin peeled and closed then peeled again in a cycle that would not stop. His body was in agony, but what hurt him most was the feeling of helplessness, watching his wife.
He watched Elira get pulled one way, shoved another, knocked to the ground then lifted up again, treated like an animal. His mouth kept screaming but no sound came out, his throat could no longer form any clear sound.
Then a small stone flew from the direction of the village hall door and struck one of Jacker's men in the face.
Ash shifted his gaze toward where the stone had come from.
Lyanna stood at the village hall entrance with another stone in her hand. The face that usually made him laugh now looked angry, her eyes red, her teeth clenched tight. "Let my mother go!" she screamed.
Inside his mind, Ash screamed louder than anything. "No, don't hurt my daughter. Please run, sweetheart! Run now!" but no sound came out, his vocal cords had burned away completely.
"Damn it, my face! This is going to leave a scar, damn it! Who is this child!" the man fumed and walked closer.
Suddenly a coil of rope flew from the side, its loop opening in the air and falling right around Lyanna's neck. One of Jacker's men pulled the end of the rope that had been thrown over a wooden beam on the roof frame being repaired, and Lyanna's body was instantly lifted from the ground.
Elira saw it. A sound came from her but it held no shape, only a weak and faint murmur, and her already weakened body tried to rise, tried to move toward her daughter, but her legs would not obey.
Jacker wasn't looking at Lyanna. He was reloading his pistol, his face cold and looking downward.
Ash watched his daughter's legs kick, the small shoes that were her birthday gift, moving without pattern in the air. His eyes could not look away, Ash's eyelids were no longer there to help him close his eyes, and he had to watch everything until the movement of those legs slowed, then stopped.
Ash then looked toward Elira, toward his wife's body that no longer moved on the ground.
Darkness began creeping in from the edges of his vision, slowly toward the center, and the sounds around him seemed to grow distant.
"Damn it, four wasted months. How am I going to treat my cock when I get back," Jacker muttered while cleaning his pistol.
Then the darkness stopped. The blood in Ash's veins felt like it was boiling.
Jacker loaded his pistol, his lips still muttering indistinctly. Then his eyes shifted, glancing toward the post where Ash was tied, and his expression changed instantly.
His eyes went wide.
***