Godfire: The Split Soul-Chapter 169: Let The Dead Bury The Dead

Chilled wind swept across the bloodied ground and lanced through Kai’s hair, lifting strands that had been plastered with the dark blood. Kai’s fingers trembled around the sword’s handle.

"I’m sorry, MJ." His grip loosened, causing the sword to slip from his fingers and clatter against the ground.

Kai’s knees buckled and slammed into the puddle of blood he stood in. Some of the blood splashed upward and speckled his chin, chest, and the sleeves of his shirt.

Behind him, boots scraped across the debris as the remaining soldiers forced themselves up, groaning. One clutched his side where blood seeped between his fingers. Another limped, his left leg dragging him down.

They moved toward the soldiers who were lying there, their faces turned toward the dark sky.

Among them, a soldier between the ages of twenty to twenty-five stumbled toward the MRAP. He gripped the door, pulled himself inside, and fumbled for the communication unit.

Blood dressed the buttons as he began pressing them hard until a crackling voice responded from the other side.

"Team Alpha down. I repeat, Alpha down." The headset slipped from his grip as his vision hazed, narrowing to a tunnel.

The soldier’s knees buckled, then he fell, his head hitting the metal hook on the MRAP’s door before he crumpled to the ground, dead.

Kai stared at the half of MJ—the boots scuffed and caked with dust.

Rain began to fall, drizzling at first, tapping against the bloodied ground with soft thuds. Then after ten minutes passed, the intensity increased.

Rumbling tire sounds lanced through the ground as three MRAPs rolled through the ruined streets, their tires crushing scattered debris and bodies of dead creatures.

The vehicles formed a semicircle around the central square where the Titanaboa’s body lay in two large sections.

Merlin stepped out of the first vehicle while it moved to a stop. The rain streamed through his white hair like silver threads.

"Hahaha." A strange laugh escaped from him as he shook his head slowly, the rain dripping from his chin.

He walked past the first bodies, where some soldiers had their heads squashed, then past the soldiers who were running forward, their rifles raised.

Merlin paused at the Titanaboa’s severed head, then crouched down, studying the clean cut that had separated it from the neck.

Merlin squinted at the wound, then turned his head slowly, scanning the area until his gaze landed on the kneeling boy beside a pair of boots.

Merlin swallowed hard when he saw the silver sword lying on the ground beside the boy.

Behind Kai, the Bravo soldiers moved and carried the wounded Alpha soldiers toward the third MRAP.

Some lifted the dead and arranged them in the back of the first vehicle while the rest helped the injured.

As the rain streaked down Kai’s face, footsteps stopped in front of him.

"Let the dead bury the dead." Merlin extended his hand.

Kai raised his head slowly and locked eyes with the man, his blue and red eyes blazing. He watched the rain splash against the man’s skin.

"Come."

Kai stared at the moving man, then lowered his head and gave the half body a last glance.

Kai’s fingers closed around the handle of the sword, pulled it from the bloodied ground, then stood up.

Blood dripped from the blade as he followed Merlin to the MRAPs.

Merlin stopped by the second vehicle, where the injured soldiers sat, their rifles lying on their laps. He turned, glanced at Kai, then back at the soldiers.

"Today’s mission isn’t over. We continue."

Kai climbed into the MRAP without a word, then placed the sword on the dashboard.

Two minutes after all the soldiers had entered the MRAPs, they lunged forward. The rain hammered the roof as the vehicles rolled through the streets.

Kai watched the buildings slide past the narrow window. Smoke rose from several directions and merged with the night sky.

As the vehicles halted at the front of the Nurse’s Estate, winged creatures swarmed the road and the compounds. Some perched on the rooftops, while others dragged still humanoid bodies across the street.

All the soldiers turned angry expressions at each other. "We fight with all we have."

They poured out like bees, their rifles raised, and formed groups. Bright flashes of light danced in the air as gunfire sparked.

Kai’s boots splashed through the puddles as he stepped down from the MRAP and ran. A creature lunged at him from the left, but Kai ducked.

He swung the sword upward, its blade carving through the creature’s chest. Black blood sprayed from the creature as it crumpled at the boy’s feet.

Another came from the right, but Kai pivoted and drove the sword through the creature’s neck, then kept on moving forward.

Behind Kai, the soldiers who had been pinned down scrambled to their feet and watched the boy disappear into the swarm, their mouths open.

Two soldiers moved to the only female soldier among them. "Report to Merlin, tell him what the kid is doing."

The soldier ran, stopped by the MRAP, then leaned in by Merlin’s ear. After the soldier’s lips parted from the man’s ear, a cracking sound echoed from Merlin’s fist as he focused his gaze on the swarm flying upward.

For an hour, Kai moved through the estate like a soulless being. He didn’t pause nor slow. Every swing of the sword chopped through a creature, and every creature that came his way died.

At the front of Lena’s estate, Kai paused. His chest heaved as blood—both his and the creatures’—dripped from him.

Through the open gate, he saw two creatures disappearing at the side of the mansion, then dashed forward.

The creatures dashed into the already cracked glass window on the second floor, causing more glass to explode outward.

At the entrance of the mansion, Pablo lay on the ground, his twisted body lying in a pool of blood that spread slowly across the wet concrete.

Kai’s throat tightened as he moved careful steps from the creature.

Inside the mansion, the white couch lay overturned, its cushions torn and scattered. On the wall, claw lines dressed the point at which Kai remembered the television to be. Right on the floor, Kai saw the television smashed inward, spiderwebbed lines of cracks streaked across it.

"Lena!"

Kai ran to the stairs, climbed them with doubled steps, then stopped before Lena’s door, which was partially opened.

He swung it open and saw the winged creatures dash out of the room, blood dressing their mouths.

The sword slipped from Kai’s hands and clattered to the floor when he saw Lena lying in a pool of blood.

Her fingers were tightened around a kitchen knife, her eyes opened, dried of their essence.

Around her, three winged creatures lay there, their bodies pierced by multiple wounds.

Kai’s legs gave out, but he caught himself by holding the doorframe. Staring at her still face, his legs moved him toward the body before his mind could cooperate.

Chilled air lanced through the cracked window as the rain kept on falling.

Behind Kai, the shadows gathered, Higris at the front.

The gunfire echoing outside rose as more winged creatures lunged toward the screaming soldiers.