[Notice! Quest Updated!]
Path to Enlightenment: 50% Complete.
Ashton's eyes flickered upon seeing this. He forcefully took a deep breath in and released it slowly to calm himself down.
He was in a foul mood. And this is probably the first time that Ashton felt this kind of anger in both of his lives.
'Ash. You okay?' Aria's worried voice sounded in his consciousness.
Ashton winced. He was trying to suppress the signs of his bubbling anger yet Aria still felt it in the end. He sighed and replied:
'Not really, but I'll be fine. I just need to vent.'
'Alright.' She said, 'Do what you just. Once you're tired, come here, and let's watch some movies while eating ice cream, yeah?'
'Yeah, that sounds fantastic. I'll look forward to it. Thank you. Talk to you later.' A shadow of a smile appeared on his face before the connection disappeared.
He truly appreciates Aria's concern for him and her consideration. She didn't force him to say anything and instead told him subtlely that she was there to listen. That's more than enough for him right now.
Still, Ashton needs to vent.
He's too angry to sit down and watch movies with her right now. He needs to release all of this anger at once or else it will hurt him.
Thankfully, he has no shortage of demons to kill. This...this would help. This is good for him right now.
Ashton snorted coldly as he aimed his guns and began firing shots, instantly plunging the entire tunnel into flaming mayhem.
The words of the Nightmare Devourer still rang in his ears.
To summarize what it said, it's this; 'Humans are just our food.'
That's it. It didn't get any more complicated than that.
Yes, it is highly possible that the demon was just lying to him, pulling his leg or something, there's a possibility of this happening. Yet for some reason, Ashton believes it.
But oh. Oh, how he hated that.
Ashton wouldn't call himself a Saint or a Racial Patron for Humanity, or anything of the sorts. He's just some random dude with some questionable luck and a weird fascination with magic.
Still, he can't help but feel greatly insulted by the fact that these ugly things just label him as food. Like cattle, always meant to be raised and, one day, slaughtered to be fed to them.
He hated that idea.
This is somehow hypocritical since Humans do that to animals too, yet Humans never really felt remorseful of their actions (except for a select group who strictly eats vegetables only), nor do they specifically care about the morality of what they're doing, yet when other races did it to them, suddenly it becomes a problem.
But that's just human in a nutshell, aren't they? A hypocritical race that never ceased to pursue perfection, no matter how far-fetched the idea is.
Ashton never really explicitly felt pride for being a human, yet he also couldn't think of being born to any other race aside from this. He's gotten used to it already that everything else seems dull at this point.
And maybe that's why he's reacting this badly...
The fact that he was being disrespected on a racial level triggers him so bad. To think that someone would have the gall to call him nothing but food, sounds incredibly disrespectful to him and he hates it.
It's such a blatant disregard for his race too. Saying that both Demons and Angels kept them around since they're considered a unique delicacy of this world.
To them, all the human blood that's been shed, all the efforts of the Heroes who were born since the dawn of their invasion, those who sacrificed their lives to make sure that the next generation of their race lives on and hope for a brighter tomorrow...
All of these are nothing but a divine comedy to them. A wonderful joke, all of it. Nothing more.
And that's...that's disheartening, isn't it?
The fact that these invaders just arrived here to fight each other while hunting humanity for sport.
It's a kind of insult that sears into one's being. Ashton's too.
'So, the act of them blatantly swaggering inside Last Bastion, ignoring its bubble of protection as if it didn't exist, and attacking an entire city is nothing more than a hunt for them, then?'
Peng! Peng! Peng!
'You mean to say that all of those lives, you lot claimed it because you're apparently 'craving' for some Human meat? Is that it?'
Peng! Peng! Peng!
'You lot disturbed our peace.'
Peng!
'Terrorized us.'
Peng!
'Claimed millions of lives.'
Peng!
'And destroyed an entire city, warping it away from our territory just because you're starving?'
Peng!
"How fucking dare you all..." Ashton grunted coldly as he condensed more bullets to shoot.
He's really not in a great mood today. It's evident by the fact that he's not even trying to hide his presence. Instead, he announced it proudly as if he was a beacon, attracting more demons towards his location so that he could kill more of them.
Ashton downed a vial of Mana Potions in between shots since he isn't satisified yet. Far from it actually. He needs to kill more to satiate his anger.
At this point, it is clear that Ashton now bears a grudge. He had made it his mission to kill as many demons as he could to maintain his peace of mind.
The idea of just making peace with this new knowledge just didn't sit well with him.
How could he possibly do that when these invaders made it personal?
See, he loved this new life of his, he truly does. It's fantastical, wonderous, and mysterious too, if not just a tad bit dangerous. He was looking forward to living his life to the fullest, chasing after his dreams and all.
Then, they came out of nowhere and decided to rip those dreams apart like they were made out of the thinnest sheet of paper.
They never asked for his opinion about it, they just went ahead and did it. Not caring about his or Humanity's well-being.
They swaggered on their territory, snorting as they look around, thinking of it as nothing but a pathetic joke, then claimed their share of Human meat cause it's probably been a while since they ate some.
Isn't that just too vexing?
Anger couldn't even describe what Ashton was feeling right now. He felt humiliated, spat and stepped on, disregarded, and extremely disrespected. All of this created a stifling feeling in his chest.
He doubts if he could make that disappear, even after killing hordes after hordes of demons. Yet at the same time, this is what he can do best right now.
'I shouldn't be feeling this way really.' He mused to himself. 'In the grand scheme of things, this could be identified as the law of the jungle. Survival of the fittest at its best.'
'It's an age-old rule that had always been there. The one fundamental law that all living beings followed through.'
'Yet it feels harrowing.' Ashton sadly concluded as he saw the burning demons in front of him.
'Demons and Angels...why do they have to pick this world to be their battlefield? What's the reason, really?'
'Humans are fine on their own. Why do they have to appear? Why do they have to come here?'
'If their goal is to eradicate each other, can't they do it in their territory? Somewhere else maybe? Why does it have to be here? Just why?'
'And the gall of them really...'
'They came in like they owned the place. They didn't bother asking for our opinion and just started fighting each other.'
'From the very start of this whole mess, Humans were never seen as a threat. Never respected as a local of this place. Never had any opinions that should be heard by both races.'
'Humans are just food.'
'A unique delicacy that could be found in this specific battlefield of theirs.'
'Do others know about this?'
'Did they even bother?'
'When I read the history of humanity before, I didn't find anything weird. I thought that it was just normal.'
'The invaders came out of nowhere. They didn't bother to announce their presence, they just started to appear then they fought each other. History said that Humanity suffered as collateral damage.'
'If it weren't for the appearance of the First Hero, Humanity would've gone extinct at this point.'
'It's understandable that the First Hero's course of action, is preservation. He's alone after all. He can't kill every single invader out there so instead, he protected humanity and made sure they'll survive.'
'It's under his lead that Humanity built the Last Bastion - a place where Humanity can be safe and continue living while also trying to raise more warriors that would keep their race safe.'
'This has been the trend for so long.'
'Humanity advanced gained some semblance of control through the help of dazzling Heroes who in turn sacrificed their lives to protect humanity."
'Yet...now that I think about it, the later line of Heroes could've done so much more than living long enough to sacrifice their own lives for humanity's preservation.'
'Why is that?'
