"Death!" Sagiri said, and everyone stopped. They were at least 10V out from the base.

The three squads had been moving more relaxed this time. Well, except the ladies who looked weird running in the modest gowns. The smell of death, however, was the last thing they expected on their way back from Tatani. Could it be a carcass of an animal?

No way

It wasn’t fresh either, because he couldn’t smell blood. The smell of death was so thick it must have been at least a day old. It was also no doubt human.

"What do you mean?" Yoka came to a stop beside Sagiri. He was leading the Yoka squad just like Tinka was leading the dozen fighters of Tatani.

"Someone is dead," Sagiri said.

"But that is the direction of the base," Tavora said, and silence stretched for a long moment.

"That is indeed odd." Kiuga said, "Why could there be someone dead near the base?"

"I can perceive anyone in the base, either," Sagiri said, and the night air seemed to freeze at his words.

"Are you sure?" Yoka asked.

"Yes," Sagiri said, pushing his senses out once again. He had managed to recover most of his strength in the past few hours, and he was sure his senses were sharp. He had not missed a thing. Not even a heartbeat had reached his ears.

"We move in!" Captain Yoka said, and the three squads moved. They moved even more quickly and with urgency this time. It was clear something odd had happened. The closer they got, the thicker the scent of death filled the air. Everyone was on high alert, but they did not falter. A few fit, and they would be in the base clearing. The smell of death was now undoubtedly coming from the base, and the squads pushed forward even faster. They tore into the clearing at the same time, and seconds later, all movements ceased as the squads came to a sudden stop.

What...

The sight that greeted them was even worse than they could have possibly imagined.

Night made the battlefield harder to understand, but it was clear as day that a very vicious battle had taken place. At first, it looked like uneven ground had emerged, which was not previously there. shadows layered over shadows, shapes that didn’t settle into anything clear.

Then the details began to form, but for Sagiri, he could see it clearly from the word go. Clear signs of batter. Shattered tree trunks. The land was torn open. Dark lines cut through the earth, some shallow, others deep enough to swallow the light completely. Broken stone lay scattered across the field, edges catching pale silver where the moon touched them.

And then...

The bodies.

They were so badly mutilated that it was hard to find them at first glance. They blended into the darkness, but Sagiri could see them.

Fifteen.

All fifteen members of the shadow squad that they had left behind lay in fatal positions all over the clearing. They were positioned where the fight had ended for them. One near a split in the ground, half in shadow. Further out, lying across broken stone, outline sharp against the pale dust. A few closer together. Sagiri could see even signs of the shadow whirlpool, but it seemed to have been forcefully broken. There was no enemy body in the clearing. There were only limbs scattered and some full corpses of the fifteen shadow corps members.

The silence of the moment pressed harder here than anywhere else. The wind passed once, light and uncertain, shifting dust across the ground. It traced over the shapes, softening edges for a moment before revealing them again. They seemed to have been attacked at most a few hours after they had split.

"What is happening?" Tavora said with wide eyes. "Did you, Tatani, do this?" he accused. Typical Tavora just careless with his words.

"You have fought with us, yet you think we can kill the shadow corp members of Tagayia. "That is not our killing style. " This just looks sadistic," Tina said, and everyone had to admit to that.

Sagiri had seen only one person kill with such malice. The boy who killed the gravescale. Sagiri had never seen him then, but he knew Salka had taken care of it. Even more, the battle did not look like it was done one to fifteen. The battlefield was wide as if a squad had attacked.

"This was not Tatani. This killing style is one I have never seen." Yoka said in a cold voice before he jumped from the branch he was perched on and landed in the scene. Sagiri raised his hand to stop his squad from moving.

"Let them have a moment," Sagiri said. He could not imagine walking into his own squad butchered. And it is the most inhumane way possible. It was only right to let them look at their comrades and have a few moments.

"Who do you think could have done this?" Zazarie asked.

"Do you think someone was trying to sabotage your mission?" Kiuga said.

"Not many knew I was on this mission. This is a bit strange. Could the mandra and the general of the shadows double-cross them?" Sagiri said, furrowing his eyebrows. Nothing was making sense.

"I don’t think so. They have the most to lose if you don’t win, and from what I hear, the general of the shadows is the most benevolent man of Tagayia. impossible!" Kiuga refutes that immediately.

"Perhaps the councils that wanted you dead," Banga said, and Sagiri was already thinking in that direction.

"My aunt won’t do that. Tatani is sitting on her land. She might hate you, but she wants Tatani gone more than anyone." Gavina refuted that immediately.

"Then the war council?" N’varu asked.

"Felunka is emotional and hates me, but he is not bold enough to defy the mandra. Besides, the mandra already put him through a wall for inciting war," Sagiri remembered.

"But who is powerful enough to kill a squad of the shadow corps, and in the most gruesome way?" Kiuga wondered out loud.

"We northerners kill with honour. At least I know it’s not the Asakana, perhaps the Chimera." Kaka said with confidence.

"Don’t speak nonsense," Maita snarled.

"Could it be your benefactor?" Kiuga asked.

"I highly doubt he has anything to do with this. He fights best in the shadows. Killing in the light like this is not his style."

The back and forth went on with a game of guess, which went on for a while, and in all this, N’varu was the most silent.

"So to say the least, we don’t know who our enemy is?" Kiuga shook his head.

"Not exactly." N’varu finally spoke, and everyone wheeled to look at him. Even those of the shadow squad.