Just how much time had passed? Day after day, carrying heavy loads while showered in relentless verbal abuse, all they did was run. The worst part was that in this mad place, time itself didn't seem to flow at all. They didn't age, they never grew sleepy, and their stomachs never emptied. Yet it was an utterly malicious realm where fatigue and physical pain remained agonizingly real. The only thing barely anchoring Lucas and the others to reality was the simple distinction between day and night.
It was pure torture—a grueling ordeal so severe that even Lucas, who had spent most of his life in the military, found it excruciating. For the residents of the Wind Cats, who had lived peaceful lives entirely detached from violence, it was absolute hell; during the first few months, every single one of them ran in tears.
Once that hellish running finally came to an end, they were granted mysterious powers known as divine protections, and their practical combat training began.
From crude drills where each person was handed a stick only to be beaten senseless by the Transcenders, to trials where they desperately fled from fireballs raining down from above, individualized training to hone their bestowed divine protections, and even hand-to-hand combat, every discipline was hammered into them without mercy.
Most of each day was spent in this nightmarish fashion, but every night without fail, they were made to listen to tales recounting the absurd, mind-bending feats accomplished by Kai Heinemann. To Lucas and the others, those stories were among their few sources of comfort.
They endured this endless routine until a dizzying amount of time had slipped by.
"Everyone, fall in!!"
At Girimehkala's command, the Wind Cats instantly halted their training and snapped into neat, orderly ranks.
"Listen up! You are the worthless scum who have spent your whole lives being trampled on! Am I right?!"
Sir, yes, sir!
The Wind Cats bellowed with a roar that shook the very earth.
"You are nothing but worthless water fleas who were never even deemed fit to live in this world!"
Sir, yes, sir!
With hollow, unfaltering eyes, the members of the Wind Cats shouted back in unison.
"However, right here, right now, you have become subordinates of the Great One! Do you understand what that means?!"
Sir, yes, sir!
As some among them broke down in tears, overwhelmed with emotion, Girimehkala pressed on.
"Then as subordinates of the Great One, you must repay every humiliation you've ever suffered thousands of times over! Are we clear?!"
At Girimehkala's roar, they responded instantly:
Yes, sir!!
Every single member of the Wind Cats snapped a salute, pressing their right hands to their brows.
"Out there, countless bastards have trampled on you whenever it suited them! What do you want to do to them?!"
"Kill them! Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!"
A gentle young man who once wouldn't have hurt a fly screamed the words over and over.
"They are the lowest scum imaginable, who dared even spit upon the Great One! What is the only fitting destination for them?!"
"Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell and nowhere elseeee!"
A young woman suited for warm smiles shrieked with bloodshot eyes.
"That's right! So I ask you once more: What do you want to do to them?!"
"Slaughter them allllll!!"
The voices of the Wind Cats harmonized into a chilling chant of "Kill! Kill! Kill!" that swelled louder and louder with every passing second—
"You are free! There are no chains to bind you! Trample and annihilate every last one of them!"
The Wind Cats erupted into feral, beast-like roars. It was the precise moment a new, exceptionally dangerous horde of fanatics was unleashed upon the world.