Doomsday Pillars

Behind the treelines, hundreds of human-shaped shadows could be seen moving around. Men, women, and even children that didn't look like fighters had surrounded them. The army would have thought of them as normal survivors and accept them with open arms if not for their non-stop chanting of prayers.

The first battalion had been anxiously guarding the four corners of the village. They were inside the buildings and houses of the village aiming through the windows at the treelines. Although they noticed that the opponents were human beings, their fingers on the firearm triggers felt numb and their hearts felt heavy. Many were not sure what to do if these people charged in the village.

In one of the houses, Colonel Bernard gathered all of the unit leaders. Next to him stood Captain Yonas, his next in command and the leader of the first platoon, Lieutenant Axel the leader of the special forces unit, and Rick, Adam's subordinate and the leader of the third platoon. 

They were having mixed feelings on how to deal with the situation. The huge man next to the colonel, Captain Yonas, was the first to speak his opinion. "Why are we still standing here?! We should be out there killing those bastards! It's obvious they are the one responsible for the death of the third division.."

Captain Yonas was a hot-tempered man, he's the type who always speak first before thinking. If not for Colonel Bernard, he might have been kicked out from his position a long time ago. 

Colonel Bernard calmly thought of their situation and said, "Calm down, Yonas! We don't know that yet! We need to know who these people are before we start shooting! They still might be innocent."

"Colonel, I can tell these people are far from innocence.. they are very creepy," retorted Captain Yonas.

"I know our world is different now, but the rules of engagement are still the same. We cannot start shooting at civilians."

"Ooo fuxxxxx.. come on colonel... They are not civilians. Can't you see that they are holding sabers and chanting like a madman? Axel, back me up on this."

The handsome looking man dressed in an all-black special forces uniform named Axel was probably the strongest man in the whole division. The man talks very little but he's a very dependable person, he looked at the colonel and said, "I will follow any of your commands."

#$&#@$#

The big guy Yonas was irritated upon hearing his answer.

"You freak in the special forces.. don't you have any inputs at all?"

"...No"

"#$&#@$#.. What about you Misfits?! What do you think?"

Rick was the leader of the Misfits at the moment, however, he couldn't help but look and wait for Adam's opinion.

Adam noticed Rick's glance and said, "I think... Just like any fight, it's best if we got information first. I think we should make contact and act accordingly."

The colonel seemed satisfied with Adam's answer. While on the other hand, Captain Yonas was getting even more irritated.

"Ooohh fuxxx.. for the record, I still think this is a bad idea... So, don't ask me to go over there and talk to those creeps."

The colonel finally made his decision. "We are not savages. The rules of engagement need to be upheld, especially in times like these. The lives of every human are precious. I have already reached out to the second battalion as well, so before we reach the next village, they should be here before nightfall.

Colonel Bernard looked around wondering who should he send. "As for the one making contact"—Adam moved forward and presented himself. 

"Me, let me do it, colonel," said Adam determinedly.

Colonel Bernard looked at Adam, but shook his head. "No, sorry. I cannot have you do it. This is very dangerous, I can't face the general if anything bad happens to you."

"Please, colonel let me do it," said Adam not willing to give up, he wanted to contribute and doesn't want to be known only as the general's son.

Seeing Adam's determination, the colonel finally gave up and then said, "Axel, bring a few of your men to make contact and bring this moron with you."

"Ok, colonel," replied Axel. 

"Thank you, colonel," said Adam with gratitude.

The meeting was adjourned and everyone returned to their posts.

Adam noticed Daisy was staring at him and her face was full of worries. He approached her and gently touched her face. He could feel her blushing and breathe heavily. Noticing the flower hairpin on her head, he smiled and said, "You look really pretty wearing this."

"Don't joke around, Adam! Please, I am really worried."

Adam's hands fell on her shoulders and whispered, "Don't worry. I will be fine. I promise."

"You cannot promise that! Don't promise me something you cannot keep!"

"Hmmm, ok then how about this..." Adam reached for Daisy's hair and removed her flower hairpin.

"You know how much I love seeing you wearing this. I will give this back to you when we manage to get out this, ok?" Adam said as he walked away.

"That is..." Daisy paused her words and stared at Adam '...such a cliche,' Daisy thought. She noticed Adam would often do childish things like in this kind of situations, but she still felt warm in her heart. She knew that Adam just wanted to calm her down. But in the end, she could only watch Adam's back as he walks away.

.

.

-

There was an open field about the size of a football field in between village's entrance and the treelines.

Axel's group approached the center of the field and shouted, "Who are you?! What do you want?! We are the Indonesian army tasked to find and help as many survivors we can! Let your leader talk to us!"

Axel utilized the inner strength of a peak stage mortal realm and his voice resounded all over the place. However, the figures didn't stop chanting and there were no replies. Still, Axel decided to patiently wait.

They attempted multiple times and waited for almost an hour, but nothing happened. They were getting impatient and nervous at the situation.

"Should we move closer?" Adam asked.

"No this is nothing to do with our position. They don't want to talk to us. Not yet anyway let's wait a few more minutes and we'll report back to the colonel," Axel replied as he shook his head.

"Ok."

A few minutes later, the chanting stopped.

Within the treelines, an old man wearing all-white clothes holding a staff walked out. The old man talked to a young boy next to him and the boy casually moved closer to Adam's and Axel's position.

Adam felt conflicted seeing the boy. The boy probably at most 10 years old, but his condition was terrible. It looked like the boy was malnourished, but on his face showed a combination of innocence and conviction. 

"Dear sirs, my teacher told me that if you want to talk, you should bring your leader forward."

"Why? What do you want? We can speak for him," Axel said.

"That's all my master told me to say to you. Bring your leader to talk," replied the boy innocently.

Adam said to the boy with a calm tone, "Little brother, we are here to help you, we have plenty of food and we can protect you from the monsters and the bad guys."

The boy seemed confused and said, "But aren't you the bad guy?" 

"No, little brother. We are from the government we are here to help you."

The boy shouted, "No! Teacher said you are all liars. You are all bad men! I am returning now."

"Little brother. Wait! Wait! What about your parents? Where are they?" Adam said as he tried to reach out to the boy.

"Mister, my parents have gone to heaven. But, I will soon follow them to heaven." The little kid smiled with innocence and skipped joyfully back to the treeline.

The four men were speechless.

A few minutes later, Colonel Bernard joined the field with the other four people.

"I don't like this..."

Suddenly, a ruckus could be heard among the people in front of them. The old man grabbed a wooden bowl and dozens of men kneeled in front of him.

"What are they doing?"

The old man seemed to be saying something and started giving drinks from the wooden bowl.

One person

Two person

Three person

Four person

All four of them seemed excited and grateful for what was given out by the old man. They took off their shirts and turned around facing Colonel Bernard's group.

The old man gave back the wooden bowl to one of his men and took a bag. He started moving slowly to the group followed by the four bare-chested men. As this group approached, Colonel Bernard's group saw them clearer. The other group's bare-chested men looked pale and restless.

The old man in white clothes revealed a face full of smiles as he observed Colonel Bernard's group. His eyes finally rested at the colonel and said, "It seems you are the leader."

"Yes, I am Colonel Bernard from the Indonesian army, who are you?"

"You don't need to know. As you will all die here!" declared the old man.

Colonel Bernard's group readied themselves. "Why are you doing this?"

"It's pretty simple actually, we all want to survive and you are in our way," the old man grinned as he spoke.

The colonel couldn't understand what the madman's intentions, but he knew that if he didn't do anything right now, both sides would lose hundreds of lives. He couldn't let this happen, especially when so many humans have died since the doomsday, thus the colonel forced himself to think of a solution.

"You might have the bigger number right now, but we have the firepower. We are here representing the Indonesian army and our country has started rebuilding. If you continue doing this, you'll be fighting deemed as rebels. My reinforcement is on their way, I suggest you should stand down. If you don't attack us we won't harm you, we can all go our separate ways and no more lives will be lost."

A threat, a compromise, and logical reasoning, these were the colonel's last attempt. But what the old man did after his speech shocked him.

"Puwah! A lost lamb that doesn't realize he's already inside the tiger's den." 

The old man raised the bag and spilled its content. Blood slowly dripped from the bag, following it, a head. 

Colonel Bernard unconsciously moved closer and was shocked. It was the head of the second battalion's leader! He just spoke with the man a few hours ago, but seeing the head now meant the whole second battalion might have already met their demise.

The old man smiled widely seeing the colonel's reaction as he started to move back a few steps. He laughed maniacally, "Hahahahaha! A body without a head would die easily! You guys should have realized by now that the only reason we agree for this meeting is to kill you all. Without a leader, everyone else will be much easier to take care of."

The colonel was enraged at the knowledge of his 500 men dying at the hands of this madman, he was about to jump at the madman when Adam suddenly shouted at him. 

"COLONEL! STOP! Let's fall back! Let's go!"

Adam's voice was like a bucket of ice thrown on his head, he woke up and realized that he almost fell to the enemy's trap. He jumped back to his group, but the four pale men suddenly chased after him. 

The four pale men simultaneously screamed.

AAARRGGG!!!

Their eyes suddenly became red as blood flowed out from their ears and noses. Black veins popped out like old tree roots from their body. These four pale men looked like they were in pain and berserk, but their eyes were clearly focused at the colonel. All four took out a small knife as they fiercely jumped with a speed even faster than a peak stage mortal realm. 

Adam suddenly shouted, "Colonel! Watch out!"

Adam, Axel, and the other two special forces tried to reach the colonel's position, but it was too late. 

One of the four pale men flew away as the colonel was able to kick him, but the other three managed to stab him. 

Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!

Colonel Bernard fell to his knees. His hand grabbed onto one of the knives in his body in an attempt to pull it out, but one of the pale men punched his stomach causing him to lose his grip. The pale man then grabbed his hair.

Adam and Axel were desperate, but they were blocked by the other two pale men. 

"Noooo!!!!!" Adam shouted as he watched the pale man slit the throat of the colonel.

Slaaattttt

Colonel Bernard of the fourth division died.

- - - - - - - - - - 

Authors Note:

Dear doomsday pillar reader this is the longest chapter so far, twice as many the normal chapter how do you like it? Anyway, I keep feeling guilty about the late update while I keep seeing stable power vote from you all. Thank you very much for your patience with me.

Actually, this week I have a high fever for a few days and also NovelFull finally arrives in Indonesia. As I am the first Indonesian contracted by the web novel, the last few days I have been helping the Indonesian writer community. This will do good to improve my writing as well.

I have released the Indonesian version of Doomsday pillar, currently manages to reach the top 20 in Indonesian web novel as there weren't that many novels yet. If the Indonesian version manages to reach the top 10, it means free promotion every day as it will appear on the front page. This will be very useful for me as NovelFull hasn't promoted me for a few months now. If any of you have any power vote to spare just for this week it will be very appreciated, just enough until it got stable Indonesian readers. just click on my name and see my other novel you will find it. thank you.

As for the English version, please be patient with me, I will keep work harder with the English novel as well, there will at least be 2 more chapters this week. thank you.