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It took , that she was killing the men It wasn't fire It was soans Blood poured froed, several of the women ran at her, only to meet the same fate The men who attacked her were vanquished instantly

Then I heard her voice inside my head:

Kill thehter the males to the last one

I was paralyzed I stood beside her, lest one of theet close to her But they didn't have a chance This was beyond nightmare, beyond the stupid horrors to which I'd been a party all of my accursed life

Suddenly she was standing in front of ulfing sound in my brain

My prince, hter the end of their punishend of the teod The women are helpless Punish the males in my name

"Oh, God help me, please don't ask this of me," I whispered "They are pitiful humans!"

The crowd seemed to have lost its spirit Those who had run into the rear yard were trapped The dead and the norant ates there rose the most piteous pleas

"Let theo, Akasha, please," I said to her Had I ever inas I did now? What had these poor beings to do with us?

She drew closer tonow but her black eyes

"My love, this is divine war Not the loathsoht without scheme or reason save to survive You kill now in reatest freedoiven ht Now use the neer I've given you Choose your victith of your hands "

My head was spinning Had I this power to make men drop in their tracks? I looked around me in the smoky chamber where the incense still poured from the censers and bodies tu each other in terror, others crawling into corners as if there they would be safe

"There is no life for them now, save in the lesson," she said "Do as I command "

It seemed I saw a vision; for surely this wasn't from my heart or rittedmy malice as if it were a laser, and then I saw the victim rise off his feet and tumble backwards as the blood came out of his mouth Lifeless, withered, he fell to the floor It had been like a spas one's voice out unseen yet powerful, over a great space

Yes, kill theans; rupture them; make the blood flow You know that you have alanted to do it To kill as if it were nothing, to destroy without scruple or regret!