At dawn, wisps of blue smoke curled before the "Stone City," the fields were littered with corpses, severed arms and legs scattered everywhere. The bodies of soldiers, lying on their backs or stomachs, some piled together, their faces frozen with fear, unwillingness, and pain. Vast quantities of blood had flowed unchecked, staining the originally gray-yellow wasteland with patch after patch of filthy blackness.
The air was thick with a pungent, bloody stench, mingled with the reek of gunpowder, nauseating to the point of making one retch, while flocks of black crows arrived, circling overhead, occasionally trying to land, their harsh cawing echoing across the scene.
This was what the battlefield looked like just after the enemy retreated.
Harano, armor fully donned, stood atop the wall of the "Stone City," gazing at the post-battle "scenery" in silence. At his side, Wanjin Army soldiers were busy hauling away corpses and wounded men.
