CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
🤝 "The Cause and The Conviction"
The chapter continues after Erik unleashed a powerful attack against Tayog, which has now caused injury to his friend, nearly dissolving his arm and inflicting severe damage.
Erik slowly approaches his kneeling friend, who is surrounded by scattered wood fragments.
"Alfredo," Erik says, trembling with fear.
Erik's PoV
I never expected things to come to this. My friend looks miserable because of what I did. I never intended to kill Alfredo, as all I ever wanted was to save everyone.
"Get away from me!!!" he shouts angrily.
His face shows his anger towards me, and even if I apologize, it seems meaningless to him.
He is pushing me away, seemingly blaming me for his failure, and all I can do is shake my head because, even if I deny it to myself, it doesn't change the fact that he failed because of me.
Siklaon's sacrifice was in vain because of what I was fighting for. Even if I twist the words, it won't erase the truth that the lives of my friends in Siklaon amounted to nothing.
"If you hadn't stopped me, this wouldn't have happened. If you hadn't fought me, I would have achieved Siklaon's goal," he says.
"But this is wrong. Please listen to me, Alfredo," Erik replies to his friend.
He is furiously and continually blaming me, treating me as a traitor to the Filipino race. I hear the heartbreaking tone of his voice as he mentions the names of his comrades in Siklaon whom he remembers.
His voice is full of grief and hatred, crushing my heart, as if I had done something wrong and was obstinately pushing for my own cause.
I can no longer bear to hear this from him because my heart aches every time I think of the people I once knew and spent time with who suddenly died just because of the revolt that occurred.
"They all sacrificed for nothing... They all gave their lives for this fight... but... here you are, stopping it."
"What did we do wrong to you? Why do you have to destroy our one and only dream?" Tayog asks.
"I didn't want to..." Erik says, but Tayog immediately cuts him off before he can finish his sentence.
"But you did!! You!! You killed them!!" he shouts at Erik.
I was shocked to hear those words from Alfredo's mouth. It's true that I destroyed Siklaon's revolt, and I could be compared to the Spaniards who were stopping them. That's the truth.
I slowly raise my head to apologize to Alfredo again, but I suddenly see him crying, staring at me with blazing eyes full of anger and disappointment. Because of that, I can't open my mouth to explain again and can only shake my head.
I can't face him anymore. What did I actually do? I know what I did was right, and I succeeded, but why does it feel like this isn't what I wanted to achieve?
I know my intention to stop him was good, but it's not fair to Alfredo's situation.
What can I do to make things right again, like they were before?
I think it's impossible, and I need to be firm to correct my misguided friend.
End of PoV
"I don't understand why you have to turn your back on us and betray us. Siklaon was good to you and considered you one of us, but despite that, you chose to protect the Spaniards who abused us."
"Stop it, Alfredo!!" Erik shouts to silence him.
At that moment, he waves his arm and angrily questions Alfredo's actions. He states that the sacrifices of his comrades were all for nothing because of Tayog's actions.
"The Spaniards didn't kill your comrades."
"I am not the reason why Siklaon is gone; it's you, Alfredo. You killed them," Erik declares.
Tayog is shocked when his friend blames him for the loss of his comrades because of the revenge he sought and his decision to sacrifice them for his revolt plan.
"Stop it! I did those things for Siklaon's goal," Tayog shouts.
"No, Alfredo. You didn't do that for Siklaon. You did it for your own desire to take revenge for your parents," he replies.
Tayog angrily slams the ground, denying Erik's accusation that he used the lives of his comrades just for his own desire.
Tayog knows he wanted to free the Filipinos abused by the Spaniards and reclaim Urdaneta, but nevertheless, he became determined to continue the cause his parents left him because he saw the possibility of eventually taking revenge on the Governor-General.
"You have no right to say that. I did this for the welfare of the Filipinos!!" he adds angrily.
"That's not true, Alfredo. Look around you and at the building you wanted to destroy... Alfredo..."
"... Some of them are Filipinos," he says sadly, pointing to the bodies lying on the ground.
Alfredo stares, stunned, when he sees the Filipinos lying on the street. They are easily recognizable by their skin color and clothing. He remembers how he had grabbed the people inside the building with vines and thrown them out.
He realizes that he didn't stop to think if he would involve any Filipinos in his actions, perhaps because he was desperate to eliminate the Spaniards hiding in the building, or simply because it didn't occur to him to hesitate if any Filipinos would be harmed.
He knows he didn't try to find out if the people he was attacking at that time were Filipino or Spanish because of their situation and the victory that seemed within reach.
"If Siklaon's goal were truly your reason to fight, those pitiful people wouldn't be lying around us, and if you truly cared about their future, they would still be alive today."
"Alfredo, the Spaniards didn't kill those Filipinos... They didn't..."
"... it was you," he says.
Tayog looks at his hands, trembling, and slowly realizes what happened—that it goes against the true goal of Siklaon.
He cannot believe what he has done, blinded by anger and evil.
He almost goes insane, slamming his hand on the ground and shouting. His reaction shows his disappointment and regret for murdering the Filipinos in the town.
"No! That's not true!! Liar!!! I know I did this for Siklaon's success," he replies angrily, as if making excuses.
"This is for Urdaneta. That's right, I know I'm doing this for the Filipinos. Yes, this is a sacrifice," he reasons.
At that moment, he repeats that the Filipinos who died were only a small sacrifice for the great goal of liberating the country, just like his comrades in Siklaon.
While hearing this from his seemingly deranged friend, Erik immediately approaches and walks toward him.
"They are all heroes striving for the freedom of their country. I know they would want their country to be freed from the abuse of the Spaniards and would sacrifice their lives for that goal, just like Siklaon. That's right, just like me," Alfredo rationalizes.
"Alfredo," Erik interjects while walking.
"I know they endure the unjust treatment of the Spaniards, abused and suffering, so they would want to..." he says, but Erik stops him before he can finish speaking.
As he speaks, his face shows desperation to make excuses to twist his wrongdoing and defend himself, insisting that he didn't make a mistake in his actions.
Erik approaches him and suddenly slaps him to silence him.
A powerful slap silences Tayog, surprising him, coming from his friend Erik.
"Enough, Alfredo, please," Erik says sadly, full of grief.
"Maybe those Filipinos experienced abuse from the Spaniards, but nevertheless, they are not like you, who resorts to violence for everything."
"Not everyone is willing to trade their lives to join rebels and fight. These people chose to live in town and endure for the sake of their families here."
"That's right!! That's why I want to free them! Can you bear to let them suffer and endure at the hands of the foreigners?" Tayog angrily retorts.
"But what is the use of the freedom you want to achieve if the people you intend to offer that goal to are already dead?"
"You want to free your fellow Filipinos from the Spaniards who took away their rights, but you didn't consider that by sacrificing their lives for that goal, you are also taking away their right to live."
Tayog stops at what he hears and realizes the errors in his decisions for them. His failure to tell his comrades about his plan to sacrifice their lives to be the power source for the monster trees is equivalent to dictating their lives as if he owns them. And disregarding the Filipinos caught in the crossfire, treating them as sacrifices for the plan's success, is worse than treating them as tools and instruments.
He was unjust when he used them and dictated the lives of those Filipinos, just like the Spaniards who stripped them of their rights to things in the Filipinos' lives.
"No, that's not how it is... I didn't want that to happen... I didn't want those things to happen to them," Tayog says, crying, slowly regretting his actions.
He can only stare, devastated, his body seemingly weak until he slowly collapses to the ground. At that moment, before he completely falls, Erik catches his body and hugs him.
Erik holds him tight to console him while he cries.
He says nothing else and just rubs his back to comfort him, perhaps because he knows that his desperate actions are only the result of anger for the bad things he has experienced in life.
He feels sorry for his miserable state—that amidst years of struggle and endurance, everything amounted to nothing and tragedy.
It bothers Erik that it is not Alfredo's fault that his life turned into such a miserable situation. To him, his friend is a good person who had a pitiful fate that has now led to tragedy.
"Forgive me, my comrades. Forgive me... Forgive me... I was wrong," he says, crying.
"They will forgive you, Alfredo. They will be able to do that if you can forgive those who sinned against you and correct the mistakes you have made," Erik says.
The black aura Tayog was emitting completely vanishes as he surrenders at that moment. He accepts his defeat and leaves everything up to his friend.
Amidst their grief and regret over what happened, they don't notice a person slowly approaching their location.
They don't notice General Slasher rising from where he was lying and slowly approaching them, holding a sword.
"Hahaha, it's so delightful to watch rats killing each other, but what is the use of their lives, anyway?"
"Even if using the lives of others for one's own gain is considered evil, there's no problem with it. The important thing is that you succeeded," he says.
The General looks beaten and his clothes are torn due to the beating Tayog gave him in their fight. At that moment, he releases a powerful aura that slowly brings back his metal armor.
Tayog and Erik are shocked by his re-emergence, whom they thought had completely died earlier, and by the intense aura he is releasing despite his condition.
"You need to be clever in this world. The only ones who succeed in the end are the people who are willing to do anything for what they want, even if they have to sacrifice other lives," he says.
His armor glows due to the surrounding energy that is slowly creeping up his arm and into both his hands. Two gigantic spears made of hundreds of gathered sword blades form.
Erik immediately stands up and holds the red sword to stand in front of Tayog and protect him.
"This fight is over. We don't need to fight anymore," Erik says.
"Stop it, indio!!" he shouts at Erik.
He furiously asserts his status as a superior person and cannot accept his defeat in the battle. He insists that the rebels fighting the government, including Erik, must be punished.
The General knows what Erik is capable of, and since he is close to running out of energy, he thinks he might lose the fight if he doesn't figure out a way out.
At that moment, he sees the people in the building where Erik is protecting them, so he decides to use them as bait against the Sugo.
"You said you want to be a hero and save people, even if they are Spaniards? In that case, let's prove it."
He points one gigantic spear in the direction of the people in the building.
He mentions his plan to attack the people to the young man and challenges Erik to stop him from killing them while also protecting his friend.
"No, you can't do that to your countrymen," Erik says.
"Hahaha, those people are just cheese bait to draw out the rats like you, and the duty of the bait is to die to catch those like you who fight against Spain's rule!!" Slasher shouts, laughing.
"I can't believe you would kill innocent people just to succeed. You are openly violating the law you serve," Erik says.
"What are you talking about? I can just make it look like those people were killed by the rebels. That's right, that's what people will know and believe because I am the law itself," Slasher says, planning to frame them to pin the crime on the rebels.
As much as he wants to stop Slasher from attacking the people in the building, he is hesitant to leave his spot because the other gigantic spear is also pointed in the direction of Tayog.
"Let's test what matters more to you, brave hero. The life of that rebel devil or your duty to be the savior of the people? Hahahaha," he says, laughing like a devil.
Erik tightly grips his sword and shakes his head, closing his eyes in anger because of his situation.
The young man cannot decide what to do at that moment. To him, he has no right to choose who to save or even abandon one of them to save the others, but he knows he has to make a decision because he won't be able to save anyone if he doesn't move and take action.
"What should I do? What should I choose?"
~ End of Chapter ~