They came upon me like a horde of vermin. A slew of veritable rats, each one as vehement as the last. I knew this would happen, of course. Better yet, I welcomed it. This body of mine was proving stale—proving, well, boring. It had been mine for the better half of a few years, and I welcomed something new. Something fresh. Something that’d set my mind on the right path and reignite my scholastic spirit.
“How embarrassing. In your old incarnation, you would’ve never been caught off-guard.”
The piece of human refuse behind me withdrew his sword, pulling it from my back. I fell face-first to the ground right after. The floor was slicked with blood and entrails, pressing against my face like a sausage-filled beetroot soup. My nightgown was wet. The individual fibres clung, stuck and groped. From afar, I must’ve looked like a ghost, a ghastly woman decked out in red-pattered white—illuminated by the mellow afternoon glow.
I deserved it, to be honest. He might’ve been a piece of shit, but I was one too. We spent the last two centuries fighting over petty things, and now it caught up to me. Here in my villa just south of Italy, cornered at long last.
“Hargh.”
It was too late for magic.
Blood choked my words. I was drowning in the fluids of my own pierced lungs. Struggling like a fish on dry land. In doing so, I shot a glare at my would-be killers, standing in a proud semi-circle.
Dallas Eagleburger. Lucas Mantovani de Bromfman. Ako Atsufumi. Yamini Chandrasekaran.
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Those and many more who conspired against me.
I’d remember their faces. Once I came back—I’d slaughter each and every one of them. And break a few while I’m at it. Turn them against each other. Indulge in the whims of my loins and the fire of worldly passions.
“My, my.” I heard a voice. A shrill little sound that bordered on pre-pubescent likeness. “What thoughts do you think fill that little head of hers?”
“Visions of our death. The usual fantasies a wanton lunatic has.”
Mean. God forbid a woman have hobbies.
“But, it’s over now. She won’t be coming back this time.”
My body thrashed a little. I choked out laughter while awaiting my impending death. Won’t come back? Just who do these nitwits fancy themselves?
Throughout all my lives, there have been three people capable of putting me down for good. And all three are dead, long buried and withered. So—go ahead, witless frauds of this modern era. Just what plan do you have for me?
How do you plan to put me down for good?
“If that elf’s words prove true, then this should banish her soul from this world entirely.”
Atsufumi crouched down. His pretty face and long black hair came within view. He was the same as me. Long-lived. Beautiful. Wretched. And when he said something, he meant it.
“Goodbye. While our interactions weren’t all too pleasant, I will miss you.”
His hands became a blur. I felt my eyeballs and eardrums burst in painful succession. Blinded and deaf, there was nothing now. Nothing—save for the press of cold steel against my forehead, growing warmer by the second.