Igni liked to consider himself a carefree spirit. He took a day at a time with a smile and the flash of a blade, preferred little, desired less, and this knowledge became known to all who had ever heard of him. For over 200 years, he cultivated this reputation. He liked to keep it that way.

Further ahead, past the line of trees he and his companions hid in, fires razed a small town to the ground. As he sat crouched and watched the chaos unfold, he played with a small knife with his fingers. From a distance, the figures within the fire spoke among themselves in their native language, panicked and confused. Watching them in their confusion and awareness that their enemies were catching up to them brought a wider smile to his face.

"I almost feel bad for them," a companion said as they stood at his side.

He glanced up at them from his place on a branch, then nodded. "Yeah. S'kinda mean we gotta do this, eh."

"Whatever," a second companion grumbled behind him. "As long as we get our fun—"

"Ain't nobody havin' any fun now," he said evenly.

When no one responded, he stood from his crouch and turned, allowing his four companions to see his blindfolded face. He sensed their eyes looking at him from behind their animal-themed masks.

His first companion, wearing the mask of a beetle and with one such massive bug crawling over his shoulders, nudged his head into the fire's direction. "What now?"

"Them soldiers 'r gonna git 'emselves in a place, fer sure," Igni hummed, spinning his knife. "S'all we needed t'do. We're done 'ere."

A man wearing a tarantula mask scoffed, folding his arms over his chest, but said nothing.

Igni watched him for a moment, then nodded. "Y'all return. I'm gonna watch a while."

"I want to stay with you, my snake." A short woman wearing a gnat mask scooted to his side.

He turned his back to her and went back into a crouch. He heard her sound of dejection but ignored it.

"Come on, Gnat," he heard his beetle companion urge her.

"Shut up. I'm coming." Her snap turned into a coo as she said, "I'll see you later, my snake."

When she and the others disappeared from his perceptions, he emitted a patient sigh. Running fingers idly over his blindfold, he watched the Malaki Raja'shun soldiers appear on the scene of the burning town.

His smile widened. Finally. What's gonna happen now?

"Yo, Igni."

He huffed. "What's it, Jak?"

"Uh...So, Mirai...did a little more than destroy the sebuani office..."

His fingers went still. Slightly glancing back, he hissed, "What'd she do?"

"You might want to come see." The Tarantula's presence disappeared not a second later.

He turned around and left the tree, slipping his knife back into the folds of his coat. Running at a speed with the jūryovā technique far faster than his companion's, he quickly passed the Tarantula, scowling at the distant sight of a large building burning near the capital.

That miscr'ant done burned the whole bracket down.

He covered the great distance from the town to the bracket in moments. Hisses and white smoke arose from the many soldiers putting out the fire, and he entered the bracket from the back where he sensed the soldiers had yet to arrive.

He held his sleeve to his mouth and nose, following his hearing. Anyone with a functioning mind would be able to hear them, his companions screaming at one another. This looked bad enough, but the hall after hall of blood and dead or severely injured bodies truly irritated him. He tutted with distaste despite licking his lips, then pulled his eyes away from the carnage.

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Such'a mess.

The voice came from beyond two large doors, and he slid one open with a single hand into cleaner air. The room, which could be none other than the bracket captain's office, contained no bodies except two that were quite alive and standing around. They also wore animal masks, the woman a kiwi and the man a hyena.

He huffed upon seeing them, moving further into the space. Spotless save for the bloodied footsteps they brought in with them, it seemed largely unbothered.

"Now," he said, clearing his throat and closing the door behind him, "ei'er o' y'all wanna tell me why the bracket's all bloodied 'n burnin'?"

"What's it look like?" spat the woman.

"Aye, I got workin' eyes." He tilted his head exaggeratedly to the side. For a companion to be in such a mood, something must have happened. "M'askin' why's the bracket all bloodied n' burnin'."

"Mirai got mad at some soldiers who got her and did this," the Hyena explained.

Igni's tongue slipped out. He smelt blood, but not just any. One of his silver-white brows rose. "Yer bleedin'." When the Kiwi froze, he sighed and shook his head. "That weren't part o' the plan, killin' ev'rybody."

"Does it matter?" she muttered. "Our mission is still a success."

"Mn, per'aps..." He looked around, spotting the appropriate splatters of silver blood around the office. "I guess so, eh. Oi, Hyena. I gotta...talk...t'Mirai 'ere."

The woman's eyes widened, and she immediately bolted, running to the back of the office.

Or she tried to, immediately pinned down by his weight as he held her down to the floor with his blade to her neck. Beneath him, she didn't dare to struggle.

"Igni, please!" she begged, glancing back at him.

Igni sensed his hyena companion taking several cautious steps away from him. "What're ya waitin' fer, Hyena?" he asked, licking his lips.

"A-are you su—"

"Git," he said coldly.

The man immediately disappeared out of a hole in the ceiling.

Igni licked his fangs visible from a menacing smile two times larger than normal. "Naughty Mirai. Poor Mirai. M'hungry, y'know."

With his free hand, he reached for and slowly removed the woman's mask to reveal her blanched, terrified expression and wide grey eyes.

She swallowed. "P-please, Igni, I just—"

"Nah, I git it..." He placed the mask inside his coat, a hissing chuckle escaping from his slightly parted lips. "Ya hate 'em. Can't stand 'em. Take every second ya can to kill 'em, s'right?"

Slowly, she nodded.

"Aiya," he sighed, slowly shaking his head. He let his blade make the slightest of slices into the copper skin, and she immediately wilted. He cracked a fanged grin. "Hmm, 'm gonna do ya a good one, Kiwi. Since we was good comrades fer a while, I won't torture ya...and ya won't give me an ache, yeah?"

He didn't wait for a response, reaching for and untying his blindfold with his free hand. The moment their gazes met, Marai's body went completely limp yet continued to look into his eyes with a dead stare.

The skin split on the sides of his mouth, reaching his ears, while he moved off the woman's body. With almost tender care and frightening ease, he lifted her towards him. His mouth spread open impossibly wide, the stretchy ligament keeping his jaws in place stretching from his ears to his lips.

She didn't utter a single cry as she disappeared into his mouth. In a single move, he leaned back as his throat contracted around her head. Muscles moved to bring her deeper down, and the chilling sounds of uncanny movement echoed in the room as she disappeared.

She easily slid into his stomach as her body reduced to liquids. Skin, bone, muscles, ligaments, and cloth; all were the same against the boiling acid.

Soon, the booted feet disappeared down his widened throat, cracking and squelching as the rest of the body had. His mouth then closed, the skin sealing together until his lips met once more, spread in a satisfied smile. His throat retracted back to its normal size as if nothing had occurred, and his smile widened.

He had an audience.

Before turning around, he replaced his blindfold. Once firmly in place, he stood and glanced back to the sound of vomiting.

His Gnat companion stood in the doorway with an elated, almost pleasured expression on her face, whereas his Beetle companion, hunched over, vomited in the hall. The Tarantula didn't even bother looking, his back to the room.

He sighed, approaching them. "Makin' a mess o'er there, Beetle. If ya really wanted to see 'f I really ate people, ya should've gotten yerself ready fer...y'know, me eatin' people."

Visibly shaking, the younger man swallowed and took several steps away from him. The sound of activity in the halls brought his attention to something behind him. "Fuck. W-we gotta go..."

Igni jumped out of the room from the hole in the ceiling, and his comrades followed after a moment. It led them to a higher one that likewise had a ceiling hole, and they left to stand on the building's rooftop.

The black smoke from the building hid them from view, but Igni didn't dally, leading his comrades away from the bracket and into the surrounding woods.

They landed on the ground and turned to watch the chaos unfold. Shouts of orders and calls broke out as the sister brackets arrived to put out the fires.

"Rather slow, ain't they," Igni observed with a hum. "Ah, no matter." He turned, letting his tongue flicker out.

Fear. It permeated the air as strongly as the smoke, emitting from both his companions and the many soldiers behind them.

It was so thick, he could drink it.