Chapter 58: I'm the One Who Rings Death’s Bell, Part 12
From her vantage point in the darkness of a building, War smiled with satisfaction. More than a smile, it was something wild, like an animal baring its teeth. Her eyes glowed purple through the veil of darkness. Of course, just like a predator's eyes, the darkness of the night posed no obstacle for them. Her eyes penetrated beyond, seeing everything clearly.
Bang. In an instant, a man's life had been violently snatched away. His head exploded, and the contents of his skull scattered across the sand, without him ever knowing what had happened. One moment he was alive, and the next, dead. In reality, the first to fall were the lucky ones. When it was all over, War would have more time and freedom to play, after all. To stretch the muscles of her creativity, so to speak.
As expected, the rats scattered and sought cover, even though they didn’t know from where the attacks would come. And there weren’t many; to protect her brother, that girl hadn’t told the truth. Otherwise, the cavalry would have been much larger and would have come to this village not to rescue Samuel Wright, but to kill the devil’s son. If they had come here with hundreds and hundreds of soldiers, perhaps she would have had some trouble, but with only a few dozen... Ah, they had no chance.
She heard the rats speculate that she might be running elsewhere, changing locations to confuse them. That would have been the normal thing to do, but she didn’t need to. War extended her index finger, aimed, and fired.
BANG. Another head exploded, another life crushed like an insect. War’s smile widened. Despite what her name might suggest, she had never felt such pleasure in killing someone as she did now. After all, she had been lying in wait for so long, biding her time in the shadows. This felt like a drowning person finally surfacing. The blood that filled the air was like the oxygen her hypothetical drowning self had lacked.
War spread her arms to the sides, as if to welcome them to the bloody and prophetic village of Ajenjo, even though not a single one of those poor idiots had spotted her yet. Well, she had worked hard to give them a warm welcome, as the good hostess she was. What was it they said? Ah, yes, it’s the thought that counts. War killed a third in the same manner. They still hadn’t even located her. What a bunch of incompetents.
Although the situation changed faster than she could have expected. Suddenly, a whip of water coiled around her left arm and dragged her against the window, hitting her hard. The glass cracked, and with the second push, War crashed through the window. She unceremoniously landed in the midst of those bastards. She didn’t even bother to do it in a somewhat more graceful manner to preserve her dignity.
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But no one could blame her if they knew what she knew: she had a defense that worked automatically in 360 degrees. How the hell had that whip of water gotten so close to her and grabbed her, doing this? It made no sense. It didn’t, but she had to face the facts. Somehow, that little brat had outsmarted her. Christina, if she remembered correctly: the little bitch she had left with a shattered leg, who should have taken much longer to find them, not to mention recover. What a pain in the ass...
Anyway, it was just a minor inconvenience. The most frustrating part of all: she realized that the little bitch in question seemed just as surprised, if not more so, than she was. Had she bypassed a defense system that no mortal had ever overcome purely by luck? Give me a break! No such miracle existed. It was a bad joke, a damn bad joke.
“Men, open fire.” The order was given. Dozens of guards opened fire on her at the same time, but, of course, an attack of that level was something entirely different. Effortlessly, none of the bullets hit her; they were lost in the night. Even the gunpowder smoke quickly disappeared, along with the smell. Here, the only prevailing scent was the overwhelming smell of blood.
“How is this possible? This isn’t any magic I’ve seen before.” And they could spend the rest of the night asking themselves that; they would never get an answer. That wasn’t magic, and she wasn’t a sorceress.
“Welcome to this wonderful slaughter chamber. None of you will leave alive.” Slowly, very slowly, the tentacles emerged into this world, and her silhouette was surrounded by dark energy, like a kind of aura. She didn’t need the help of her older sisters; she only required that of her pet.
In theory, there should be a fundamental difference between someone who could only attack at close range and someone who could attack from a distance, but that meant nothing if the bullets couldn’t reach her. There was no disadvantage. Neither numerical, logistical, nor strategic. Undoubtedly, she held all the cards.
“Those of you in a hurry to die, come at me. I’ll welcome you with open arms.” Literally, the tentacles would embrace them until they exploded like piñatas. Figuratively, they would be more names to add to her list. To her legend. To the fear of war that infused her with life and made her stronger. Yes, her older sisters didn’t need to interfere in this. She hadn’t forgotten about the whip of water. It was still there, coiled around her arm, trying to pull her and drag her across the ground again, but it was no longer possible.
War acted as if its presence didn’t even bother her, and it truly didn’t. It was just a minor inconvenience, just like her visitors.
“Violet, Christina, I’m here, right here. Don’t you want to get your little brother back? Well, come for me. Stop trembling back there like rats.” She laughed, more to provoke them than because she felt like it. It always worked with spoiled little girls like those: young and stupid.
“It’s time for the game to begin. The prelude is starting to bore me, and I’m not good at dealing with boredom.”
I'm the One Who Rings Death’s Bell, Part 12: END