Chapter 59: I Am the One Who Rings Death's Bell, Part 13

Christina clicked her tongue in frustration as her attempts proved so futile, but she did not undo the water tentacle that was coiled around War's arm.

Let her do it whenever she wanted and if she could.

It was the first attack from any of the three that had reached her. After so much suffering and fear, she could not let go of this miracle that she herself did not even understand just because War was like an immovable target. Withdrawing the tentacle would not improve her situation, and it was very possible that the miracle would not be repeated.

No.

It was no miracle.

She should stop thinking in such a stupid way right now if she really wanted to survive. It was a hole in her absolute defenses that she should find and exploit to the fullest.

But what?

What was it that had allowed her to breach her absolute defense so casually?

She had not seen War, only realized where the shots were coming from and had therefore blindly launched that attack, but could it really be that simple, right? Could it be something so simple and stupid? In that case, closing her eyes should make her attacks reach her. No. No, impossible. That couldn't be. But she couldn't think of any other difference.

Something had allowed her to reach War, hit her, and drag her into the street, an unfavorable open field position. She didn't believe that War herself had allowed her to do that.

It's not that it was completely illogical, necessarily, but she had seen her surprise, her rage, when she raised her head and fixed her gaze on her after the fall.

She had not pretended, she was not playing with her.

She had truly breached her defenses, and that meant she should be able to repeat it as many times as necessary. She just had to focus.

No. She had come here to save Sam, not necessarily to kill War, but... They would never really be safe until all their enemies were dead. So if she could take advantage of the opportunity right now, there was no reason to hold back.

To settle.

If she could kill War now, it was her duty to do so.

She had the means, even if she didn't know how yet, and she had time.

The soldiers would buy her time. While they died violently, Christina could think and test her ideas. Using more than two dozen people as sacrifices. That was a horrible thing, but she didn't care. She already had blood on her hands. Choosing to stay by Sam's side and do anything to help him made Christina an accomplice to the massacre of his family. The circumstances, how justified she believed it to be, didn't matter. That wouldn't wash the blood off her hands.

I don't need clean hands, I just need him, she thought.

Like that night, War moved calmly towards the enemies.

It seemed she had all the time in the world.

It seemed she didn't even see them as a threat, naturally.

The guards fired over and over. And over and over, the bullets were lost in the night without reaching anywhere, and without War making any visible effort to dodge. They simply disappeared. There was no apparent explanation.

But everything had an explanation, without a doubt.

So Christina positioned herself behind a wall and put to the test the first stupidity that had crossed her mind. That is, closing her eyes, forming her weapon, and blindly firing it towards the heart of the enemy.

At this distance, it shouldn't be difficult to hit even with her eyes closed. Rather, she could change the trajectory of the water in the air, so her water tentacle would act as her eyes. She wouldn't really be blind. That's why she didn't tell Violet anything about her stupid plan. She didn't need her. Not to tell her it had worked, nor to help her aim.

A second water tentacle shot out, violently emerging from the cover at a blinding speed. She kept it away from the guards, and when her memory of War's progress and rhythm so far told her it was time, she made the tentacle plunge even faster.

"Who the hell is that?"

"Keep calm. At some point the attacks will breach her defenses!"

"Yes, yes, she can't keep this up forever!"

The desperate attempts to cling to hope were suddenly cut short by a cold laugh.

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"You'd like that, but I'm not even human. Your common sense has nothing to do with an existence like mine."

"She's crazy."

"Don't be fooled, she's as human as..."

One of the tentacles shot out, stretching too far, capturing one of the guards and lifting him up with his armor and all as if he weighed nothing. Then it squeezed. And squeezed. The tentacle returned to its original position, and War tore the poor son of a bitch in half over her head, bathing herself in his blood. The two halves fell to the sides.

"I am War, the Rider. I am one of the heralds of the apocalypse." Covered in blood from head to toe, with a terrible smile...

She really seemed more than human. Something larger than life. Something that took your breath away.

War spread her arms to the sides, continued walking.

"You make those faces as if you can't believe me, but deep down you know it's true since you set foot in this town. In my territory. There's something in the air, isn't there? Something abnormal. From another world. Well, you're absolutely right. It's not an instinct you should reject. This is not your world, it's my world."

From the depths of the darkness, sounds were heard like heavily creaking wood. The possessed people came out through the doors, windows and alleys, marching forward, blind, fearless, to exterminate the enemies of their mistress. Or die for her, which was more likely.

"What the hell is this?" said one. Christina turned her head quickly to look at him. His eyes were wide and his face covered in sweat, his knees trembling.

War laughed again.

"You'd better die or you'll find out. Go on, my children, kill or die. You are the wake of the red star."

All those puppets, so to speak, rushed forward, crawling on all fours, howling and roaring, saliva and foam escaping their mouths. They hadn't made a sound until now. War had changed the behavior of her slaves to instill fear, and looking around, it was obvious it was working.

Most of them took several steps back, suddenly, as if they had lost their balance. Suddenly they were no longer guards, soldiers or warriors, anything else that could be used to call them. They were just people who wanted to survive.

They lost their greatest advantage, their unity, with a single blow.

As for them...

"I'm coming for you, Christina. Don't think I'll leave you for last. I'm not that stupid. I'll tear you to pieces before you can repeat whatever it is you've done to me."

Fuck, she thought.

But she didn't back down, on the contrary, she took a step forward. That bitch was underestimating her if she thought she was a weak-willed animal that would crumble at the slightest display of her strength. If she were that kind of person, she would never have come to this town in the first place. She had seen enough last night.

Her leg still hurt as if it were on fire, but the pain only pushed her forward, as it always had.

——

Frustrated beyond measure, Sam shouted from the bottom of his throat, not caring who might hear him (well, he had long since stopped worrying about that, inevitably, with the racket he had had to raise) and hit the floor with his head.

Nothing, there was no way to break the damn shackles.

He could escape the room whenever he wanted by knocking down the walls, ceiling, door or floor. It wouldn't even be difficult. With the careless headbutt he had already opened a small hole in the floor.

But with the shackles still tightening around his wrists and ankles, he wouldn't get very far. War or Famine would catch him right away.

More likely Hunger, from the sounds reaching him from outside the guests had already arrived, starting the fight. And he doubted Hunger was fighting shoulder to shoulder with her sister.

For all her status as a Horseman of the Apocalypse, he didn't know if her powers were adequate for a direct battle. In fact, he didn't know what she could do besides act like a damn bitch. She had sucked his dick and also paid attention to the crown jewels. If she just wanted him to get her pregnant, she would have gone straight to the point instead of using the lips up top. God knows he had gotten hard fast enough. All that foreplay had been completely unnecessary.

Ahem, the point is that as long as he didn't get rid of the shackles, it would be quite easy to catch him, but maybe the cavalry would provide the distraction he needed to slip away. He didn't know, but it was worth a try. It was clear that this was his best opportunity. His situation wouldn't improve by waiting with his arms crossed.

Somehow Christina and Violet had managed to find him and send him help, some kind of magic, he supposed.

But when War took him out of here, they would surely lose his trail and his situation would get worse with every second. First, they would meet the other two sisters and he was in no hurry to be literally face to face with Death, no sir, but that would only be the beginning.

They would try all kinds of things to make him surrender to his master's desires. To submit, yielding his will, his body, his life.

And when all that failed, because it would fail, what would be next? Slit his throat and let him fall into hell, handing him over to Satan on a silver platter? Since they couldn't have his body, at least they could torture him to get even. Or maybe even death would not be an obstacle. What told him that Satan couldn't resurrect the dead? Castiel had walked around there and almost killed him in what was essentially a corpse, keeping him alive until he saw no choice but to flee with his tail between his legs.

It was a terrifying possibility.

If when they got bored of trying to get his manipulation by other means they could just do that, he was doomed. He would accept. Even that was worse than an eternity trapped in hell.

But it wasn't worth thinking about the future when his present was so uncertain in the first place. If he didn't hurry, it would all be over soon.

He left the room by opening a hole in the floor and protecting his head from the fall. He could have gone through one of the walls, but for fear of suddenly encountering some special defense, he had chosen a more indirect route.

He landed rather clumsily, rolling on the floor.

He had to lean on a piece of furniture to manage to get to his feet. The shackles did not leave him completely defenseless, but they impeded his movements too much. He took a deep breath, went out into the hallway...

And as expected, Hunger was there to welcome him. Smiling, pushing him against the wall with one hand. It reminded him, just as before, of a cat playing with its prey. He would have given anything not to end up in her claws again, but here he was once again. What an endless days he had been having since he left the mansion, damn it. He was supposed to have already gotten past the hard part.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Sam gritted his teeth, tensed his whole body. Okay, if he had to fight, he would fight.

"Get out of my way."

"Give me a good reason to do it." Famine leaned forward, showing off her charms. For a moment he could have sworn her eyes had turned purple. "After all, you have something I want."

"Yeah. Then I'll give it to you if you help me."

I Am the One Who Rings Death's Bell, Part 13: END