Chapter Seventy-Five: Purification

Blue like the ocean on a sunny day; blue like a cloudless sky shining on her face; blue like the infinite amount of colors that existed in her head. Everything was blue.

Reza woke up in a very blue room, trying to remember what had happened to her the night before. She’d found the goddess, had agreed to be her champion, had come back to life, and then…

Then she’d walked for miles, until finally falling asleep in a forest miles away. Now, all she could see was a blue cabin surrounding her. Who would paint a cabin such an ugly color?

“Ah, you’re awake,” A man said from next to her. Twisting her body, Reza found the man to be a little younger than her, and clearly an ancient. But, the strange part was: she recognized him. This was Roberto, the Ancient who had employed her.

“What do you want, amor?” She asked in an irritated tone. “You didn’t need to kidnap me if you wanted another job. And how did you even find me? Were you following me or something like that?” She let suspicion creep into her tone as she narrowed her eyes on him.

“Something like that,” He replied. “And I saved you from the forest—”

“You did no such thing! I can protect myself. How the hell do you think I became the world’s greatest beast hunter if I can’t even survive in a forest!”

“Nevertheless,” the man continued, calm demeanor masking his irritation, “I did shelter you, and that’s enough for you to hear me out.”

“What is there to hear out?” Reza wondered. “I did your job and now I’m done with you. Unless you have plenty of coin to fess up.” She reached in her pocket and breathed a sigh of relief to find her own coin there.

“I’m no thief.”

“And why should I trust the man who kidnapped me?” She asked. “Be that as it may, darling, I think I will take my leave. I have a new job and a new employer to take care of.”

“I want to come with you,” Roberto blurted out.

“What?”

“I want to journey and beast hunt with you,” The man repeated. “I want to learn from you all kinds of great lessons. Truly, I wish to be your apprentice.”

“My god, you are stupid, no?” Reza said. “How many times must I tell you that I do not care about you. You mean nothing to me and my business does not and shall never involve you.”

“Please just give me a chance,” He pleaded. “I’ve always wanted to learn from the greats.”

“You would die quickly if you became my apprentice.”

“And how do you know that?” Roberto asked. “I’m an Ancient.”

“Even more reason to not take you in. Fogo, you’re good at not arguing, amor.”

“What if I promise to not perform any Ancient duties while I’m with you. No magic, no nothing.”

Reza sighed. “Persistent, are you?” She couldn’t deny it, she was thinking about it. There was one idea in the back of her head that she was keeping just in case she needed to use it. After all, if she gave him the chance, he could be useful for any dirty job she needed.

“I’ll let you come with,” She told him begrudgingly. “But don’t think for a second I care about your miserable life. I will let you die if need be, you hear me, darling?”

“Loud and clear, mistress.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Well, I can’t just call you Sangue now, can I?” He asked. “It sounds wrong.”

“Call me Reza Ateu.”

“Okay, Reza Ateu. Off to your job we go. Wait, what even is the job you’re doing?”

“Should’ve asked before you joined, sweetie,” Reza grinned. “Now it’s too late to back down.”

— — —

Back to oriente Reza traveled, although this time, she didn’t come with a horse; she came with a burro.

“So, I understand that we serve Eva now, but what are we doing here?” Roberto asked.

“I appreciate you more when you shut up.”

“Yes, miss.”

Once again, the beast hunter sighed. “I’ve come to finish my business here. My first job is to uproot the Revanchist from Oriente. As far as I know, the man who killed me is still in the castle, and I must find him before more arrive. After that, I will go after anyone who dares to defy me.”

“A little cruel, that.” Reza shot him a glare and he wisely stopped talking.

The city looked exactly as it had when she left, but now, the citizens stared at her almost like someone who had been defeated. She had crawled out of their city, after all. Many began to throw rocks at her and shout curses to the famous beast hunter, but she ignored all of them.

“Strange,” She whispered to herself. “Most of them didn’t even know who I was when I arrived.”

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“Word of mouth is pretty powerful.”

“Shut the hell up or I will stitch it shut.”

“Sorry.”

“HEY, Sangue!” A man yelled, throwing a rock at her that struck her in the face, eliciting a small well of blood. “You think you’re so tough. Guess it just took one rebel to down you. Are you back for more? I guess even monster blood bleeds, eh?”

Reza ignored him, but the man wasn’t planning on being ignored.

“What’s that, Sangue dos Monstros? You say you don’t mind getting killed. Well, too bad, because that’s what’ll happen. And who’s the kid? You made love to the wrong person and now you’re stuck with him?”

“Stupid atheist,” She whispered. “I’m done with them.”

You can do whatever you want, as long as it serves my purpose and doesn’t serve Dautha’s, came a voice in her head. I believe in you, Reza.

“Good.”

“Hey, Sangue, are you just going to…urgh” The man’s hands rose to his throat as a knife blossomed from it, blood already spewing from the wound. Quickly, Reza retrieved it, then looked around as the man fell.

“Does anyone else want to say anything about me?” She asked. “Me, Reza Ateu, bringer of destruction and light. Fear me, but listen to me. One day, you shall all understand the truth. Until then, if any of you get in my way, you will suffer the consequences. Is that clear, meus amores?” The citizens around her nodded in fear, and she smiled, licking the blood from her knife.

“Now, someone get that cleaned up; I have a job to take care of.”

“I knew you were vicious,” Roberto said to her as they passed. “But I didn’t know you were cruel and ruthless too. I didn’t sign up to slaughter innocents.”

“I did, so don’t you worry about it, darling,” Reza told him. “Just focus on doing what I tell you.”

“And that is?”

“Find my horse,” She said. “I don’t know where it is, but I left it by the castle. You know what it looks like, seeing as you’ve been following me like a creep. So, hop to it.”

“And where do I find you again?”

“I’ll find you,” Reza promised. “Just try not to die. The mob will hate you for what happened.”

The Ancient resolutely took off, leaving one last salute to Reza, who shook her head. Poor man. He won’t last long.

I don’t know why you even brought him.

“Can you please get out of my head unless I call you. I prefer to keep at least a semblance of privacy.”

As you wish, my champion.

The castle loomed in front of Reza and she grinned. Time to finish this.

— — —

It didn’t take long for her to find Irmão Sérgio, or the other way around. As soon as she reached the courtyard, she screamed for him, and he walked in not five seconds after.

“For a second, I thought I’d actually killed you,” He grinned. “Back for more, Reza?”

“Oh, no, amor,” She said. “This time, it’s you who will suffer.”

“We’ll see about that. You’re still the same prostituta that entered here the first time.”

“Oh, honey, you’ve got that dreadfully wrong. I’m not the same prostituta anymore. I’m a hungry one now. A holy one.” Her fists flared, and Irmão Sérgio’s jaw dropped.

“How? No, it must be a trick. You cannot have been imbued.”

“I just learned what it is to have faith,” Reza smirked. “Come at me, you fool.”

With a snarl, Irmáo Sérgio waved his arms, trying some sort of magic on her. To his surprise and Reza’s satisfaction, it didn’t work.

“Lesson number one, I am not as defenseless as you thought.” Slinging her knives out and throwing them in the same second, she rushed at the disciple, who dodged the knives in time to get hit by the punch Reza had thrown at him, her first encased in a sort of black diamond substance. The disciple went flying, hitting the wall and falling to the ground, coughs wracking his body.

“Lesson number two, I am stronger than I ever was.” With a look to the skies, Reza felt her whole body becoming encased in the black diamond substance, making her stronger, fueling her desire for revenge, aiding her in her pursuit.

She ran at Irmão Sérgio, who threw fireballs at her, her own knives, even an entire pillar. The last one made her stumble, but she stood her ground. Cracking her neck, she brought her fist up, which was bursting with black lightning.

“Lesson number three,” She spat. “I am pissed. And when I am pissed, you can not defeat me.” She brought her fist down on the disciple’s head, shattering it and spraying her in blood, bone and brains. The body flopped to the ground, limp and very much dead.

“Simple enough,” She whispered to herself. “The disciple is gone. Oriente is safe, Eva.”

Good, my child. Now we must move on to the next target.

“I’m ready,” She said. “Just need to find my apprentice.”

Taking a liking to him, eh?

“I just want Cavala back, darling.”

As the armor flowed back into nothing, Reza stood in the midst of her opponent’s blood, satisfaction pouring out of her like the liquid. Reaching down, she picked up her knives and sheathed them.

The young Ancient was already waiting at the entrance of the castle, his mouth open and his eyes wide in uncomprehending awe.

“That was…how did you…”

“Move it, amor. You got my horse?”

“Right there,” He pointed. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Because it was cool or because you don’t want me to.”

“The first, I think,” He said. “This is what you meant then by purifying our country.”

“The Revanchist is a rebel, anyone would want to kill his disciples; I just get the chance to. No, this is not what I meant. What I meant by that you have already seen when I killed the atheist.”

“So you’ll do that again!” Roberto exclaimed, horrified. “You weren’t like this before.”

“You’re the one who signed up, darling,” She told him. “And this is what you got. Try and keep up.”

And so, burro in tow, Reza got on Cavala and left Oriente, wondering eyes following her, and she smiled.

This was just getting started, and she was already having fun.