A fierce battle between Grace and the monster is still ongoing after Johnathan left Andrew and Samuel 10 minutes ago. With Grace and the monster having super strength and durability, the battle becomes a stalemate. The area where they fought became a wasteland within 100 meters radius. Trees are knocked down, and multiple craters are everywhere. Grace and the monster staring at each other, 50 meters apart.
"Come on! I don't think we're finished here!" Grace cracked her fingers and retook her battle stance.
The monster howls up into the air. After howling, the monster shrinks until it has the same height as Grace while retaining its disturbing shapes. The monster quickly takes its stance and charges toward Grace. Grace reacted in the nick of time, but the monster managed to graze her outfit. It's clear to her that the monster moves faster than before. The moment Grace turns around, the monster is already so close makes her unable to dodge it. The monster grabs Grace with both hands and slams her to the ground. The slam was hard enough to make Grace blackout for a moment, and the monster didn't waste its chance to pin her to the ground. The monster locks both of her hands and legs and is ready to eat Grace's upper body whole. Grace sees the monster's dark and gruesome teeth as it slowly opens its mouth. Since the monster overpowers her and she can't break free easily, Grace thinks of a way to counterattack. She focuses all her strength on one of her arms and waits for the right moment. When the monster's mouth is wide open, it quickly charges its mouth on Grace to eat her whole. And that's the moment she's waiting for.
She swiftly pulls one of her strengthened arms to shift her body to evade the monster's mouth. The monster's mouth crashes into the ground, making its neck unguarded. In a split second, Grace counter-bites the monster right at the neck. With her strength, she could bite tempered steel off or even chewed if she wanted it. The monster howls in pain as Grace's teeth sink deep and forcefully throws her away without thinking twice. Grace manages to break free from the monster with a chunk of the monster's meat in her mouth. The monster realizes it and feels even more pain in its neck. The monster growls in pain as its thick black ink-like blood flows from its neck. Grace spits out the meat chunk and smirks at the monster as she wipes the blood off her mouth.
"How is it felt when you have your body got bitten off by someone else?" said Grace as she tidied her clothes.
The monster charges at Grace again and rapidly swings its razor-sharp claw at Grace. But its speed is considerably slower, making it easier for Grace to counter the monster's attack. For every counter, Grace hit the monster's face as hard as she could, but the monster blocked it with tentacles that spurted from its back. Even with her superior speed, Grace's attacks didn't land where she wanted. Grace decides to grab its claw and slam the monster to the ground. And before the monster can react while on the ground, Grace kicks the monster and sends the monster flying up into the air until it hits the invisible barrier. The monster electrocuted when it made contact with the barrier for quite some time and then repelled the monster back to the ground.
The monster is struggling to get up as it receives considerable damage. Grace returns the favor as she's now pinning down the monster on its back. Grace gives the monster a beat-down on the monster's back head, in which the monster quickly tries to block her. The monster can't see what's behind them, so the blocking effort seems useless as Grace easily breaks its tentacles like a twig. The monster grows desperate because Grace's attack getting faster, and its tentacle can't regenerate fast enough. Unknown to Grace, the monster forcefully bends its legs backward and reshapes them like a spear. And in a split second, Grace's heart and liver get impaled from behind by the monster's legs.
Grace stops immediately and looks at where she got impaled. Grace is coughing, and blood is quickly coming out of her mouth as she slowly grabs the legs that impaled her. The monster is laughing as if it's its win. Grace slowly joins the laugh, making the monster gradually stop laughing as it feels dread from Grace. From the corner of its dark eyes, the monster sees Grace's terrifyingly wide smile. Grace bends the monster's legs in the opposite direction in an instant, making the monster howl in agony. The monster tries to pull its legs out from Grace, but it's stuck, and the monster doesn't have enough strength to forcefully pull it.
"It's no use. I locked both your legs." Grace raises her right fist. "You caught me off guard, but that doesn't matter. Your live ends here," she locked the monster's head in place with her left hand.
Grace's right fist slowly shines red light, making the monster scared even more. The monster frantically tries to crawl away, but with Grace still riding on its back, all it can do is just dig the dirt. The monster forcefully bends its arms backward, and in desperate attempts, it tries to hit Grace. But no matter how many the monster hits her, Grace seems unfazed by it. The monster tries everything from hitting, scratching, and stabbing her, but nothing works.
"Say your prayers!" said Grace, with her right fist glowing blinding red.
The monster is scared so much of its life that it grows as many tentacles as possible to cover its head, hoping it will survive the attack. Grace strikes the monster's head with her bright-red fist in a fraction of a second. Her strike creates shockwaves faster than the speed of sound, and it's so great that it shakes the earth like a volcanic eruption. When the dust is settled, the monster's lower body remains, from its hip to its legs. Grace easily pulls the monster's leg from her body, and her wound gradually closes. Not long after that, she realizes that even though her body can heal, her outfit cannot.
"Ah crap, Master will scold me again after this," said Grace as she rubbed her forehead.
Two big holes in her outfit make her left breast and abdomen visible. But Grace just let it be because she can't do anything about it. She stretches and twists her body to relax her muscles after doing all that stuff. After she's done, she grabs the monster's remains and carries them on her back. Her next destination is where her Master is. Finding him isn't difficult because she's 'connected' to him, so she knows exactly where her Master is. And so, Grace left the mess she made behind without looking back.
At Andrew and Samuel's place, they felt a great earthquake where they stood and quickly knocked them down, along with all the dry leaves and small branches from the trees. After it settles, many dry leaves and branches stick to them. Even though they already drink an unknown liquid substance from Johnathan, they haven't fully recovered, and their movement is still sluggish. They brush off the leaves and branches from their clothes and continue following the trail that somehow Johnathan purposely made. They already walked around 150 to 200 meters from where they're now. And they will keep following the trails until they learn what Johnathan wants to tell them.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The thug leader, who is in the middle taking pleasure of a half-dead Aria, is startled when he feels the earthquake. After the quakes are gone, the thug leader quickly pulls his pants back and drags Aria again, trying to get away again until his monster is done dealing with the maid. The thug leader doesn't care about Aria's clothes, as her thin and tattered shirt is the only clothes left on her. And as for her pants, the thug leader just left them where it was when he drowned in his lust and didn't bother to put them back.
Soon after, Johnathan easily found Aria's ripped pants. Johnathan picks up the pants and chuckles while he shakes his head. Johnathan neatly folds the tattered pants and places them on his left forearm before he continues pursuing the thug leader. Back at the thug leader situation, he struggles in his escape as his stamina quickly runs out.
"*pant* *pant*... Fuck. Where the fuck is my pet? Why it isn't coming back yet?! 30 minutes just to taking care of trash is far too long! Fuck it!" The thug leader pulls out a purple crystal from his pocket. "Come back, you stupid piece of shit!"
The purple crystal is glowing for a moment, but then it dims and doesn't react anymore. He shakes the crystal, but it's no use. Suddenly, he feels a cold wind from his back and an unsettling presence. He felt an intense soul-piercing gaze from the same direction for a brief moment. He's so scared that he quickly turns around and delivers several shots. His gunshot is the only thing that breaks the silence, and nothing is reacting to that shot.
"If that was a person, you'd definitely kill them," said someone from a different direction.
The thug leader aims at where the voice came out and shots several times. But those shots were easily deflected by him, who is none other than Johnathan.
"YOU! If this girl didn't contact you, I would never have to deal with you!" said the thug leader dropped Aria and kicked her in the stomach. "You'll be finished when my pet comes back!"
A rustle can be heard from another direction, slowly approaching Johnathan and the thug leader. At first, it was a silhouette of the monster, and it makes the thug leader feels he's winning. But then his face turns pale as the silhouette turns into a young woman wearing a torn maid outfit carrying his monster at her back.
"I finally catch you up, Master," said Grace as she dropped the monster corpse to the ground.
"Ah yes, thank you, Grace. You've done enough."
The thug leader begins laughing like a maniac. Both Johnathan and Grace feel unexpected by that, but not surprised.
"THEN I SHOULD KILL YOU FROM THE START!" said the thug leader, who immediately aimed his gun at Aria’s head.
But before the thug leader can pull the trigger, Johnathan swings his right hand at the thug leader at extremely high speed, making a slicing sound. The thug leader quickly realizes that he can't move his hand. A few seconds later, blood starts coming from his right hand that holds the pistol. The gun begins to break apart into several pieces, and his right hand soon follows. The thug leader was shocked and quickly fell to his knees as he tried to hold the intense pain he felt after losing his hand. But the pain soon becomes unbearable that the thug leader screams in pain. With the thug leader writhing in pain, Johnathan comes closer to him.
"Now, I'm curious. Where did you get that?" asked Johnathan while pointing his finger to the purple crystal on the ground.
"Fuck, you!"
"*sigh* I guess it's no use to talk to you."
Johnathan stabs his right hand at the thug leader's forehead. The thug leader's body starts jerking uncontrollably, and both eyes roll up. It going for a moment, and then the thug leader stops jerking, and Johnathan pulls his hand shortly after. The thug leader becomes limp and lifeless, with a big hole in his forehead.
"Hm... His tasteless brain tells me nothing about the crystal. By all means, I'll bring the crystal to the mansion for further study. Grace, get the dead monster closer," said Johnathan as he quietly put the purple crystal into his jacket's inner pocket.
Johnathan touches the monster's corpse with one hand and closes his eyes. A steady stream of blood and small pieces of meat from the monster flows to Johnathan's other hand. In his free hand, the blood and meat turn into a lump that grows bigger until it's big as a fully grown human head. Johnathan opens his eyes, and the lump gradually reconstructs into the young woman's head. Johnathan makes another young woman's head with a different face right after the first one is finished.
"Uh... Who are they, Master? Wait, I know who that is. Uh.... her name is... uh... Harris? Jodie Harris? Right?" said Grace while tapping her forehead.
"Yes, you're correct, Grace. And this one is Nina Barbet. And you do realize that your outfit is damaged," Johnathan glared at Grace.
"I'm sorry, Master," said Grace as she immediately got on her knees and bowed her head in front of Johnathan. "I got careless. I should've been more cautious with my well-being. Please forgive me, Master," said Graces trembling in fear.
"*sigh* Since you have taken care of this abomination, I let you pass this time. And..." Johnathan lifted Grace's face. "Your body belongs to me. And I like it when it dressed decently." Johnathan pulls a new maid outfit from his jacket and gives it to Grace. "Go change it before our detective friend arrives."
"Yes, Master." Grace immediately changes her outfit into a new one.
While Grace is changing, Johnathan comes closer to Aria, who breathing weakly. He holds her wrist, checking her pulse, which is not looking good. Johnathan proceeds to stab his index finger right below Aria's ribs. He uses his finger's "extended part" to gently check Aria's condition. When he's finished checking, his face turns sad.
"Aria, I'm sorry. Because you're not getting any treatment, your condition is grimmer than it looks. Several of your ribs are broken and pierced your lungs. Cracked temple, jaw, and pelvis. Ruptured spleen and liver. I'm amazed that you're still breathing," said Johnathan as he gently caressed Aria's forehead.
Knowing her injuries, Aria shed a tear and cried. Even though she almost cannot make an expression, her will to live is still burning. She wants to live longer. She doesn't want to die.
"I can heal you completely, but there's a catch. And that is, you willingly become my familiar," Johnathan continued. "The requirement is simple. First, you need to see my 'face'. Not this one, this is my human face before I become.... something else. Those who saw my, let's just say 'abyss face', usually loses their willingness to live. Second, just recite this sentence, 'I have enlightened and give you my eternal servitude'."
Aria is hesitant at first, but after what she witnesses throughout the night, she thinks she'll manage. Her willingness to live is greater than her fear. She musters her strength in her hand and grabs Johnathan's jacket. Without saying anything, her face says that she wants to live, no matter the cost.
"I see. Before we continue, this process is irreversible. After the 'ritual' is done, you belong to me. Just like Grace and others before her. Are you sure?" asked Johnathan politely.
Aria weakly nods once, and Johnathan proceeds to start the ritual.
"Let us begin."
Johnathan covers his face with his other free hand and brings his face up close to Aria. When Johnathan moves his hand out from his face, Aria is witnessing something beyond human comprehension. She sees galaxies moving around and colliding with each other. And every time they crash, they spark. But how a galaxy move is much like an ant in an ant colony. As her view of the moving galaxies becomes more expansive, the flickering light she sees starts making a pattern. At first, she doesn't know what the pattern is. After a while, she gets a glimpse of it. And when she realizes it, the pattern reassembles a supermassive eye that stares into her as if it's piercing her existence. But it isn't over as the flickering light began showing a black spot right in the middle. As the flicker of light becomes brighter, it also reassembles an eye. At that moment, she felt tremendous gravity at the center of the massive eye. She instantaneously pulled right into the center of the eye, which it's complete darkness.
With a snap of a finger, Aria's consciousness returns to reality. Johnathan, whose face returns to normal, waves his finger in front of Aria's face. After a while, Aria's eyes are moving, following Johnathan's finger.
"Good. Now recite the sentence." Johnathan moves his ear closer to Aria's mouth.
"I... have... enlightened... And give you... my... eternal servitude...," Aria said with her faint voice.
But that faint voice of her is enough for Johnathan. Johnathan stabs Aria right where her heart is and begins transforming her into his liking. Aria's whole body is wobbling intensely. Johnathan can tell that Aria is in pain from her face, but he doesn't care about it and continues his work. The transformation is going on for around a minute. Aria's body and expression turn calm when he's done, and she's sleeping soundly.