Mick was still processing the fact that, thanks to an accidental injury from a mirror he was able to sense things even Marcus, Gloria and Keryn couldn’t. He was a little skittish, and the fact that this injury somehow awakened at this inopportune time just put another layer of stress on his body and mind. The moment he heard a string of laughter from the gruesome looking little girl coming straight to him, he just jumped. “Get away from me!” He yelped and tried to reach for the talismans tucked in his pocket. But his hand was sweaty and trembling, he could not find it in time.
The little girl let out a giggle and tried to rush to his side again and hold his arm, while his way was blocked by Tae Kuo, who had no idea what he saw at this moment.
“Stay back!” Tae Kuo pulled Mick behind him while fist-striking the general direction of the little girl with a talisman tucked in his palm and a string of beads on his wrist. In his vision, there was nothing in front of him, but out of pure professional instinct he kept unleashing this attack in hopes of buying them time and space.
The talisman cracked and burst into flames again and it scorched his palm. The little girl screamed, turned to smoke and shot up into the air, giggles turning into weepings and angry cries.
“Fucking hell!” Tae Kuo grabbed and shook his right wrist. His palms were red hot as if he just touched a grill barehanded: “Rice wine in my backpack, now!”
Mick opened Tae Kuo’s backpack and found only a small plastic bottle of light yellow liquid that fit the description, he twisted it open before handing it back to Tae Kuo.
Tae Kuo poured some wine on his palm, then began mumbling some kind of spell. The wound was more severe than it looked, for his entire face turned red and veins were popping out of his forehead.
“Duck!” Keryn yelled at both of them. She shot over and pulled them onto the ground. A gust of cold air blew past above them, and a long gash appeared on the wall behind.
Keryn slammed her right hand and right forearm on the ground to launch her body up after pulling the two men down. Her entire body was in the mid air and almost horizontal. Two consecutive lightning fast kicks were unleashed at the cloud that appeared in front of them out of nowhere.
“Poof poof” the two kicks landed, and once again as if they landed on cloth or fabric. Her Qi exploded at the soles of her shoes, and blasted two holes in the cloud of smoke.
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“Mama!” The little girl cried and lunged at Keryn from behind, her body was already less solid, and her clothes were showing some scorch marks. Marcus lunged over and swung his right hand at the little girl like a sword, hoping to force her to back off. Yet she was dead set on making Keryn pay for her actions, she did not even stop for a moment.
Marcus’ Qi blade extending out of his forearm slashed the little girl from top to bottom, blasting and burning her entire body, leaving her little room and space to fight back or evade. Her attack was thwarted, and her body exploded into a cloud of cinder and dark smoke.
The mother screamed. The entire hallway darkened with her rage and thirst for payback. But it did not stop either Keryn or Gloria, who took the opportunity of her moment of shock and devastation to land their kick and claw slash at her chest and left waist.
Both hits struck true and solidly, her body crumbled and burned with the two women’s Qi rampaging in her ghostly body.
Tae Kuo and Mick yelled and rushed over, tossing two talismans onto the headless woman’s body. The headless woman’s right arm raised the bloody cleaver, but her upper body turned to ashes before it could swing the weapon.
The weepings of the little girl came from the space right behind the crumbling figure of the headless woman. She wiped her one good eye with her one good hand. Tears, instead of blood or any other liquid, dropped from her face. Her voice was clear and sad, for a moment, she sounded just like a real girl.
Gloria took the rice wine bottle from Tae Kuo’s left hand, pulled out a folded talisman and poured some rice wine on it, soaking it while infusing it with her Qi. Before anyone could react, she shot the talisman at the little girl.
Bright white light exploded from the contact point when the talisman struck the little girl’s forehead. Her facade of a crying, injured little girl crashed like a glass sculpture met with a flying brick. Her face, now shrouded in intense dark smoke and covered in blood and dark tar-like substance, was covered in terrifying anger. None of those present could ever imagine they would see this kind of emotion from a young girl - her only good eye opened as wide as she could barely any hint of human warmth inside; she was gritting her teeth, and the corners of her mouth were slightly lifted, as if she was smiling - smiling at the poor, defenseless souls she and her mother would exact their revenge on.
The talisman broke through the dark smoke and shot into the open gash on the little girl's head, bursting into molten flames and spreading all over her body. She began screaming and struggling with the fire, light gray smoke burst from her body and ashes spilling around.
An idea flashed through Marcus’ mind, as she lunged at the little girl, his Qi concentrated on his right hand: “DO IT!” Before he finished his command, his right hand swung through the space in front of him, shooting a Qi claw mark at the little girl.
Keryn also pulled out a talisman, infused it with a bit of her Qi while crunching it and threw it at the little girl like a grenade.
Marcus and Keryn’s attacks landed on the body of the little girl one after another. The flames on her body burned brighter and hotter, even from a distance, Marcus could feel the heat.
The little girl’s scream stopped after a while. Her one arm kept waving in the air, trying to distinguish the flames but she was not able to do anything. Soon after her entire body being covered in fire, she lost the power to stand solely on one leg and fell on the ground.
She struggled for only a few more seconds, and eventually crumbled into ashes just like the headless woman.
Left on the ground when the ashes dissipated, were two small pieces of wood - wood carvings.