Momo watched the two headless bodies fall to the floor and made no moves to stop it. Splatters of crimson blood made polka dots all over her clean blouse, and the stench of human flesh doused her like a perfume. Her angelic persona was tainted, but the girl didn’t care. Momo sauntered towards the two corpses as if she was strolling in a park. Her seemingly weak fingers grabbed the burly guard’s head by the hair and lifted it like a basketball.
“A-Ah… I sent the other guy’s head flying...” Momo sulked, her chin fell towards her chest. “Now, I only have one... No matter! There are still many more subjects in Mythpoint Reach!!!”
Momo’s face brightened up for all the wrong reasons. She lifted the burly man’s decapitated body and tried to screw his head back in place. Twisting and turning, blood sprayed out from the clean slit, further staining Momo’s clothes. However, the girl didn’t care about that. She was a Tier 9 Spirit Beast, after all. Human clothes were just a mode of disguise. Momo still had many more back at her base.
Once the head was reattached and no longer fell off, Momo raised her left hand and closed her eyes. Spiritual particles the size of crystals flowed out of the young girl and permeated into every fibre of the corpse’s body. Then… A miracle occurred. The deceased man, who should have been void of any life, was now convulsing wildly. The body moved around like a marionette whose strings had been entangled. Flopping and hopping, it didn’t take long for the burly guard to rise from the floor.
Pale and icy cold, the guard no longer possessed the attributes that determined life. It was like… He had turned into the girl’s play doll forevermore...
“Nenene! You died, right?!” Momo questioned the corpse. “How was it like?! Is heaven real?! Is there an everlasting moon in heaven?”
“...” No reply. The corpse could undoubtedly move, but it was no longer sentient. Just a shell of what it once was. That lack of movement pissed Momo off. Her smile disappeared and in its place, a threatening frown.
“Nenene! I’m talking to you! Don’t you ignore me!” Momo’s voice became louder by the second. She wanted to know if there was an afterlife and nothing could stop her in that conquest. “If you don’t reply, I’m going to kill you again!”
“Momo… That’s enough...” A weary voice entered Momo’s brain. A young boy, whose hair was as white as snow, flew straight up the watchtower and chided the young girl.
“Nenene, Shiro! You came at the perfect time!” Momo cried in desperation. “Why does no one knows what happens after death? I keep killing and bringing them back, but they still don’t answer me!”
Shiro sighed and planted the base of his palms on his forehead. “We’ve been through this multiple times… Your puppet ability doesn’t bring humans back to life. They’re just lifeless golems now.”
“Mmnnnn~! So unfair!” Momo stomped her feet twice. If not for the motionless bodies that lay before her, it would be an adorable scene of a child throwing a tantrum. “Really… It looks like only Father can tell me what happens after death! Arghhh! I can’t wait anymore! I want to know! I want to know!”
“Be patient, Momo…” Shiro consoled the sulking girl. “Father’s plans take time. Also, you’ve already lived for fifty thousand years! Father estimates that it’ll take him a hundred years more to complete the ceremony! I’m sure you can wait that long, right?”
“Hah… Perhaps...” Momo shifted her eyes back and forth. She was a Spirit Beast that lived for thousands of years, but her demeanour was utterly childlike. It was a miracle that the Allfather had kept her in check for this long. Momo pouted for a good ten seconds before a flashbulb lit up in her head. “Before they died, these men kept saying ‘fuck the Black Masks,’ or ‘fuck the Allfather...’ Do you know what that means?”
“Hmmm... The human lexicon is vast… So I wouldn’t really know...” Shiro shook his head. “But since he’s talking about father, maybe they were praising him?”
“Ah! I’d never thought of that!” Momo’s two eyes sparkled, but it quickly degraded into one of shame. “They were praising father, and I just killed them like that… We could have let them serve the Black Masks… Ah! Stupid Momo! Stupid Momo!” The pink-haired girl slapped her head, inflicting some self-punishment onto herself.
Shiro bitterly smiled and dropped both of his shoulders. He gently stroked Momo’s head, acting like a tender elder brother. “You’re not stupid… Look, if you really want to, you can add these two to your collection. That way, they can serve father, even in death!”
“G-Genius!” The young girl dropped both her hands and looked at the single standing corpse that was right next to her. “Shiro! You’re really a genius! But… They’re a little too weak to serve as my guards...” Momo was genuinely concerned about how she was to deal with the pair. All of her puppets were either made of Mithril or corpses from Tier 8 and 9 Spirit Beasts. These two would probably die in a few hours anyway.
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“It’s okay! You can just leave them behind as cheerleaders!” The white-haired boy once again had the answer for the young girl’s dilemma. “I’m sure that they’ll be grateful for the netherworld!”
Momo was unable to hold back anymore. She jumped into Shiro’s embrace and nuzzled her face against the young boy’s. “Nenene! Shiro’s really a genius! Hehe, I can’t wait until I tell father about these two servants! Ah! Do you think that the father would like it if I praised him with ‘fuck?’”
“I’m sure he would be!” Shiro smiled, not knowing what kind of misunderstanding he had placed in the young girl’s mind. “Anyway, we have to go! The rest are pushing into Mythpoint Reach already. We have to be there in a few minutes.”
“Okay~” Momo chirped. She jumped onto the railings with a single hop before flying straight out of the watchtower. The two new puppets she made tried to follow suit, but they were hindered by their weak spiritual power. However, the young girl didn’t bother to slow down one bit. Instead, her speed doubled as her petite body sliced through the wind.
Momo and Shiro were flying at tremendous altitudes, giving them a good view of the land below. Tormented bodies, some broken in half, others smashed down into a paste, were littered all over the tranquil paths. Sometimes, the pair of Spirit Beasts could see a group of Black Masks massacring innocent traders and convoys that just happened to be venturing into Mythpoint Reach. They had the highest authority in the syndicate, and by right, every single Black Mask was supposed to bow in greeting when they meet either one of the Nine Coloured Noble Beasts. Yet, none of them did so.
Drowned in their bloodlust, the Black Masks continued to murder anything that moved. There was no humanity in their actions. It didn’t matter if their prey were an elderly man or an infant child. The Black Masks’ blades would still pierce their hearts all the same. They were so far gone that none of them realised that their most senior superiors were flying overhead.
In any normal circumstances, Momo would blow a fuse and murder those idiots that didn’t know propriety. So it was fortunate for the Black Masks that the Spirit Beast was in a similar delirious state. Momo was just about to meet the one that she loved the most.
The dusk hastened into the night, and the radiant full moon was becoming even brighter. It was too early for stars but dark enough for the world to be enveloped in a patch of darkness. However, as the pink-haired girl edged closer towards her destination, there was a warm glow radiating out from the ground. Momo smiled and licked her lips twice.
It was cold, as of any autumn night. Yet, as Momo approached the blob of light, her face started to warm up. Fiery tongues licked their way all over the grassy patches around the town, and billowing smoke rife with Satan’s ambers glorified the chilling night. Momo dropped down from a hundred metres up, her new puppets not that far behind.
Mythpoint Reach was a developed metropolis. They possessed buildings that were over twenty-metres tall, well-paved roads and opened gates for ease of transport. They were a neutral town that aimed to be a hub where any citizen, be it from the Himmel Empire, Kori Federation or the Lantis Republic, could come and trade. Alas, that would prove to be their undoing.
Thousands of vines and roots came out from the Gargantuan Treant’s body. It wrecked houses, broke open roads, and pierced through what little defence Mythpoint Reach had. Bodies were flung into the air, their hearts shredded with one clean blow. And they were the lucky ones… Wood was now the prevalent element of the land, which could only mean one thing.
“RARARARA!!! BURN!!! BURN IN HELL!!!” Akai, the Chimaera roared. Orange flames spewed out with a vengeance. Mythpoint Reach continued to burn, and the cries of help had already subsided into wails of despair. Many had already given up on their fate and were lying down in surrender. They just wanted their hell to end.
Charred bodies were the most common sight around. Murasaki, the Spider Queen, closed all of her eight eyes, seemingly in disgust.
“Ahhhhh, what a waste of food! Akai! Can’t you at least leave the heads?” The Arachne complained, her face void of empathy for the lives that were being ripped out from their souls. To her, humans were only food. It didn’t matter how they were killed, as long as their scrumptious brain matter was deposited into her stomach.
Akai’s lion head snapped back, its mane flowing with a rich opulence. “Rarara! Go and kill them yourself then! I don’t care about what you think!”
“How can I kill them if you’re already burning them to a crisp!” Murasaki screamed.
A pair of twins observed from the side. Though, their attention wasn’t on the squabbling Murasaki and Akai. Neither was it on the thousands of dead bodies littered all about. They were both intensely staring at the pink-haired girl that had just made her entrance with Shiro. The golden-haired woman sent a message to her brother, telepathically.
‘That bitch is here...’
Gin, the silver-haired man, turned over and replied with a small nod. ‘I saw… Patience, Kin. We still have a hundred years before the Allfather’s plans come into fruition. Once he leaves, we can deal with that bitch all we want...’
‘Yeah… A hundred more years...’
Their teeth were grinding, and their face would give the odd twitch. Otherwise, the twins seemed completely calm at the sight of their mortal enemy.
“Why are the two of you always fighting?” An exasperated voice echoed in the burning streets of Mythpoint Reach. A blue-haired suave man walked forward with a shaking head, bringing the attention of all the Tier 9 Spirit Beasts onto himself. “Today is supposed to be a joyous day! Ease up a little, would you?”
“Ao!” Murasaki celebrated the man’s appearance by raising both her hands up. She wanted to leap into his arms, but the Spider Queen lacked the patience. Instead, Murasaki questioned: “If you’re here, that means...”
“Yeap!” Ao smiled. “All the preparations are complete!”
“HAHAHA!!! Finally! I’ve waited two hundred years for this day!” The Arachne gave a huge hurrah.
“Two hundred? I’ve waited for five hundred years!” Ao snorted. “I remember the good old days where it was only the Allfather, Kuro, Shiro and me… We had to suffer so hard in the Uncharted Wilderness back in the day… You youngsters have it good now. Let me tell you-...”
“That’s enough reminiscing for now, Ao...” Before the World Serpent could begin his long-winded tale, an authoritative voice silenced the man. Tall and muscular, a black-haired man, with a slight stubble emerged from the flames. He wore a Pokerface, and no one could tell whether he was happy or sad. However, his hands were shaking a little as he held onto a wooden box.
“Kuro… I was just getting to the good part...”
“We can continue that conversation later...” The Primordial Beast answered with indifference. “Mythpoint Reach has been cleared out… It is now time…” Kuro paused as he slowly unsealed the wooden box in his hands. Eternal dark mist flowed out from the crevices, tainting the air and began to pollute the world. The black fog was slow at first, but it soon became a billowing smoke, far greater than any fire could produce. There was no stopping it now. It really was time...
“... for the Allfather to be summoned...”