There was a strange look in Kim Hajun’s eye as he stared at the Martial Lord in the distance. The shirtless man was lying on the ground with his face in the dirt. One of Ouyang Feng’s arms was missing, and more sections of his skin was covered in blood than not. His underlings were crowding around him, dumping healing potions on his wounds.

Kim Hajun looked towards the woman wearing black armor, the one who had beaten him to near death multiple times as vengeance for one of her subordinates. Mary was holding the Oebu Sin’s upper half with four of its fingers while impaling its thumb-having lower half with her sword. Even though she was only holding half the hand, the fact she could overpower it showed just how strong she was.

Kim Hajun shifted his gaze onto Vur and Tafel. Tafel was melting softening orichalcum with her flames, and Vur was bending the metal with his bare hands, weaving it into a cage. Kim Hajun nodded as he understood something: Erde’s environment must’ve had some airborne steroids or something to make its inhabitants unnaturally strong.

Mary turned her head, noticing Kim Hajun’s gaze. “What?” she asked. “Is there a problem?”

Kim Hajun gestured towards the red-haired woman’s hand. “Isn’t it difficult to keep the Oebu Sin in place like that?” he asked.

Mary stared at Kim Hajun as if he were a drooling dog. “It’s just a hand,” she said raising the portion of Oebu Sin she was holding. “It’s not even a whole hand. How strong can it be?”

Kim Hajun’s expression tensed, but he forced himself to relax his facial muscles. Yes, it was just a hand, but it moved like it was attached to a body. Then again, it didn’t have the muscles of the body assisting it; as Mary put it, it was just a hand, and hands had tiny muscles compared to the ones in people’s arms and legs. Logically, the hand shouldn’t be very strong, yet Ouyang Feng’s battered body was clear proof it was. “You’re right,” Kim Hajun said, speaking completely different thoughts from the ones in his head. “Why are you trapping it? Are you going to study how it moves?”

Mary frowned, and Kim Hajun lowered his head while taking a step back. The frown on Mary’s face eased up, and she turned her attention back onto the cage Vur and Tafel were making. It was more apt to describe the cage as a box with narrow slits similar to breathing holes punched into it. There was also a door with a hinge and latch on one face of the box, allowing things to enter and exit. Inside the box, there was an orichalcum sheet splitting the cage in two, allowing Mary to store each half of the Oebu Sin individually. “It’s perfect,” she said, her eyes landing on the breathing holes. Coincidentally—or not—they were large enough for the blade of her sword to pass through and stab the interior of the cage.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Of course, it’s perfect,” Mervin said. “Vur and Tafel worked together to make it.”

Tafel’s flames died down, and Vur stopped shaping the cage. He passed the box to Mary, and she grabbed it before frowning and placing it on the ground. It was still hot. That didn’t stop her from throwing the two halves of the Oebu Sin inside; after all, all heat did was tickle it. The armored woman turned her head towards Kim Hajun. “You’re the Oebu Sin expert,” she said. “What do I feed this to keep it alive?”

Kim Hajun adjusted his shirt’s collar. “I believe it doesn’t need to eat anything,” he said. “As long as it isn’t killed, it’ll stay alive…?” He actually wasn’t sure. Was the hand even living in the first place? It couldn’t reproduce, so modern definitions of living would classify it as dead.

“Look!” Tafel said, pointing at the cage. Vur, Mary, and Kim Hajun followed the demon’s finger. Through the slits, it was possible to see the Oebu Sin squirming as its flesh and skin wriggled about. The two halves of the hand morphed into wiggling balls of flesh before reforming into two smaller hands.

Stella flew over, careful not to get too close to the cage. “Do you think it’ll split into four hands if we cut them both again?”

“Please don’t,” Kim Hajun said. One Oebu Sin was enough; why would the fairy want there to be four? Did she want to destroy four towers?

“No,” Mary said and shook her head. She picked up the cage, the metal having cooled down. “What if it dies? I won’t allow it.” With the innate ability given to her by the tower, she could drain the life force of things she sliced with her sword and use it to heal herself. The red-haired woman turned towards Kim Hajun. “You’re certain this doesn’t need to be watered or fed to survive?”

Kim Hajun hesitated. Certain was such a strong word, but the way Mary was looking at him told the well-dressed man he couldn’t say no. “Yes,” Kim Hajun said. “It doesn’t need to be watered or fed.” Without a mouth or stomach, what could it eat or drink? “Maybe it might need some sunlight?”

Mary nodded and tucked the cage underneath her arm. A dark-red energy poured out of the slits, and banging sounds rang out as the two identical severed hands punched the cage’s door. Mary held the box with both her hands and took in a deep breath as she bent her knees. Her body tensed as she raised the rattling box up over her head. Then, she slammed it down towards the ground before jerking it back up, repeating the motion, shaking the box with enough force to defeather a chicken. The group stared at Mary as bone-breaking thumps and cracks rang out of the cage, ringing out a macabre melody. As the wisps of dark-red energy faded away, Mary slowed the speed of her shaking, listening closely to see if the two hands were struggling. When she confirmed they weren’t moving anymore, she stopped. A furrow appeared on her brow when she noticed the silence around her, and she raised her head. “What?”

“Are you alright?” Tafel asked. “I mean, is everything okay? You seem … tense.”

Mary blinked. “No, I’m alright,” she said. “Thanks for asking.”

Tafel stared at the now-silent cage. The demon nodded. “That’s great to hear.”