At Himnan Base, the most major guard base in northern Gongkua, 100 miles from the imperial capital.
All the guard bases had become a thousand times more uptight about security after news of the Heartless Heat-Eating Demon’s rampage became common knowledge. This guard base, Himnan Base, was the largest in the Empire, stationed equally between two of Gongkua’s busiest cities: the imperial capital, and the smaller merchant city of Tamyeong. Himnan Base had always been essential for upkeep imperial law in both cities. If it somehow fell to that demon…it would be bad news. Bad, bad, bad. A major thorn in the side of the His Majesty the Emperor, and the gruesome deaths of countless top-tier imperial guards.
So, the air at Himnan Base had been stiff and nervous lately. For good reason. Who would want to get their heart torn out?
Today, half of the guards were nervously guarding the outer wall of the establishment — about two hundred of them — while the other half practiced drills inside. At noon, they would switch off. This plan seemed foolproof enough, indeed! Even if that raging goddess was demonic, how could she get in here with two hundred guards pointing swords and arrows at her head? It would be impossible!
At least, everyone clung to the hope that it was. Oh, what a terrible age to be an imperial guard…
Inside the wide practicing courtyard of the establishment, almost two hundred guards sparred with glinting silver swords, their hot breath rising in white clouds in the winter air. The sweat dripping down their faces felt like drops of ice today. The air was freezing. In normal circumstances, they wouldn’t train for so long outside in this biting cold, but there was a dangerous demon on the loose. They couldn’t even afford to take a break a pinky finger’s width long.
At the head of the courtyard, the handsome Lead Guard of the base, Cai Jun De, stood commanding the sparring pairs with a serious expression.
“Faster!” He barked. “Every one of you is giving into the cold! We cannot afford to allow ice to slow us down! Will the Heart-Eating Demon slow down for you if she finds you shivering?”
He felt bad pulling out the card of that demon to threaten them into working harder, but it was necessary. Sure enough, spurred on by fear, all of the guards sped up their motions, swords flashing through the air and shouts and grunts chorusing like the sound of an avalanche. Cai Jun De smiled and nodded grimly, folding his hands behind his back. He hoped that they could fight like this, should that demon actually come here. Guard base after guard base had fallen to her in the course of only a few weeks. Himnan was the most renowned of them all. If it was up to anyone to stop her, it was himself and his men.
Otherwise, who could? And who knew…once she was done with the imperial guards..what if she moved onto the common people? Who could guess what her motives were? But anyways, her motives didn’t matter. Whatever they were, if that heart-eating demon dared show her face here…
Cai Jun De’s jaw tightened with anger, thinking of the mangled bodies of fellow guards he had seen at the small bases nearby just the other day.
If she dared show her face, he would put up a fierce fight with his men and do his best to strike her dead. No more guards should die so terribly at her hands. It was abhorrent. Truly demonic! What had they done to deserve such a fate? He had known many of those who were already gone, and their ruined faces often haunted him at night.
After watching his men fight and sweat drops of ice for a bit longer, Cai Jun De raised his hand and bellowed in a cloudy puff:
“Stop! That is enough. Lower your weapons! Training is over for today. Go and eat, then switch places with those standing guard outside.”
Relieved, everyone lowered their weapons and groaned, massaging their frozen shoulders and shaking out icy fingers. Whew! Training in the winter sure was another beast altogether. Thank the heavens it was only the end of the year and it hadn’t started snowing yet.
Just as everyone began to laugh warmly and pat each other on the backs, sheathing their weapons away, there was a bang.
Everyone froze.
BANG.
There it was again…louder now.
BANG BANG, BANG.
Silence shrouded the courtyard. Hands flew to weapons, and eyes flew to the heavy courtyard door, which led to the outside of the base. Someone was banging on it incessantly, like they were trying to knock it down.
“Who knocks?” Cai Jun De called out, raising a hand to instruct no one to move. “Name yourself!”
No answer came. Only more bangs, growing louder and louder, like someone was throwing their whole body at the door and trying to smash it to bits. Had they lost their voice? Or was it…something much worse? An imperial guard would have simply used the secret door gears to enter. If it wasn’t a fellow guard, then…
BANG. BANG!
With one last ferocious crash, the doors splintered and flew open. The sound of two hundred weapons being drawn filled the air.
A figure trudged through the open doors, wearing scarlet from head to toe. It walked like a drunk person or a cripple, dragging its feet and stopping and starting, swaying like it might fall.
As it came into the light, someone called out in relief.
“It’s not the demon — it’s Section Captain Xue!”
Mutters and shivers rippled throughout the courtyard as everyone squinted at this strangely zombie-like approaching captain. Indeed, that seemed to be Section Commander Xue’s wise face, though there was a strange expression on it, like he was dazed. With horror, the realization struck many guards at once:
Commander Xue Liu wasn’t clothed in scarlet from head to toe…
He was covered in blood.
It was like he had run through a waterfall of it and rubbed it all over his body. Everything from his hair to his black boots had been dipped in a dark crimson that stank unmistakably of metallic blood.
“Lead Guard Cai,” he choked, voice trembling like a thin sheet of paper in the wind.. “Outside…they’re all…already…dead…”
With that, he crumpled to the ground, staining the courtyard stones red, and didn’t move again.
As generally happens when a lot of people are close together and a terrifying, imminent threat appears, everything promptly devolved into chaos.
About half of the guards immediately rushed towards the open gates, stampeding to escape with their faces white like ghosts from terror. The other half stood their ground, shouting shaky insults at those who ran for their lives and ordering them to stop and fight like men were supposed to, dammit!
“EVERYONE HALT!”
Cai Jun De’s voice boomed over the clearing, sharp and commanding. Out of habit, everyone froze and turned to stare at him, a sea of terrified faces turning up to where he stood at the head of the courtyard, arms crossed and handsome eyebrows drawn low.
“Did you not hear what Commander Xue said a moment ago? Everyone outside of the gates is dead. It would be more dangerous to attempt to escape at this moment, than to remain within and fight. If you value your life and your dignity, draw your weapons and steady yourselves!”
His words made sense. Of course they did! Lead Guard Cai Jun De was always so logical, even in a terrifying situation.
It seemed everything was about to calm down for the moment when everyone froze again, a new wave of fear washing over everyone and freezing them all into statues of ice. A cold, amused voice that seemed almost excited had permeated the wintry air:
“Hmm, what a noble man…or whatever. Can you really stop me, though? I guess it’ll be more fun for me if you fight back…though I didn’t have the opportunity to when I was in pain. Maybe I’ll be kinder to you if you lay your weapons down and beg for mercy…?”
The voice came from the tiled roof of the structure surrounding the courtyard. Standing there was a young woman. Just from the way she stood, it was clear she was angry…but also at ease. She was not afraid of two hundred elite guards.
There was no need for her to introduce herself. Everyone instantly knew who she was.
The Heartless Heart-Eating Demon. The Vengeful Scarlet Ghost, Cataclysm of Empires.
Her appearance was mesmerizing. She wore flowing pants and robes of black and scarlet cloth, which seemed to be alive with some breeze that allowed them to flutter even when there was not a breath of wind in the wintry air. Her hair hung loosely down her back and her shoulders, the color of cold ink. Her face was extremely pale, giving her the fitting look of a ghost. Her whole body, as well as her cheeks and limbs, were slender, but unmistakably thin, like she had hardly eaten in months, adding an otherworldly atmosphere to her look that only increased her eeriness. Her lips were pale as well, and they sat in a leisurely, crooked grin through which her white teeth shone. All of her features were stunningly handsome…or, were they beautiful? Perhaps both; any man or woman who saw her, if they did not know who she was, might chase after her alike, trying to get her to come to bed with them or even just notice them. She truly had the look of a goddess, even if a demonic one. It was strangely alluring…but also frightening.
The most striking and yet terrifying part of her image, however, was none of these things.
It was her eyes.
They glittered dangerously, roving over the hordes of guards far beneath her with an unmistakable glee. And layered over that glee, a rage that burned whoever it landed on until they felt they were being turned into a pitiful, bloodied crisp.
Just then, a young guard who had managed to sneak out the gates to scout the situation outside burst back inside, gasping and wheezing.
“Lead Guard Cai! Lead Guard Cai, it’s horrible outside! It’s like a net of knives fell down and sliced them all into pieces like minced meat! There’s — not one whole body left! It’s as Commander Xue said, not one guard has been left alive!”
The demon on the roof only smiled crookedly, as though enjoying the young guard’s panic. His panic spread like a disease to the other guards gathered there, and frantic, restless murmurs bubbled up all around.
“You wicked demon!” Cai Jun De growled at the goddess, who was now playing with a stretching band between her fingers, seeming at ease. “Do you think you can not only kill half of my men, but also dishonor their souls by mangling their bodies, and leave this place alive?”
The goddess laughed, sending shivers down many spines. To be honest, there was nothing inherently terrifying about her laugh — it sounded normal and amused enough, like someone who had heard something that was funny to them. Only, that was the problem. Who but a lunatic would laugh so genuinely at a condemning death threat?
“You…” The demon snickered, wiping at her eyes. There were real tears streaming from them. What was so funny?! Everyone trembled. “You’re even more of a hypocrite than I thought. How can you condemn me for killing some imperial guards? Have you ever even questioned your own line of work?” Her eyes flashed, and all traces of amusement left her face. She glared down at Cai Jun De, eyes utterly cold. “You should do that before you point one of your dirty fingers at me. Don’t you know the imperial decree for how imperial guards should handle magicians?”
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Below her, all of the guards shifted puzzledly. They all knew the decree, of course.
The demon’s smile returned suddenly, showing sparkling white teeth. “Let me remind you:"
"Any Gongkuan who is discovered to be a magician is the responsibility of the imperial guard. Such people must be swiftly dealt with in one of the following ways to prevent the spreading of curses and evil arts: 1) Imprisonment in the nearest magicians’ detention center, where the local laws of interrogation torture, imprisonment terms, and execution will be followed according the a judge’s ruling. 2) If the severity of their magical crime is high enough, they may be sentenced to a public beating to death. Doing so in public is encouraged, as it will incline the people to stay away from the malicious dangers of magic.”
The demon slipped the band she had been playing with onto her thin wrist and tapped the corner of her mouth, feigning pensiveness. “Lead Guard, do you know how many magicians have been tortured, dismembered, cut to pieces, beaten, and murdered in all sorts of horrible ways over the past four hundred years? You must.”
Lead Guard Cai Jun De’s hand clenched on the hilt of his sword. What else could he do but answer? Through gritted teeth, he responded:
“No, I do not. I know the number is in the hundreds, but I am afraid I cannot give you a specific answer.”
“Mm…” Seeming satisfied with this answer, the demon chuckled again, though time, she sounded tired.
Suddenly, like a light switching off, her tired amusement transformed into a rage so hateful it seemed to glow red. “I’ll spare you the gruesome details,” she said, her voice low, like she was sharing a secret with all of them. “Just know that you have no right to tell me not to kill a few hundred, a few thousand guards. I give them quick deaths, you know. I’ve been very merciful. If you want to be all righteous about it, it’s better to just fall on your own sword and die.”
Everyone shouted in rage.
“What did she just say?!”
“She needs to die where she stands!”
“That bitch!”
Up until now, all the guards had stayed quiet out of terror, but telling their good leader to fall on his sword?! That was really too much! Rage overtook terror, and everyone became riled up, throwing curses at the evil goddess.
In response, Abrial blew an irritated puff of air from her nose, rolling her eyes. She waved her hand, like she was waving their insults off.
Blood splattered a wide area of the crowd of guards. Swearing and yelps broke out as a good number were soaked in the stuff.
“Ack! What the hell?”
“Where’d this come from?”
“Whose blood is this?!”
As those closest to where the blood had come from looked around, their blood ran cold, and their eyes bulged out of their sockets. All those who had been soaked by blood also had strange, slimy materials sliding down their armor.
Internal organs!.
Those guards who had yelled at the Heart-Eating Demon for disrespecting Lead Guard Cai…had been…with a careless wave of that demon’s hand…
“Exploded!” one guard shrieked. A guard next to him leaned over to vomit.
Splat!
With a wave of Abrial’s hand, those two burst into a rain of blood, drenching another dozen guards in fluids.
“You repulsive fiend! Demonic creature!” Cai Jun De roared, seething up at her. “Is this how ghosts kill one another in hell? Without honor, by bursting each other into nothing? Dishonorable and cowardly! You are truly a disgusting being!”
“Repulsive? Disgusting?” the demon’s eyes flashed. The corner of her mouth twitched downward in unhappiness, sending a few guards to their knees with terror. Her obvious unhappiness was enough to make their souls leave their bodies. “I am just returning a favor. The one who first treated me this way is the disgusting one. Cowardly? Do you think I can’t kill you with a sword as easily as by snapping my fingers? I definitely can. Don’t underestimate me. It’s just more satisfying this way.”
“Disgusting!” Cai Jun De spat, pointing his sword at her. “You fiend! If you can fight honorably, come and fight me with a blade, instead of terrorizing my men with these spineless techniques!”
The corner of the goddess’s pale lips curled into a sneer. “You’re so full of yourself. I can tell. You think you’re some glorious guard helping protect the Empire, don’t you? All righteous and shit? You’re so funny! Anyways, I was getting bored of exploding these lowlifes anyways. Why not change things up? I’ll fight you with a sword, just like you want! I’ve been wanting to get back into blade fighting anyways.”
Below, the crowd of guards, half-soaked in blood and all with trembling knees besides those who had already kneeled on the ground from fear, looked up at Cai De Jun with half fear and half admiration. Had he really just gotten the infamous Heartless Heart-Eating Demon to fight him in a blade fight rather than letting her cruelly kill all of them off one by one? Such a genius man he was! Lead Guard Cai was an amazing swordsman — even if he couldn’t beat this fiend, he could surely hold her off long enough for them to escape! How noble of him! Exactly what to expect from such a loyal and heartfelt leader!
The next words that came from the goddess’s mouth made all of their hopes wilt away like short-lived smoke.
“You can watch as I kill all of your men…and then I’ll fight you.” With merely a glance of those black eyes, Cai De Jun was frozen in place with some evil magical technique. Then, the goddess’s glittering, hungry eyes slowly turned on the trembling hundreds of guards peering up at her with tears in their eyes.
She smiled, as though pitying them
“Don’t worry. I’m not an imperial guard. I’ll grant you a quick death. it won’t be painless, but it will be quick.”
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At long last, every one of the guards who had been trembling in the courtyard lay dead, or hanging from the roof tiles, or leaning against pillars as they bled out from the orifices.
The only one left was Lead Guard Cai Jun De. But now, even he was on the verge of death. After killing every last one of his men, the Heart-Eating Demon had finally unfrozen him, and, screaming with rage, he had fought her until his hands bled from gripping his sword. But the whole time, it seemed she was only playing with him. Every strike of his, she had allowed to come so close that they grazed her robes. Then, she would dodge gracefully, so quickly that he could barely see her movements. She was like a cat, a panther, disappearing and reappearing, laughing at her prey that was trying desperately to end her life. Even more embarrassing, she had started out fighting him with two daggers, but she eventually threw one to the side with a disappointed look, as if she had overestimated him and found that fighting him with two daggers made him too easy to beat.
Now, Cai Jun De stood choking on his own blood as the demonic goddess’s hand closed around his throat, crushing his windpipe mercilessly. Her fingers dug into his skin, drawing streams of blood.
“I gave you your blade fight. I hope you liked it. And that it was honorable,” the demon mused, smiling coldly. Cai Jun De had noticed while fighting her that her expressions changed strangely all the time — one moment, ecstatic with glee, the next, boiling with rage, and the next moment, numb and without any emotion at all. She must truly be insane. As she choked him, she continued happily: “Now you can die peacefully, knowing that you at least put up a fight, right? It’s a win-win!”
“You…bitch…” Cai Jun De choked.
The demon raised her eyebrows, seeming displeased. Disgusted, even. Her obsidian eyes, which only up close had Cia Jun De noticed held a tinge of glowing scarlet, flashed, and her hand crushed his throat tighter. The corners of her lips turned up. “You say ‘bitch’ too much. I knew you were a hypocrite, ha…but you’re just a straight-up jerk!”
Cai Jun De struggled, face bright red and rasping for air. “You…monster…”
“That’s right!” Her hand tightened around his throat, squeezing out nearly all his breath. Cai Jun De’s vision began to fade slightly, blood dribbling ceaselessly from his lips. The goddess’s grin widened. “That’s me! I’m a monster, a demon, and a curse. That’s what magicians are, right? So I’m just doing my job! Did you want me to pretend to be an angel? I don’t think it matters whether I act kind or murder people. Because of what I am, I would have been made into this either way…It’s funny how what you are determines what people will do to you more than who…isn’t it?”
Cai De Jun blinked, squinting to see this peculiar demon through the dark fog that was consuming his vision. She seemed…lost in thought, as though she was forgetting he was even there…but her hand still tightened…
Suddenly, the goddess tore her dagger from her belt and sank it into Cai Jun De’s chest among the other wounds she had given him. She twisted it, making Cai Jun De grunt in pain. At the same time, she tightened her grip on his neck with inhuman strength, to the point that, if she applied any more pressure, she might crush his neck into pulp altogether.
As his strength faded and fog obscured his vision, Cai Jun De caught one last look at the demon’s eyes. They glittered fiercely, a dark obsidian with a scarlet gleam beneath — so savage that they seemed to burn with shadowy fire. He recalled, vaguely, a pair of similarly fierce eyes he had seen once before. He had seen them on the day he was invited to the imperial Huo Palace to be appointed to his high position as Lead Guard by His Majesty himself…
“Why is it…you remind me…of His M-Majesty…?” He rasped in dizzy bewilderment.
With that, his last breath exhaled from his lips, and Abrial quickly released him, as if stung. He fell to the ground, his body sprawling amongst the hundreds of others scattered and mangled throughout the courtyard.
She stood there, face pale.
The courtyard around her was now an unburied graveyard. Complete silence settled over it, giving the scene an eerie feel. This ghostly-skinned, red-eyed demon, ghost, goddess — whatever it was — stood in the midst of piled and torn bodies, staring blankly at the corpse which had just fallen at her feet.
The desolate wasteland that was Abrial’s heart suddenly cracked. Like a dangerous flood, a torrent of emotions rushed in, sweeping away the sand and sending Abrial’s mind reeling.
This sort of thing happened a few times a day ever since she escaped Diyu Prison. It was as if her mind was fractured, held together by a weak glue, and every day, a flood of uncontrollable thoughts and emotions burst through, throwing her into chaos.
She whirled around, a panicked look on her face. Her obsidian eyes were terrified wide, the scarlet within them glittering. Her pale lips parted slightly, speechless at the scene surrounding her, though she was perfectly aware she’d created it. All around, there were dead bodies, mangled corpses, torn-out bloodied hearts sitting on the stones, blood soaking into the ground like a heavy rain. The stench of it was overpowering, rusty and sweet. Sickly sweet. The smell invaded her nostrils, forcing itself down her throat and nearly drowning her. Her vision flickered red, and for a moment, she whimpered, floating in a sea of blood that threatened to fill her lungs.
Suddenly, she gagged and leaned over to relieve her nausea.
When she stood again, her heartbeat was pounding loudly in her ears, beating the silence away.
For some reason Abrial couldn’t explain, her eyes suddenly welled up with tears, blurring her vision into a painting of smeared red and gray.
Why am I doing this?
Why am I killing so many people?
Who am I, to do this?
…Who even am I anymore?
Again, nausea overwhelmed her, along with a burning sensation in her chest that had accompanied her ever since her tattoo had been burned away. The heartstone was always smoldering, glowing within her, heating up her body like a furnace. She clutched with clenched fingers at her chest, trying to force down the nausea, blood, and pain.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to tear out that stupid stone and…and what?
She had no answer. She just didn’t want to have it inside of her anymore. She didn’t want to have infected torture scars lining her torso and arms, didn’t want to live in a world where magicians were treated like demons. She wanted to…maybe find a grassy hill somewhere, by a river…and lie down and watch the clouds go by, until she floated away and never had to worry about anything ever again…
The tears welling in her eyes finally overflowed. Abrial sank to the ground as they streamed from her eyes, hugging her own shoulders and trembling in a sea of bodies.
As she cried for the thousandth time since Diyuu prison, soft white flakes of snow began to flutter down from the pure white clouds above, resting on dead bodies and dissolving into pools of blood. Some of them daintily landed on Abrial’s pale nose and ink-black hair, lining her shivering eyelashes. Crouching there and silently weeping, this heartless “demon” looked pitiful indeed — miserable and tragic, and utterly alone.
After her tears began to slow, a coldness blew into her mind like a mountain wind, bringing with it ice and snow. Her face hardened, and she wiped her tears away fiercely, sniffing.
That’s right—why shouldn’t she kill?
It was just returning the favor—the favor that the dog-fucked Emperor had granted her at Diyuu Prison.
Abrial stood and dusted off her robes, surveying the unburied graveyard around herself calmly, though rogue tears were rolling down her cheeks, tainted with blood. With one jump, she catapulted herself over the courtyard wall and outside, where two hundred more unrecognizable bodies lay in the dirt. If she was going to complete the process, she should do it soon, before the snow thickened and made it difficult.
With a flick of her fingers, sparks danced over the tiled roofs of the base, like little stars. Then, with an ear-bursting roar, the whole base caught flame at once with scarlet fire that rose high into the sky. It was only moments before the sweet, drifting smell of burning wood reached Abrial’s nose. She sniffed again, watching while playing furiously with that stretching band, the one Finley had made for her long ago. It gave her a sense of comfort that she couldn't explain…even if she could never talk to Finley again after all that she’d done in the last month. Without this little hair band, she might have already set a base on fire and walked into it herself to burn with the dead.
As the base caved in, a red tear inexplicably flowed down Abrial’s right cheek. She didn’t notice it, too engrossed in the sight of fire and the rush of satisfaction and relief in her veins to pay any attention to her body crying out in distress.
When it was finished burning to ash, Abrial turned to leave with a strange expression that twitched between despair and excitement.
There was somewhere she needed to go.