A/N: Irregular update... sorry guys...
jvcamagong: What Ghost will look like after the timeskip will look pretty similar to what he looks like now... given a few changes.
Chapter 26: Her Chosen
Outside Galuna Island
"Captain! Unidentified object on approach!" the frigate's helmsman shouted above the wind rustling in the crew's ears. "Orders?!"
"Prepare for an evac lift! The female first mate replied, equally loud, her blond tresses smacking her face about in the wind. The old man captain readied a hand around the hilt of his sabre, his experiences at sea blaring warnings signs of danger.
The crew lifted up a man, soaking wet from the seawater dressed in a white hood, instantly raising the suspicions of everyone on board. They released him from the rope harness they had hastily tied to lift him out and let him sit on the deck to overcome the moment of shock that he just got rescued and while he sat there, the crew paid him scrutiny like they never did before.
"A white hood..."
"A black arm," several others whispered.
"Tailed overcoat padding," some of the galley boys hinted to each other.
The man they had rescued sat innocently on the deck, heaving sighs of relief while the men on board the frigate began to slowly crowd around him. The captain decided to address him at that moment.
"Young man! I am Captain Farna of the Medusa, currently under employ of the magic council. Might I ask how you ended up here in the middle of the ocean near Galuna Island?"
"I do not know," the hooded man replied, standing up as the men drew closer. "It could have been some errant magic from my home that landed me out here. What brings you to this part of the continent?"
"I'm out on a hunt for a lost ship that was stolen by some wizard," Captain Farna spoke. The man would either end up as part of the crew or end up at the bottom of the ocean anyway, which is why the old man decided to divulge the truth.
"Hunting on the magic council's behalf?"
"Hired by them. What's it to you?" the captain gave a sly sneer, encouraging his crew to pass snide remarks.
"Just curious, is all," the other man replied. "I was not aware that the council employed hunter guilds for their own business."
"We don't just hunt ships," some of the crew catcalled, "we hunt the sea gods!" Others joined in the cacophony of gruff laughs.
"You fit the wanted description by the council," the first mate spoke, her words a signal to start going in for the kill. "What could a demon be possibly doing out here in the middle of the ocean?"
"We've killed sea gods larger than you," the captain affirmed. "A demon shouldn't be any problem whatsoever. Tell us where the bomber is and we'll make your death a quick and painless one for the books."
There was a silence for a while, tension growing on the deck as the the captain looked down at the hooded man while the first mate loaded gunpowder into her flintlock pistol. Not before long, a small laugh turned from under the hood turned into one that spelled malevolence.
"Your overconfidence has been nothing short of humorous, my dear captain," the man laughed a little more. "I would have thought the council would begin to protect its demon hunter guilds from me after what I have done, but it seems ready to send you to hell by my hand." He let out a small laugh.
"The other two were just unlucky that they were caught off guard! There's no way you can win," the first mate argued, "surrender now or die!"
"Phoenix Crown and Falling Rose... Now you? Do not make me laugh any more than I have to."
"Last chance! You will regret this!"
"Oh really?" the man drew the knife sheathed on his chest while another secondary blade presented itself from underneath the left arm prosthetic. "I could say the same to you given your situation."
"Bring me the demon's head! Whoever does will receive a promotion!" the captain shouted.
"No? After the nice chat and you decide to behead me?
"Prepare yourself."
Bomber Christina, Galuna Island Bay
Both Moka and Bobo were suddenly jolted by the sudden ball of dark fire that had been where the magic council frigate had been earlier. The shockwave produced from the explosion rocked the ship about as the two demons were struck with awe and fear at the power that she had bestowed upon her chosen.
The old demon could not see the daemon amidst the carnage but from the far distance he could see flailing arms struggling to get to safety.
"What kind of monster is he?!" Bobo screamed in fear, "And you want us to help him achieve his objec- AAAAHHHHHHH!"
A wave of fear surged across the island, sending the father and son crying on their knees in fear for their own lives as an ethereal shriek could be heard for thousands of miles. They peered over the banister of the bomber to see a great sea serpent, with flowing fins that looked like wings and a snout shaped like a needle, with scales coloured like the deep blue depths, rising over the surface of the ocean and looking down at the sinking wreck and scrambling survivors.
"The Tidemother, Leviathan!" It was Moka's turn to shriek in fright. "Just how much power did the Lady give him?!"
They saw the great sea goddess build up a wall of water surrounding both the sinking ship and its crew along with her before it began to swirl into a cyclone.
It was evidently clear that no enemies would be spared without intention.
Black Room, The Island
"No more waiting and delaying, Kat," the hooded man prowled around the small island. "Come out and die fighting like you always wanted!"
"HIYAAA!" the healer mage pounced on him from the overhanging columns with a small pebble in her hand, intending to bludgeon him to death and free herself of the emptiness that was her subconscious state. She was successful in pinning him down but failed to land the surprise attack due to his quick reflexes, blocking and covering his head to defend himself. She managed to get a few hits in before he held her by the legs and subsequently tossed her over his head.
He kicked himself up with ease before dodging the pebble she threw at him narrowly, noting her ferocity in wanting to escape from here, wherever here was.
"Desperate, are we?" he taunted under his hood, a hint of excitement in his voice. "It will be so much fun to kill you while you scream for mercy."
"In your dreams!" Kat yelled from her hiding spot, having scrambled away from the monster before he stood up. "This is my island now, and I know every corner of it!"
"Your island?" the man scoffed as he approached the source of her voice. "Fine, keep it then. It may be your island, but this is my realm; I know everything in it,
"Every. Little. Thing."
Gallowstown Medical Complex
"Please Doctor!" Riley begged the old man, Kat laying on a bed just behind him. "She doesn't deserve this! Help her, please?" Riley's tears began falling in torrents. Kat's physical condition had degenerated her body too quickly, leaving behind a malnourished person with sallow skin and sagging flesh, as well as collapsing organs one by one.
It would take a miracle for her to recover.
Kagura Mikazuchi
"THEY WENT TO GALLOWSTOWN?!" Kagura shrieked from the guild master's office. "THAT'S MILES APART FROM THE ATTACK OUT IN THE SEA!"
"Based on the description that you gave the council of the monster-"
"It's a demon, master! The recent appearance of Leviathan should be enough to tell you that!" She raised her voice in the guild master's study. Kagura then quietened down, realising that her feelings had been riled up for Riley and Kat, wanting to exact revenge on their behalf.
"Then what do you want me to do, Kagura? Stir the guild to hunt down this one person?"
"Well-"
"Don't even answer that. As much as both Kat and Riley are our friends, they are not our guild members. I cannot activate an entire guild to go on a suicide rescue mission for two people from another guild. I hope you understand."
"Then send me alone! Or let me off on my own this one time! Please?" Kagura begged her.
The master's features softened with sorrow, knowing what the girl went through in her younger days. She understood the kind of loss that the gravity mage was so adamant to prevent but for her sake, and the sake of the guild, a decision was already made.
"No, I cannot let you go. Three attacks on three different hunter guilds within days. A town destroyed, a magical parasitic pandemic, and the summoning of Leviathan; do you think the guild has enough power to combat things on that level?" she pressed Kagura, hoping that she would understand the risk involved.
"...no."
"Can you fight against that level of power?"
"...no."
"Going to where the demon is will not change anything but that doesn't mean we stop hoping for those in the warzones. Going to where the demon is will not change life for the better. If I didn't care about you, I would have let you go instantly. Riley and Kat are far away from the site where Leviathan was last seen so they are safe.
"Kagura?" the master spoke kindly. "Look at me."
The other woman looked up to face her, a small tear streaming down her cheek.
"I don't want you throwing your life away for revenge. So as a precaution, I'm ordering you to remain here in the guild to handle administration."
Kagura's expression fell instantly. She opened her mouth to argue before stopping short, eventually accepting the next course of action.
"However, I want him dead as much as you do so in order for me to come up with a credible plan to present at the guild masters' meeting, I need you to tell me everything that you saw."
Katienne
It looked like she could actually make it out of this darned place after all.
The monster was lying down on the ground, panting hard after Kat had given him her most punishing punch and kick, sending him flying back.
"Give me back my life!" she demanded to no response. The monster continued to lay still on the sand, panting hard and facing the sky. He made to get up from the sand but Kat was unrelenting in her assault, merciless even, running up to him as he got on all fours to stabilise himself and giving him a great kick to the side of the head.
He flew a short distance, landing ungracefully in the sand along the shoreline.
"Ungh... That really hu-"
WHACK!
"Shut up! Give me back my life! You owe me that since you brought me here!"
"Heh..." the man made to get up. She kicked him in the head once more.
"Let. Me. Go. " She was seething with fury.
He rolled over onto his belly, using his arms to prop himself up when Kat decided to step on his back, preventing any form of escape or recovery.
"Tell me how to get out of here, you monster," she threatened.
"Have you forgotten? This is my realm, and you're stuck in it until I decide what to do with you," his voice rasped, chuckling at her lack of situational awareness.
She stepped harder on his back but not a single grunt of pain came from the hooded man's mouth.
"I will make you spill everything to me," she threatened.
"Bring it on, woman." He croaked in challenge.
Riley
It returned. The thrashing about.
She had hoped during the course of the journey to Gallowstown, the thrashing would have subsided or remained under control, or entirely removed even but the realisation returned the moment that Kat the healer was placed on the hospital bed, suddenly convulsing and thrashing about with so much force despite her body having rapidly degraded down to skin and bones. No more was Kat recognisable in the span of five, excruciatingly painful days and yet even though looking as if she was on the brink of death, she managed to thrash about as if she was still untainted.
Tainted: that would just about be the only word that Riley would use to describe the reason for Kat's rapid deterioration. The blade maiden initially thought that the cause of her condition was due to a spell that the monster had casted on her back at Faust, causing subtle damage that it looked like a natural phenomena. It was only when she found out about what happened at Fabula that the monster had implanted a small parasite that had begun eating her from the inside out.
The doctor and the surgeon could not give a proper diagnosis, even though the hospital was known to produce narcotics and medicine for the White Legion's consumption, bringing each soldier to full operational capability.
"The White Legion..." Riley thought as she sat beside Kat's bed. "Where are they now? Not even technological advancements could save them."
Up to this point, Riley had allowed the specialists to take samples of skin, blood, hair, anything, to hopefully get an answer out of this mess that cost her guild, her team, her friend, and her livelihood. She adamantly refused all requests to have Kat tested but as minutes ticked by while placing the healer mage in stasis she immediately realised with a sliver of hope that there could be a solution, a cure, and an end to the monstrosity that had unleashed itself on the hunter guilds.
"Friend of a Ms... Kat?" a nurse poked her head through the doorway of the ward.
"Yes?"
"The doctor wants to speak with you. This way please," she spoke kindly.
In the office, and after a tense silence Riley could only gather faint hints of the report, the old doctor heaved a sigh and began.
"Ms Riley-"
"Just 'Riley' will do," she cut him, wanting to know the test results.
"Simply put," the doctor paused, clearly thinking of a way to best phrase this properly, "Kat is neither here nor there given her current condition. To explain it in layman terms, the end result of her condition is highly unpredictable."
Her face fell. While expected, she had hoped there was some way in which she could assert control over the parasite's progression.
"What we did manage to gather from the tests are quite a few things," he patted a file in front of him. "We have data on the parasite at the very least.
"The origin of the parasite is still unknown but we have discovered that it operates like the way a cordyceps plant does to an ant. The thrashings and convulsions are only the effect of Kat fighting it. The parasite is microscopic and fast moving. A few days of incubation, gestation, and infection like this has never been heard of before."
"Is there a way to purge it or remove it from Kat?"
"After exhausting all possibilties,
"No."
Riley rubbed the bridge of her nose. While the friend of Kat was utterly distraught, the S-class hunter mage had already begun thinking of possible ways to recover her nakama, each possibility getting shot down one by one.
"There are times when the parasite is active, triggering different bodily functions and causing Kat to fight back but for the most part it only induced a coma in its dormant state. The active and dormant cycle is erractic, and unpredictable.
"This parasite seems to have an entirely different make up and composition compared to normal parasites and microorganisms. The structure is there but its origins are what stumps us the most."
"Us? There's more of you who tested this parasite?"
"The whole hospital was activated to research it. After this meeting I will hand over all data to the research facilities where more testing will be conducted. Back to the topic at hand; the origin location is for lack of a better phrase, out of this world," said the doctor.
"It can't be," Riley argued, "even the cell structures of humans, angels and demons are all similar to each other."
"You are not wrong, Ms Riley." the old doctor pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "The parasite only has a faint hint of demon particles within them. The other component has yet to be determined."
"Demon based? Like Deliora?"
"Far from it, I'm afraid." He leaned over the table and looked at her apologetically, "It's best that you prepare for your friend's death. If demons have possessed her, it would take a miracle and some more to fully restore her."
Magic Council, Era
Another one? This time at Galuna Island?! At this rate, this demon will spark a war using the tension Ishgar has with the Alvarez empire.
Jura was interrupted with his dialogue to the council when one of the messengers barged in terrible news.
"Leviathan! The Tidemother has just been unleashed on another hunter guild!"
Several of the council members rose to their seats in outrage, others in shock. Guran Doma remained seated, eyes closed and deep in thought.
"Order! There will be order in this council!"
"Councillor Doma," the messenger asked cautiously, "what shall I do with this news?"
Jura could feel a different kind of tension in the room, as if the councilors were speaking telepathically with each other. They cast glances sideways to make eye contact before returning to meet Jura's gaze in one synchronized motion.
"We will issue instructions once this meeting has concluded. Leave us," Councillor Leiji spoke.
They waited for the messenger to leave. Then Jura spoke.
"As you have just heard councilors, this new usurper of peace has already struck three guilds in little more than a week, targeting mage guilds that hunt all kinds of hybrids: the holy, the earthly, and the damned. While we do not know why this person is doing all this and killing multitudes of wizards and witches, he or she must be stopped at all costs necessary."
"You say it as if this is easily done, Saint Jura," councilor Belno spoke to the nods of a few other councilors. "We may be responsible for all magic related events on the continent but there is no possible way to curb this usurper by empty opinions alone unless we base our hope in full strength."
"Councillor, time is of the essence. The longer we delay on this, the more scores of lives this person will take indiscriminately."
"Then what do you suggest? Deploying all resources to capture this one person?" Councillor Leiji glared at the wizard saint, as if daring him to respond.
Jura studied the council intently, replying with, "Yes.
"To me, such a massacre cannot be tolerated for much longer. The council must be moved to action if this threat against the state of Fiore and the continent of Ishgar is to be contained."
There was a silence as each councilor pondered over the use of resources to hunt down one person to avenge the lives of many.
Katienne
Kat had spent all her strength in preventing the monster from getting up from the ground. She was still standing, hunched over in exhaustion, and panting hard after the long bout of fighting tooth and nail to prevent the monster from killing her outright.
"Tell me... Tell me hoW TO GET OUT OF HERE!" she bellowed.
"Heh... Heh..." the monster panted, limbs askew as his body lay spread eagle on the sand. "Ask me nicely then, maybe I'll tell you how to get yourself back," he chuckled darkly.
"FUCK YOU! TELL ME!" she gave him a mighty kick to the ribs.
He grunted, gave a laugh, and rolled over onto his belly despite the pain building up all over. "If you ask nicely, maybe you will not die," he gave her a maniacal grin.
She seethed with the utmost hatred for the man lying beneath her. He had bruised all over but with the amount of harm she was inflicting, he had not bled one drop of blood yet. There was no hemorrhaging of sorts and as far as she knew, he wasn't suffering from any form of internal bleeding.
Operating Theatre, Gallowstown Hospital
"She's losing blood!"
"Closed fracture, L7 to L10! R4 and R5 too!"
"Cranium suddenly caved in!"
"Doctor, what the hell's going on?!"
"Hemorrhaging in the left brain! Broken tibia!"
"Left lung collapsed!"
"Paralysis from C4 all the way down!"
What the hell is going on? How is she getting all these injuries at once?
Riley could the frantic shouts of the surgeons and the nurses in the operating theatre and it did not sound any but hopeful as she would have liked. The cause was never determined but when the frail body of the healer mage was wheeled in, the doors shut, and the operation indicator above the door blaring, the frantic shouts in response began.
Mermaid Heel
"There was this very old story my mother used to tell me when I was a little girl," said the guild master after Kagura had finished telling her what she knew.
"What about it?"
Both of them got a cup of tea each while the master planned her story down to every word.
"See Kagura, there was a country under the ground, underneath the whole of Ishgar. It was a country that had many different kinds of people, animals, and plants. This underground country had been living for thousands of years untouched by the surface and yet it was always itching to go to war.
"One day, two of the country's leaders fought each other over a small matter but they fought each other so hard that the people and their citizens were badly affected by it. It caused them to separate the realm into two: an upper and a lower, and the two have remained there ever since with their followers.
"The Lord, who took the upper realm, was brutish and powerful, commanding legions upon legions of soldiers who with the help of their leader, consistently broke the surface to go to war. The Lady, while not as strong as the Lord, excelled in cunning and deception, using illusions of great magnitude and loaning her power to the people she chose who would break the surface.
"Whenever their followers discovered each other, both sides would fight, always bearing heavy losses while the realms carried on with their business. And it has been all the way to this very day." The guild Master finished as Kagura digested the childhood tale slowly.
"I don't really understand..."
"You told me earlier that he is a demon, yes? And that he was sent by some higher demon?"
"I fought him," she jigged her memory, trying to remember, "but he never made any impression about serving under another demon as far as I know. Riley might know but she's in Gallowstown waiting for Kat to recover. I hope she will," the blade maiden finished wistfully.
"Can you remember what magic he used?"
"He only had this black aura with tendrils all over," she recounted. "That as well as fire, disease, and the ability to summon Leviathan."
"... You have no idea at all."
"I'm sorry Master. But do you think this story has actually got to do with this demon?"
"My theory relies heavily on this story. If it is true, then I can present my plan to the guild masters as soon as possible. That is what I need Riley for.
"If she can tell me what I need to hear, then we can lure him out to us."
Riley
No.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
She barged into the operating theatre, instantly regretting it as she laid eyes on Kat's injuries, seeing her already cut open so that the surgeons could deal with the sudden and mysterious afflictions. Turning aside to retch out her lunch, her tears began streaming down in torrents and when she faced the hospital staff looking concernedly at her, she raged in sorrow, summoning forth her blades in furiousness.
"YOU KILLED HER!" she raised her sword over her head.
Beep. Beep. Beeeeeep.
"She's just only stabilised! Ms Riley please leave! Time is of the essence!"
She was shocked out and forced to wait in fear.
After some time, the surgeon wheeled Kat, a small heart rate lacrima next to her head.
"She regained consciousness during the stitching up but we managed to sedate her to alleviate most of the pain. Until she wakes up, we won't know if she still has the ability to speak."
Katienne
"I've won," she painted heavily as she stood over the hooded man. "Admit it: I've beaten you down."
"It takes a thorough solution to end a permanent threat," he countered, "which you have not done nor have the guts to see it through."
"I've won this time."
"You won't win the next," he retorted grimly. "Perhaps you will not see the next time as well."
"I've won fair and square; now take me out of here," she threatened.
"Adamant to get out, are we?" he laughed, his ragged breaths casting an eerie atmosphere. "You say you have won but the world is never fair, foolish girl... You should have asked me nicely from the beginning..."
Her vision blurred white for a few moments before the sensation of pain wracked her entire body.
She opened her eyes to see that she was in a hospital ward already well into the night, Kat sitting beside her about to jump for joy with tears of gladness streaming down.
Kat screamed, or rather, tried to scream from the pain that had apparently built up since Faust but no sound came out. She couldn't move even. She did manage to look to see that her skin had sagged and paled unnaturally, stitch marks on her skin in many different places, horrifying her to see that she had deteriorated in no less than a week; the pain was unbearable.
Worst of all, she couldn't move, so responding to anything was damn near impossible.
Magic Council, Era
"The council has decided," Guran Doma announced, "while this threat against the hunter guilds is no doubt disturbing, this council will not utilize national assets to hunt down one man all by himself. The public populace will be briefed and educated on his visual appearance and abilities which we are confident that will lead to his capture."
"Don't you get it?!" Jura bellowed. "No one knows what this person looks like nor has no idea of what he can do; he's killed close to three hundred people in a week! Before you know it you all will be dead!"
"I leave this matter in the hands of the legal guilds... This meeting is adjourned."
"No! Don't lives matter to you anymore?"
"Lives still matter to us, Jura," Leiji replied. "But we are not in the business of revenging nor the taking of lives. Leave that to the dark guilds."
MEMORY CORRIDOR
She was back in the white expanse, due to an induced coma from the result of too much shock on a weak body.
She couldn't understand all of it; she managed to beat him down to death's door and yet when he released her, she was the one who could barely hold on to what little life she had left. She had managed to stay alive and well enough to regain control of her own body, she thought, but it seemed that she had lapsed from the very beginning.
She still harbored doubts that the enemy was greater than her by leaps and bounds.
You should have asked nicely from the beginning...
Out of nowhere, he walked into her field of vision, frightening her outright.
"What have you done?!" she screamed at him.
"I simply showed you that your life has no more use to this daemon," he replied, "Your life was forfeited the moment you decided to fight against me. You should have run when you heard about me.
"But of course you do not believe that," he spoke to cut her off, Kat's mouth already wide open and eager to argue. "Humans have always thought themselves capable of planning far into the future, as if they wrote their own fates."
"That's how it's always been!"
"That is how you have always been made to think," he corrected. "Powerful men and women have always guarded this truth from the rest of the world. You are no more than an innocent lamb."
"With magic-"
"Still a lamb nonetheless."
"Why," she asked another question, "why bring me to consciousness only to bring me back here?"
"There was no way that you would recover, given that you were lost in your anger and fury to actually find a way out and weigh all possibilities; I had to show you that," he pulled back his hood and looked around the white expanse. "Besides, my enemies' allies are converging together and the obstacles are clumping up into one like a leaf pile in autumn. Your death will deal a great blow of fear and confusion throughout the world. Two birds with a single stone in simplicity."
"Your physical body is far away, you can't kill me," she challenged.
"I do not need to be near you to kill you," he said calmly. "No worries, you will soon find out when I show you."
"I won't die."
You already have. You will see. You will see...
Galllowstown Medical Complex
"KAT! SOMEONE COME QUICK! SAVE HER!"
Riley saw the sudden out pour of blood from every orifice of Kat's body, beginning to flood the ward with the pungent smell of iron. The healer mage's eyes were sunken, as was her flesh, and the marks of pestilence evident upon her body. The bladeswoman frantically pushed the emergency assistance button, immediately hearing the turn of the doorknob before the multiple slaps on the door. Screams of urgency were also muffled by the locked door.
Riley equipped her blades and in a wild and feral motion, sliced at the door to no avail, frighteningly strange since the door was constructed out of hollowed wood. A blunt weapon barely made any mark. The blunt force of several men on the outside. Piercing the doorknob. Nothing was working.
Slowly, inch by inch, the blood level began to rise, suffocating her and striking her bewildered at the fact that the blood had not completely run out from the healer mage.
"KAT! KAT! PLEASE STOP! YOU'LL DIE!"
To her amazement came the reply.
"I CAN'T!...I'M SORRY!... I DON'T HAVE... MUCH TIME... LEFT..."
"KAT!" Riley made her way over to the bed. Her ears and eyes did not deceive her.
"No... Let me talk..."
"What? Hurry!"
"At Galuna... Serving her... Stop... Him..." she fell limp after that, blood continuing to flow.
That was when the doors burst open and people were swept away by the waves of blood.
Gallowstown Hospital was under quarantine for a month after that incident, but quarantine was nothing compared to the loss the blade mage encountered that day.
MEMORY CORRIDOR
She was back here again but it felt different this time.
She had her healthy body this time lying on the ground, limp and unable to move, and the air around her had grown colder.
He walked up into her field of vision again, only this time he had drawn his hood over the head, and a small blade protruded from the underside of his left arm.
Too late for apologies now. I did show you, did I not?
"You did," she rasped, "you monster."
You made me the monster. All I am doing is to gather her hunters together before I deal with them. This depends on the survival of a species.
"Your kind doesn't need survival."
And yet the most advanced sentient species on Ishgar still fight for survival of the strongest. How am I any different from you then?
A pity you had to be the one to die... I had hoped an older person would be it, for he or she would be more accepting of the cold fact. Now I ask you one question: did you tell Riley where I am?
"I told... her as much as I... could" Kat barely got out. The monster knelt down beside her to hear her strained words.
Good... Very good. Will she come to me straight? Or will she find help first? That is a question I am hopeful of finding the answer to.
"She'll kill you... And avenge me..."
All in fairness? My dear girl, nothing in the world is fair and just in its entirety. We always make most with what we have. Humanity has always made the most with what it has and made it better. This conversation is simply proof to show what happens to those who are unable to keep up with the times of progression. Now hold still, I do not want to make any more of a bloody mess than I just did for your friend Riley.
With the blade under his forearm, he pressed the tip to her throat and gently yet quickly buried it into the skin of her neck, making her death a painless one.
"I sincerely hope that you meet a long and painful end, just as you rightfully deserve it for the amount of blood you spilled…" she spoke, eyes rolling back in her sockets as she drew her last breath. The man then promptly closed her eyes shut in a form of respect given to the dead.
Fairness is only towards the most powerful person in his own eyes.
Mottenmeisubeishi.
Kagura Mikazuchi
Mottenmeisubeishi? Rest in peace? Then Kat is…
Realization struck her the moment she had heard her thoughts telling her the grim news, as if someone had implanted a communication lacrima within her mind to alert her.
"Kat is…dead?"
Mottenmeisubeishi…motteneisubeishi…there was a low, guttural pitch that spoke barely in an audible whisper, and it was one that she recognized from that time in Faust.
"How did he get in my mind?!" she burst out in the middle of the guild hall clutching the sides of her head and shaking violently, to the shock of the other mermaids within the vicinity. "Get out! Get out!
"GET OUT!"