Marcus stared at me in horror; he had never expected to be stabbed by me.His eyes gradually turned white, losing all life. His body went limp, blood spilling from his lips as he collapsed onto me.
I held his corpse, a twisted smile spreading across my face as I looked toward the two charging at me.
Promet had taken off his coat and infused it with mana to turn it into a whip, while Hadelus picked up a stone from the ground and began chanting a spell. The figure hidden beneath the hood extended a hand and pointed in my direction.
I drove my hand straight through Marcus's heart, grabbed his neck with the other, and used his body as a meat shield.
"Easy there. You wouldn't want his body buried in pieces, would you?"
Promet didn't care. He pitied the dead—but unlike the living, nothing you did to a corpse would change anything.
In contrast, Hadelus seemed calmer. He studied me, trying to discern my intentions.As for the last cloaked figure, something was clearly wrong—he wasn't moving at all.
Slash!
Promet lashed his whip across Marcus's back, splitting it open and exposing bone.
"How barbaric. That's my friend, you idiot!"
Promet's eyes glowed with disgust. Hadelus chanted a spell meant to bind me in place.
Clearly, they weren't trying to kill me—not yet. They needed answers and a reason for why I killed Marcus before they did it themselves.
Laughing loudly at the scene, I showed no fear and continued to use the corpse as my shield.
"Ever heard of something called a gun?"
I pulled a pistol from my pocket and began retreating while still holding Marcus in front of me.
Unfazed by the strange object in my hand, Hadelus summoned pillars rising from the ground, encircling me. They glowed gold and stood about a meter tall.
BANG!
The bullet shot toward Promet. He raised his coat-whip to block, but his eyes widened as the bullet pierced through it and went straight for his head.
It embedded itself in his skull, snapping his head back and spraying blood everywhere. Yet Promet didn't fall—he remained standing.
A current of electricity ran from the wound through his entire body. The bullet dropped out of his skull, and the bleeding wound began to regenerate.Promet's Gift, "Dispersion of Suffering," had activated, restoring him instantly.
But the agony multiplied, and his left hand began to swell, tearing open and bleeding.
"Ha-ha~"
I fired another round at Hadelus, who dodged by diving into a pile of rubble.
Seeing this, I took advantage of Promet's dazed state and Hadelus's obstructed line of sight to sprint toward the train.
Jumping onto a carriage, I kicked the door in and barged inside. The other two took a second to register what had happened before chasing after me.
Inside the carriage, it was impossible not to be stunned.It was nothing like its exterior—spacious like a grand ballroom in a large mansion, furnished like a room yet draped entirely in black roses.
I rushed inside, tossed Marcus's corpse onto a table, and pointed my gun at the two figures entering after me.
Bang! Bang!!
Two shots rang out, but they had anticipated it and rolled aside.
Seeing that, I threw a bomb identical to the one that had killed the strangers earlier. The two scrambled to escape—too late.
BOOM!
The explosion gravely wounded them, charring parts of their bodies even through their mana protection.
I approached, stomping toward them with the crazed grin of a lunatic torturing prey.
Hadelus chanted a spell meant to bind me with threads extending from his fingertips—only for terror to strike him.
His eyes lit up, and upon seeing me through whatever vision he used, he staggered back in horror.
Laughing harder, I watched the threads approaching and used Marcus as a shield again—but I didn't plan on letting him go.
As the threads wrapped around Marcus, I grabbed his neck. My eyes glowed with a blood-black light.
"This bastard is insane! He belongs to the demons!"
Hadelus shouted to Promet, who was preparing his hidden trump card.
"Run!"
They turned toward the door—only to see it slam shut.I laughed softly.
"You don't know? If no one lulls a demon to sleep, it wakes on its own."
Realizing what was happening, the two reluctantly took out a pill they had hidden and swallowed it.
One step means death. Retreat means death. Might as well gamble—even if it's his trap, we're powerless anyway, Promet thought as he bit down. If he remembered correctly, the pill would restore his damaged body like last time.
I noticed and frowned, though the smile stayed. My hand still gripped Marcus's blood-soaked neck.
Suddenly, the corpse twisted. Its features melted together grotesquely.
The white, lifeless eyes stared straight at me. A pale, cold hand reached out.
It moved as if trying to grasp something—what, I didn't know. It didn't matter.
I grabbed the reaching hand and crushed it.Hadelus seemed to realize something horrifying and quickly cast a protective spell.
Whirr—
Space itself twisted, layers folding and shredding one another. At the center of the warped area lay a bloody mass of flesh.
"Shit, hurry—"
"Too late~"
I looked into their despairing eyes and suddenly remembered all the others who had looked at me the same way.
'Still smiling?'
The smile vanished. Only indifferent eyes remained, staring at the floor as everything around us was annihilated.