(The following chapter contains some gore. if you do not like gory scenes, then kindly skip. Parental supervision is advised.)
Initially, the speed at which the black miasma was pouring in was slow, but soon it started picking up speed, and the entire cage encircled by the colorful streams of energy was filled with black fog. Their sights turned dim, and the three had to keep up a continuous flow of Desert Light Mites to keep their visibility from being obscured.
The miasma attacked the commoners first, probably because they had the least defense against it. The black smoke slowly penetrated the skin, entering into the bodies of the people through their skin, mouth, nose and ears. Even the eyes started turning red under the influence of the miasma.
Excepting the three who had taken a variety of pills and activated many defense systems and tools around them, the more defenseless commoners and even the unarmed low level cultivators were already completely under the illusion of the spherical cage. Even if they wanted to, they were no longer in control of their body and mind to put up any resistance.
Beibei and the boys watched in chilling silence as one by one the commoners started turning. Though they had read about it, this was the first time they were actually spectating the real method in which the black miasma took over a person's mind.
As the eyes turned red, the people seemed to lose complete control of their senses, and started shuffling around aimlessly. But the red eyes were watching every person they passed, like starved beasts of prey, marking their victims.
Beibei pulled out a handful of Wind Tornado fabricator, placing them all around themselves in layers, and started activating the ones where the most miasma had gathered. The suction whirlpools emitted from these tools pulled in all the surrounding miasma, immediately lowering the density of the dark fog in these places. The flow of miasma was still comparatively slow, and this gave them some breathing space.
Surprisingly, the red eyed puppets avoided these places where the miasma was low. Though the sharp, ominous eyes rested on the three, some even gathered at the edge of the dense miasma boundaries like packs of wolves waiting for the chance to attack, they did not move forward.
Nanate and Kunwa too had some of these wind fabricators with them. As the previous fabricators reached their capacity and sunk into the ground, they replaced it with some of their own.
But these tools were still low in number. Even if they could outrun the red-eyed puppet humans, they did not think that was the end of the matter.
The first one attacked. A commoner puppet attacked another commoner puppet. Due to their low strength, they ended up on the ground, tussling with each other. Then one of them opened his jaws wide, and bit down on the arm of the other.
The second one made no sound.....as if he could feel no pain. All sensations had been numbed and killed by the miasma. All which remained was an intense desire to kill...a desire for blood.
Beibei, Nanate and Kunwa watched in shock as the two people bit each other viciously, ripping apart flesh, sucking on blood, crushing the bones with their bare hands. Within moments, both the people were dead.
All that remained behind was a slathering of bones and flesh, ripped, torn, pulverized, broken. Bodies turned to lumps, soaking in fresh blood still pouring out of the veins protruding on these fleshy lumps.
Kunwa vomited. Beibei was feeling too dizzy. She reached out to stabilize herself, catching onto whatever her hands could find.
"Be careful!"
Her senses jolted alert at the sharp scream next to her ears. The force of something sharp and cold swished past her left arm, followed with a burst of warm liquid pouring all over her body. She shuddered, awake and alert in an instant.
One of the puppets had rounded the encirclement they had placed around themselves, and finding a gap when one of the fabricators had sunk into the ground, he had immediately slunk inside their circle.
This was the thing Beibei had caught hold of to balance herself, and very nearly put her own life in his mouth. It was a good thing that Nanate had a far stronger resistance to gory battles, and he had at once noticed what was wrong.
Beibei watched the headless body still stumbling about, hands moving from side to side, as if trying to catch hold of whoever was around it. The miasma controlled not only the brain, but the very soul. So even without the head, the body could still continue for a while. At least till all the blood inside had emptied out.
As the last drop of blood seeped out of the body, right before their eyes, the entire body started decaying at a rapid speed. Limb by limb, every bone and muscle started melting, as if splashed with acidic poison, and fell in large clumps on the ground around it. As the last of the clumps fell on the ground, the corrupted spiritual consciousness of the person was finally set free.
A distorted, dark figure, made wholly of miasma and gas floated free from the physical body, shrieking loudly into the sky. Its last chains and shackles had been removed, and it had successfully turned into a creature of the dark.
However, since it was created from the body of a commoner, its power was very low. Without blinking her eyes, Beibei thrust the Blue Flame Dagger into the black form, followed by the new Golden Lightning sword she had taken as part of her Clan's heritage.
The blue flame burned circles around the newly formed creature, and the lightning sword sunk deep inside the black ball of miasma. Golden lightning rays crackled throughout the black form, growing larger and larger, till finally it erupted like a ball of lightning, dissolving the entire ball of black fog into nothing.
Silver snowflake like dust scattered all around Beibei's head. Probably the ashes formed from the burning of the black ball of miasma.
Nonchalantly, Beibei turned her attention back to the area in front of them.
More and more puppets were attacking each other. Perhaps due to the sudden display of their prowess, but the groups which had been huddling around the dense boundaries, waiting to attack them, had dispersed.
The ground was soggy. Layers upon layers of flesh and bones could be seen peeping through the miasma fog floating just over the ground. The number of people inside the cage had gone down considerably, and continued to decrease at an alarming rate.
"What happens when all the people inside this space have all died?"
Kunwa was feeling like puking all over again. He distracted himself with random questions, trying to hold on to his sanity. The fear and shock of what was happening made him shiver again and again.
"Probably we will be up next. This looks like the survival of the fittest. Will all be killed at the end....or will it end with the strongest of all surviving?"
Beibei and Kunwa looked at Nanate speechlessly. Didn't that mean that in the end they were scheduled to fight against each other? And Nanate being the strongest, was that even a question worth thinking about?
Very soon all the commoners had died at the hands of each other. Only some of the low level cultivators remained. And as such these red eyed puppets soon turned their attention to the three people still being safe-guarded behind the Wind Tornado Fabricators fortification.
Though they were low level, still they were cultivators. And now under the control of the miasma, they were more difficult to deal with as compared to the commoners. Their movements were random and unpredictable, and the three were having to use more and energy than before. Nanate took out a Golden Wind Splitting Whip, whilst Kunwa fell back to the rear, supporting them with an abundant supply of Purple Thunder Blast Balls.
The Guardian Family of Stryae had indeed been a big and old clan, and it seemed they had a lot of cultivators with light and lightning energy element. Many of their tools and arrays held great amount of light and lightning element. The three of them had generously picked up everything they could find related to light, fire and lightning, as these three elements were the best when facing the creatures of the dark.
The red-eyed puppets gradually discarded their exterior physical form, soon turning into formless creatures. They looked very like the last creature of the dark they had had to face on the Visionless Path.
The formless mass of energy flashed past them in random directions. And as they had experienced before, claws and nails and teeth would form instantly from this energy mass, swiping at them with vicious force. Soon the three of them started feeling the constraint of being inside the boundary of defense they had themselves created.
Though the fabricators could suck in the dark miasma around, they failed to create much effect on the speeding miasma balls. The three could not step out due to the defense lines, and instead the formless creatures were effortlessly swiping through the lines. They could feel no pain, being wholly controlled by the miasma, and thus it did not matter to them even if they lost a limb or even their entire body got destroyed during their attack.
On the other hand, the three had to also mind the suction power of the tornado, and not become injured by their own defense.
"I am going out of the formation. You both stay inside."
Nanate looked at Beibei in disbelief. He was itching to grab her collar and give her a good shaking. Did she think this was the same as the time on Visionless Path? The miasma was far more widespread and much more denser than what had encountered before. Moreover, they had only faced one formless creature before, whereas there were quite a few out here.
"You will not be stepping out of these lines of defense. If anyone has to go, it will be me. I am the strongest of the three."
"It's not a question of who is stronger. You cannot win against this miasma."
"And you can?"
Beibei sighed looking at angry face of Nanate. She didn't know if she could win, but she really wanted to try something different. Ever since she had helped absorb the miasma from the bodies of these two boys she had been wanting to try it again. She wanted to see how much the tattoo could absorb. Perhaps this might help her gleam some of the secrets behind her tattoo.
Beibei pulled down her collar a bit, allowing the two boys to catch a glimpse of the tattoo on her left shoulder.
"Yes, I think I can. Don't ask me how or why, but somehow this tattoo I have is capable of sucking in all kinds of poison and miasma. See the part black color of the hourglass shaped inscription at its center. Well, that black color is actually the miasma I had absorbed from your bodies. And I think this tattoo has the capacity of absorbing a lot more of this miasma. Maybe enough to help us find a way out of this place."
Kunwa too had turned his attention to the conversation going on between them. He was still attacking outwards in random, trying to deflect the various attacks coming from all directions as he looked on in confusion.
"So...you want us to search for the way out as you suck the miasma and give us some time to look around?"
Pulling her collar back up, Beibei nodded heavily to the question. Nanate was still dazed from seeing the tattoo. He had seen the tattoo, and understood what she was trying to say. But his mind was still stuck on the soft, white skin of her shoulders, gleaming gently with sweat. He was fighting his instantaneous desire to reach out and touch the smooth and soft looking skin.
By the time he shook his head, dispelling the wayward thoughts filling up his mind, Beibei had already stepped out from behind the lines of fortification, stepping right into the path of the oncoming formless creatures.