"Argh! You monster, get away from me!! This is a crime. You're a criminal! Just wait until the police get here!"
An agitated middle-aged man, sitting in a corner, screamed while clutching his arm.
He had a dishevelled appearance, with his body covered in blood and his clothes in tatters.
The bloody man gripped his right arm tightly. He was missing his entire forearm, leaving only a stump from where a fresh, red stream flowed.
Curled up in a corner, he trembled in pain while cursing at the crouching figure before him.
His eyes held a myriad of emotions. Anger, despair, powerlessness, desperation, and the most intense, fear.
Of every emotion that he was experiencing, the dread he felt in his heart was far greater, surpassing the other emotions.
The figure before him was neither large nor bulky.
A fitting word to describe them would be petite.
However, it was this same petite figure that had drawn such intense emotions from the middle-aged man.
His voice grew higher, until it became shrill, as he cursed the petite figure.
"You aren't human! You must be possessed! No! You're the devil himself!!"
He had skin blessed with an ample amount of melanin, giving him a dark complexion, however, this didn't stop his face from flushing. His eyes were red, so red that they rivalled the blood on his person and looked like they would burst at any moment. His incessant screams caused spit to fly everywhere, but none touched the person just a few inches away.
Already, he had become delirious from fear as he was uncontrollably hurling profanities at the person who had caused his misfortune.
Still, no matter how much he cursed, the person remained quiet and watched him with a smile which wasn't quite a smile.
Squatting in front of the middle-aged man was a young lady with beautiful features. The lighting here was poor still, it was enough to make out her appearance. She looked to be in her early twenties, with a calm countenance. She had a delicate and elegant kind of beauty. It was the type of beauty that was bound to turn heads and keep them in place also, with the small smile on her lips, she was even more beautiful. There was even a hint of cuteness in her beauty.
However, such a harmless-looking person was in a place like this and was the reason a fully grown man was so distraught.
In her hand, was a small knife which she held leisurely. It appeared custom-made with its pink handle and cartoonish designs. Alas, such a cute knife and the hand holding it was stained with blood, which dripped onto the ground and made a small puddle.
"Get away from me….go away, devil. I command you, be consumed by fire."
As his state of mind continued to deteriorate, the middle-aged man began to pray. Casting and binding, he almost resembled a priest.
When she heard this person start to pray, the small smile on her lips grew a little wider. It was slightly mocking and slightly amused.
This sinner suddenly started praying, she didn't know whether she should laugh or not. It seemed rude to laugh but, he wasn't even a Christian. Human hypocrisy has never ceased to amaze. Heh, this must be the fastest religious conversion in history.
'What a hypocrite. To think such a person also knew how to pray? After disobeying the words of the one above, and pushing aside his preachings and commandments, he still expected to be saved? How shameless'
Getting to this point, she could feel her lips spread to an extent that she thought she would be able to rival penny-wise.
'How fun would it be if he prayed while receiving punishment? Ah… I've really become a pervert…'
She stood from her crouched posture and kicked her legs out. She had been in this position for a while and her legs were starting to feel cramped.
'Haa, I must be getting old…'
The young lady glanced at the man before turning and walking towards a large, wooden, open cabinet.
This was an abandoned building somewhere in the city. It was built away from the bustling metropolis, in the woods and isolated from society. A perfect location for punishment.
"Mr Dunni, how are we feeling ehn? You've been screaming for a while now. Aren't you tired? If you keep doing that, you'll hurt your throat. We can't let that happen, alright? I still have uses for it. So please behave and keep quiet~"
Speaking in a polite and cheery tone, she said such chilling words with a smile. It caused a person to wonder if they had misinterpreted the meaning behind those words.
While she spoke, she rummaged through the cabinet, looking for something.
Unexpectedly, Mr Dunni, who had been screaming and behaving like a screw, really shut his mouth as instructed. His jaw tightened as he watched the lady's movements.
"Ah~ I found it…" She sounded as excited as a child who had received a long-awaited gift.
"Look, isn't it pretty?" Turning around to face her guest, she questioned.
Her expression was a sharp contrast to her tone of voice. She had a deadpan look on her face with the same familiar smile. But from her lips came cheery and childlike words.
It was a strange contrast.
In her hand was an object akin to a scalpel. However, it was larger and longer than ordinary scalpels. It looked more like a kitchen knife.
The scalpel had replaced the knife she was holding earlier and was also customized. It was blue and had cartoonish prints.
"Let's play now, yeah?"
Smiling "happily", she walked towards Mr Dunni who, in contrast to the "joyful" girl, was shivering and backing into the wall behind him. Alas, there was no space left to back into. In his eyes, the girl approaching him was no longer human, but a demon who had crawled out from hell to torment him.
A puzzling matter was that Mr Dunni was a full-grown man and even though he had lost an arm, he hadn't lost his legs. With his bulky frame, he should at least be able to run or put up a fight against such a scrawny-looking girl.
But although he wasn't tied up or restrained, he remained on the ground, trembling.
The young lady seemed to have made a massive impact on him. If he left this place, he was bound to form a mental scar and be tormented by endless nightmares.
The young lady was now standing before him. She glanced at him, then stretched a hand towards him.
Mr Dunni recoiled from her touch by reflex. Causing her outstretched hand to hang in midair before she extended it and grabbed the man's dirty collar.
"Mr Dunni, we've spent so much time together, but you're still treating me like a stranger. I must say, that makes me a little unhappy. Ahh~ this has to change. I know a couple of bonding activities. We can try them. This way we'll be closer."
She spoke and dragged him by the collar, which caused a trail of blood to form on the floor behind them.
After a few steps, they reached a clear space with wooden poles and chains. Four feet away, in a dim space, were two humanoid figures. They were cadavers that were laid side by side on the ground. The surrounding area was clean and devoid of blood, but the carcasses were incomplete and in gruesome states. One of them was headless, its severed head nowhere in sight, leaving a neck with a clean sword-like cut.
The other still retained its head. Instead, it was sliced open neatly at the abdominal region and had all its organs removed.
There seemed to be something extra in place, however, the area was too dark to make out its appearance.
The lady tossed Mr Dunni roughly on the ground, uncaring for his wounds. She then moved a few steps to make some minor adjustments to the contraption.
She hummed a lighthearted tune, temporarily ignoring the noisy person, as she set up the contraption.
In a few minutes, she was done and turned her attention towards her guest, moving towards him and lifting him effortlessly.
His legs dangled lifelessly in the air. Obviously broken, they were mangled and deformed.
The lady clamped his wrist and what was left of his right arm to the chains before taking a step back.
Mr Dunni now had his limbs pulled until he was wholly stretched.
He wept while she hummed. Gradually she started to sing in a voice that was lovely and capable of enchanting an audience.
While she sang, she brought the blue scalpel towards Dunni's face. Her voice held a calming effect, alas, Dunni, at the moment, was anything but calm.
Seemingly tired of stressing her facial muscles, she stopped smiling, causing her facial expression to be eerily cold and indifferent.
Her aloof look, if anything, just made Mr Dunni even more frightened.