Chapter 24: Purple Ice VS Punisher
Markov's eyes grew more and more pensive as he looked at the young man, who seemed like he was embroiled in a heated battle.
He looked at his stump of an arm that was slowly healing and felt desolate.
He really wished he could go and help the young man that was fighting "valiantly" on his behalf.
{A/N: Really? I don't think so...}
"Is this all you got?! You better go shove your mouth up your ass lady, cuz your attacks are only as worth as a piece of sh*t!" The young man taunted as vulgarites spilled out of his mouth.
All of a sudden, a fierce kick smashed against his stomach, sending him flying as he let out a painful groan.
Before he could reach the ground and stabilize his footing, an icy looking dagger stabbed his shoulder, causing him to scream painfully.
The woman's slim hand grasped his head faintly, and smashed it on the ground, causing him to spit blood. His scream rose in intensity
"Oh. So you do know how to scream in agony. I love that sound, especially when it's coming from your mouth. How about we tune up the volume?" The woman smiled sadistically as she drove the ice further into the young man's body.
He screamed even further.
He looked at the men trembling in fear, like deer facing a tiger, and felt indignant.
'These f**king cowards. How stupid. Am I the Guard, or they?'
"Now, are you willing to surrender peacefully?" The woman glanced at him with a faint smile on her face.
"You've got a lot of talk for someone of your status. I might not be able to beat you, but I can still hold you off. You must be dreaming if you think you'll be able to make me surrender. Go f**k yourself." The boy spat.
"I don't understand. You still think that you have a chance? Where do you get your courage from? These pests? You think they might be able to save you? Glorify you if you somehow miraculously win? You make me laugh." The woman's eyes swept through the Guards who looked as if they had lost all hope, and icy projectiles shot through their skulls, one after the other.
None of the 60 odd men were able to withstand her attacks and were directly sent to the afterlife.
Markov was devastated.
These were all men that had decided to follow him, had fought life and death battles with him, laughed with him, drank with him, and now they were all gone. Tears streamed down his face.
A mournful scream came out from his mouth.
"Oh. I think I forgot someone. Well, too bad. You won't be able to live much longer." The woman didn't bother wasting words and directly sent an ice spike at him.
Markov was lost and stared at the air with desolated eyes.
'Brothers! I might join you soon. Please forgive me. I'm...sorry.' He silently thought.
Somehow, he felt as if he could see them, his men, waving at him, telling him not to blame himself, laughing and smiling. He felt relieved.
He sighed in his heart. 'At least they don't hate me. And that's enough for me.'
He closed his weary eyes. And smiled.
Crack! Shatter!
The sound of ice breaking could be heard. Markov eyes opened faintly.
He saw a black silhouette standing in front of him holding pieces of glittering ice that shone with a faint sparkle.
The silhouette suddenly moved with a huge burst of speed and grasped the young man's shoulder, dragging him to his side. Dropping him beside the dumbfounded Markov, the black silhouette faced the woman.
"Does it hurt?— Your arm, does it hurt?" The silhouette asked in a husky voice as he saw that Markov was distracted.
Markov's eyes looked at his disabled arm, and faintly smiled.
"I'll be alright."
"That's good then." The silhouette said blandly.
The figure turned and looked at the woman and said in a a gruff tone. "You're not supposed to be here."
"Oh really? Well I didn't know that. You're not going to chase me away are you?" The woman's voice was playful.
The figure didn't bother to exchange words and directly attacked her, turning into a black shadow that struck at the woman's head. He woman tilted her head to the side and deftly blocked the figure's attack with a kick of her own.
"I've heard about you guys, Punishers huh? Did anyone ever tell you that was a dumb name to call yourselves?" The woman's face had a cold smile.
"No. But one thing is certain. You will not leave here in one piece." The figure's shadow suddenly moved along the ground like a vicious snake. Contorting into a blade-like construct, the shadow suddenly sprang up from the ground and pierced towards the woman's back.
Sensing danger, the woman made a back flip with incredible agility and landed on the ground like a feather. She looked at the figure with fear in her heart.
'That attack, I didn't see it coming. If it weren't for the lady's power...I'd be dead right now. It seems like I'll have to take this more seriously.' She thought silently.
"You're lucky you managed to survive that. I was aiming for your heart. You possess incredible reflexes. But still...it is a pipedream if you think that with your current level of power, you will be able to survive my onslaught. Now, get ready to die." A cold voice was heard behind the figure's pure white mask.
He disappeared from the woman's sights with a whoosh.
Shit! The woman thought.
"Oh please, do NOT underestimate me!" She said with a cold face as she faced a particular direction as her body suddenly radiated a strange aura. Holding a glimmering shortsword in her hands, she violently pierced towards the air. The sword in her hands was seen running through a vague shadow.
There! Finally got you! After all that talk, you turned out to be such a weakling. Cheh! She thought with a victorious smirk on her face.
But before she could compose herself, an obsidian dagger violently ran through her chest, right above her heart. She widened her eyes in shock as she spat out blood. She turned her eyes to look at the shadow that had been pierced with her shortsword dissipated into a cluster of tiny shadows that converged behind her, where a figure held a dagger through her chest.
"But...how? What kind of technique was that? I was sure my sword pierced right through you...". She spoke with horror-stricken eyes.
"Just shut up and die." The figure was decisive as he continued to shift the dagger deeper into her body, trying to puncture her heart. She shrieked in pain.
'Oh no! This is bad! I'm going to die! I have to use 'it'! I'm sorry my lady, I've failed to live up to your expectations of me. But I have no choice. My life comes first.' She thought silently.
The woman's lifeforce dwindled like a flame, burning out in its last moments. Her lifeless body slumped on the ground as the figure peered at her with his cold eyes behind the mask.
Just as the figure was about to land another hit on the corpse, to ensure that there were no loose ends, the woman's body twitched violently.
A pale hand shot through the corpse's mouth, causing the figure to frown behind the mask. His shadow shot out from his feet and attacked the corpse, more specifically, the hand coming out of its mouth.
As the shadow neared the mouth of the corpse, the white hand reached out a few inches and grabbed it. Holding the shadow construct tightly, a wave of purple coloured ice spread out from the hand and quickly froze the shadow. The strange purple ice spread out like a virus, towards the figure's feet. The figure quickly cut off his connection to this shadow, but a few specks of purple ice flakes managed to land on his feet.
The figure was shocked as he hastily tried to get rid of the ice with his mana. This was because the tiny ice specks released a kind of energy that quickly spread through his feet, infecting his cells. If this continued, even if he doesn't die, he might never be able to use his feet again!
He looked at the corpse in shock. He wondered what kind of energy that was. It was similar to mana, but different. He had never heard of a technique that utilized mana in such a manner. Some Poison Magic spells might be able to achieve such an effect, but therein lay the problem.
There had been rumors going on about a secret organization causing chaos in the Federation. Nothing much was known about this organization, but it was said that those who were a part of it were extremely strong, with powerful skills. He wondered if this woman was a part of that organization. But in his heart, he was absolutely certain that she was.
'It's a good thing then. We might be able to get more information about this organization from this woman.' He pondered.
Just then, he saw what would make anyone who saw it pee their pants in fear.
Another hand suddenly sprang from the supposed corpse. The two hands held the mouth of the "corpse" and spread it wide open.
A few seconds later, a naked woman came out from the corpse's mouth. This woman looked exactly like the corpse, execpt for the fact that the corpse looked like a pale shade of grey, like a used piece of clothing.
The woman unabashedly took out a new piece of clothing, and changed into it under the watchful eyes of the man.
Cracking her neck slightly, she turned to face the figure with a murderous look in her eyes.
"I am going to kill you." She said indifferently.