Seryu stood over the brutalised rebel, watching with perverse pleasure as he coughed up blood, his bloody cheeks barely hanging on his face as he huddled against the sewer wall.
Her mouth curved in amusement as the gun withdrew back into her throat, leaving a thin trail of smoke between her lips. She licked them promptly before giving a triumphant grin. "Ha ha, look Koro," she remarked, looking at the gigantic beast beside her.
"This bastard assumed he could outsmart me... ME!" Her laugh boomed down the damp cave, bouncing off the walls in unsettling waves. Her tone was laced with an unsettling pleasure that transformed her ordinarily youthful visage into something demonic.
But the laughter stopped abruptly and her eyes darkened, the manic glee replaced with an icy glare.
"Koro," she commanded sharply, pointing at the bloodied man. "Eat him alive. Start with his legs."
She folded her arms, tilting her head slightly as her eyes gleamed with sadistic anticipation.
"I want to see the despair in his face when he realizes he can't run anymore." A cruel smile tugged at her lips. "I'd have loved to take my time with him, but time isn't on our side. The other scum might still escape, and..." her eyes narrowed, "...my superiors might arrive and ruin my fun by keeping him for interrogation."
"Grr," Koro growled in answer, his deep, guttural roar echoing across the tunnel walls. The gigantic biological beast lumbered towards Bane, its big and muscular arms stretched out.
With little effort, it lifted him into its gigantic embrace, leaving Bane's wounded body dangling hopelessly. Bane groaned, his muscles rebelling as the crushing hold tightened around him. He felt the cutting pressure against his ribs, and through his clouded vision, he saw Koro's spinning, entrancing eyes staring at him with almost childlike glee.
Using what little strength he had left, he linked his senses to the snake that was still wrapped around his shoulder, watching as it slithered and clung to his damaged body.
He didn't even think of using the snake to poison Kuro since it was a teigu. What truly puzzled him was Seryu's complete immunity to his deadly blood. Yes, he had used poison against her without her being aware, but it was useless.
The only conclusion he came to was that the crazed woman in front of him had gone through several experiments, rendering her impervious to poisons, or she is a part cyborg and no longer human, or something along those lines.
Removing the thought, he spoke, clenching his teeth through the pain.
"I have an important piece of information for you," he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper. Locking eyes with Seryu despite the blood trickling down his face, he spoke again. "You might want to call off your little pet... unless you want this all to end with me."
Koro loomed over Bane, his jaws slowly parting, the low grinding hum of its metallic teeth filling the damp sewer tunnel with an ominous vibration.
A putrid mix of sewage and blood hung thick in the air, but all Bane could focus on was the beast's jagged fangs inching closer to his leg.
Coiling tightly around his neck and torso, the serpent inched forward, its black beady eyes locking onto Seryu with an eerie stillness.
Seryu's lip curled in contempt. "You think your little snake deceptions will scare me?" she spat. "You think you can wriggle your way out of this?"
Bane felt the immense pain crushing his body. His fingers twitched, brushing against the metal coil of his teigu beneath his torn garments.
"Oh, it's not about wriggling out," he rasped softly, almost mockingly. "It's just that I pity you."
Seryu's eyes flared with rage. "You pity me? You bastard!" she screamed, stepping closer in fury.
"...The thing about secrets is that…" he muttered, dragging out his words. "They die with the person who keeps them."
Koro's breath was hot against his skin, saliva dripping onto his torn trousers. The metallic clinking of the beast's jaw made Bane's skin prickle, but he didn't waver. Instead, his aquamarine eyes glinted with something between amusement and defiance.
Seryu's expression darkened, her lips curling in frustration. She hated being played with, hated the idea that this filthy rebel had something over her.
"What are you talking about, scum?" she hissed, stepping closer, the fury in her eyes barely restrained. "You think you can bargain with me?"
"I've heard a myth..." he murmured, peering into the monster's gleaming maw, "...that a Teigu chooses its user based on their desires and character."
Seryu maintained a neutral expression, but Koro's jaws opened wider, rows of revolving mechanical teeth buzzing ominously.
"I always ... .thought it was just a stupid talk," Bane added, his lips tightening despite the agony on his face. His eyes, fatigued yet firm, fixed on Koro's joyful expression. "But looking at you two..." he chuckled darkly, "...seems I was wrong."
His feet neared the steely maw as he forced himself to continue speaking. "..You really are one sick bastard," he continued, his voice strained. "The way you're enjoying this.... it's almost like..." He grinned, bloodied and disdainful. "...like you picked the perfect twisted little partner in crime."
Seryu's eyes twitched.
Bane did not stop. "Sadistic bitch meets sadistic monster. A match made in heaven."
Seryu's lips curved into a scowl, and her fingers twitched over the sickle handle. "Finish this bastard quickly, Kuro." But Bane wasn't finished yet. His aquamarine eyes glittered with something almost malicious as he spoke again, his voice strained but defiant.
"Oh you will not, I know about Ogre." he spoke again
Seryu's eyes widened upon hearing her master's name, but she quickly masked it with a sneer. "Shut up! You know nothing about him, scum!"
Bane let out a low, throaty chuckle. "Oh, but I do." The serpent around him tightened, inch by inch, as his words slithered into her ears. "And if you press your dog any harder, I might just take that little secret with me to the grave."
Seryu hesitated, glaring down at him, her nails digging into her palm. "Tell me."
Bane's grin stretched wider, his bloodied teeth showing through cracked lips. His voice was sweet, almost playful. "Why don't you take a wild guess?" He cocked his head, his grin turning wolfish. He saw Seryu's face crumple as he spoke with satisfaction. "His body was found with deep, lethal cuts, wasn't it? So severe that even his maggot-ridden corpse was barely recognizable. The rot, the smell... his eyes clouded with fear in death."
Seryu's body trembled, her breath coming out in brief gasps.
Bane's voice dripped with venomous amusement. "It's me, yours truly." He cocked his head. "Surprised?"
"...."
He leaned in just a little more, his voice hushed, a devilish whisper. "I sliced him, over and over... First his gut, oh you should've heard him squeal, Seryu... like a stuck pig."
"...." Seryu still remained silent.
"I cut into his legs next," Bane continued, his voice lilting with dark amusement. "Watched him crawl, Seryu. Pathetic. And his eyes... his ugly eyes." He licked his lips. "I made sure he watched every second of it."
"SHUT UP!!!" Finally Seryu lost her control, lunging at him in a blind rage. "I WILL KILL YOU BASTARD!!!"
But just as she charged, the sewer water beneath her feet erupted in a violent splash.
SHING!
A gleaming blade flashed in the dim sewer, cutting through the putrid water.
And in an instant, both of Seryu's arms were severed.
She staggered backward, screaming in shock, staring at the bleeding stumps where her arms had been. "W-What...?"
Emerging from the murky water, naked, covered in grime and blood, with an icy, emotionless expression, stood Tatsumi.
His once-innocent eyes were now void of warmth, his muscles trembling from exhaustion but still coiled like a spring, ready to snap.
Guns emerged from Seryu's bloody stumps as she fired in seconds.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Tatsumi didn't falter. In a blink, he caught both halves of Sheele's massive scissors in midair, crossing them in front of him to deflect the bullets with a metallic clang. Sparks illuminated the tunnel in bursts of light as his blade absorbed each shot.
CLANG!
The moment Seryu's magazines emptied, he surged forward.
He swung the reformed scissor blades in a wide, crisscrossing arc.
SWISHH!!
The next second, Seryu's body split in half at the waist, her torso collapsing backward while her legs crumpled beneath her.
A choked gasp escaped her lips as she crumpled, sinking into the murky sewer of water.
Koro let out a deafening roar, confused and enraged by his master's sudden demise.
Bane, still gripped in the beast's powerful hold, felt the surrounding pressure slacken. He coughed, sucking in a shaky breath.
His vision blurred, his consciousness slipping, but he could still see through the eyes of his serpent.
A faint chuckle left his lips, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Jormungandr..." he muttered. "Definitely.. the right partner for me..."
His eyes fluttered shut as darkness consumed him, but before his mind faded entirely, he couldn't resist a last jab.
"What would Zanku have said at a time like this?" he murmured with a bloodied grin.
Finally, remembering the words he spoke, "How delightful~."
His body went limp on the wet sewer, his mind slipping into the comforting embrace of unconsciousness.