Death

"W-What? S-She killed Patrick?" one man stammers, his voice cracking as his trembling hand struggles to grip the hilt of his sword. His wide, bloodshot eyes dart between Eris and the corpse of their comrade sprawled lifelessly on the ground. "But… but he's a D-rank adventurer! That's… IMPOSSIBLE!"

The others exchange frantic, terrified glances, their faces pale and glistening with sweat.

"D-Don't just stand there!" the bearded leader bellows, though the shake in his voice betrays his growing panic. Spittle flies from his mouth as he tries to mask his fear with fury. "She's just ONE woman! GET HER!"

But Eris doesn't wait for them to make the first move.

She acts.

An explosion of speed. A streak of black.

The first man doesn't even have time to scream.

Her blade arcs through the air with a haunting elegance, slicing cleanly through his neck. The sharp, wet sound of flesh and bone splitting apart fills the night. Blood sprays in a thick, crimson arc, painting the ground, the surrounding trees, and the horrified faces of the man's comrades.

His lifeless body collapses to the dirt with a heavy thud, and his severed head rolls to their feet, his glassy eyes staring up at them as if accusing them for their inaction.

For a single, breathless moment, the world freezes.

The group stands paralyzed, their gazes locked on the grotesque scene before them as if refusing to believe it's real.

Then chaos erupts.

"ATTACK HER!" the bearded man roars, his voice cracking under the weight of desperation.

Three men charge at once, their swords raised high, their steps uneven with panic.

Eris meets them head-on.

She moves like a wraith, silent and fluid, her strikes as precise as they are deadly.

The first swing of her blade clashes against their weapons, sparks scattering into the darkness as steel collides with her mana-forged edge. But the struggle is brief. Eris twists her wrist, redirecting the force with an effortless grace, and retaliates.

Her blade flashes, cleaving through the arm of the nearest man.

He screams—a shrill, agonized sound—but it lasts only a moment. Eris drives her blade straight through his chest, the sound of shattering ribs echoing in the still air. She twists the sword, and with a sickening schlick, yanks it free. Blood pours from the gaping wound, and the man crumples to the ground, twitching once before going still.

The remaining two flank her, charging from opposite sides in a desperate attempt to overwhelm her.

But Eris doesn't even blink.

With a flick of her hand, black chains erupt from the air around her, writhing like serpents summoned from the depths of the abyss.

One chain lashes out, coiling around the legs of the man on her left. It tightens with a grotesque crack as his bones shatter, and then, with a bone-crushing force, she slams him into the ground. The impact splits his skull open like a ripe fruit.

The man on her right hesitates, just for an instant, his resolve faltering.

But that hesitation seals his fate.

Eris spins toward him, her blade carving upward in a savage arc. The black edge catches him under the chin and cleaves through his skull, splitting his head open with a wet, crunching sound. Blood and viscera splatter her face, but her expression remains cold, unfeeling.

The remaining men stagger backward, their courage utterly annihilated.

"Run! RUN!!!" one of them shrieks, his voice a high-pitched wail of raw terror. He drops his sword and bolts into the forest without a backward glance.

Another man stammers, his knees buckling beneath him. "P-please… please don't ki—"

He doesn't get to finish.

Eris moves faster than the eye can follow, her silhouette a blur of shadows and death. Her blade slices through the air with a sharp whoosh, and in the next instant, his body splits apart with a sickening crack. Blood sprays in a violent arc as his two halves collapse to the ground like discarded scraps of meat.

Another man tries to defend himself, raising his sword with trembling hands. But Eris is already upon him.

With a single, fluid motion, she swings her blade. The strike is so fast it severs not just his head, but the sword he held in his desperate grip too! His decapitated body remains standing for a moment, as if unwilling to acknowledge its own death, before it topples to the ground.

By now, only a handful of men remain, scattering like rats into the darkness. Their weapons and belongings are abandoned in their haste, clattering to the ground as they flee.

They think they can escape.

They're wrong.

She said she's going to kill them all.

And seems like… she's not joking.

Eris extends her sword to her side, the black mana swirling around it beginning to shift and morph. The blade fractures into four sleek, obsidian daggers, their edges glinting like liquid shadow.

Without hesitation, she flicks her wrist.

The daggers shoot forward, faster than arrows slicing through the air.

Four fleeing men collapse almost simultaneously, the daggers piercing the backs of their skulls with sickening precision. They fall in perfect unison, their bodies crumpling like discarded marionettes.

Now, only the leader remains—the bearded, burly man who had barked orders so confidently before.

Eris doesn't hesitate.

In a blur of movement so fast it feels like teleportation, she closes the distance between them. One moment she's standing across the clearing; the next, her hand clamps down on his head with an iron grip.

Then—

BOOM!

The earth shudders as Eris slams his head into the ground with inhuman force. The impact bursts his skull like an overripe watermelon, blood and brain matter spraying across the dirt. The crater left behind smolders faintly, blackened by her lingering mana.

And just like that, it's over.

It's truly over.

—————————————-

I stand frozen, my breath caught in my throat as I take it all in.

Eris has annihilated them. Every single one. No one escaped. No one was spared.

It's gruesome.

So freaking gruesome.

The blood pools thick on the ground, reflecting the faint moonlight like a macabre mirror. The air is heavy with the sharp tang of iron, so potent it clings to my tongue with every breath. My stomach twists violently, threatening to empty itself right then and there.

And yet…

It's beautiful.

The way blood arced through the night, how organs spilled and flesh gave way—it's as though Eris was painting with their lives. Her canvas was the dark night, and her brushstrokes were swift, brutal, and unrelenting.

She's an artist, and her medium is death.

The terror etched into the faces of her victims—the desperation in their screams before they were so abruptly silenced—it's horrifying.

Terrifying, yes.

But it's also satisfying.

Something deep within me trembles, not from fear, but from something else entirely. I'm left gasping for air, unable to look away from her.

——————————————-

Moments pass, though they feel like an eternity.

The forest falls silent, the chaos swallowed by the whisper of leaves and the metallic tang of blood that now saturates the air.

Eris turns to me, her glowing eyes still ablaze, blood drips from her face in slow, deliberate trails, streaking her skin like war paint.

And then she smirks.

It's faint—barely a curl of her lips—but it's there.

A chilling smirk that sends shivers down my spine.