Chapter : 91

Inside the dim sewer, the faint, muffled echoes of running water and dripping condensation filled the stench laced air. 

Beneath the sparse light of a flickering bulb, Seryu knelt by her captive as she guided the tip of her sickle to hover over Tatsumi's left eye.  

Her auburn hair clung to her sweat-dampened face, but she paid it no mind, her focus wholly consumed by her task.  

"....If only things had been different," she muttered, her voice low as though speaking to herself. 

Her free hand trembled slightly before she steadied it against her knee. "If only there had been someone like me back then…"  

Her words trailed off as she exhaled sharply through her nose, shaking her head. 

Her eyes flickered toward the lifeless young man before her, his battered body slumped.

"How many innocent citizens of the Empire could I have saved," she whispered, her voice laced with bitterness, "...if disgusting villains like you never existed."

Her shoulders sagged briefly under the weight of the thought. 

But then she straightened, shaking her head fiercely as if casting away her doubts.

"No, I should focus on the present, not the past." Her tone sharpened as she clenched the sickle tighter. "I have been given power and opportunity by Dr. Stylish. And I must deliver results worthy of his efforts."

Her gaze hardened as she recalled the faces of those she idolised, the people she felt obligated to honour.

"Yes, I must carry on my father's and teacher's legacy. Like them, I must dutifully serve the Empire. Follow my superiors' orders, protect the Empire's innocent civilians,..... and eliminate these disgusting scums." She finished as her gaze went towards Tatsumi's battered face, his head slumped low in the restraints. 

His eyes, dull and lifeless, unresponsive even as the sickle's blade brushed against his cheek.  

"...How disappointing," she whispered, tilting her head as though examining a broken toy. "....You struggled so much earlier."  

Her voice dripped with venom as she continued, "Why don't you struggle like before? Like when I was cutting that purple-haired bitch's arm." Her sickle gestured lazily toward Sheele's mangled body.

The woman's arm was a jagged stump, the cauterised wound barely holding back the inevitable. Seryu's gaze lingered only a moment before she reached behind her.

"...Or when I was sawing off this pink-haired whore's head?" she sneered, holding up Mine's severed head by its blood-matted hair and waving it.

She held the head in front of Tatsumi's face. "Does this mean nothing to you anymore?"  

"...." The young man didn't flinch, nor did he respond in any manner. He just stared at her lifelessly.  

Seryu let out a short, clipped sigh. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the head over her shoulder. 

It landed with a faint, wet thud, followed by a crunch as Kuro lowered its massive jaws onto it.  

"That's that, then," she said matter-of-factly, standing to her full height. She cast a quick glance at Tatsumi. "The others will reprimand me if I leave anything behind," she murmured, her tone indifferent, "but I suppose I can at least make it efficient."  

She crouched back down, her grin twisting into something even more grotesque. "Because of you filthy scum, my father had to die in the line of duty and my beloved teacher, Ogre, had to suffer...." Her voice faltered, the grin briefly slipping.  

Her grip tightened around Tatsumi's face as anger surged. "..After the postmortem, it was found that he was cruelly tortured for hours…. Do you know how much he suffered before his death? His corpse was left in the open for days!" Her voice cracked with rage. "Even insects began to feast on him…"

Her maniacal grin returned as she pressed the sickle against Tatsumi's remaining eye.

"You scums have to pay the price!"

Grrrr!!

But before she could push the blade further, Kuro's sudden, guttural growl froze her mid-motion.

"What is it, Kuro?" she snapped, turning toward the beast.

The air shifted.  

The massive beast had turned its glowing eyes toward the perpetrator.

Kuro was crouched low, his eyes locked on something just out of her view. His growl deepened, his massive claws scraping against the wet floor as he took a step forward.

Seryu's eyes narrowed. "What are you—"

Her words died in her throat as she followed Kuro's gaze.

There, standing behind the massive beast, was the bald, grotesque figure of the man she had chained earlier. 

His body was partially obscured by Kuro's massive frame, but she could see enough to make her blood boil.

"How did he free himself?!" she screamed, her voice echoing through the tunnels.

Seryu stared in disbelief at the shattered bindings that had once restrained the rebel. The metallic remnants, twisted and broken, were scattered across the muddy floor.

"This is impossible," she hissed through gritted teeth, her eyes narrowing as fury bubbled beneath the surface.

The cuffs had been designed by Dr. Stylish himself, reinforced with mechanisms that could withstand thousands of pounds of tension. No ordinary man could have broken free of them, let alone a battered and injured rebel.

"It was given to me by the doctor," she muttered, her voice tinged with disbelief. "It should have been unbreakable!"

Her hands trembled slightly as her amber gaze caught a glint of something in the rebel's hand.

A blade.

But not just any blade, Sheele's Teigu, Ecstasy.

"No... NO!" Seryu's voice rose to a fever pitch. "HOW?! That Teigu should have been locked away! How does he have it?!"

Her words were abruptly cut off as Kuro, her massive biological Teigu, let out a feral roar.

The hulking beast launched itself toward the rebel, its massive fist swinging down with the force of a sledgehammer.

The rebel barely had time to react. With a desperate motion, he raised the curved blade in a clumsy block, his hands trembling under the weight of the Teigu.

KLANG!

The sound of metal meeting flesh reverberated through the tunnel, followed by the groan of stone cracking beneath the impact.

The force sent the rebel hurtling backward, his body disappearing into the shadows beyond the dim light of the flickering bulb.

Thud.

Seryu's lips curled into a triumphant grin as she watched him vanish into the darkness.  

"Good, Kuro," she said, her tone gleeful. "Crush him. Break him completely."  

Kuro growled in response, its claws scraping loudly against the floor as it crouched low, ready to pursue its prey. With a quick burst of movement, the massive beast charged into the darkness, its glowing eyes disappearing into the shadows.

Seryu followed at a steady pace, her sickle gleaming faintly as she walked. The dim light of the bulb faded behind her as she moved deeper into the tunnel, the sound of rushing water growing louder with every step.

"Struggle all you like," she called out, her voice echoing off the walls. "It's meaningless. You can't outrun justice!"

Her tone was resolute, yet the faintest hint of annoyance lingered at the edges.

As she approached the end of the tunnel, she paused abruptly.

Kuro stood motionless in front of a large, broken sewer pipe. A torrent of dirty water poured from its jagged edges, flooding the ground beneath it.

Seryu frowned, her eyes narrowing as she strode toward the beast.

"Kuro," she demanded, her voice sharp. "Did you eat him?"

The massive dog-like creature turned its head toward her, growling softly. It shook its head in response, its glowing eyes reflecting frustration.

Seryu's face twisted into a scowl as her gaze fell to the pipe's edges. The clean, precise cut along the metal was unmistakable.

"He used that Teigu," she muttered grimly, her hands tightening into fists. "That weapon is definitely the cause of this."

She turned back to Kuro, her mind racing. "Can you track him? Smell him out?"

Kuro lowered its head to the ground, sniffing intently at the wet stone and the air around the pipe. It circled the area, its growls growing deeper as it attempted to pick up a trail.

But after several minutes, it let out a frustrated snarl and shook its head again.

Seryu's jaw clenched as her irritation grew.

The overwhelming stench of sewage, combined with the rushing water from the pipe, had likely erased any scent trail.

The realisation made her hands tremble with fury.

"You bastard!" she screamed into the tunnel, her voice echoing through the sewer. "I know you're hiding somewhere! Get out now!"

Her words were met only with the constant, maddening rush of water. The tunnel's darkness offered no answer.

Her breaths came in sharp, uneven bursts as her anger reached a boiling point.

"You can't run from me!" she shouted again, her voice cracking slightly. "You can't escape justice!"

"..." There was nothing.

The oppressive silence that followed was broken only by the faint dripping of water and the low, rumbling growls of Koro.

'No, I have seen his awful condition. With those injuries, he can't run away' she thought with rationality.

'But, I have to hurry otherwise…' her thoughts stopped.

Seryu's fists tightened around her sickle, the metal groaning slightly under the strain of her grip. Her jaw clenched, teeth grinding as her anger simmered beneath the surface.

But then, her fingers began to unfurl, one by one. Her tense posture eased, and slowly, her lips lifted into a grin.

The smile spread wider, unnatural in its sharpness, as a dark glint flickered in her amber eyes.

"If that's how you want to play it," she muttered, her voice low and dripping with menace, "then I can play it dirtier."

She turned on her heel, her boots splashing through the murky water as she strode purposefully back toward the slumped forms of Tatsumi and Sheele.

Her gaze locked onto Tatsumi first, his lifeless posture betraying the torment he had endured.

The corners of her mouth twitched upward as she approached him, her sickle glinting faintly in the dim light.

"Let's see how much you can endure, little rat," she whispered.

Her eyes narrowed as she leaned closer, the jagged edge of her sickle catching the faint glow of the flickering bulb.

"Let's see how long you can hide," she whispered, her voice icy, "when you hear their screams as I skin them alive."

.....

[A/N: Holy crap! This novel has finally reached one million views! (wipes away imaginary tears) Never in my wildest dreams did I think something I wrote would ever hit such a milestone. Though, I do suspect there might be something wonky with the view count system on this platform. Maybe it inflates the numbers? Or maybe I'm just overthinking. Either way, I'm beyond grateful for all your support.

Without you guys, this fanfic would have never reached this height. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Let's keep this journey going together!]