Shadows and Schemes:Chapter 22 The First Goblet Of Bloody Mary

"Now, look around you! Although your brain's processing speed has been enhanced, your strength and speed have not. In other words, even if the objects around you seem to be moving almost still from your perspective, you cannot escape the imminent fact that you are about to be torn apart."

"..." The beggar kept silent.

"Interesting. I know you must be thinking about a way to escape now. I deeply admire your willpower to survive. But the fact is, to live safely in this world, sometimes intellect isn't the only currency. You need something else as well, a kind of overwhelming power that can ensure your safety."

"…"

"So, just join me in savoring this first glass of blood wine. I'm genuinely expecting, human boy."

"…"

"You'll soon grow fond of its exquisite taste, though I don't wish for you to become too addicted to this sensation that is as fiery, painful, yet intoxicating as a large glass of Bloody Mary. It would be quite dull if you become utterly dependent on me, just like my previous users, who lost themselves and the whole control of their bodies under the power I granted and completely became a zombie who obeyed my will."

"What… should I do?" 

"Oh? So you agree? HaHaHa! Then, the one, you, who has been a little recognized by me, also the one willing to embrace my devil strength from the hell, let me teach you for the first time. Remember this feeling, because from now on, you can draw me out and wield me at your own will. Just let me see how far you can take my power... I'm so expecting, human boy..."

The Sword of the Devil Emperor seemed to transcend the bounds of time, with each friction between the chains and the blade signaling the prelude to death. They carved a series of humming sounds through the air, each note deeper than the last, like whispers in the dark that were both tempting and threatening.

Chains were dancing weirdly within the nearly frozen time of the surrounding objects and beings. Suddenly, another pitch-black chain stretched forth from the hilt of the Demon Emperor's Sword. Unlike the other chains, the end of this one was shaped into a sharp, conical point.

"Oh, and I almost forgot to remind you, the first time you use the power, you might feel a bit of pain, but you will get much better and accustomed afterward. After all, you are signing a contract with the strongest devil in the Devilish Sequence created by the goddess."

The chain circled the young beggar's body four times, each loop etching a bloody melody into the air as if heralding an upcoming bloody ritual. With the completion of the final circle, the conical tip of the chain plunged violently into the right forearm of the small beggar, and blood gushed out like a storm streaming from the wound. The conical chain acted like a ravenous parasite, greedily devouring the host's blood. Yet it wasted much, spilling lots of blood into the air, painting terrifying patterns that resembled cups of Bloody Mary spilled in the air.

The little beggar felt severe pain, like a flame burning in his veins. However, along with the pain that made him almost faint, the little beggar felt an unprecedented power surge in his body.

"Do you feel it? This is the taste of overwhelming power, is it intoxicating and addicted?" The sword's voice echoed in the little beggar's mind, which was both mockery and expectation.

"I trust your willpower, you should be able to resist the pain and won't lose yourself to the temptation of the wine, right? Haha, though, of course, only temporarily."

The young beggar clenched his teeth, and though the loss of blood made him dizzy, his will remained unyielding. The power of the Devil Emperor Sword wreaked within him as if it intended to tear his body apart, but with his decisive willpower, he slowly began to bring this power under his control.

This power came with pain, like a drug, allowing the young beggar to find pleasure amidst suffering. His heartbeat quickened, each drop of blood telling him he was no longer the weak beggar of the past. Now, he possessed the power granted by the devil, a power that would enable him to survive in this cruel world.

"Not so bad, human boy" the devil sword laughed. 

In the real world, the wolf dogs' sharp teeth have bitten down slightly, and also the sharp claws have touched the little beggar's skin. But at this moment, the blizzard in the air suddenly became intense, sucking everything into the white darkness of hell.

…

"Why does the snowstorm suddenly become so intense?"

The girl in the distance (the princess) opened the curtain of the carriage and looked out. She saw that the snowflakes in the air became more dense. The four horses pulling the cart were fine just now, but now they seemed to feel something and began to neigh at each other.

A gust of cold wind blew, making the little girl shiver, and hurriedly put down the curtain. But at this moment, it seemed that the heavy curtains could no longer isolate the cold outside, and the warm interior of the carriage also turned into an ice cave that made people shiver...

…

The dog's owner stared and the corners of his mouth twitched. In front of him, the blizzard was so thick that he couldn't see anything clearly. The snow completely buried the little beggar and the wolfdog. No one knew what happened inside.

"Whoosh——"

Something flew out of it, it was a wolfdog. Seeing his pet dog again, most of the anxiety on the servant's face immediately disappeared. But when he saw the wolf dog's appearance clearly, his face was instantly frozen.

It wasn't a dog, it was half a dog. It was as if it had been cut in the middle by something extremely sharp, leaving only the left half of its body. The half wolfdog still opened its mouth, making a gesture of trying to bite.

Its cut side was not covered with blood but was completely frozen by a thin layer of ice. Just like a physical specimen, the servant could clearly see every internal organ of the dog, including his cut-out heart, the stomach pouch with some minced meat remaining, and the large intestine extending to the stomach.

The wolfdog's body fell on the snow, making a clanging sound, as if it had been left stiff for three days and three nights in a temperature of more than ten degrees below zero. It was unimaginable that it was alive, able to move and scream just a minute ago.

The man stared blankly at the corpse of his wolfdog, his brain stopped thinking in horror. It was at this moment that the blizzard in front of him gradually dispersed, and a pair of blood-red eyes shot out from the white snow...

"you... you—!" The man's voice was trembling.

The storm stopped. It was as if the blizzard was afraid of something and never dared to fall on the child again. At the feet of the little beggar, the bodies of the other two wolf dogs were also cut open, and their movements still maintained the moment before they pounced.

A crisp metallic sound came from the little beggar's hand. The man who had lost his beloved dog lowered his head and saw a huge black sword that was longer than the little beggar's body stuck in the snow! The hilt of the black sword was surrounded by layers of loose iron chains. It made a gentle clattering sound with the slight movement of the little beggar's hand. And on the hilt of the sword, there was a blood-red eye, wide open, staring at him!

The man couldn't move, like a frog stared at by a snake. He had even forgotten what he should do. The little beggar's eyes turned as bright red as blood. His right hand was tightly holding the hilt of the giant sword that was taller than him, and he was grinning ferociously.

"Giggle..."

The little beggar's left hand gradually became looser. The baby girl who had always been held in his arms was now thrown away by him as if it were some kind of trash.

"Hahaha," the evil vicious laugh echoed loudly and deeply in the trembling snowflakes.

Because the heavy snow buffered the force of falling to the ground, the sleeping baby girl was not awakened at last. She continued to sleep with her eyes closed, not looking at the reality of what was happening outside.

The child slowly stood up straight and held the black sword with both hands. Slowly, he pulled it out of the snow, and the clattering chains tightened at this moment, completely binding his right hand to the hilt of the sword.

Now, the child was holding the black sword that was completely disproportionate to his height and stared at the prey in front of him with his originally jet-black but current blood-red pupils.

"You...you sewer rat! What tricks are you playing!"

The dogless man raised his hand and tried to overcome the fear in his heart with the machete in his hand.

A hand suddenly fell under the snow at this moment.

The hand holding the steel knife lay in the snow, and the blood at the end had been frozen by the cold.

There was no pain... no, to be precise, it was too late to feel the pain. Like magic, the man watched helplessly as the thin body waved the sword, and then his hand flew out as if it no longer belonged to him.

"Heh...Ha...HaH! HaHaHaHa!——!" The beggar laughed like a psycho beast.

Calm had disappeared from the young beggar. His facial expressions became "enriched," the pleasure and intoxication from the demon's first taste of the exquisite wine made him lose himself, and he fell entirely into insanity.

"Boy, let's spill more glasses of Blood Marry into the air from bodies with me. Hah, also, what's interesting is, initially, your health can't keep in this state long. But with more blood that devoured by me, you would become stronger as the battle raged on, and this powerful state would persist continuously for the enemy's blood."

In Brief, the more you kill, the stronger and endurance you are, and the more intoxicating the feeling is. "

"Ah—— !"

The pain finally came from the broken arm. The wound on his right arm had been frozen. The man covered his shoulder and screamed heartbreakingly. He turned around and no longer cared about the mission or who he should take out his anger on after losing a hundred gold coins. He just wanted to escape and live.

But as soon as he took his feet and moved forward, he found that his body did not move, and his eyes began to move diagonally downward.

In his twisted and panicked pupils, he watched helplessly as one of his left legs flew out, then his right leg, and finally his left arm. Cups of Bloody Mary were splashed from his body into the air, leaving dirty red marks on the snowfield.

In the end, the snow was blown up as the man could only fall on the cold snowfield.

The man who had lost his limbs lay lying in the cold white world, his mouth twisted with fear. His body had no feeling, and he struggled to twist his body, trying to turn it over.

However, one foot stepped on his back. In the night when the snowflakes were slowly dancing, the man's pupils were already staring out with fear. Then, some laughter that did not sound like a human being sounded in his ears.

"No... don't! Don't kill me! Please... don't kill me!"

Having lost his limbs, he could not turn back, and there was only white in front of him. He begged desperately, and his desire for life turned him into a mouse that didn't want to die.

But even with such prayers, the ferocious smile behind him still did not stop...

The sword was inserted into his back. Although It penetrated the heart, stabbed out from his chest, and pinned the man to the snow, at this moment, there was no blood flowing out of his mouth and heart. All his wounds had been frozen by a thin layer of ice as if the devil was slowly playing with his life that was about to expire for fun.

"Kill me !!! Kill me please——!" Now the man changed his mind and begged for his death as the mercy from the devil.

The man's eyes gradually turned insanely after the huge black sword began to stir and spin inside him. Then the newly frozen wound made a cracking sound like glass. Before the blood inside could gush out, it froze again, leaving the man to suffer pain over and over again but was unable to die immediately for the frozen and not bleeding wounds.

The dark sword blade slowly pulled down along the wound on his back. Pull it from his chest to the waist, and then from the waist to his hips. The instantly frozen wounds delayed the servant's death, allowing him to experience the feeling of his body being completely cut apart bit by bit. 

The Devil Emperor's Sword finally left this man's body. It had just torn open a human body, and there was no trace of blood on the blade. The body was no longer twisted. His mouth was open and his eyes were white. He had become a piece of frozen meat that could no longer move or speak.

The blood-red pupil flickered under the snowy night, and the twist on the little beggar's face still remained. He exhaled heavily, and the sinister smile on his lips gave people a feeling of release after suppression. As the blood pupil on the sword glowed, the little beggar slowly raised his head and looked around.

Soon, he saw his next target in the snow...the swaddle in the snow.

Driven by the scarlet pupil, the little beggar dragged his sword and walked towards the baby step by step with sounds from the chained right arm. He panted and chuckled, walked up to the baby, raised his sword, and aimed the pure black blade at the baby girl...

The blood pupil exuded excitement. This strong light encouraged the little beggar, and finally, the corner of his mouth grinned...

"That's right boy. Just kill more. The stronger you are, the more intoxicating the feeling is. Hah! the baby will be the second."

Blade, stab down.

Amidst the flying snowflakes, the black sword penetrated the swaddling clothes mercilessly, lifting the snow up.