A Messed-Up Woman

Spring looked around, her actions subtle, observing the tied-up figure of Yohra. Her eyes then trailed towards the sleeping figure of Iota, taking out a vial from her clothes that she opened and gently placed beside his nose.

She held her breath, calmly observing his face until his breaths became more drawn out, a state of complete relaxation, 'He won't be getting up for a few hours at the very least now.'

Contained in the vial was a sleep-inducing drug, one that would vaporise with immediate air contact. Once its contents were expended, Spring lifted her leg slowly and kicked Iota in the face, "Wake up, Iota. Wake up!"

She kicked him for a couple of minutes, smiling when he didn't react, deep asleep. Spring wasn't content with that, knowing very well Iota's tolerance capacity. She began to tickle him, observing no reaction.

Finally, she even hit him in the family jewels, smiling upon still failing to elicit a reaction, 'He's truly unconscious now.'

"That's good." Muttering as such, Spring woke up and stared at the wrist of her left, the chirpiness in her expression dissipated, replaced by a cold visage. She pinched forth with her nail, feeling around for a couple of seconds before finding the edges of the tattoo stuck on the wrist.

Rip!

The tattoo was forcefully ripped out, revealing the image of a grinning skull. And as the moonlight fell on it, the skull image grew in size as mild laughter resounded in her mind, "Ke…keke…kekeke!"

A burst of putrid energy gushed out of it, pulsing radially as Spring grunted, hurriedly retracting the energy back into the image, "I hadn't expected that."

She sighed, "Those attuned to energy wavelengths would have sensed this pulse by now. I should escape."

She stared at Iota, gently nudging his forehead to watch a tiny mark appear on his forehead, "Do well to gather their attention,"

"My adorable slave."

"I'll be waiting for you to find me, as usual." Her lips pursed taut before breaking into an ear-wide grin as she turned around and walked away.

"Wha…what was that? That's…alluring! Gimme! Gimme!" Yohra woke up with a start upon sensing the energy pulse, sporting a fanatical gaze of addiction as she stared at Spring, "Give me a taste! Of absolute bliss! Gimme! Gimme!"

"You should know your place," Spring traced her index finger over Yohra's cheek as she slammed her palm on her face, grinning upon seeing the skull image on her wrist light up and project itself in the air.

It opened its mouth and unleashed a suction force, causing formless energy to flow out of Yohra.

"N-No! P-Please, spare me…" Despair clouded her fanatical expression as in a matter of seconds, Yohra's body lost most of its mass, looking no different from a sack of human skin holding some bones.

The skull face had devoured her soul, crunching aloud as it digested whatever it had consumed. It then vanished into Spring's body as the latter sported an expression of relish, "So she was a Merit-level Shaman. I understand this world better now."

The laughter died a minute later as Spring stretched her limbs before exiting the house, slipping into the dead of the night. She had left Iota behind to take up the blame for her actions and distract the authorities long enough for her to escape from the city.

As to what she planned to do next, only she was aware.

…

"That's a Devil's fluctuation." Dullip Garobu arrived at a halt upon feeling a turbid energy pulse, turning around to stare in the respective direction, surprised, "They were right next to us all along?"

"Let's go," He commanded and rushed through the streets, accompanied by his underlings, "They're in that old lady Shaman's house."

He quickly arrived before Yohra's house and burst in through the door, squinting at the foul stench that pervaded the place, spotting the sac of bones that Yohra had been reduced to, 'So the one I summoned wasn't a human, but a Devil as expected.'

He glared at the state of her corpse, his facial muscles twitching in anger, 'Yohra was pretty strong as a Shaman. If she's been reduced to this state, I might have underestimated him…'

"Sir!" His thoughts came to a halt at his subordinate's shocked shout, "That guy's here, unconscious."

"What?" Dullip Garobu was pleasantly surprised as he rushed into the bedroom and stared at the figure of Iota sound asleep on the bed. He condensed a tiny sickle, using the light it emitted for illumination, observing signs of abuse on Iota's swollen face, arms, and other regions.

"He's unconscious." The underling inspected Iota and commented.

"Was that girl the Devil? Could she transform into a human?" Dullip Garobu felt insulted as he waved his hand, "Take him into custody. We'll bring him to our base and interrogate him first."

His underlings understood the assignment as they carried Iota and rushed through the street, vanishing from view soon after.

As for Dullip, he remained behind in Yohra's house, inspecting her corpse, noticing a scroll nearby as he unfurled it, staring at the strange emojis, "What kind of cryptic symbols are these?"

A few minutes later, the sounds of footsteps echoed in the place as a team of people rushed into the house, headed by a man in his early thirties, his every step oozing a pompous aura.

His gaze alternated between Dullip and Yohra's corpse, breaking into an expression of scorn, "Did you screw up once again, Dullip?"

"When will you learn?" His words brimming with mockery reverberated loud and clear, "Being a Spirit is your limit. You can never exceed that. So, why don't you just do your job and make yourself a pretty spectacle for the people to worship?"

"Keyn Garobu…" Dullip glared, "You fucker, I rushed here just now upon sensing the pulse of Fear."

"You came here later than me," Veins popped on his forehead as he stood before Keyn, towering over the latter, "So don't mock me. Your only advantage over me is being born first."

"Well, as the eldest of the Garobu family, it's my responsibility to take care of my useless siblings." Despite sporting a stature barely five feet, Keyn wasn't in the least intimidated by Dullip's figure that almost reached seven feet. "I'll be taking charge of this case. So, run along, will you?"

"Play house with those underlings of yours."

The two brothers remained in a confrontational pose for a minute before Dullip backed away, leaving behind a string of curses as he left Yohra's house, his gaze bloodthirsty, 'I'll do whatever it takes to steal your power as an Apostle, Keyn.'

He returned to his hideout, entering the basement to stare at the bound figure of Iota, "Whatever it takes."