Chapter 137: An Image of Hell
The pale maid proceeded to stick her finger on a spot beneath both of the unconscious women’s noses, in order to make sure they were still breathing. She let out a huge sigh of relief once she confirmed.
‘Alright Farisia, your first step is to retrace your steps leading up till now….how long ago was that?’
Farisia Demilla could best be described with the term: a lucky misfortune.
For whatever reason, Farisia’s life had been punctuated by points of great luck, mixed with an equally bad amount of misfortune associated with it.
She was born with the rare ability to use Anima, but was born in a poor family that could barely feed her.
She then got taken in by an elite academy on a scholarship program due to the aforementioned Anima abilities, got kicked out because she accidentally slighted the school’s prince…by saying no to his advances.
A series of misadventures followed suit that, in no particular order, involved: angry rhinos, angry monkey, angry monkey-rhinos, a lute playing, one eyed clown at some crazy “pleasure palace” and a chance encounter with small pond that actually had an ancient anima key, something similar to an aether formula, hidden inside. Coincidentally, it was carved on an actual key…no idea why.
Things finally started to look “normal” for Farisia, when she arrived to Emerald Eye City and found a help wanted ad for one of the wealthiest people in town, the Marquis de Howlite. After that though, things got…hazy….for two years.
“Wait…I think I recall now…did I…help kidnap people?,” she asked herself as she tried her damnedest to remember. All she could muster were dream-like inclinations of herself and some shape-shifting alchemist kidnapping rabbits…or rabbit girls….she wasn’t sure which.
As she scratched her head while deep in thought, she felt something weird on the back of her head. It felt bumpy and slightly metallic.
“Huh? Ow!,” she said as she removed the metallic bump. It appeared to be some kind of pin in the shape of a beetle, well it was in the shape of beetle. Right now it looked a bit more like deformed slag.
“What is this thing?,” she asked herself as she studied the bit of metal for a few seconds, before a noise caught her attention.
“No…”
‘Huh? Sounds like…a voice,’ Farisia thought as tried to concentrate on the sound this time.
“Ah…no… don’t!,” she heard a hoarse voice call out.
“Oh no, someone’s in trouble! I have to help them!,” Farisia declared in a heroic tone. Farisia may have had luck that changed with the flip of a coin, but she at least had a good heart….and no sense of impending danger.
“Apologies ma’ams, but I must leave you two to your snoozing,” she said while bowing towards the two unconscious women in pine boxes.
Farisia quickly moved to the door where the voice came from and mentally prepared herself.
‘Alright Farisia, remember what sensei said: A forceful voice can make even dragons kneel!,’ she said to herself as she prepared herself to fling open the door.
“One…two…three! Hands o-eeep!”
“Huh?”
Before Farisia’s eyes was something akin to a painting of hell, or what she assumed what hell looked like.
Laying on the ground was a severely wounded man with charred skin, burnt flesh and bloodshot eyes. Patches of burnt hair could be seen dotting his face, but whatever flame was used on him was very thorough otherwise.
The burnt man was being held down by a trio of monstrous beings with radically different physical characteristics, one that reminded Farisia of a frog woman, another a hairy beastman with a long snout and massive bony tusks, while the last was like a ballerina made of razor blades, swords and scissors. The former two were pressing their weight down upon the burnt man’s limbs, while the latter one was hovering a blade-like leg right above the man’s neck.
If someone were to illustrate this moment, it could be titled: “A demonic execution”.
“Help…me…,” the burnt man croaked out while trying to struggle free and lifting his head. Unfortunately, the two monsters on top of him had other plans in mind and held him firmly in place.
“Shove it!,” the hairy beastman snapped while smacking the back of the burnt man’s head. A loud echoing snap could be heard as the force of the blow caused the man’s face to crater the ground beneath him. Farisia was absolutely terrified at the scene before her.
‘Is…is this hell?!,’ she mentally screamed while physically shuddering. She had assume that it was starving old man in this room, not a soon to be execution.
As she stood there shuddering and stunned with fear, the demons before her began to move.
“Yeah…we shouldn’t let anyone else see this gruesome task. You two keep this bastardo down. I’ll handle this,” the frog woman told her compatriots.
As the frog woman moved off from her position holding the burnt down, the hairy beastman moved over to sit on the man’s back. At the same time, the ballerina of blades changed her position as to place the man’s head between both of her blade legs. She was getting ready to cut his head off at a moment’s notice.
Once the frog woman had lifted herself off the ground to a standing position, Farisia could see that the monster before her was at least a full head taller than she was…and was now walking towards her.
Farisia was overcome with terror as the frog woman walked towards, completely paralyzed and unsure of what to do. Her mind was going into overdrive in trying to figure out whether she wanted to fight or flee.
“Alright miss,” the frog woman croaked, “there’s no need to-”
“Oh…”
Evidently, Farisia decided to faint instead.
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“Oh shit,” Hurricroak said once she saw the formerly deadpan maid pass out like a light.
Luckily, Hurricroak managed to catch her before she could crack her head open on the stone floor. She made sure to gently place her head down on the floor.
‘Huh…looks I didn’t have to use a lullaby after all… wait, how would it even sound in this form? Can I still sing?’
As soon as Hurricroak placed the maid down to rest, the voice of Zhen Liu popped up in her head.
‘Hurricroak, what are you, Frosttusk and the Razor Maiden doing over there?’
[Oh maestro! We’re just making sure the Marquis doesn’t have a chance to escape…and claiming a trophy,] she cheerfully replied.
Corroborating her statement, the aforementioned Frosttusk and Razor Maiden both lifted up hands in agreement.
“…”
For some reason, Hurricroak could feel a strange feeling radiating from her bond with Zhen Liu.
‘…okay three for three, goddamn, anyways! Hold off from killing the Marquis yet. There’s something I need to confirm first.’
[But he’s so helpless!]
‘No buts, it’s an order, just chill.’
[Gah! Fine…]
Once the connection between her and Zhen Liu lightened up, Hurricroak let out an annoyed croak. She headed back towards Frosttusk and the Razor Maiden and took back her spot in holding the Marquis down.
‘Alright…I waited this long for payback…what’s another few minutes?’
As soon as this thought crossed her mind, the Marquis attempted to move again…only this time Hurricroak was the one to smack his head back into the ground.
‘Hmmm…I might as well have some fun with this then,’ Hurricroak mused as she rested an arm on the Marquis’s back, ready to flick his head back to the ground when needed.
‘Winder why he wants us to wait though…’
