There were two women among them.
Kai could see their faces as plain as if he would have seen them at noon. They hadn’t even bothered to hide now.
In the lead was a man, short of height but lean. He could have been bald, if not for his long braided ponytail. For a mustache, he had two whiskers, and a streamlined, threadlike long beard. All his hair seemed to run away from him as his broomstick cut through the wind.
The woman on his right had a round face and saggy breasts. Kai could even see her nipples through the wet clothing over her.
They were that close.
There was one another, but Kai couldn’t see her face. She was on Simon and Shae’s tail. It was she who attacked first. Kai saw her taking out a gun, like the one he had read about in the archives during his previous life. It was short, one-handed, but her hands were steady.
-Bang-
The sudden fire made Arlen snap his head towards her. Kai could see him looking at Shae, who was sitting behind Simon then, and he knew what the captain was thinking.
-Bang-
“Captain,” Kai shouted. “This one is a newbie.”
Kai gestured towards the woman behind them. The man chasing them was too steady on the broom. A feat impossible for newbies if they didn’t have an outrageous Intelligence from the start.
Kai was sure. It was the woman. No weapon; her flight was shaky; and there was nervousness on her face. The ability to smell fear had become an instinct for Kai. They are Order’s Contestants alright, Kai nodded to himself. They had the backing of the official wizards. And Kai’s party was exhausted. There was nothing the woman had to fear about.
-Bang-
Inexperience is the prime cause for most of the fears, son, his mother had told him. Let no one know, see, or hear of it.
Arlen must have realized what Kai was implying. The broomstick was like a bullet, air sizzling about it, but then it almost stopped. The sudden break would have thrown Kai off the broom if he wasn’t expecting it.
The two Contestants behind Kai, though, weren’t.
-Bang-
The moment this shot got fired, Kai threw himself off backward. The leader of the enemy realized what was happening. His momentum, though, was too great. He stirred the broom towards the newbie woman, trying to huddle together.
But Kai was upon them.
“Hey, weirdo!” Kai called out to the man. “Wanna play catch?”
It appeared then. An enormous bird, out of the blue. Under the fading moonlight, its black glossy bill shone murkily over the sea, the redness at its tip forecasting a brilliant sunrise.
The bird separated the man from the woman like a blanket. The longsword appeared in Kai’s hands, and the newbie’s broomstick did the rest. It brought her to him. The woman couldn’t even turn it before the steel touched her. The power behind the slash was so great that it cut her open from neck to waist.
The sea tasted the blood.
Kai touched the feather of the Great Redshank’s corpse, and both the longsword and the magical beast vanished. The execution was so perfect, and fast, that the woman firing at Simon and Shae hadn’t even noticed.
-Bang-
Arlen made a quick roundabout, and Kai caught the broom’s wooden staff just over the bristles. The braided leader had been so shocked that he even forgot to chase them. He looked to his right, but the woman had gone. The sea had claimed her broomstick; the blood indistinguishable from the dark waters under them.
Kai grinned vilely. He looked at the man and gave him a middle finger.
[You have killed 1 Order’s Contestant]
[
You are reading story Demonic Resurrection: Pawns of the Evil Systems at novel35.com
Your Title Status is updated…
Title: Murderer
Specification: Kill 10 Contestants in a single random world. The Contestants must be from the same or higher floor than yours.
Status: (7/10)
Effect: Perception +2, Worth +1
]
Three more, Kai thought. He looked at the man and the woman. Three more.
Kai was like a flag, tied at the end of a racing car. Arlen didn’t care about if he would lose his grip or not, Kai knew it. So he pulled himself, slowly but surely. Behind him, the leader had put the foot on the paddle, his broomstick shaking along with him in rage.
But it was only as fast as theirs, and Arlen would never let the guy catch them now, Kai knew.
-Bang-
Kai’s ears rang. This bullet had come for him, he realized. The woman had given up on Simon and Shae, and now she was joining the man in the pursuit.
“Bloody,” Arlen shouted. “If something happens to Mr. Beedle, I will make you drink those three drops.”
Kai remembered, then. If it wasn’t for Arlen reminding him, he would have forgotten what the entire game was about. Mr. Beedle was still there, trembling and muttering nonsense under his breath.
Arlen took out his wand and aimed at the gun, but the woman flew away almost instantaneously. Kai realized Arlen hadn’t intended to use the spell either way. He was just creating distance between them.
The chase lasted for the entire length of the sea, but the man and woman didn’t catch them. And except for the occasional sound of the gun going off, there wasn’t anything to hear. When the first ray of sun hit Kai’s face, even the sun had gone silent.
A bad feeling hit Kai then.
Something’s wrong, he thought. They aren’t trying hard enough.
“Captain,” Kai shouted.
“Sit tight.” Arlen spat back.
He knows, Kai told himself. Arlen knows something’s off.
The sudden brown and green brought Kai’s thought to present. First, it was a line, and as they flew closer, it became cliffs. The sea water rampaging high rocks with endless anger and defiance.
They had crossed the sea.
The danger had given no sign before it hit them.
Boom.
Kai had the briefest inkling of wrapping his arms around Mr. Beedle. An instinct! It also seemed like Kai had been dearly waiting for something like that to happen. They rolled, the rocks drumming on Kai’s back. The lower end of the broken broom fell just by his side. Kai lifted his neck, and then, he saw him and his wand.
The man who had disappeared with a cracking sound.
The official wizard, Peter.