The singing continued.
"I shall taint the night~"
"I shall taint the night~"
"Mt. Ignis steals our day. So I shall taint the night~"
The voice belonged to a woman, one who put great emphasis on the 'our' and 'I' in her song lyrics.
"He-llo mister~" Her voice cracked. "What are you doing in this fine area?" Samuel felt the air shift, so he knew the figure leaned in closer. Her breath reeked of blood and killings.
Samuel stammered on his words. "I-I just need to head to Kheelburg."
The figure exclaimed joyfully. "Khe-elburg! Wow! What business does this gentleman have in the great city of Kheelburg?!"
The latter half of the sentence wasn't directed at Samuel.
"Just kill him and get going." An apathetic voice emerged right behind Samuel's ears. The lady mocked being taken aback. "Rich-ard! You're no fun~"
She reached her ethereal hand above Samuel and smacked Richard's shoulder.
"Francesca. Focus." Immediately, Richard twisted his body and seized Samuel's neck. "Go to sleep."
Samuel felt the back of his eyes roll back.
Throwing the unconscious body on the ground, Richard, whose clothes were ripped and tattered, walked up to Francesca.
His neck was 'sewn' together, while a thick, hazy fog wrapped around his body. Francesca's arm was missing, leaking heavy blood. Her hair was clumped together, and her eyes radiated mania.
"How were the monsters?"
With a snap of her fingers, the ground beneath them rumbled as shadows emerged, two to be exact. It was the monsters that they had encountered before.
"I killed two of them~" Francesca swayed her body to the right and raised her hands. "Praise me, Richard!" She ran up to him and went in for a hug.
Richard's body turned invisible before reappearing behind her. "Don't touch me."
His eyes darkened. "Where is the last one? I thought there were three."
Francesca, who resembled nothing like the previous carriage driver present, shook her head. "That one ran away."
Richard's eyes constricted. "A monster... running away?!" Francesca, however, seemed unbothered. "Yes, silly~"
"No!" Before he could reach his hand out, a thunderous roar erupted from outside the ditch.
Boom!
An ear-shattering thud crushed the ground beneath them. Despite it being night, the pair could see clearly. Francesca's eyes widened as her face went pale. Stumbling back, she landed quite hard on her rear.
The purple monster from before had returned.
It was squatting, with the muscles on its calves clenched. In a split second, the ground shook as the monster pounced at Richard.
"Ngh-" Before he could process anything, the monster had already charged and successfully landed on top of Richard.
As it was about to bite down on Richard's neck, the monster suddenly dropped. It was like a chair had been quickly pulled away from underneath it.
Richard had disappeared.
Reappearing from behind the monster, Richard's eyes began glowing a faint grey hue. Hazy fog shrouded the ditch, and alongside it were about a dozen misty illusions of Richard.
Francesca held her hair and stood in the corner shaking. Her eyes dilated as they spun and tried to focus between Richard and the large purple monster.
The 13 Richards present ran at the monster, closing their hands in a fist and aiming it at the confused monster.
Roar!
The monster let out a thunderous roar that dispelled the misty Richards, leaving only one left.
I can't beat it in a one-on-one fight... Richard tore through the maze of his mind and tried to figure out a way to beat the monster in front of him.
Only then did he hear a faint chuckle.
"Humans. So pitiful."
It wasn't Francesca; she was hysterically twitching in the corner. It couldn't be Samuel; he was unconscious and on the ground.
A vein pulsed at Richard's temple. "...!" He stared, unblinking. A trickle of blood fell from a wound on his face.
The monster before them uttered comprehensible words.
"Surprised?" The monster tried to smile, but what showed was a truly horrifying scene.
Richard felt his barely noticeable hands tremble. Staggering back, he muttered to Francesca. "This guy can only be beat by a Persecutor..."
"P-P-Persecutor?!" Francesca frantically tried to breathe, but her chest irregularly heaved.
"But—" Before she could finish the sentence, the monster lunged at the frantic 'carriage driver.' With one of its four burly hands, it choked Francesca's throat and launched her toward the floor.
Her back reverberated upwards, and blood spewed from her mouth. "Rich-" She tried calling out to her partner, but he was frozen in fear.
The monster leaned in, and despite it being pitch-black, it was like Francesca could see its face perfectly. With a shallow, malicious tone, it hissed. "Sing... for me."
Tears fell from Francesca's eyes as she struggled for air. The top of her neck whitened and her eyes began losing their color.
"Don't touch her!" Richard's voice commanded. However, after the monster glared at him, submission took over.
Focusing back on the flailing Francesca, the monster whispered in her ear. "I said... Sing for me."
"Mt. Ignis... steals... our day..." She whimpered, begging for the monster to stop.
"Louder." The simple order escaped its jagged, purple lips.
"So I... shall..." The monster clenched its other fist and punched her face. A crack could be heard, which most likely meant her nose was crushed. Crimson liquid dripped from her flattened nostril, running down her face and onto the neck the monster choked.
"Louder!"
"Euph-" Thick fingers were forcibly placed inside Francesca's mouth, causing her to gag uncontrollably.
Her eyes reddened, watered down with the innumerable amount of tears that marked her face.
With one horrid motion, the monster pulled its arm back, causing Francesca's jaw to rip open and flail outward.
A pool of blood formed underneath the pair, slowly tainting their feet. Francesca's eyes lost all color, and her heart stopped beating.
She was dead.
Her face was elongated and engorged with blood. A gruesome, gut-wrenching wound was visible; it was like her jaw was latched on to her face by measly strings, ready to rip at any moment.
Pulling its hand out and flicking it to get rid of any blood, the monster spat at her face and muttered.
"What a shame."
It focused three eyes on Richard's frozen character. "I love it when Mt. Ignis steals the day."
Richard didn't answer, nor did he show any signs of fighting back.
Falling to his knees, the clasping of hands and sounds of pleas emanated throughout the ditch.
"The Phantom! Save me! Save me! I ask of you, please save me!"
The monster silently watched Richard beg for rescue. Twitching its finger, the calm voice returned. "Killing humans was never tasked on us. Aglanians were our only targets."
The malicious smile returned. "But I simply cannot help it. The taste of human blood is so... intoxicating.
"The sounds of their cries, begging for mercy."
It took one step forward to Richard, disregarding Samuel's unconscious body.
"The looks on their faces as they try to fight back."
It reached out one hand and held Richard by his head.
"The way their body is so fun to mess around with."
Crunch!
Splatter!
The monster crushed Richard's pale head in its hand, leaving the rest of his body to hang in the air.
Blood sprayed everywhere, soiling the monster and its surroundings in red liquid.
Richard's eyes, nose, ears, and brain were all gouged out and lifelessly rotting on the floor beneath them.
The monster twisted its body and launched the rest of Richard's body onto one of the ditch walls.
"I love it."
After surveying the two dismembered bodies beside it, the monster locked its three eyes on Samuel.
Crouching down, it took one hand and gently ran it through Samuel's disheveled hair. "Sweet boy."
The monster thrashed and spasmed. It foamed at the mouth and licked its jagged teeth, itching to bite Samuel's neck.
Parting its bloody lips, the monster leaned in and opened its mouth wide just near Samuel's neck.
With a wicked chomp, the monster engulfed half of Samuel's neck. Pulling away, a visible, stomach-churning wound was left. Half of Samuel's neck was missing and leaking heavy amounts of blood.
His eyes were lifeless, and his body twitched.
"Good night."
For the rest of the night, the monster continued to feast on Samuel's body; its face was blushing with glee.