Chapter 15: Feast *

The night was not too dark as the full moon smiled upon the world- lighting it up.

Four silhouettes could be seen standing upon a roof- the roof of one of the most special dorms in the Academy, Fredrick House. Their faces were hidden by hoods and fabric masks.

“Is it really necessary for all four of us to gather just to eliminate two newbies?” One of them said in a low voice.

“Orders are orders, Fourth.” Another one said.

“Understood. So, what’s the plan of action?” The one called ‘Fourth’ asked.

“You break in first and kill them as soon as possible. We will be on standby. If we sense something wrong or if you send the distress signal, we will take action immediately.” The leader ordered.

“Sense something wrong? Distress signal? This task is easy-peasy. I will be back in 5 minutes.” He set off.

“Don’t underestimate them.” The leader warned.

“Wanna bet how much time it will take for him to finish the job?” A feminine voice was heard.

“It’s not the time for-” the leader was trying to say something before he suddenly stopped.

The other two had shock written on their face.

“Fourth, he-” the female amongst the three tried to say something.

“We lost his energy signature. He is…” the member of the team who had yet to spoke a word spoke for the first time.

“Dead.” The leader declared.

“Let’s see what happened. Keep your guards up. For a level 2 circler to be killed in such a short time, there might be a mid level or even a high level circler defending the targets. If the power difference is too high, we immediately abort mission. Understood?” The leader briefed while they were heading for their objective.

“Understood.” The others replied in chorus.

They broke in through an open window and soon enough, they reached the scene.

Their eyes almost popped out from what they saw.

A devilishly handsome young man who looked not any older than 16 was holding their dead comrade in the air- a few inches above the ground- not by the collar, nor by the throat; but by the eye sockets.

Blood was trickling down from those empty eye sockets as if their dead comrade were crying out crimson tears, his mouth which was wide open conveyed that the last expression he ever had was of shock, or maybe regret, or both.

But sensing no mid level circler in the vicinity and the young man’s level 0 energy signature, they came to the conclusion that the only plausible explanation was that Fourth was caught off guard and was punished for that fatal mistake.

They split up and surrounded the young man, their target. The leader, First, was directly in front of Adrian; the taciturn member, Second, covered Adrian’s right; and the only female member, Third, positioned herself to Adrian’s left.

All of them were at least 5 meters away from their target, as they were still vigilant because of their dead comrade.

Adrian was the first to take action, he reached out his free hand and grabbed the dead body’s shoulder firmly.

What happened next instilled fear into these spies. They saw something that even their conditioned minds could not digest.

*Rip*

Adrian tore and pulled out the head of the dead body along with his entire spine from the body.

*Splash*

A substantial amount of blood splashed all over Adrian and the floor. Now, one of his hands had the headless and spineless part of the body still held by the shoulder and the other hand had a tore apart head along with the entire spine.

Before they could decide whether to abort mission or not, an overwhelming aura fraught with killing intent enshrouded them- rendering them immobile. The fear they felt were unlike anything ever before. Their instincts were screaming ‘RUN!’ but alas, they were unable to.

The ‘monster’ in front of them dropped their ‘divided’ comrade, his hands now free. They could see a peculiar dark pair of gauntlets covering his entire forearms; it was peculiar because two inch long ghastly looking claws protruded from each and every one of the fingertips.

Adrian looked at the blood-covered gauntlets, especially at the claws. He remembered the question that old smith asked.

“Spears are known for its long range but can they rip their preys apart?” He muttered.

He then looked into the eyes of the assailants one by one- the eyes which showed immense fear. He muttered something so silently that only his lips moved.

But the trained spies who felt their souls being pried upon could understand what he was muttering and this caused them to feel even more horrified. The mutterings were simply-

“Second. Andrew Roberts.”

“First. Don Kyle.”

“Third. Anne Ircas.”

‘Did he really look into our soul? How did he know of our identities?’ They thought.

“So, in which order shall I kill? Mhmm let’s see, the one I killed is called Fourth; so let’s go third, second and finally First, shall we?” He could not let go of his obsession for perfection.

He began to walk towards Third, the only female of the team.

He clutched her throat and held her up in the air. He used his other hand to remove her hood and the cloth which was used to cover her lower face. A pretty face was revealed. Albeit, that pretty face had horror written all over her face.

“Not bad, but not enough.”

*Rip*

He ripped off all off her clothes and a bit of skin leaving her completely naked.

“ANNE!” the taciturn Second shouted in rage but was unable to move from his spot as he was still locked by that baleful aura.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” he threatened.

Adrian looked at him and said, “You are her lover, right? Unfortunately, I am in a mood to enjoy some pain and suffering, not of my own of course.” He turned back to the pretty bare lady and licked his lips.

He started to fondle her plump breasts leaving behind bloody claw marks. Tears welled up in her eyes. The pain and humiliation made her want to scream but she refrained as there was still a bit of pride left in her.

“You are not worthy, but I am a gentleman. I can’t let you leave ‘unpenetrated’, can I?” A smile creeped across his blood covered face.

The creepy smile caused her to feel a terrible sense of foreboding.

He brandished his claws and-

*Sphhhlt!*

He stabbed her bare abdomen.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” She let out a high pitched scream that wrenched the soul of the other two. But this did not stop Adrian; he stabbed again, and again, and again, and again, and again until he finally stopped; and so did the scream.

Adrian did not stop because she was dead or he was tired, he stopped simply because there was no more abdomen to stab into. What replaced it was a disgusting mess of blood and innards that resembled a bloody porridge. It was falling bit by bit onto the floor.

One could see her visible lower ribs protecting her lungs which had yet to seize pumping and her heart which stopped beating a few moments ago, and her lower spine which was barely holding the upper and lower parts of her body together.

“Swords are versatile, but can they make a mess like this?” He muttered as he dropped the carcass on the floor.

Second, who lost his ability to voice out anything because of that horrible scene, finally got back his voice.

“ANNE!!!” he shouted.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? I WILL KILL YOU!!!”

He began to rush towards Adrian with full force despite the effects of the demonic aura.

“Ah. Love! What a strong emotion! But it still loses to hate. You could not do anything with love to save her. But with the hate you bred for me, you managed to break through my demonic aura.” Adrian’s smile had yet to move away.

Second unsheathed his sword and swinged at Adrian with full force. Adrian nonchalantly dodged it which caused the sword to miss and hit the floor, leaving behind a massive mark.

“Ohho! You are converting your life energy to magical energy, which causes your power to increase to level 3 from that of a level 2. Not bad.” He casually remarked.

The crazy Second swinged his sword again but the result was the same.

“Ok, enough playing around.” Adrian kicked his opponent hard before Second could regain his balance after that uncontrolled swing. This resulted in the assailant to fall hard on the ground.

“As you showed me the miracles of love and hate, I will reward you with a quick death.”

The last thing Second saw was a feet coming at him.

*Splat!*

His head was crushed as if it were a watermelon- brain-matters splashing everywhere.

“Maces can crush. But why would I need them when my foot is enough?”

“It’s your turn.” He looked at the only one remaining, First, with the same creepy smile on his face. He picked up Second’s sword.

The poor spy leader lost half of his soul while witnessing the horrible deaths of his comrades- the comrades he grew up with, the comrades he trained with, fought with, bled with. Now, they were all gone.

The regret, the pain, the sorrow he felt was unmeasurable. But one emotion, outthrew them all- fear! He never could have imagined that the puny newbie who was supposed to be a level 0 circler would turn out to be such a ferocious monster.

“I am extremely sorry for what we have done. I will tell you who we work for.” He gave up. Loyalty, vengeance- he threw these things away from his mind. Against such a monster, nothing could be done.

“Shhhh” Adrian gestured him to stay silent.

But this small gesture was enough for his instincts to shout ‘STAY SILENT!’

Adrian got close to him and swung his sword.

*Splash*

“Aaaaaaaah” screamed the spy leader as his left arm was cut off.

Before he could gain his composure, Adrian grabbed his other shoulder with the claws perforating it.

“Aaaaaaah”

*Rip!*

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah” Adrian ripped his other arm off.

“As I thought, ripping and tearing is more fun than cutting.”

*Rip!*

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah”

*Rip!*

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah”

The claws also tore his lower limbs off. But a level 3 circler’s superior vitality kept him alive.

And finally, Adrian grabbed his throat and ripped it off.

The last of the assailants- dead. Adrian’s smile- yet to disappear.