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A distant roll of thunder echoed above the treetops, sending a small flock of birds scrambling into the air to find shelter from the approaching storm.
The overcast sky darkened the already-shady forest. Combined with the smell of rain and the thunder that steadily grew closer, the mountainside forest was turned into a rather foreboding setting. Even the animals sensed it. The only sounds were the light whistling of wind and the rustling of leaves. The birds didn't chirp and the squirrels didn't chatter, which only added to the apprehension.
The only out of place sound was that of footsteps on dry leaves and dirt.
Two figures walked through the empty forest. One walked without much care in her step. Her bright blue hair was pulled back in a lazy bun, and her arms were folded. Although she carried twin sickles at her sides, she wasn't the least bit wary while walking through unfamiliar terrain. Her arrogant and bored demeanor made her attitude quite obvious. Behind her, the other woman was much more cautious. Her footsteps were lighter and her senses were alert. Her full, coily hair was pushed out of her face by a thick headband that covered her ears, and she held a pair of brass knuckles with small hooked blades at the ready.
Malka liked nothing about her situation.
This mountainside forest was located a little more than ten miles away from Crastina Venatores Academy, a two-centuries-old school for training Monster Hunters. In this world, Inhumans and humans couldn't live together peacefully, and tensions were always high between the two groups since the end of the warring era two and a half centuries ago. Both groups were constantly on guard against the other, and conflict was unending and unavoidable. Lately, however, near the border of the Inhuman Lands and awfully close to the school, there had been strangely frequent sightings of inhumans and "monster attacks" in towns and in forests.
This forest was one such forest.
Malka, a professional Monster Hunter and a teacher at CV, had been sent here with another hunter named Neru on behalf of the school's headmaster, Jiahao. Jiahao had wanted to come and investigate these occurrences himself, but he was swamped with responsibilities he couldn't get away from. Thankfully for him, Malka and Neru happened to be available on short notice for a covert investigation assignment, and so to investigate they went.
Malka, unfortunately, had one major problem.
Putting aside the fact that the forest itself was giving her a bad feeling, and neither was the occasional sound of thunder, it wouldn't have been as bad if she'd gone on this mission with someone else. Anyone else.
Luck was not on her side.
Neru, put simply, was an asshole. Long story short, she was Malka's childhood bully, not to mention that she had an admirable track record of blackmailing, screwing people over, attention seeking, yada yada yada. If Malka had been with anyone but Neru, she would feel a hundred times safer.
As if having heard her thoughts, Neru looked over her shoulder with a smirk that made Malka want to throw her down the mountain.
"What's wrong, Milky? You look ugly when you're scared," Neru jeered, unfolding her arms to clasp her hands behind her back. "Are you afwaid of the big bad monsters? Don't wowwy, I'll pwotect you~"
Malka was not an easily scared person. She'd seen her fair share of horrors, faced her fair share of enemies, and killed her fair share of monsters. She lived up to the meaning of her name, and held her head high no matter what scenarios came her way. When she was anxious, it was never without a damn good reason.
"You can shut up now," Malka snapped. Her patience was wearing very thin. The entire way up the mountain, Neru had been acting unrestrained and overly relaxed, making endless unnecessary comments so often, Malka was surprised she hadn't gone insane yet. "We're supposed to be investigating monster appearances covertly , but your hulking footsteps are going to let them all know exactly where we are."
Neru was completely unbothered by Malka's cold tone. Her smile only widened. "Why should I? There's obviously nothing here, even the forest animals have disappeared. They're smarter than you are. The only thing I've deduced from this investigation is that it's going to start raining, and we're going to get caught in it. I don’t feel like getting rained on."
Malka scoffed. "You're absolutely right, the enemy will hear your whining before they hear your footsteps."
Neru stopped smiling, giving Malka an inner sense of accomplishment. She felt no shame about such a childish victory, making Neru upset would always boost her mood. "Let's keep moving. The faster we find something, the faster we can leave. I don't like it here."
"Why? Are you actually spooked?" Neru didn't even try to hide the mockery in her tone. "I know you're a coward who hides when her feelings are upset but come on, don't be such a pu-"
Her voice was cut short by a flash, and a sharp clang of metal meeting metal resonated not a half second later.
Malka glared at Neru, the brass knuckle on her left hand just inches away from Neru's face. It was stopped by the blade of a sickle, which Neru had drawn in the nick of time.
Neru smiled bitterly at Malka. "Don't you have the wrong target? We're supposed to be finding monsters."
Malka pressed against Neru's defense, a wry smile spreading on her own face. "Being spies means being quiet. You're talking too much, I hope this means you're done."
Sparks were almost flying between their deadly gazes, and there was a long pause before they simultaneously backed off. Neru returned her sickle to her side and Malka lowered her hand, walking ahead of Neru without waiting for her.
For a minute, Malka was blessed with silence as the two of them continued their steady pace. Of course, she couldn't rely on Neru for anything.
"What are we looking for, anyway?" Neru asked, admittedly in a quieter tone than before, but the sound of her voice still made Malka want to tear her hair out.
"I don't know," Malka admitted.
Neru scoffed. "You don't know? That Yan guy didn't give you any instructions at all?"
" Headmaster Jiahao only asked us to investigate the area and report back to him. That means find signs of monsters, that's it."
Neru rolled her eyes. "Well I know that, but to me it sounds like he knows what's happening here. Why would he himself want to investigate such a large case of occurrences and do it under wraps? Why not send a group of hunters to just eliminate the problem? There has to be a motive behind him wanting us to lay low. These aren't just random monster attacks."
Malka opened her mouth to make a sharp reply, but she was at a loss for words. Neru, unfortunately, wasn't stupid. She hated to even think about it, but Neru's words made sense. Something felt off about the situation, and this was probably why.
"You're awfully suspicious," Malka finally said with a sarcastic smile. "Do you always think the worst of everyone? If Jiahao wanted us to lay low, then it's probably for a good reason. You just can't stop starting rumors."
“It’s about to start raining, and you keep insisting we stay out here on a wild goose chase for that guy! If you weren’t married I would think there was something between you two~”
Malka continued walking, fingers flexing around her brass knuckles as she resisted the urge to punch Neru’s face.
"Hey, stop ignoring me! You know something’s off just as much as I do! Ugh-” Neru’s voice raised in volume as she struggled to keep up with Malka’s brisk pace. “Would you slow down? Not everyone is good at moving through nature! Are you really so intent on swimming through the mud and rain for this? Just because you're a mud-loving Halfie doesn't mean we all like to hug trees and dance in the rain!"
Malka paused in her step, and Neru's devilish smirk returned to her face when she realized her victory.
"Aw, did I strike a nerve?" Neru came beside Malka, leaning forward slightly and observing her expression with anticipation. "Which part didn't you like?"
"Shut up," Malka hissed through her teeth.
"What? You don't like hearing the truth? Even your skin is blotchy, like someone forgot to finish painting you. You're flawed and dirty blooded, Milky."
Malka's grip on her brass knuckles tightened until her knuckles turned white.
She hated Neru to the core. Malka wanted nothing more than to chew the bitch from the inside out until she had nothing left to say.
But she suddenly paused.
“What’s wrong? Finally out of words to-” Neru started, but Malka silenced her by raising her hand in caution.
This time, it wasn't because Malka had no patience to listen to Neru. It was because Malka smelled blood.
Metallic, bittersweet, and strong.
Neru noticed it too, and both women raised their weapons. Step by step, they advanced in the direction of the smell.
Then, Malka realized something.
It was too quiet here.
It was quiet before, of course, but with each cautious step forward that Malka took, her surroundings felt increasingly… still.
A stone sank in her stomach. Something felt wrong .
Clank.
Malka sucked in a sharp breath when her shoe hit something hard, something made of metal.
“What- What is it?” Neru’s uneasy voice whispered.
Malka looked down.
It was a gun.
A standard handgun, nothing noteworthy, other than the fact that it was lying in the grass for some reason.
Neru looked around her, and scoffed. “Huh! It’s just some rando’s abandoned gun! You made such a big deal out of this for nothing!”
While Neru lowered her weapons and continued walking nonchalantly, Malka continued to stare down at the gun.
No, this doesn’t feel right.
Why was there a gun here, in the middle of nowhere near the border? What’s more, the gun was still loaded, so whoever had it before must’ve dropped it in the heat of combat. A grave premonition arose in the back of Malka’s mind. “Neru, we’ve done enough searching, we should-”
Neru suddenly screamed.
Malka’s feet moved before her mind could keep up, running ahead only a short distance before she saw Neru. Neru’s face was frozen in place, her words caught in her throat.
Before Malka could ask, her eyes found the answer.
The strong smell of blood came from here.
A stream of lightning cracked the sky, illuminating the darkness beneath the canopy of leaves for a split second.
In that split second, what Malka saw made her pupils shrink.
Scattered across the forest floor were a dozen adult human bodies, or rather, what was left of them. None of them had a clean death. Half of them were missing limbs, others were slashed beyond recognition, one had bled out through the orifices of their head. All of them, however, had been armed. Weapons were scattered around the gory scene, some of them broken.
All of the victims, at least the ones with recognizable faces, had died with terror plastered to their faces.
Thunder followed the lightning, and as its low roar echoed in Malka’s ears, she was able to clear her head from the initial shock.
“They were all hunters,” Neru noted quietly.
“I guess this is that band of hunters you wanted,” Malka commented flatly as she approached one of the bodies to feel the skin. Blood stained the grass and the trees in the entire area, but it wasn’t fresh. There was also the slightest sour smell of rot coming from the bodies. “The bodies are completely cold. The blood is also dry already. They probably died within a week ago, but no sooner than three days,” Malka observed, surveying the massacre. “Judging by the way they were killed, whoever did it wanted it to be discovered.”
“The killers were skilled too,” Neru added, finally over her stupor from before. “Even though it looks messy and unhinged, they had to have been especially strong to leave them all looking this terrified.”
“Should I take that as a compliment?”
A third voice entered their conversation as smoothly as the tone sounded. The voice was deep, relaxed, and a little amused, and the sound of it sent shivers of unease down Malka’s spine.
Out of the shadows behind the two women stepped a man who was several inches taller than them. A soft smile adorned his pale face, and his hair was dark and unstyled in a rather charming way, but his periwinkle eyes were watching them like a snake watching its prey. He wore simple clothes, a white dress shirt with several open buttons and black pants, and had no weapons or even shoes on him.
Malka and Neru immediately raised their weapons, and the man smiled while raising his hands innocently.
“Girls, girls, calm down! I came all this way to say hello, can’t I talk without being threatened for a minute? I’m unarmed, I promise. You can even search me if you like” His voice was light, but neither Malka nor Neru felt at ease hearing it.
Neru asked the obvious question first. “Are you responsible for this?” She nodded her head towards the bodies sprawled between them and the stranger.
He eyed the surroundings passively, then chuckled. “Why? Does it scare you?” Although his voice was still breezy, there was a malicious tease to it, so faint it was almost unnoticeable.
Malka was more direct with her question. “You’re a member of the rebellion?”
The man paused, his gaze lingering on Malka as if he was sizing her up. “What makes you think that?”
Malka scoffed, hiding the fear that was curdling her stomach acids. “Who else would make such a perfect mess on purpose?”
There was a reason for her juxtaposition of words. It was simple. All of the odd occurrences of monstrous activity could be traced back to the rebellion for one reason - to send a warning. Firstly, it happened near the border, which was a threat to the false sense of security humans felt knowing the monsters lived in a different world. Secondly, it happened near the school, which was a threat to the very foundation of the human world’s strongest defense, the Hunters. Thirdly, it was gruesome and terrifying to see, which was a display of how strong of a threat the rebellion posed. And if they didn’t get their way, they would spread this horror beyond the borderlands. It was a perfectly executed mess.
The man smiled genuinely this time, which was far more terrifying than his fake smile. “What a clever little lady you are,” he mused. “It’s a shame that you stand on the wrong side, I wouldn’t have to kill you if you were just a little smarter.”
His words made Malka’s blood turn to ice.
There was no way he figured it out.
Even Neru didn’t figure out Malka’s biggest secret without Malka stupidly revealing it herself, and Neru could be classified as a world-class secret exposer.
Neru really could’ve been telepathic with how well she timed herself with Malka’s thoughts.
“Wrong side? Please! This Halfie wench can’t make up her mind about loyalties! She kills monsters one day, she lets them go the next!” She cast Malka a condescending look as she spoke. “There’s nothing about her that deserves saving.”
Malka wanted to laugh, but she was too revolted to even smile. She knew Neru was a scummy backstabber with no morals, but she really didn’t expect Neru to side with a murderer about how much she should die.
She left out a soft “huh” in disbelief, and in front of them, the stranger laughed out loud.
“Do you two really hate each other that much? I don’t know whether it’s amusing or pathetic! Tell me, of the two of you, who should I kill first?”
By the way the man was smiling, he really was entertained by Neru’s speech. Malka raised her fists, ready to tell him to kill himself but first, but the impossible happened.
No, thinking about it, it was entirely possible, and Malka was ashamed she thought any better of Neru.
“KILL HER FIRST!” Neru shouted, and before Malka could utter a sound, the blunt sides of a pair of sickles rammed into her back and hurled her down the slope towards the man who eyed them murderously.
Malka only had half a second to react, and in an instant she’d turned her stumbling momentum into a head-on attack. She ducked under the man’s arms and slashed the blades of her brass knuckles across his side.
She barely missed her mark. The man’s body slipped just out of reach. While Malka planted her feet in the ground to regain her balance before falling down the slope, the man was already charging towards Neru with no obvious weapon in hand.
Neru’s face changed from rage to mild panic, but she still raised her sickles to meet the man’s suddenly claw-like hand. The ear-splitting sound of his nails scraping against her blades made Malka’s head spin. Neru blocked and deflected his hands, which shone with a scale-like texture under the flash of lightning that split the darkness. To the inexperienced eye, it may have seemed like an even match, but Neru was being pressed further and further back. Small scratches from some unseen weapon appeared on her body with every strike of the man’s. It took all her strength just to keep the man from clawing out her throat.
Malka charged up the slope to attack the man from behind. Her fist swung out towards his right shoulder, only to meet the blade of Neru’s sickle with a loud clang. The man had stepped to the side so cleanly that neither of the women saw it happen.
Neru and Malka unanimously spun around and attacked in sync. Neru swung for the leg and Malka aimed for the face. The continued to attack unrelentingly, and the three of them left the dead bodies behind, giving Malka and Neru a better range of movement. Working together, they were able to force the man’s back against a tree.
He ducked under Malka’s fist. The force of her punch left a crater in the bark where the man’s head had just been. He used the momentum of his movement to kick Neru forcefully in the stomach, sending her reeling several feet away. His agile torso twisted again so that he caught Malka’s arm before she could attack him while down. His grip was iron-hard, and his nails - no, his claws dug painfully into Malka’s skin. Despite the pain, she yanked her hand back and pulled the man forward, ramming her other fist directly into his stomach.
A pained, guttural sound escaped his lips, and for a moment, Malka felt a twinge of victory. The feeling was immediately shattered when she saw his face. He was smiling, but that wasn’t what scared Malka. What terrified her was that he looked like he was having fun.
Immediately, the arm that he was still gripping seared with pain. Neru thankfully swung at the man’s head and forced him to let go of Malka to evade her sickle, but the feeling of his claws leaving her skin made the pain even worse. Her arm was bleeding from four stinging cuts along her forearm.
Malka internally cursed, but she didn’t give the man another chance to grab her. With an enraged outcry, Malka slashed at the man’s back twice. Having been fighting Neru, he only barely avoided his spotless white shirt being ruined by Malka’s strike, but he didn’t have time to relax. Immediately he ducked under the whistling blade of a sickle. He deflected Malka’s leg, then blocked Neru’s swing. He ducked, twisted, spun and avoided, but the two women gave him no openings to attack.
Yet, the more they pressed, the more excited and wild his gaze became.
Malka was doing everything in her power to avoid becoming desperate. Thunder shook the mountainside at the same time that blade and brass met a pair of claws. Sparks shone in the dark atmosphere with each strike. Malka couldn’t tell if the three of them were actually matched in ability, or if this creep was simply playing with them.
The next flash of lightning was dangerously close to their location. The entire forest lit up in a moment of blinding light, and not a second later, thunder blasted so loudly that even the centuries-old trees shuddered. Malka instinctively shut her eyes and covered an ear with her hand in a desperate attempt to not go blind or deaf.
When her vision regained focus, Malka suddenly felt a foot plant in her back, and she lurched forward without time to stop herself. The kick from nowhere had shoved her directly into the man’s chest, and without delay, his arms wrapped around Malka and locked her in place.
While Malka couldn’t see the man who grappled her from behind, she could clearly see Neru desperately running back in the direction they’d come, without any intention to save Malka.
“NERU, YOU FUCKING COWARDLY SNAKE!” Malka screeched with rage, but she was held tightly in place by a pair of arms. No matter how desperately she struggled, she couldn’t escape the very unwelcome embrace.
His skin felt uncomfortably like snake skin, and it made Malka’s hair stand on end.
A pair of lips whispered way too close to her ear. “What an interesting turn of events, hm?” The man chuckled softly. His hold tightened around Malka to the point where she couldn’t breathe easily, much less continue to struggle. Every alarm in Malka’s head blared at full volume, and the feeling of the man’s breath next to her ear sent a streak of panic through every nerve in her body.
“Now what should I do with you first?”
“Go… to HELL!” Malka roared through her teeth, freeing her arm just enough to ram her elbow into the man’s rib cage. The force wasn’t critical, but it was enough to make his grip falter for one moment too long. Malka's stance widened as she ducked below his arms, and in the same fluid movement she ripped the skin of the man's chest with the hooked blade of her brass knuckles.
The man staggered back in surprise, glancing at the wound she'd inflicted. His expression darkened, but the moment he looked up, Malka was already sprinting away in the same direction Neru had gone.
Small droplets of rain began to fall through the canopy of leaves. Another roll of thunder heralded the start of the storm. The man let out a puff of laughter, and scraped his claws along the trunk of a tree to clean Malka's blood off of them. Ignoring the stinging cut on his chest, he ran through the forest in pursuit of his prey.
Further ahead, Malka was already drenched in sweat before the rain had a chance to get her wet. What started as a sputtering spray had turned into a steady shower, and the rainwater mixed with the blood that trickled down Malka's arm to leave a trail of red droplets on the ground.
Malka didn't have time to worry about leaving a trail, however. Her two priorities were to escape the psycho who was trying to kill her and to catch up with Neru before that bitch escaped without her.
They'd only taken one shared car to the foot of the mountain, and they'd agreed to each have a key on them in case of needing a quick escape. Malka hadn't wanted to give Neru a key for exactly the reason she found herself in now, but Neru had a way with words. If Malka hadn't complied with their illusion of teamwork, it would reflect poorly on her later. Surprise surprise , Malka thought bitterly.
Fortunately for her, Neru was in panic mode and wasn't trying to cover her tracks either. Malka had good instincts, and finding Neru's trail of careless steps wasn't hard. Just as the steady shower turned into a downpour, Malka could see a staggering figure helplessly trying to escape down the mountain.
“NERU!” Malka roared furiously, and the figure stumbled as she looked over her shoulder. For a moment, it looked like the figure was going to start running away faster, but she actually slowed her pace for Malka to catch up.
“H-Ha, took you long enough!” Neru mocked, breathless but still determined to belittle Malka. “Was that bastard really too strong for you? Y-you’re out of pra-”
The solid crack of bone cut Neru’s words off early. Her head snapped to the side as her entire body fell to the ground from the sheer force of Malka’s punch to her nose.
Neru supported her upper body with one hand while shakily feeling her profusely bleeding face, stunned speechless while Malka glared down at her without a shred of forgiveness.
“You… You BITCH!” Neru flew into a rage, looking up at Malka with daggers in her eyes. “IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT A TEAMMATE-”
“WHO’S THE BITCH, NERU?” Malka’s voice overpowered Neru’s. Her knuckles tightened around her weapon as her gaze burned holes through Neru’s disgraceful figure from above. “Who’s the bad teammate?! Who abandoned me with the enemy to save her disgusting, worthless, rotten self and take away any chance of my survival?! I know you and I don’t get along, and I still don’t know why you hate me so much, but DOES IT REALLY DESERVE MY DEATH?!”
“OF COURSE IT DOES!” Neru screamed back, a crazed smile making her bloody face look terrifying under the streak of lightning that split the sky. “Malka, Malka, Malka. Do you know where things went wrong? Of course you don’t, you’ve always been a naive little freak,” she laughed as she slowly stood up, holding her sickles at her side while staring at Malka. Malka had never seen Neru look so… unhinged as this.
Neru lifted a sickle to point it at Malka. “Let me tell you what happened. You were always destined to be worth less than dirt. If I had known you were so filthy when I met you, of course I wouldn’t wish for you to have a painful, slow death! But you know what you did? You fooled me for TWO YEARS, and then what happened?! You told me! You had the damn nerve to tell me to my face! That you’re a filthy! Mixed blooded! Deceptive! Worthless! FREAK!” With each word, she jabbed Malka with the tip of her sickle, pushing her back by an inch until she slashed the skin of Malka’s shoulder.
Malka winced from the pain, but she continued to stare at Neru with unease, not sure what she was feeling. “You… You’re insane.”
“ME? HAHAHA! Please, Malka, stop making me laugh! YOU’RE the only one who’s insane! Do you know who I am?! Who my family is?!” Neru spread her arms, tipping her chin up to look down at Malka past her nose. “My name is Neru Inaluk! I am a direct descendant of the Inaluk Clan, the greatest bloodline of Elf hunters to exist in recorded history! What do you think the problem is, Malka?! What do you think is wrong?! It’s because I was born with greatness, and you are less than just worthless! YOU STAIN THE GOOD NAME OF HUMANKIND WITH YOUR FOUL BLOOD AND SORDID EXISTE-”
Neru’s almost psychotic outburst turned into a blood-curdling scream. She dropped both of her sickles and desperately clutched her left arm, which was no longer an arm. It was a knob of severed, bleeding flesh, cut cleanly through the center of her upper arm. Her former left arm now lay on the ground. It had been detached so cleanly that it almost resembled a china doll having lost a limb, easily remedied with some superglue and a little paint to cover the cracks.
Malka couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by how quickly things had escalated and how abruptly they had ended. Lightning illuminated the forest and brought Malka back to her senses, but just as she started looking for what had severed Neru’s arm, the rain stopped.
Or rather, something was causing it to fall onto an invisible shield over their heads. Malka could see each droplet falling, but they stopped short against some unseen dome, almost like there was a thin sheet of glass over their heads, without making a sound as the drops hit the surface.
It was so quiet under the dome compared to the torrential downpour around it that Malka was able to catch the sound of footsteps coming from beyond the trees.
“SHOW YOURSELF!” Malka demanded, raising her fists and shifting her feet into a fighting stance. After the appearance of the stranger from before and Neru’s sudden loss of her arm, Malka was completely on edge. She still put on a calm and composed expression, and watched as a figure steadily and unhurriedly walked out of the darkness.
This figure was not the man from before. While the other man had been charming yet unreadable, this man could only be described as regal and cold . Malka shivered subconsciously the moment he came into view.
His tall figure was slim but sturdy, and his long white hair gave him an air of ethereality. What chilled Malka to the bone, however, were his eyes.
Narrow and angled, and pale as tinted glass. They were otherworldly beautiful, but at the same time, frighteningly cold. Everything his gaze swept over was petrified like the helpless prey of a predacious viper.
Malka swallowed the knot that formed in her throat, her fingers flexing while she maintained a steady composure. “And you are?” Her tone was more of a demand, but Malka’s mouth had run dry, causing the words to be slightly unsteady.
The man stopped exactly five meters away from her, simply looking down at the writhing, sobbing woman to the right of her. There was the slightest hint of revulsion in his gaze, but his face was so calm, it was hard to tell. Then his eyes met Malka’s, and it took all her willpower not to take a step back.
Before her question could be answered, the sound of quick footfalls approached, and Malka swiftly shifted her stance to face the white-haired man and the black-haired man from before, who had finally caught up to them.
“What is it with women and playing hard to get?” The black-haired man mused as he entered the rainless dome, then paused the moment he no longer was pelted by raindrops. “Sir? You’ve come?” He looked to the white-haired man with an expression that Malka found hard to describe, maybe concern and worry in a passive form.
The man who stopped the rain - at least, Malka presumed it was him - glanced at the man who called him ‘sir’ with an equally complicated, yet calm gaze. “It should not be difficult for you to carry out simple tasks, Kakeru.”
Kakeru smiled bitterly and bowed his head slightly. “I have no excuses, Sir.”
Malka stifled a scoff. Poor guy, no matter what he said, he’d get in trouble for not doing what the big man wanted. Such were the mechanics of strict hierarchies.
Wait a minute.
Kakeru?
Why have I heard that name before?
Malka watched the one called Kakeru with a frown, her brow furrowing as she tried to recall the memory she had of the name. Unfortunately her brain was a little scattered.
Kakeru’s gaze locked with Malka’s the moment he felt her staring, and he smiled wryly at her. “What’s wrong, Halfie? Am I that attractive, or are you that afraid of me?”
Malka scowled at the name. She hated that nickname to the core. Out of the corner of her eye, she could tell that the word had also piqued the white-haired man’s attention, as he was scrutinizing her, making her skin prickle with discomfort. “Don’t count on it, jackass. There's only one good thing about you and that's your body. It's not as ugly as your face."
Kakeru’s smile froze, and Malka couldn’t hide the small smirk of victory that pulled up the corner of her lips.
Then Kakeru snickered. “I suppose I’ll take that as a compliment, given that your arm certainly shows how nice my body is.” He raised a hand as he spoke, his fingers flexing while he began to pace around her to take a look at Neru.
Neru had finally stopped sobbing pitifully and was now desperately trying to avoid the attention of both men, but seeing Kakeru lean forward a bit to look at her made her flinch. Malka remained in place, her body still poised to attack, but a chill ran down her back when Kakeru’s footsteps sounded behind her.
“Oh man, that’s gotta hurt.” Kakeru’s voice was full of sympathy, but he was clearly smiling.
Malka couldn’t help but chuckle sarcastically. “How hypocritical. Weren’t you trying to kill us? If you want to kill us, then do it. Don’t give us half-assed sympathy to mock the pain you cause. You monsters are always like this. Playing the victim and the sympathizer when really, you’re the villain.”
Kakeru laughed dryly. “Are you really in a place to talk?” He left Neru and walked around to stand directly in front of Malka, looking down at her with a bone-chilling smile. “Humans talk all about being peacekeepers and protectors, but all it amounts to is empty words. You preach kindness, and take the lives of innocents. You speak about selflessness, but your hearts are only filled with greed that’s taken out on your own race. You talk all about peace, but what peace is there? In your human cities, maybe it is peaceful! But when those bastards called Hunters come to our lands in search of entertainment and game? When our cities become graveyards and our peace is trampled on by you ten-toed freaks? What peace are you really upholding?” Kakeru was snarling in Malka’s face by the time he finished, his periwinkle eyes flashing violently at the same time that a flash of lightning broke through the darkness.
Malka kept her lips firmly shut, but she held his gaze with unrelenting stubbornness. She ignored the painful truth to his words and refused to show any sign of fear or hesitation.
Kakeru was still for a moment longer before scoffing and finally backing up a step, and only then did Malka realize she’d been holding her breath when he was close.
His next words were calculated. “Of course, you can’t be lumped in with scum like this one, right? You're not like other humans. In fact, I don't see why you haven't killed this useless sack of skin and bones already. She obviously doesn't consider you worthy of life.” He moved to stand next to Neru again, and kicked her strongly enough to force her face into the dirt, drawing a whimper from her that made his face twist with something along the lines of pleasure.
Malka winced at the sight. Neru deserved to be kicked into the mud a thousand times over, but the pleased look in Kakeru's eyes made Malka suspect that he wasn't just enjoying abusing a human at his mercy.
"Of course her existence pisses me off, smartass. Only an idiot would tolerate this bitch without resentment," Malka said acridly, looking down at Neru with contempt.
Kakeru quickly continued before Malka could finish talking. "Then why not do it now?" He spoke slowly, looking up at Malka with malice coating his smiling expression. He reached down and lifted Neru by the hair on her scalp as easily as one would lift a pillow.
Neru only had one hand to claw at his grip hopelessly, and her eyes desperately searched Malka's grim look for a shred of sympathy. She murmured a stream of apologies that turned into a wail when Kakeru tightened his grasp. Her whole scalp burned with pain.
"She's abused you, blackmailed you, gaslit you, betrayed you - what about her pathetic, unworthy existence deserves to live? Without her, the world will be a better place for people like us." Kakeru's lips curled into a snarl when he spoke the last sentence, glaring at Neru with satisfaction in his bloodthirsty eyes.
That look of satisfaction made Malka suddenly remember why his name sounded familiar.
An overwhelming feeling of disgust welled up in her chest, and her gaze reflected this feeling as her grip on her brass knuckles tightened painfully. " People like us? " She spat viciously. A vein in her forehead bulged with rage. "Don't lump me in with you. I may not be human, but I don't leave my teammates to die while I run like a coward, so of course I'm a cut above her level. But I also will never collude with some nameless bastard who deserves to get his dick burned off."
Kakeru stopped for a moment. He genuinely seemed baffled by her sudden shift in attitude. "Did I do something to offend you, Lady?" He asked with a soft laugh in his voice. He lifted Neru a little higher until her toes dangled two inches above the grass. "You said it yourself, her mere existence pisses you off. I'm only agreeing with you. We're all on the same side here," he gestured with his free hand toward the white-haired man who still stood five meters away, passively watching them with no apparent intention to get involved.
"Same side?!" Malka exclaimed incredulously. "In what universe?! Just because I'm not fully human in no way makes us allies."
"Why doesn't it?" Kakeru pressed, still putting up the kind, persuasive act. "We all face the same oppression, and we all fight the same fight against worthless bastards like these. Why wouldn't we inhumans share some sort of camaraderie?"
"Tell that to Misaki." Malka smiled gravely as she spoke, enunciating each word.
Kakeru's expression darkened faster than Malka could blink the moment she spoke the name. The look of pure cold-blooded hatred in his eyes shocked her, and Malka instinctively backed up a step despite her efforts to stand firm.
"Why do you know that name." His words were not a question, and his tone was more frigid than his face was.
Malka forced herself to smirk, continuing without answering him. "I'm sure she would've loved to hear your speech about camaraderie just now."
"WHAT THE FUCK DOES MISA HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?!" Kakeru snapped, throwing Neru to the ground with painful force out of rage. Lightning flashed as if called by his voice. He had lost all traces of his collected, in-control demeanor to unbridled fury.
"Didn't you say all monsters are on the same side?" Malka added pressure in spite of her growing sense of unease in the face of his unstable self-control, like one word too many would push him to crack. "Did you tell that to her too? She hates your guts though, so how could that be? Ah," she paused for effect, "you only care about entertaining yourself, don't you? You tell anyone whatever they want to hear so they fall into your arms until you rip them apart. I know what side I stand on, and I'm no traitor. Not like her,” she glanced down at Neru, then met Kakeru’s wild gaze with determination. “And not like you."
The veins in Kakeru's arms were popping from how hard his fists were clenched, like he was gripping to his last ounce of sanity like a lifeline. His eyes screamed bloody murder, which simultaneously terrified Malka and gave her a glowing sense of accomplishment. Thunder filled the silence between them, but it was soon joined by a low chuckle.
"Hah… Haha… HahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!"
The tension between Malka and Kakeru dissipated when Neru began cackling like a madman. "I SEE IT! I FINALLY SEE IT! ALL ALONG, ALL ALONG THERE WERE TRAITORS AROUND ME!" She pushed herself to her knees with her remaining hand, looking at Malka with bloodshot eyes. "IT WASN'T JUST YOU! HAHAHAHA! I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! YOU FILTHY CREATURES HAVE BEEN PLOTTING TOGETHER! YOU, AND THEM, AND THAT FREAKY BITCH MISAKI! WHO ELSE?! WHO ELSE AT THAT SCHOOL IS A TRAITOR?! I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM!"
Neru's sudden outburst gave Kakeru the chance to collect himself, and he looked down at her with a dry smile. "Will you, now? Guess what, we've practically taken over your school. Everyone there is a monster. So many of your Hunter allies are monsters. What do you think, oh noble murderer of innocents? Does that make you mad?" He knelt down to sneer in her face, gripping her chin to force her to meet his eyes.
Neru didn't show any sign of fear. She'd lost any shred of rationality she'd had left. A deranged smile contorted her face, which was still covered in dry, smeared blood, broken beyond recognition, and suddenly illuminated by streaks of lightning. "Innocents? INNOCENTS?! HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT INNOCENTS INFILTRATE AND CORRUPT?! I see it, I SEE IT ALL! What do I think?! I THINK EVERY LAST DIRTY-BLOODED, WRETCHED MONSTER SHOULD GO TO HELL! AHAHAHAHAHAHA-"
In time with the proceeding thunder, Kakeru pushed her down again with a bored expression, standing upright and slicking back his wet hair. "Coming from you, I feel no fear at all. Your arm is gone, and no one here will save you. Your face is so ugly now that I'm not even interested anymore. What could you possibly do?"
Neru was eerily quiet, her body shuddering faintly. "I… I'm going to hell…"
Kakeru's eyebrows lifted with twisted amusement, looking down at her from the side. "Oh? What was that?"
A grave premonition rose inside Malka's stomach. "Wait, dont-"
Neru's voice was trembling. "I'm going to hell… AND I'M DRAGGING YOU DOWN WITH ME!"
Malka didn't move fast enough.
In a flash, Neru had grabbed one of her sickles from the ground and launched herself at Kakeru. The action was so swift and fluid that Malka was almost impressed.
Neru swung wildly with no goal other than to kill. Kakeru hadn't expected such a desperate yet skilled maneuver, and stumbled back unsteadily to avoid the range of Neru's ferociously uncoordinated attacks. Neru was impressively fast. Despite missing an arm, being covered in cuts, and teetering on the brink of insanity, if Neru and Malka's shared history hadn't been so sour, Malka would've admired her tenacity.
Neru laughed maniacally when her blade found its mark. The sound of ripping fabric and flesh was followed by a curt hiss of pain that escaped Kakeru's throat. The same hand that had previously gripped Neru's hair now cradling his upper abdomen, which was bleeding out of a large and serious-looking wound. His nice white shirt quickly started turning red.
Neru sprang forward again, not giving Kakeru the chance to breathe. She raised her sickle with a blood-curdling scream-
Riiiiip.
A sound more horrifying than anything Malka had heard before broke Neru's battle cry to pieces. Malka backed up in terror just enough to avoid being sprayed by a light shower of blood.
Kakeru was on the ground, having fallen backwards while Neru charged forward again. He was still clutching his stomach, and the slight knitting of his brows gave away his pain.
But Neru was no longer charging forward, nor was she screaming.
Her breathing sounded like air being blown out of a broken pump. Shallow, wretched wheezing.
Her arm fell limp, and her sickle clattered to the ground.
A bolt of lightning lit up the horrific display in all its gory detail for Malka to see.
Neru's body hung limply an inch above the ground, suspended by three spears of ice that were already being coated with her blood. They intersected inside her body, impaling her lungs, heart, and stomach simultaneously.
Her enraged eyes were beginning to dim, and she choked on the blood that was quickly pooling in her mouth, which sprayed onto the icy spears.
Coughing feebly, she refused to let her eyes close as she craned her neck to look in Malka's direction. Her teeth were stained with blood and her eyes were bloodshot, her nose was broken and her face was covered with mud, her arm was missing and her hair was in disarray. Yet she still managed to smile.
Malka felt a knot in her throat.
She hadn't seen that smile since the day before Malka had finally told Neru she was half elf.
Neru sucked in a shaky breath, and her lips moved, but the words came out as a strained croak. She had no strength to project her voice.
Yet Malka knew exactly what she said.
'Who's the scaredy-cat now?'
The man with white hair flicked his wrist, and the spears of ice melted away to water that retreated into the darkness. Neru's body fell to the ground with a heavy thud, her half-lidded eyes staring blankly at the sky. Her smile had dimmed, but it was still there.
The entire world fell still.
The thunder that followed the lightning was muted by the ringing in Malka's ears.
She was in shock.
Not from the fact that the person she'd hated most was lying on the ground in a bloody, gory heap.
It was because that person she'd hated most had tried to kill her. Neru had tried to kill her. Yet she died so that Malka could live, and smiled at her like nothing in the past had ever happened.
For a grand total of four seconds, Malka had gotten her best friend back.
Did Neru think everything she put Malka through would really be so easily forgiven with a dying-breath tease?
Malka was torn. She was impressed, she was heartbroken. She was relieved, she was enraged. She was in absolute emotional anguish.
Her eyes burned painfully, but no tears came. She wanted to cry, yet she didn't want to cry.
She definitely didn't want to hear Kakeru's disbelieving scoff.
"I can't tell if I'm disgusted or impressed," he hissed through gritted teeth. Kakeru slowly rose to his feet, sucking in a breath of pain when he shifted his torso the wrong way.
The white-haired man had finally come forward, supporting Kakeru with minimal movement. "Are you alright?"
His deep voice would've sounded beautiful if Malka hadn't wanted to break his arms.
She gripped her brass knuckles, fighting off the urge to charge forward screaming bloody murder and kill everything in her path. She needed to leave…
The thought of escape suddenly made her feel guilty, which only made her more upset. The fuck was she guilty for? Neru went insane. Her death wasn't Malka’s fault.
Neru died smiling at her.
Malka's head was screaming.
"Yes, Sir," Kakeru said stiffly with a respectful nod. He glanced down at his stomach, which was slowly healing itself to at least stop bleeding. Then, he looked at Malka, his gaze dark and once more unreadable. "What should we do with her?"
The white haired man glanced at Malka, who, although she was starting right back at him, seemed to be fighting an emotional battle in her mind. He folded his hands behind his back and turned around. "Kill her," he said simply. "She's of no use to us now."
Kakeru smiled viciously, and finally turned to Malka. A flash of lightning made his smile look particularly horrifying. "You heard the boss, orders are orders." He outstretched his hand as he stalked forward, and his skin became encased in scales the color of volcanic glass. His fingers turned into dagger-sharp claws. With each leisurely step he took forward, Malka took one step back. "Don't take it personally. Just think about how you'll be able to work things out with your buddy in hell." His expression suddenly twisted in fury. "Right after you pay FOR THE LIVES YOU'VE TAKEN."
Panic surged through Malka and her legs carried her several steps back, but it was like Kakeru had never been injured. He rushed forward in a blur, and Malka was too frazzled to move in time. She shut her eyes tightly and braced herself against the claws, ready to feel the agony of her body being ripped apart.
The pain never came.
She was only met by the rumbling of thunder, which steadily became more distant.
"Attacking women in the middle of a forest outside of your lands seems below you, Kakeru."
Malka's eyes snapped open when she heard the familiar voice. Like an angel descending to earth, a graceful figure with long, silky black hair calmly stood before Kakeru, whose attack had been frozen in a block of ice.
Kakeru ground his teeth as he pulled, and it took all his strength to break through the ice and take a step back. He used the momentum of his swinging arm to spin around and attack again, but the newcomer was faster. He easily dodged around Kakeru's clawed arm and planted a palm in his back, sending Kakeru flying with unseen force into the nearest tree.
The man didn't pay Kakeru any further attention. He turned around to look at Malka, his soft silver eyes full of concern and worry. "Are you alright, Malka?"
Malka nodded after a moment. “I… I will be. Thank you, Jiahao.”
Headmaster Jiahao smiled kindly, obviously relieved. Without sparing words, he straightened his posture and turned to face the enemy with a calm, stern expression.
The white-haired man had also spun around at the sound of his voice. His eyes widened only slightly, but his expression was disdainful.
If such a gaze had any effect on him, Jiahao showed no sign of it. He nodded his head respectfully. “Uncle Lei’Huizhong,” he addressed the man.
The man’s lip curled with distaste at the name. His narrow eyes became mere slits, his feelings towards Jiahao made explicitly clear. “You still have the nerve to address me as family?” He asked with an icy tone.
Jiahao chuckled dryly. “If I have nerve for showing due respect, then I hope you forgive me for saying your nerve exceeds mine.” He glanced over at Neru’s broken body, and exhaled softly through his nose. Jiahao closed his eyes for a moment, before reopening them to look at Lei’Huizhang with renewed frigidness. “You killed my people on my land. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you intend to start a war.”
“My intentions do not concern traitors.” Lei’Huizhang replied, calm on the surface, but Malka could hear the slight edge to his tone.
Jiahao smiled cooly. “They do however concern me, as the headmaster of the Hunter academy. Monstrous activity near the school-”
“Yan Xiao,”
Lei’Huizhang enunciated both words through his teeth. Malka could almost swear the temperature around them had dropped. “You disgrace your family. It is enough to leave your home, but to protect the enemy is below you.” In an instant, Lei’Huizhang was beside the tree where Kakeru was clutching his stomach wound, which Jiahao had worsened again. He lifted Kakeru up with one hand, and cast a final threatening glare at Jiahao. “Do not involve yourself in matters that no longer concern you.”
The moment Lei’Huizhang and Kakeru disappeared into the forest, the invisible dome disappeared with them, and the rain immediately came pelting down. The worst of the storm had passed, by the distant sound of thunder, but the rain was unrelenting.
With a wave of his hand, Jiahao re-created the shield, but it was more like an oversized umbrella, protecting himself, Malka, and Neru’s remnants. Without a word, Jiahao approached the body, a mix of guilt and mourning behind his calm, gentle eyes.
Malka hesitated for a moment before she joined him, staring down at Neru’s glassed-over eyes and forever frozen smile.
She felt empty.
It was neither joy nor mourning, yet both. Neru was gone. In her final moments, Malka had gotten her back, but there was no way that ever would’ve happened if Neru didn’t know for sure she wouldn’t be going home. Neru was too proud, and her hatred of elves was too strong.
Did Neru deserve this ending?
… Malka wasn’t sure, but she no longer had the strength to care.
Jiahao let out a soft sigh as he knelt down and quietly closed Neru’s eyes the rest of the way. While kneeling, he fished a Holding Bottle from his pocket to store the body for the time being. Neru’s body glowed a faint gold, before breaking into a million particles that were vacuumed into the bottle like fairy dust. Jiahao sealed the bottle and replaced it into his pocket before he stood, and put a supportive hand on Malka’s shoulder.
“Are you alright, Malka?” He repeated the question, but his speech was slower this time. The threat was gone, there was no rush now.
Malka chewed on her lip for a moment before answering honestly. “I don’t know.”
“Mn,” Jiahao murmured, nodding softly. “I’m not surprised. I truly did not intend… I didn’t realize…” His voice trailed off as he glanced at the bloody patch of ground where Neru had been lying before. He stared for a moment, then sighed again, shaking his head. “Fate is often cruel. Come on. We should return to the school and get your arm looked at,” he said, taking note of the dried blood that stained Malka’s arm.
With the reminder, Malka’s arm began to sting, and she nodded silently.
The two of them walked down the mountain in the rain, and the invisible shelter kept them from getting any more wet as they went.
It was the same shield that the white-haired man, Lei-something had used.
The silence between them was maintained for several minutes, until Malka broke it first.
“Jiahao…”
“What is it?”
Malka hesitated for a moment. “... Back in the forest, there were bodies of a former Hunting party-”
“I’ve already taken care of them,” Jiahao assured. “They’ve been missing for five days. I’m glad you found them.”
Malka nodded, and went silent again.
After a long pause, she asked another question.
“... That man, do you know him?”
Jiahao smiled beside her, and despite her expectation to be ignored, Jiahao answered. “He’s my uncle, although he holds a grudge against me for a choice I made in the past. I miss him on occasion, but I can never tolerate his way of doing things.” Jiahao’s voice darkened as he finished his words, but the chill thawed quickly. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions… I can answer them, but I need you to swear that whatever I tell you does not go beyond you, me, and anyone else I specifically mention. I’m sure that man Kakeru mentioned having eyes and ears everywhere. While he likely exaggerated, he was not wrong. The school is not as safe as I wish it to be. Can you promise me that?”
Malka looked up at him, and his calm, silver eyes were watching her without any pressure behind them. They were as still as pools of crystalline water.
A sudden spark of confidence ignited inside of her, willing her to agree. With a nod, her own gaze became strong once more. “I promise.”
Jiahao smiled gently, and nodded once. His eyes fixed themselves on the path ahead.
Malka also looked ahead of her, her grasp around the brass knuckles she still wore tightening. It was not out of fear or caution, however. She was filled with a sudden will to fight.
She had lost this battle, but now she would fight in the war.
And this was a war she refused to lose.