148 A Back Alley Figh

Fright and Fear, the two cloaked members of the Pale Society, followed the man in a black sweater into the quiet back alley. They were cautious, carefully watching their surroundings for signs of traps. The man they were following was also keeping his guard up, looking around to make sure he wasn't followed. However, with Fright's ability, he wouldn't even know they were there.

"I haven't seen our target," whispered Fear quietly; her eyes were carefully scanning her surroundings.

"This is suspicious. Don't let your guard down," urged Fright.

There was something strange about the back alley, but they couldn't exactly put it. There was an open giant dumpster that looked empty far ahead of them and there was only the other side of the back alley. The person they were following walked closer to the dumpster and looked around once more. Once he was sure there was no one, he appeared to have started speaking to someone hiding behind the giant trash bin.

Fright gestured at Fear and the latter nodded. They would strike right away before the enemy had any chance to retaliate. Fear stood in her spot and began chanting.

"Pests and Vermins..."

She lifted her left sleeve and began cutting her wrist with a curved dagger that she had taken out from under her cloak. The dagger's hilt had a carving of a snake on it and there were two tiny green gemstones that served as the snake's eyes.

"Blood and Contagion..."

The blood that came out of her wound turned dark green and it emitted an aura of death and decay.

Whoosh!

Fear's spell chanting had been interrupted!

She had managed to jump out and avoid the sudden attack, but her spell had failed. She looked at what had just attacked her and it was a giant spinning chakram made of blood. The chakram had quickly changed its trajectory and was aiming for Fear's head.

"We're under attack!" she shouted.

Clank!

She deflected the attack with the curved dagger with a snake carving. Although the weapon attacking her was made of blood, it was as hard as steel and was very heavy. On top of that, its circular shape made it hard to properly defend against. Fear's right hand felt rather numb after defending against the attack and she was pushed back several centimeters.

Fear quickly looked around to find her assailant and noticed a woman wearing a tight black coat that had come out from behind a pile of boxes. She was controlling the flying weapon elegantly with her right hand while her left hand was raised in front of her. There was another giant spinning blood chakram by her side which seemed to be used as a defense.

"We have a Gore here," shouted Fear at Fright who was approaching the man they were following. The man had somehow managed to get out of his sight and was now in hiding.

Bang!

"Shit!"

Fear was pushed back by the heavy weapon although she was not injured.

Fright, on the other hand, was standing in his spot motionlessly. He had been hit by the sudden bullet and there was a hole in his head, right through the hood he was wearing. However, there was no blood pouring out and not long after, his body became distorted. It was like a drop of ink on water that quickly washed away into nothingness.

It was only an illusion!

"Good thing I'm always prepared," he said, signaling at his partner that he was safe. He was standing in a lowered position to avoid subsequent bullets while watching the spot where the man had disappeared carefully.

Fright looked for the hidden shooter carefully but wasn't able to see them because of the cover. He backed away to get closer to Fear, who was still busy defending herself against the giant blood weapon.

"This is an ambush! Do we fight or escape?" asked Fear calmly, "I'd choose fight, but you make the call."

"Then we fight. If things get dangerous, we'll run without hesitation," replied Fright.

"Great. Those chakrams are very heavy, be careful!" reminded Fear.

Just as she said that, the heavy spinning weapon approached them at a frightening speed. They could even feel the air being blown away by the chakram and the irony smell of blood being spread around in the process.

Whoosh!

The blood chakram aimed at Fright this time, but the moment it made contact with his skin, he once again turned distorted and then disappeared. He reappeared behind a few centimeters away, right behind Fear, who deflected the blood weapon with her curved dagger. It had gone straight through Fright's illusory body and went at her instead.

"We can't just allow the enemies to keep attacking us like this, can we?" asked Fear. Despite being hit by a barrage of attacks, her tone didn't seem distressed. Instead, it sounded like she was smiling. She seemed to have been waiting for the fight after the boring Nightwatch duty.

"Of course not, but we have to stay on our guard," replied Fright calmly. He was observing all the enemies in front of him carefully.

Fear stood straight and made a deep cut on both of her palms with her sharp dagger. Blood began coming out of the wound right away and she put both hands in front of her with her palms facing down.

Drip... drip...

Fear let her blood flow down to the ground; drop by drop of the crimson liquid created a puddle of fresh blood that became bigger and bigger.

Clank!

A blood chakram was coming at Fear from the side but it was deflected by a long commando knife that was embellished by a purple gemstone on the hilt.

Fright had taken out his own dagger and was protecting his partner from the attack, giving her the time to finish her preparations. He was pushed back by the impact but it gave his partner the time she needed.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Serpents and Death, offer this blood of mine!"

The wide pool of blood on the ground and started squirming and bubbling slowly as if it was alive. It looked like several things were trapped under the blood and were trying to get out. There was an ominous feeling coming from it.

"For I summon in thy name the serpents that will bring forth death!"

The squirming blood on the ground started twitching violently and the bubbles became bigger. After a while, it solidified and turned into countless tiny snakes that were probably only about ten centimeters in length. However, the number of snakes was the biggest problem since there seemed to be no end to them. They also emitted a green aura that reeked of death.

The countless small snakes that started slithering in every direction, moving towards Fear's enemies. Most of them moved quickly towards the woman with the blood chakram. She controlled her defensive chakram with her left hand and sweep the floor with decapitated snake bodies. Her right hand controlled the other chakram to keep the enemies busy.

Hiss!!

The hissing of snakes filled the area and they were provoked by the woman's act of killing their brethren. They quickly slithered towards her in a larger number.

The woman then recalled her offensive chakram and get inside both of them. One of the chakrams was placed right at her foot level while the other was a little higher. Both blood weapons then started spinning fast with her in the middle, effectively protecting her from the snakes trying to approach.

Mutilated bodies of snakes were thrown around because of her defensive maneuver. The dead snakes then turned back into blood and gathered in one spot, creating another puddle of squirming liquid. After a while, the blood solidified into more snakes.

Some other snakes had slithered to another direction, effectively searching for the hidden gunman. Fright followed closely with his eyes where the snakes were going.

"Let's see if you can hide from these snakes," he said finally, looking at the spot behind the very same dumpster where the man they were following was last seen. Since the blood chakrams were now both protecting the owner, he was free to move.

Fright readied his weapon quickly dashed towards the location, but suddenly he heard a quiet whisper.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention of approaching your target mine!"

He stopped in his track as if forgetting what he was about to do. He then quickly refocused and then backed away from the spot.

"There is also a Thief!" he shouted at Fear, who was still concentrating on her spell.

"I order you to stop moving!"

Suddenly, there was a deep, commanding voice coming from behind the dumpster, and Fright's whole body was immobilized against his will. He couldn't even lift a muscle, let alone get away from the spot. However, he wasn't worried, because the moment he got attacked, his illusion ability would trigger.

He focused on all of his senses to track the enemies' movement, but there was none since they seemed to be busy defending against the snakes. They were just immobilizing him to give them time to kill off the slitherers. Bodies of snakes were thrown back from behind the dumpster and once again, they turned into blood and from the blood, more snakes were created. As long as Fear maintained her ability or until her stamina was depleted, the snakes would be reborn continuously.

Suddenly, Fright heard a quiet murmur that got him alerted. Since it was not a physical attack, he couldn't use his illusion ability to redirect the spell targeted at him. Fear, who sensed that his partner was in trouble, stopped her spellcasting by retracting her arms. The blood stopped flowing right away and the wounds closed down quickly.

She quickly dashed to her partner's side and slit her palm left palm with her curved dagger to create a new wound. After that, she took some kind of powder from under her cloak and mixed it with her blood. She then splashed the blood mixture to where the enemies were hiding and shouted.

"Explode!"

Kaboom!

The blood created a violent explosion that covered a small area. There were two figures who were trying to get away from the center of the explosion but they were still thrown back several meters because of the impact. It was the man they were following and another person wearing a mask. Fright noticed that the masked man was wearing the same trench coat as the Police Sergeant who had got away from them. It was their target!

Hiss!!

The snakes that were still alive quickly slithered towards the two people who were still trying to recover from the explosion.

Whoosh!

The woman in the black coat had quickly used one of her chakrams to kill some of the snakes that were approaching them. It gave the two figures a chance to recover and protect themselves with their melee weapons.

Fright, who had recovered from the enemy's ability, was now standing near Fear with his weapon ready. He signaled at Fear and the latter nodded. Fear began preparing her ability while Fright would keep the enemies busy.

Bang!

The man without the mask shot at him and hit him in the shoulder. Fright's body quickly became distorted and disappeared.

Whoosh!

One of the heavy blood chakrams was still busy killing off the small snakes that were approaching them. Since the ability hadn't been maintained, once the snakes were killed, they just turned into blood and evaporated away.

Fear stood up straight and started chanting solemnly. Her voice echoed in the deserted alley.

"Pests and Vermins..."

She slit her wrist left wrist with her curved dagger and poured her blood on the ground. The wound was wide open without any sign of closing.

"Blood and Contagion..."

The blood that had left her body slowly turned the color of dark green that resembled death. It also emitted a rotten aura that quickly spread to the surrounding area and dissipated into thin air.

"O' Deity of Serpents and Death, thee, that didst govern over curses..."

Her voice was dignified and sounded ceremonial. However, to her enemies, her voice sounded sinister and it carried an ominous foreboding.

The green blood on the ground slowly started squirming like they were tiny worms. They moved in different directions and painted the ground green.

Bang!

There was a gunshot that was aimed at Fear who was preparing a ritual, but Fright took it head-on and there was whole in his chest. Suddenly, his whole body became distorted and disappeared into thin air. He then reappeared several centimeters away totally unscathed.

"I don't have many more illusory substitutes, so you'd better be faster," he said to Fear, who was still busy concentrating on her ritual.

The green blood had squirmed all the way around, creating a perfect circle. It then started moving inwards very slowly.

There was a blood chakram shooting at her very quickly, but Fright was fast enough to deflect it. The countless snakes, whose number had been greatly reduced, help keep the enemies busy to some extent.

The green blood worms were now painting the inside of the circle in the shape of four staves pointing at the four cardinal directions with four crosses between them.

It was the sigil of the Deity of Serpents and Death!

Although it was still incomplete, the green blood sigil already emitted a thick green mist that rose in the air. The green mist brought about the feeling of dread and decay, and was slowly spreading to the surrounding area with a speed that increased as the sigil was nearing completion.