240 Counting Down

Orkin, the glacier scorpion, was choking on his own blood. The shards of ice impaled him in place. He could not move at all. He could only struggle. Vy stood up. She was now a shadowy figure standing before them. 

Orkin cursed as he tried to claw at Vy with his pincer but nothing worked. As soon as his pincer touched onto Vy's body, it went straight through. It was as if she was not even there. The dark clouds cast shadows upon the land beneath. 

As the snowflakes fell from the sky, the scorpions felt a painful chill throughout their entire body. They felt cold. How was that even possible?! Glacier scorpions were natives to the Bleak Lands, they were made for cold harsh winter conditions. They had never felt and understood what it meant to be cold!

Until now. 

"What is going on?!" one of the scorpions clicked to its comrade. 

"How is this possible?" another asked with fear in its voice. 

The more fear and confusion there were, the more delight the Dark Kyu felt. An unknown source of adrenaline-fueled Vy as she looked at all of her prey. She plotted her next move before disappearing before their eyes. 

"Where did she go?!" one of the scorpions shouted in horror, pointing at the spot where Vy had once stood. 

All the others looked around in panic. They were once the hunters. They have become and the hunted. 

Before Orkin could warn his comrades to be on their guard, the glacier scorpion closest to him had all six of its legs severed in a flash. From above, a shadowy figure impaled a large icicle through the centre of the glacier scorpion. It was skewered in place on the ground. 

The glacier scorpion wailed and clicked for its comrades to put it out of its misery. Eventually, it went silent. The other scorpions turned around in all directions. They were looking for the shadowy figure. But none of them could see anything. 

The only sources of light they had around them, were lit stone lanterns that littered the side of the hot spring pools. But the dim lights were useless to help them look far ahead. They could only see what was directly in front of them. 

A gust of wind billowed past the scorpions, blowing out every single lit stone lantern. They were now in complete darkness. But none of this was a problem from Vy in her dark Kyu hybrid form. She did not even need to see where her enemies were. 

She could sense their life forces around her. She could hear their palpitating hearts like a drum. 

The voice of the shadow whispered to her. -Our powers are not infinite. Make quick work if you want to get out alive.- 

"She's there!" one of the glacier scorpions clicked to their comrades as soon as they noticed Vy under the weak light of the sparks. 

But when they tried to catch her with their pincers, all they grasped onto was the remnants of a shadow. Before another one could speak, shards of ice impaled the glacier scorpion. Vy moved swiftly under the cover of darkness, cutting down the number of enemies by half. 

As she saw the light of their life being extinguished, she grinned. The rest of those palpitating hearts were now beating quicker than ever. Like the rhythmic drums being planned in a band, the sound fueled her hunger for vengeance and destruction. 

"One… two… three…" Vy counted the number of prey she had left, "Only ten more to go."

Vy rubbed her hands together and blew on her palm. From her breath, a stream of black flame was formed. It did not emit any form of light. It did not burn you like a normal fire would. It burnt you with the power of frost. 

The black flame circled and silently took out five glacier scorpions at once. Their agonizing crackle and clicking screams echoed through the darkness. Some tried to roll on the snow in hopes of putting it out. But that only served to make everything worse. 

Now there were five left to go. 

Five...

She cut off its poison-tipped tail and stabbed its head with her dagger. 

Four…

Jumping high into the air, she used the inertia of her fall to crush her enemy beneath her. The crunch of its exoskeleton crackle under the cover of darkness. 

Three…

Her tails extended and coiled around the glacier scorpions limbs before pulling each of them apart. Blue blood splattered across her entire body, but she did not care. 

Two...

She ripped the heart out of the body of the glacier scorpion before crushing it in her hand. 

One…

The dark clouds that once covered the sun disappeared. The last remaining glacier scorpion, finally able to see looked around. The horrific massacre of its comrades could not be explained in words. 

This was the work of the devil. 

In the distance, it saw the murderer. She was covered in blue blood, dripping from the tips of her claws. Her face splattered with the blood of its species. The glacier scorpion crackled at Vy, ready to attack. 

Vy stood there, unmoving. She was not looking at the glacier scorpion. The creature charged towards her, ready to land a killing blow with its poison-tipped tail. Much to the scorpion's surprise, the image of Vy disappeared before its eyes. 

It was a trap!

The scorpion never had a chance. Vy stood right behind the scorpion. Using her sharpened claws, she ripped off its tail. She ripped off its limbs. As it lay in the snow, bleeding out from its wounds, the creature continued to fight helplessly with its pincers. 

She ripped them off.

Limbless, the creature still continued to fight until its final breath. Vy's face showed no emotions as dark shards of ice impaled the creature from beneath the ground. Blazing black flames followed suit. 

Orkin, the impaled glacier scorpion, watched in horror as all of its comrades fell prey to Vy's powers. He had never seen anything like this before. He had never met an enemy so powerful, so ruthless and bloodthirsty. 

All this destruction, for what? 

He had made a terrible mistake. 

He had made enemies with the wrong woman.