Chapter 190 - 190: Monsters

Blood and ice.

A combination that one could only describe as sinister– almost akin to the view one could see inside the refrigerator of a slaughterhouse. And with the little bits of skull and brain matter scattered everywhere, perhaps that was the best description one could think of.

"..." A small slithering whisper then whispered into everyone's ears, as an eyeball slowly rolled and slid straight towards Silvie's feet.

But even with all these horrific scenes happening right in front of them, everyone was silent. Not even daring to utter a single word, afraid that if they did, then it would make everything real.

The one that most shocked out of all of them, was of course, Aerith. She was just previously chasing and playing with the children; then suddenly, a bang. No, it wasn't even a bang– it just happened. The young clone's head just exploded without any warning.

They were just having fun just moments ago, but now the blood that was flowing across the ice was getting thicker and thicker as it became cold… almost like the consistency of paint that was splashed on them just hours ago in the penthouse.

"..."

Dead.

One of her sisters is now dead, without any reason.

And so, with the realization slowly dawning on her, the first thing she did was turn her eyes towards Riley Ross, who suddenly approached Hannah and the others. But seeing him slowly descending to the ice rink, with his head tilted to the side– she realized he had nothing to do with this.

Then why? Why did this happen? Why!?

Her legs suddenly gave up; a scream, about to burst forth from her throat… but even her screams were not allowed to flourish as the dead body of her sister suddenly jolted and moved. And before they could even utter a single breath, a roar emerged from her sister's headless corpse.

How a scream was possible without a head, none of them knew. But not even a second after, their unasked questions were answered as the headless corpse suddenly stood up; the green robes she was wearing slowly scratching the air; ripping as the headless corpse's body seemed to grow in size by the second.

And soon, from its once empty and dismembered neck… emerged a face.

Not human, but yet not quite a beast. There was, perhaps, only one word everyone was thinking of when they saw her– A monster.

"E… Elsie?"

The only one that was able to move was Aerith, whose legs were now slowly approaching her younger sister.

"Elsie… can you hear me?"

And while Elsie was doing this, Silvie immediately gathered the other younger clones, doing her best to gently push them all out of the ice rink.

"What… what happened to sis?"

"Why did her head suddenly go kaboom?"

"Is… she going to be awright?"

The clones all turned their trembling and watering eyes towards Silvie; who could only shake her head as she guided them out.

"Just… find some place to hide, okay?" Silvie then tried her best to smile, "Let the adults handle this, okay?"

The clones hid behind the shoe counter, along with the only staff of the ice rink; whose face was completely filled with nothing but confusion.

"Call the cops and an ambulance," Silvie then said as she knocked on the counter. She wanted to go back inside the ice rink, but with the children scared and confused, the only thing she could do for now was stay with them; watching the situation from afar.

Her eyes, however, quickly widened as soon as she saw the headless corpse, who was now standing even taller than Gary, perhaps reaching a height of more than 3 meters.

"Elsie?" Aerith continued to slowly approach Elsie, "Are you…"

"A… Aerith?"

And finally, a response. Aerith could not help but slightly flinch from hearing Elsie's voice, however, as it seemed even colder than the surface they were standing on… almost too deep.

"Yes?" A small smile still crawled on Aerith's face, "It's–"

"!!!"

"Aerith!"

Aerith's smile, however, was short lived as she suddenly found herself violently rolling across the ice; shattering the surface each time her body slams downwards as her momentum did not seem to have any signs of stopping.

"Aerith!" If it wasn't for Gary rushing to catch her, then she would have probably plunged straight through one of the buildings that were hundreds of meters away from them.

"Aerith, are you alright!?"

Gary did not even need to ask; as besides a scratch on her head, she seemed perfectly fine.

"Aerith… your face," Gary took a small gulp, "...Nevermind, that's just your normal face."

"..."

Gary tried to make Aerith smile a little, but perhaps it wasn't the time and the shock that Aerith was experiencing was far too great for anything to register in her clouded mind; her eyes, trembling as they stared at Elsie.

She then slowly stood up, her feet, once again moving towards Elsie.

"Don't," Gary, however, quickly blocked her path, "That's no longer your sister."

"What the fuck is happening!?" Bella finally recovered from her shock as she skated straight towards where Riley and the others were, "What kind of Baby Crew fuckery is this!?"

No one could answer her bewildered and panicked questions as everyone's eyes were just carefully watching as Elsie… just stood there after smashing Aerith away like a fly.

Elsie no longer had a head, but a weird face just planted at the end of her neck; her arms, almost as thick and wide as an adult human. What is she now, if not a monster?

"Baby Crew…" Hannah then whispered as a fire slowly engulfed her entire body; burning her clothes and revealing the fire and heat resistant one-piece tights she was wearing underneath them.

"...Prepare to engage the enemy!"

"Enemy!?" Aerith quickly woke up from her stupor as soon as she heard Hannah's words, "She… she's not–"

And once again, her words were drowned by the sudden roar that came from Elsie; a hoarse, shrilling, and utterly chilling roar. The ice beneath Elsie then cracked as she disappeared from her spot almost instantly, rushing straight towards the bright light that almost blinded her eyes.

"Tomoe!"

A deafening cracking boom then resounded in the air as a wall of ice blocked Elsie's advance as Tomoe tapped her foot on the rink.

"Good–" But before Hannah could applaud Tomeo with how fast she took action, Elsie burst through the thick layer of ice.

…Of course, Hannah thought as Elsie's hand was only a meter away from her. The one rushing towards her was still a clone of Megawoman– there was no room to underestimate them.

"Stop!"

But before Elsie's gigantic hand could crush her, Silvie suddenly appeared between them.

"!!!"

And as soon as Elsie's hand met with Silvie's, a web of cracks rippled through the ice, shattering it almost instantly.

"What's wrong with you, Elsie!?" Silvie then shouted as she carefully pushed Elsie's hand to the side, "Please stop! Or else… we will be force to–"

And before she could even finish her words, another fist threatened to slap her away; but of course, she was able to quickly block it with her other hand. Tomoe then used this chance to swiftly move behind Elsie, touched both her legs and causing the surface of ice to crawl around her skin– completely immobilizing her.

"This should be fine," Tomoe then muttered as she looked at Hannah, "We should–"

"Tomoe!"

Tomoe's eyes then immediately returned their focus towards Elsie, only to see… a 3rd arm already threatening to slam her into bits.

"Kh–" She was able to almost instantly shield herself with an armor of ice; it was not enough, however, as the force of Elsie's strike did the same thing to her as it did to Aerith. And like with Aerith, Gary was there to catch her; jumping backwards to lessen the impact and strain in Tomoe's body.

"S… shit, Tomoe? Are you okay?"

Unlike Aerith, however, the durability and strength of Tomoe's body was almost the same as a normal human's.

"S… shit," Gary let out a stuttered and weak breath as he looked at Tomoe, "She… she's not breathing!"

"What!?" Silvie's eyes immediately started to tremble as soon as she heard Gary's words; and soon, they turned to red.

"Threat… you must be… eliminated," Silvie once again began to whisper to herself; Hannah completely disregarded it, however, as she immediately flew towards Tomoe to check on her, leaving Silvie to completely slice Elsie's feet off with her heat vision.

"Tomoe!" Hannah then immediately extinguished the fires surrounding her body; kneeling in front of Tomoe as soon as she reached her to check on her vitals.

"...She's still breathing, you fucker," Hannah let out a short but deep breath; wanting to smack Gary in the face, but did not. Instead, she turned to look at Elsie, who was now sprawled on the shattered ice as Silvie restrained her, and then towards Aerith, who seemed as shock as any of them.

"What… the fuck is happening here!?" Hannah still could not help but roar and lash out, however, as she grabbed Aerith by the arm.

"I… I don't kno–"

And once again, before Aerith could finish her words, another roar erupted in the air. They all looked towards Elsie, only to find her still restrained by Silvie on the ground.

"..." They then looked towards the shoe counter where the roar was actually coming from; and even from afar, they could clearly see… that it was now covered in blood and flesh. And soon, the counter exploded, and what burst forth…

…were monsters.