Chapter 84 Dark Reflections



I reveled in the grotesque spectacle unfolding before me, my eyes transfixed on the wretched souls battling for their survival. It was a twisted pleasure, a dark delight to witness their desperate struggle.

How satisfying it was to see them experience a mere fraction of the torment they had inflicted upon those innocent slaves. Oh, how I wished Nari could be here, to witness the sweet justice unfolding. Alas, she was absent, and so the twisted theater belonged to me alone.

Amidst the chaos, only two remained standing, their bodies battered and drenched in blood—a woman and a man, the final remnants of this macabre dance.

I fixated my gaze on the woman, her long, wavy black hair matted and disheveled. A sinister grin crept upon my face as I whispered to her, my voice laced with false benevolence, "Hey, take this to help you." With a flick of my wrist, I hurled the very blade that had brought death to the others, and she caught it, her confusion palpable.

A quiet chuckle escaped my lips, a mirthless sound borne of sadistic amusement. How easily she fell into my trap. Women, so often naive and foolish in this world.

As the man lunged towards her, she, driven by desperation, charged back with a surge of futile strength. "Expand!" I bellowed, my command echoing through the chamber. In an instant, the dagger she held swelled threefold, elongating into a deadly spear that impaled both of their pelvises.

They froze, their eyes locked in a wordless exchange of betrayal and despair.

A pregnant silence engulfed the mirrored walls as their lives slowly seeped away. Gasping for air, the woman rasped, her voice barely a whisper, "But you promised...one of us...would live..." Her words hung in the air, laden with disbelief and desperation, as the sharp tip of the weapon pierced her chest.

A twisted grin played upon my lips as I leaned back against the mirrored wall, reveling in her naivety. "I don't recall making such a promise," I retorted, my voice dripping with sinister satisfaction.

"Women..." I laughed, the sound tinged with dark amusement. "The last standing person," I pointed towards the cage filled with trembling children, their wide eyes reflecting terror and innocence, "and you, my dear, are not one of them. I'm sorry."

With a flick of my fingers, the dagger within their bodies expanded, tearing them apart from within, an explosion of gore and anguish.

The chamber trembled with the aftermath, the lingering silence shattered by the echoes of their demise. Blood and viscera splattered the mirrored surfaces, a grotesque mosaic of shattered hopes and broken bodies.

As the final vestiges of the gruesome fight faded away, I disdainfully wiped the dirt-streaked blood from my gown, the sanguine remnants of their futile struggle.

"Fools," I muttered under my breath, my attention shifting towards the children whose eyes bore witness to the horrors that had unfolded before them. Their traumatized gazes met mine, reflecting a profound sense of anguish and confusion.

Drawing closer to the imposing cage, I lowered myself to a squat, my black-clad figure a stark contrast against their fragile innocence. My voice, tinged with a mixture of sorrow and determination, broke the heavy silence that engulfed us. "I will ask a simple question," I began, my words hanging in the air, pregnant with the weight of their fate. "Who among you has a brother named Ace?"

Their expressions wavered between bewilderment and uncertainty. They were a ragtag collection of impoverished souls, their visages marked by the weariness of the peasant class.

Clearly, Ace's sister—his noble sibling—would not be among them. She would be a prize far too valuable to be kept in the same room. My search for her continued.

"Will you let us go?" quivered a voice, a child's voice, filled with trembling hope. But this was not about granting them freedom, for what future awaited them outside these confines?

Their parents, in all likelihood, had met grim fates before they were snatched away into this hellish existence. Releasing them onto the unforgiving streets, hungry and shelterless, would only sow seeds of further trouble.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I regarded them, their innocent eyes flickering with a glimmer of anticipation, craving release from their suffering. "Yes," I conceded, my voice laden with weary resignation, "I will release you from your pain." One last look passed between us, their young faces radiant with the promise of a better life—a promise they so desperately longed for.

Raising my hand, I conjured a seven-pointed star in the air, its sharp edges gleaming with malevolence. Each point birthed a glass mirror, shimmering with ethereal light.

With a swift motion, I propelled my hand forward, the mirrors hurtling towards their diminutive bodies with a velocity akin to the speed of sound. In an instant, the piercing shards tore through their fragile frames, a crescendo of shattered dreams and extinguished innocence.

Their small forms crumpled, life extinguished within moments, as blood stained the floor beneath them. The echoes of their silenced pleas lingered in the air, mingling with the scent of tragedy and despair. It was a tragic end, a mercy cloaked in shadows—a means to spare them from a cruel, uncertain future.

And as I stood amidst the carnage, surrounded by shattered mirrors and broken souls,

A chilling silence settled upon the room, punctuated only by the haunting echo of my words.

"I did you a favor," I declared, my voice a hushed murmur amidst the aftermath of their demise. The lifeless bodies of the children lay strewn across the floor, their innocence forever extinguished, their dreams shattered like fragments of a broken mirror. The air thickened with a sense of desolation, their futures stolen, their hopes obliterated.

"You are all in a better place now," I whispered, the weight of those words mingling with the heavy sorrow that permeated the atmosphere.

With a command spoken in the depths of my mind, the ethereal house of mirrors dissolved into thin air, fading away like a ghostly apparition.

The once shimmering reflections vanished, leaving behind a desolate and darkened hall, suffused with the ominous presence of the gangster wannabes who had borne witness to my grotesque display.

A derisive chuckle escaped my lips as I met the gaze of the man to whom I had spoken privately. His hand clutched a gleaming dagger, a feeble attempt to assert his dominance in the face of my power.

But his pitiful display only fueled my mockery, igniting a spark of sadistic amusement within me.

"Oh, did I ruin your plan?" I taunted, my voice laced with a twisted delight. The glint of the blade in his hand paled in comparison to the darkness that enveloped my eyes, black orbs devoid of mercy or remorse.

I stood before him, a harbinger of chaos and retribution, reveling in the suspense that hung in the air like a tautly drawn wire, ready to snap at any moment.