January 31 - February 1, 2023
"Wasps, huh? I have bad memories with wasps. They're pests."
Jianying, the tall man with square glasses, swung his katana sword with electrical veins. He discarded the black blood that had stained the gleaming blade of the sharp white steel katana.
Like a sword of light created to slice through the darkness.
"You! Who are you?!"
Muzhe walked with a limp on one leg. He pressed his left hand to stop the bleeding. In a matter of seconds, the wound closed with new flesh growing and hardening into a jagged black sword.
He stopped about ten steps away from his opponent, staying alert, wondering if the man came alone or with a group.
"Hunter Agent, Jianying Ren. A Witch who can talk. You're almost as strong as an Arch Witch. How many people have you devoured in the last dozen years?"
Jianying said this while pointing his katana forward. The blue electricity flowing brightly illuminated the surroundings.
"Hahaha, you might be shocked. I'm not an ordinary Witch! I'm Muzhe! I don't even need to devour many humans to become an Arch Witch! It's all thanks to that man! Praise for he, the savior who offered the fruit of heaven!"
Muzhe laughed as he raised both his arms. His antennae moved slightly, calling forth small wasps that had hatched from the nearby human corpses, gathering in the air.
The buzzing sound of the wasp wings grew louder than the now-diminishing rainfall.
"Oh, really?" The man with square glasses smiled faintly.
"Those eyes on wings of yours, that symbol on your left shoulder... I feel like I've seen them somewhere before."
He started to get into stance, lowering his body, preparing to strike.
"I'll examine them after I slice you into twelve pieces."
"Slice me? You should be ready to face my thousands of wasps. They will eat away at your flesh until nothing but bones are left. Die, foreign man!"
WHOOSH!
CRACK!
Before Muzhe could react, he extended his right hand to command the swarm of wasps in the air to attack Jianying.
But his hand was already severed first, soaring into the air and falling to the ground, leaving a trace of blue lightning.
The man with square glasses was already standing a step behind Muzhe, sheathing his sword.
"One cut. I didn't even need to use the slicing technique like before."
"Y-You!!!"
Muzhe swung his left hand, still intact, like a sword, aiming at the man with square glasses.
Without a quick movement or a deadly strike, Jianying stood still, letting the left swing of his opponent almost hit his face, before suddenly severing that hand, sending it flying into the air.
Muzhe's eyes widened in shock as he reflexively jumped back. He flapped his four wings, which had regrown, and flew into the sky, distancing himself from the man with square glasses, who only lifted his sword slightly and partially unsheathed it.
"Two cuts. Only ten more left."
He raised his sword and tapped its hilt upwards just before my arm swung very quickly and strongly toward his neck. My arm was severed because of my own movement, he just waited for me to attack him!
Such a terrifying human!
"Monster!" Muzhe gritted his teeth, tightening his severed arm muscles to stop the heavy bleeding.
After a few moments of twitching, the flesh finally grew to close the wound perfectly, but he had run out of mana to regenerate his body.
I've fought and lost many of my wasps and almost died fighting the green-eyed youth. My mana is running thin after hatching so many wasp eggs from the human corpses. This situation is very unfavorable for me.
I need to escape from this man!
"You must be thinking of fleeing from me,"
The sharp and cold voice sent shivers down Muzhe's spine.
But what terrified him even more was that he could no longer feel his four wings on his back.
THUD!
An overhead axe kick made Muzhe crash into the muddy ground with great force, creating a large crater from his body impact.
"Six cuts. Nice wings, especially the inverted cross symbol on the eyes. I wonder how they would look in my office. It seems like my office would look interesting."
Jianying landed precisely next to Muzhe's head. In his hand, he inspected the black veins still twitching warmly on one of Muzhe's wings. At the end of the wing, there was an eyes blood-tear-shed inverted cross symbol.
Inverted cross... Who is this savior they speak of?
"Who... who are you really?"
Muzhe tried to move his neck slowly so his eyes could glance at the man standing next to him. He didn't attempt to get up or fight back, knowing it would be futile, and he would be killed in an instant.
"Hey, lowly insect Witch. Do you want to live?"
The rain had decreased to a drizzle, leaving only a light mist.
"Are.. you going to let me live?"
"Depends on your answer, then I'll let you live."
Muzhe paused for a moment. Then he began to laugh.
"Hahahaha! A strong Hunter Agent like you letting a Witch escape? I'd rather believe that a person's nature can change than your empty words."
Jianying dropped the wing he was holding and grabbed the hilt of his katana.
"Hey, Witch. Do you know how many hundreds of your kind I've been hunted?"
He drew his katana and swiftly slashed to the right and left several times, without moving his feet an inch.
Dozens of wasps the size of fists were sliced in half, falling onto the muddy ground.
So neatly, splitting their heads and bodies.
"Do you know how many thousands of times I've swung this sword?"
Jianying returned the sword, its electric hum echoing as it slid back into its sheath.
"Do you know how many tens of thousands of questions I've asked Witches like you about that man?"
Jianying then took a step sideways to face Muzhe lying beneath.
"You all always answer the same thing. It's so disgusting. That's why..."
Jianying bent down and brought his lips close to Muzhe's ear, who was still lying unconscious on the ground.
"Tell me, the characteristics of that man. And I will promise to let you live."
His sharp whisper cut through the air. Muzhe did not answer but laughed loudly.
"Hahahahahaha! If you think you're more terrifying than that man, you're so naive, foreign man. That man... he's more terrifying than anything in this world! Even the Grand Witch! He's the real monster! The real Witch! The perfect human! He is the savior! The apple bringer from the cursed land!"
Jianying lifted his head and stood straight. His hand moved to pull out a rectangular paper inscribed with Chinese characters.
He knew what was going to happen next.
"Axel."
BOOM! CRASH!
Muzhe's body exploded into pieces of flesh. The small wasps that had been swarming the air scattered as their master perished.
Blood and chunks of flesh splattered onto the transparent shield in front of Jianying's face. The talisman paper he had just activated had created the transparent shield, protecting him from the explosion's aftermath.
"Although if I had sliced him into twelve pieces, I probably could have obtained more meaningful information than that same repetitive sentence."
The man with square glasses sighed heavily as the transparent shield disappeared, letting the pieces of flesh and the foul-smelling black blood fall to the ground.
The drizzle had now stopped, leaving dew on everything on the surface of the ground that night.
The dark clouds parted, allowing the moonlight to shine through and bathe the village.
"The boy..."
Jianying turned around and walked toward the young man who lay face down on the ground. Blood still flowed from the wound on his right side, but the young man was still breathing weakly.
"I sense something strange from him."
His right hand moved to draw his katana, feeling something coming from the direction of the village gate.
Three people walked, their faces obscured by black umbrellas. The moonlight then illuminated their figures, revealing their identities. They wore the same Hunter uniform as Jianying.
Only one of them walked in the front, wearing an elegant white silk robe and black matte pumps, distinctly different.
"Ara~ What a delightful coincidence tonight, Manager Jianying."
The woman closed her umbrella as she approached the unconscious young man on the ground. Her subordinates followed her movements.
"Miss Luxia. Good evening."
Jianying slid his katana back into its sheath and bowed slightly in respect to the beautiful woman with long white hair approaching him. He seemed to show her considerable respect.
"No need for formalities, Manager Jianying. Did you come because you sensed it too?"
"Yes, with all due respect. I didn't intend to disturb your investigation, Miss Luxia."
Luxia, the woman with gemstone-violet eyes, shook her head slightly.
"Not at all. In fact, I should be thanking you, Manager Jianying, for killing the Witch who was ravaging this village and saving this young man."
She smiled faintly, gracefully. Her smile was so captivating.
"Is this boy the cause of that big mana presence we detected?" Jianying asked respectfully, his voice capable of melting the hearts of young girls.
Luxia chuckled softly without opening her mouth.
"Yes, it seems that the Grand Witch was looking for something from this boy. Fortunately, he didn't manage to find it."
"... the Grand Witch? Was he looking for this boy?"
Jianying was slightly surprised when Luxia mentioned the cursed Witch's title.
Isn't that the man I've been chasing? Perhaps it's different?
Luxia nodded slightly, hearing Jianying's somewhat surprised question.
"It's just my guess. Even so, this boy is tough. He solo survived after facing a lower-level Arch Witch. Normally, even dozens of third-star agents would struggle and lose many lives fighting an Arch Witch. He has talent."
"That's true." Jianying could only nod in agreement, while Luxia knelt beside the boy and gently stroked his head.
"靜心歸元,
氣轉萬脈,
靈光入骨,
百創皆合.
Jìng xīn guī yuán,
qì zhuǎn wàn mài,
líng guāng rù gǔ,
bǎi chuāng jiē hé.
(Calm your heart and return to the source,
Energy flows through a thousand meridians,
The light of the soul enters the bones,
All wounds heal and unite.)"
A soft purple light enveloped the unconscious boy's body. It closed the gaping wound on his side and stitched up the cuts on his back and left upper arm.
Normally, even the most skilled healers would take around two to three hours to heal such severe wounds.
Miss Luxia truly deserves the title of Goddess of Healing. No one on this earth can heal someone with magic as quickly as she can.
Jianying watched in awe as the soft purple light worked, closing the boy's wounds in mere seconds.
When the healing light faded, Luxia motioned for her young subordinates to carry the boy's body and his staff.
"Let's go. I will take this boy to the academy with me. What about you, Manager Jianying?"
"I'll join you. There are two children who managed to escape from the village in my car. I'll take them to the academy as well. I have a few questions about what happened here."
Luxia smiled and nodded slightly.
"Ara~ In that case, let's go together. There's nothing left here except sorrow."
The three of them turned and walked, with Luxia leading the way. Jianying followed after grabbing one of Muzhe's intact wings.
He looked around. Many of the villagers' houses were destroyed. The scene of human corpses, full of holes and torn apart, was horrific, scattered everywhere.
Jianying could only sigh deeply.
"The inverted cross organization..."
***