What Remained

The whispers stopped. The air stilled. Only the rhythmic sounds of Boris's brass knuckles slamming into the ground could be heard.

"Five swings."

Boris was completely absorbed in his actions; he didn't even know that the man was already dead.

There were still five more swings left.

Why stop when punishment had yet to be meted?

He put another dash of smelling salts on the man's body. It only spasmed uncontrollably.

Boris unleashed the Thumb's fury, rending the floor until there was nothing left but a pile of mashed flesh.

But not everyone was paying attention to that.

The Soldato's nose twitched as the air turned pink. The smell of candy floss wormed into the guests' lungs, causing most of the residents to cough violently.

Another participant wished to join the slaughter.

A haunting giggle echoed in the air as a figure by the side of the ring revealed itself, tossing a writhing woman onto the floor. She coughed out a mouthful of brackish blood before perishing.

Stella's eyes hardened, pulling out a device from her coat.

"Aggression on floor twelve. Appears to use hallucinogens. Evacuate the civilians to the lower floors. Do not engage!" Stella disappeared with a stomp of her foot, reappearing behind Asher.

The guests began to stream away on their own.

Mei was the only one that had to be forcefully evacuated, screaming and shouting as she was dragged out by a pair of Soldatos.

Stella closed her mouth to prevent herself from inhaling the affected air. She could hold it for... Tick Tock... Thirty-five minutes. More than enough.

Asher jerked his knife back, straight toward Stella's eye.

It didn't budge. The Capo had caught it with a pinch of her finger.

"Boy. Why are you doing this? This is needless."

She glared at Boris, who just nearly pounced on Asher for attacking a Capo. The boy reluctantly backed away.

"Hahaha! You can simply kill those who disrespected you, but what about me?! THEY DISRESPECTED ME! THEY'VE TAINTED HER!!" Asher let out a screeching, inhuman wail.

With that, Asher twisted around, snapping his teeth into Stella's hand with all his strength. She flinched for a fraction of a second, giving Asher enough leeway to smash his forehead precisely on her nose.

"Ah, fuck..." Stella tried to kick him away, but Asher only used the sweeping wind to flutter away, like a leaf in a storm.

The Capo shook her head, clearing her mind in an instant.

"I can see why Boss is so interested in you now." Her nose was a little bruised, but not bleeding. Still, it was an impressive feat.

Stella flicked her hand, gesturing for Boris to leave.

Boris shrugged. It seemed she wished to face this kid alone. She could probably finish the job.

'What the hell's with this kid? I've never met a person so attached to someone else.' Stella groaned as Asher swished the fan in his hand, more out of exasperation out of anything else. Why was the boy so desperate?

Asher swished his fan once more, a confused expression touching his face. Wasn't this supposed to work?

The reality was not so simple. Elena could only be affected by it through Mei's weak mind. Capo Stella was hand chosen by Sottocapo Kalo; she was nowhere as weak as Mei.

"-!" He gasped as Stella appeared in front of him, sweeping her outstretched leg over his shins. They snapped like twigs.

Mei screamed behind him as the elevator doors began to close.

The force of Stella's kick caused Asher to spin several times before he planted his face into the ground. He winced as his ribs broke and splintered under the impact.

But not a glimpse of pain was on his expression. He laughed maniacally instead, as a blue glow surfaced on his skin.

Just before the attack, he switched to the Fairy Queen.

[Sustained damage over maximum threshold. [Frenzy] has been activated.]

[...Temperance condition has been met!]

Stella blinked as the entire floor fused with the smell of blood. This was the fairy suit her Sottocapo saw in the video of the boy's fight with the meat butcher.

But now it was leaking blood. Now she couldn't help but feel an ominous pressure from the boy in the middle.

The Fairy was hungry.

'That's it. Time to end this farce.'

Stella leapt up, pushing off of the ceiling dozens of feet away to shoot downward in a meteoric descent.

Straight into the boy's hand.

'Wha-!'

He caught it. The floor crumpled as Asher's knees creaked. The downward force caused Asher's broken shin bones to pierce through his flesh.

Stella's thoughts cut off as her breath was knocked out of her in a vicious punch to the stomach. Her eyes glazed over.

The last hinge of rationality snapped.

She snarled.

"Fucking brat." She leaned closer to his ear. "Wanna know what people called me in my time?"

Asher looked at her with frenzied eyes. He didn't care whatsoever.

Stella barked with laughter, leaning forward once more. She grabbed his wrist with both hands. Flipping him off the ground, she used that moment of leverage-

To twist his hand off.

Asher clenched his jaw, cracking his molars under the pressure. But not a single sound came from him.

Stella dashed forward, viciously biting his eye. Blood burst in her mouth as she cleanly shaved off his pupil with her canines.

Before he could even feel the pain from his eye, she swung a knee into his ribcage.

Asher's eyes widened as he felt his ribs pierce his lungs, just millimeters away from his heart. Blood burst from his mouth as he flew to the other side of the room, slamming into a cabinet of wine glasses.

Only four seconds had passed. Only four fairies had spawned.

Asher gurgled as blood welled in his throat. He couldn't see from his left eye.

The Capo spat the flesh out of her mouth.

"Mad Demon! That's what they called me!"

A couch flew toward him from dozens of meters away, pulverizing the wine cabinet behind him as he flung himself sideways with his hand.

Straight into her knee.

Asher let out his first scream as Stella's knee burst a hole in his stomach.

'Fuck! Is what Kalo meant when he said Stella was stronger than Sayako? She's fucking insane!'

Stella didn't give him a single second to think, digging her fingers into his broken shins, using his bones as handles to swing his body onto the ground.

Asher's vision dimmed

Rush, rush, rush.

Stella stomped on his mangled legs, five, ten, fifteen times a second, mashing them to paste.

Tears welled in her eyes as she laughed sadistically, completely out of control.

Her visage held a strange note of sorrow. But she didn't stop.

Only six fairies were latched onto her body, and only four more were whizzing toward her from behind.

Only ten seconds had passed.

Through the haze of red, I contemplated my life.

Am I still so weak? Have I not improved at all?

If this was my past self, just how easy would killing her be?

What's missing? I thought I could do it.

Was I just dreaming?

An oozing darkness bubbled inside me.

I need something more.

A chance, a weakness in the chains.

The chains that bound me so.

[....! -! Erro-r %^&*!]

The System was quickly overpowered by 'my' mind.

...

[Ahahaha. Want to find out? I can give you a taste...]

A voice echoed in Asher's ears amidst the pain. It had a striking similarity to his own.

It was his past self.

Before he could even respond, he felt a roaring rush in his ear. Adrenaline. 'His' instructions whispered in his mind.

The System glitched with static.

[...R-Re-establishing partial control. Temperance +???? Insight +???? Justice +???????]

A seven digit Justice was added to his.

"Mad Demon?? Kekeke... HAHAHA!" Asher used his remaining hand to twist his body away from Stella's assault.

He pushed off from the ground, his hands forming into a claw.

Elena taught him a lot in his last life.

Including this.

Stella couldn't react in time as Asher's fingers sliced into her eyes, digging them out slowly.

A new sensation, having her eyes ripped out. Tears flowed, covering her eyes as they attempted to make the intrusive irritant slip off. Asher's grip wouldn't allow that.

Stella could feel his individual fingers sliding to the back of her retinas. Pain beyond imagination, like a nest of fire ants crawling in her flesh.

She screamed as Asher cleanly ripped out her eyes with one hand.

He flung them to the side, clutching the back of Stella's neck as she stumbled to the floor.

"Mad?"

Stella's teeth broke as Asher slammed his skull into her mouth.

"Demon?"

Stella's jaw shattered as Asher did it once more, with even more strength.

"Don't."

Stella wheezed as Asher's fist slammed into her windpipe. She couldn't breathe. Please, stop.

"Make!"

Asher yanked her hair, slamming the Capo's face into his knee. Twice more. Now her bones were visible. Please, stop.

"Me!"

Using both hands, he tore her jaw off of her skull with a vicious howl. Please stop. Please stop! She's going to die!

"LAUGH!"

That same jaw smashed into her eye sockets. Stella let out an inhuman sob as she begged him for some easier way to die.

'Please...'

"STOPPP!!" Asher screamed, backing away from the mutilated body.

[Re-establishing full control. Increasing mind's defenses. Reverting stats.]

"FAIRIES, STOP!!" He panted erratically. They floated to his side, sinking into the floor.

[A savage viciousness fades in the presence of unwavering morals. Justice +20.]

[...Good job.]

"You devil... I-I don't want your damned strength..."

That oozing malice sank below his heart, disappearing into the well in his soul.

He laid his ear against the chest of the body in front of him.

Thump... Ba-thump...

She was still alive. Still alive. Her ears twitched. She could still hear. She was still conscious, if just barely.

"Please, don't die... I'm sorry for starting all of this, it was my fault... Don't die..."

*Ding!*

The elevator opened.

Boris's eyes widened at the sheer carnage. It seemed he underestimated both of their strengths. He bowed to Stella's gurgling body, then to Asher's tear-stained countenance.

He used to think Stella's reputation was merely fabricated. He used to wonder why she was so interested in the boy. Both uncertainties were solved today.

"B-Boris! Save her!"

The boy didn't respond, pointing beside Asher instead.

Sottocapo Kalo glared down at them.

"Capo Stella." His gravelly voice cut through the air like a knife.

"Ghap-ghapo..." Stella staggered to her knees, facing her superior despite her missing jaw and eyes.

"I'm sorely disappointed. You didn't kill him fast enough."

"..."

Kalo flicked his wrist toward the wall a few meters away.

With a deafening boom, a hole was smashed into the wall. The outside smoke began to pour in.

"You too, boy. You didn't kill her fast enough." Asher's vision flickered. The Sottocapo's 'disappointment' filled him with a sense of primordial dread.

Kalo's reason for disappointment was identical for each of them.

In the end, the man didn't care what the outcome was.

Asher flinched. But not before the words he wished to say spewed from his mouth.

"Your Capo is dying! Save her!"

Kalo ignored his words, taking a long look at the ravaged scenery around them. His subordinates should not be so incapable.

"Don't try to land."

Asher glanced at the white-haired man, confused.

"...The Sottocapo has spoken." Boris curled his lips, casting away his respectful tone. There was no respect to be given for a dead woman.

Asher's eyes widened.

Stella gurgled, lurching to her feet.

She staggered to the hole in the wall.

And wobbled off without a sound.

"You. Follow her." The Sottocapo turned to him.

"H-Huh?" Asher ignored his mangled legs, staring at the hole in the wall.

Asher yelped as Boris slammed his fist onto the wall, causing a loud explosion behind him.

"Get the fuck out, Fixer."

"..."

Behind Asher were the elevators.

In front of Asher was the hole in the wall.

The choice was simple.

Asher crawled to the hole in the wall.

And pushed himself off.

From the twelfth floor.