Chapter 30: Retribution
The clanking of locks sounds out throughout the entire dungeon prison.
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Each prisoner is given a selection of weapons to choose from. They carried clubs, swords, daggers and even blood blades were offered to be chosen from. Groups of prisoners formed together with a common goal in mind. All the while Kalika continued to sleep without a care until her cell door was finally unlocked as well.
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Kalika didn't have much care and started to go back to her nap. She quickly snapped to her senses, realizing that she could waste time. It was the start of the hunt.
She made a dash for her cell door only to be shocked to find a mass of prisoners waiting for her at both ends of the hall.
"What the-! H-how am I supposed to get out of here!?" Kalika keeps her hands grasped on the bar of her cell, frantically searching around for a potential opening.
"Don't make us wait now!" A prisoner showed up excitedly, showing his ugly mug to Kalika and scaring her. The door was forcefully opened. Kalika backs herself into a wall, trying to think of a way out of this dire predicament.
"Hey guys, why don't we play with her a little before we kill the little witch." The ugly mugged prisoner enters the cell along with a few other Prisoners.
"Don't think about it."
"Careful she might bring out her blade" Another calls out.
"Who cares about that? Look at her."
"Yeah. Yeah. she's like a scared little girl."
Kalika tried to scarp what little courage she has, looking at the men in defiance.
"Hey look I think she's trying to scare us," a prisoner outside said.
Just as the ugly man was about to touch Kalika, his head suddenly exploded to everyone's shock.
"W…What!!"
The spectacle left everyone speechless. That man's head just exploded out of nowhere! Kalika looking around quickly realized that this was the perfect opportunity to try to at least escape.
Soaked in blood she sprinted and pushed past a few prisoners.
"What are you doing!! She's escaping!!!"
The prisoners dashed madly to catch Kalika. The adrenalin was pumping through her, she felt far ahead of them, so she looked back to find them not even a foot behind.
"I have to get to that hall, Then I can lose these guys!"
"Urk!"
Kalika spat out blood and found that a spear had penetrated her stomach. A prisoner threw the spear, and another was sent flying to her. It went through her chest.
"N…No I can't… stop…" She feels her feet slipping. she loses balance and falls.
"Nice shot!"
Her vision started to go hazy. She tried crawling but to the hall intersection before her, then someone got in front of her. She looked up to find a familiar face. "R-Rhonda?"
Rhonda pulled out the two spears from Kalika's body, all the while the prisoner kept running to get to Kalika. Rhonda glared back up at the men, her pink eyes glowing much more brightly. The prisoners found themselves in a dark forest. They looked up to find that there was no sky, only the ceiling of what seems to be a very large cave.
"W-where the hell are we???"
A sense of someone watching them made their spines tingle, having them on high alert. They all looked around, spreading out. The Yelp of one prisoner echoes. The scream of another. The sound of something slithering just on the ground, then a sudden yank.
"Aaahhhhhh!!!!"
"What the hell is going on!!??"
One of the prisoners looked around to find many pink eyes staring at him. "Stay away! Don't come near me!"
The crunching of leaves and branches sound off. All the while the pattering of small footsteps gets louder. He turned to find a horrendous looking demon standing over him. His screams echo around as the other prisoners are getting attacked by many smaller beasts and demons.
Back with Kalika she watches the horde of men convulsing and cowering aside from a few who looked away. She looked back at Rhonda to find herself looking paler and exhausted. She forces a smile for Kalika before turning her attention back to the few remaining men.
The Prisoner that remained looked around to find the pitiful state of the other men.
"Pathetic, I warned them too about the maid."
"What do we do about her?"
"Dumbass. We just kill her." He rushes straight at Rhonda with no hesitation to attack her! She caught the blade in his hands, keeping it off her. But she found her strength slowly waning.
"Rhonda!" Kalika watched as Rhonda was barely holding off against the man. She felt useless as she struggled in front of her.
Looking at the man's legs however, Kalika got an idea. She grabbed him by his legs, and with all her strength, pushed his leg up. He lost his balance falling over hard onto his head with a loud cracking sound emanating upon impact.
Another man charged right at them, and without thinking Kalika got in front of Rhonda taking the stab in the chest.
Rhonda was taken aback by this sudden action. "K…Kalika??"
"Y-your fight is with me. But then again… I guess all the prisoners here are just dumb."
"B-but Why??" Rhonda cries a little seeing Kalika protect her.
Kalika grabbed the blade of the man pulling it out of herself. The man becomes shocked, trying to resist her. Eventually she pulled the blade from her chest. "If you were to die now, who else would cut my hair later?"
The man freaked out seeing Kalika glaring at him. "What the hell are you!!"
Kalika starts to breathe more heavily and tries to keep herself composed. The man snatched his blade away from Kalika's grasp.
"Just Die!!"
Kalika closes her eyes, ready to be struck down. The sound of blades clashing rang out through the prison hall. She opened her eyes to find Rhonda fending off the blade of the man with another familiar red blade.
"A blood blade?"
"What the fuck!" The prisoner was getting annoyed now.
Rhonda completely deflected the blade. Another prisoner approached from behind, but upon seeing Rhonda's glowing eyes he practically went limp.
Rhonda backed away quickly. Kalika saw that her hand was trembling uncontrollably.
"Rhonda. No. I have to leave now!"
"...I'm sorry… But no.." a gulp is heard from Rhonda as though she chugged down a cup of water. Another gulp. Then another. And another. And then another.
"What is she-?"
"Miss Kalika… please flee." Rhonda looked back at Kalika briefly with a flush red face and a smile. To Kalika's surprise, Rhonda's tail then popped out from under her skirt, moving around erratically. "Please go now," Rhonda said.
"Fine," Kalika said. Not wasting another minute Kalika turned to enter the booby-trapped hallway.
"You idiot. When did she become so reckless!?"
A sudden numbness overcame Kalika. "W-when did I-? Kalika looked over to her left to find a tall man in brown long hair, posed with his attack completed. She felt herself falling over, watching as more prisoners were joining him, watching and relishing her downfall.
"No! I can't stop now!"
Kalika's vision left her, only for her to return to finding herself being slashed in the chest with the same sword.
"Again!"
Kalika fell to their back. Looking behind, seeing it right in front of her. Her vision was fading yet again.
"I Have to-!"
"-ow is she still moving!?"
Kalika found herself scampering into the hall.
"Don't let her escape!"
A stab through her chest once again from the very same man's sword. She didn't let this stop her however as she leaped into the booby-trapped hall. She slid on the ground, blood gushing out her chest. one of the men with the long brown-haired man chased after Kalika. He swings his club, aiming for Kalika.
THWARP!
Everyone witnesses the man instantly die, seeing iron spears protruding from the ground and through his head and body.
"Dumbass," the brown-haired man said.
"What do we do now Maverick?"
Kalika notice the prisoner addressing the tall brown man
"Maverick?"
Maverick turned around heading back down the hall where he came from. "We wait," He says. "She's bound to be hungry at some point, she can't hide in that hall forever. You two wait over by the mess hall and let us know if you see her."
"Sure."
"Got it."
Kalika simply watched the men leave as she slowly died. Waking back up she found that they were now gone. Kalika leaned herself back onto the wall to catch her breath.
"What the hell. It wasn't even ten minutes, and all these people were after me…"
After a few moments, Kalika started to hear a weird sound coming from the prisoner hall with her cell. Kalika shimmied past the first trapped to take a peek only to immediately regret it.
She quickly looked away blushing flush red.
"H-how can she do something so embarrassing!!?? I-I saw nothing!" Kalika covered her ears.
Kalika looks down at the dark booby-trapped hall. "I-I should head deeper… J-just in case anyone else tries to follow…" Kalika glances behind herself before trekking into the Hall, she instantly gets killed by a trap.
She awakens, taking note of the trap. Unknown to her, an eye on the ceiling is watching. Elsewhere a demon with green eyes and a broken horn has been observing her through this. He chuckles to himself.
"Clever girl. Perhaps I should've made this area off limits too… no matter what." The demon closed his eyes, opening them, now in front of the Daji, Valam and florin.
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"," Rakon Said.
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Kalika continues to walk in the dungeon; she peeked around every corner, died by many traps and still found no guards in sight.
"I guess they didn't feel a need to have guards in booby trapped hallways but still…" Kalika looked behind herself to find many of the traps going off. They looked broken. "Why are there so many traps!?"
Kalika then came across a very familiar corridor. She followed it all the way through, knowing there wouldn't be any traps. Until she came to a very familiar room.
It was the resting place of her adopted father, who Lillian had killed many years ago. It looked well-kept aside from the dust collecting. The urn was still on its pedestal and the heirlooms haven't moved an inch. Some dying dahlias looked to be placed right at the foot of the pedestal.
Kalika looked at the flowers beneath her bitterly. "I had no Idea that this place was so close…"
Kalika places her hand on the urn, with memories of simpler times. And the memory of when she first met him. She can somehow still remember seeing him ready to strike her down as a five-year-old child only to hesitate.
"What a fool of a man…"
Looking back up at the heirlooms, Kalika noticed some Magic crystals. Her eyes widened in shock. Finding her eyes glued to them. There were three different crystals: a Red crystal, a blue crystal and a green crystal.
"I… I can use these!" Kalika quickly pushed herself to the crystals picking one up, and to her shock it immediately turned gray. "W-what the-! N-no way." Kalika picked up another with the same result, then the last that also turned gray.
"W-why did they turn gray!?" she held all three in her hand in bewilderment. "A-am I going insane???"
The sound of footsteps approaching becomes audible. She looked back, sensing three demons. "N-no way! it couldn't be. H-how did they find me!???"
Kalika quickly hid behind the podium, keeping still and quiet. "Just leave. Just leave!"
The eyes of three demons peered over Kalika.
"Naughty girl." Valam said in the human language.
Daji soon after destroyed the entire podium that housed her adopted father's ash. Kalika was then grabbed and thrown across the room.
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Kalika couldn't understand a word they were saying. But despite this she understood that they didn't have any good intentions. With what energy she had, she quickly got up to run away from them only for something to grab her by her hair.
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