kidnapped(2)
Inside the abandoned mansion, in one of the rooms. There, a lady with silver hair, looking at the moon view at the window.
The room is dimly lit, with cracked and peeled paint floor. A single, broken window allows the bluish of light from the moon to penetrate the heavy stillness. Cobwebs drape from the corners, and an old, cobweb-covered chair stands alone in the center. The air is thick with the musty scent of neglect, amplifying the profound sense of isolation.
Marysville closed her eyes, feeling the comfort of the quiet place. Until she heard a few heavy steps outside, slowly approaching the room.
The man walking in a dark hallway seems to be the leader of the bandits. He looks to be around in his mid thirties. He is wearing a dark, sleeveless, hooded tunic and a long, draped bottom. Dark pants, and sturdy boots. He has a sword on each side of his torso. In his hand is a wooden tray with a clear glass of water.
The man finally arrives and opens the door, seeing Marysville looking so relaxed and comfortable with the place made him feel uncomfortable.
"This girl might have some screw loose in the head." Looking at Marysville with a disturbed face.
How can someone be this relaxed even after they get kidnapped?
Crazy… I was right, that family is full of crazy lunatics.
"Tch…" The bandit rubbed his head out of disturbance. I don't understand what our boss is thinking, accepting this commission about abducting this girl. He sighs in disbelief.
Marysville is standing right by the window, looking at the beautifully blue-tinted moon outside. She turns her body to face the man who has entered the room. Looking at him emotionlessly, she swiftly changes her mood, smiling at him with her eyes closed.
The bandit's resolve wavered as he caught sight of Marysville's smiles. To him, Marysville gleamed like a fallen angel, a celestial vision tempting him with a glimpse of paradise. He stared in awe, momentarily lost in its ethereal beauty, before reality pulled him back.
The bandit glances at Marysville in discomfort before approaching her. "Here's the water that you asked for." He handed the tray and immediately left the room.
Just by the time the bandit was about to close the door, Marysville uttered a word.
"You surprisingly followed my request like that… How kind." Marysville said playfully and smiled at him with eyes.
The bandit was speechless. He continues to walk outside the room hoping for everything to just end.
"Why does it feel like I'm the one who got kidnapped now." Looking stressed, he sighs and smiles in distress. This unsettling feeling she's giving… Finally closing the door and walking through the dark hallway.
Marysville, who remained still until the man left the room, walked closer to the chair while drinking a glass of water.
Should I just let everything flow as it is and not interfere while waiting for the brothers to get here? Marysville asked herself.
As Marysville swallows the last drop of water from the glass, she suddenly hears an extremely loud booming noise coming from below the floor.
Marysville herself doesn't know what floor she's currently on since she was knocked out with chloroform—sleeping gas—and taken unconscious to this abandoned mansion, which has left her worried.
What the hell was that noise?
—
On the second floor of the abandoned mansion.
Luis runs around, chased by seven or more bandits.
The mansion hallway was long and narrow, with walls blown apart and debris scattered everywhere. The floor is covered in rubble and dust, with broken glass and splintered wood.
Smoke lingers in the air, and the once-clear path is obstructed by fallen chunks of concrete. Any light fixtures are shattered, leaving the space dim and eerie. The air smells of smoke and burning materials, making it hard to breathe. This was the result of the bombing Marysville heard.
I can't waste more time here.
"Seven versus one… that's unfair you know." Luis mumble.
One of the bandits chasing after him heard Luis' complaint. The bandit reacted playfully and shouted.
"Unfair? What unfair? Lord Luis!!!"
"Shut up, can't you?" Luis annoyingly said.
Luis darted through the hallway, his eyes roaming like a restless searchlight. He scanned frantically, until he spotted another staircase ahead. However, jagged chunks of broken concrete loomed like fallen barriers, blocking his path to the stairs.
The man who's leading the group of bandits noticed this and laughed crazily.
Luis stopped midways because of the obstacle that he created himself.
This was my doing to begin with-… bombing the place. Luis sighs gently. "This impediment was created by me, myself."
Seeing Luis halt midway, the bandits advanced with a predatory grace, circling him like wolves closing in on cornered prey.
When the bandits were mere meters away, Luis raised his empty hands in a gesture of surrender, while the hand clutching his sword stayed resolute at his side, a silent promise of defiance.
The bandits flinched as soon as they saw Luis raise his hands.
In that fleeting moment, seven radiant lights materialized behind Luis, forming the shape of small sticks. His raised hand suddenly slashed forward, and in an instant, the seven luminous sticks vanished from his back, as if absorbed into the very air.
Unbeknownst to them, the bandits' heads were already struck by the very sticks that had moments before hovered behind Luis, their appearance swift and ghostly. The bandits fell on the ground without knowing the cause of their deaths.
—
On the other side, in Marysville's location, she could hear light footsteps approaching her room in a marching manner.
As soon as the door opened, Marysville saw five bandits outside. Four of them remained outside, guarding the room, while the other one opened the door.
Stepping inside the room, he saw Marysville's left hand holding an empty water-glass. And on her right hand, a wooden, circle-tray resting onto her right side.
Marysville noticed that the man was the same person who had given her the water. She also noticed that there were more men outside the room this time, in addition to him. Despite knowing the reason, Marysville still asked why.
"That's alotta guard in there.
"Because of the bombing just now perhaps?"
The man remained silent and closed the door silently, turning his back to Marysville.
Marysville saw this as her moment. Moving like a shadow toward the unguarded man, she lifted the wooden tray in her right hand and brought it crashing against the wall beside his head, the sound exploding like thunder in the silent room.
BANG!
The guys outside the room were alerted by the loud noise.
"Boss, what happened?"
"What was that sound, boss?"
The voices outside the room were barely heard inside.
Marysville stood by the door, next to the man who was tightly holding her right hand.
"Aw… aw…" Marysville groans in pain.
The man looked at Marysville piercely before answering the questions of his co-workers.
"It's nothing…" He said indifferently. Before yanking Marysville's hand.
The moment he yanked Marysville's hand, the scent of blood hit him like a sudden gust of wind. His years as a bandit had sharpened his senses, making him as attuned to danger as a wolf to the scent of prey.
The man's eyes roamed over Marysville's body, but before he could fully take in the scene, Marysville's blade flashed like lightning, slashing his throat in an instant to silence him before a sound could escape.
Blood trickled down the man's throat like a dark, sinister stream. In the dim light, he noticed a shard of cracked glass glinting in Marysville's bleeding left hand, like a jagged jewel of peril.
What the hell-
Before the man could even react, Marysville's next move was a swift, predatory strike aimed at his eyes. He raised his right hand in a desperate shield, but the blade cut through it like a hot knife through butter, leaving a trail of crimson in its wake.
"Tch…" Marysville frowns.
The man tried to scream, but his voice was silenced, as if a ghost had stolen it. It dawned on him why Marysville had struck his throat first—to stifle any sound of pain that might have escaped his lips.
F**k
The man had no choice but to fight back against Marysville. With a grim resolve, he drew the sword from his left side, his right hand rendered almost useless and clumsy from the wound Marysville had inflicted.
But before he could fully draw his sword, Marysville struck like a viper. With a swift, decisive movement, she drove her blade into his heart, the final blow delivering a cruel, silent end.
Blood dripped slowly into the man's mouth, each drop a dark testament to his fate. His gaze, heavy with realization, moved from the blade embedded in his heart to meet Marysville's eyes, which burned with a fierce, unyielding intensity.
To think she would use a loud noise to cover up the sound of the cracking glass and use a shard of cracked glass as a weapon to keep me from making a sound.
I underestimated this young girl. To think she was also chosen by a god to bear a stigma… summoning a weapon using that power.
The man's eyes drifted to Marysville's face, her expression a mask of cold determination, before he lost his balance and collapsed, like a marionette with its strings cut.
Marysville caught the falling man, her body becoming a silent cushion to stifle any sound. She slowly guided him onto the seat, positioning him like a lifeless marionette. As she tapped his shoulder twice, the small knife in her right hand vanished into the air, as if it had dissolved into a wisp of smoke, leaving no trace of its presence.
—
Somewhere outside the room where Marysville was, a tall shadowy figure grinned with a predatory satisfaction. His eyes, like twin lanterns in the dark, pierced through the walls to watch the unfolding drama with cold, detached interest.
The mysterious figure took a step forward, and the bluish moonlight spilled over him like a revealing curtain. His pale-blue hair gleamed with an ethereal glow, unveiling the striking visage of a handsome young man. It was Anastasious Fei Light, the man destined to be Marysville's fiancé and the king of this realm, emerging from the shadows like a celestial being.