Chapter 30: Chapter 28 – Bloody Cat

When I was alive, I worked as an assassin. But not just any old assassin, and I didn't work in some shadow organization for a government to take out political enemies. No, I operated on my lonesome, more as a mercenary or wandering rogue. I had a special talent for slaughter and an apathetic personality, though I did have interests and made a family or two.

I may have unexpectedly died for real this time, but I had lived many lives under many names, as is required whenever I garner too much enmity. I called myself a mercenary, but money could be gained from anywhere, even the ground. So I usually worked for things other than money. Like, improving society.

How does a ruthless assassin built for slaughter do good things for society? By cleaning up society's garbage. Harmful elites that suck up resources. Gutter trash that only leeched off government money and slowly killed themselves with narcotics. Or the occasional terrorist only looking to cause trouble.

Naturally, I was a good person doing good things for society. And in doing so I got the moniker "White Joker". Seems the intention was to liken me to a pure wild card. Up until I truly died. Perhaps one of my children or apprentices would take up the mantle. Either way, I spent my extra time in the mental space thinking about my past as a means to preserve my identity without being swallowed up and merged entirely with Iris' soul.

This leads me to another point... It seems Iris too has a talent for slaughter. She doesn't copy my movements but adapts them to her own body structure and senses. It seems this talent was only improved by the partial absorption of my apathetic mentality, the skill "mental resistance". I never had nightmares, but it seems things still weigh on her mind. Perhaps this was preferable.

~~×~~×~~

Carrying Christy, I leapt down to the ground level and, setting her down while telling her to stand back, I carefully approached the door of the warehouse. I could hear movement from inside, but no voices. Only a momentary sound of grinding metal, then nothing. After confirming there was no movement, I opened the door of the warehouse and crept inside.

I saw massive stacks of heavy crates and large metal cages with gridded walls. But not a soul, even with detection. Then I noticed it. Scratch marks on the floor, by one of the large cages. What could the cages be used for? I wondered while shoving the cage out of the way to reveal a trap door.

Before opening it, I took a peak inside the cage. It had been used before, but there wasn't any occupants. Only a mess of torn cloth strewn about inside. I turned away and checked the door, trying to focus my detection through it, but I wasn't able to. Maybe the trap door had resistance to detection magic or something.

And so, gun at the ready, I opened up the trap door slowly. What awaited me was a dimly lit stairwell, at the bottom of which was a sturdy stone door. And again, no humans. At this point though I began to pick up some kind of indistinct noise as I worked my way down the stairs, and a pungent odor pierced my nostrils. Although I wear a mask, scents are unfiltered. I got it for cheap at the time, so this may have been a reason why. Even so, I would consider it a boon.

I reached the door and began to slowly push it open as I was immediately assailed by the sounds of inhuman groans and screams. I noticed signs of dried blood on the bottom of the door and the floor on the inside. This inner room was equally dimly lit by light-emitting magic fixtures in the room.

Inside I saw a familiar, horrid sight. Many engineers, most male and some female, dressed in dull, dark cloaks and full-face masks, with an insignia on the backs of the cloaks. It was a bright red pair of claws behind the head of a reaper. The iconography surrounding both of these was that of a yellow magic circle. These were illegal engineers. As for what they were doing here... I saw several familiar cages and a series of operating tables. One cages held lifeless bodies of misshapen creatures, and another two held terrible chimeras of all kinds inside. 

The last cages held humans in them, some men and women, but mostly minors. They were all trembling and sniveling in fear while "subjects" were already being experimented on at the operating table. One table had the body of a kid, but all of their limbs were elongated by more than twice the length, and transmogrified into some kind of insectoid limbs. They have been screaming bloody murder ever since I opened the door, while the goons and engineers seemed to be used to the noise. I glanced back at christy, who had a terrified expression at the top of the stairs.

I couldn't let this go on. Problem was, how to engage. There were rogue types as well as engineers that can use frontier magic. Then, kill the rogues first, afterwards eliminate the casters. I channeled my mana into the air and formed a chain of darts, invisibly connecting with each other like a belt by my pointer finger. I rushed in through the door and shot the first rogue in the head, blowing his brains out. The crowd hadn't caught on to the sudden death yet so I continued.

I pointed my gun one way and my finger the other. I sent three mana darts into the head of my next victim, and a bullet into the other. I had dispatched three and the group began to flail around, panicking to turn and see their aggressor. But I gave them no time. I sent the last of the darts between to engineers and into the chest of a larger rogue, downing him. I leapt around and fired multiple bullets into the collar of a female rogue. I had yet to see the man from earlier.

I stowed my gun and pulled out one of my blades while empowering my claws. There were only engineers left now, and they had gotten into position, shouting amongst themselves. Apparently two of them had melee training as they pulled out a rapier and sword. I dashed in close, catching them off guard.

Engi 3: "W-wha-!"

Engi 5: "So fast!"

I ripped out the throat of the rapier-wielding engineer and blood spurt out to coat my side as the sword wielder charged at me with a yell. He brought the sword down but I slipped under and sliced open his armpit, severing the tendons before clawing out the backs of his knees. As the man fell to the ground, I dodged a pair of spells thrown at me, but something small impacted my armored dress. 

Engi 4: "What, she can block a steamgun shot with that dress?!"

A bullet? So one of them was a gunner. I crouched down into cat-style and Leapt forward. I estimated the trajectory of his aim and twisted around as the gunman shot several times, missing or grazing me. I chopped off his hands and roundhouse-kicked him away. The other two cast ice and fire magic at me, which I dodged with a backflip to make them collide, providing a vast steam-screen for me.

I plunged my blade into the chest of the female engineer, puncturing her heart and lungs with a single stab. I watched the life slip from her eyes, partly hidden by the tinted lenses of the mask.

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Engi 1: "Dammit, where the hell are you, damn brat!"

I slipped through the artificial fog and behind the last engineer holding some kind of staff. I grabbed the back of his neck and dug my claws into his veins.

Iris: "Tell me where the man who came in here a moment ago went. I know he just came back from the outside."

Engi 1: "T-The boss..? Sure, whatever, as long as I get to live-! He's in the office at the back! Please don't-!"

Having extracted the information, I crushed his head into the floor. The only sound left in this large room was the sounds of pain and fear. I approached the kid with arachnid limbs and looked down at him. He only flinched and gazed up at me with fear.

Iris: "...Don't worry. You're safe now. Shall I end your suffering?"

He simply stared into my eyes before nodding. "Please... Kill me..." And so, I put the barrel of my gun against his head and snuffed out the light of his soul. A quick and painless death. It must be done. Unfortunately, he was the only one still sentient and alive among the operating tables, so I made my way towards the door in the back. I kicked it open with enough force to make it fly off its hinges and let out my Killing Intent.

A clattering sound and a shout could be heard from inside the brightly lit room. It was clean and proper, with a large desk at the back and shelves lining the walls. At the end was the man I tailed previously, falling back against the wall in surprise from the door being destroyed and the sudden pressure

Boss-man?: "W-Who the hell is it?! Why'd you break my door?!"

I stepped into the room without response and strode towards him quickly. At the same time, I raised my gun and shot his right bicep twice. The pain and force should temporarily cripple his dominant arm. He slumped against the wall after shouting in pain and grimacing at me.

Boss-man: "What the fuck?! Some little girl?! Who are you!"

Iris: "I'm asking the questions, so be obedient or I'll torture you until I can figure out how to forcefully extract my answers."

He paled at my response and a look of terror started creeping into his expression. I grabbed a chair and sat in it. I gestured for him to sit aswell, and he slowly took a seat.

Iris: "So first, tell me who you people are and what exactly you're doing."

He smirked a bit before answering. "You don't even know who we are...? Then let me say you-"

I summoned three magic darts and sent them flying into his other arm, piercing nearly all the way through. This prompted another groan of pain from him, and silence, until he answered. It took him a moment so I conjured more darts and had them slowly spin in a circle around the tip of my finger, which I was pointing at the ceiling.

Boss-man: "...We're the Alchemists of the Deep. We perform human experiments on the dregs of society to create monsters we can control as weapons to crush the elite and bring about a new world order."

Iris: "A new world order? Are you some kind of fucking storybook villains?! And youd use innocent children and men for such a ridiculous goal?!"

Boss: "Ridiculous?! What would you know! You're clearly some noble scum thats grinding society into dust! You probably don't even care about these slum dwellers, hypocrite!"

Iris: "...Enough out of you, vermin." I kicked the desk and sent it flying into the man's gut, pinning him against the chair and the wall. I got up and reached out with my claws, digging into his neck with them. He reached up and grabbed my arm, spouting obscenities and pleas to spare his life. I pierced his neck with each claw and used wind magic to send compressed air into his bloodstream. He began to panic before, in moments, i could hear his vessels beginning to burst from the pressure and blood nearly exploded from every orifice on his body. 

I retracted my hand and shook it off, before leaving the room. I set the remaining captives free and left. The Alchemists of the Deep, huh? These would be my new enemies.

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