The masked man left the room lightly, as if he were on a stroll, not as if he had just infiltrated a secret facility that buried children alive. The red-haired girl and I followed him. But the moment we stepped outside the door, our eyes fell on the corridor.
The hallways I had always seen dark were now destroyed. The walls were smeared with blood, the doors smashed. The guards' corpses lay everywheresome decapitated, others torn into small pieces. Others were still kneeling.
The red haired girl gasped.
"You did this?!" she asked.
The masked man replied without turning, as if answering a question about the weather:
"Hmm, partly. Let's say I contributed about fifty percent to the massacre. My partner is responsible for the other half. Mass killing, as you know, requires planning and fair task distribution."
"Partner?" the girl muttered nervously.
From the end of the corridor, a girl appeared, dragging the corpse of a large guard behind her as if she were hauling a sack of potatoes. She wore a black mask with a smiling face on it. The masked man raised his hands and gestured toward her.
"Meet my partner cold hearted, but don't worry, she has a great sense of humor. Sometimes she laughs like she's heard the best joke ever… only once she's sure the target has stopped breathing."
The masked girl waved to us, then went back to dragging the corpse without saying a word. I looked at the red-haired girl her face had gone completely stiff.
The masked man went on with a forced cheerfulness:
"Don't worry, she only killed those who tried to stop us from entering or those who looked at her in a way she didn't like. Just a suggestion: let's move before she decides her bad mood needs another round of victims."
He continued walking. The masked girl followed him, still dragging the corpse. I froze for a moment. Should I… follow this masked boy? A man who appears out of nowhere, storms into this place, kills guards in cold blood, and wraps it all in sarcasm like he's telling a joke? He seemed insane, maybe more dangerous than the doctor himself. But did I have a better option?
I was about to take a step when I looked at the red-haired girl. She was walking behind him, her face showing not fear but trust. Seeing that trust on her face erased the fear inside me.
With each step I took, my eyes passed over the guards' corpses on the floor. I felt no remorse for them. These men were just tools in a system of torture and killing men who stood silently while children were dragged from their cells, who beat us, watched us, and savored our screams.
They deserved this end. My only regret was that I wasn't the one who ended their lives. We continued in silence through the corridors. The red-haired girl walked beside me; the masked man was a few steps ahead.
Ahead, I saw the exit at the end of the corridor. I saw light coming through not artificial light, but real light. The first sunlight I had seen in years. I ran without thinking, without looking back. I no longer saw blood, no longer saw bodies. There was only one thing in my mind: getting out.
I neared the end of the corridor, saw clear sky beyond it. I reached out my hand but before I could step outside, I felt a hand grab me violently and yank me backward. I fell hard to the cold concrete floor. I looked up to see the masked man standing over me.
"What are you doing, you idiot? Decided to kill yourself in such a pathetic way?" he said.
I exhaled angrily. "What are you talking about? I just wanted to get out…!"
I stood and turned toward the exit again. But this time, I didn't see the opening to the sky that had been there moments ago. Instead, I saw a mass of flesh made up of many small faces distorted faces, half smiling, half screaming. Some had one eye, some none at all. There were hundreds of faces, fused into one body.
The red-haired girl began to vomit. The masked man just stared at the monstrous thing without any reaction.
The creature lunged at us. The masked man pulled a deck of playing cards from his coat pocket. Holding them in one hand, he lifted a silver pendant hanging from his neck with the other and muttered words in a strange language.
The moment he spoke them, the cards flew from his hand, spreading out in the air. Each card stretched, then merged into the next, forming a transparent crystal-like barrier glowing with blue light. The monster slammed into it and recoiled with a snarl.
The masked man wasted no time. He reached into his coat again and pulled out the hilt of a strange sword with no blade. With a flick of his wrist, a blade of water extended from it.
"Stay behind me. This part might get a little messy," he said.
He lunged forward, slashing the watery blade sideways at the monster. But the creature lifted a twisted limb and blocked the strike, knocking the masked man back.
The masked girl moved in from behind. She dashed forward, slicing with her curved dagger at the monster's back. But it spun quickly one arm full of faces slapped her violently, sending her flying into a wall. She hit hard but pushed herself back up immediately.
The masked man drew another set of cards from his coat. "Round one was just the warm-up," he said, then flung them wide in a circular motion. The cards spun faster and faster, then turned into dozens of black crows. They swarmed the monster, their wings humming in a strange tone. Just before touching it, they exploded into dozens of daggers that embedded themselves in its flesh.
A faint cry or was it sobbing? escaped from the monster. For a moment, every face on its body seemed to be in pain. The masked girl seized the moment, slipping around the side, leaping onto one of its limbs, and driving her dagger deep into its lower body. Thick black blood gushed out, and the creature shuddered violently.
But it didn't fall. It turned slowly, a single blood red eye among the mass of faces locking onto the masked girl. The masked man was quick he raised his watery blade with both hands, unleashing a powerful wave of water from it that slammed into the monster and pushed it back several meters.
The creature started moving again this time toward the red-haired girl. Its twisted limbs stretched out like rotting branches, reaching for her.
She barely dodged the attacks. One limb was about to hit her from behind, but a playing card appeared in the air before her, spinning rapidly until it formed into a human shape the masked man.
He lunged, shoving her aside just in time. They both fell to the ground. She got up; he stood calmly, dusting off his coat before saying, "Looks like your reflexes have dulled."
She brushed dirt from her face. "And it looks like you've taken up clowning."
He put a hand to his chest in mock sorrow. "Ah, how painful… saving someone's life, only to be repaid with insults. Life is cruel."
She shook her head slowly. "I'm not joking. I want to know what happened. Three years I was stuck here underground. You? You left, and came back like this? What changed you?"
He paused, about to say something but the masked girl crashed into the corridor wall. The monster roared in the distance, crawling toward them. The masked man took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the sword hilt. "Later," he said without looking at her.
He pointed his watery sword at the monster, then tossed more cards into the air. They scattered around the creature, spinning in invisible circles. Each one began to glow faintly before turning into spectral copies of the masked man, each holding a sword like his.
Strikes came from all sides precise, rapid, leaving the creature no time to retaliate. Every limb it extended was severed before reaching him.
Then the masked girl returned, striking from behind, her dagger burying into its side and throwing it off balance. The massive creature staggered, fell to its knees, then collapsed face-first, utterly defeated.
The masked man stood in silence before it, his eyes fixed on the fallen body. Slowly, he raised his sword. "May you rest in peace at last."
He pushed the blade into the monster's chest quietly, without violence. As the blade sank in, the many faces across its body began smiling, one by one.
For a moment, he didn't move, his watery sword still in its chest, his gaze locked on it. Then he withdrew the blade, wiped its black blood off on his coat sleeve, and turned toward the side corridor.
"Are you going to stay hiding there much longer?" he asked.
No one answered until a human face appeared from behind a wall.
"Valentine Crow…" the masked man said quietly, looking at the newcomer.
A faint smile crossed Valentine's face. "Oh? Seems you know me."
"Valentine Adam Crow. Former senior researcher in the Empire's research division. Dismissed after your experiments were deemed 'inhumane' a mild description, if you ask me. You wandered the lower districts for a while after being thrown out. Then ended up here with the 'Wardens.' Shall I go on?"
"How do you know all this? Who told you?"
"I have my ways."
Valentine chuckled shortly, wagging a finger. "If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself… once I have you on my test table."
"Are you done?" the masked man cut in. "Because honestly, I'm getting bored of your talking."
He raised his watery sword, pointing it at Valentine, and charged. But Valentine didn't move he simply lifted his left hand. The blade met his palm, and he pushed the masked man back. The masked man vanished, leaving only an afterimage.
A playing card appeared above Valentine's shoulder, spinning slowly, then turned into the masked man. His sword came down in a sudden strike.
But Valentine turned at the last second, raising his arm to block. The masked man wasn't aiming to cut he struck him hard in the chest with the hilt, sending him crashing into the wall.
The masked girl had been watching closely. Her eyes moved sharply, her body launching forward the moment Valentine hit the wall. She didn't wait for a signal she attacked at once. But Valentine regained his balance quickly, shifting his body aside so her strike passed harmlessly by.