At that moment, Carla smiled slightly, a visible purple glow in her eyes as she watched this man who (strangely enough) seemed to be aging rapidly, his skin withering, his bones crushing, until-
"Crack!"
He shattered into fine dust, leaving behind his clothing and, of course, his accessories.
"Minty!!!" one of the remaining five men yelled while the rest of the crowd took a step back.
"Swoosh!" Carla moved once more, turning into a blur of motion that zigzagged past two more men, their throats spewing blood as they staggered and slumped to the ground.
"Chk!"
A sickening crack broke through as Carla pierced one of the dying men with her tail, watching him age rapidly.
"Ahhhh!" the religious woman shrieked, her eyes widened with terror as she ran away, her husband and another short man following close behind.
The rain poured thick, dimming the senses, and in this downpour, Mr. Valen watched quietly as Carla absorbed the bodies of the two men, their ashes washed away by the flowing water.
'What's wrong with her?' he thought, his head tilted slightly. He observed that Carla, despite having absorbed more energy, seemed exhausted, her skin slightly swollen, her veins bulging as she turned in the direction that her victims ran.
'Efficient,' Mr. Valen thought as he observed her mannerisms, his form erect amid the rain, his hands behind his back as he watched her dash toward her target.
"I'd better follow," he muttered and kicked off the ground, mud splashing as he followed after her.
----
Meanwhile, "Huh... huh... huh..." Carla let out audible, strained breaths as she chased the group of three, her sight set on the weakest of the bunch (a short man with a potbelly).
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" The pot-bellied man yelled once he noticed that he was falling behind the couple, his breath erratic as he glanced behind him, only to lock eyes with another being, a woman, her eyes aglow with a devilish purple.
"Bam!" He yelled and tripped in fright, landing violently on the muddy ground with a haphazard roll.
"P-please don't kill me I'll confess, I'll confess!" The man screamed, scooting his form back until he hit a nearby tree.
Carla, her eyes slightly bloodshot, simply walked up to him, closer, and closer, a glimmer of curiosity flashing in her eyes. "What did you do?" She asked, her voice raspy.
That same voice sounded like coercion from a demon to this man, his voice breaking. ''I knew it, I-I knew it, God couldn't bear the atrocities we have committed, so he sent the devil to condemn us-"
"Confess!" Carla sneered, the flicker of curiosity in her eyes burning brighter, and the man, upon hearing her growing tone, began to speak.
From a short distance away, Mr. Valen simply observed, his chest heaving slightly, his nose reddened from the water particles he had inhaled.
'This rain, it should have calmed by now,' he thought gazing above at the blackened sky.
"Argh!" A short gargle sounded out from the obese man soon after as Carla killed him, her tail piercing his neck, draining him.
"She looks sick," Mr. Valen whispered to himself as he watched Carla stagger, her eyes reddened.
'I should probably stop her; then again, I am curious to see the consequences of her actions. Or mine perhaps... It is debatable,' he thought as he watched.
Meanwhile, Carla resumed running, her speed unbelievably swift given her state. In a few seconds, she had caught up to the couple who struggled to operate their device as they ran but the rain made it difficult.
"Shit!" the husband cursed when he glanced behind him, and in the next moment, he slammed into his wife with a heavy thud, causing her to slip and fall.
"Joshua!" the wife shrieked as she landed on the forest floor with a hard bang, a mixture of dirt and water soiling her raincoat and splashing everywhere.
She looked behind her and spotted Carla, or a shadow of Carla, who (strangely enough) dashed past her and towards her husband.
"Tap!"
"Tap!"
"Tap!"
Her steps rang out in quick succession, and in an instant she was behind the man, her tail streaking towards his neck, (but she didn't impale or slash at him).
Rather, her tail coiled around his neck and hauled him into the air; the man could utter nothing but short, desperate gasps.
"Leave him alone!" A scream from behind her forced Carla to turn, her brows furrowing slightly.
The sight was disheartening; the woman, her hair plastered to her skull, stood before her, a large stick in her grasp, her form trembling within her raincoat.
Mr. Valen was there as well, a short distance away, and he knew not why she trembled; was it because of the cold, or was it fear?
"Please! Please let him go," he heard the woman plead, and in response, Carla turned to look at her, eyes as unfeeling as his.
Joshua, the man in question, struggled furiously, kept alive by the loose grip on Carla's tail and, of course, a small amount of leverage.
"You were both looking for your twenty-year-old daughter, is that right?" Carla suddenly asked, her voice almost drowned out by the rain.
The woman before her did not answer, but a small whimper escaped her, prompting Carla to shake her head, "Ohh, honey, I almost feel sorry for you. Do you want to know what happened to her?"
"Y-you killed her?" The woman stuttered, her feet rooted to the spot, her form frozen in fear.
"I wish I did, then you'd have a common villain to worry about," Carla spoke her voice solemn, "You should ask your husband here; he was the one who raped and killed her, with the assistance of his friends, of course-"
"You're lying, shut up!!!" The woman screamed immediately, her voice breaking through the pitter-pattering of the rain.
But Carla only looked towards the man in her grasp, and the look in his eyes spoke more than any words could.
"It can't be true," the woman upon noting this, staggered back, her head spinning, "Tell me it isn't true, Joshua!" She screamed once more, but her shouts were met with Joshua's tears (tears that were washed away by the rain).