The man with short platinum-blonde hair laughed to himself as he pressed the knife deeper and deeper into the Lord of Shadows' lips, eventually reaching his inner mouth.
During this, the Lord of Shadows struggled and tried to keep his mouth shut as hard as possible. However, it was as if he had forgotten how to fight back as the blonde man simply continued to carve his mouth.
Soon, blood began pouring out of the Lord of Shadows' mouth. The blonde man briefly paused the cutting to use his left hand to pry the man's mouth open for all the onlookers to see, choosing to make him force a smiling face.
Crimson blood gushed out of it as the sight of mauled gums that had been shredded apart presented itself. His teeth had been painted red by his own blood, and the dichotomy between his sheer petrified expression and his uncanny smile sent a shiver down the spine of everyone watching.
The blonde man cackled while stretching the Lord of Shadows' mouth.. "Hah…Superpowers this and superpowers that." He took a brief pause while licking his lips. "...In our quest for great power, we've lost what made us human all along…It's the…true emotions of just…pure fear and despair at the end of someone's life…that really show you who they once were." He smiled before pressing the silver knife onto the Lord of Shadows' chin with his right hand, slowly making his way upwards. He casually pressed his left hand's index finger onto the Lord of Shadows' mouth to make a 'shush' sign.
"How do you feel, Nox?… This is fun, don't you think?" He stared straight into Nox's helpless eyes while cutting his face off.
He had just gotten to Nox's upper cheek when he suddenly turned to William, who had been watching aimlessly.
Grinning devilishly, he spoke. "Ah, have I forgotten to introduce myself? Well, my dearest antithesis, who I am is not of great importance, you may call me Reiner." He shamelessly rambled without a care for William's words.
Honestly, William wasn't sure what to do in this situation; everything was so…sudden. The intrusion of this Silas fellow wasn't something he had thought would happen for sure. On one hand, this man seemed far more dangerous than the Lord of Shadows ever was, evident by the fact that he was currently carving the man's face in as he was thinking. On the other hand, even if he wanted to run away with his companions, he couldn't. That was because he had long since used Author's Note on the man, only for the one thing he could see being…
[ Scholar ]
It wasn't like the rest of the information was erased either, moreso, like it was being actively wiped from William's memory every time he tried to read it.
However, between this and the surge of memories, he had already deduced the man's title and a few of the corresponding abilities.
'Reiner, the Scholar of Memory.'
With their team's battle resources nearly entirely exhausted and two of them gravely wounded, a fight against a powerful scholar was practically suicidal. What's more, this man seemed rather crazy, so William was coming up blank for his motives and objectives, judging from his body language and facial expressions alone.
[Attribute: Reader, fails to read the target.]
Reiner carried on with cutting Nox's face while he shed tears in misery. He covered Nox's entire mouth with his left hand to stop him from auditorily expressing his pain. It looked as if he tried to scream, but no sound would come out. "So, I think it's time we've had a chat?"
"Alright, what do you want, Mr. Reiner?" William replied coldly before switching his focus. Gazing at the pathetic-looking Lord of Shadows squirming around in Reiner's arms like a worm, he couldn't help but commiserate a tiny bit.
Reiner stroked Nox's chin instead of his own as a sign of thought, "Come on now, your memories give you away, you know? As for what I want…" He took a short pause before driving the silvery knife in his right hand straight through the rest of Nox's face.
A folded fleshy "rug" fell to the muddy ground with a disturbing 'squish' sound, as Reiner continued talking. "It's simple, I want you and all of your friends…to die." He smiled charismatically while raising the now faceless Nox into the air by the neck, showing him off to William and Lian.
Deafening silence permeated the area after Reiner's words. As the image of the fleshy mess of a human being that the Lord of Shadows had become was seared into their memories.
It was neither Lian nor William who acted first; instead, Li Jiaojie, who was clutching his bleeding chest with vigorous strength to stop the blood from gushing out, formed an invisible artillery shot made out of air that drilled straight towards Reiner using his core ability of Recollection.
The shot flew at sonic speeds, only for Reiner to side-step the invisible shell easily at the last second, allowing it to strike Nox in the lower chest instead. The damage dealt wasn't too severe to someone who had achieved the scholar rank, only a light gash where it struck.
Li Jiaojie was flabbergasted. "H-how?" He inquired.
The corners of Reiner's lips curled. "I wonder that every day. Anyway, it's time for you to go." He made a small pointing sign with his right index finger.
Anticipating the worst, Li Jiaojie immediately pulled William in front of him, intending to use him as a human shield!
[Attribute: Monster activates.]
William looked into Li Jiaojie's eyes as this occurred, giving him a blank stare. "Really?"
Boom!
Li Jiaojie crumped to the floor in an instant, spasming in gruesome anguish. He clutched his head like he wanted to crush it, his breath ragged and sorrowful, and his drenched appearance only dampening the atmosphere further.
"Why…" His eyes watered profusely as he clawed at the dark, muddy earth.
William looked towards Reiner with a curious expression. "What did you do to him?"
Reiner was in the midst of cutting off Nox's right ear when he spoke. "I merely returned what originally belonged to him. His memories of his dearest sister, that is." With a loud 'hack', the ear fell to the floor alongside the face. Nox's expression of fleshy, blood-filled torment became increasingly mortifying by the second.
To his right, William even heard Lian make an audible 'blegh' sound.
His sister…Huh, I really should have talked to Li Jiaojie more when I had the chance. I'm missing a lot of context.
Li Jiaojie continued writhing in prolonged agony, before collecting himself and stabilizing, staring at the man who had returned his memories to hi-
Eh, who cares? It's not like anyone's going to care about this crap anyway.
before taking his neck into his own hands and twisting it, causing his neck to snap. His lifeless, yet still warm body fell to the earth once more, only this time, he wouldn't be getting back up.
'What the f*ck…' William's eyes shot open in a storm of confused emotions and thoughts.
"Holy...What memories did you return to him, even?" He prompted the platinum blonde-haired man with a subtly anxious demeanor.
Reiner lopped off Nox's other ear. "His memories of ending his own pathetic sister's life of course. Say, I'm sure you've heard this before, but I'll remind you one more time. A person doesn't die when their body and soul have been eradicated, they die when theres noone left to remember who and what that body and soul once were. For someone like me, memories are a precious thing, a thing that's…a little hard to forget…" He yanked a fistful of Nox's hair out as he finished his sentence, causing him to let out a cannibalistic scream.
Nox then gestured behind William. "Say, aren't you forgetting someone?"
William turned around only to see…nothing. At first, he was worried that this was a sly trick played by Reiner in order to launch a surprise attack on him, before he realized the logical incongruity with that train of thought.
'Fei Kangzhen…' His voice echoed throughout his mind.
"He…Ran?" A shaky voice spoke out from his side. Lian's eyes screamed shock.
William sighed. "He and Li Jiaojie…They threw me under the bus without even a proper buildup, now that's bad writing if I've ever seen it."
He recalled the first time he met the two of them, that alley right after the Fame Game had begun, only a few days ago, really, yet it felt like forty-seven chapters in a webnovel. That fight with Li Jiaojie's old group…
Suddenly, a memory flew right into his headspace, not one that had been given to him by Reiner, but one he had neglected to think about for a long time.
'No…we'll save that discussion for later…I should concentrate…'
His thoughts stumbled.
[Attribute: Monster shakes slightly.]
Reiner continued pulling out Nox's hair; by now, he looked estranged from humanity. Without a face, hair, or ears, he was more of a ghoul than a human being. "It's just like you said, young ma'am, sometimes, death is a kindness. Some lessons…are more practical than others…" He paused intermittently, licking his lips and ruffling his platinum hair.
Lian looked visibly distressed, even moreso after watching Li Jiaojie's brutal death, panicking at what would come next now that Reiner's attention had turned to her.
"U-uh…I guess so?" She nervously replied.
Reiner sighed softly with a wide smile. "Allow me." He gripped Nox's right arm with rigorous strength, squeezing so hard he tore it off. Crimson blood exploded out of his right stub, as his flesh was quickly patched up by Reiner using Ingenuity formed in the shape of bandages.
Then, he snapped his fingers.
Lian's knees buckled, and she also fell to the ground like Li Jiaojie.
William immediately ran towards her, not wanting what happened to that other guy to happen to her.
Reiner simply watched, amused.
Clutching her arms, William attempted to placate her. "I-it's going to be okay, just breathe, alright?"
Reiner started to walk towards the two. "Hmm…You seem almost saddened! Tell you what, why don't we play a game? If you can land a hit on me, I will let her go free; if not, well, it's truly a shame. Of course, she isn't permitted to participate." He held Nox's right arm in his hand and waved it around like a sword.
Lian's convulsing briefly stopped after Reiner's words, which prompted William to speak. "Well, it's not like I have a choice."
"Oh, you very much so do."
William conjured his bident and shot towards Reiner. He fought hard, moving in and out of position, constantly adjusting and attacking. Again and again, his strikes were deflected, usually by various parts of Nox's body, mainly his arms and legs.
Amidst casually dodging and deflecting William's mighty piercing attacks, Reiner made small talk. "Hmm, oh yeah, your victory points from killing all those verifiers from earlier…I have to thank you for doing most of the heavy lifting; my abilities aren't the most suited for melee combat after all."
"I was…wondering…where my points went." William paused each time he went in for an attack.
Reiner's lips curled as he continued. "That's right…Now if you'll excuse me…"
He waved his hands theatrically, and William was suddenly assaulted by a tsunami of memories.
Visions of a small group of verifiers evacuating the area appeared in his mind. In one moment, they were serious and determined to depart. In the next, bodies were scattered, blood painted the ground, and organs flew through the air. A few familiar faces showed up too. Particularly…One such crow enthusiast and his partner.
William fell to the ground as his mind caved in partially.
He grabbed his hair and pulled it slightly, whilst gritting his teeth. "Sang…Pianyi?" He muttered aloud.
'This was recent…Just when we were fighting the Lord of Shadows?'
Reiner chuckled softly. "That man was quite strong for a Reader, even I'm not sure where and how he gained his powers."
Meanwhile, as Lian watched her guardian figure slowly fall from the sidelines, she made a rash, irrational decision.
She began uttering strange phrases out loud, just quiet enough so that no one else would be able to hear, except the one she wanted to.
After telling them her demands and hearing the corresponding price she would have to pay, she took a deep breath, looked towards William, who was currently lost in his own mind, and accepted the deal.
After a few more moments, the transaction was complete.
His head spinning, William kept trying over and over again to hit Reiner. Instead, he got sucker punched nine times all over his body, leaving deep imprints that even altered his bone structure a bit. The wounds left him bruised and bleeding, a fitting reward for him.
Limping slightly, he went in for another strike, only to be met with yet another hard punch straight in the side of his face, giving him a minor concussion and cracking part of his skull. The right side of his face became disfigured, and his head spun, his visionw as blurry, and he could barely tell what he was looking at.
Reiner walked towards William, a savage glint in his eyes, seemingly intending to end a life right here, right now.
Even without half of his senses, William stumbled and limped in preparation before thrusting his entire body forward alongside his bident, barreling straight into Reiner's chest.
Swoosh!
The feeling of his spearheads sinking into flesh made William ecstatic.
"Take….that…" He stammered before buckling to the ground in a woozy daze.
Although he had just successfully made contact with Reiner, something felt wrong to William.
[Attribute: Avatar of the Records, watches the falling leaves.]
So he weakly twisted his head towards Reiner's direction.
He froze immediately.
His heart pounded, his lungs gave out, his eyes betrayed him. He wanted to scream, but it refused to leave his body.
"..."
[Congratulations, you have slain someone!]
[You have gained 1 Victory Point!]
A meek voice called out. Crimson-red liquid leaking out of her mouth, despite the pain she felt in this abrupt moment, she looked at Zhang Jiewei with a warm smile whilst wrapping her arms around him in a gruesome embrace.
"Thanks…boss."