Spreading through the office building, hordes of men ran. They ran, they ran, they ran.
Sprinting, darting, leaping, climbing—escape, all to escape. The bombs, the booms, the noises and heat and rampaging darkness and death and death looming over them—escape.
As two close servants stuck together, hiding on the ninth floor, they stumbled around, collapsing to their knees and vomiting. The food that had been stuffed down their gullet promptly left, and their labored breaths caused them to shudder.
Hunting them, unmistakable. It was hunting. As the hunter hunts, the prey sits.
As, as, as the hunter…
"I…" the servant sobbed. "I… I want, to… Gh-Ghira, please… Ghira, please… Ghira, Ghira, help us."
Looking up to the sky, calling for help from the entity that had driven them to commit meaningless slaughter, who had taught them to show unbridled malice towards the rest of humanity, they received only silence.
Then, peering through the doorframe of the stairwell, there was a silhouette.
Their eyes swam. Their hair turned a premature gray, and they internally begged for their hearts to stop, and their minds to run white with silence. In order to escape this overwhelming fear, this nightmare before them—they absolutely, resolutely, desired absolute——
"—If you surrender, I won't kill you."
Speaking in a calm, sympathetic tone, the dark silhouette walked over and loomed over them. His eyes, hardly obscured by the darkness, looked down with an unflinching coldness, icy to the touch.
"I'm giving you this option. I don't want to fight. I don't even want to hurt you. If you join me, if you give up on Ghira and turn away from your murderous urges, then you will not be killed by me," Riley proclaimed to them.
There was an escape.
An escape, that which they had most desired. However, in what world could the Failed Star be believed? That shouldn't be possible. It should not be possible.
"H-how can I trust you!? HOW CAN I TRUST YOU!?"
"I don't have proof," Riley admitted, stepping closer. That singular footstep made their skin crawl, as they flinched in anticipation of another blast.
"T-then… then…!"
"But here."
Riley summoned [Bleeding] and tossed the tagger over towards them. "Take the knife, cut your palm and spill a sufficient amount of blood to make your regeneration weaker. Once I trust you, I'll let you live. All you need to do is make a cut and betray Ghira."
"...That… I… No. NEVER! I'LL NEVER—"
Riley Woods kicked off the ground, tackling the screaming servant to the ground. Mounting them, he raised his knife into the air and plunged it into their chest. Grabbing them by the throat and keeping them still, unable to move, he mercilessly tore apart their insides with his blade. With such ferocity that he seemed to be attacking an animal rather than a human being, Riley brutalized, and ended their life.
The other, who was left on the floor, listening to gargled choking on blood, stared at the silhouettes in terror, unable to move or call himself to do anything. With a sharp glance, Riley's chin tilted towards the one left alive.
"Shhh. Be quiet, and don't scream. Not yet. Here."
Riley slid the knife over, and the servant's gaze fell upon it.
"Don't slice your wrist. Your palm or chest should suffice. Enough bleeding to where I can comfortably say you can no longer regenerate, and are no longer a threat. Either you decide where you're cut, or I do."
Quickly, the servant grabbed the knife and sliced their palm open. A torrent of blood sprayed from the wound, as they shakingly sobbed into the cold night.
Riley nodded his head, crouching down and petting their hair.
"Good. You get to live to see another day. Now, go out and tell everyone you find. Tell everyone that I'll let them live if they surrender."
"M-m-muh, w-wha… o-o-okay, okay, okay…"
Slowly, the servant got to their feet, and rushed out of the room. Riley smiled gently, looking down at the corpse.
Alright. If everything goes perfectly, this should get the remaining combatants to surrender, which greatly makes everything easier on my part. Worst case scenario, they kill this one servant. In that case, I'll have to jump in and save them.
I promised them that I wouldn't kill them. But what good is that if the other servants try to kill them for betraying Ghira? Nothing. I said I'd keep them alive, and I'll keep them alive.
As long as I can have servants unite against Ghira, with as few lives lost as possible, then I'll gladly take that. Human life isn't something to take so carelessly. If there's a point to it, then it's understandable, even if tragic.
But my fight's against despair. I'll weaponize the enemy against itself. In this unfortunate circumstance, it's the only way I know how to survive.
…
Screaming was heard. Clamored footsteps, and a burst open door.
"Guys! W-we, we just… hk, we need to surrender! If we give up, then he won't kill us! Please, please…!" He sobbed, wiping his eyes of their tears. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE! SO, SO… so, so please, don't… please, stop fighting. If we give up, we get to live… so stop fighting… so stop fighting."
As his words escaped his throat, they entered the ears and minds of those listening.
Now, there was a third option, that which they had not deemed a true option until now.
—Should they fight, they risked their lives, potentially dying against the monster.
——Should they run away, just how likely was it that they would be able to actually escape? Surely, Riley would be able to track them down. And at that point, they had failed against him, even when they had gathered all their forces against him. He would not stop hunting.
———But now, should they surrender, they had a chance to escape with their lives.
That option was one which every servant who heard those screams had to make. And, as they were busy contemplating that decision,
…
"AH!"
An explosion had gone off near the top of the building. With that as an indication of Riley's location, those on the lower floors sank into the ground, feeling even the slightest bit of ease at Riley's revealed area. Meanwhile, those on the top floors only felt further fear, that fearsome bomb having carved itself into their darkest memory.
But, in truth,
"Ah, hk… I… we, we know he's up there," one servant said. A group of six, stationed at the very bottom floors, stuck together. "Then, do we go check?"
"What?! No, of course not! Why would we run straight at him?! That doesn't—no, no, I WON'T!"
Huddled in a corner, one man's drool spilled from his mouth as he buried his forehead against his knees.
"But, but… we know where he is! If we know where he is, he can't sneak up on us! And if he can't sneak up on us, we can rush him, and—and, and we can win! If we all use our abilities, if we all work together, then surely——"
"If sovereign and subject are in accord, seek to divide them." Right indeed, my mentor.
Lunging out from the darkness, flying and shattering through the window, Riley beheaded the speaker, causing a sea of blood to rapidly spray. Terrorized by the sudden assault, the shaking "warriors" jumped up and cried in fear, as Riley used [Hanging] to maneuver the bleeding corpse.
Red mist filled the air, obscuring their vision. That was the first sense which was assaulted. Unable to see, they were unable to gauge his movements—
Then, a sharp explosion, an instantaneous one, which laid waste to their secondary sense, that of hearing.
Unable to see nor hear, their bodies paralyzed by overwhelming terror which had been ingrained into them, Riley capitalized off of their inability to fight back, and delivered several decisive blows which snuffed out their lives.
His body covered in blood, Riley loomed within the second hallway of corpses, before returning to a bathroom and washing his hands and face.
"Appear far when you are near, and near when you are far." Of course, to those on the top, hearing the explosions might run the risk of them becoming desensitized to it. That's not good, but I'd say it's worth it, as long as I can get a good chunk of the enemy forces out.
Provided his counting was correct, Riley Woods only had sixteen opponents left. From the original number, thirty-two, he had wiped out half of the enemy's forces in the span of around fifteen to thirty minutes.
[Hanging] was unleashed, and sent out.
Supreme excellence supposedly consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. Well, I'm greatly outnumbered, and not all that smart, so I've had to do a bit of fighting. Still, I'd say I'm doing a mighty-fine job, all things considered so far.
Still, can't get cocky. That's part of why they're currently losing, after all.
…They're likely settling into the pattern, aren't they? Of discovering corpses and all-that. There's only so many people that one servant can reach with his news of mercy.
His hands and face clean of blood, Riley left the bathroom, his footsteps splashing in the puddles of blood he'd created.
Then, a second servant to carry information over. To destabilize their spirits even further.