“Your bravado’s impressive, but let’s see if you’ve got the substance to back it up.”
The sharp clap of a palm strike punctuated the taunting words.
Nightmare flicked her arm, the long hem of her inky black robe swirling dramatically.
Her legs, clad in sleek black stockings and bound with leather straps, delivered a powerful kick that shattered a half-sealed crate nearby.
Mist coiled upward like a ghostly shroud, and from the wreckage, a figure emerged.
It was Andy, his eyes vacant, his head drooping toward the ground.
The dagger in his hand dangled loosely, hooked only by the curve of his fingers.
“I’d love to cross blades with you myself and savor the thrill,” Nightmare purred, her voice dripping with mockery, “but someone’s been waiting for you far too long, barely able to contain their… let’s say, ‘maternal cravings’. So, I’ll let him have the first dance!”
With a flourish, Nightmare thrust a pulsing orb of soul energy, warped by her dark powers, into Andy’s lifeless form.
The puppet sprang to life, its movements unnervingly fluid.
“Let’s see how your steadfast convictions hold up against my puppet, dear Andy.”
Nightmare’s lips curled into a wicked grin as she melted into the shadows.
Andy, now animated by her command, charged forward, dagger gleaming with lethal intent, aimed straight at Noi, whose own aura radiated murderous resolve.
Dagger met dagger in a frenetic clash, the close-quarters combat a blur of flashing steel and relentless pace.
Noi tilted her wrist, deflecting Andy’s wild, chaotic slashes with a deft flick of her blade.
The dagger’s lightweight edge sliced through the tendons of Andy’s knife-wielding hand.
“Clink!”
Andy’s dagger hit the ground.
In a normal fight, victory would’ve been decided then and there.
But neither combatant was entirely in their right mind.
“Oh, my, my! So, Miss Noi’s a hypocrite after all,” Nightmare’s voice rang out, dripping with exaggerated scorn.
“The moment your life’s on the line, you strike so ruthlessly. Are you really going to kill him?”
“What fun is it to slaughter a weakling like that? Doesn’t it feel a tad… despicable? Especially when they’re unarmed and helpless.”
Her voice, theatrical and mocking, echoed from the shadows.
Noi’s lips curved into a cold, enigmatic smile as she stepped back, putting distance between herself and Andy.
Her mind buzzed with the intoxicating rush of bloodlust, but she wasn’t yet fully under Nightmare’s sway.
She could still think, still speak—barely.
“I’m not exactly seasoned in killing the weak,” Noi shot back, her voice laced with defiance.
“Perhaps I should consult an expert like you.”
Nightmare’s airy tone carried a hint of confusion.
“Despicable? Me? I’m merely culling the parasites from this world!”
“And if you’re so righteous, why do I sense that urge to hack and slash bubbling up inside you? If you hadn’t struck, I might’ve hailed you as some saintly paragon of mercy. But look at you—slicing through his hand like that. Showing off your talent as a scavenger, aren’t you?”
Her voice enveloped them in a chilling, 360-degree surround sound.
Andy, puppeted by Nightmare’s invisible strings, lunged at Noi like a rabid dog, clawing wildly.
Noi, guided by instinct, held back.
She didn’t seize the moment to plunge her dagger into his defenseless frame, choosing instead to quell her racing heart and evade.
Suppressing emotions under such pressure was like damming a river—the backlash would come, and it would be twice as fierce.
Noi felt her consciousness slipping, the descent into corruption accelerating.
Unlike Lyte, she lacked the heroic power to seal these dark desires back into her subconscious.
“Heh heh heh,” Nightmare’s laughter slithered through the air.
“Having second thoughts, Miss Noi? Putting that mask of virtue back on, hoping to play the good girl again?”
Nightmare reveled in the chaos, meticulously fanning the flames of Noi’s desires.
Andy’s attacks grew faster, more frenzied.
Noi, cornered with nowhere left to retreat, shoved him back with all her strength, exhaustion etched across her face.
“You’re tired, aren’t you, Miss Noi?” Nightmare taunted.
“Is it worth fighting so hard for these people? Don’t you find that sanctimonious mask of yours a little… hypocritical? Aren’t you tired of wearing it?”
“Why not cast it aside? Slaughter the nuisance standing in your way and dive headfirst into this carnival of chaos! Those bound captives over there? They’re my gift to you.”
Noi opened her mouth to retort, but Andy, bolstered by the black mist, lashed out with a sudden slap.
She raised her dagger to block—
“Crack!”
The blade snapped in two.
Stunned but quick, Noi summoned a divine light shield, a technique she’d only recently mastered, to fend off Andy’s next assault.
Channeling Gabriel’s sacred arts, she then conjjured a radiant sword of Michael’s lineage, its long, shimmering blade replacing her broken dagger.
With it, she easily forced Andy back.
Her magic drained rapidly.
Suppressing her desires had already cost her dearly, and maintaining the light sword was an immense burden on her body.
Noi accessed her long-dormant system space, retrieving a gift from Simon, passed to her by Xing Chen—a vial of mana-replenishing potion.
Along with it came a soft, adorable water slime.
“Gulu! Gulu!”
The slime’s cute chirps melted her tension.
As Noi drank from the potion vial, the slime hopped onto her neck, siphoning off some of the chaotic impulses clouding her mind.
“Phew…”
Noi exhaled a murky breath, her state markedly improved.
With the help of Simon’s water slime, she could just barely keep her desires at bay.
“Thank you, Simon,” she whispered, her gratitude sincere as always, though she knew he couldn’t hear her.
He always seemed to help at the most critical moments.
“Well, well, well,” Nightmare sneered.
“A slime from the Kingdom of Mosode… a gift from that elven swindler, huh? Quite the rare find.”
Her voice carried a bitter edge, as if she’d been duped by Simon before.
Now clear-headed, Noi steeled her resolve.
No longer hesitating, she tapped into the mana restored by the potion and charged at Andy, her light sword flashing with precise, relentless strikes that subdued him.
Seeing Noi’s decisive resolve, Nightmare’s composure cracked.
She’d hoped to use Andy to torment Noi slowly.
“Hey, hey, hey! Really? A little kindness and you’re swayed? You don’t actually believe he’s a good person, do you?”
“Shut up!”
Noi’s icy rebuke silenced Nightmare’s manipulations.
The water slime on her shoulder bubbled in agreement, its glassy orbs glinting in support.
Ignoring Nightmare’s relentless taunts, Noi pressed her assault, reducing Andy to a battered heap—incapacitated but alive, kept from death by a healing spell.
Her efforts met with no acknowledgment, and Nightmare’s frustration boiled over.
“Are you even listening to me? I’ve poured my heart out, shared my grand vision, and you don’t agree with even a sliver of it? You think these weaklings deserve redemption? You want to be dragged down by these burdens forever?”
“All I know,” Noi replied, planting her black-stockinged heel on Andy’s chest to pin him down, “is that nothing you say will shake my resolve to end you.”
Nightmare, undeterred, let out a sly chuckle and activated her final gambit.
She restored Andy’s consciousness with a surge of her power.
“Miss… Noi?” Andy’s eyes flickered with returning clarity.
“Please… kill me.”
His gaze regained its spark, and with his memories intact, he knew the atrocities he’d committed under Nightmare’s control.
He begged for death to eliminate the threat he posed.
Nightmare’s plan was simple: let Andy’s guilt-ridden plea stall for time until the water slime’s effects wore off, dragging Noi back into her web of corruption.
But she’d overlooked one thing—Noi was a holy maiden of the Church.
The silver-haired girl unleashed a purifying spell on the now-conscious Andy, freeing him from Nightmare’s grasp and knocking him out cold, neutralizing the threat for now.
“Tch… a miscalculation,” Nightmare hissed.
Out of options, she stepped from the shadows, her final card played.
“Noi, do you know what it feels like to be truly helpless?”
A ghostly smile curved her coral lips beneath her mask.
Under Noi’s wary gaze, Nightmare sauntered toward the bound children in the unloading area.
“Stop!”
Noi’s shout echoed, her blood-red eyes blazing as she realized Nightmare’s intent.
“Heh, begging for mercy now? Too late!”
Nightmare’s stiletto heel crashed down on a small, innocent boy who’d earlier choked on candy.
She ground her heel into his bound hands, relishing his pain.
“Wahhh!”
The boy’s muffled sobs, stifled by a gag had slipped back in, were reduced to nasal whimpers.
Noi’s crimson eyes burned, her grip on the light sword trembling with rage.
Nightmare’s laughter rang wild and unrestrained.
“Hahaha! Now you understand! The truest helplessness is watching me torment others while you… can’t do anything.”