Chapter 39: The Reaper’s Shadow

The dilapidated warehouse, long abandoned, stirred to life after years of neglect. 

A stifling haze hung in the air, thick with the weight of stagnation, while motes of dust—some fine, some coarse—danced in the slanting orange sunlight that spilled through the grimy windows.

The children in the unloading area trembled, their faces pale with terror at the sight of their companion’s mangled state. 

Orphans all, they had never witnessed such brutality, their young hearts unaccustomed to the cruelty of the world.

Grandma Corinne, though bound, had her feet free, allowing her to shuffle with cautious steps.

A rusted iron gate creaked open under the wind’s push, its shadow devoured bit by bit by the encroaching light. 

In the gloom, Shang shifted his position to avoid the sun’s reach, motioning for Nightmare to hurry with a subtle gesture.

Under the second captain’s urging, Nightmare fixed Noi with a chilling glare. 

“Toss that ugly slime away,” she sneered, “or else…”

Chaos energy coiled around the heel of her high-heeled boot. 

A mere flicker of it corroded half the arm of a small boy nearby, who gasped in agony, his voice hoarse and silenced by pain.

Under Nightmare’s triumphant smirk, Noi slowly unhooked the water slime from the back of her neck, cradling it in her palms.

Desire, like relentless weeds, needed no spring breeze to flourish—it sprouted eagerly, unchecked.

A wave of nausea hit Noi. 

Her vision blurred, dark specks swarming like flies, obscuring her sight. 

This was Nightmare’s attempt to seize control of her body.

“Gloop? Gloop!”

Sensing its master’s distress, the water slime in her hands bounced left, then right, performing a clumsy swaying dance. 

It puffed out bubbles, its tiny black-bean eyes spinning in circles, trying to coax a smile from Noi.

Noi stared at the little slime, dazed. 

Nightmare, seeing her hesitation, grew impatient, her voice dripping with mockery. 

“Oh, dear Noi, it seems you’re not so keen on saving anyone, are you?”

A high-heeled foot rose and stomped down viciously.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain, but Grandma Corinne lunged forward, knocking Nightmare’s leg aside just enough to spare his hands from being crushed.

“You meddling old elf!” Nightmare snarled, seizing Corinne by the throat. 

Then, as if struck by a wicked thought, she smirked.

Turning to Noi, she taunted, “If you don’t care about the kid, what about this elf who led you to the church? Can you really stand by and do nothing?”

‘How does she know so much?’

Noi’s eyes narrowed, a cold, murderous intent piercing straight to Nightmare’s core.

Unfazed, Nightmare yanked the gag from Corinne’s mouth, hoping to provoke Noi with pleas for mercy. 

But Corinne, unyielding as iron, refused to play along.

“Run, Noi!” she shouted. 

“There’s another hybrid captain here—they want you to—”

Her words were cut off as chaos energy surged from her neck, spreading like wildfire, choking her into silence.

“Ugh, self-righteous fools are so tiresome,” Nightmare sighed, feigning pity. 

“If you’d just cooperated, you might’ve lived a little longer.”

Noi’s brow twitched, fury rising like a tide. 

The water slime clung to her neck, its cool touch seeping into her temples, forcing her to calm down.

“That wretched slime,” Nightmare muttered, her teeth grinding. 

It always ruined her plans.

At that moment, Shang emerged from the shadows, whispering to Nightmare. 

“Lyte and Xing Chen are almost here. End this quickly.”

The unspoken command was clear: if Noi, a prodigy of unmatched potential, couldn’t be swayed to serve the Sin Domain, she had to die.

Shang drew his magic sword, ready to cleave Noi in two, but Nightmare stopped him. 

“Wait. Let me try my new mutation.”

Shang gave her a skeptical glance but sighed, relenting. 

He melted back into the darkness.

Too disdainful to bother with worthless weaklings, Nightmare unleashed the chaos energy stored within her. 

A dozen black tendrils, woven from raw power, unfurled from the hem of her skirt.

“My patience has its limits,” she hissed. 

“I’ve given you chance after chance, and you squander them. You think you’re something special? Your stats don’t even reach B-tier!”

Venting her frustration, she lashed out. 

A tendril whipped toward Noi’s delicate, snow-white face.

“Clang.”

A light sword flashed, severing the tendril, but new energy surged to mend the cut.

More tendrils surged from all directions. 

Noi, armed with only her sword, struggled to parry the relentless onslaught. 

Her blade was soon wrenched from her grasp.

The tendrils converged, pooling their energy into a crackling orb of dark magic that hurtled toward Noi. 

She raised a reinforced light shield, deflecting it.

Her mana drained rapidly and she was exhausted. 

Noi downed her last mana potion, clinging to her fading consciousness.

Each time she fought, her mind churned like a stormy sea, waves crashing within her skull. 

The water slime, her anchor, helped stem the tide, maintaining a fragile balance.

“No strength left in you and yet you play the hero,” Nightmare scoffed. 

“Do you really think you can save the world?”

She poured her will into the tendrils, intensifying their assault.

A dozen tendrils struck as one. 

Noi’s newly formed light sword hacked through some, but others slipped through her defenses, coiling around her and hoisting her into the air.

“Got you now,” Nightmare gloated. 

“Join the Sin Domain. Do whatever you want, free from the world’s chains. This is your final chance.”

A new magic orb hummed with power, aimed at Noi.

Noi gagged, the tendrils tightening, her head splitting under the weight of her own desires. 

Yet she managed a defiant sneer. 

“I don’t need it.”

“You asked for this!” Nightmare roared, her mutated form twisting grotesquely as the tendrils writhed.

If their meticulous plan didn’t require secrecy, they wouldn’t have bothered with this charade to lure and persuade Noi.

The magic orb charged briefly, then shot toward her with a whoosh.

Noi closed her eyes, resigned to her fate as the orb closed in.

But then, the water slime on her head stirred. 

Its tiny black eyes gleamed with resolve. 

With a brave leap, it flung itself at the orb.

“Boom!”

The slime’s frail body shattered on impact, its core devoured by chaos energy. 

It arced through the air, landing as a lifeless splash of water, its former liveliness extinguished.

Its sacrifice deflected the orb, which veered off course, smashing into the wall behind Noi. 

The impact tore a gaping hole, gouging the floor as it went.

Noi stared, stunned, at the puddle on the ground. 

The slime that had cheered her, suppressed her desires, was gone.

The chains within her snapped. 

Her vision drowned in a crimson haze.

“Tch, that slime had some spirit, saving its master at the last second,” Nightmare mocked, oblivious to the change in Noi. 

The girl’s expression cracked, her body trembling as a torrent of bloodlust surged from within.

Nightmare’s only thought was to finish her off.

The tendrils hurled Noi toward the cargo racks on the far side of the warehouse. 

Her small frame crashed into the shelves with a deafening thud, toppling crates and kicking up clouds of dust that shrouded the area in a hazy fog.

“Such a pity,” Nightmare sighed. 

“I thought a cute girl like you might’ve joined me. But it’s over now.”

She gathered all her tendrils, channeling their energy into a massive magic orb, determined to obliterate Noi.

Just as the orb prepared to fire, a voice drifted from the dust-choked mist—low, chilling, like a specter from the depths of hell.

“You didn’t have to go this far.”

“?” 

Nightmare froze, a shiver crawling up her spine.