Chapter 72: Familial Bonds
"Myrra, my daughter!!. Help Papa!!"
Tavian yelled at the exact location in the distance where Myrra was currently hiding.
When Myrra heard her name being yelled by her father, she knew it would definitely be over for her if she didn’t come up with something fast to save herself.
Begging for her life would probably be pointless and might even quicken her demise, judging by that guy’s temperament.
Someone like that would only ever want one thing, and that is value. She would offer up whatever value she could, and hope he spares her.
Even though she was petrified beyond belief and shaking all over, Myrra forced herself to stand up slowly from where she had lain. She knew continuing to hide was no longer an option.
As Myrra approached the hero, and the remains of her once comrades, also seeing the miserable state of her father...
The closer she got, the more gruesome the scene before her, and at the midst of it all, the architect of this chaos was now looking in her direction with the same amusement he had on his face right before he had commenced the slaughter of her comrades.
’Fuck. I am going to die.’ Myrra lamented in her mind as she took shaky steps forward until she was right in front of the hero.
A lot of scary thoughts ran through Myrra’s mind, imagining all of the wicked things the hero would do to her... but her fears were unfounded; the hero was rather... gentlemanly.
"I see. So you are Myrra... the flutist."
It wasn’t difficult for Zorat to deduce that the lady before him was none other than the one who had attempted to lure him over with the melody from a flute.
He had felt the link when he arrived, and he had also seen the tools of trade of all the other, now diseased assassins.
"Yes, my lord!" Myrra blurted out anxiously.
She went on one knee with one hand behind her back, and the other hand’s elbow to her thigh, while her folded fist was glued to her forward, in a manner of exaggerated respect.
Though she was sweating buckets and shaking like a fish out of water, she still knew how to kiss ass to save her life.
Rather than appear confrontational like the now dead trio or her father, it was best to behave subserviently, and that way, she would have time to show her value to him.
A solid plan on her part that would have worked on any other human. But unfortunately for Myrra, Zorat wasn’t even human to begin with.
"Ok, flutist.... You die now." Zorat uttered with a warm smile.
Myrra first thought she must have misheard; after all, he was being so gentlemanly while saying such words... But the rapidly approaching confluence of sand particles, with their collective edges shining luminously under the moonlight, told a completely different story.
’Fuck!. Am gonna die!!.’ she screamed in her mind, and her body reacted subconsciously before she knew it, as she yelled out loud...
"I have information on the person who hired us!!"
She blurted these words at the fastest speed she’s ever spoken in her life, right as the sand particles were just at all four joints of her limbs, ready to slice both her arms and legs off simultaneously.
They’ve already cut through her black assassin garb, and trickles of her blood were leaking out from all four locations before they abruptly came to a halt.... and then disappeared with the wind.
Myrra’s heart was beating through her chest as she looked down at the locations where she would have been dismembered if she had been a second late.
She swallowed hard with sweat pouring down her face as she looked in the direction of the other assassins that had experienced similar fates, and her father, who was currently wailing on the floor with both his legs gone.
’That... that would have been me..."
It dawned on her that any little mistake she makes here would actually be her end. Still coming down from the existential fright, she heard the hero’s voice again, still sounding all sweet and warm.
"Go on then ... tell me what you know of the one who hired you guys," Zorat muttered as he sat down, crossing his legs on a chair conjured instantaneously from the earth.
"Um..sir...you promise not to kill me if I tell you ?" Myrra steeled her resolve as she asked this question. She was scared, but she could only gamble that the hero was a man of his word.
That’s if he doesn’t outright kill her right now for making such an impudent request.
However, contrary to her fears, the hero smiled and said reassuringly," I promise... I won’t lift a finger to harm you if you tell me what you know."
Myrra sighed in relief and was about to speak when a loud yell interrupted her...
"I can tell!! I can tell you!!" Tavian yelled desperately from the other side.
He had expected his plan to work, but he was incredibly wrong. He had come to realise now that the person they had attacked wasn’t even a hero to begin with; he was a thousand times worse than even their Syndicate leader, who is rumored to be in cahoots with actual demons.
He had to prolong his life in whichever way he could and think of a solution to come out of this alive.
That’s why he revealed his daughter’s location to buy himself time and find a way to survive; now the method to survive had finally presented itself.
He, of course, felt a little bad for his dear daughter, but he would choose his life any day in place of hers. That’s the coward’s way. His daughter, of all people, would definitely understand.
"I know more than her!!. She’s lying, she knows nothing!! Tavian added loudly, slapping his palms on the ground to draw Zorat’s attention.
He had by now used all his mana to stop the bleeding where his legs were severed. But when he makes it out of here, there is a possibility he could even get his legs back someday.
"Dad! You are fucking dead to me!" Myrra cried at the top of her lungs from where she was still kneeling. She had expected him to pull another stunt, but she still grossly underestimated how low he would go.
"Ah... I almost forgot about you, young human." Zorat muttered in amusement as he turned to face Tavian.
Tavian wondered why someone so obviously young would call him young and address him as human, which was really strange, but nothing compared to all that he had seen this day.
He was joyous as he finally caught the hero’s attention and was about to begin sharing all the information he knew to save his life, when he noticed his view had suddenly changed.
’Am I flying? ’
’No... am falling..."
’One two three four... and why are there four headless bodies on the ground ?’ Tavian wondered in his thought. But as the final body came into full view, the closer he got to the ground...
’Ah... I see. That’s me.’ was the final thought that ran through Tavian’s mind before his head landed on the ground, cleanly separated from his body.