“I’ll be on my way then.”
Nicole briefly stated as such before having the guard open the door for them. However, the guard didn’t immediately open the door and instead asked her, in the most serious voice possible: “Are you sure you do not wish to have another look?”
“There’s no need for that, I’ll check it out myself.”
“Alright then, let me get the door for you.” The middle aged guard retrieved a giant ring of keys and quickly thumbed through them for a second before singling out the key for the jail cell. It was an unusually large key, roughly the size of a fist.
“The branch leader has stated that this mission must be completed alone. Once you step through this door, I will seal it tight and won’t open it till either the mission is complete or you have died.”
“I know…”
“Then I’ll open it?”
“Mhm.”
The middle aged guard unlocked the door neither too slowly nor too anxiously. Seeing that, Nicole reached out to grab the door knob, face still as unfazed as ever, and hands ready to give it that final turn at a moment’s notice. Yet, it was at that last moment that he couldn’t help but say: “About that…even though the branch leader said not to help you…I’ll make sure to stand watch outside. If anything happens, I’ll rush in and help…”
“…” Her hands remained latched onto the door knob. Without moving a single step, she turned to face that man: “Thank you.”
“It’s alright. Actually, my son really likes…”
Before the middle aged guard could finish talking, Nicole opened up the cell door. Immediately, even before the door was done swinging outwards, a giant fist loomed from within the dank abyss that was the jail cell. It was the burly man’s fist. She had opened it just as he was about to finish another round of punching on the jail door. Given how close she was to the door, this fist would undoubtedly disfigure her lovely face with just one hit.
However, because the insides of the cell was completely visible to the outside, she had already prepared herself for this scene. At the same time as the door swung open, she drove her right leg into the ground and fired off a swift kick to the man’s chest using her left leg. One had to know, just because she might have seemed petite, that didn’t mean that her kick wasn’t powerful. It had been imbued with Fighter’s Aura, and given the element of surprise, was it any wonder that the burly men was sent flying back several meters by her surprise attack. He ended up tumbling several times before finally managing to steady himself.
“Blast it…who kicked me?!” The burly man howled as his left arm instinctively reached out to the ground to steady himself while his right hand shot up to shield his chest. His eyes narrowed in pain as he looked up to see who it was that attacked him. As he did so, he came face to face with Nicole’s cold, emotionless eyes.
Realizing that it was a beautiful little girl who committed the deed, the embarrassed burly man practically yelled his lungs out as he cursed Nicole: “B*tch, are you looking for death here? Don’t doubt for a second that I will kill you!”
“Door…the door’s open, I need to go…I must return home…I’m hungry…” At the same time as the burly man swore at Nicole, the crazed man swivelled his head around to lock onto the door that hadn’t been closed yet. He shakily made his way towards the door, clearly still not feeling well from his incarceration. With each step he took, he swayed multiple times as if his brain was having problems controlling his motion.
“Door…I want to leave…I’m not a werewolf…I want to leave…”
Perhaps it was purely by accident or perhaps it was on purpose, the crazed man ended up lumbering towards the back of Nicole.
At that moment, her attention was still solely fixed on the hollering man that threatened to pummel her. Her back was practically exposed to that crazed man, at least it seemed that way to the man.
The crazed man smoothly circled around to her back and upon confirming that she hadn’t turned around to look at him, he bared his fangs!
That’s right, fangs.
His body suddenly expanded, growing from 170 cm to 210 in merely a second. Because of that, his shirt ended up exploding in a shower of torn fabrics.
Not only that, his body started to rapidly grow fur while his fingernails extended into razor sharp claws. Along with those changes, his face grew larger as well. His ears started to shift to the side and point backwards. Instead of a rounded human shape, it now took on a triangular quality similar to that of a wolf’s.
“Roooarr!” The crazed man who had now turned into a werewolf raised his claw triumphantly, poised and ready to strike at the unsuspecting girl. Yet just as he did so, a red flash zipped past his eyes as a searing pain struck him from waist up. Immediately, his sensitive nose was bombarded by the burning smell of fur and meat after which he felt a numbing coldness spread from beneath…
A Flower’s Windy Ballet, An Eye’s Capture.
From the very beginning, she had noticed him stepping towards her back. Whether it was Thousand Snow Flowers or Clear Water Mirror, both of her masters had taught her never to face her back towards a stranger because there was no telling if a knife would come flying towards you an instant later. Naturally, that applied to a crazed man as well. While it was possible that a normal person would be driven mad by the jail cell of the Demon Hunters, there was no guarantee that they weren’t faking it either.
Thus, the moment crazed man went around her back, she immediately noticed the strangeness in the man. Using her toes as a pivot, she nimbly spun around and drew her sword in a blinding arc. Metal met with flesh as the Epic-grade weapon’s icy hot blade sliced right through the unfortunate werewolf’s waist without meeting any resistance at all!
Having done all that, she turned back to facing that violent man, as if she had never moved at all. That was because A Flower’s Windy Ballet, An Eye’s Capture was actually a quickdraw technique that spun one around in a 360 degrees circle.
Nicole coldly sheathed her sword. As for that severed werewolf…because of a werewolf’s abnormally strong life force, he was still able to crawl towards Nicole in a last bid attempt to at least hurt her. Unfortunately for him, this would never happen. An instant later, a casing of ice started to form around him while a raging flame burned within. Sandwiched beneath this impossible amalgamation of elements, he was soon reduced to ashes.
This blade, known as Icy Flames, was a weapon specially crafted to kill fiendish creatures. Its icy effect could restrain an opponent’s movements while its burning effect purified them. Being struck by this powerful blade was basically a death sentence for the average creature of darkness.
“Roar!”
Just as she sheathed her sword, the burly man in front of her actually turned into a werewolf: lupine snout, fangs, smelly breath and everything else you would expect from one. Because he was already a hulking specimen as a human, his final height came in at a whopping 230 cm after transforming. Compared to Nicole who was only 160 cm, he was practically a tiny mountain.
In spite of that, the blade wielding Nicole showed no fear at all because she already expected that there would be two werewolves from the moment she stepped into the jail cell. Eyes affixed to those deadly claws that threatened to rake across her pale, beautiful face, she stabilized her footing and gripped down on the hilt of her sword with her right hand. Her eyes were sharp and her will firm.
Quickdraw Style: A Clear Mirror Like Still Water.
Compared to her move, this was a much faster quickdraw slash that just as easily sliced the burly werewolf in half from the right of his waist to his left shoulder…
Just like that, an opponent was taken down and Nicole habitually gave her blade a flourish before sheathing it once more, now free of blood stains. Even after all that, her face was just as emotionless as before. On her face was no joy or elation from having completed a mission. Neither was there any sort of panic from having just been in a dangerous situation.
“No…impossible…” The burly werewolf stared at Nicole with disbelieving eyes. His eyes started to dim as the twin elements of fire and ice started to rapidly corrode his consciousness and body. He knew that this was the end…
Unexpectedly, the guard’s words actually came true; there was in fact, or were, two werewolves in the cell. Having taken care of those two, there was now that sole man who had been sitting in the same corner throughout this entire fight.
Perhaps because he was born with a slow mind, it was only now that the skinny man finally realized what had happened between Nicole and the two werewolves. He shakily raised his head and gave the entire cell a brief sweep with his eyes. The moment he laid eyes on the corpses of his two former companions, he gave out what to be the most cowardly shriek ever: “Ahhhh…”
“You’re safe now.” Nicole stated.
With the two werewolves dead, what should have been left was an ordinary man whose existence was theorized by the guard. Nicole attempted to placate the frazzled man but unfortunately for her, the shock was just too much to bear. He tried to stumble to his feet but because his legs had gone soft after sitting for so long, he promptly fell down on his butt.
“Mur…murderer…don’t…don’t come near me…” The skinny man seemed to be deathly afraid of Nicole. He continuously retreated from her but unfortunately for him, there was only so much room for him to retreat before hitting the icy cold walls of the jail cell. His face was a complete wreck, etched by his fear and moistened by his tears.
Looking at him now, the words, ‘normal and sane’ seemed completely removed from him.
“I said you are safe now…”
Nicole wasn’t in the mood to pander to this worthless fellow or bother about why he feared her so much even though she was clearly here to save him.
Furrowing her eyebrows, she tried to take a step forward to check up on his condition; perhaps he was under a curse of some sort. Yet who would have thought that the moment she came close to that skinny man, he would suddenly reveal a sinister smile.
