Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided-Chapter 236. High Snow, Cold Blood.

236. High Snow, Cold Blood.

Heavy snow drifted down, blanketing the grey industrial town in thick white. The mountain ridges embraced the blocky buildings on almost three sides. The afternoon light, faint but present, filtered through the snowfall, casting long shadows across the landscape.

The cloaked assassin strode down the quiet street, her breath hissing as hot mist in the frigid air.

A few locals stood to the side of the road, hands clasped before them. Their layered, vividly coloured clothes, meant to keep them warm, did little to hide their unease. They watched her with a mixture of dread and reverence, their gazes fixed on a single point — a sigil on her left collarbone.

The deadly metal engraving depicted a malevolent, smiling sun, its radiating rays writhing outwards in an irregular pattern.

A short onlooker caught her piercing gaze, beautiful and sparkling amethyst, prompting him to swallow hard. She was, without a doubt, a Shadowbringer.

Ziyue addressed the man, her voice stern. “Where is the place?”

Reluctantly, an old man in a ushanka approached her. “Shadowbringer, you have answered our prayer. Oh, it has been terrible, terrible indeed.”

Exhausted, Ziyue waved him off and interjected, “Yeah, yeah. I need details. How many? Where’s the lair?”

The old man turned to look at his grandchild, who clung to one of his legs. She must be at least ten, Ziyue thought inwardly.

“One moment, please,” the old man whispered to the child, sending her toward a bonfire where three sad-looking people were cooking on a makeshift stove. The cloying scent of mushrooms and greasy boar meat drifted to Ziyue’s nose. It wasn’t pleasant; she wrinkled her nose in distaste.

Ziyue rested a hand on her hip, already regretting her decision to come here instead of taking a mission in the city. The outskirts of Russha were nothing to write home about. The people here looked either too old or too young, and all of them seemed miserable.

“If it weren’t for the damned demons!” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. She wanted this over with, right here, right now.

Eventually, the old man returned. He took off his hat and twisted the fabric until it was misshapen. “A dozen of us were slaughtered…”

“Slaughtered?” Ziyue raised a brow in puzzlement. Well, that’s new.

“Yes. The demoness and her minions are hiding in the buildings to the south.” He pointed with a shaky finger towards a three-building complex looming ominously near the cliff. One was a tall, incomplete apartment building, its bare concrete surfaces already showing weathered stains. It told a history of a once-booming industrial town, brought down by over-expansion and economic collapse.

“How many?” Ziyue asked, already at her wits' end. Mana exhaustion was one thing, but sleep had seemed to elude her these past few missions.

“Ahem!” A more vigorous man chimed in, his chest muscles stretching his undershirt taut. A rifle was slung over his back. “Shadowbringer, if I may.”

“Yes, you may.” Ziyue nodded, her gaze lingering on his massive muscles. They have to be as sturdy as rock.

“We suspect maybe ten to twenty, but we aren’t sure,” the strong man said, his voice firm. “They hunt in packs. I only saw them with my own eyes a couple of days ago. They—”

“Well?” Ziyue tuned her ear, leaning in.

Something seemed to be stuck in his throat, perhaps the awful sight was too hard to describe. With a quick sniff, he continued, his eyes glassy. “They ripped Danim apart and ate him alive. I… I only just managed to escape.” He lifted his sleeve, showing a bloodied wrap.

“Z’smite me…” Ziyue cursed under her breath and scratched her brow with her thumb. This isn’t what was in the mission details. Some idiot must have been ill-informed. Too bad I can’t speak ill of the dead, can I?

“That’s not the worst of it,” the old man added, his eyes darkened. “The demons dragged the corpse back to the complex.”

The muscular man nodded. “It led us to believe the demoness hides herself inside the top of one of those buildings. My name is Roma, by the way.” He outstretched his hand, his fingers trembling slightly.

Ziyue looked past him, ignoring the gesture. “A band of cannibalistic demons. Great.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

“So… where’s the rest of your team?” Roma smiled nervously, peeking behind her as if expecting more assassins to appear.

Instead, Ziyue blew hot air from her mouth and shook her head. “Too bad. It’s just me.”

The air shifted. Their faces turned a ghastly shade of white. “Are you serious?”

“Dead, dead serious,” Ziyue lilted with sass, meeting their gazes without flinching.

Following the old man’s advice, Ziyue found herself at a rundown inn. It was close enough to the demoness’s lair for surveillance, but not so close as to be inside the hunting ground. The guest lounge had a vintage style, complete with faded, hundred-year-old paintings.

The stale stench of old cigarettes and musk assaulted her, sending her already frayed senses into a spiral. After checking in with the staff at the counter, she stumbled towards a rusty old elevator. It groaned its way to the fourth floor, where a suite and, hopefully, a cosy bed awaited her.

Once she dragged her body into the room and slammed the door shut, the sight of a seemingly clean sheet greeted her. Ziyue smiled widely. Finally, something decent after three days without a proper bath. The cold weather and her expensive fragrance from Poranthis had done their best to keep her civil.

Now, she didn’t even think about a hot shower. She collapsed onto the fairly hard mattress, but even that didn't bother her like it normally would.

I can’t go on like this forever, Ziyue groaned, her voice sluggish with exhaustion. With a quick shutting of her eyes, her mind drifted, and the realm of sleep reclaimed her.

A sharp noise woke her — it sounded like someone speaking in a hushed tone. Suddenly, she heard rushing footsteps, and before she could even open her eyes, a sack was thrown over her face. Simultaneously, ropes were tied tightly around her arms and legs.

Crap… Ziyue bit her lip, wriggling to break free, but to no avail. Two, maybe three sets of hands latched onto her, and within a minute of her waking grogginess, she was completely bound.

Then, she was lifted and thrown across someone’s broad shoulders. She heard a door creak open and shut.

Her body swayed with each step. Her eyes twitched with fury. How dare they? I’ll gouge their eyes out and feed them to their stupid mouths.

But she knew better. Instead, she slowed her breathing, just as she had practised. So, there’s more than three of them… Demons in disguise? Theories formed in her mind.

The cold air hit her skin; she knew they were outside the inn.

“We only need to send her to them, elder?” It was the hushed tone of a man she had met this morning. Roma.

“Hush, knucklehead! Don’t speak, or you’ll wake the witch…” The voice of the old man replied. Ziyue recognised it instantly. I’ll rip their hearts out, y’all better count your damn days. She ground her teeth.

“She’s out like a log. No way she’d wake up after the dose of demoness dust we pumped into her room,” another voice chuckled.

“Yeah, the Shadowbringers are nothing against demoness dust! Just like the last one!” Roma boasted, his tone cocky.

So this is how one of my colleagues went missing, Ziyue connected the dots. But little did they know, she had been training with all kinds of poisons since she was young. Her body was almost entirely resistant to poisons, drugs, and alchemical influences.

The group of kidnappers walked towards the derelict building complex. The interior was even colder than outside. The old man sneezed a few times before they began to climb the stairs, each step sending a small jolt through her body.

At the very least, I don’t have to climb it myself. There’s a silver lining after all, Ziyue thought. Her fingers and arms twisted into an awkward, almost grotesque shape. After a few tries, the knots began to loosen. Amateurs… The knots were crude, designed for brute strength, not an escape artist's delicate probing.

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She worked in silence, her fingers reaching for the kunai hidden in her sleeve. After a few swift cuts, she severed the bonds around her hands and torso. The ropes on her legs would be easy to deal with later.

Roma was a strong one; he managed to reach the top of the seventieth-floor stairwell while carrying her. She wasn’t a small damsel, and they had no idea the true demoness they were carrying was about to be unleashed.

After a few more beats, they all stopped. Roma’s huffing and ragged breathing revealed his energy was nearly spent. His hot sweat seeped through the sack onto Ziyue’s stomach, and she cringed, almost giving herself away.

Then, she sniffed the distinct scent of sulphur — the very same that damned souls were born with. The demoness had already corrupted the elder and the other men.

Tsk! she clicked her tongue softly. But how many? Thirty? Maybe that was a lie, too.

The old man and his other accomplice were in no better shape, resting with their hands against the concrete walls. Flakes of old paint fell and stuck to their hands. One of the men frowned and frantically wiped his hands, shaking the residue off. “Let’s go… I don’t want to stay here.”

“Yeah, me too,” the elder replied, waving Roma to follow.

They entered a long corridor lined with broken doors and the black pitch where an elevator should have been installed. They navigated the rubbish-littered ground in near-total darkness, pierced only by the unsteady beams of their flashlights.

Finally, they reached an open floor plan resembling a large chamber with chipped pillars arranged in rows. A low growl resonated from the darkness ahead. Roma’s body tensed up, a flex that Ziyue could feel through his shoulders.

Fear hung heavy in the air as the kidnappers fell to their knees. The elder leaned forward, his hands flat on the ground and his head touching the floor in a gesture of absolute submission.

“All hail the Chieftainess…” the elder spoke, his voice trembling. The other men repeated his words.

A pair of pale, glowing eyes floated slowly in the air. Judging from their height, the creature was easily two metres tall. The elder paused to swallow before gesturing to Roma. “We have brought you one of the best yet…”

Roma slowly and gently laid Ziyue onto the cold floor, an offering for a grand feast.

“So… you have brought me a great one,” a rattling voice, like nails scratching on wood, reverberated as the Chieftainess emerged from the darkness. Her flat nose sniffed the air. “A female stock this time. I am pleased…”

The demoness smiled, revealing jagged, uneven teeth, yellowed like an animal’s. “We will not attack your village. In the meantime, your people will be safe…”

A classic deal with a demon. Pathetic. Ziyue pressed her ear to the floor, sensing the soft shifting of feet behind the Chieftainess.

“Th~thank you, thank you!” The elder rose. “Please, let go of my daughter. Surely this lady is a much better host, right?”

He finally met the demoness’s eyes, but there was nothing of his daughter’s features left in the monster. The creature wore her form, but it was a twisted mockery. The demoness had stretched her frame, making her tall and thin. Her once-perfect teeth were now ugly fangs, and her round face had warped into a long jaw with wide lips. The only thing that remained of his daughter was her long, dark hair, still silky and gleaming in the faint light.

“No…” the demoness clipped, her smile widening into something even more unnatural. The darkness behind her was no longer empty; it sparked with twenty pairs of glowing eyes. They marched barefoot into the moonlight filtering through the broken windows, their skin as pale as the snow outside.

The elder’s face grew paler. “But~but we have a deal!” he raised his voice, before cupping his mouth in terror.

“This is a feast. My children will need more food… Until you find me the most compatible host, we will talk,” the voice drawled. The demoness drifted close to Ziyue, who could feel the cold radiating from her skin.

“The one who drew in the greatest sorrow… her memory was a melody to my muse… because you…” The voice stopped to chuckle. “Naughty, naughty old one… an abuser and a rapist.”

Roma and the other man eyed the elder, their faces a mixture of uncertainty and disdain.

“It’s not true!” the elder denied, sweat forming on his forehead. “I could never have done anything like that to my daughter!”

“Very well. Keep your secret,” the Chieftainess replied, still chuckling. She reached for the sack over Ziyue’s head. “Go, now. Unless you want to see this too.”

As the long, lanky fingers touched the bag, a streak of purple flashed before the demoness’s eyes.

“WHAT—”

It was incomprehensibly fast. The sharp stench of ozone rose from her now-severed fingers. The demoness winced, confused.

Ziyue shadow-stepped a few metres away and brought her flaming dagger down to cut the ropes on her legs. She twisted on her heels, recirculating the blood flow.

“YOU DOUBLE-CROSSED ME!” the demoness growled at the men, cupping her bleeding hand.

“We didn’t know!” the kidnappers scrambled back, their jaws dropped. Roma’s flashlight slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground.

“Huh. So, the arc blade works like a charm,” Ziyue muttered, her lips smirking. This shouldn’t be too hard.

“KILL THEM ALL!” the demoness bellowed. Thumping feet rocked the floor as her minions sprinted toward Ziyue, their teeth and claws snapping.

The first two lunged, swiping with their claws.

Ziyue sidestepped with deadly precision before returning a diagonal cut to each.

Their bodies dropped to the floor.

The third enemy jumped teeth-first, and Ziyue intercepted it with a powerful kick, snapping its neck instantly.

Complete chaos erupted. The chamber turned into a battlefield while the three kidnappers huddled together, their mouths wide with soundless screams. Ziyue became the whirlwind. She hacked, slashed, and kicked, sending one demon twisting through the air as her blade felled another. A trail of gore marked her deadly path through the collapsing ranks of enemies.

In less than five minutes, the demons’ corpses littered the ground. Their entrails, severed limbs, and an immeasurable amount of blood spread outwards until it lapped at the feet of the terrified men, forcing them to scramble back.

At the centre of the massacre stood the second-deadliest Assassin of Russha. Ziyue tilted her head back and laughed maniacally, her amethyst eyes glinting ominously in the dark. Her pale skin dripped with the blood of her enemies.

The roles had been switched; she was not in peril, she was the peril.

“This is a nice warm-up. I’m fully awake now,” Ziyue said, her tone frigid as she massaged her neck. There was a dread in her casualness that was more terrifying than any demonic growl.

“Im~impossible!” the demoness stuttered, her wide eyes sweeping left and right in panic, realising her minions had been completely annihilated.

Ziyue pointed her purple-flamed dagger in defiance. “You’re next! What’s wrong? The rat got your ugly tongue?” she taunted.

Silence. This primal fear felt new to the demoness. Slowly, Ziyue stepped toward her.

Utterly mortified, the demoness retreated on trembling legs. Her body twitched unnaturally, her knees buckled backwards, and her tall frame collapsed.

“My daughter!” the elder shouted, tears streaking down his cheeks. The demoness shape-shifted back into the teenage girl, her rattling voice returning to a soft sob.

“Cheap trick won’t work on me!” Ziyue exploded forward, her dagger a ribbon of light. The demoness realised too late that her desperate ploy had failed and attempted to shift back.

With two quick strikes in a cross pattern, Ziyue eliminated the demoness before it could fully return to its monstrous form. Its dismembered parts scattered onto the floor, joining the pile of its dead minions.

“You monster! You killed my daughter!” the elder roared with fury, rising to his feet. Before he could take a step, a flicker of purple light crossed his neck. His body went rigid, and his head tumbled from his shoulders to the ground.

“AHHH!” Roma screamed, already scrambling into a full-blown sprint. The other man froze in fear, piss leaking from his trousers.

“Please—please!” The man raised his hands, but his plea wasn’t answered. First, his hands fell, blood splashing from the stumps. Then another slash came at his neck, severing it clean off.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Roma ran as fast as his trembling legs would allow, but he tripped over a body part and tumbled down the stairs. The world spun, upward becoming down.

“Ahhhh!” He landed hard on the stair landing, his breath hissing with the pain that flared through every part of his body.

He ground his teeth, ignoring the pain. Something much, much worse was still after him.

But when he raised his face, Ziyue was already looming over him. Her amethyst eyes stared down, utterly emotionless. Her writhing dagger was ready in her hand, the dripping blood boiling as purple flame crept up the metal.

“Too bad, huh?” Ziyue sneered.

“Wait—wait—” Roma never finished his words. His head fell off his neck. The last thing his eyes saw was a dark boot slamming into his face, and his world spinning over and over. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

At dawnbreak, the first light illuminated the horror in front of the abandoned complex. The head of the demoness was on a long pole, but next to it was an even more jarring sight: three human heads. They were arranged in a single row atop the thick, snowy ground.

First, a few villagers came out to investigate, then a whole crowd gathered. Dread painted their expressions, a fear perhaps even deeper than what they felt under the demoness’s brief rule. The little girl ploughed her thin frame through the crowd, breathless. The sight of the elder’s head shocked her to the core. She screamed and wept while others pulled her away, trying to calm her.

Well, at least I didn’t put their eyeballs in their mouths, Ziyue thought, sitting on a cold handrail on a distant balcony, enjoying the view. Her hair drifted against the gentle breeze, blood frozen and sticking the strands into big, ugly locks. The jagged hemline of her cloak waved in an erratic pattern.

Her arc comm vibrated. She tapped her thumb over it to accept the call. It was from Solis Aeternum.

Astrid’s face lit up in the hologram. “What’s going on?” she asked, raising a brow at Ziyue's appearance.

"Nothing. It’s not my blood," Ziyue replied with a smile, fidgeting with the priceless vial. It was a souvenir of incredible potency, a gift from the Lord of the Shadowbringers himself. I’m glad I don’t have to use it, she thought. My gut tells me there’ll be a more impactful time for it.

“So… I take it your mission is complete,” Astrid nodded calmly.

“And I…” Ziyue trailed off to inspect Astrid’s immaculate face, “...take it your mission is just beginning. Why are you calling me?”

“Well, you haven’t answered my call since last night. I thought—” Astrid clipped, crossing her arms.

Ziyue’s lips parted in surprise. “Really? Then, I must apologise for my tardiness—”

“Yeah, yeah!” Astrid cut her off, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s good that you’re safe,” she admitted forthrightly. “I need to go now. Duty calls. These damned demons…”

“Or demonesses…” Ziyue added, her tone eerily melodic.

“Hm,” Astrid grunted, her expression grim as uneasiness crept in.

“Then I wish you good luck!” Ziyue replied with a mock bow.

“Thanks,” Astrid clipped, avoiding her gaze while a cunning smile touched Ziyue's face.