Miserable Life in DAL

Part 12

Kurumi POV

"Oh my, what happened to the lovely neighborhood?" Kurumi said as she stood amidst the almost collapsed house of some poor people.

The sight of buildings in rubble confused Kurumi. The last time she was here, the town was fine; now smoke was rising from countless residential houses and buildings lay in ruins.

It was just strange. This place had seen its fair share of chaos, usually involving AST,  Spirits, and some blue haired boy. But this time, something was different. An outsider has entered the fight.

She knelt beside the lifeless body of a man wearing a balaclava, his blood pooling beneath him. Gently, she touched his neck, "Body still warm, but death has taken him."

The man was not from AST nor DEM. The Government military was an option but after removing the mask, Kurumi doubt whether a Russian could get a job in the JSDF. Another thing was the uniform gear that didn't match any other faction in the world as far as she Knew. 

"Merc? PMC? Russian mobs?" she murmured.

Maybe this guy was contracted by AST or DEM, but she was doubting the need of foreign mercenary. They were pretty powerful by relying on their superior technology plus wizards.

Thankfully, not far from where Kurumi stood, another balaclava guy was still breathing. With a quick step into a shadow, Kurumi teleported to his side and stood in front of the balaclava guy... Living but dying.

The guy noticed another presence beside him titled his head upward, "Who the f*ck are you?"

"Oh my, such rudeness. Didn't your parents teach you any manners?"

"F*ck off! Those damned DEM killed my parents," He stopped for a moment, voice faltering as he clutched his bloodied stomach, "I'll never forgive them."

"You know, I'm just here coming back from vacation and see that my lovely town became. Do you know what happened."

"You are not a civie aren't you, you must be something special."

Kurumi chuckled and put a finger to her chin, "How so?"

"All civilians had been evacuated and all road to here has been blocked."

"Oh my, I'm just a clueless and frail girl." 

To punctuate her mockery, she released a fraction of her Spirit power, summoning several of her clones. The air grew heavy as her golden clock-eye glinted menacingly.

"Or do you prefer this version of me? Now can you be a nice boy and tell me your story."

The balaclava man reached out for his pants and pulled a grenade. 

"Over my dead body!" The man pulled for the pin grenade and shouted, "For Glorious Dead!!!"

Kurumi with a great reflex stepped back and her clones sprang forward, using their bodies to protect her from the explosion. The explosion rocked the area, leaving Kurumi unharmed but visibly irritated.

She just lost another of her time. The more clones that she had died, the more life force consumed and Kurumi didn't want that.

"We have found others person like this and they decided to shot themselves after deciding they can't kill us." A clone of Kurumi appeared before her and voiced her concern. 

"This is not DEM, we must proceed with caution." Another clone added.

These balaclava people didn't think for a second to sacrifice their life rather than spelling anything about their background. Kurumi pondered whether the timing between a new spirit arrival and the battle happened here had a connection.