Beneath The Surface

Fall 43 - For inherent evils to be eradicated, there needs to be a greater evil.

Normal text
Thinking
Onomatopoeia

Astaroth's POV
From atop a tree, Astaroth peered down at a cluster of shoddy tents. The night was young, as evident from the many sloppily dressed Noxians coming out to play poker. Around the perimeter, guards in steel armour roamed the area. But the campsite was far from impenetrable. Astaroth had been observing this place for quite some time now. Although security was generally tight, there were still brief moments of lax during the swapping of night watches. And that's all the time she needed to flatten this dumpster. Like a hawk, she observed the repetitive circling of the same old route before the guards approached a nearby military tent for the next batch to take over. Everything was like clockwork, according to expectations.

Once they disappeared from sight, Astaroth looked at the rogue lying prone under the covers of ferns in the nearby woods. Deep shadows cast that entire area in darkness, completely camouflaging her. Kali instinctively returned her gaze. Astaroth nodded, giving her the signal to move. Fishing out a bunch of grenades, she pulled the pin and hurled them accurately at the congregated campfire. The moment licks of flames came into contact with them, a harsh bang reverberated in the silent night, followed by pitiful howls of mutts being blown to pieces. Shrapnels were blasted everywhere, punching numerous tiny but deadly holes through the ill-prepared invaders. The chill atmosphere subsequently descended into a disordered mess. Urgent barks of orders were drowned out by hysteric screams. As if this wasn't chaotic enough, blue inferno suddenly encircled the perimeter, trapping every single Noxian in a roaring oven. Some thought they were being smart, trying to hop out of their designated pen. But the ravenous hellfire quickly latched onto their prey, thoroughly incinerating them to ashes.

Like a well-oiled machine, the rest of their vigilante group sprung into action. Everyone quickly dispersed to their assigned sectors. Over at Kaisa's area, violet bullets rained like fireworks, igniting the place in purplish fumes. The little rabbit was like a beautiful black rose, leaping gracefully above their heads to grant swift death and salvation. Meanwhile, on the other side, it was a gruesome crime scene. Severed heads and limbs strewn everywhere. The silhouettes of those screeching soldiers flickered abnormally. Then a pair of blood-red pupils appeared on one of them. Eyes narrowed as the shadow smiled sinisterly with a crimson gash as its lips. In the blink of an eye, two razor-sharp lashes surged out of the shadow, decapitating the noisy fellow. And right in the middle of this entire fiesta was a cloud of dense smog. Nothing could be seen in it, save for the vague silhouette of a bloodthirsty assassin. Loud grunts and squeals of terror echoed from deep within. All of which were quickly silenced.

As much as Astaroth wanted to continue spectating the amusing clusterfuck going on, she had a job to do—catch the leftover rats that attempted to flee. Hopefully, one of them would be the person in charge of this unit. Within a few minutes, Astaroth caught sight of a bastard slinking away under the cover of night and chaos. A pity it's not inconspicuous enough for her grandfather's enhanced senses. Her pupils shrunk and she leaped from the tree branch, practically breaking it from the brute force. There was a brief moment of weightlessness before she landed neatly on the ground and resumed sprinting for her prey.

In a fit of panic, the supposedly well-trained general didn't even detect a murderous presence barrelling towards him. He was simply too busy trying to save his hide. In one fluid motion, Astaroth unsheathed the Infinity Edge and swung it at his skull. There was a crisp crunch and the headless corpse toppled over. Viscous blood drizzled down the sleek edge of her blade. Ever since she got this precious gift from her apathetic blacksmith friend, she has been favouring it over using the old man's powers. Overbearing harpings about her tattered back was starting to get annoying. Anyway, she wasn't particularly fond of being taped up into a mummy either.