Black Ice ✓ | Deathsworn #1

Chapter 45 ∞ The Coming of Death

Hell had broken loose. The masked men around me weren't expecting this form of attack at all. It baffled them knowing their comrades were aging before their very eyes—and they didn't know the reason why. They couldn't see the adversary, but they knew the frost was the marker of death. They brushed it off their bodies to no avail. It clung to their skin and grew like mold, inching through their flesh, piercing into and through the bone. Filled with fear, each of them tried to make their escape, but they all got chased down by the Veils around me and feasted on borrowed the lives in their body.

"And someday return, river child. Return you will."

The same went for the empress. She watched in horror as her youthful skin turned wrinkly and dull. She clawed at her face, shocked, and let out cries of distress, yelling, "W-What are you doing?!" Her voice had turned raspy and old. No longer did it have the sultry and seductive tinkle to it as it did before. "What are you doing?! Stop! Stop this right now. No! What's happening? My...my...AAAGGHHH!"

I looked over to the men with reptilian eyes.

To my shock, they weren't affected at all. The frost had already appeared on their skin and the Veils were already around them, but their lives didn't get sucked out of their bodies. They moved well and closed in on my mistresses, swinging their weapons with the intention of killing.

How come...how come they weren't affected?

Before I could wrap my mind around what was happening, one of reptilian-eyed men swooped in, taking the old, wrinkly empress into his arms and making haste to escape. I didn't want them to get away, but it wasn't like the Veils were concrete things that could block their paths. What more, with the man shielding that damnable queen, not even the Veils could touch her.

I was frustrated.

I willed the Veils further, but found that I had already zapped my own energy dry. I tried singing further, but with every note that left me seemed to squeeze me for nonexistent juice.

I coughed up blood. I doubled over and landed on my side. The song had stopped and, like a flock of sheep that had lost its shepherd, the Veils began to scatter.

Nevertheless, with the commotion that had ensued, everyone leapt into action. My mistresses managed to break free of the holds that the men in black had over them. Mistress Veronika had taken the advantage of the distraction and made a grab for the weapon of one man. With it, she began taking down the others, one after another—if they still hadn't given in to death. She hacked at them, slicing at their flesh like there was no tomorrow.

It was gruesome, but what made it even more disgusting was the blood. Contrary to expectations, it was black, particularly those of which could technically no longer be considered humans. Their blood was so tainted that it smelled of death. I saw some fumes rising in the air. It was a presence that I was very familiar with. The Veils heeded the call, lapping up the essence and hissing in pleasure upon tasting it.

What was it? What were they?

"These guys don't die easily," Mistress Veronika said. "They're...like...immune to death." Her blade came whistling down and chopped neatly at the head which came tumbling down. Only then did the man finally stop moving.

The body rotted before our very eyes immediately. It was not even spared the proper cycle of death.

"Veronika," Lamia began as she sent a punch to her captor, only to withdraw her fist in pain. "Shi—" she took a sharp breath as Mistress Veronika swooped in to knock out her captor for her. And very effectively at that. "Get the children and escape," she continued to say.