Romance of the Four Kingdoms

Chapter 81

Mitsuko returned to the hut she previously entered where she very recently saved a mother and child from her own soldier disobeying her direct orders. She glanced to the ground to see the freshly torn corpse lying there where she left it. Blood had dripped all the way down the wall where both halves crashed to and started to dry up. She walked in and had a quick glance around the hut. She couldn't find anyone in sight. They must have heeded her advice she thought, it seemed they made their choice. She started to walk away. However as she started to walk away she heard footsteps that weren't hers distantly. She thought it was one of her soldiers at first however as it rushed towards her as the footsteps increased in pace she quickly turned around. She found the middle-aged woman trying to attack with a slab of wood. Mitsuko easily blocked the attack as her left serpent head caught it in his jaws and clenched tightly to it, preventing the woman from withdrawing it. Mitsuko used her other serpent head to grab her throat and hold her high. She doesn't crush it though. The woman flails her legs wildly, occasionally kicking the serpent's body to no avail.

'So you've chosen death I see. That's fine, I'll make sure its painless.' She stated as she looked around. She was trying to find the child. She searched around frantically as she kept a firm hold of the woman's neck still high in the air. When she couldn't find her she tightened her grasp on her neck and stared at her with her reptilian eyes.

'Where is she?'

'Gugh-gone.' She managed to sputter out. Mitsuko didn't quite understand that.

'Gone? What do you mean gone?' She tightened her grasp yet again as she raised her voice and slammed against one of the huts walls. She started to cough and tried to gasp for air.

' I was not about to let her die your villainess hands.' Mitsuko was furious by this as she started to shout at her as her left snake let go of the slab of wood it was holding and regurgitated out her sword.

'You let her go off...ON HER OWN!?' She yelled out.

'Yes. I wanted to see her grow up. Though I couldn't let you take her life away. So I told her to run, run and survive.' She replied. Mitsuko was enraged by those words and slammed her to the ground. The woman coughed up blood as soon as she made impact with the ground.

'I was going to let you go! I was going to let you live if you wanted. I gave you both a choice to go out together or live together for survival!' She yelled. Why did this woman just abandon her daughter just for a cheap shot at her? Yeah she knows what she did and understands that. But that doesn't justify letting a child, a young child be all alone in this world willingly just for a petty chance at vengeance!

'Do you expect me to take the word of a villain like you? You didn't hesitate to slaughter us, pillage and take what we worked hard to harvest for your own nefarious deeds.' She stated.

'I don't need to justify myself to someone who would let a child suffer through this world alone!' She snarled as her both her serpents hiss aggressively at the woman.

'She'll become strong. Strong enough to take your head.' Mitsuko full of hatred lifted her up to eye level and pierced her soul with a hateful glare.

'She doesn't need to be strong at that age! She needed to be cared for! And yet you put her for a life of suffering and loneliness for a small chance to try to harm me and if you fail she can pick up where YOU left off! You could harbour your hatred for me all you want but I gave you both a chance to live or die together. Yet you chose for her a path of loneliness. Do you understand what you've done to her!?' Mitsuko shouted at her with venom in her voice as she thrusted her sword in her abdomen. She vomited blood immediately. It drips down her chin and eventually starts to drip down both sides of the serpents jaw that kept a hold of her neck. Mitsuko didn't avert her gaze and forced her to look at her reptilian eyes as the sword horizontally carved its way through her stomach. When she completed it, the legs immediately fell to the ground, her intestines quickly dropped to the ground along with a couple of her internal organs. She felt her strength quickly fade away as its replaced by sheer agony. She wanted to scream, though the serpents jaw prevented air from escaping her lungs. The demonic hateful eyes of Mitsuko was the last thing she witnessed as she felt her arms go numb and darkness consumed her. As she closed her eyes Mitsuko threw the torso to the other side of the hut. She snarled before she calmed down. She didn't expect herself to lose herself to rage as much as she did. She didn't expect a parent to decide such a fate to her child...a fate...like hers. She contemplated what she would have to do in the future if raids like these would need to happen more commonly. If there were people that were be willing to make a choice like that, she wondered if it was almost better for her forces to kill them just to make sure they didn't have to suffer. She knew if she just killed them before and not gave them a choice she wouldn't be mulling over this now. She could've prevented her future suffering if she had a stronger resolve...she sighed.