Asmodeus System: Stealing My Bully's Mother

​Snow fell increasingly heavy from the sky, coating the wooden roofs of the Silent Village.

​Yet now, the night had partially passed.

​Dawn had yet to arrive. There was only an oppressive silence and biting cold.

​”We’ve rested enough,” Ethan said, his voice low but clear.

​Valera stopped wiping her dagger. She turned her head, looking at Ethan with her golden eyes that had regained their sharpness.

​”So... what is the plan now, My Lord?” Valera asked.

​Ethan rose from his chair. He straightened the clasps of his thick black cloak.

​”We force them out of their hiding holes right now.”

​Valera sheathed her dagger, then stood up as well. ”Huh? How do we do that?”

​”The corpse of the man whose throat you slit,” Ethan replied quietly. ”Take it. Hang that corpse on the large wooden pole in the middle of the village. After that, we burn their logistics warehouse to the ground.”

​Hearing that insane plan, the corners of Valera’s lips pulled wide. A feral smirk was etched across her face.

​”Tch. You want to set up a stage of terror right in the middle of their own nest?”

​”They’ve been used to being the hunters for so long,” Ethan said while draping his black cloak. ”Now, we reverse the roles. Force them to become bewildered prey.”

​Valera took a deep breath, letting the freezing air fill her lungs. ”Hmm, I like that plan.”

​Wasting no time, Ethan undid the window latch. The two leaped out, landing smoothly on a pile of snow without triggering the slightest crunch.

​They moved swiftly along the village’s back roads. Piercing through the dead of night, their steps guided them back to the pile of firewood where Valera’s victim was hidden.

​Valera walked in front with the fluid movements of a stalking wolf. Ethan followed right behind her.

​Behind the woodpile, the stiff corpse of the hooded Serpent’s Tongue member still lay there. The blood that had spewed from his neck had frozen into blackish-red ice crystals. His skin was a pale blue.

​Without the slightest ounce of disgust, Valera bent down. With one effortless motion, she hoisted the stiff corpse over her left shoulder. Her physical strength clearly surpassed that of an ordinary human.

​Ethan scanned their surroundings meticulously. Every window of the wooden houses around them was dark and quiet. No villagers dared to peek.

​”Bring it to the center of the village,” Ethan ordered with a nod of his chin.

​They moved to the open area at the heart of the Silent Village. There stood a large, tall, and sturdy wooden pole—a remnant of an autumn harvest festival pole that was now abandoned.

​Tonight, that pole changed its function into a gallows.

​Thud.

​Valera tossed the stiff body to the ground. She pulled a coarse rope from the folds of her armor, then tied the corpse’s wrists behind its back with a dead knot.

​After ensuring the knot was secure, Valera leaped lightly. She threw the end of the rope over the pole’s top crossbar, then yanked it hard until the stiff body hung several meters in the air.

​Ethan stood not too far away, observing the corpse swaying slowly in the night wind. His expression was flat. There was no guilt, nor was there satisfaction. He merely ensured that this message of terror was visualized perfectly.

​”I want them to know,” Ethan whispered through the howling wind. ”That the hunter has entered their cage.”

​Valera wiped the remaining snow off her leather gloves. She looked up at the corpse, then turned to Ethan.

​”Let me add one more decoration,” Valera said, smirking faintly.

​The female knight leaped, grabbing the shoulder of the hanging corpse to hold it in place. Her right hand drew her dagger. With a single line of horrifying precision, Valera re-slit the corpse’s throat.

​She widened the old wound from the tip of the left ear to the right. Creating a gaping tear that resembled a wide, grotesque smile.

​The remnants of thick blood that hadn’t completely frozen dripped slowly, staining the blanket of snow below.

​Tap.

​Valera landed back on the ground and sheathed her dagger.

​Ethan nodded slowly. The two turned around, moving toward their next target: the logistics warehouse on the western edge of the village.

​The warehouse was the largest wooden building there. Its doors were shut tight, but the pungent smell of chemicals and foul incense wafted sharply from the cracks in the planks.

​Valera scanned the surroundings. ”Empty. There are no guards outside.”

​Ethan wasted no time. He smashed into the double wooden doors until they burst open.

​CRASH!