63 Ca-hat-strophe
It was not difficult for Azemo to find the correct building as it was the only one around that still had its lights on.
The lights were still on because the members of the Hat Vendors Association were busy celebrating the elimination of their newest competitor. Alcohol flowed and laughter rang throughout the building but as the front door opened silence began to slowly penetrate the building.
One could hear a pin drop as Azemo entered the building letting the street lights reflect off Shining Starlight.
On the first floor a couple of people opened their mouths to scream but two tigers dashed out of the darkness instantly silencing them.
Azemo would usually never be this brutal, but Kclzan was a simulation and he needed the best rewards to be able to take down the Lightning Sword.
As blood gushed like a fountain on the first floor Azemo and the twins ascended the stairs. It was time for destruction.
The second floor was filled with guards because the Hat Vendors Association had connections with the city guard.
After taking one look at Azemo the guards prepared for a fight. Azemo was covered in blood and a ferocious smile was worn on his demonic face. Azemo had decided to drop (skill) Incognito to have a semblance of disguise. No one would connect Warrencraft to a demon, at least Azemo hoped that was the case.
The guards all drew handles which they quickly ignited and the hilts turned into full blown holographic swords.
'I don't really have any area of effect skills.'
As Azemo paused to think, Bella and Ima had already jumped into the fray and the screams of their prey echoed throughput the building.
"What the hell is going on down there?"
"Don't worry about it, we have a literal army of guards. No one can make it up here alive."
The confidence of the hat sellers rose and they immersed themselves in their celebration once again, unaware of the painting that was being made in blood below them.
Azemo's spear flashed in and out of bodies and not a single guard could even touch him. Azemo kept slowly advancing, he could not have any witnesses so he had to make sure no one escaped.
Bella and Ima had it much easier and they were free to run around hunting whoever they chose.
The scene they created was like a horror movie. The dim lights of the second floor failed to illuminate the sisters and they darted in and out of the shadows. Every time they appeared in front of the guards another death was created.
The people who were killed by Bella and Ima tried everything they could think of, running, hiding, fighting, but the shadows of the tigers just left behind more bodies.
In under five minutes the second floor was completely empty besides Azemo and the two monsters.
Azemo sighed deeply while he looked at the blood soaked pelts of Bellania and Imagine. He could tell they were uninjured but he was not happy about the two kittens engaging in combat.
When Azemo was distracted a guard, who was still somehow alive, tried to make a run for the exit but Ceravin soon ruined the man's dreams as it appeared out of thin air.
As the man fell to the ground Azemo took a look at his surroundings. The building was just like most of the city and was pure white, or it used to be white. White was the perfect color to show the sheer amount of blood that was everywhere.
On the floor it was like an actual river and Azemo had to step on bodies to avoid destroying his shoes. The walls of the building painted a scene of terrifying beauty.
The blood splatters somehow had perfectly splashed in a way that reminded Azemo of a sunrise.
"Well we just have one more floor. You guys have done enough, get some rest."
Ima instantly ran into the room bag but Bella was not so easy, eventually she went into the bag but she gave time for the third floor to hear the eerie silence that emanated below them.
"We attack whoever appears at the door instantly. If we all attack together there is no way for them to survive."
The fifteen men and women in expensive clothing all took out small daggers and steeled themselves.
The door to the floor below them slowly creaked open but nothing entered.
Seeing that nothing came through the door the group collapsed in relief and they missed the dark shadow that walked into the room.
Azemo was about to dispel (skill) Blend In when he remembered something.
'It is going to look like I did this, because I would be the only competitor left. I better leave someone alive.'
After he came to this conclusion Azemo used (skill) Alarm to shock the members of the Hat Vendors Association.
An alarm echoed through the small room as Azemo appeared out of the shadows. The nearest hat sellers dropped to the ground as Ceravin began flying around the room.
The remaining twelve hat sellers banded together, the threat of death was a perfect way to unite a usually argumentative group.
Azemo just watched as the group rushed him and plunged their daggers into his body. Blood flew through the air as two heads suddenly disappeared off of their bodies and reappeared in Azemo's hands.
The relentless attacks of the group instantly stopped as they looked at the demon that was Azemo. They saw a horned figure soaked in blood with wounds they had just created all over his body slowly being burned away. Even as blood dripped over the eyes of the demon the brilliant green flames could not be extinguished.
In the eyes the hat sellers only saw the reflections of their hope slowly fade away. Azemo infused Ceravin with the power of (skill) Retaliate and the knife began to emit an ominous grey smoke.
The rich folk of the third floor began to scream, some begging for their life while others just cursed anyone they could think of, but Ceravin moved without mercy or hesitation.
Azemo sat down in a chair as Ceravin sailed through the air silencing the screams of those who plotted to kill him.
Suddenly there was only one hat vendor left and Azemo stopped Ceravin. Azemo stood up and Ceravin returned to its master. As soon as the knife was in its sheath Azemo left the lifeless building. He thought about writing something in blood but that thought was a little too much for Azemo, he wasn't a vicious mass murderer, after all.
Azemo looked back at the building as he hurried home. It looked like the building itself was bleeding as blood started to seep out of the openings of the building.
On the way back to his mansion Azemo remembered the bodies of the assassins. When he had killed them he had done nothing to hide their bodies because he was busy thinking about surviving.
Azemo rushed to where he left the bodies and luckily no one was around. The majority of the guards were at the Hat Vendors Association's building and normal folk did not like going out at night.
Azemo used (skill) Degrade on the bodies and they quickly vanished without a trace. It turned out that when (skill) Degrade was not going after a lifeforce it worked pretty fast. In under a minute there was no sign of the bloody struggle that had occurred on the streets.
Anyone who had been their early would have noticed how the scene of absolute carnage had turned into pristine perfection and no one would ever believe their tales.
Azemo hurried home and when he arrived he changed out of his new blood outfit and took a quick bath. Afterwards he called Lixen to the study and stabbed himself in the stomach, telling Lixen to get the guards.
Azemo was a hat vendor so he had to make it look like someone had tried to kill him, just like the others.
"Ima wake up. There is something I need you to do."
Ima groaned but she crawled out of the room bag. Azemo quickly scrawled something on a piece of paper and gave it to Ima.
"Use your bloodline ability and sneak into the house of the hat vendor we left alive. Plant this letter somewhere it can be found then come back here."
"Anything else you want me to do?" Ima snorted incredulously.
"Actually could you also steal the gold sword from House number two?"
Ima rolled her eyes but she had to vanish into the shadows as the guards burst through the front door.
"Mr. Warrencraft please tell us what happened."
Azemo just coughed up some blood and Lixen shouted.
"Can't you see he is dying, get him some medical attention."
The guards stopped with their questions and hurried Azemo to a medic where he was patched up nicely.
Meanwhile more guards poured into the building that contained the massacre of the Hat Vendors Association.
The scene of absolute violence shocked any who entered but the guards hurried through, looking for survivors.
On the top floor they saw a single woman collapsed on the ground and they hurriedly evacuated her. The woman was too fearful to talk but the fact that she was alive in the midst of the bloodbath was suspicious.
After searching her house the guards found damning evidence that the woman had hired the Painter of Crnst to wipe out her competition.
Since the scene of destruction was clearly the Painter's handiwork the woman was arrested immediately and somehow Azemo's random plan worked.
In fact everything was going well for Azemo because as he returned from the medic he found a golden rapier on his bed next to the form of a sleeping tiger.
