??? POV
'Desperation flickered as long as one's mind allowed. Yet for our Queen, it was the only sparkle that kept her alive.'
A certain man's eyes narrowed. The rainbow spire, arising on the other side of the pit, was located behind the rock cover where his Queen used to be.
Green fireflies scattered around at a distance, a result of lanterns smashed apart when corpses fell.
Well, 'his' Queen would not be accurate. Queen was never one, but always whole with the black sea, a form of entity with traits that resembled a personality. An individuality, one could claim.
Yet what made one unique was only convenient for humans to categorise. The Queen of Hunt. The Queen of Fire. The Queen of Theatrics.
When it came to them, names never mattered. Only the fact that they were his Queens, their Queens, was needed.
And Ciel? Ciel was the 'most unique' Queen yet.
"Argh! God damn it…"
The man's gaze shifted to the merchant. The green outlined in the black coat glowed, humming with a magic that protected him from the blast.
With his body dragged back up, the merchant's palms pressed hard into the earth, kneeling to catch his breath.
"Where… where is that damn bitch?!"
A yell tore through his sore throat, each syllable cluttering with each other in his hushed breaths.
The crowd that formed around him spread apart at his outrage, their gazes uncertainly pointing to the other side.
A giant, striped arm peeked out from the stone wall. It twitched, then flickered away like a nightmare undone.
So? They were not eager to check what happened back there. Maybe if they ran, whoever was behind the rock could forgive them and move on?
The merchant's angry voice broke the thought chains of his mob, which had now reduced to five.
"Don't be ridiculous! I see it all in your eyes: Are you trying to run?!"
As his knee snapped up, he wobbled afoot with a flushed face.
"That white-haired mimic definitely won't spare you now that there are only five of us left! What makes you think you're safe?!"
Being the only one who didn't witness how Quia gave a 'hand' to one of their comrades, the merchant's tone sharpened with an impulsive edge.
His plan, involving a team-up while feeding his team with mana potions, all of which were dosed with a slow-acting poison, failed spectacularly because of Ciel.
In reality, however, all was not lost for him.
He was one to value talent, and Ciel happened to catch his eye.
Compared to the idiots before him, he felt full confidence that, if he convinced them to fight that person, they would stall long enough for him to flee.
He will surely last long enough to score a good ranking after that. Then, he could find a chance to seize that 'talent' for his guild.
Anything to make up for the losses back then.
'Come to think of it, where the hell were those mercenaries I hired?! Did that red-haired lunatic kill them all? Urgh, no matter. Focus!'
"Think better of it!" The merchant begged with tears in his eyes, performance sold with a mix of sincere fear. "I, too, am afraid, but it is now or never! We will approach cautiously and kill that girl!"
He then added. "My merchant guild will compensate you greatly! With some connections, I can even get you into the academy's rumoured elite class!"
Everyone's fear came to a screeching halt. In return, greed captured all of their hearts, warping their rationality into a spiral deeper than even the pit that stretched before them.
"It-it's not like we've anything to lose…"
A man called out first, his grip slowly but surely firm on his axe. "We can see her already pretty tired. Why don't we try?"
"Idiot!" A woman, with an orange pigtail and narrow green eyes, flicked her stave to the other side. "Did you not see that giant ass paw from back there?! Are you going to fight that too?!"
"I-I think it is valid though!"
The freckled girl, from earlier, peeked behind the blonde, the latter seeming more reluctant under her urging gaze.
"We can't run away fast enough if she's that powerful anyway… uh-" The freckled girl twitched at everyone's stares, her fingers on the blonde's sleeve tightening.
"We couldn't risk. And… the academy also judged us based on other merits, right?" The freckled girl held her shoulders straight, forcing a confidence she didn't know existed.
"Hm…" The merchant grazed his chin, scanning the group with a reevaluating glint. "She had a point. If we die, we die showing our bravery. Isn't that part of what makes a shadowhunter?"
A silent agreement permeated the group. Then, the blonde, still pondering, felt a strong tug at his sleeve.
He glanced at his childhood friend. His one and only.
Humanity had established safe zones, but both of them were instead born in an attacked village, where the shadebeasts had already long encroached on the area.
With a stroke of luck, they both fled hand-in-hand and had relied on each other since.
And now, that childhood friend gave him a reassuring, yet implicative glance, the dirty tunic failing to distract the determination in her eyes.
He realised. This childhood friend was telling them to run away, right when the group would attack and distract that killer.
The blonde gripped his chin, the brows sinking into a huge, huge frown.
Then, he released the 'tension' on his face.
Gripping his sword, he approached the orange-pigtailed girl with a small smile.
"I'm afraid you have it wrong, young man."
It came not in a second.
A loud 'shing' boomed, and he slashed the pigtail girl and severed her waist.
The blood splashed across the axeman's face. His eyes first met the colourless, dead eyes from the pigtail girl, then locked onto the blonde swordsman, who with terror and confusion.
That hesitation was his mistake. The next moment, another slash came his way and lobbed off his head, the neck turning into a red fountain.
"Fear drives humanity to success. To hunt better than even our very species."
With a casual swing, the blonde shrugged off the blood on his sword before staring at the merchant, his next target.
With a plop, the lantern broke with the axeman's fall. The fireflies from within escaped in a hurry, flickering green onto the blonde's eerie smile.
"Never lose what completes you, humans."
The remaining two froze. The sheer shock may drown the freckled girl in despair, but not the merchant.
"You damn-"
This time, he leapt away as the sword came for his head, rolling across the floor clumsily.
"Shit! Hey. Hey!"
He shouted for the trembling freckled girl. Tears bordered on the brown eyes of hers, the lips gaping with unspoken disbelief.
"Wake the hell up! He's a damn mimic!" His head tilted to dodge another sword swing, gritting his teeth. "Do something! You want a slime possessing your boyfriend's body?!"
Even his slippery tongue failed to talk the light back into the girl's hollow eyes. With no other choice, he searched his pelt as he rolled against another attack, gripping a dagger in a reverse grip.
As his back left the floor, he leapt to the blonde. Another slash came, but an easy tilt of his head dodged it, leaving the mimic mid-swing.
Now vulnerable, the merchant's dagger struck out, an arrogant grin plastered on his face.
Till the end of his vision, the fireflies suddenly flared into a telling, crimson red.
"Shi-"
And a rush of pain came to his shoulder, the merchant's back weighted down with his movement killed.
Gritting his teeth, his head turned to realise the looming darkness, which latched onto him with a ferocious stubbornness.
That darkness eventually withdrew, revealing two white fangs that stretched from a shadehound's maw.
That was his last sight, before his neck met the same fate as the axeman.
After his rainbow spires joined with the others, the blonde stared across to stare at his childhood friend, crestfallen at his betrayal.
With a move of his hand, the other shadehounds emerged from the pit. He stared at the moon barely peeking at the horizon, the light failing to reach the pit made from his Queen, a glorious coincidence to fulfil his duty.
He didn't spare a glance as screams, maddened with a hint of sobs, erupted behind him.
Instead, he chose to turn his attention across to the other side, where a lone white-haired girl revealed herself.
His Queen. Their Queen.
'And now, the Black Sea's Enemy.'
No anger slipped out from his gaze as he merely asked.
"How long?"
Ciel shrugged. "From the moment I saw your tunic being strangely clean. Your kind always wiercely loyal, enough so that even when crystals were left behind, you never indulge in each other's remains."
She continued. "Naturally, a mimic won't be attacked as well. And from my experience, a mimic likes to scream out their 'emotions'. My suspicion was confirmed the moment you defended that girl fiercely."
Screams ceased in the air as another rainbow spire arose, and the blonde's grip on the sword relaxed.
"I see."
Queens were always supposed to serve their purposes. Yet the first time, Ciel proved even a deviation was possible.
Naturally, their loyalty amongst themselves could also prove to waver, away from what the Black Sea willed.
As the mimic realised this, he began to form his very first judgement, stemming from his years of deception.
"You're a stain upon our history."
He rushed in with his pack of shadehounds.
They must kill this betrayer. Right now.