The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 134: No Mercy for the Wicked

The moment those words left his mouth, both his partners turned toward him, and only then did he realise he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

He coughed awkwardly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Ron and the other Awakened rolled their eyes before shifting their attention back toward the woman standing ahead of them.

Seraphina stood amidst the cracked roadway beneath the sunlight, her icy-blue eyes staring at them coldly.

She hadn’t fully heard what the man had muttered earlier, but the look in his eyes alone was enough to make her stomach twist in disgust.

“Miss, what are you doing out here?!” The policeman suddenly shouted, faintly lowering his firearm after realising she wasn’t a monster.

But seeing the woman not reacting, he spoke again, louder.

“You should go to safety!”

“What the fuck are you yelling for? There could be monsters nearby.”

Hearing the Awakened’s words, the policeman stiffened.

Realising his mistake, he quickly nodded.

“Right… sorry.”

The group’s attention returned toward Seraphina.

But seeing her remain completely silent, small frowns twisted their brows.

“We have to rescue other civilians too, right?” an Awakened suddenly asked in a low voice—the same one who had commented on Seraphina just a minute ago.

Ron and the other Awakened turned toward him, and their eyes instantly narrowed when they noticed his gaze fixated on Seraphina.

A strange glint flickered within his eyes—something both of them clearly noticed.

“But… do you think we can keep a few of them with us?”

For a brief second, silence lingered.

Understanding instantly dawned on the other two Awakened.

How could they not understand what he was trying to say?

They had known him for years, had been friends for a long time, so of course they understood how each of their minds worked.

“Horny bastard,” Ron muttered, faintly shaking his head as though the man were a completely hopeless case.

“We are just here to save them, nothing else.”

But before he could say anything to stop his mind from straying further—

“I don’t think he’s entirely wrong though.”

Ron’s head snapped toward his other friend, only to find that even he was staring at Seraphina with the same look in his eyes.

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed immediately as she noticed their disgusting gazes crawling over her body.

Just being looked at by them made her feel filthy.

Her fists clenched tightly.

Then slowly, carefully, she shifted one arm behind her back, her palm pressing against the knife’s handle.

Her grip tightened.

“Just look at her, Ron, and tell me. Have you ever seen a woman this beautiful?”

Ron’s eyes gradually drifted back toward Seraphina.

And with just one look, something within him shifted.

The man continued speaking.

“She’s hotter than most of the actresses, so Ron, what’s there to think about so much?”

“We can even share her once at a time.”

For a moment, a long silence lingered.

But then suddenly—

The silence was instantly broken as one of the policemen stepped forward angrily.

“What the hell are you people talking about?! We’re supposed to protect her!”

His partner beside him shifted awkwardly, internally panicking.

The lustful Awakened immediately snapped his head toward the officer.

“Will you shut the fuck up? We’ll save who we want, and we’ll fuck who we want.”

The cop’s jaw tightened rigidly.

But standing before an Awakened carried a different kind of pressure—one that easily forced weaker people into submission.

And the officer could only lower his head.

For a brief moment, his fingers tightened around the grip of his handgun.

Ron shifted his attention to the side slightly, immediately noticing what was going through the man’s head.

“Don’t even think about it. If you kill us… your family will be dead too.”

Of course, he was mostly bluffing.

The officer’s eyes widened slightly, and his grip on the weapon slowly loosened.

“…Understood.”

After several more seconds of staring at Seraphina, Ron finally sighed.

“Fine, let’s take her with us.” A small smile twitched on his face.

“But don’t forget my share.”

His friend beamed immediately.

“Of course!”

Without hesitation, the lustful Awakened began walking toward Seraphina, and the closer he got, the more excited he became.

Her pale skin, her mature yet elegant features, those cold eyes.

Even her expressionless face somehow made his pulse quicken.

He was empty-handed now, having passed his shortsword to his companion earlier.

Throughout all of this, Seraphina never uttered a single word, not once, even though she had heard every disgusting sentence clearly.

Her eyes only grew colder as the man leisurely approached her, almost expecting her to panic and run.

But the moment she attempted to take a step back, her feet halted.

And behind her, the road had collapsed inward, cracked and sunken into the earth.

And before her stood a man she felt like slitting his throat.

Hidden behind her back, one of her hands tightly gripped the knife.

And on her other empty hand—

Small sparks of frost began gathering. Thin strands of icy mist curled around her pale fingers, slowly solidifying as they began taking shape.

“What is it with you, woman? Are you mute or something?”

Seraphina still didn’t answer, and her silence gradually made even the friends standing behind him to frown faintly.

The two police officers turned their eyes away, shame filling their hearts, yet neither of them dared to interfere.

Finally, once the man was close enough, he raised his hand toward her.

“Don’t worry,” he said with a revolting smile.

“We’ll take good care of you.”

The grin on his face looked utterly disgusting to her, making her stomach churn in revulsion.

Her heartbeat pounded violently. The knife in her hand trembled faintly.

Then, Lucian’s words suddenly echoed within her mind once again.

“Mother…”

During the time they had hidden together in the basement… he had repeatedly told them a few important things.

And one of those things was—

“If anyone… absolutely anyone is trying to take advantage of you… or if a man is trying to do something to you…”

Seraphina’s grip tightened further.

“Completely forget about morality.”

Her icy blue eyes sharpened.

“…Show no mercy and kill them.”

The next moment—

Her arm flashed forward.

The knife shot straight toward the man’s throat, aiming to pierce through it instantly.

“Fuck!”

But the man’s eyes widened in alarm. Reacting quickly, he grabbed her wrist mid-strike.

“You almost killed me!”

His expression twisted with fury as he looked at the shallow cut across his palm, the blade having barely grazed him when he tried to defend himself.

“You bitch—!”

But the moment his furious gaze lifted toward her, his words abruptly halted.

For a moment, he only saw something shiny flicker before his eyes, and in the very next instant, he felt an icy shard pierce straight through his neck.

The frozen spike tore violently through his flesh.

His eyes widened horrifically.

“Gkh—!”

Seraphina’s hand trembled before she yanked the icicle back out.𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

A choked, broken cry escaped the man’s throat as blood spurted outward, pouring endlessly down his chest.

Some of it splashed onto Seraphina’s pale face.

Her icy-blue eyes watched as the man collapsed onto the ground, twitching violently and choking on his own blood, his hands clawing desperately at his torn throat.

Dark crimson blood rapidly spread through the cracks of the ruined road beneath him.

The others stood there completely frozen.

Their minds failed to process what had just happened.

Just moments ago, their companion had been casually walking toward the quiet woman, perhaps even trying to say something to her.

And now…

Their eyes slowly lowered toward the blood pooling from his throat as the trembling of his body gradually came to a stop.

“W–What the fuck… what did she do to Marcus…?” The other awakened muttered blankly in disbelief.

The police officers finally turned toward Seraphina, only to stumble backward in shock.

The woman who had looked pitiful just moments ago now stood there with blood staining her face and clothes.

Blood slowly dripped from the sharp icicle in her hand.

Both officers swallowed hard before cautiously shifting their attention toward the remaining two Awakened.

“She’s an Awakened too,” Ron muttered quietly with a dark expression.

There was no natural ice anywhere nearby, which meant she had created it herself.

Ron’s eyes narrowed sharply.

‘She doesn’t seem to recognise any of us, which means she’s likely from another group.’

A dangerous thought surfaced in his mind immediately.

‘We need to eliminate her.’

He couldn’t risk letting an unknown outsider learn about what they had intended to do to her. Even he didn’t know how his superior would react if this became known.

Without hesitation, he pulled the longsword from his waist, unsheathing it from its scabbard.

The blade gleamed beneath the bright sunlight.

Taking a stance, he locked his eyes onto Seraphina.

“I don’t know which group you’re from, but you shouldn’t have killed our partner.”

Instantly, he moved from his spot.

The ground beneath him cracked more than before, and he shot forward at terrifying speed.

The distance between them vanished within a second.

Seraphina barely had time to react before he appeared directly before her, his blade swinging toward her neck. Far too fast.

But for some reason, Seraphina’s eyes only grew colder as she stared at the incoming blade—seemingly her death approaching her.

But just then—

The shadows beneath them trembled.

Darkness pooled unnaturally across the shattered ground, and in the very next second, a sharp black spike erupted upward between the blade and Seraphina.