“Breaking down their fear towards her?” Blue Flash parted her lips in confusion and cocked her head to the left. “But how?”
Varian was about to explain when Boo’s abrupt cry forced him to stop.
“Master! Shadow! T-They!” Boo rushed to Varian and exclaimed in a horrified tone.
The white ghost now had a pale grey face, a sign that it was anxious.
“First, calm down,” Varian said.
Boo tried, but right then, a slightly weak but cold voice sounded from the distance.
“Is it about Shadow Guardians?” Enigma was outside the room, leaning against the wall.
The few minutes of ‘suppression’ were over. So, her complexion, well, with her face mask on, he couldn’t see her face, but the brightness in her eyes started to improve. She no longer gave frail vibes.
But Varian was able to perceive that she hadn’t recovered completely.
“Boo, take rest,” Varian said again, signaling with his eyes. He had a feeling that this news was really about Shadow Guardians and that it wasn’t a pleasant one.
So, he wanted to wait until Enigma recovered before revealing it to her. For one, he was worried about her mental state. And two, if she really went crazy,? then both him and the ghost ship would be collaterals.
Boo was stupid sometimes. In Varian’s opinion, most of the time. But even Boo acted cleverly sometimes. This was such a time. Boo understood Varian’s signal and was about to slip away.
But Enigma appeared in front of Boo the next moment and repeated her question with clenched teeth. “Is it about Shadow Guardians?”
Varian saw the stubbornness in Enigma’s violet eyes and sighed inwardly. As a stubborn person himself, he knew she was not going to back down without an answer.
Boo looked at him for help and Varian nodded reluctantly. But he also made a sign to an insider sign to Boo.
It meant ‘Safety’.
To Enigma’s surprise, Boo didn’t convey the news first but enclosed her in some strange red walls.
“This is the precondition,” Boo said. Enigma acquiesced.
Varian raised a brow. Those were grade 9 walls. He was about to ask why, but the holograms that Boo played next gave the answer.
A huge hologram showed a hellish scene of a secret realm.
Not a single building was intact. The best one could find was a wall or two. There were no mountains either—they were all flattened. The rivers dried up.
But compared to the rest, it could only be called mild.
The land was scorched, flames engulfed many areas and in some, hot red lava flowed, erasing the corpses, or rather, skeletons that survived the fires.
Contrasting the flames was the frozen landscape. Children, teenagers, young and old men, and women were seen trying to escape. Their faces—wide eyes, pale complexion and gritted teeth perfectly encapsulated their helplessness and their fear. Every one of them was all covered by a thin, yet shiny layer of blue ice.
They didn’t move. They didn’t blink. They didn’t say a word. They were all frozen and already dead.
The next highlight was the huge craters ranging from a few meters to a few dozen miles were spread across the secret realm.
The secret realm itself was dyed red and white. The semi-solid substances of same color could be seen everywhere. They weren’t any substances though. They were corpses or to be precise, what remained of those corpses after they were crushed under heavy gravity.
And littered all over the secret realm were body parts. Severed heads, broken spines, cleaved torsos, and sliced limbs.
The next sight was less gore, but more disturbing. A few hundred people of all ages were sprawled on the ground. Their eyes were still open. Their bodies were still intact. Yet, their eyes were devoid of any light.
Those eyes…they seemed to be asking Enigma. ‘Why didn’t you save us?’
The news anchor announced. “The terrorist organization is completely destroyed—not a single of its four bases on Earth was spared.”
The holograms shifted and showed three more secret realms with similar footage.
The anchor narrowed his eyes and said in a righteous tone. “The army has risked their lives to end these radical people. Dear earthlings and brothers and sisters living elsewhere, we humans have taken the first step in ending terrorism.
We will uproot them to the core. We’ve checked the DNA of these terrorists and locked down everyone related to them.
They’d spend their lives in prison and peace will prevail.
Ladies and gentlemen, I announce with pride that Shadow Guardians, the sister organization of Shadow Order is no mor—”
Bam!
With a loud bang, the hologram was forcibly twisted apart and dissolved.
Enigma lowered her head and stood with clenched fists. Her silvery-white hair covered her eyes and in the utter silence of ghost ship, only her ragged breathing was heard.
Blue Flash’s gaze was still stuck at the hologram or where it used to be.
Varian, however, wordlessly stared at Enigma in the enclosed room. His mind ran faster than light as it tried to think of the counter-measures if Enigma went berserk.
Ta! Ta! Ta!
The sound of liquid splashing on the ground was distinctly clear in the silent room. Even more to Varian’s keen senses.
Spotting the water drops at Enigma’s feet and opened his mouth in shock. He looked up, but her eyes were still covered by her hair.
But he could see the side of her cheeks. It was still covered by her mask, but it was clearly wet.
“Enigma.” Varian lowered his head and muttered.
“…Let me out.” A small but cold voice sounded.
Boo said in a worried tone. “Enigma, calm down first.”
In fact, it tightened the door of the temporary room Enigma was in.
“LET ME OUT!” Thick killing intent exploded out of her and a heavy pressure descended on everyone.
If not for her being confined, Varian wasn’t sure if he could face her killing intent.
“Enigma, I know you want revenge, but let’s think through this.” Blue Flash persuaded with a tear-stricken face.
The destruction of Shadow Guardians hit her as hard, if not harder. Precisely for that reason, she understood how Enigma was feeling.
And that’s why…
“Calm down! Going back now is too dangerous! They can track and kill you!” She tried to persuade.
“Enigma, I can hack and find the culprits. You’ll get your revenge, but not now. So, please calm down.” Boo also persuaded.
“NO!” Enigma raised her head, her hair slipped back and her tri-color eyes glowed with a dangerous glint.
Boo stared right into Enigma’s eyes without relenting.
Enigma clenched her fists and the space around her started to fluctuate.
Boo looked at the worried Varian and assured. “Master, there’s an anti-teleportation seal inside. She can’t teleport out of—”
“Cough. Cough. Cough.”
Boo turned to its left and saw Enigma outside the room, covering her mouth and coughing out blood.
“Y-You!” Boo was dumbfounded. How did she break the restrictions? Sure, she seemed to have paid a price for teleporting out, but even that was shocking.
“I-I’m going to kill every one of them.” Enigma didn’t care about Boo’s surprise and declared.
As she was out, Varian could clearly feel the heavy killing intent in the air. Despite being a level 6, he had difficulty breathing.
“Terrorists? They? Hahaha!” Enigma’s voice was laced with rage and sorrow. She was indeed betrayed. But only a few people were involved. The majority were innocent.
She knew Shadow Guardians like no other.
She knew of the people who worked to deliver justice where the law couldn’t reach. Of Men and women who risked their own lives to do what was right. Of Brave souls who marched into the hearts of enemy’s army just so that they could support their own people.
Of children who aspired to be a light in this dark and cruel world. Of old people who dedicated their lives to building a better world for the younger generation. Of geniuses who abandoned luxuries that the light had to offer and lived in darkness.
She knew them all and more. She knew their stories, their smiles, their aspirations.
And…she led their cause.
Bit by bit, each of these memories blended into a raging fire that flowed in her veins and set her heart on fire.
To quell that fire, she needs to spill a river of blood.
“I will avenge them.”
