Girl Who Killed a God Remake - Chapter Ten

The Sergeant’s eyebrows rose as confusion dawned on his face. “What do you mean another murder?” Miles glanced at the other guards, and they all shook their heads. None of them clearly had any idea what Grace was talking about. “Explain,” he finally said, “Where is this other murder?”

Grace nodded, playing her part as a frightened young girl. “I’ll lead you there… but it’s in the opposite direction, about a fifteen-minute walk from here.”

His fingers began to tap on his handle again, as he stared down at her. His eyes telling more than his mouth ever would. His thoughts clear enough that Grace didn’t need him to speak to work out what he was thinking. Guard Sergeant Miles was dissecting her words, considering all possible angles or game she might be playing.

But at the end of the day, in his eyes at least, she was nothing more than a scrawny sixteen-year-old girl.

Barely a threat to anyone, let alone an entire guard patrol.

“Lead on, but know if you’re trying anything, or attempt to escape, I will hunt you down. I will not stop until you’re hanging from the end of a noose, you understand?”

Though completely unfazed by the man’s threats, Grace swallowed and bobbed her head up and down. “I understand. And trust me, I want whoever is doing this caught as much as you do. I’ve got mouths to feed and rent to pay. To do that, I scavenge the old town for anything left untouched after the Blight. It’s dangerous enough from all the thieves and myrk-fiends about. A killer on the loose means its too risky to earn. I need them caught so I can get back to work.”

Grunting, Miles nodded to his men, who frowned but resumed their position. “Help us, and I can promise you we’ll bring them to justice.” He glanced at her and offered a blatantly false smile. “And if your information pans out, you’ll earn more than enough to keep you fed until they’re caught.”

She mirrored his smile. “Thank you, sir.” Grace then turned and motioned to the street behind them. “We need to go back down this street and turn left at Nilen St.”

Two of the guards took the lead and as they walked, Miles grilled her about the scene. She mentioned how when she inspected the bodies, none of it made sense.

“Did you actually see the bodies?”

Miles shook his head. “I read the reports.”

Grace nodded and shuddered. “Whoever did it had to be strong and fast. Exceptionally so. I’ve been around enough death since coming to this city…” she paused, licking her lips, “but how they died was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Miles nodded.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, broken only by Grace’s directions, until they neared the alley where she’d led Bones and Scarlett into. She was doing it again, just with those who should have offered her more of a challenge.

Yet they followed her as if Grace had them leashed.

It was only too easy, and that disappointed some dark and twisted part of her soul.

“Turn here,” she said. “Then it's the first alley on the right.”

One of the lead guards grunted and followed her directions. When they got to the alley, the guards fanned out in perfect synchrony, their hands going to their weapons as the stench of death and decay nipped at their senses.

Grace pretended to gag a second and then held up her hand. “About fifty yards down, there is a door on the right that has been busted out… inside is… I found... I ran straight home after. It was so unbelievably horrible...”

The Sergeant held up two fingers, and his men moved forward, drawing their swords in a single, fluid motion. After they had gone about five steps, Miles motioned for her to follow.

They stopped when the two men approached the door, and one peeked inside. Bringing his head back out, his face was pale—almost pallid.

The guard looked at the captain with slight fear in his eyes and then glanced at Grace for the barest second before nodding. “She’s telling the truth, sir.”

Another guard walked forward and peered inside the decaying house. “We’re going to need torches, sir.”

“Then make some. There’s no shortage of dry wood around here. And, Bernson, I’m going to need to requisition the flask you think I don’t know about.”

The guards snorted at that, and Grace realized what they were doing, joking in the face of unthinking horror. The minute one of them cracked, they would likely all shatter.

Five minutes later, Grace stood near Miles and Bernson as the other guards inspected the corpses in the flickering torchlight. Rats skittered in the shadows, their beady eyes shining, waiting for the people to leave so they could return to their meal.

“Look at that woman’s neck,” one of the nameless guards said.

Miles bent down and examined it with a grimace. “Sliced clean…” He peeled the flesh back from Scarlett’s nearly severed head and continued. “Into the spinal cord even… and from the angle of the wound, the killer was smaller than the woman and struck from behind.” Miles glanced back towards the darkened corner where Grace had been lying in wait less than a day prior. “The killer lay in wait… which means this wasn’t random, they were led here, and then pounced upon when the killer had the upper hand.” He sighed and shook his head. “Whoever killed them is skilled. And incredibly strong.”

Shite… he’s clever… far too clever for his own good. He’d have to die even without the quest prompting me to slay him. I can’t let any of them live… but I’ll have to hide the bodies better, where no one can find them.

But for now, she’d have to bide her time, the guards were still on alert. She couldn’t surprise them just yet.

Grace’s voice was as timid as she could muster. “Who could do something like that, sir?”

Standing up, the Sergeant had his hand back on his sword, tapping the handle again as he glacned away, obviously lost in thought.

After a few more minutes of examining all the corpses, Miles turned to Grace.

“They’ve been picked over. Did you loot them?”

Grace flinched and nodded. “I did, sir. I got four copper coins. I gave my housing master three and kept one.”

He watched her in silence, studying her, before nodding.

With a sharp whistle, Miles rounded up his men, and each guard swiftly left the building. Drops of burning cloth from the torch fell to the rotting floor and was quickly stamped out lest the wood catch on fire.

As they left, Miles put a hand out to stop Grace and knelt to face her. “Don’t tell anyone about what you’ve seen here, or of this investigation. I don’t need panic spreading amongst the populace.” He then sighed. “Regardless, you’ve helped me out a lot today, and I keep my word.” Miles reached into a pouch on his side and pulled out a few small silver coins. “You seem to know the city well, and so I want you to be my eyes and ears for a while. Keep me in the know of anything you find out, and I’ll reward you well. Do you understand?”

Grace nodded quickly, focusing on the silver coins pinched between the Sergeant’s fingers.

“Good. Now, I’m sure I don’t have to tell a girl as clever as you to keep these hidden.”

“No sir. You don’t.”

Holding the coins out, he dropped them into her hand, and Grace winked as she put them in her mouth and swallowed without hesitation.

Chuckling, the Seargent shook his head. “Smart… real smart.” He knelt and placed a hand on her head before leaning down to whisper in her ear. “If you find out anything else of value, come to the guard post. Tell them you need me and that ‘the cat was barking.’ Anyone who hears that will come and fetch me at once.”

One last thing, and if you’re as smart as I think you are, you know what has to happen next.”

Grace grimaced, nodding slowly. “I can take it.”

Squaring off to face her, Miles gave a slight nod and raised his fist. “Ready?”

Grace nodded, holding her hands out to her side and turned her cheek to him.

As Miles reared back to strike her, that was when Grace surged into action. She moved like lightning and swiftly snatched Miles by his now unguarded throat. He spasmed, a sudden gasp cut off as she dug her fingers into his flesh and clamped down on his trachea. Grace yanked him forward with far more strength than the man could resist.

She brought him close to her face before winking at him.

Then she crushed his throat in her fist.

His eyes bulged out of his skull as he gurgled and spasmed, his hands going to his neck as Grace rose to her feet and activated Empower for the first time since she claimed the ability. Heat boiled in her veins as her muscles screamed in glorious agony as strength unmatched flowed through her.

It filled her completely and not wanting to waste a second, she took the dying man’s head in her hands and with a flick of her wrist, snapped his neck like it was nothing.

That’s one…

Even as his body twitched and writhed as his legs collapsed out from under him, she was moving.

With one hand, she went for her hidden dagger, and with the other, she plucked Miles’s from his still falling corpse. He wouldn’t be needing it anymore after all. As the solid weight settled into her palms, she cast an eye at the remaining guards in the side street.

They’d long discounted her as a threat, so they had been purely relaxed and were talking amongst themselves as she struck. By the time Guard Sergeant Mile’s crumpled to the cobbles before her, they had only just started to turn.

Fools…

With them both in hand, she flicked them up before catching them by the blades. In a single fluid motion, Grace stepped and hurled the dagger in her right hand. She spun to build momentum and then sent the other dagger flying.

They twirled through the air as if underwater, and the guard’s reaction times and movements were painfully slow to her eyes. Before they could even go for their swords at their waists, the daggers struck home.

The first one took the surprised guard in the chest as his hand closed around the hilt of his shortsword. The dagger carved through steel and bone with ease, sinking to the hilt in the man’s chest. He stumbled back as his lifeblood spilled down his armor and his sword was forgotten as his hands went to the dagger stuck in his heart.

As for the second, Grace’s aim was off on her throw as she didn’t have much experience with combat knife throwing. The dagger completed one more rotation than she wanted, but at least her aim was true. The knife spun end over end before the heavy pommel connected with the stunned guard’s face.

Miles had called him James, and as the blade struck, the cartilage in James’s nose burst like an overripe watermelon. His orbital socket was obliterated a split second later, his eyes bursting in a spray of blood and vitreous fluid as the bones in his skull buckled. The sickening squelch of flesh joined his unhinged scream of agony as his entire face crumpled in on itself.

James dropped like a sack of potatoes, and for his sake, Grace hoped he was dead, because that was pain no one deserved to live through.

At the very least he’s not getting up again. Which makes two.

The first guard she’d chucked her dagger at was too preoccupied with the knife in his chest to pay much attention to his fallen comrade. He gripped the bloody dagger in both hands, his gauntlets stained crimson as he wrenched the blade free. And from the arterial spray that accompanied it, Grace knew the man wasn’t long for this world.

He had just enough time to stare at the blade in abject horror as his blood gushed down his armor before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed. The dagger clattered to the street beside him as he gave a lingering death rattle and went still.

That’s three.

The only guard remaining upright was the drunkard Bernson. She had saved him for last because he seemed the weakest of the squad and even Empowered as she was, Grace could only move so fast.

Taking a deep breath as the effects of Empower started to wane. The skill was powerful, but very short lived. And even now, only a handful of seconds after she activated it, the heat was already starting to fade away. She didn’t know how much longer she had, but she was going to make the most out of it while she could.

Grace didn’t hesitate as she pushed off the balls of her feet and surged forward towards the final guard. Bernson was still sluggish to her senses, but enough time had lapsed from killing Miles that he had time to draw his sword.

It cleared his scabbard just as she reached him, and as he raised it to cleave her in twain, Grace dropped and swept her leg out in a vicious kick. Her shin connected with the guard’s greaves, and the metal buckled alongside Bernson’s knee. His leg snapped at an unnatural angle and the guard went down in an ocean of misery as he howled his lungs out.

Grace followed him down and stole the sword from his slackened fingers before placing it to his throat.

Bernson still had enough wherewithal to glare at her through tear-stained eyes as he whimpered out a question. “W…why?”

She let out a soft sigh. “I did this for the same reason Malkin burned… because no one stopped me.”

 With that, her hand twitched and the blade drew across Bernson’s neck, opening his throat. Blood rushed out to snake through the cobbles as she stood and found herself knee deep in a pile of corpses for the third day in a row.

Is this my life now? Nothing but a trail of broken bodies in my wake? And if it is, do I even care?

The questions didn’t bother as much as the answers did.

[You have slain a Toran Guard. A portion of his Essence has been stored inside your core!]

The message repeated for each of her kills, and she quickly waved them away. She didn’t need confirmation of what she did, though the Essence was always nice. Instead, she was waiting for the quest completion notice.

Staring at the corpses of her own making, the last of Empower faded away, letting her know that she could only use the skill for about ten seconds at a time. It shouldn’t have been a lot of time, but under the effects of the skill itself, it was more than enough.

And finally, as the last of the skill bled from her system, the notification she was waiting for appeared.

[Quest Completed!]

You put yourself at risk to protect those around you—and as a direct result not a single innocent died because of your actions. Not only did you protect the just, but you also slayed the wicked. Four of Grimdon’s misguided disciples met their end by your hands. Their souls are now howling in the Endless Abyss rather than enjoying an eternity of hunting with Grimdon’s faithful in the Sea of Trees.

You have done very well, Grace Akem, and are deserving of your reward.

Reward: Ascension to Agent. Choose one of the following Agent Abilities

Heal (Rank 1): Heal yourself or others by a [Slight] amount.

Cost: 50 Mana

Cooldown: 1 Hour

Juggernaut (Rank 1): For a [Fleeting] moment after this ability has been activated, become invulnerable to all damage. Wielder will also be immune to the energy behind the attack, causing all force to rebound back towards the attacker.

Cost: 100 Stamina

Cooldown: 48 Hours

Command (Rank 1): Infuse your speech with your spirit to shatter their will to resist. Demand obedience with your words. Manipulate others as you please regardless of their desires. Not all individuals will succumb to this ability and attempts at self-harm or death are more likely to be resisted. [Rank 1] skill works on those with Spirit of [5] or lower.

Cost: 200 Spirit

Cooldown: 24 Hours

Though each skill was useful, her eyes lingered on the Juggernaut. She recalled the stories and lessons she had learned as a child while attending school.

Juggernaut sounds like the legend of Draven… the Malkin warrior who held Embershard Pass against five hundred Nawarian mercenaries alone for over a week.

Heal was a very useful skill, but her increased speed and strength made it a much weaker choice now than it would have been a week or two ago when she was merely mortal. Now, most couldn’t touch her, and if anyone could match her, then she would need a hells of a lot more healing than merely a Slight amount.

But Juggernaut could keep her from getting hit in the first place. It wasn’t a skill she could see herself using all that often—and perhaps Heal was the more utilitarian skill choice that she could use to benefit others… but why should she go out of her way to help others at the expense of a skill that could very well save her life when she needed it most?

And Command was just a more forceful upgrade to Persuade.

It was a skill she had little use for.

And given the way her life was going, having a lifesaving skill in reserve just in case they were more than she expected was the smart move here.

With her mind made up, Grace chose Juggernaut with a thought and fought down a grin as the confirmation appeared in the corner of her vision.

Juggernaut (Rank 1): For a [Fleeting] moment after this ability has been activated, become invulnerable to all damage. Wielder will also be immune to the energy behind the attack, causing all force to rebound back towards the attacker.

Cost: 100 Stamina

Cooldown: 48 Hours

Essence Required to Rank Up: 500

Even though Grace was standing ankle deep in the blood of the men she’d killed, before she did anything else, she wanted to check her status and see just how much Essence killing those guards earned her.

[Stat Page]

Name: Grace Akem

Race: Human (Godblessed)

Age: 16

Core Tier: 1

Essence: 1200/2500

Rank: Agent

[Attributes]

Physical: 9

Mental: 7

Spiritual: 8

[Skills]

Empower (Rank 1)

Juggernaut (Rank 1)

Though she wanted to ascend her core again, it seemed a little foolish to let her skills lag behind, especially when she was still getting used to her new power anyway. Adding more on top of that seemed incredibly reckless. And since both upgrade costs for the skills were five hundred each, Grace had more than enough Essence to rank up both skills.

So, with a slightly wistful sigh, she spent the essence and brought both skills up to rank two.

Empower (Rank 2): Enhance your physicality to strengthen your strikes by a [Moderate] amount for a [Short] moment.

Cost: 200 Stamina

Cooldown: 45 Minutes

Essence Required to Rank Up: 1000

Juggernaut (Rank 2): For a [Brief] moment after this ability has been activated, become invulnerable to all damage. Wielder will also be immune to the energy behind the attack, causing all forces to rebound back towards the attacker.

Cost: 200 Stamina

Cooldown: 36 Hours

Essence Required to Rank Up: 1000

While the descriptions for each skill were still a little vague, there was a clear increase in progression from rank one to two. The actual cost of each skill had increased, but the cooldown time for both had dropped by a not insignificant portion.

All in all, she was happy with her decision.

As the notifications faded away, Grace let out a breath, dusted herself off, and grinned as she stared at the corpses, not as once living people, but as treasure chests of potential loot. “At least it’s easier than stealing.”