41 「Elimination Round」 (1/2)

An hour had gone by. There was silence. No movements what so ever as all the goons were dead around the mansion. Bodies sewn over the ground, painting the pavement and slabs of stone with the warmth of dark crimson.

”They're not back yet, so it seems...” The members of the conference were staring at the empty seat which belonged to Zero. They had been sent out to take out a threat and have yet to return. None of the men who had been dispatched and even the Six Arms main members came back.

”Could they have been held up?” Hilma tickled the pipe at her lips.

”Is there a chance they all died and I wasted my precious funding on their shitty promises?” Doll huffed as he leaned back in the chair. Though he was partially joking, he was sure they should've been back by now.

”That wouldn't be good for business...” The executive stated as he stared through Cocco as if he didn't want to get jinxed by this peddler of people.

”We could always send out our own men to scout out the situa--” The count who was speaking went silent as he heard something similar to that of a pen dropping in the shadows.

All of the people around the nonagon shaped table looked around. Their eyes shifting side to side, scanning each bit of their surroundings. ”Think it's Zero?”

”If it is, it's not very funny.”

”I didn't think he was the joker type,” muttered Hilma as she stood up, stroking her snake arm with her right hand. For some reason her body was getting covered in goose bumps. ”Is it just me, or is it getting cold in here?”

Doll glanced over at the high class courtesan as she was standing up from the table. She looked like she was about to get up and bolt for the nearest exit door. ”No I think it's just...” He turned his head to the side slightly and scratched the tip of his strong long pointy nose.

There was a dripping sound. A swooshing sound. It wasn't coming from just one place. It was coming from all directions as if they were somehow surrounded by water.

The Council Executive cleared his throat, ”Please sit down Hilma. They should soon be retur--” The man wearing the Water Symbol on his chest froze for a moment before looking upward.

In the darkness of the high ceiling, he swore he saw a current moving. ”Hm...” At first he thought it was just the dark shadows of the room playing tricks on him.

That was until a drip of water dropped on his nose, with a loud plat, and then proceeded to trickle down the side of his face. The movement was real. They were surrounded by water, and it wasn't just any water that they were surrounded by.

”There's nothing there,” The Council Executive proclaimed quietly, wrapping his fingers around the Water God symbol on his necklace which stood prominently out on his magenta robes.

”Nothing… There?” Cocco raised a brow before looking upward. The darkness seemed to swirl about above them. It felt as if it was getting closer and closer. Reaching out towards them.

Hilma still stood there as she took a puff from her pipe. She was slowly walking away from the table, creeping towards the direction of the exit. Her eyes were centered on the light that was under the door.

However as she was about to enter the shadows, the light vanished followed by the sound of rushing water. The door, her eyes shifted side to side. She had lost the door?! She could just run forward right? She knew the general location, all she had to do was feel the wall right!?

She was beginning to think irrationally as she took a single step forward, she was at the edge of the shadows. Her tongue poked out and moistened her lips, teasing the pipe she held at the right corner angle of her lips. ”I'm going to do it...”

The Executive Council Member stood up, ”Return to the Table. We'll wait until Zero returns. He'll take care of...” He shifted his head to the side as one of the grey robed members of the council vanished from his peripheral vision.

”My--” The other grey robed individual attempted to call out, but when everyone turned their heads to look at them, they were gone.

Cocco turned to look towards Hilma and froze. Her pipe was on the ground, as were her heeled shoes. The pipe itself was still burning, smoking, as it laid there absently.

The sound of muffled screams underwater could be heard swirling up above them. And within the next few minutes just silence as the bodies moved about in the dark.

”What the hell is this shit?” Cocco went to stand up, pressing a hand down on the table. ”We have to get out of--”

Smashing into the table from above, blood and bodily fluids exploded in all directions, as Hilma's corpse shattered the center of the Nonagon shaped table they were using for the meeting.

All of the remaining members of the Eight Fingers just stared at the dead body. It was covered in bruises, it had thousands of miniature puncture marks made from blunt force as if it was caused by a magic high pressured water spell.

Swallowing hard, the men looked up towards the ceiling again.

”What the hell is that...”

”I don't know, but we can't just stay here!”

”What the hell do we do then!?”

”We're not going to survive!”

”Do you have a teleportation spell on you?!”

The Executive Council member shook his head when he had been asked this question. His hand remained gripping at the necklace he had around his neck. So he was going to be killed by an aspect of his worship? Death by drowning? His eyes moved towards the corpse again before looking up towards the ceiling.

That didn't seem quite right. Someone was using, controlling the water. And why did they use water in the first place? Or could this be something else?

Taking out a scroll from his robes, he tossed it into the air and it lit up into a light bright enough to see the rest of the room with.

The people who were already afraid for their lives froze as they quite literally found themselves in the center of a dome, surrounded by water. And it wasn't just any kind of water. It wasn't necessarily being controlled by anyone.