Argh... I can feel it... every bone in my body is splintering into pieces..." Rio wheezed, his breath coming in ragged, bloody gasps.
Mouchi showed no mercy. The monster grabbed Rio by the head, lifting his broken body effortlessly before hurling him toward his friends like a discarded bag of trash. Rio's body skidded across the cold floor, leaving a thick trail of crimson behind before he collapsed into a pool of his own blood.
In the dark void of Rio's consciousness, Neroli's voice boomed with chilling authority.
"Boy... give your body to me! Now!" Neroli demanded, her voice echoing like a command from an ancient queen. "I give you my word... I won't lay a finger on your friends."
Rio coughed up a glob of blood, his vision fading as the agonizing pain threatened to pull him into darkness. He knew he had no other choice. Gritting his teeth, he forced out a single, cold syllable.
"Fine."
The moment the word left his lips, a terrifying transformation took hold. Strange, black cursed markings erupted across Rio's skin, crawling up from his neck and spreading across his face like ink bleeding into water. His eyes snapped open—no longer human, but hollow voids filled with a murderous, crimson glow.
"Mouchi... you son of a bitch... get over here!" Neroli roared through Rio's throat.
Neroli began to walk toward Mouchi, her movements eerie and calm. She threw a punch—a movement that looked almost slow to the naked eye. But the moment it connected, the force was cataclysmic. Mouchi's skin, which was as hard as diamond, tore apart like wet tissue paper under the impact.
Roaring in agony, Mouchi tried to seize Neroli's left arm with his massive claws. But Neroli didn't even flinch. With a sickening crack, she snapped the arm Mouchi was using to hold her as if it were a dry twig. Before the monster could even scream, a lightning-fast blow followed, plunging deep into Mouchi's abdomen.
"GUARK!" Mouchi vomited blood, and fragments of his internal organs sprayed across the floor as he collapsed into a heap.
But Mouchi wasn't finished. In a desperate frenzy, he smashed his fist into the floor, grabbing jagged chunks of stone and brick to hurl at Neroli. She didn't bother to dodge. With terrifying speed, she lunged through the debris and grabbed Mouchi by the head, her fingers digging into his skull as she began to literally tear his head from his shoulders.
The monster was no longer the hunter. He was a trembling prey, looking up at the nightmare before him.
"You... you bitch...!" Mouchi shrieked his final insult.
Neroli didn't offer a word in response. With cold indifference, she ripped Mouchi's broken arm clean off his torso. Using his own severed limb as a club, she beat him back down before raising her foot and bringing it down with bone-shattering force, crushing Mouchi's head against the floor.