Bang Bang
Two sharp thunderclaps exploded in the confinement of the living room, accompanied by two trails of bluish light that cut through the gloom like lightning bolts.
They were not ordinary bullets, but projectiles designed to tear apart the evil.
!
La Llorona let out a scream so heart-wrenching that it seemed to shatter the glass, but there was no blood flying through the air since the bullets passed through her torso without leaving physical wounds.
Instead, her figure began to flicker, distorting like a television image losing the signal, until it contracted upon itself and exploded into a cloud of black smoke that dissipated into nothingness.
"..."
The silence returned suddenly, leaving Anna trembling on the floor with her face bathed in tears and her heart beating in her throat while she looked with incredulity at the huge pistols in Lief's hands, whose barrels still smoked with a faint blue glow.
"She... did she die?" she asked, searching desperately for a confirmation. "I-Is it over?"
"No, it is still too early to celebrate," responded Lief while putting away his weapons. "This is just the beginning, she has simply escaped back to her own domain."
"Domain?" she repeated without understanding, but Lief did not answer since his attention was completely focused on the environment surrounding them.
The atmosphere had changed, becoming heavy and suffocating, and that sensation of cold humidity that before was subtle now felt dense as if they were underwater.
Drip
The unmistakable sound of a drop of water broke the tension, but it did not come from the place where La Llorona had disappeared, but from the wall itself.
Drip, Drip, Drip…
The sound multiplied rapidly until becoming a constant and maddening patter while Anna observed with horror how the floral wallpaper began to darken, sweating a cloudy and foul-smelling liquid that gushed from the cracks... from the corners... from the ceiling and even seeped between the joints of the wooden floor under her feet.
The whole house seemed to have transformed into a sponge that was being squeezed.
"What... what is happening?" she sobbed backing away on all fours.
"..."
Lief observed everything with an arched eyebrow and a trace of curiosity on his face, interested in seeing how far her power reached.
As soon as Anna finished asking, the drops joined into threads and the threads into streams that exploded violently.
Crash
A torrent of dark water, mixed with algae, mud and the smell of rot, burst in frantically from all directions, bursting the windows and filtering in streams through the walls as if the house had sunk to the bottom of a lake.
The water level rose at a terrifying speed, covering Anna's ankles and then knees in a matter of seconds while the furniture began to float and crash into each other.
"Quick! Go up, we have to go up!" she shouted trying to fight against the current to reach the stairs, but it was already too late.
A giant wave descended roaring from the second floor, hitting with the force of a tsunami and submerging the living room completely in an instant.
"..."
Anna's world lost all sound and became a chaos of cold and silence where the water invaded her nose and mouth, feeling how her consciousness began to fade into the darkness.
But just when she thought she would die drowned, an invisible force wrapped around her and pushed the water outward.
!
Anna fell to her knees on the floor, coughing violently and spitting out the horrible water she had swallowed, and when she could finally raise her head, she froze.
They were inside a perfect bubble of air of about two meters in diameter... a bubble that defied the pressure of the water surrounding them.
Outside this bubble, the murky river water filled the house up to the ceiling, agitating furniture, her children's toys and family pictures in a macabre dance.
And by her side, Lief remained standing, completely dry and with his hands relaxed in his pockets, observing the aquatic chaos.
"It is a bit unbelievable, I have to admit it," he murmured to himself, "She has managed to drag reality into her own mental world, forming a temporary inherent reality barrier. Although the execution is somewhat crude, for a simple spirit... it is quite impressive."
Just at that instant, a familiar weeping resonated and intensified, resounding in the aquatic air surrounding them.
This time, the sound seemed to come from all directions, piercing the dense layer of water and vibrating directly in their minds.
"My children... where are my children!?"
Accompanying that voice, the turbidity of the water began to draw new white shapes that emerged one after another.
One figure... two... ten... then hundreds... countless identical La Lloronas appeared in the water, completely surrounding their protective bubble.
All wore the same soaked white dress, with the veil covering their faces, each one exactly the same as the one Lief had just made disappear.
Their movements were perfectly uniform as they slowly raised their heads and "looked" in unison toward the two people trapped inside the air space.
Even protected by the invisible barrier, Anna could not withstand the avalanche of terror and covered her face with both hands, emitting a small choked whimper.
"I found you."
In that instant, Lief's gaze pierced the layers of figures and fixed on one that did not stand out at all, only this was the true source of the energy and the emotion.
Just at the moment he located and locked onto the main body, all the other La Lloronas seemed to receive an order.
They opened their mouths at the same time and transformed into hundreds of streams of clear water that from all directions launched wildly toward the bubble, like a frantic group of sharks.
Perceiving the imminent danger, Anna shrank even further upon herself, pressing her hands against her ears.
"It is now!"
Lief took a decisive step forward, his body tracing a straight trajectory in the dense water, and without more pulled his right arm back. His muscles tensed instantly, gathering all the strength of his body into a single point, from the tip of his foot to his fist.
The next second, a direct and brutal punch, shot out.
This blow did not generate any light effect nor emit any sound, but where the front of the fist passed, the murky water seemed to evaporate, creating a brief and perfect channel of vacuum.
The true body of La Llorona, which had been locked onto, seemed completely surprised and on her hidden face, a genuine expression of astonishment appeared.
Lief's fist rapidly became gigantic in her empty vision.
"..."
Anna, who opened her eyes by instinct right at that moment, found herself sitting on the wet floor, her brain struggling to process the reality of what she was experiencing.
Now the water was gone just like that.
They were back in the living room.
There was broken glass everywhere, soaked carpets and overturned furniture, but that thing... had disappeared.
In the air there only remained a subtle trace of the stench of stagnant water.
That white figure, that weeping female spirit that had instilled so much fear in her, had vanished.
Had this young man, who seemed to be no more than eighteen years old, made her disappear... with a single punch?
"Get up, it is not over yet."
Lief's voice brought her back to reality while he offered her a hand to help her.
"There is... is there still more?" The trembling returned to Anna, and her heart which she had barely managed to calm rose to her throat again.
"The residual energy needs to be cleansed," responded Lief, surveying the house that had been impregnated by resentment as if it were a haunted house. "I do not want my client, after paying me, to have to give me a bad rating for minor issues…"
Just when the gloomy atmosphere had barely dissipated, a child's scream broke the tension from the second floor.
"MOM!"
A little boy and a little girl, wearing pajamas, ran down the stairs barefoot.
They were Chris and Samantha, Anna's children, who had evidently woken up from the loud roar of the gunshots and the violent vibration of the house.
Their faces were soaked in tears of pure fright.
Upon seeing the disaster in the living room and their mother sitting on the floor, wet and trembling, they got even more scared without knowing what to do.
"Oh, my babies!" Anna felt a rush of adrenaline and lunged toward them wrapping them in a fierce hug, and the tears of accumulated terror now overflowed as tears of relief. "I am here my loves... I am here."
"..."
Lief observed the family crying embraced by the emotional release, maintaining a respectful distance. Then, he raised his right hand, with the palm up, and declared.
"The after-sales service begins."
With that phrase, a soft but powerful bluish-golden glow lit up from his palm, flooding the entire living room with an enveloping warmth.
The glow was not blinding but reassuring, like the light of dawn after a long storm, and upon coming into contact with the house, it began to heal it.
Where the light touched the water stains on the walls, they evaporated without leaving a trace of humidity.
The stench of swamp and death in the air was swept away completely, replaced by a fresh and clean scent like grass wet by rain.
Although the physical damage of the broken glass and the mess remained, the sadness and resentment entrenched in every corner melted quickly, like snow under a scorching sun.
Anna and the two crying children felt a warm current flow through their whole bodies, and the icy fear they felt was dispersed completely, allowing the tense nerves of the last few days to obtain an almost immediate relaxation.
The children even stopped crying, opened their eyes with curiosity and looked with amazement at the strange young man glowing in front of them, replacing their panic with awe.
A few seconds later, the glow dispersed as fast as it had arrived.
The whole house felt renewed, and although the physical mess was evident, that ominous and oppressive sensation had disappeared completely.
And immediately Lief's gaze then fell on the place where La Llorona had been dispersed by his punch, and there, a white and soaked veil, lay silently on the carpet.
He approached, crouched down and picked it up. It felt icy to the touch and emanated a certain "sadness", but there was no resentment, remaining only a harmless remnant.
"Good trophy," he evaluated, and the veil disappeared from his hand.
Then he turned around and looked at Anna again.
"Well, Miss Tate-Garcia. Now your house and your family are 'clean'." He approached a nearby chair, set it upright and sat down, crossing his legs with nonchalance. "It is time to talk about remuneration."
"..."
Anna stood stunned for a moment, still recovering from the miraculous sequence of events she had just witnessed.
She wiped away the last tears, made sure the two children returned to their room so they wouldn't hear, and then walked with some discomfort toward where Lief was.
"Mr... Mr. Connor, really, I do not know how to thank you for this. You saved me and my children! I..."
"There is no need to say many words of thanks," Lief raised his hand, interrupting her torrent of gratitude. "My office is not a charity, and this is a serious business. According to our billing standards, for dealing with a being of this level, the fee is one hundred thousand dollars."
"One hundred... one hundred thousand!?" Anna's face went completely pale.
One hundred thousand dollars... for her, a single mother raising two children alone, it was a dream figure.
Her husband's pension had run out almost completely, and as a social worker, her salary was modest.
"I... I do not have that much money," her voice filled with a desperate helplessness that reflected the shame of her situation. "All my savings together, maybe... maybe don't even reach ten thousand..."
"..."
Lief looked at her without saying a word, letting the weight of his silence settle in the newly purified air.
She felt instantly intimidated by his eyes, fearful that someone with such overwhelming power would get angry upon knowing that she could not pay the ransom for her own children.
Then, she clenched her fists and made a final effort. "But... but I can pay you in another way! I swear! I can get a second job, I can pay in installments if necessary," she said with urgency, feeling she was about to burst into tears. "P-Please, believe me, I am definitely going to pay you down to the last penny!"
"...."
Lief observed her without his expression altering even a bit.
Of course, he already knew that she could not pay the full amount, since he had given that price precisely to prepare for his next move.
He extended a finger and moved it gently.
"Considering that you are the first official client since the opening of my office, I can offer you an opening discount..." He made a dramatic pause, letting hope filter into Anna's face, and then dropped the figure. "Fifty thousand."
!
Anna froze completely. Fifty thousand dollars... Although it was half the original price, it was still a gigantic mountain and almost impossible to climb for her.
The expression of relief mixed with desperation.
Lief seemed to read her thoughts and continued speaking without mercy. "I know you cannot pay that amount now either. I will give you time, a month. Within a month, the money must be deposited in this account."
He took out a pen and a small paper note from out of nowhere, quickly wrote a bank account number with clean handwriting and handed it to Anna.
"Remember, my business is very specific and I expect my clients to pay in an equally specific way," he said. "If you pay on time, we will be even, but if you are late..."
He did not finish the sentence. He simply stared at her, and in that gaze Anna felt a chill.
She knew instantly that he was not joking and that the consequences of failing him would be much worse than La Llorona.
"I... I understand," she said taking the note with trembling hands and nodding. "Within a month, without fail... I will gather the money! I promise."
"Very well." Lief nodded with satisfaction and got up from the chair. "In that case, my work here is finished."
Having said this, he turned around and headed toward the storage room door located in the corner of the living room.
"?"
Anna, still stunned by the speed and method of the farewell, opened her mouth unconsciously. "Mr. Connor... the front door is over there..."
Lief simply waved his hand casually and grabbed the door handle, turned gently and opened it.
Behind the door, Anna's vision did not find the narrow space where various objects were piled up, but the red and shadowy light of that office...
Lief turned his head to look at her and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile as enigmatic as the night, and without saying more, took a step and entered, closing the door with total naturalness.
...
Inside the walls of the Devil May Cry office.
Lief moved with a relaxed step toward his trophy case and took out the Veil of La Llorona.
He held it under the light for a moment, appreciating the supernatural texture and the sad history that emanated from the fabric, and then, with a simple thought, an elegant pure silver stand materialized from out of nowhere on the shelf.
He hung the veil with care, making sure that it fell in an aesthetic way.
"One more piece for the collection," he murmured, clapping softly with a satisfied smile.
Without wasting any more time, he walked toward the door. He grabbed the knob and closed his eyes for an instant, visualizing strongly the image of his own bedroom.
He turned and pushed.
On the other side of the threshold was no longer the dimensional void, but his room, which could not be more familiar to him.
The desk, the unmade bed, the half-open closet... everything was exactly the same as when he had left.
"I have to admit that this is the best..." he sighed with excitement, recognizing how ridiculously convenient his new ability was.
It was then that his stomach roared with the force of an animal, breaking the moment of calm.
Between the high intensity activity with Jennifer and the magical battle against La Llorona, he had burned an absurd amount of calories and his body demanded fuel urgently.
He rubbed his empty stomach, left the bedroom and went down the stairs dragging his feet a little.
In the living room, his father was sitting in the armchair reading the newspaper calmly, while the sound of clashing plates came from the kitchen where his mother was busy.
Upon seeing him appear, Sarah poked her head out, visibly surprised to see him there.
"Lief? When did you come in? I didn't hear the front door open nor the garage."
"Magic, Mom. Pure magic," responded Lief with a casual tone and a charming smile while he headed straight to food territory.
He leaned on the kitchen doorframe and put on his best face of suffering. "Is there anything edible in this house? I feel like I am dying..."
Sarah threw him a look of disapproval and pointed toward the fridge.
"Don't be dramatic. In the refrigerator there is pizza and Bolognese noodles from last night. You have hands so take it out and heat it in the microwave yourself."
"..."
________
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