Nick observed the scene with a grimace of satisfaction while the curse demonstrated its true nature, repairing the damage with a nauseating speed.
On the bloody linoleum, the severed neck of the Nightwing Killer began to bubble.
Tissue, muscle, and bone intertwined in a mass until a complete head reformed, hidden again under his iconic burlap mask.
The giant slowly rose, picking up his axe with the same indifference as a machine.
The Pastor Cyrus Miller peeled himself off the rubble, his bones that had been pulverized crunched loudly as they realigned, welding together in seconds to return his rigid posture, and his eyes fixed on Lief with a maniacal intensity.
Ruby and Billy, whose tendons had been cut moments before, stood up as if nothing had happened, the skin of their wounds closing without leaving even a scar.
And not only that, the group had increased: The Milkman and Skull Mask joined the four reborn, forming a suffocating circle around Lief and Jennifer.
A tense silence spread.
"I have to admit that is an impressive trick..." commented Lief, breaking the silence with a tone of curiosity.
He then turned his head toward Nick, ignoring the monsters. "This regeneration cycle. Does it drain your own energy, or does the system automatically feed on the cursed earth without costing you anything personal?"
?
The question, asked so calmly in the midst of the chaos, wiped the faint smile from Nick's face.
"And what does that matter?" he spat with contempt. "Do you think you are in a science class? You do not have to understand how, you only have to understand that this is your absolute end."
"Finish them."
With that order, the six launched into attack.
The Nightwing Killer raised his axe preparing, while the Pastor and the Milkman flanked from the sides to cut off any possible escape route for Lief.
Simultaneously, Ruby and Billy lunged again at Jennifer with a much more lethal speed than before.
But the most imminent danger came from the shadow.
Swish
Skull Mask, who had remained passive, drew a knife and lunged, disappearing from the place.
"Lief, watch out!" shouted Jennifer, detecting the killer's movement.
"Do not lose focus on your own thing," Lief replied maintaining an unperturbed calm.
!
The moment the killers were about to close the distance, the air around them changed drastically.
Zmmm
A low hum vibrated in the chests of everyone present.
It was no longer the force of telekinesis, this time, Lief unleashed something much more effective.
An explosion of bluish, radiant energy erupted from his center, flooding the gloomy mall lobby with a blinding luminosity that mimicked the intensity of direct sunlight.
Upon contact with that immaculate light, the black smoke and the oppressive atmosphere surrounding the killers reacted violently, hissing and evaporating like ice thrown into a furnace.
Deena, Sam and Josh were bathed by the eruption of that bluish light, a sudden warmth that swept away the paralyzing cold and despair from their bodies.
?
They felt lightened, as if the weight of entire days of terror and exhaustion was fading, the immaculate energy alleviating their pains and healing the exhaustion.
Some killers stopped dead and writhed, violently consuming themselves under the glow, which revealed their rotten and twisted bodies by the curse.
!
The instant the light reached Nick, his expression froze.
He felt a scorching pain running through every fiber of his being, a visceral sensation that part of his body was being ripped out and burned.
But it was not just pain, it was the sensation of his right being destroyed.
"Ah!"
With a scream escaping his throat. Nick staggered back, covering his eyes, his hands glowing with a reddish color under the blue light.
"No! STOP!" he roared, his voice distorted by genuine panic. His facade crumbled. "T-This is not possible! You do not have the right to do this!"
"Your playtime is over."
Bang
Facing the axe that was coming head-on, Lief raised Ebony, and pulled the trigger.
But this time the bullet was wrapped in that same bluish light.
Boom
When the bullet hit the Killer's newly formed head, it expanded immediately into circles of luminous waves that engulfed him.
The sackhead's scream drowned in his own throat while his huge body began to disintegrate, inch by inch, from the point of impact downwards, reducing to a rain of ashes that dispersed in the air.
This time there would be no resurrection.
The black gas that had reformed the monster previously was unable to condense again.
Almost in the same movement, Lief pivoted on his axis, and Ivory in his right hand, aimed at the other two flankers: the Pastor and the Milkman.
Bang Bang
Two more blue flashes.
Impacting with precision in the chest of both and, just like their partner, their bodies began to come undone, consumed by the relentless light.
While Lief took care of the flankers, Jennifer launched into her own assault against her two favorite killers.
Swish
With a movement of pure speed, she appeared next to Billy, and before the boy could process it, she had already sunk her hand with brutal force directly into his chest, piercing him from side to side.
And upon withdrawing her arm through his back, she held a beating heart, still wrapped in the black gas of the curse.
"What he was hiding..." Without a shadow of doubt, she clenched her fist.
Thud
Billy's body went rigid instantly, the lights in his eyes extinguished and, without more, he collapsed into ashes.
Upon seeing the instant annihilation, Ruby tried to turn to flee.
But she didn't have the chance.
Swish
Jennifer materialized behind her, grabbing her neck with one hand and lifting her effortlessly from the ground.
Crack
With a nauseating crunch, Jennifer broke her spine.
Bang
Simultaneously, Lief fired one last bluish bullet, eliminating Ruby's body.
Only one remained.
Skull Mask.
Lief turned slowly, his eyes fixed on a blind spot on the right side where the last killer was trying to make a move.
He raised Ivory and fired.
Bang
Skull Mask wanted to dodge, but the bullet was too fast.
The impact occurred right between the eyes.
There was no time for a scream or a fall.
His body ignited like tinder, becoming the night's last handful of flying ashes.
Six immortal killers... annihilated in less than fifteen seconds.
"..."
Deena, Sam, and Josh were completely petrified with their mouths open.
What they had just witnessed transcended any logic or previous trauma.
If Lief's first shot had been a shock, seeing him now, bathed in an immaculate light, reducing six immortal monsters to ashes with such frightening ease, only generated a reverential panic.
For them, Lief was not a human... something sent from heaven.
Nick's condition, on the other hand, was catastrophic.
Slumped on the ground, he was trembling uncontrollably.
His exposed skin was covered in severe burns from which a light pungent smoke still emanated.
Everything that had been his power... had become fragile... ridiculous before that light....
As he watched Lief approaching slowly, there remained no trace of resentment nor authority in his eyes, only panic.
"N-no... D-Do not c-come near...", he moaned, crawling backward on his hands and knees in a desperate attempt to escape.
Stopping right in front of him, Lief looked down at him, with the barrels of the two pistols still wrapped in the intense bluish glow.
________
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